Consumer activity decides the success of all kinds of businesses, and the apparel industry is no exception.

In fact, apparel stores depend heavily on their consumers; if they want people to visit their store, they need to sell things others will like. Despite such a simple equation, some apparel store owners aren’t sure what they’re customers want. Do they want only good clothes, or something more?

If you’re an apparel store owner in search for an answer to this question, you first need to step into the mind of your ideal customer. Don’t just take their end goal in your mind – take in their entire journey through your store. You’ll realize that there’s a lot more to the customer journey than just fancy clothes:

Ethically Sound

Consumers of today are extremely aware of the power of purchasing; they know that what they’re buying is more than an article of clothing – it’s an entire workforce’s income, their working conditions, and their hard work. Consumers want to make sure that what they’re buying isn’t causing any harm to the workers, animals, or the environment. That’s why they prefer shopping from stores that guarantee sustainable, ethical practices that improve the environment instead of degrading it – nobody wants the guilt of damage in their hands!

Greater Freedom Of Choice

Nothing is worse for a consumer than stepping into an apparel store, to realize that they don’t cater to their body type.

This gives a wrong impression of your brand to consumers – it shows that your business won’t serve everyone, and that you care about only a few people who fit your criteria. Consumers expect apparel store owners to understand that people come in all shapes and sizes, and that they expect to be able to shop with a greater range, and more freedom.

Good Engagement

Shoppers enjoy a seamless customer journey better than anything else; whether its online or in-store, consumers expect to be assisted in every step of the way. They want to be shown benefits like promotions and discounts without doing much digging. For this reason, convenience matters to them a lot – they won’t stick around in a store if it’s too hard for them to get what they want.

For brick-and-mortar set-ups, you should have an abundant number of employees who are willing to help struggling customers without being overbearing. Online stores must make sure their websites are informative and interactive without being too complicated – you need to make sure people don’t click off your website as soon as they hop on.

Hear Their Voice

It is important for apparel stores to not only give what the customers are looking for, but also hear them out. Most of the times, shoppers will want to share some feedback on their experience, and maybe even suggest new things to try. Simply ignoring such feedback comes across as cocky, showing your audience that you don’t care about what they think.

So in order to build trust with customers, you should listen to what they have to say. It works well if you send out customer surveys and questionnaires – thankfully Oscar POS is one POS system in Pakistan that offers this feature in its CRM platform. It can be updated and sent easily, so that you better understand your consumers thoughts.


The apparel industry is extremely consumer-centric, and so you should always keep them first to be successful.