Identifying Opportunities for Dresses in Marketplaces

With the pandemic slowly getting under control, fashion shows are finally back in action. Brands are busy spotting runway trends that they can leverage on to get off to a good start for their businesses. While Dresses is a prominent category for most fashion brands, brands can further optimise their assortment by paying attention to some of the 2022 fashion trends, such as sequins, sheer detailing, cut-outs, maxi length, and bright colours. Here is how Omnilytics’ dashboard can come into play to help brands identify the demand gaps and understand competitors’ strategies, specifically on marketplaces.

#1 Observe trend performance for dresses in the marketplace

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Using Omnilytics’ trend performance module, we can validate that the new-in dresses listed on Nordstrom are trending with a trend score exceeding other categories. The category displayed a stable upward trend over the last 3 months, with floral being the most popular print. This indicates that Dresses continue to have a lot of potential and is a strong category worth investing in.

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Knowing that Dresses are trending is not enough for brands to seize the right opportunities on marketplaces. Brands need to validate the trending and popular silhouettes in order to plan a competitive assortment. To achieve that, we need to dive deeper into the subcategories to understand their performance. According to Omnilytics’ data, A-Line Dresses, Sheath Dresses, Asymmetrical Dresses, Bodycon Dresses, and Bandeau Dresses are the top 5 trending silhouettes, with a trend score above 1.0.

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#2 Validate the subcategory performance

A-Line Dresses, one of the top trending subcategories, achieved a higher than average sell-out rate, despite having 1.65x higher median price than the category average. The sell-out was mainly driven by full price items even with an above average mean discount at 42% off.

Another top trending subcategory, Sheath Dresses also recorded a strong full price sell-out rate of 57%, backed by a low mean discount at 38% off. 

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#3 Identify key players/brands in the marketplace

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Omnilytics’ dashboard enables brands to also identify the key players on marketplaces for a specific category. This feature gives us visibility on our main competitors within the channel and allows us to always stay informed on their strategies.

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The top three players offering A-Line Dresses on Nordstrom were Mac Duggal, La Femme, and #Levkoff. Some trending attributes we can see from the product images are aligned with what we have identified earlier- cut-outs, sequin detailing, sheer material, maxi length and bright colours.

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The overall median price for the top A-Line Dresses brands is at USD 388, with Mac Duggal leaning towards premium pricing, as most of its products spread between USD 534-596.

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#4 Understand competitors’ strategies in the marketplace

For a brand to successfully identify opportunities on marketplaces, it is crucial for them to understand their competitors’ performances and strategies. Omnilytics' data shows that La Femme and #Levkoff both had lacklustre performance, with total sell-out rate well below category average. 

On the other hand, Mac Duggal performed strongly at full price despite its high price point. The brand also had the lowest mean discount, which hovered at 20% off, proving that it had an effective assortment and pricing strategy. 

Meanwhile, Alex Evenings and City Chic both achieved above average sell-out rates, with the former mainly driven by full price items. While high replenishment rate for City Chic may indicate that its dresses were popular, the brand however had to rely on discounts to push sell-out.

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In terms of pricing, Mac Duggal’s price points are skewed towards the higher end with a visible offering gap in the USD 400-450 price range, which only had 1 SKU. Brands with similar market positioning can leverage this and offer more A-line Dresses at this price point.

Alex Evenings has an evenly spread out assortment, with a slightly lower assortment count in the price range of USD 250-300. Given the good sell-out rate that is the second highest within the brand itself, this serves as an opportunity for brands to tailor their assortment to offer more products at this price point to boost sales.

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While it is important for brands to pay attention to runway trends, it is equally important to further validate those trends with data to make sure they can translate well commercially. Omnilytics’ data shows that attributes such as sequins and metallics, cut-outs, sheer detailing, maxi-length and bright colours dominated the bestselling A-Line Dresses, specifically for evening gowns on Nordstrom. 

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Conclusion

While Dresses seem to be a core category for most brands, it could be challenging to stand out of the vast competition as the market is saturated with abundance of styles and designs. What works at one marketplace might not work on another. Therefore, it is especially important for brands to conduct comprehensive research to tailor their strategies according to each marketplace. This is to ensure that brands could boost their performance with a demand-led strategy with validated trend-driven assortment and optimised pricing model.

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