RSK Tech founder Anders Rask looks at how technological advances in online retail is driving customer demand.

We are all aware how much the Internet has changed our work life; In particular we use email to communicate with clients and suppliers, but we have also gotten used to finding relevant information on the web and purchasing cheaply and effectively from online shops.

Remember, our customers’ lives are changing too and with them their demands and expectations as to how they can order bespoke clothing. Particularly the young segment of consumers (16-40) has a strong expectation to be able to order online and to be in charge of the creative process. It’s important to watch and cater for this group simply because it’s huge and will in most cases be the largest part of your business.

New technological advances in online retailing are now meeting these expectations making it possible to sell bespoke clothing online giving the customer full control of the creative process. Shops that has sold garments online, sometimes with stock designs, have been known for many years, but we’re now finally seeing online shops that sell garments AND print/embroidery/labelling of the customer’s own design.

To be precise, what is now possible is to have a site where the customer can order the garments, create or upload the graphics, have it all visualised and proofed online, and “check out” and pay for the order.

It’s fitting to now finally have this technology since the typical garment decorator derives 70-100% of his or her revenue from orders that include decoration (that – after all – is why it’s called a garment decorator).

As these technologies mature and become commonplace it will drive a much larger proportion of customers online and it will generate bigger demand by being more accessible to customers. As bespoke garments become more and more common for sport and work the market will grow and the largest part of this growth will be realised online. When the supporting technology is good enough online selling becomes the ideal channel because it puts full control and visualisation right in front of the customers. Additionally it saves the garment decorator time and money because the customer has done a part of the work to begin with, and the order is readily available in a format that fits right into an automated workflow.

So it is clear that the companies that are now investing in online selling will benefit from it, the big question is to what extent it will affect the garment decoration industry as a whole. Will online and off-line co-exist happily side by side, or will there be a clear trend that online dominates?

Companies who do not already have an online strategy can act today by contacting RSK Tech. Visit our homepage at www.rsktech.com.

Party Shirts

All over UK huge sums are spent on stag and hen nights and a stable of any such is the t-shirt. This business has been fast to move online already and I will estimate that close to 50% of orders are placed online. As technology such as RSK NetShirt becomes commonplace it will rapidly increase to 80-90%. The success in this sector clearly demonstrates that given the choice the young segment will choose online.

Sportswear

An even bigger area is sportswear and in particular team wear. Where it was previously only large professional teams who had professional kit with numbers, names, crests and sponsor logos, it is becoming more and more common for all sizes of teams. Currently we are seeing large players such as Umbro and JJB moving online with new team wear offerings, but shortly we’ll see a number of smaller companies going online with solutions that can easily surpass these big players.

Promotional Wear

Because it’s purchased by companies of all shapes and sizes the situation will remain for a long time that some buyers prefer online while others prefer off-line. But in the specific segment of very large buyers we will see a clear trend towards online because the online “project management” features will fit the users.

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