LSN : News : A virtual showroom for African fashion

Yeezy’s immersive site upends digital storefronts

Yeezy Supply Website by Kanye West and Nick Knight

Global – Kanye West has collaborated with Nick Knight on an immersive retail environment for Yeezy Supply.

The site features waiting rooms for the latest product drops, alongside real-life models who try on outfits for browsing customers. While many existing 3D models on e-commerce platforms have limited functionality, the Yeezy site allows customers to experiment with styling and even explore the back stories of the models. The aesthetic approach toys with Netstalgia, featuring oversized, layered images and eschewing black and white tones.

‘There is something interesting in the idea of having clothes that have personality because of who’s been wearing them,’ explains Knight. ‘[Kanye] wanted the site to feel beautiful in its simplicity, so he asked me to create a site that had no words on it, because we are not all English-speaking, or we’re not all based in America or Europe.’

With consumers increasingly shifting their fashion discovery to online environments, retailers are innovating with visual-first Digital Store Fronts.

A virtual showroom for African fashion

Digital Showroom by Industrie Africa, Africa

Africa – Industrie Africa's innovative digital retail platform highlights the talent behind African fashion design.

Taking a 360-degree approach, the site brings together a combination of commerce, content and connectivity, and provides direct access to a range of established and emerging African designers. Focusing on the diversity of design and inspirations from the continent, shoppers can browse by region, style and craftsmanship, as well as uncovering the stories of more than 80 brands from 24 African countries.

‘There’s been a seismic shift in the way African fashion is being seen around the world and we just happened to be on the cusp of that,’ explains Nisha Kanabar, founder of Industrie Africa. ‘We really want to continue to disrupt the traditional world view surrounding what it means to be an African designer, shop African, or have an African identity.’

The African Fashion Market continues to innovate in response to the rise of e-commerce, with digital platforms and garment innovations amplifying its varied fashion sector.

A credit card for online content creators

Global – Karat is a new fintech start-up aimed at building a better banking experience for the creators who make a living on online platforms like YouTube, Instagram and Twitch.

The start-up has launched the Karat Black Card, which provides content creators with a dedicated card for business expenses. Unlike traditional banks, Karat doesn't look at credit scores when assessing a potential customer but instead the size of a creator’s following and their current revenue. When creators are approved, they’re entitled to a £196 ($250, €218) bonus that can be applied to future purchases of electronics or equipment.

For now, the card is only aimed at content creators with a significant following – at least 100,000 people. Eric Wei, co-founder of Karat, said: ‘It’s not just the number of followers you have, but which platforms. I would rather have 100,000 subscribers on YouTube than one million on TikTok, because on TikTok it’s all algorithmically driven.’

As we explore in Consumer 2020, institution-less consumers are increasingly challenging existing financial systems.

Karat

Stat: UK shoppers habitually abandon digital baskets

Obsess

According to new research by Klarna and BigCommerce, 38% of UK shoppers discard online shopping baskets at least once a week.

While many consumers have shown a willingness to make online purchases – in particular during Covid-19 – the pain points around digital checkouts mean people often back out of buying decisions. Some 54% said delivery frustrations have led them not to go through with a purchase, while 33% felt the functionality of mobile websites was the key reason for abandoning their baskets.

Jim Herbert, EMEA general manager at BigCommerce, said: ‘Every abandonment represents a dent in the retailer’s revenues and potentially a sale lost to a competitor, making it incredibly important to consider every aspect of the shopping experience – from security and website speed to the power of personalisation – across all channels where customers engage.’

In Subconscious Commerce, we explore the importance of convenience in a retail landscape where consumers are always on.