Brahmaki
Monica Nera
Angel Ruche
Marame
Hissa Line
UK sustainable swimwear label
Necessie
Proche Studio
Sally Skoufis
Short answer. A fashion only agency differs from a generalist e-commerce agency in four ways that matter to the account: it builds creative for a product bought in seconds on aesthetics; it plans around drops, seasons and end of season stock rather than an always on funnel; it understands that a €300 dress and a €30 basic are different problems with different offer structures; and it localises per market because fashion customers behave differently country to country. A generalist has to learn each of these on the client's budget.
Visual language
A supplement, a mattress or a software product is sold on a benefit. A dress is sold on whether she wants to be the woman wearing it, and that decision is made in under two seconds on a phone. Creative for fashion has to read as the brand before it reads as an ad, which is a different craft from writing a benefit led hook, and an agency that has not done it will produce ads that look like every other category's ads. The approach is in ad creative that reads as brand first.
Seasonal cycles
Most e-commerce runs on an always on funnel. Fashion runs on a calendar: pre orders, drops, new season, mid season, end of season, and stock that has to clear before the next collection arrives. Knowing when a pre order push works, when urgency converts and when to hold back is learned by running fashion accounts through several seasons, and a generalist learns it on your first year. A brand that releases a new collection every week is the extreme version, and we have run those too.
Price architecture
Selling a €300 dress is not the same problem as selling a €30 basic. Exclusivity messaging, offer structure, discount discipline and the creative all change with the price point, and an agency used to running discount led campaigns for a volume category will quietly turn a premium brand into a discount brand. The rules are in discount discipline for premium fashion brands.
Market by market
A French customer does not behave like an American one. Sizing, returns expectations, payment methods, price sensitivity and what creative reads as aspirational all change at the border, and fashion is one of the most localised categories there is. We have launched brands into forty markets and we still treat every new one as new. A generalist typically translates the store and shares the budget, which is the most common way fashion expansion fails. The process is in launching a fashion brand in a new market.
Fit and returns
The objection a generalist does not plan for. Will it fit, what size am I, can I send it back. In fashion this is the biggest reason a product page does not convert and the biggest cost line after the product itself, and the store, the creative and the email all have to handle it. An agency that has never dealt with a 30% return rate will not know where to look.
What a fashion only agency gives up
Everything else. We do not take clients outside fashion, we do not offer SEO retainers, social media management or brand decks, and we say no to brands where the product is not there yet. That is the trade. A hundred fashion brands and forty markets of pattern recognition, in exchange for never being the right choice for anyone else.
How to tell which you are talking to
Ask for fashion cases with figures. Ask what they would change on your product page. Ask how they would run your end of season. Ask what changes for your German customers. A fashion agency has answers. A generalist has a process. The full list of questions is in how to choose a fashion marketing agency.
Questions on this
What is the difference between a fashion marketing agency and an e-commerce agency?
A fashion only agency builds creative for a product bought on aesthetics in seconds, plans around drops and seasons, structures offers by price point and localises per market. A generalist e-commerce agency runs the same always on funnel for every category and learns what changes in fashion on the client's budget.
Is a niche agency better for a clothing brand?
Usually, if the brand is doing enough revenue for the niche agency to take it on. The four things that change in fashion, visual language, seasonal cycles, price architecture and market behaviour, each cost money to learn.
Does Fundal Media work outside fashion?
No. Clothing, footwear, jewellery, swimwear, sleepwear, modest wear and accessories only, since 2016.