Dive Brief:
- Digital tools and social media are helping niche brands gain a foothold in the highly competitive apparel market and other retail sectors by aggregating demand.
- Crowdfunding sites such as Indiegogo and Kickstarter allow small makers to take preorders of apparel and other products, then produce items when demand for them reaches a tipping point.
- Makers and manufacturers no longer need to rely on retail buyers or brick-and-mortar stores to find a market for their goods.
Dive Insight:
The web is transforming retail and allowing many small manufacturers to sell directly to consumers, according to a new report from Deloitte University Press. It doesn’t take a lot of money for a niche offering to establish a digital presence, the report says, and sellers aren’t limited by the constraints of a physical store location or international borders.
What’s more, on-demand strategies are taking the guesswork out of producing limited-run or custom-made items. Apparel designer JAKE recently debuted a ready-to-wear collection on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, for example, taking preorders on items it would manufacture and deliver only after it had assessed the entire demand universe.
Moda Operandi, a luxury retailer, links couture designers to shoppers, letting customers pre-order apparel seen on the runways. And last month, Amazon—which has been expanding its presence in the fashion and apparel markets since the beginning of the year—announced plans to partner with Indiegogo and others on a marketplace that would collect preorders from small fashion start-ups for later fulfillment.