EDITD’s Visual Merchandising tool tracks retailers’ moves and promotions in e-commerce. Our communication reports use this tool to identify trends in how and what retailers are pushing. Our latest report takes a look back at April communications, including Easter tactics. It identifies emerging trends in the market, and here we share with you two of the key trends in newsletter and homepage messaging.
Coachella Bella
Coachella lends itself perfectly to Visual Merchandising. Harnessing the hype surrounding the event, e-tailers begin to make moves to present their Summer essentials for the festival season. Coachella is popular with celebrities, and retailers are wise to tap into this. Topshop teamed with it-girl Harley Viera Newton and Warehouse sent MTV UK’s Laura Whitmore packed with items ready for her to be Instagram’d wearing, cleverly directing followers subtly to the retailer’s site. There is a lot of attention on accessories with flower headbands playing an important part in styling. There’s also a strong theme of complete looks being laid out, with each individual product clearly broken down – New Look boasting that prices start from £3.99. The main color story is pastel, with text black and thin.
Jump Around
Turning attention to products, every key UK high street retailer has had jumpsuits or playsuits as a key feature in the last week. Playing into the festival theme there are relaxed boho looks pushed at Lipsy, whilst 70s inspired styling at Nasty Gal and River Island project more of an urban vibe. Predominately the stories for these items are minimal, almost futuristic at Topshop with clean lines – this is mirrored at Missguided but with a more feminine feel. We note a subtle change of text at New Look with a homepage title; a playful ‘Jump On It’ is changed to a simple ‘The Jumpsuit’ two days later. The jumpsuit in question is currently only available in 3 sizes – with an alert that its low in stock in one of the remaining sizes. In the past week in the UK alone we noted 1,074 new jumpsuits or playsuits arriving instore compared to 801 in the same period in March. Of those dropped in the last 3 months, only 14.2% are on discount, compared to 22% of dresses and 23% of skirts.
For further visual merchandising trends, EDITD subscribers can see the full report when they log in.
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