How has online shopping revolutionized the fashion industry?

We buy all, and more and more often, our clothes online. Now commonplace, these new habits are yet completely upset the fashion system. Investigation of a revolution in progress.
It's a big appetizing cake everyone wants one hand. In just fifteen years, the online business in the fashion sector, long a non-subject - "Uh ... where is your shop, already?" Replied people when I told them about my concept ", Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-porter.com - has become the grail of the fashion system, with a growth of 15% each year.Today, it is an irresistible attraction for retailers, who for the last few months engage in war on all fronts.
In March, Net-a-porter announced its merger with the Italian site Yoox -the combined turnover of the two shops reached 1.3 billion euros in 2014. A month later, the press group Condé Nast unveiled a project to turn the parade bible, Style.com, into a luxury e-commerce platform that could eventually overthrow Natalie Massenet and her empire. In May, the Portuguese site Farfetch bought the London department store Browns, recognized for its selection of young designers, to ensure a future. In June, the German site Zalando acquired the Bread & Butter Trade Show - to offer fashion expertise, say the bad languages.
And when, the same month, Amazon - which has more than ambitious projects in the field - proclaimed itself sponsor of the brand new week of the New York man's fashion, the Swiss group Richemont-majority shareholder of Net-a-porter since 2010- counter-attacked by inviting the French LVMH and Kering to join him for, in the words of its president Johann Rupert, "equal the amazing revenues of Amazon".
Because e-commerce is changing the rules of the game in the fashion industry - which, despite its unbridled modernity, has not seen the potential of the Internet until recent years - but also for consumers. Five questions (and answers) to understand everything about this revolution.

Will we totally change the way we buy?
"People often ask me if the classic shops will disappear Absolutely not," says Franck Zayan, former director of e-commerce at Galeries Lafayette and today president of Style.com. "Before the e-commerce, the shopping experience was very linear, we went to the shop, we tried the clothes, we bought.Today, the journey of the customer is totally deconstructed.This can look online, compare brands and prices, go to the store to touch the clothes, buy on his Smartphone - possibly live shows - try the parts and send them back if he is not satisfied Customers are not necessarily loyal to the shops, but are to brands: this is called omnichannel strategy. " The consequence of all this, says the president of Style.com, is that the customer is much more educated. "He knows better, he examines more, and he knows what he wants." The result is that brands are forced to pay more attention to their offer, their sales force and their service. win. "

Do buyers work differently in e-commerce?
With hundreds of shops just a click away, the challenge for e-tailers - buyers on the Net - is to create shopping destinations with a strong personality. "Unlike traditional shops, we can offer a T-shirt for 30 euros and also a jacket for 4,000," says Alison Loehnis, president of Net-a-porter. It is through this work that is similar to that of the stylist that we create our identity and that we boost sales. "An innovative approach that Amazon pushes to the extreme by combining without any apparent criteria all types The e-commerce giant adopts a strategy that is diametrically opposed to the very neat organization of Net-a-porter or Moda Operandi by storing entire collections.The technique works, especially with male customers, who find Amazon's interface less intimidating than those of luxury e-tailers.
What place is left to young creators?
As we know, in a world where multinational groups, advertisers and multi-brand boutiques hold power, it is not easy for emerging and independent talent to survive. Yet e-tailers, with their limitless communication and ability to sell without borders, can be a valuable support. The proof? Once again, Natalie Massenet. In 2012, the pioneer of e-commerce was appointed president of the British Fashion Council.
"It was an inspired choice," says Imran Amed, "and the key to helping creators like Erdem, Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane and JW Anderson not only to present and communicate their collections, but also to gain a real commercial presence. on Net-a-porter-everything on this portal serves as a model for other online businesses, and as a result, to grow their business and find investors. " It remains to be seen whether Style.com, which will initially use the digital marketplace system - whose commissions do not make it easier for young companies - will take the same course for future talent.

Will brands change their communication?
What is the point of spending thousands of dollars on an ad page when the ultimate goal of a brand - direct contact with the customer - is easily reached through social networks? "More and more, the interaction between a house and a customer is done through all the possible channels, and especially in spaces not initially intended for sale: Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook ... Whether online, on mobile or in-store applications, this merger will continue to assert itself ", continues Franck Zayan.
Increasingly, e-commerce sites will also have access to each customer's tastes and preferences through Google's history, which they use to personalize their offering. "This bespoke service is the future," said Chris Morton, founder of Lyst, a site that partners with brands in return for commissions and uses an algorithm similar to Spotify's to recommend products among 11,000 claws he works with - "Fashion is as emotional a business as music," says Chris Morton. Not surprisingly, in just three years, the firm's revenues increased by 300%.
"Emotion" being the key word, the London site Styloko was inspired by the system "swipe right, swipe left" of Tinder [Note: the gesture of sweeping the screen of his smartphone to the right or left, depending on whether you like or not] to know the tastes of its customers. Its president, Shannon Edwards, goes even further than Chris Morton: "It's no longer e-commerce that interests me, it's the m-commerce-mobile commerce.The reality, even if it does a little fear is that we spend more than half of our days on our smartphones. "
Are e-tailers the competitors of the traditional press?
For a long time, newspaper writers and bloggers fought a guerrilla war with the ultimate goal of inventing future fashion journalism. But all the energy spent arguing over issues of professionalism or independence of mind was useless: it was realized in early 2014, when Net-a-porter launched the first Porter's number, his magazine. Contributors? Lucy Yeomans, former editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, David Bailey and Mario Testino behind the camera, Gisele Bündchen, Penélope Cruz and Claudia Schiffer in front. The same is true for Mr. Porter, his male version, who took away Adam Welch, former editor-in-chief of indie magazine Wonderland. And for Matches - the magazine of the eponymous site - which counts the archirespecté critic Alex Fury among his journalists.
This brain drain was all too predictable: while traditional newspapers are dying or even dreaming of returning to a past where the Web jungle did not exist, brands are willing to spend money creating content from quality that will only improve sales - "We discovered a superb means of media distribution", joked not without irony Natalie Massenet at the launch of Porter. But would editorial independence crumble under the weight of advertisers and newspapers, whose content would be entirely purchasable?

"To give in to these pressures would be to shoot himself in the foot," answers without hesitation Franck Zayan. "We have to preserve this independence and even strengthen it.With the new Style.com, Condé Nast is only the link between the intention-created by the magazines- and the act of purchase.Our customers will come to us freely inspired by what they will have seen in the group's magazines.

So it's up to us to work around magazines and to guarantee their ability to influence. "" In any case, they have always had a relationship with brands, "adds Imran Amed, founder of the business website The Business of Fashion. This evolution only guarantees more transparency. And it is a possibility for newspapers to explore new sources of revenue while traditional advertising is declining. "