The womenswear supplier Bonprix, which belongs to the Hamburg retail group Otto Group, recently published its current fashion report, for which it, together with the market research institute IPSOS, asked women in Germany about their shopping behavior and fashion preferences.
Carolin Klar, Managing Director for Purchasing, Procurement and Corporate Responsibility, explains what the clothing supplier took away from the survey, how the current brand relaunch is progressing and what trends Bonprix has identified.
You have just presented your fashion report. What do you take away from the results?
For us, the Fashion Report is very important because fashion is an expression of personality. It’s a great way to keep an ear to the ground. When we saw the results, it quickly became clear that we would call the study “The New Fashion Consciousness”. We asked thousands of women in Germany about fashion and their expectations and there is a trend towards individualization.
What does this tendency towards individualization mean?
Due to the individualization trend, it is already very noticeable that women know exactly what they want and do not simply follow every trend. There was only a very small fraction that “blindly bought” trends. Individuality is in the foreground.
Consumers are very conscious of what they can wear and see what fashion does to their confidence – over 80 percent of women surveyed say they feel more confident when they feel well dressed.
So do trends no longer play a role for women in Germany?
It doesn’t mean that women don’t want trends anymore, they just don’t follow them easily anymore. It is therefore becoming more important to understand what they want, to respond to it and then to explain to them what the collection is about and what story we are telling.
So do consumers shop more consciously?
There seems to be at least a penchant for favorite pieces.
Amazingly, a third of the pieces in wardrobes remain untouched, yet six out of ten women say they still can’t find something suitable everywhere. And I ask myself why that is, given the mass of pieces, providers and channels.
This fits in very well with the topic of individualization, that many women say that the presentation or the models do not yet fit this individual zeitgeist and 90 percent of those surveyed would like a realistic representation and more diversity in the fashion presentation. This is a very clear mission for me.
Bonprix is currently undergoing a brand relaunch with a new logo and slogan. Further steps are to follow.
We are working on constant improvement and of course the topic of brands is very, very important to us. It’s about more than just a logo – it’s about our overall appearance. Here we have already hit the topic of individualization well. We placed our staging very strongly on diversity, real naturalness and authenticity.
It’s important to know your brand values and keep working on them. In product management, a very central point for me is to implement and consistently deliver the brand expectations for product, quality, fits for our customers.
There is also a Tiktok account recently, where influencers of different ages present their styles. Which target group does Bonprix want to reach?
Our target group is the “smart fashion shopper” who is in their late 30s. Not to say she’s not very TikTok-savvy, but it’s not the 20-year-old where we have a match on social media. Of course, we also want to reach the customer who is on Tiktok and not limit the target group too much. Social media is not the top priority for those surveyed either. They are more inspired by colleagues, girlfriends or the street scene.
Bonprix is active in more than 25 markets. How do you reach these sometimes so different regions?
In addition to Germany, we also carried out our survey in our other core markets, and the data is currently being evaluated. So we will present new results again in order to offer a stronger focus on international women. It is already becoming apparent that there are some differences between the countries. For us that means it’s important that we play a variety of styles.
Of course we have a core style that we present to the outside world, but underneath, as I like to say, a flower opens up with different alternatives for individual styles that nevertheless have something to do with each other and suit the customer.
Although menswear is part of their range, it plays no role in the report or on their social media channels…
Bonprix’s main target group are women – and they may also have a partner and children, which we reach out to in this way.
Three quarters of those surveyed find the topic of sustainability complicated. How do you intend to meet them?
We need to transport it better. Even if we already communicate a lot, we will make it even more tangible for the customer – and explain why a product is recyclable. With our Circular Collection, we want to make it clear that it was developed according to circular design principles, that the buttons can be unscrewed and that there are few mixed fibers in it.
Circular design plays a role in your ‘Circular Collection’. Should the cycle be expanded in the future to include take-back systems and services such as rental fashion?
Take-back systems would be a first step for us because there is also a strong tendency towards regulation. Anyone who brings products onto the market should also ensure that they can be taken back. We are currently working on concepts and believe that we can do this well thanks to our business model, with a very good infrastructure in terms of logistics.
We don’t see rental models at the moment, but we don’t rule it out either – the more important it becomes for the fashion market, the more we have to deal with it.
Last year, Bonprix recorded a decline in sales. How has the current financial year been so far?
We had a very strong Corona time. All in all, the business is challenging, but we have a healthy business model. We are working on the right measures to continue being successful with the current and future challenges.
Bonprix invited FashionUnited to the launch event.