Inside Scoop

Photo: Uh … Bob

Here at The Wardrobe Channel, our big audacious goal is to change the way you buy and wear clothing. It will take a 21st century media company to achieve this, so that’s what we’re building.

What will a 21st century media company look like?

Firstly, the medium is not the message; the message is the message.

Secondly, media properties will move beyond ads to be far more useful in helping people make purchases.

A 21st century media company will help people through every step of that process; they won’t just show products and leave you to figure out where to buy them. This will apply to everything from fashion mags to property supplements — and of course car mags and the technology press too.

To find out how a media property can make it easier to shop, it’s first necessary to understand how we make purchasing decisions…

How we make purchasing decisions

Shopping can be broken down into a series of steps that are remarkably universal. These are equally true whether the purchase home furnishings, cooking utensils, clothing, food, a car, computer, TV, stereo…

With relatively little variation, the way we go about purchasing things can be summarized as follows:

1. Need: Why you want to buy something, e.g. “My car’s breaking down a lot”
2. Research: Surveying the available options to find one that will meet your needs, e.g. “I’ve looked at 20 cars and the 2008 Honda Accord is my first choice”
3. Decide: Choose to proceed with a purchase, e.g. “I think I’ll buy a Honda Accord”
4. Search: Go to a retail outlet to find the item you wish to buy, e.g. head to a car dealership
5. Buy: Pay for your purchase, e.g. sign the papers and hand over a bank check for your new car
6. Use: Fit the new item into your lifestyle, e.g. drive your new car

This process is actually a loop rather than a linear process, as purchases often lead to other purchases.

In the example above, the owner of a new car will likely buy insurance straight away. Then maybe they’ll also purchase some floor mats to keep the car’s carpet pristine, or leopard-print seat covers to personalize their car. They might also buy an iTrip, air freshener, car cleaning products, a car cover, fluffy dice, mag wheels, reflective windshield covers, GPS… and they’re guaranteed to buy gasoline, oil, coolant, anti-freeze and regular servicing for their car throughout its lifespan.

We might make 20 trips ’round the shopping loop, just because our car was worn out!

This same process also applies to clothing purchases. To whit:

1. Need: “All my work outfits are looking tired”
2. Research: “I could get some colorful shirts like Lee wears each day”
3. Decide: “I’ll buy some new shirts to spice up all the suits I own”
4. Search: Trudge around the stores ’til you find the shirts
5. Buy: Wait your turn to hand over your money
6. Use: Wear them!

(For impulse purchases, the need is entertainment, i.e. “I’m bored”, and researching the purchase involves deciding what’s the most fun.)

Where 20th century media companies fit in

20th century media companies show ads that promote products or services offered by other companies. In addition to the ads, fashion publications are full of articles and photo spreads that show product their editors believe are desirable — with more than a few products from advertisers in the mix. This is also true of publications about home decorating, cars, investments, computers etc.

These publication can be incredibly helpful in steps two and three of the buying process (i.e. “research” and “decide”) because in that sea of ads and products, at least occasionally you’ll think, “hey, I need that!”.

In fashion mags, the stories about dressing for different occasions — for example, a summer vacation, spring wedding, job interview or pregnancy — are especially helpful in this way. If you’re at step one in the process (”What will I wear to Susan’s wedding?”) they can quickly guide you to step three…

..and that’s where they stop.

Beyond step three, you’re on your own. If you want to actually buy those desirable items, at best you’ll be given the name of a shop that might have them, or a phone number for the distributor. The legwork is up to you.

If you never manage to find the item you wanted, tough. You have to go back to step one in the process and find something different to meet your need.

21st century media will close the loop

To give great fashion advice, you need to offer an end-to-end solution. Telling people what they need but leaving it up to them to find, buy and figure out how to wear the item (i.e. what to wear it with) frustrates and annoys your customers — not the desired effect.

In the 21st century, media properties that help people make purchasing decisions will have to be involved in the whole sales process. It won’t be enough to run a story about summer sun-dresses; the reader must also be able to try and buy the product, have it delivered quickly and figure out how to wear it.

To their credit, the more forward-looking publications are beginning to do this. For example, Condé Nast have launched a companion site to Vogue magazine called shopvogue.tv where you can purchase items you’ve seen in the magazine. Their main site, style.com now also has links to web sites that sell most of the products they mention — although haute couture clearly isn’t something you can buy online.

This doesn’t go far enough though.

Why not guide people through the entire buying process, from “need” to “use”?

Why not personalize that experience to their own needs and preferences?

Why note combine automated and people-driven features, and use the most appropriate medium to help with each step in the process?

All of this is possible now.

There are a host of new technologies that are readily available and could make shopping considerably easier, but nobody has worked out how to fully leverage their benefits yet. The company that does could be huge, which is why we’re working on it.

Wish us luck — when our site is fully built, clothes shopping will be much simpler, for you and everybody else