Fashion buying is visually driven and trend-cyclical, so content and campaigns build around seasonal collections and lookbooks rather than individual SKUs. Clear size guides and fit content reduce returns, directly protecting margin on top of driving sales. Measured against revenue, return rate and repeat-purchase rate together.
What matters most for fashion?
- Seasonal lookbook and collection content, not just individual SKU pages
- Clear size guides and fit content to reduce costly returns
- Instagram-led visual discovery, tied to shoppable content
Which channels work for fashion?
| Channel | Role |
|---|---|
| Social Media Marketing | Lookbooks, shoppable posts, seasonal drops |
| Web Design | Size guides and fit content built into PDPs |
| Ecommerce Marketing | Peak-season and seasonal collection campaigns |
Revenue that stays sold
Fashion has a problem other categories do not: a large share of what you sell comes back. Returns eat margin, tie up stock and inflate the numbers your ad platforms report. So we measure fashion marketing on net revenue after returns and on repeat purchase, not just gross sales and ROAS.
What reduces returns and lifts conversion
- Sizing guides built from real measurements and fit notes, not a generic chart
- Product photos and video on a range of body types, with model height and size stated
- Reviews that capture fit ("runs small", "true to size"), shown near the size selector
- Clear delivery and returns information before checkout
Checkout surprises cost sales. Baymard Institute found 40% of shoppers who abandon at checkout do so because of extra costs, and 13% because the returns policy was unsatisfactory (Baymard Institute). Show delivery and returns terms early.
Launches, creators and timing
Collections need a runway. We plan launches with a teaser period, creator content ready on day one, email and SMS to existing customers first, and paid social scaled after the first 48 hours of data. Creator content works best when it shows the clothes being worn in real life. Disclose paid partnerships clearly: the ASA in the UK and the FTC in the US both require it, and the FTC's 2024 rule also bans fake reviews and bought social proof (US FTC, Aug 2024).
Search still matters in fashion
People search for specific things: "linen trousers women", "wedding guest dresses under £100", "oversized hoodie heavyweight". Category pages built for those searches, with useful copy and filters that do not create duplicate pages, bring customers at a far lower cost than paid social. See ecommerce SEO for our approach.
How we measure it
Net revenue after returns, new customer acquisition cost, return rate by product and campaign, and 90-day repeat purchase rate.