Collection Development: What’s Comparative Shopping
365 days of fashion: the e-ncyclopedia of fashion
Thursday, March 28, 2024
A week ago, we talked about Directional Shopping done by designers to get inspiration for their collection. But there is also another component of the research process done by fashion companies: Comparative Shopping.
Comparative shopping (or comparison shopping) is a type of shopping done by fashion designers and buyers. They carry out a competitor analysis to determine the position of their brand and product offering in the marketplace by comparing it with the competitors.
Comparative shopping can be a part of directional shopping, (if you remember, the latter can involve a phase of analysis of the market and the competitors) but a competitor analysis is best done in detail during the comparative shopping mission.
What are the steps of comparative shopping?
Before going on comparative shopping, designers and buyers have to do several things.
Step 1: Build their brand’s product mix. It can include: