Fashion is about change and reinvention more than anything so creating a fashion website that can attract your audience, show off your brand and ride the wave of imagination is a big ask. For many brands creating their first website, this is a chance to bring your brand to the fore and show off your ideas to the world, for brands searching for a new look and to rise phoenix-like from the flames, a website is a fast way to show that you are staying ahead and have plenty of new ideas.
Though all websites should focus on the brand they are representing and therefore will all look and do different things, there are a few similarities between fashion websites that you should be aware of before you get started. When the stakes are this high, getting it right first time is crucial for your success.
It’s All About the Look
Have a look at these fashion websites for 2018. They all have one thing in common: they have focused on the look.
A clear, uncluttered style, using large pictures is always going to be a winner for fashion sites in 2018. Like a magazine, you should be drawing your user’s attention to the product on show and presenting them with the aspirational lifestyle they buy into when they purchase from your brand. In practice this means that rather than funky buttons or an all singing all dancing site, you should really be focusing on providing high quality images and videos to present your products.
The other thing that you should be concerning yourself with is considering how you can make your website and products to a mobile audience. Building your website to be responsive is one method, but it can mean that you have to compromise on the look in order to make sure that everything works well. You might also like to consider using mobile application development to produce an app that is very similar to your website but works better on mobile.
Your Audience Vote with Their Feet
The fashion industry is a tumultuous world to work in. One day your business is riding high and everyone is obsessed with your new looks, the next day you need to completely rethink your entire collection to keep up with the next trend. While you might think that the large fashion houses are the ones responsible for the fast pace of the industry, what is really happening is that your fashion-conscious audience are simply voting with their feet to find the next best thing. If you aren’t on top, they will simply leave.
Regarding your website, this means that you need to keep your audience’s needs in mind all the time. Using a blog to form a community for people who love your brand is a smart way to continually engage them with what your latest looks are or what you are being inspired by right now. Creating an email list and sending out regular emails is an added extra you can use to remind your customers of your website and entice them back with relevant links.
All websites need shaking up every now and then but knowing when and how is a key part to your success. Audiences are fickle and while they like being presented with something new, they must still be able to recognise your brand on the site and intuitively find their way around. While the look may be the most important thing, audience usability is a close second – after all, if they can’t find the button to add to basket, they won’t buy anything. Don’t give them reason to leave your site in favour of another.
Be Bold
If there is one rule that all fashionistas must follow it is this: be bold. When Coco donned that first black dress she went against the grain and followed her own fashion instincts. As it turns out, she set a trend that hasn’t been out of fashion since.
Being bold can mean many things in the fashion website world. It can be something so plain and innocuous that it becomes an instant source of intrigue; it could be something completely different to everything that has gone before; or it could be a twist on a classic, bringing the design into the modern age. Only you can really know what your brand can do to stand out and be bold, but rather than looking around for ideas, look around and be inspired to do something no-one else is doing.
