Like many industries, the web has completely changed the fashion industry. It is becoming increasingly easy for anyone to find manufacturing online to produce high quality fashion. The internet also allows small independent clothing brands to market to people all around the world. However, even though the e-commerce sector as a whole continues to be growing tremendously, online apparel hasn’t experienced the same level of growth. According to Forrester Research, US online retail grew 12.6% in 2010 to $176.2 billion. U.S. online sales are required to reach $278.9 billion by 2015. However, only 9% of clothing is sold on internet, while 50% of computers can be purchased online and 40% of books are sold online.
The nature of e-commerce is tough for apparel. The general model for online retail is to find products in volume and to sell items at the lowest price possible. This presents an issue for clothing brands; apparel companies wish to protect their brand value and don’t wish to undercut their brick and mortarstores in pricing. Many brands open their very own webstore to sell directly to the client. However, emerging artists and designers are actually finding that they must do all of it: designing, marketing, sales, managing a website, managing a webstore, and run a warehouse.
For customers, there isn't any one place to safely obtain many amazing independent brands. There is no way to tell how reliable an independent seller will be. The best artists and designers don’t always make the most reliable seller.A new online streetwear store, DopeHut.com,is providing a unique solution for apparel brands. Instead of making designers fulfill orders, DopeHut combines e-commerce with low-pricewarehousing.
“To run an e-commerce store, you need to be consistently committed to providing great customer support. That’s the beauty of the internet, should you suck, customers will easily find someone else to purchase from. Too many brands handle e-commerce themselves as a secondary thought; often ignoring the customer’s buying experience. We tried to create a platform that can help independent clothing brands run easily, while we focus on providing great customer experience” says Felix Cheung, CEO of DopeHut. New websites like DopeHut.com are representing a new generation of e-commerce websites that are pushing innovation and changing the client experience.