Dominating the Modern Market by Omnilytics, with Captii Ventures and Bokitta franchisee

If you’re still using age-old methods in the retail industry, then you’d find yourself at the short end of the stick.

Retail isn’t just changing – it has already changed. Consumer demands now have the power to run your entire business. Your competitors can outgrow you in a matter of months. The cold-shoulder dress you stocked up on may go out of season tomorrow. Simply put, what worked two years ago will no longer work in today’s cutthroat industry.

So how exactly do you stay ahead of the market?

That’s what our panel discussed at Funding, Fashion & Analytics: How to Dominate the Modern Market, a business talk aimed to help brands grow in today’s highly-demanding market. The event, hosted by Omnilytics at Amazon’s AWS Malaysia office on the 27th of February, featured esteemed speakers, including:

• Syed, Franchisee of the Bokitta brand
• Sai Kit, Managing Director of Captii Ventures
• Kendrick, CEO of Omnilytics

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Current State of Fashion

After ensuring everyone was comfortably settled in, the evening started off with Kendrick giving everyone a warm welcome. Barry then led the discussion into what everyone in the audience resonated with – the current state of today’s fashion industry. Intuition, according to Syed, still plays a large part in decision-making, even if it may not generate what consumers are actually looking for. To avoid resorting to personal preferences, Syed revealed that his team does a lot of research to effectively market the Bokitta brand.

However, he then candidly shared the many struggles of doing so – the biggest one being heavy manual work. From physically comparison shopping to assortment planning, finding out what the market wanted was a long and arduous process. From here, Kendrick chipped in too. He added that it is indeed a challenge most brand owners face – which explained why data is rising over recent years.

How Data Fills the Gap

Data automates and speeds up the process across all journeys, including designing, merchandising and buying. What usually takes months to do can be done in weeks, even days. The shortened timeframe gives brands owners more time to focus on other important, but often neglected, tasks. After all, major retailers like Revolve, Boohoo and Pomelo look to data for guidance – their global success is a testament to it. As fashion gets faster, data is the key tool to help brands keep up.

“To take your brand to greater heights, you need to keep up with the changing landscapes of fashion,” says Kendrick.

The managing director of Captii Ventures agreed. With an experience of running a US$40mm fund in Malaysia, Sai Kit spoke from an investor’s point of view. To get an investor’s interest, he mentioned that it was important for brands to not be complacent. In a highly saturated market, the excuse of “I’ll always have time to do it later” or “I don’t feel inspired to design today” will bring a brand down.

“Knowledge is power,” said Sai Kit.

The audience listened with rapt attention as the three speakers concur that equipping with the right weapons is necessary for today’s industry. After the 45-minute insightful discussion, the panel wrapped up with a quick Q&A session.

But the event wasn’t over just yet!

Before We Wrapped Up…

For the rest of the evening, the audiences mingled with one another – connecting with old industry colleagues and meeting new friends, sharing new ideas and stories alike.

Omnilytics is glad to have hosted this intimate event for the people behind 11 homegrown brands, including Nelissa Hilman, Nose Shoes and Nichii. The audiences got a comprehensive view of funding, a better understanding of analytics, and most importantly, how to dominate the modern market with accuracy, precision and speed.

We look forward to hosting more events, building the community and spreading the power of data.