Youth marketing specialists Taboo have worked with major clients in the Australian fashion retail scene such as Mimco, Witchery, Sportsgirl and Nike. Founded in 2000 with a foundation in guerrilla-style marketing stunts, it has since branched out to include working on retailers online marketing campaigns.
Hobbins says Australian brands are not as innovative as their global competitors.
“Australian brands fall into two different piles: Brands which are better than others at the technical side, whose pages look a bit better than others, and then there are the ones which address the brand stuff, the ones which are creating an entire culture around the product they are selling and maximising their platforms and creative content to eventually sell people products based on this culture.
“I think this second category is where a lot of brands are struggling. We’re still behind in Australia in contrast to people overseas. We’re behind in terms of the whole approach to ecommerce. Brands are very similar in Australia in terms of their web presence, no one is going above and beyond. There are international brands doing it better and we need to be modelling our brands after them,” he says.
Hobbins gives the examples of US heavyweights Saks Fifth Avenue, Express, SSence and Urban Outfitters. He says Australian brands need to be looking to these overseas brands in order to improve their own online offering.
“We do have the Top Shops and the Zaras here which are shipping internationally and there are a lot of brands which are already taking care of the duty and shipping like Barneys. Brands need to be able to change quickly. I think they have to get better at understanding their data. They have to be so engaged with the consumer that they are constantly evaluating what works and what doesn’t online.
“Brands need to be able to maximise their brand culture, you want people to purchase things online without actually knowing it and it just feels natural. It’s so much about being across more channels effectively,” he says.
In the US, a new television show called Fashion Star is allowing its audience to buy looks straight-from the show, as soon as they’ve aired on the runway, through the online stores of Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s and Express.
“When an outfit appears on the runway, you can then go online and buy it straight away. You’re seeing celebrities in the clothes and the brands are doing extra things to say why you should buy their clothes. The whole show is geared around why you should buy the items and you see celebrities like Jessica Simpson, photos on twitter, designers and stores buying the clothes,” Hobbins says.
He says initiatives like this further encourage consumers to buy the products and Australian brands need to consider creative ideas such as this to keep up with brands internationally.
“They’re utilising a channel to push their clothes online. These brands like Saks and Express knew this was a way they could sell products strongly without making it seem like they were pushing it on people. They [Australian brands] need to find ways to engage people in less obvious channels,” he says.
When asked about the progression of Australian brands, Hobbins said no Australian fashion retailer is “really really killing it when you think globally”.
“There is no one making waves internationally and you don’t see a lot of stores engaging with international brands.
“Progression would have been David Jones bringing Zara to Australia five years ago. So much about digital is doing it first. For example, SSence created the world’s first shoppable music video featuring musicians Iggy Azalea, FKi and Diplo. Technically, that’s something that an Australian brand like General Pants could have done,” he says.
From his experience working with fashion retailers, Hobbins says brands always need to focus on return on investment and get to a point where they can manage their social media and digital initiative internally.
“They have got to have people there who are constantly engaged with customers and bloggers and creating original online content,” he says.
“The challenge of managing bricks and mortar stores and online is they are so different to be working at the one time. Online, tools like Polyvore allow people to be notified of the cheapest products and in this way it’s much harder for the lower end stores to attract people to the actual store.”
Hobbins commends initiatives by the LMFF and David Jones to make their items more shoppable, but he says they aren’t doing anything inventive.
“It’s nothing which will make people say ‘oh wow, that’s crazy’. It’s just providing a digital service which the masses can relate to, rather than that already being taken care of and then doing something really progressive,” he says.
He believes Australia’s lack of innovation in this sector is no one’s fault, but has been influenced by tough market conditions.
“It’s no fault of anyone solely, but it’s based off where bricks and mortar retail has been in the last three of four years. It’s been in a bad spot and people have been hesitant to spend money. Retailers have been letting people go and shutting down stores and stores like Top Shop have come in and forced retailers to re-evaluate their prices.”
“The high value of the Australian dollar has also had an impact. People can basically get things shipped here for nothing. Now, I think everyone has that product side sorted, so hopefully in the next two to three years we’ll see some progressive ideas around retail in Australia online, ideas which are more brand led, are more content led, and offer different ways to engage people with products,” he says.
Look out for the second part of this story on Thursday.
