8 Ways To Standout And Get Noticed In The Saturated Fashion Industry

Every day a new fashion designer or fashion retailer gets into the fashion industry and the market just keeps getting more and more saturated. This is a good thing but can also pose a hindrance to some fashion entrepreneurs when it comes to standing out and getting noticed above all others. 

It is pretty easy to stand out in the saturated fashion market once you put everything in place, think about it, some people in the fashion industry are standing out already. People like Lisa Folawiyo, Reni Folawiyo, and Deola Sagoe, to name a few, have found ways to make their names known by others in the industry and are now forces to reckon with, so why shouldn’t you?

In this video, Beth Fayemi shares on ways to stand out in a saturated market to get your business noticed by potential customers. 

Ways to Stand Out in a Saturated Market

Find Your Niche

Before we go into the main points on ways to stand out in a saturated market, we have to first tackle this step of finding a niche. 

You cannot be a ‘Jack of all trades’ and expect to stand out in the industry because people have to know you for one thing. You cannot be selling wigs, selling makeup, sewing clothes for children, making shoes and bags, making maternity wears, sewing clothes for the corporate woman, and the elderly all in one business. 

You have to carve out a niche. 

When you focus on one thing, it will make it easier for your customers to associate you with one particular thing and begin to see you as an authority in that area as time goes on. This is the first step to tackle before you go on with trying to stand out. 

Now, here are the main points on how to stand out in a saturated market;

1. Find a Gap

This is the first and easiest way to stand out in a saturated market. There is always a gap in every market, and the fashion industry is no different. 

Think about it, what are the consumers in the fashion industry complaining about? What is not yet in the market? What can be made easier in the market? What are your competitors not doing? 

No matter how saturated your market is, there are always gaps in the market. There is always room for improvement. There is always something that can be done more or better in that market.

Once you can find some, or all, of these things you are on your way to standing out. After this article, sit and look at your market to find gaps in it. If you are a womenswear designer or you sell ready-to-wear outfits for women, look for ways in which things could be better. 

It will require critical thinking, but it can be done. Once you find a gap in your market, you are on your way to standing out because that gap is what you will communicate to your target audience. 

Seeing as you have found a gap now, the next thing to do is to follow up and bridge that gap. For example, there is a clothing brand in Nigeria that sells reversible shirts that can be worn inside out or normally. This means that their customers get to save money and have two shirts in one at a more affordable price. 

2. Be a Master in Something in your Industry

Pick something from the fashion industry and learn it exclusively. Learn it so well that you know it more than all your competitors. Learn it in such a way that everybody can spot your items without even checking the brand name on it. 

By the time you are a master in something, people will think you are a master in everything in your industry and they will trust whatever you say more.

Look for your niche in the fashion industry and master it very well. This is the second way to stand out in the saturated fashion market. 

3. Build an Audience First

This works best for fashion entrepreneurs that have not yet ventured into the market. If you build an audience first before you go into the business fully, people will buy from you because they already like you. 

Begin to do things that interest people and educates them on one issue or the other before you start your business so you already have a loyal following before you even launch the business. This will make it easier for you to stand out in the market. 

4. Add More Value

To beat your competitors, you have to give more value than they are already giving in the market so people will see the sense in shopping from you rather than from them. 

Look for ways you can add more values to the products you sell to attract clients. Look for an extra something that your competitors are not rendering in the market and go for it. Add value to your products and add value to your service so people will see a reason to buy from you.

It could be something as small as sending a personalised note along with every order you send out to something like sending an extra item as a gift to your customers to thank them for patronising you. It could even be something like adding pockets to an outfit other designers do not add pockets to. Make whatever value you add count,

5. Build your Brand Story

Stories can sell anything. People love stories.

Let there be a story behind why your brand is your brand. Once people can understand and relate with your brand story, your brand will begin to stand out. 

Having a brand story will differentiate you from the rest and you can easily use your brand story to communicate to your audience why they should shop from you rather than other vendors. For example, your brand story can be focused on how you went through a problem that led to the birth of your brand, those that can understand that problem and can relate to it will naturally be drawn towards your brand. 

6. Offer a Marketing Hook

Offer free things. Yes, you want to make lots of sales instead of giving items out for free but offering free things is one way you can pull people towards your brand. A marketing hook could be giving freebies, teaching people how to do things, or offering free consultation sessions. 

Offer something that will make people appreciate you and your brand. Over time, as you continue to give out things for free and you continue to teach things to clients, they will be more inclined to buy from you rather than others. It will also make them tell others about your brand as well because they appreciate what you do. 

7. Jump on Trends

Jump on trends that relate to your market in the fashion industry and not just every and any trend you hear about. When trends come out, jump on them quickly before they go out of style.

In jumping on these trends, however, remember to not follow trends blindly, if the trend is not in line with your brand story then do not follow it. If it is in line with your brand story, come up with unique designs for your outfits while infusing these trends in them to make your outfits stand out from the crowd.

This can make people see you easier and make clients notice you faster in the market. 

8. Provide Variety

As the saying goes, “Variety is the spice of life”. Let your audience have the option to choose from a variety of products in your market.

If you sell handbags, for instance, let there be a variety of handbags to choose from, do not just focus on selling one signature handbag. You can sell handbags in different sizes, sell purses, pouches, clutches, backpacks, and so on, depending on your audience. Just let them know that you have a lot to offer. 

Do not be that brand that sells just one thing, because, it can begin to bore your clients and they will start to look for someone else who can give them more than you can. 

With these tips, you will be on your way to standing out and getting noticed in the saturated fashion industry. Why not try them today?