Data-Driven Trend Forecasting: A Step-By Step Guide
With the ongoing shakeup in the fashion industry, there’s one area that doesn’t always get talked about, and that is the relationship between the creative and commercial sides of the business. Each play a critical role, yet there is often a disconnect between the two. If the current environment tells us anything, it’s that the barrier between these respective business areas need to be broken down in order for the industry to get to a better, more profitable, and collaborative place.
Part of breaking down that barrier centers on education; specifically how the creative process can be informed, like other retail verticals, by data. With technology that enables us, to more quickly dissect where trends originate, be that on social media, the runway, or otherwise, there’s no reason why trend forecasting can’t get smarter and more profitable.
Today we're sharing, in two installments, our series on data-driven trend forecasting. The first guide focuses on how you can use data to inform your trend decision-making: how to identify which trends to buy into, what extent to buy into them, and how to segment them properly, in order to ensure their commercial success.
The second portion focuses on how, as the trend emerges at the point-of-sale, which metrics should be in place to measure its performance and how to systematize this process in your organization.
Learn more here about our trend capabilities.
This content originally appeared on WhichPLM on September 26 and October 2.