The eighth session of DIGITALK, a monthly digital forum, was organized by TEC in Lahore at the Royal Palm Golf and Country Club on the topic, “Fashion and Technology”.
A panel discussion was moderated by Mr. Iftikhar Hussain, VP Business and Strategy, TEC. He welcomed all speakers of the session and initiated interactive discussion with three guest speakers of the event.
Mr. Adam Dawood, Head, Yayvo.com, shed light on the incorporation of technology to fashion. He shared that in August 2015, 54% of sales on Kaymu.pk was fashion related. He said that due to high engagement issues, the fashion related online sales have their own challenges to face which can be combated through defining KPIs that enhances the customer experience. Moreover, he discussed that there is a huge difference between conversing verbally with customer and explaining things through written content. Mr. Adam said that we need to start defining e-commerce operationally in order to attract audience in significant numbers.
Mr. Ahmed Muzammil, Digital Transformation Consultant, Royal Tag said that there is a lot more than just e-commerce in fashion for technology. He emphasized on thinking out of the box and bringing in new ideas. He said that things that are attracting people these days did not happen in the past and will sure become the future of this era. This creates a dire need for encouraging people to integrate their innovative ideas and capabilities together in order to bring revolutionary changes in fashion world too, alongside technological industry.
Mr. Ellie Jadoon, Manager Customer Services and E-commerce, Stoneage discussed that fashion brands that are capitalizing on e-commerce today will soon shift towards m-commerce. He believes that the malls culture will be broken down, which at the moment has created significant hype in the society and technology will emerge at its peak. He exemplified New York where there are now fewer malls that is due to their rapid shift towards technology and online shopping. He gave examples of the brands currently having webpages for online shopping. The names included were of Elan and Sana Safinaz who don’t have as much retail shops as others yet get a good business as most their sales occur through online shopping. He said that we need to address the problems regarding internet speed and capacity before creating business dependency on it.
The crowd participated in the discussion actively. Apart from asking questions, they also added in the substantial information regarding fashion and technology. Audiences and speakers agreed that in order to bring technological changes to fashion there is a huge need of integrating the business milestones and offering best experience to customer.
Concluding the session, Mr. Zain Majid, CEO, TEC presented the souvenirs of appreciation to the speakers. He also thanked Happilac paints for their support in building the digital ecosystem.