“While the fashion giants go all in with AI, smaller players spend more energy on human relationships. It can be a competitive advantage and perhaps even solve online stores’ return problems”, says an expert in e-commerce. Learn more about how a small Danish clothing brand outcompetes the giants.
When several large online fashion stores are experimenting with artificial intelligence to help us find the right garments and avoid us sending too many returns, the Marc Lauge brand is betting on the exact opposite – namely proper people.
“We experience a clear effect of not only being found online or in our physical stores, but in both places, and that the employees themselves manage the show by posting pictures, using the clothes and interacting with the customers. It creates a relationship that also draws customers into the stores,” explains Thomas Lauge Christensen, who is Retail Manager at Marc Lauge, who has sold pants and jeans to a number of stores in Norway.
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Related: The Only Jeans Factory in Norway
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AI can reinforce the need for decent people
Although the online store Zalando has been one of the most used online stores in Norway for a number of years, the retailer struggles with return of almost 50 percent of the orders.
“Measures with artificial intelligence should, among other things, counteract the problem, but the more artificial intelligence we encounter, the greater our need for human contact,” says an expert from Scandinavia’s largest consultancy in commerce.
“In the fashion industry, the biggest challenge is that clothes fit differently from person to person, and that is one of the reasons for the high return rates. Several of the major players are trying to solve the problem technically with avatars and AI, which can help find the right sizes, options and inspiration, but it is a difficult problem to solve exclusively online,” says Thomas Obelitz Høgsbro-Rode, who is Managing Director at IMPACT.
“Using the company’s own staff makes a difference, because deep down we want to interact with other people and the world around us. I also believe that we need it now more than ever. Beyond that, it is a competitive advantage to have physical stores in interaction with an online store. Being able to return an item from the internet in a physical store, where you can also find the right size, is a win-win for everyone,” Høgsbro-Rode adds.
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Related: Two Swedes’ Revolutionary Move for the Fashion Industry
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Being present in both worlds works
Even if the big competitors are going in the complete opposite direction, the effect of using a company’s ‘real people’ is so great that it gives hope to the physical stores, believes Thomas Lauge Christensen.
“It clearly gives more traffic and interaction when it is the store employees who control social media, and it also draws customers into the physical stores. That way we are present in both worlds, and one reinforces the other,” he concludes.
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Marc Lauge is a family-owned Danish fashion house with more than 35 years of experience. With a particularly great expertise in quality denim, Marc Lauge is a recognized brand, especially in jeans in Scandinavia.
Small Danish Clothing Brand Outcompetes the Giants, based on a press release from the company.