October 2019 Edition Apparel October 2019 issue | Page 92

NEW AVENUES
WITH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
HAVING PICKED UP PACE, INDIAN
APPAREL BUSINESSES CAN MAKE
USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA TO ACCESS
NEW CONSUMERS WITHOUT
MAJOR INVESTMENT.
with consumers rapidly becoming global in their
desires. It is not unusual for younger consumers
to order products from social media channels
with no concern of the product’s origin or history.
Brands and manufacturers are rapidly leveraging
these open channels. The ‘Direct-to-Consumer’
concept has, in fact, given birth to a whole
new spectrum of brands that have no stores or
physical presence, existing only through websites
social media and supported by a factory, which is
usually in nations such as China.
With digital transformation having picked
up pace, Indian apparel businesses can make
use of social media to access new consumers
without major investment. By connecting their
products directly to consumers, brands can open
up entirely new sales channels and develop a
digital identity that is built on more optimised
systems. Moreover, data from social media can
help businesses in deploying advanced analytics
to better understand customer desires and
demands. Enterprises and brands can even
go as far as using predictive analytics to ready
themselves for emerging trends that are likely
to pervade social media. By being more closely
connected to their customers, apparel companies
can be better prepared to offer products faster
than their competitors.
However, the greatest impact of digital
transformation happens in the merging of the
supply chain with e-commerce channels in that
digital tools can help brands, manufacturers, and
retailers gain a deeper understanding of their own
operations and make changes or alterations to
improve efficiency and productivity, and reduce
costs and delays, while creating high-quality
products at faster rates. These systems can help
businesses fine-tune many parts of their supply
chain, enabling them to make quick changes in
response to real-time events. In fact, even natural
trends such as crop failure or delays in logistics
can be noted ahead of time, and companies can
prepare themselves for the same in advance.
With a converged e-commerce-based supply
chain, Indian apparel firms can now focus on
tapping into the wealth of international, digitally
connected consumers. Companies can even
expand sales without having to rely solely on
downstream support.
DIGITAL INNOVATION IN EXPORTS
The idea of Industry 4.0 and a digital supply
system simply means that manufacturers and
brands can be better-equipped with real-
time data that aids their functioning as well as
decision-making abilities. In many cases, these
decisions are driven by insights generated using
analytical programmes, which help to streamline
the vast range of data and offer transparency
90
I APPAREL I
October 2019