CASE STUDY

Integrating Accessories Strategy into Brand Experience for a Major Central and Eastern European Fashion Brand

Through these targeted initiatives, the brand successfully revitalised its accessories department, creating a more unified and engaging brand experience that resonated with customers and drove growth across multiple channels

The Situation

Stagnating accessories sales due to poor visibility in brand experience and weak collaboration between teams.

For several seasons, sales in the accessories department had stagnated, even as garment sales continued to grow. The accessories team expressed frustration over their products' lack of visibility on the e-commerce website and in marketing content. Meanwhile, the marketing, visual merchandising, and e-commerce teams reported difficulties in styling and matching accessories with the clothing collection. Weak collaboration between the visual merchandising, garment, and accessories teams during collection development exacerbated the issue.

The Challenge

How can the brand enhance the visibility of accessories within its overall brand experience and improve their sales?

Approach

To address the challenges, we implemented a multi-faceted approach that involved comprehensive analysis, strategic realignment, and enhanced interdepartmental collaboration:

In-Depth Analysis: We began by conducting a thorough analysis of the current product and collection offerings, including collection mapping, store visits, and team interviews within the accessories department. Additionally, we researched leading competitors and market trends to identify best practices and opportunities for improvement.
Clarification of Business Model: We clarified the brand's business model by distinguishing between two types of fashion brands:
- Accessories-Led Brands: Brands where the majority of revenue comes from accessories, such as Louis Vuitton (bags) or Nike (sneakers). In these brands, the entire brand experience and product offerings revolve around accessories, with garments serving as complementary items.
- Garment-Led Brands: Brands where garments are the primary revenue drivers, such as Zara or Ralph Lauren. In these cases, accessories serve as complementary items that enhance the overall look and help drive garment sales.
A New Strategy and Common Understanding: By building a common understanding that the brand was garment-led, we were able to develop a new strategy that better aligned garments and accessories.
Alignment of Strategy and Trends: We redesigned the proportion and structure of the accessories collection to match the garment collection, ensuring that both were aligned in terms of trends and themes. This included reducing the product development time for accessories to synchronise more closely with garment trends. We also fostered closer collaboration between the accessories and garment teams, enabling more cohesive collections.

Through these targeted initiatives, the brand successfully revitalised its accessories department, creating a more unified and engaging brand experience that resonated with customers and drove growth across multiple channels.

Results

The cohesive alignment of the accessories collection led to increased visibility, improved styling coordination, and a significant boost in sales and average order values.

Increased Visibility: The newly aligned accessories collection became more visible on the e-commerce platform and in marketing materials, making it easier for customers to discover and purchase these products.
Improved Styling and Coordination: With a more cohesive approach, visual merchandising, e-commerce, and marketing teams found it easier to select and style accessories that complemented the garments. This led to a more seamless brand experience for customers.
Boost in Sales and Order Values: As a result of these changes, sales of accessories increased significantly. Additionally, average order values on e-commerce platforms rose, driven by more frequent multi-item purchases