Images_Digital_Edition_January_2019

www.images-magazine.com JANUARY 2019 images 117 is a wave of entrepreneurs who are keen on creating better experiences for their customers and turning them into fans. This, of course, creates a huge swell of momentum. The paradigm-shifting trend is to position the company or product as part of a bigger holistic picture. A customer community is created. People want to get involved. They want to belong to a tribe. A team. Something with a culture. More merchandise can then be offered to the community or during a created event. It’s the experience that drives more sales. The more unique and fun the experience, the better sales can become. To me, proof of this idea is the recent collaboration between Stahls‘ and Tim Williams with YR Store to create an enhanced onsite fulfilment centre. This approach makes it easier for companies to sell personalised or customisable merchandise by modernising the W ell, 2018 is over; on to the new year! And n ow comes the fun part, predicting what might happen in the industry over the next 12 months. What trends are emerging? Will any products or ideas take over? And, for the cynical amongst you, what might it mean for your bottom line? Here’s how I see it panning out, in no particular order... Plenty of business out there First, and probably the most important, is the fact that there is plenty of work available. Business is booming, and I don’t see that slowing down any time soon, even with the uncertainty over Brexit. Just about every shop that I’ve spoken to in the last few months is reporting at least double-digit growth for 2018. Everyone is anticipating a strong market for 2019, and is making plans to capitalise on that strength. For most, their biggest challenge seems to be finding employees to help expand their business. Experiential customer focus For shops that are still hung up on simply selling the price of ‘ink on cotton‘, there It‘s that time of year again where Marshall Atkinson gazes into his crystal ball and shares with us what‘s going to happen over the next 12 months in the world of garment decoration Mystic Marshall experience with interactive kiosks. The kiosks are similar to large tablets or cell phone interfaces, where the user swipes or clicks through choices to customise their apparel purchase. Buyers can click, swipe and choose garments and mix and match designs, patterns and other choices to instantly create their own concept for on-the- spot production. Using heat transfers, heat-applied cut vinyl, direct-to-garment printing or even dye sublimation, the customer’s design can then be applied to a garment. Their choice queues up the production, and when ready the shop can text message them for pick up. It’s a fully customisable experience that will excite and drive more business for the shop. Tim has done an amazing job with YR Stores, which he co- founded, with pop-up retail stores in major worldwide markets for years. It’s This makes it easier for companies to sell personalised or customisable merchandise MARKET INTELLIGENCE