फैशन टेक मैप: फैशन ईकॉमर्स अनुप्रयोगों के लिए अंतिम गाइड

In this article we start from the point of view of the fashion ecommerce technology to present an eco-system of applications that are most frequently adopted by fashion brands.

The map and the list of application has an illustrative and educational purpose, is based on the experience of the teachers and professionals who collaborate with the Digital Fashion Academy and doesn’t want to be comprehensive.

The purpose of this fashion tech map is to teach fashion professionals about the variety of applications that are necessary for running a successful fashion ecommerce and illustrate their purpose, their relation and why they are necessary.

This fashion tech map is a living document and was partly inspired by Scott Brinker’s Marketing Technology Landscape.

How is fashion technology evolving?

Although technology advances rapidly, certain fundamental aspects of fashion technology remain constant. Some applications have remained unchanged for decades, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which is a crucial tool for fashion brands to perform essential functions.

The most important change is probably the migration towards ERP as a service rather than on premise. The “as a service” version of the ERP has the advantages of being accessible from anywhere and less technical maintenance needed.

The major changes we are seeing regard

• first party data and personal data treatment
• 3डी डिजाइन
• कृत्रिम होशियारी

• Buy fabrics and materials from suppliers
• Manage invoices and payment
• Manage clients
• Invoice clients
• Manage the financial situation

For a small fashion brand that only sells at wholesale level to a small number of B2B clients that’s all you need.

When fashion brands grow: scaling up technology

In a second stage of their life or even in the first for some D2C brands, it emerges the need for an ईकॉमर्स प्लेटफॉर्म. The ecommerce platform is a software that allows to publish your products online and sell them directly to the customer via a check out page.

This particular area of fashion technology is undergoing significant change as the volumes and the importance of ecommerce for fashion brands profitability increases.

The importance of

• Website speed: core web vitals and conversion rate;
• New front-end features such as virtual fitting rooms, social media integration, reviews
• Need for more flexibility for large fashion brands: multiple languages, multiple currencies and so on

Pushed the fashion technology market to a specialization of the offer with new tech companies launching new software on the market that respond to a specific need of the fashion brads:

• Virtual Fitting Rooms
• Site speed accelerators
• Website SEO optimisation
• AI powered site search
• ग्राहक समीक्षाएँ
• Live chat and chatbots
• Customer feedback collection
• Lead generation forms
• Personalization engines

How do we manage this complexity?

The standard way to manage this expansion is to add plug-in or extensions to our ecommerce platform, however adding several external resources to our platform could cause a degradation on the speed of the platform.

Ona tag to rule them all

If you work in digital marketing you may have experienced this situation when you had to integrate several tracking tags from different advertising platforms, e.g. Google Ads, Meta, Retargeting platforms, Affiliates. Then one day the Tag management solution was introduced: one tag to rule them all. So after you installed the tag manager solution on your platform, you could easily add additional tags without touching the code of your platform.

The fashion technology ecosystem

In the fashion technology lesson with Mauro Lorenzutti, specialising in ecommerce integrations @ Webformat, we have explored the main applications that fashion brands generally adopt in their technology stack.

The technological stack represented in the picture above is actually an advanced stage of integration for fashion companies, generally they start with just a few applications such as ERP and Ecommerce Platform.

When fashion brands or retailers approach ecommerce, they start small with just a few applications in their stack, but when the ecommerce business volume grows, companies need to add more features and as a consequence more applications.

The applications can be added on both front-end or back-end side:

Fashion Ecommerce Technology solutions

Ecommerce platforms generally allow companies to sell products online which means that they allow to present the users with web application or interface where the users can browse the products (the listing page), read the details of each product such as product description, colors available, sizes available and see the product pictures, and finally the users can add the products to cart and pay (check out).

The ecommerce platforms ability to manage stock data, product information (including price and images), orders, returns and payments, makes them a preferred solution for running an ecommerce business.

Fashion Ecommerce platforms constraints

However ecommerce platforms present several limitations when the ecommerce business is scaling up, for example, a brand may want to include more images for each product, for example because they need to use them on B2B channel, but the ecommerce platform only allows for uploading the images to be used in the product page.

In this example we show you the reason why in an ecommerce architecture (or ecommerce ecosystem) you may want to integrate a Product Information Management System (PIM) or a Digital Asset Management System (DAM)

Another constraint is that the ecommerce platform may not be suitable to manage multiple stock location in an efficient way, for example an ecommerce platform may not be able to decide whether a product should be shipped from the central warehouse or from a local store.

In this second example we illustrate one reason why fashion businesses decide to implement an Order Management System (OMS).

B2C ecommerce platforms

• Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento)
• BigCommerce
• Commerce Layer (Composable)
• Commerce Tools (Composable)
• PrestaShop
• सेल्सफोर्स कॉमर्स क्लाउड
• SAP Commerce
• Shopify
• VTEX

B2B Wholesale Ecommerce Platforms

B2B E-commerce Platforms: A Brief Overview

• केन्द्र
• Joor
• NuOrder
• Shopify

Content Management Systems

• Adobe Experience Cloud
• WordPress
• Contentful

Front-end applications

• Site accelerators: akamai
• SEO optimization: kleecks

Marketplaces connector and enablers

• Mirakl
• Tradebyte
• Channel Engine
• Neteven
• Channel advisor

Feed generators

• Highstreet
• Lengow

Order Management System

• Fluent (Aldo, Balmain Paris, Carrera eyewear)
• Keros Digital (Benetton, Twinset, Cisalfa Sport)
• Manhattan (Gucci)

एनालिटिक्स और बिजनेस इंटेलिजेंस

• गूगल एनालिटिक्स
• Qlick
• Content Square
• Competitoor > Price monitoring – analysis
• Google trends, Google Ads > Market analysis

Advertising Platforms

• गूगल विज्ञापन
• Meta Business Suite
• CJ Connection Junnction > affiliate network
• Trade Tracker > Affiliation platform

Identity Management

• Gigya
• Amazon Cognito

Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

• Cegid
• Lectra
• Centric Software

Product Information Management (PIM)

• Akeneo
• Pimcore
• Hyphen
• Plytix

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

• एसएपी
• Oracle Netsuite
• Stealth
• AS400

ग्राहक संबंध प्रबंधन

• Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Mailchimp
• Hubspot
• Microsoft Dynamics

Middleware

• Mulesoft
• Adobe I/O

सोशल मीडिया

• Hootsuite
• Meta Business Suite
• TikTok

Customer Care

• Zendesk
• Microsoft
• Salesforce

Virtual fitting rooms

• Truefit
• Measmerize

साइट खोज

• Algolia
• Miros

ऐ

• GPT-4
• मिथुन राशि
• Contents.com

भुगतान

• Stripe
• Adyen
• Avalara (Tax Calculation)
• Checkout.com

Retail software

• Oracle X-store
• Netlify
• Shopify POS

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

• गूगल सर्च कंसोल
• Semrush
• क्लेक्स

How is ecommerce technology evolving?

Fashion Ecommerce Platforms brief description

• Adobe Commerce Cloud (Magento)
  • Magento is a popular open-source e-commerce platform known for its flexibility and scalability. It offers a wide range of features and extensions, making it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
• BigCommerce
  • BigCommerce is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that provides a user-friendly interface and a variety of built-in features. It’s designed to help businesses set up and manage their online stores without extensive technical knowledge.
• Commerce Layer (Composable)
  • वाणिज्य परत is a composable commerce platform that allows businesses to build custom e-commerce solutions by combining different components and services. It offers flexibility and scalability for businesses with unique requirements.
• Commerce Tools (Composable)
  • वाणिज्य उपकरण is another composable commerce platform that provides a headless API-first approach. It enables businesses to create flexible and scalable e-commerce experiences across various channels.
• PrestaShop
  • PrestaShop is an open-source e-commerce platform that offers a wide range of features and modules. It’s popular for its user-friendly interface and customization options.
• सेल्सफोर्स कॉमर्स क्लाउड
  • सेल्सफोर्स कॉमर्स क्लाउड is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that integrates with Salesforce CRM. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing online stores, marketing, and customer relationships.
• SAP Commerce
  • SAP Commerce is a part of SAP’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite. It provides a robust e-commerce solution with integration capabilities across various business processes.
• Shopify
  • Shopify is a popular cloud-based e-commerce platform that offers a user-friendly interface and a variety of apps and themes. It’s suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
• VTEX
  • VTEX is a cloud-based e-commerce platform that specializes in providing scalable solutions for large enterprises. It offers a wide range of features and integrations to support complex business needs.

Fashion Ecommerce B2B Platforms brief description

• केन्द्र
  • केन्द्र is a B2B e-commerce platform designed to streamline the wholesale ordering process. It offers features such as product catalogs, order management, and inventory tracking. Centra is particularly well-suited for brands with large product catalogs and a need for efficient order fulfillment.
  • Strengths:
    • Robust product catalog management: Handles complex product hierarchies and variations.
  • Streamlined ordering process: Reduces manual data entry and errors.
  • Inventory management: Ensures accurate stock levels and availability.
• Joor
  • Joor is a global B2B marketplace that connects brands with retailers. It provides a platform for brands to showcase their collections, manage orders, and track sales. Joor is particularly valuable for brands looking to expand their reach and connect with a wider network of retailers.
  • Strengths:
    • Global reach: Connects brands with retailers worldwide.
    • Visual merchandising tools: Helps brands create engaging product presentations.
    • Analytics and insights: Provides data on sales performance and customer behavior.
• NuOrder
  • NuOrder is a B2B wholesale platform that offers features such as order management, inventory tracking, and sales analytics. NuOrder is known for its user-friendly interface and focus on mobile accessibility. It’s a good choice for brands looking for a modern and intuitive platform.
  • Strengths:
    • User-friendly interface: Easy to navigate and use, even for non-tech-savvy users.
    • Mobile accessibility: Allows for on-the-go order management and sales.
    • Analytics and reporting: Provides insights into sales performance and customer trends.
• Shopify
  • While primarily known for its B2C e-commerce platform, Shopify also offers a B2B solution. Shopify’s B2B features include wholesale pricing, customer accounts, and order management. While not as specialized as other B2B platforms, Shopify can be a good option for brands that already use its platform for their B2C operations.
  • Strengths:
    • Integration with existing Shopify infrastructure: Reduces the need for multiple platforms.
    • Wide range of features: Offers a variety of tools for B2B e-commerce.
    • Large ecosystem of apps and themes: Provides customization options.