<\/p>\n
\n\tThe tricky job of understanding the desires and habits of an always-evolving consumer has taken on new complexity since the advent of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
\n\tTo get a read on this more selective consumer who has new AI-powered tools at their fingertips, WWD and BCG teamed on the Future of Fashion Report, which was introduced at the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit in late October.<\/p>\n
\n\tBCG surveyed more than 4,000 consumers, analyzed 9 million social media posts and interviewed top industry executives to dig deep on shopper spending priorities, behavior and brand engagement.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the summit, Mrin Nayak, BCG\u2019s North America fashion and luxury leader, said the research led to a \u201cwinning consumer algorithm\u201d for a more selective world.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s a three-step analysis of the fashion landscape today, encompassing what drives choice, where consumers are shopping and how brands can win in the dawning age of AI.<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat Matters to Consumers\t<\/p>\n
\n\tPrice, or at least value, has long been seen as among the top concerns of consumers.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut Nayak said BCG asked consumers about their most recent fashion purchase and what was most important to them and came up with a very different set of priorities.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou see style and fit as number one and two [in importance], brand trust and relevance as three, quality as four, and price and promotion as five and six,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is very different to what we would have seen a few years ago, with price and promotion really being at the top of that list.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cA selective consumer is not necessarily purely promotionally sensitive,\u201d she said. \u201cBelts are tightening, but selection criteria are shifting, with product really at the heart of [consumer] decision-making. They still want to look good and still want to feel cool. And while pricing and promotion strategies are important, they\u2019re not necessarily sufficient to win with this very discerning consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMaterials, fabric, craftsmanship and brand trust all matter in the luxury space, but also apparel and footwear, according to the study.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIn a world where so much of the discovery is happening online and in digital platforms, the question for brands is how can that proof of craftsmanship really travel and transcend?\u201d Nayak said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tMrin Nayak at the 2026 WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit held at Cipriani South Street on Oct. 27 in New York.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAllie Joseph\/WWD<\/p>\n
\t\tConnecting With Consumers\t<\/p>\n
\n\tTo successfully court consumers, fashion companies need to meet them where they are and at the right moment.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIf we think about the fastest scaling brands and the most successful turnarounds over the past few years, these are brands that have really been able to have much more focused plays around community, city and strategy and been able to disintermediate the relationship and go directly to the consumer,\u201d Nayak said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAround 50 percent of consumers say the role a brand plays in culture is a really important decision criteria for them when they decide what to buy,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that number is about two-thirds of consumers for the younger generation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCulture is no longer a differentiator for brands, but a prerequisite for engagement, she said.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe increasing desire to commune with consumers over sport is a good example.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cNowhere is culture more alive than sport right now, especially with the summer of sport we\u2019ve had this year, especially here in New York,\u201d Nayak said. \u201cOver 77 percent of fashion consumers engage with sport and sport culture and over half those consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that engages with sport or performance in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tWinning in an AI World\t<\/p>\n
\n\tSebastian Boger, global fashion and luxury leader at BCG, took over to explain the tectonic shifts coming to the brand-consumer relationship with AI.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe way the consumer shops is drastically changing,\u201d Boger said, acknowledging that can be both exciting and scary.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut Boger said consumers are still mixed when it comes to brands using AI, whether it\u2019s customer service chatbots to advertising images made by machine.<\/p>\n
\n\tOne-third of consumers don\u2019t like it when brands use AI and another third of those surveyed said the use of AI could positively influence their purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n
\n\tBut consumers are more definitive when it comes to making their own lives easier with the new tech.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cConsumers are more or less starting nine out of 10 purchase journeys by using a large language model or an agent,\u201d Boger said. \u201cEight out of 10 consumers are trusting an agent with their recommendation and, from that interface, usually do only very few of their own clicks in order to end up at a brand environment. Six out of 10 are even using an agent without any further clicks into a branded environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tBut so far, only 4 percent of consumers would let an agent complete a purchase on its own.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhen it comes to making final purchase decisions, consumers are not there yet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe \u2018not yet\u2019 is very important in this sentence because this might change over time quite drastically.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe are moving very drastically away from search engine optimization to generative engine optimization, which is a problem because I think this industry has now trained for years people in marketing departments how to run effective search engine models,\u201d Boger said. \u201cInstead of bidding for search terms, you need to understand, as a brand, what prompts are consumers putting into those large language models. That\u2019s a completely different discipline and needs to be learned now quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
#WWD #BCG #Unveil #Insights #AIDriven #Consumers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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