Industry overview
What is shaping fashion
Fashion and apparel brands need to read trends early, get fit and size right and turn browsing into buying across stores and e-commerce.
- Trends travel quickly through social media
- Fit and size issues drive returns
- Online shoppers need confidence before buying
Client background
A value fashion retailer, working in Indonesia, Malaysia & India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.
- Organisation
- A value fashion retailer
- Sector
- Fashion
- Team engaged
- Market Research
- Services
- Consumer panel, Qualitative research, Social media marketing
Client challenge
The retailer’s designs were planned months in advance, and several recent collections missed what young shoppers wanted. Buyers relied on catwalk trends from Europe, which did not always reflect local tastes, climate and modesty preferences.
Research objectives
- Deliver on the brief: understanding style preferences among young shoppers.
- Understand the views, needs and behaviour of community members.
- Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
- Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.
Target audience
The work focused on 60 community members.
- community members60
Audiences we typically reach in fashion
Fashion shoppersOnline buyersStore staffStylists and influencersWholesale buyers
Geographic coverage
Coverage: Indonesia, Malaysia & India. Markets: Indonesia, Malaysia and India.
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- India
Research methodology
A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.
- 1Brief
- 2Online community
- 3Social listening
- 4Image-based survey
- 5Insight
We ran a three-week online community with young shoppers who shared outfits, inspiration and shopping hauls, and analysed social media conversations. An image-based survey then measured preferences for colours, silhouettes and styles across countries, in Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Hindi and English.
Consumer panelQualitative researchSocial media marketing
Sampling strategy
- community members
- 60
- Respondents were selected across Indonesia, Malaysia & India using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.
- Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
- Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.
Data collection
- survey respondents
- 2,000
- Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person, supervised in the field.
- The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
- Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.
Data quality & validation
- Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
- Time and location checks on field interviews
- Supervisor accompaniment in the field
- Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
- Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
- Review of open-ended answers
- Recordings and transcripts for every session
- Re-screening of qualitative recruits
- Logic and range checks on the final data
- Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures
Data analysis
- Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
- Significance testing on the differences that mattered
- Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
- Journey and decision mapping
Key findings
- Shoppers wanted versatile, modest pieces that could be styled for work and weekends, in lighter fabrics for heat.
Local inspiration mattered more than global catwalk trends.
Recommendations
- Build on the core insight: local inspiration mattered more than global catwalk trends.
- Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: shoppers wanted versatile, modest pieces that could be styled for work and weekends, in lighter fabrics for heat.
- Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.
Business impact
- The retailer adjusted its range plans and introduced a “mix and match” collection that sold through faster than earlier collections.
- The community was retained as an ongoing panel for testing future collections.
What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.
Deliverables & next steps
- Insight report and management presentation
- Cleaned data file and data tables
- Interview summaries and key verbatims
- Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
- A natural follow-on question: which trends will customers buy?
Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.