The story of a stylist’s assistant in the city of New York was making social rounds for quite some time in recent times. It mentioned how she was running across the length of the city in uncomfortable high heels whilst she attempted to pick up a dress and deliver it to a high-profile client in time for a high-profile event. The story got noticed because she was attempting to do all of this while getting drenched in the rain, managing a list of unplanned tasks while on her quest, and not getting a taxi for her commute. Though this assistant made it in the end, it may not be the case with everybody, all the time with a mismanaged schedule.
Planning and Organization are the building blocks of any business. A disciplined business can only make way to success. The fashion industry is on a continuous roll, the trends change overnight and never thought of things become the most sought-after within minutes. It is a constant rush to be innovative, creative, and at the top. The fashion houses, designers, models, and other support staff need to be on their tiptoes and always ready to adopt any change. Apart from being organized, the stakeholders of the industry are expected to travel a lot. These are global travels for discussions, shows, presentations, preparations, etc. Demand and Supply, reaching the right markets quickly, and being present where relevant are also some essentials of the fashion world.
Could be a weird correlation, but can’t Maplytics help with all of these requirements? Sounds strange, but seems valid? Shouldn’t we explore? Let go!
Setting up a fashion outlet/ boutique/ fashion house
Clothes and Accessories are considered a success commercially if in demand and purchased widely. It is a necessity to set up fashion houses closer to the markets demanding a fair supply. Thus, location selection is the crux of the case. Maplytics, the 5-star rated app of the Microsoft AppSource could be of great help in deciding this. The Census Data Visualization feature could come in handy. This feature maps the census data of a region and helps in visualizing it. The demographics of the markets, surrounding regions, etc. could be visualized and setups could be initiated accordingly.
Being closer to markets or closer to the target audience is a must. Heat Maps within Maplytics could help the user in identifying the intensity of the target audience near a particular setup spot. Considering all these factors, a wise decision could be taken on setting up fashion outlets or warehouses. Once the outlet locations have been fixed, the surrounding regions could be divided wisely into sales territories with Territory Management and taken care of by the assigned Managers.
Supplier Proximity
Once the setup is done within a customer-friendly area, a business needs to look out for suppliers. The fashion Industry requires specific raw materials in bulk. Hence, the supplier thread needs to be strong. Using the Radius/ Proximity Search feature, the raw material suppliers around the fashion house or the client area can be plotted. The required ones could be selected considering the travel distance to them. Other factors such as annual sales, business experience, volume of business, etc. can also be taken into consideration.
Ease Of Travel
The employees, designers, and models need to travel to and from nearby places. Using the Route Optimization feature, the travel routes to the nearest gas stations, to the nearby showrooms to hotels and studios where shows and photoshoots are held, airports, etc. can all be plotted for easy access and reuse.
Using the Along the Route feature, the traveling employees can also find new clients, shops, suppliers, etc. lying on their existing route of travel.
With the routes plotted, the suppliers could be tracked in real-time. The delivery trucks carrying the finished goods could also be tracked until they reach the right markets.
Being planned and organized
The schedules for the shoots, dress trails, client meetings, product line showcases, etc. are very erratic. To stay on track and prepared, Auto Scheduling could be used by Fashion geeks. The studios could be booked up, a timeline could be set for product launches, everyday supplies to showrooms could be streamlined, the start and end times for shoots and client meetings could be administered, and a lot more could be offered with the feature.
With pre-planned schedules, the designers, models, employees, photographers, fashion directors, suppliers, etc. could all be kept informed and well aware of future happenings.
Global Expansion and Management
In case a fashion house plans for global expansion, it could divide the new market into multiple territories using the Territory Management feature. Each territory could be looked after by an assigned manager. The land around could be checked in case it is residential land, agricultural land, closer to a water body, and so on. Maplytics could make it easier with Land Area Mapping. Since Maplytics supports 11 global languages, such as German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Hungarian, Dutch, Arabic, Polish, and Russian along with English, the global counterparts of the fashion houses could easily adapt to it. Marketing Lists could also be created for global and local expansion to run marketing campaigns for the target groups to which a particular collection is aimed.
What’s More?
The world of fashion is like an ocean and the possibilities of application of location intelligence are endless. Actual working would help in understanding it further. To get more acquainted with Maplytics and experience it first-hand, one can write to us at crm@inogic.com. To explore the product in depth, with a free trial of 15 days, or a personalized demo within Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM / Dataverse get in touch with our Team.
For applied knowledge, do visit our Website or the Microsoft AppSource. For a quick query resolution, one can hop on to our detailed Blogs, Client Testimonials, Success Stories, Industry Applications, and Video Library.
Until then,
Let’s be Fashion Forward!
