A one-day CPD and business development event bringing together the UK’s leading eCommerce experts, fashion industry suppliers, retailers and brands to share best practice, knowledge and innovation. The event will feature keynote speeches, plenary case studies, panel discussions, workshops and plenty of networking opportunities.
- TFN website
Last week, on Tuesday July 9th, The Fashion Network hosted their annual Fashion Summit in the centre of Manchester. Screen Pages was one of many exhibitors, including dotdigital, Bidnamic and Social Chain.
Screen Pages' CEO, Sarah Willcocks, also gave a compelling talk on the Latest UX Trends in the Multi-Channel Retail Environment. Overall, the agenda was packed with content that would be of value to anyone in the fashion retail - eCommerce space, including:
When we weren't manning the Screen Pages stand, we were listening intently to the wisdom that was being shared from experts in their fields. So many interesting ideas were discussed that it's hard to summarise it all in a short blog post; however, there were key takeaways that are worth pointing out:
1. The idea of Search Listening (not Social Listening) and the power of harnessing all the data we input into our best friend and greatest confidant... Google Search. If we stop to think of the amount of searches we begin on google on a daily basis, from serious to anecdotal (to downright personal), we can perhaps begin to imagine the amount of data Google has on its billions of users. "Google searches are the most important dataset ever collected on the human psyche" said one of the slides, quoting Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. With search listening, the ability to use this information to better address customers' needs is becoming easier and more efficient. Stefan Hull, MD of Propellernet, demonstrated that by cleverly using determiners, triggers, spaces and other techniques where necessary, a company could track changes in audience sentiment, on seasonal trends and even see how the searchers identify themselves.
"Google searches are the most important dataset ever collected on the human psyche"
2. Don't Build a Brand, Build a Personality was one of the most striking presentations, as Director of Social & Creative at Social Chain, Hannah Anderson, shared her insights on how to get better results from your marketing by using a human-first approach. Through various examples of tapping-in to consumer's pain points and addressing them in creative ways, she demonstrated how she and her team have become one of the most sought-after global social media marketing agencies through this focus on personality over brand.
3. There was an interesting Q&A session between Emma Campbell, Founder of What Emma Did, and Jenna Meek, Founder of The Gypsy Shrine, about how the latter grew her business from a £3,000 investment to the giant that it is today. The power of social media, and Instagram in particular, really stood out as Jenna spoke of how she started finding collaborators, influencers and ambassadors for her brand on the platform.
All in all, the event was definitely worth attending, not only for the plethora of information shared but also as an opportunity to meet some of the experts in this great sector of eCommerce. Screen Pages is eagerly looking forward to next year's Fashion Summit!
