During the pandemic, the economy suffered deep shocks – from household economy to the global economy. How has consumer behavior and the clothing industry performed in Albania? Elda Hysenbelli, CEO of Fashion Group Albania, in an interview for Monitor, talks about trends and consumption.
How is the new “normality” with restrictions reflected on the way Albanians spend on clothing?
Personal consumption expenditures for clothing and footwear increased by 13% compared to 2019. This trend was driven by the fact that the borders were closed, therefore limiting the access to shopping outside the country while focusing more on shopping inside the country. We have noticed that despite the financial challenges, the Albanian customer fulfilled their needs for clothing & footwear.
Another factor that has contributed to sales increase is referring to our e-commerce channel developed mid-2020 during the pandemic period, which includes all the brands we represent in Albania in one market place, fga.al. The online shopping has made possible for our customer to get familiar with the new collection in real time despite physical restriction that affected the Retail Sector.
The only product line affected by the pandemic are suitcases and travel bags, the line Carpisa due to airline operating restrictions and free movement of our customers. Since May, we have evidenced a slight growth of sales form this category of products.
What are the latest fashion trends?
Brands that sell comfortable and athletic clothing are top performer and preferred from our customers. Casual stay at home attire, warm colors, practical wear that can be both wear during the day and evenings are the preferred choice of our customers.
All the brands have added “sport collection” such as active wear from Mango, collection suitable for outdoor/ indoor sports or leisure and walk in the nature which is welcomed by the Albanian customer.
Who spends more on clothing and footwear: men or women?
Both are spending, but the highest sales are referring to women an upward trend of 5% compared to Men. We have noticed that Men also have shown an interest in comfortable materials, linen and ecological cotton. Women continue to represent the biggest opportunity for sales in our stores.
How has the pandemic impacted kid’s segment retail sales?
Kids and children segment retail sales remained unchanged compared to 2019. The pas months showed a slight decrease of stroller and baby crib set collection. However this trend was in line with the decline of birth rate by 5% according to Instat result for 1Q2021. Schools were shut down, the education went online, therefore the needs for kids & children wear remained unchanged or slight decrease.
How did you adapt to the sales and offers during the pandemic period? What was your sales strategy?
Sales and marketing strategy have been adapted to the new reality we were living by the pandemic period. While sales and offers were more flat, not too aggressive, the marketing strategy increased its digital presence through the new website www.fga.al and social media therefore created the omni-channel strategies that blend both physical and online channels.
Compared to other countries in the region, how is Albania performing in terms of sales?
Compared to other countries in the Balkans and EU, Albania has performed better sales by 7% referring to 2019. Most of the countries in EU and the Balkans have suffered restricted lows of the quarantine. Our partners in Spain, Italy, Portugal and France performed at loss by 25% compared to 2019. Being a small country, in this case it helped us perform very well during the difficult times.
What is the impact and the performance of e-commerce?
Considering the one year of the e-commerce ww.fga.al, we have seen a steady growth of the number of visitors by 27%. The share of online sales for Fashion group Albania is 5% of total sales. The online customers prefers offers and the data shows that the average spent for online is 30% cheaper versus the physical stores but the number of items (item/ticket) is higher.
What have been the challenges of the fashion apparel sector related to logistics and conventions or the buying process?
Even prior to pandemic, technology has positively accelerated the digital transformation across businesses and in our company as well.
The major change we had to adapt was the buying process of 2021 collection. The buying of goods went totally digital and we purchased online 100% of our items you find today in our stores and online. This time we could only see the collection in online convention. Our partners have organized the buying process online. The same is following even for the buying of the 2022 collection.
Limited physical buying of the collection and meetings with our partners were most of the difficulties we faced during 2020. Frequent visits or trainings we received from our partners were missed as well. International logistics has also been subject to restriction, supply chain or shipping times have been unpredictable or delayed, however currently every process is returning step by step back to normal.
