We can all agree that the pandemic has had an impact on our daily lives. One impact has been our changing wardrobe choices, which have enabled sportswear and athleisure firms to thrive. Leggings, sweatpants, and loungewear have swiftly become essential components in our professional wardrobes – especially as the majority of business meetings are now taking place in front of a laptop at home. 

With consumers choosing for comfort and style when working at home, what does this mean for the sportswear and athleisure markets? In a word: growth. 

The US sports apparel market has grown from being worth $105.1 billion in 2020, according to Statista, to an expected $113.4 billion in 2021*1. When it comes to the quantity of orders, women’s athleisure orders have increased by 84% since the pandemic began according to TrueFit’s Fashion Genome for footwear and apparel based on data from 17,000 retail companies and 180 million TrueFit members (Forbes, 2021).

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How can you succeed in the fashion market?

Even with the growth within the market, competition in the athleisure space is tough. So beyond athleisure, how can you ensure your brand succeeds?

Brands need to think from an omnichannel perspective, seamlessly integrating branding and messaging across online and offline touchpoints via the right channels to reach their target audience and build a relationship with them. This will encourage more customers to go further through the sales funnel, resulting in a more influential customer experience. 

This entails not just partnering with the right influencers and media outlets, but also being selective about the channels they use. Not every channel is needed here, so focus your efforts on the channels that your audience visits that also match the vision and theme of your brand. 

Global or regional brands should also be aware of their audiences’ preference for location-specific channels such as Chinese social media platforms like Douyin (TikTok) and WeChat. To drive brand performance, it’s critical that your brand understands how to communicate with global customers, locally.

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The benefits of an omnichannel presence

Being active across multiple channels requires a structured plan, increased content creation, and knowledge of your audiences’ habits and preferences. But this investment of time, energy, and effort delivers benefits to your brand. 

By connecting with customers where they are, you improve the user experience, improving brand awareness and fostering increased loyalty and a higher rate of conversion. The insights you gain about your customers will help you to personalize your offerings, further improving loyalty and conversions in a positive upward spiral. 

One athleisure company that has benefited from this strategy during the pandemic is Lululemon. Lululemon continuously evaluates and evolves its omnichannel strategy to find the right combination to meet its needs. Recently, the brand launched a Video Chat feature on its website that enables one-to-one interactions with customers for a personalized user experience. 

Lululemon is expanding their ecosystem beyond apparel into parallel industries, specifically with their recent acquisition of Mirror, which is described as “the world’s first nearly invisible gym”. These tools are helping the brand to connect physical and virtual experiences for its customers and drives brand loyalty.

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Shopify in your omnichannel strategy

For many athleisure companies, Shopify is an important channel in their omnichannel strategy. With Shopify, these companies can easily create websites for eCommerce. Plus, they can add personalization tools where to recommend their product catalog on their Shopify store based on “Recently viewed” or “Added to cart” recommendations. 

This level of personalization enables you to approach your target audience in their preferred way. The result? 

Customers are more likely to recommend your brand, more likely to recognize it on other platforms, and, most importantly, more likely to repurchase. A perfect example of an athleisure brand on Shopify is the UK-based and globally expanding retailer, Gymshark, who relies part of its success on the omnichannel strategy. How this sports brand went from solely online focus to now opening their first store in Denver, Colorado.

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How does Froomle fit into your omnichannel Shopify strategy?  

We have recently launched a Shopify app which allows you to seamlessly include real time AI-driven, personalized product recommendations to all your customers. This way you will improve the user experience for your customers massively. Contact us to get more information about our App.

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