Top 10 Fashion Forecasting Techniques

The fashion industry is one of the biggest in the world among other industries. The annual sale generated from this industry is worth billions of dollars. Companies are always releasing top products into the market to ensure that the fashion needs of both existing and potential customers are met without any compromise. Such releases couldn’t have been possible without proper forecasting. This is one aspect where most fashion businesses make a mistake at the moment. They can’t make the right forecasts about upcoming trends in their respective niches, and due to such a problem, they are always lagging behind competitors.The truth is that there are fashion forecasting techniques which you ought to know in your niche to stay ahead. These will help you understand what your target audience will likely find appealing over a given period. There is no need trying to search for where to find such techniques because this post aims to list them all to help grow your business.

1 Judgemental technique

Businesses adopt this technique to forecast fashion trends when they aren’t sure of the market. At such point, analyses are based on past results being obtained selling specific products. The opinion of people can be gotten through surveys to reach a decision. It is a subjective prediction method which depends on some external factors or even history. Companies usually adopt this method when they’ve produced something similar in the past and want to make decisions based on these items.

2 Qualitative technique

This is a technique adopted when a company is introducing a product into the market for the first time. In such an instance, there is usually a scarcity of information on which they can base decisions. The aim is providing the logical and unbiased estimate or information before deciding on such product and its anticipated performances in the coming years.

3 Time series analysis technique

Time series analysis technique is different from the above, given that there are available data and information about the product which can be sourced from historical performances. The fashion company, therefore, understands the past trends of similar products that have been existing in the market. One of the benefits of this forecasting technique is that it is less risky even though the market isn’t entirely green. Decisions can be made without any form of guesswork in a view to maximizing profits.

4 Similar-product technique

This technique looks similar to the above but tends to be slightly different. Here the company carries out in-depth research about a similar product before deciding on the new product that it wants to introduce into the market. For instance, a fashion company plans to produce women shoes. It decides to find companies that have produced such shoes over the years. It also looks at their performances in terms of patterns and changes over the years. Companies use this forecasting to know how they can improve similar products which already on the market.

5 Technological forecasting

This is usually adopted by fashion companies which have long term plans of designing items that can be enhanced by technological advancement. They try to project into the future by making some predictions about how technology must have advanced in years to come. It is a way of making plans and making sure they are ahead of other companies in the same niche.

6 Rapid Growth technique

Companies in the fashion industry make use of this technique to know the various growth stages that their products will pass through in the market. it helps them to prepare ahead to cope with an increase in demand that will likely take place in the future when there is a winning product. Every product has an introduction stage, and at such point, demand is usually not high. However, when they get to maturity stage, demand will be high, and there have to be facilities available to cope with such growth. It is left for that company to identify such a stage amongst others.

7 Short term forecasting

Just as the name sounds, short term forecasting tends to focus mainly on events that are currently taking place. It is one technique that is popular in the fashion industry as most companies adopt it. The reason is that most fashion products have a short life span to yield the most sales in the market before being toppled by rival products. The company’s analyses are based on what is currently happening in the market without any future projections.

8 X-11 technique

Perhaps this is one of the most effective and popular techniques that fashion companies make use of in forecasting their markets. The reason is that its analyses are more in-depth and detailed, thereby helping to ensure that the right marketing decisions are made. It takes into considerations variables such as trend cycle fit, trends, seasonal, and lots of others.

9 Quantitative technique

This is the method or technique for forecasting whereby numerical data will form the basis of the company’s decision to analyze the future. Most times, this technique isn’t accurate and can make a company experience loss, especially when the product is no longer appealing to its target audience. However, it is one of the easiest techniques to adopt since there aren’t any predictions to be made.

10 Long term forecasting

This technique tries to analyze the demographics in the industry over a given period. One major characteristic of long term forecasting is that it tries to take demographic changes into consideration. It also looks at changes in the market structure as well as consumer expectations. Experts usually adopt this technique with a view to notifying companies about likely changes which the industry will experience in the future.