Capitalize on the ‘Vacation Mode’ trend
he lead-up into 2024 has not been the most ideal for businesses. Retail stores enjoyed the post-pandemic shopping surge in fashion even until the early part of 2023 but saw a steady decline in sales towards the second part.
The globally reliable annual trend forecast report by BoF X McKinsey addresses the same issue for 2024 calling it ‘a year of uncertainty.’ Yet, one dominant behavior businesses and retailers could count on, seems to be travel. In a turbulent year, the ‘Vacation Mode’ trend turns out to be a reliable pocket of growth.
Following very resilient numbers in 2021 and 2022 because of the pandemic, a decline in sales growth was slowly seen in 2023. This could mean that the global consumers are going to reach a newer equilibrium forcing stores to adopt a newer way of catering to them. While things would come to a calm, 2024 is anticipated to be the time when you will have to ride out the storm.
The travel industry, however, is a completely different story. Four years since the lockdown consumers have finally gained confidence to go on vacations. The inclinations are also towards exploring newer destinations, shopping during vacations, creating authentic experiences, reconnecting with the outdoors, and exploring local cultures. As the consumers’ values are set to shift, businesses and retail stores need to adopt newer methods and tricks to make the most of it.
Qalara presents tips & tricks for businesses & stores on how to capitalize on this ‘Vacation Mode’ trend. This listing discusses behaviors and themes within the vacation trend that can effectively be turned into a reliable sales pocket. Here are the predicted travel trends for 2024.
Going to newer & unexplored destinations
While top travel destinations like Paris & London continue to make it to the list of vacation ideas, lesser-known second-tier cities have started to gain traction. In the trend forecast survey mentioned above, over 50% of the consumers showed interest in vacationing in newer locations.
The reasons for this shift could be credited to wanting to discover destinations that haven’t been hounded by a heavy tourist population. Social media platforms have played a huge role in bringing such ‘underrated locations’ to the common consumer. All this along with them being all the more appreciative of post-quarantine freedom has led to this substantial projected growth. So the customers will be looking to explore the local beauty of the place right from historical sightseeing and heritage to shopping, nightlife & cuisine, just trying to seep in its very personal and purely protected aesthetic.
⬝ Tips & tricks for businesses
1. Stores in such locations can try to include the culture of their city in their products. Authentic local fashion and offerings that stay true to the design aesthetic of the place will attract the forthcoming tourist customers who come with an attitude to explore the beauty of the world they haven’t known before
2. For businesses located elsewhere, it is a great time to consider expanding to second-tier cities and make your name synonymous with these destinations that hold the potential to grow for years to come
⬝ Businesses that have done it
1. Uniqlo has been shifting its focus to speed up opening in second-tier cities like Edinburgh and make the most of this trend in time
2. Chanel has invested in its first authentic Scottish pop-up store in a soon-to-be-flooded-by-tourists Edinburgh
Shopping apparel for vacations
About 40% of the consumer demographic shops for vacation dresses before traveling. It could be argued that most of the shopping is likely to happen on vacation, but certain purchases are a part of the pre-travel packing must-haves. One such very prominent element is resort wear. The resort fashion industry niche has always benefited from increased travel numbers.
Resort wear most often falls in the luxury fashion niche and has frequently been pushed by brands with a higher cost bracket.
⬝ Tips & tricks for businesses
1. Since the traveling population is to increase, selling resort wear at a more cost-effective price point for a bigger demographic of consumers could help boost sales
2. Resortwear fashion is a niche that is very closely intertwined with the hospitality, wellness, and tourism industry as well. Collaborating with multiple such interested businesses will help create a more stable consumer base in a synergy. Fashion giants have also taken a step further and efficiently used social media influencers to sell a complete lifestyle
⬝ Businesses that have done it
1. Mango has been a brand that noticed this need for more accessible wear and collaborated with Simon Miller to create a colorful capsule beachwear collection in 2023 that positioned itself in a more accessible price point, attracting the masses.
2. Louis Vuitton’s ‘LV by the pool’ range of ready-to-wear travel apparel was promoted by collaborating with Zuma restaurant in Mykonos, Greece, promoting fashion, hospitality, and tourism at the same time.
Renewed interest in outdoor activities
This is not exclusively a travel trend but a very prominent one. The pandemic has also pushed people to aim for a healthier lifestyle. In the US itself, 82% of the consumers said that they had participated in outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, and marathons as opposed to 60% in 2020.
This shift steadily affected the sportswear and outdoor brands to gain sales over the years, so much so that the fashion niche crept into casual streetwear creating the ‘Gorpcore’ trend. Sportswear brands are now making fashion and footwear products that also fit into lifestyle while lifestyle brands are making slight design tweaks to their products to make them more functional and outdoorsy. Style and functionality have mixed so well in this trend that fashion has now become subtler and a more inclusive part of streetwear.
⬝ Tips & tricks for businesses
1. As 2024 is a great year for the outdoors, having sportswear apparel ready would be a good way to go. Options like hiking boots, fleece, and cargo pants have even effortlessly become a part of everyday fashion, ensuring minimum sales even in case of a change of tide
2. As the ‘Gorpcore’ trend has gone even subtler, investing in athleisure collections that have fused sports and leisure is a safe option
⬝ Businesses that have done it
1. North Face and Gucci collaborated for the first time in 2021 to create a mix of luxury and outdoors. It was the first time that fashion giants at that big of a scale have done something like that. This being as recent as 3 years ago, only goes to show the potential in the coming years for this niche
Favoring the experience over simple shop-and-leave models
This could again be attributed to a long overdue need for a vacation, but about 40% of the customers wish to create beautiful experiences for themselves and wish to invest even more in such ideas during travel. An experience here means you cannot just limit your business to products and selling. Merging with hospitality, location, and brand-based themes, you are expected to present them with an experience that feels personalized for the customer’s needs.
⬝ Tips & tricks for businesses
1. Pop-up stores in vacation spots have proved to be game changers for experience-based purchases and continue to be highly effective. While giving you room to understand current trends and requirements to make tweaks, it also makes the customers feel like the experience is all the more curated and customized for them
2. Pop-up stores have innovated by adding elements like cafes, wellness stores, themed designs, and nature-inspired aesthetics to provide specific experiences
⬝ Businesses that have done it
1. Prada came up with a Pop-up cafe in London’s Harrods department store
2. Fendi, a luxury fashion brand took it to a whole other level with resort-based rollouts. It designed a beach club in Puente Romano Beach Resort, Spain along with personalized boats for guests
Conclusion
A lot of ground to cover this year. A lot of tweaks to be made. A lot of trends to look out for and yet it is always advised to stay cautioned and keep a close eye on the inevitable changing winds this year.
Despite wherever the trends sway, Qalara’s robust range of more than 100,000 products ready for global sourcing and wholesale, will be great for all retail store owners to quickly shop from. With themes and trend-based offerings being updated based on these swaying styles, we are always up-to-date. Check out our range of offerings based on the trends of 2024, here and let us know in the comments which ‘Vacation Mode’ trend you shall follow up closely as a retailer.
~ Written by Dhanush Dandu
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