Lessons Learned from the Luisa Via Roma Fashion & Technology Summit

2017 has just arrived, bringing with it the usual amount of new year’s resolutions and goals that make us want to improve ourselves and do better. A new year brings in new challenges, which is certainly the case for fashion businesses working to face new market challenges with technology.  This could be catching the attention of increasingly distracted consumers, in an increasingly competitive scene. Before you get all worked up over how to stay on top of this, remember that we’re here to help you!

In order to start the year on a high note, we’re going to tell you about an eye-opening event that took place in Florence, Italy this week. For the third year in a row, Luisa Via Roma held their Fashion & Technology Summit. The  summit gathered leading professionals from the fashion & technology industries to discuss new challenges, predictions, and goals for the year.

Launchmetrics was proud to be the official media partner for the event and to contribute to the conversation by having Alison Levy, our CMO, share some insights.

Key Takeaways

The 2017 Summit took place at Teatro della Compagnia, in the heart of Florence and was a full day of panels moderated by Sissi Johnson – brand strategist, tech advisor and Huffington Post Contributor. Here are the top topics that were discussed.

Digital Empathy: finding the balance between human and digital

The concept that the tech aspect that characterizes fashion brands need to build a true, and as human as possible relationship with the customer: empathy leaves space for emotions and builds a sincere connection with the brand.

• Holition, a digital retail specialized studio, talked about the topic of claiming the need to create a dialogue between the human and the digital world.
• Peuterey underlined the urgency to tell a true story: not storytelling that sells a concept that does not turn into reality, but #realitytelling; the narration of the truth.  
  Fashion today is not about fiction but truth, honesty and purposefulness”- Francesca Lusini

  Click To Tweet

• The importance of engagement: Andrea Barchesi, CEO at digital marketing agency 77 Agency, spoke about the role of influencers in this field, how they are seen as trusted friends who show an honest recommendation of a brand (when done properly), while Hearst, one of the world’s leading publishing groups, highlighted the importance of content and how it needs to be distributed in the correct way in order to catch the consumer’s attention.
• As a result of the above, there is a need to engage with the customer in a personal way, the need to establish human relationships in the digital space.

Data, data everywhere!

The word data can be scary for people who fear math: and yet, this world made of numbers and reports is becoming a trusted friend of fashion brands, helping them to foresee consumer preferences and behaviour. This is the kind of information data allows us to know:

• Enrico Quaroni, Digital & Big Data expert at Rocket Fuel, highlighted how measuring and managing data is considered the main factor in gaining success today. Moreover, data is useful to marketing that claims to feel the pressure of measuring the ROI of every action
  
  “Machines remain machines:  it’s still humans who will make it more empathic” – Enrico Quaroni

  Click To Tweet

• Nielsen, a company that analyses consumer behaviour, showed that digital is gaining a fundamental role in fashion brands’ media mix, almost as much as traditional press (36 vs. 39). Thanks to data, fashion brands are believed to increase their overall budget designated to digital advertising by 13.7%.
• Furthermore, video advertising and social media is gaining a fundamental role in fashion brands’ media mix, as a kind of content that works well on mobile, which is becoming the most used digital device.
• Lastly, data is imminently important in understanding consumer preferences, so to make sure a tailored experience is being offered, making each customer feel special (who said digital empathy?)

We predict that 2017 will be a year characterized by technological innovation and we will see how fashion brands will face the challenge to embrace these digital tools, which will allow them to offer the customer an unforgettable experience. As our CMO Alison Levy stated, “Adapting digital tools is no longer a choice for fashion brands”. 

Header image: 2Luxury2