The Fashion Industry in U.K. is hoping online sales and home shopping will be the top investment priority which will help deliver the highest return on investment, keeping the current economic scenario in mind.

Prologic, a provider of software, services and consultancy to the fashion and lifestyle sector, has released a new report on this “Technology in Fashion” which presents highlights on the challenges and issues faced by the U.K. fashion industry and how technology can be adopted to address certain issues.

 The Prologic report was produced in partnership was conducted with Oracle (News - Alert) (and carried out by retail industry market research specialist Martec International.

 

“The benefits of Software as a Service and its very structure as a low risk and high efficiency solution make it the perfect investment for the current times," said an Oracle spokes person.

 

The report has examined investment priorities for systems, IT budgets, satisfaction with current systems and views on the relatively new concept of Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)). In total, the report reveals that the Fashion industry is expecting to boost their revenue through E-commerce and multi-channel retailing.

 

This U.K. fashion industry survey has covered companies with total sales of GBP5.6 billion and a total of 5,214 stores, representing a 16 percent of the U.K. fashion industry. Report indicates that nearly 80 percent of companies interviewed have a cost reduction focus as their point of survival in the current economic climate.

 

Additionally, 64 percent of companies consider the next most important strategy as development or enhancement of multi-channel retailing and transactional web sites. Prologic has stated that most of the companies see the web as a way of increasing sales at a lower cost and increasing the size of their market.

 

Another interesting point in the report is that in 1.8 percent of sales, IT budgets in the fashion industry are higher than the 1.3 percent of sales average across the U.K.'s leading 100 retailers.

 

There is also a mention that more than half of fashion retailers have not heard of Software as a Service, (SaaS) but when it was made to understand, the majority agreed to be a good way to buy software.

 

Prologic mentioned that the research was conducted through telephonic interview with experts across the fashion retail industry, from managing directors and finance directors to IT directors.

 

"In the current economic climate, companies are clearly looking for strong ROI arguments before investing in people, IT, or services. As a result, most fashion companies are not only reviewing expenses but also key processes that will simplify and reduce costs whilst maximising sales and profits. Fashion retailers are looking to maximise sales opportunities by expanding into multi-channel retailing both domestically and internationally, through franchising, e-commerce and new overseas stores,” said Sam Jackson, chief executive at Prologic.

 

"It is unsurprising that retailers are keen to maximise the opportunities presented to them given the current economic climate, but the optimism displayed by their intentions to actually invest in new sales channels is very encouraging," said Fran Riseley, practice manager at Martec International who undertook the research.

 

“New concepts such as Software as a Service enable retailers to improve online services and achieve effective multi-channel retailing without incurring upfront significant cost or risk," said Jackson.

 

Prologic's enterprise software application, CIMS, is a web-deployed, single solution, multi-channel business system designed to meet the complex needs of the sector. Planning, merchandising, store systems, sourcing, warehousing, wholesale, franchise, eCommerce and reporting are some of the modules covered in Prologic’s solution.