Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. – Thomas Edison
What do you do when your fashion brand sales suck? Sales takes time. We know it takes a while for a brand to catch on. But if sales are really low you need to analyze why. You must answer the following questions.
- Do I have a good sales team in place?
- Have I given them the tools they need to sell? Good samples, marketing material, product knowledge?
- Am I priced correctly?
- Are they seeing the right stores for my product?
- Am I seeing enough stores?
- Does my line have a unique point of view? The industry is very saturated and does not need a new brand unless it has a USP (unique selling proposition).
If you answer these in the positive then the next question you need to ask is: What are the stores saying? Do they like your line? Because if they don’t you need to figure out why and fix it. Many new brands do not have a slam dunk their first season. They need to adjust to what they are hearing from the customers. Perhaps the buyers don’t like your fabrics or color story. Or, maybe the styling is too basic or too novel and not wearable. Whatever it is you need to find out. Then you can adjust your line based on the feedback.
Change is not a threat, it’s an opportunity. Survival is not the goal, transformative success is. – Seth Godin
Evolving your collection based on feedback is important to success. When I first opened the Jessica Simpson Coat collection the retail sales were low. I learned that it was in the wrong price range for the Jessica customer it. I reduced prices dramatically and sales boomed. The moral of the story is to pay attention to what isn’t working and improve it so that your sales can improve.
