3 questions for . . . Vincent Deloffre, co-founder of the AskAnna application

After studying business, Vincent Deloffre held two intrnational positions in digital strategy. His meeting withTudor Gheorghiu was a decisive one and the two young men decided to join forces to create a fashion application for consumers as well as brands and labels. The pitch? To give fashion advice to users both at home and in stores. By simply publishing a photo of a product or from inside a changing room, in less than two minutes users get opinions and suggestions from friends, influencers, and a fashion-loving community. At the same time, by reassuring clients about their choices, the application is also a tool to boost in-store sales. Celio and Jennyfer were the first to be convinced. Other brands and labels are putting the system into place.

What has digital technology changed in consumers’ relationship with fashion?

First of all, it has changed buying behaviour in stores. For example, labels and brands were very worried about the possibility of consumers locating items in stores before buying them on internet. Today the opposite is true, consumers also find products on Internet before buying in a store. This means brands have to communicate with consumers through new channels, like social media.

What has really changed is the role influencing plays in a brand’s appeal. Ten years ago, brands could still easily speak for themselves to promote their products. Today building appeal happens through the right media vectors and the influencers who are part of the brand’s universe. Brands have figured this out. It’s very important that they develop their digital presence. The Fédération has made this a priority, which is why we’re focused on helping brands in this domain . Brands need to adapt to the behaviour of their clients who spend more time on their telephones than in stores.

To what extent has offering services become one of the key elements for fashion consumers?

If people still go to stores, it’s for the good reason of getting service, service that should reflect the brand universe. Consumers are looking for a real experience. And it’s often personal attention from the sales team – all brands can offer this – that makes the difference. For example, a simple cup of tea during a visit increases the average amount of time spent in the point of sales.

In fact, digital technology makes new services easy to offer, as long as the sales staff is trained. These new tools let salespeople respond to a consumer’s concrete problem or need. This is what we focus on at AskAnna: in a hyper-connected world where clients are spending more time on their Smartphones asking advice from friends, what is a salesperson’s role? According to an IFM study, their impact is, in fact, increasingly minor for sales. To win back client trust, our partner labels supply their salespeople with tablets. These tools let them expand their expertise and share advice from AskAnna stylists by taking photos from changing rooms in real time. This becomes an opportunity to share a unique experience, to spend several minutes communicating with the client, and, in the end, to raise the rates for client conversion and satisfaction.

Isn’t there a risk of standardisation tied to the “instagramisation” of trends, both in interiors and fashion, which leads to excluding (or criticizing) everything that doesn’t seem to follow the trends or is atypical?

The trends concept has always existed. If in the past trends were transmitted by advertisements on TV or in the magazines, today they’re communicated via social media. So everything moves much faster and that means fashions are more fleeting. That even creates a certain “has-been” feeling about trends. It’s no longer really cool to follow them.

In fact, what’s cool right now is to be yourself, stand out from the crowd, and be confidence about your taste and style. At AskAnna we have around 100 influencers with completely different profiles. Each one has their own little special touch. They all have their own look and ideas about fashion. We’re not trying to make everyone look like everyone else. On the contrary, we’re trying to promote the personalities of each of our users with our influencers acting as guides.