The future of fashion? Conscious consumption
For this edition of Business Casual, guest anchor Anita Balchandani, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company in London, sat down with Jaume Miquel Naudi, Chair & CEO of Tendam, to discuss why marketplaces represent a natural complementary channel for brand growth.
Anita Balchandani: Last time when we spoke, you mentioned that the future of fashion isn't about big baskets, but about conscious consumption. How does a brand actually sustain its value equation when consumers are buying less, but at the same time expecting higher quality?
Jaume Miquel Naudi: My view is that the fashion industry has so far offered an excess of fashion, at least in the last 10 to 15 years. And probably, this is my criticism, we now miss a strategy. The future belongs to brands that truly understand trends and consumer mindsets, building strategies that stay true to their core strengths.
Sustainable, profitable growth
Anita Balchandani: So quality over quantity, if you will.
Jaume Miquel Naudi: Totally, we must better understand our customer in order to better monetise our gross margins.
Anita Balchandani: Where do you see the sources of growth in Europe, and where do you focus on?
Jaume Miquel Naudi: I prefer to use the phrase "sustainable profitable growth," which is an important nuance. Europe still can offer growth, and there are geographies like the Balkans, Romania, Greece, and Spain that, in fashion, could offer growth above average.
But we don't look at it that way. We look at it like this: any growth that we may have in any country should come from winning market share. Because we don't believe that business will be sustained with the inflation levels that we are having by just aligning our growth to what the market is offering.
Anita Balchandani: And so your test is: Is my value proposition winning in those markets? And that's how you kind of define growth.
So marketplaces for us become a good and natural complementary territory. It helps to understand or to see opportunities in markets where you are not present. As a distribution arm, it's complementary and, honestly, it's necessary. At the end of the day, consumers are the ones who drive that movement.
Marketplaces as a complimentary distribution arm
Anita Balchandani: Now, how do you see the role of marketplaces?
Jaume Miquel Naudi: Marketplaces are not our competitors. Let’s make that clear. For example, we are on Zalando, we are on Amazon, and we are on others. And we also act as a small marketplace in Spain with third-party brands.
But honestly, nobody can stop consumer behaviour. It’s that simple. Consumers, if they want to buy something, they will. And they will go to where they are able to find it.
Anita Balchandani: What about your teams that interact and work with marketplaces? Has there been a learning that's come from that?
Jaume Miquel Naudi: In the past, it was all about pure growth. Right now, it's much more about sustainable and profitable growth on both sides, which is a language in which we are more comfortable. The level of professionalism on the other side has increased a lot, as has knowledge.
So marketplaces for us become a good and natural complementary territory. It helps to understand or to see opportunities in markets where you are not present. As a distribution arm, it's complementary and, honestly, it's necessary. At the end of the day, consumers are the ones who drive that movement.
