Fashion’s Night Out, a night of shopping and celebration that takes place across the globe tonight has made a controversial impact on the fashion industry and the consumer retail world. Although it continues to attract greater retail participation, many wonder if the event has real value for the industry, or if it’s just an excuse for one big party.
Fashion’s Night Out was created in 2009 by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Diane von Furstenburg, president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), in the deepest part of the recession. The industry icons met in Paris and developed the idea of bringing consumers’ favorite designers to them in person, taking the B2B, trade-only model and giving it a consumer focus.
The goal was to motivate consumers to spend again by creating excitement around a community-style shopping event that gave everyone who participated access to the designers and celebrities they loved. Wintour and von Furstenburg then approached New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and all editors of Vogue internationally to execute the event.
The event was pitched as a strategic way to end the cycle of deep, almost fanatical retail discounting that was commonplace in 2009. Event participants promised they wouldn’t launch sales that evening, though that didn’t stop them from trotting out sale racks with items that were already marked down.
In terms of participation, it was a measurable success. Eleven countries and 700 stores in the U.S. took part in the evening’s festivities in 2009. Participating retailers saw a 3.4% increase in store traffic nationwide, and a 48% increase in New York City alone, according to estimates from ShopperTrak. A NYC & Co. survey of 1,300 shoppers found 71% of them visited a store they had never been to before and 61% ventured out of their comfort zones, going to neighborhoods outside of their work and living areas.
2011 promises to be even bigger. 18 countries (including Greece, UK, Japan, China, Brazil, France and South Korea), more than 250 U.S. cities and 1,178 retailers in New York City will participate in Fashion’s Night Out. Two hundred online retailers have also signed on for the event this year.
A Strategic Marketing Initiative?
Image courtesy of Flickr, find eric
Although the event attracts a great deal of notice, fashion industry professionals still have mixed feelings about the true benefits of Fashion’s Night Out.
In a recent New York Times blog post, veteran style critic Cathy Horyn writes, “Fashion’s Night Out was a good idea when it began, back in the depths of the recession when stores were virtually empty. But now it’s become a party, an institutionalized kickoff to Fashion Week, and though it apparently raises money for some causes, I have to believe that the costs of security, crowd control and entertainment, not to mention the traffic headaches, outweigh the actual benefits.”
The problem comes down to sales. Although the same NYC & Co. survey found that 75% of shoppers said they made a purchase during Fashion’s Night Out in 2009, retailers told Forbes that recession-conscious consumers were really there to see celebrities rather than shop — something I witnessed in both 2009 and 2010 first-hand.
Although most retailers have refused to disclose numbers, Barney’s New York creative director Simon Doonan said that the 2009 impact was minimal in terms of sales.
So why aren’t consumers shopping? According to Wendy Bendoni, professor of fashion marketing at Woodbury University, “Most consumers still are wondering why there aren’t any promotion sales and don’t see the need to go out in the crowd. They have not been properly educated of what this night means to the fashion industry as a whole.”
Bendoni says that retailers need to look at Fashion’s Night Out as an opportunity to connect with their customers, “not selling out their collections.” She believes that a stellar FNO event can create customer loyalty. “The consumer will remember where they first met the designer or influential personality they idolize that helped them pull their fall ‘must-have’ items during the event. That connection is the start of the relationships that can last decades,” she says.
Can Digital Save Fashion’s Night Out?
The above has been reposted from Mashable, you can read the rest of the article/original here. It was contributed by Macala Wright who is the publisher of FashionablyMarketing.Me, one of the leading fashion and retail industry business websites. She is a retail consultant and business strategist who specializes in marketing consulting for fashion, luxury and lifestyle brands. You can follower her on Twitter at@InsideFMM or @Macala. Top Image courtesy of Flickr, Patricia Oliveira
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
