Swedish fashion leader.-Getting to know the Fast Fashion digital consumer in Mexico.

H&M

We had already accompanied the Swedish fashion leader during their first years in Mexico, supporting the growth of the brand through different communication actions. Now, they presented us with a more complex challenge: the multinational needed to delve into the characteristics of the digital fashion consumer in Mexico.

What does the online fashion buyer look for?

Fashion shopping responds to a complex set of experiences, values and motivations. Beyond the purchasing level, the consumer’s choice of a particular brand responds to a particular lifestyle and attitude. Feelings such as belonging, personal expectations or aspirational desire influence the choice of one or another alternative.

Taking into account these determining factors, our challenge was to map the shopping experience of fashion consumers (both the brand itself and others), in order to understand their desires, needs and expectations. To do so, we first proposed to carry out a social listening work, with the aim of analysing the perception of digital fashion shopping in Mexico. We then defined the archetypes of the brand’s buyers, with their corresponding feelings and motivations; and finally, we drew the brand’s customer journey map, articulating around it the whole communication and awareness strategy.

Active listening to the digital conversation.

The social listening phase focused on understanding the environment in which eCommerce is developing in Mexico: Who is talking about the sector? What experiences are shared in social networks? Which brands are most mentioned? Which moment in the purchasing process generates the most interactions?

From this process of listening, we obtained a series of insights. For example, that consumers only share their purchase experiences when they exceed their expectations, both for good and for bad; that men tend to highlight negative experiences and women, positive ones; that positive mentions generally originate in satisfactory customer service (the order arrives before time, an incident is resolved, etc.) and vice versa, negative men show the discomfort of a slow or inefficient service.

Digital shopping had to offer attractive differentials compared to the traditional channel.

Getting to know the Mexican e-fashion consumer.

In order to achieve maximum representativeness in a country with a high social, geographic and cultural diversity, we organized workshops with customers who had purchased in the physical stores of the Swedish brand in three cities: Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City.

In these focus groups we listened directly to the voice of consumers to understand their reasons for approaching or moving away from eCommerce: what were their fears when buying and what were the main drivers motivating online shopping. During the whole process, we were very aware of the context: let’s not forget that Mexico is a country where the reluctance to make digital purchases (fear of bank data theft, delivery failures, etc.) still deters many consumers; nor is the use of credit cards as widespread as in other countries, which is highly conditioned by the social scale.

We managed to identify 6 consumer archetypes with their motivations, channels, interests and opportunities, building their customer journeys and identifying points of contact.

Synthesizing what was learned in the workshops.

Digital shopping had to offer attractive differentials compared to the traditional channel: ease of purchase, offers, promotions and exclusive models.

The shopping experience had to be fluid and simple, and take into account elements that affect the emotional and inspire the buyer.

The culmination of the journey.

Based on the insights obtained in the workshops, we also defined a series of archetypes of fashion buyers, divided into six categories: Student Fashion, Trendy Employee, Frester, Experience Maximiser, Entrepreneur Mother and Strong Independent Woman.

For each of them, we identified personal motivations and interests, channels of interaction with the brand and opportunities to meet, both in physical and digital stores, their demands and needs.

Finally, we designed the complete customer journey of the buyer, identifying points of friction and improvement, and proposing strategic actions for the decisive moments of the purchase process.

This comprehensive work was complemented by a social content strategy, aimed at generating recognition and strengthening commitment to digital fan communities.

As the client gained confidence in the actions developed by Good Rebels’ division in Mexico, we acquired the status of digital partner, evolving from the mere adaptation of generic content sent from the Swedish parent company to the generation of actions and content by local teams, much better aware of the peculiarities of the Mexican consumer.