10 Reasons Why Your Fashion Business Needs an Intranet

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve seen businesses embrace digital innovation. To stay relevant, most businesses have to adapt to the growing digital industry. One of the most affected industries during the pandemic is fashion. According to McKinsey’s State of Fashion 2021, about 45% of fashion executives experienced their biggest challenge and 30% saw that switching to the digital world is the biggest opportunity to stay in business. 

That being said, the best way to keep up with the digital world is to launch a digital workplace or an intranet to help your employees perform their duties and improve the employee experience.

According to Statista, the global apparel market is expected to grow from $1.5 trillion USD to $2.25 trillion USD by 2025. This could lead to complications in global supply chains and increased demand by people around the world, making it more difficult for fashion brands and retailers. 

Digital transformation can be as simple as switching from paper to digital, launching an e-commerce website, or creating an intranet or employee experience platform. Here are the reasons why digital transformation is very important in the fashion industry:

• To be able to keep up with the in-person and online shopping 

• Transform and align teams in your fashion business

• Improve existing processes

• Improve steps along the value chain

1. Employee Engagement

Having an employee experience platform or intranet makes it easier for employees to communicate with regional teams and headquarters to quickly complete tasks or processes. It also allows in-store teams to access important information to make their work easier.

2. Increased Productivity

If all your data and documents are paper-based, your employees will waste a lot of time searching for what they need. Whereas when you have an intranet, your employees can look for documents within seconds—making them focus on doing more important tasks.

3. Collaboration

Collaboration is crucial in the fashion industry. An intranet helps your employees collaborate with different store locations, HQ teams, regional teams, and facilities quickly and easily. 

4. Connection and Inclusion

Oftentimes, the frontline employees of retail businesses and their contributions are unnoticed. If your employees feel left out, chances are they won’t give their best shot or quit their jobs. The solution? It’s simple. An intranet helps build connections and relationships within the organisation. Your employees can receive important updates, news, and announcements. You can also create communities or a central hub where employees can interact with one another to give them a sense of belonging.

5. Accessible Training

If you have new hires, they can easily access training materials and the company’s handbook. You can also use your intranet to improve your business strategies since all your business data will be stored on the intranet. Having all the information needed will boost information retention and product knowledge.

6. Better Customer Service

When you don’t take care of your employees, it’s less likely that they will provide top-notch customer service. This can be risky especially if you’re in the fashion industry. Having an intranet helps improve the overall internal experience. From onboarding to recognizing exceptional employees, your company's intranet helps build culture and makes employees feel valued.  In return, they will treat your customers better.

7. More Revenue for Your Business

Excellent customer service combined with productive and knowledgeable employees means more revenue for your business. If the customers are satisfied with your products and services, there’s no reason for them to shift to your competitors.

8. Knowledge Sharing

Since an intranet connects remote employees with each other, it’s easier to share knowledge, tips, concerts, and ask questions.

9. Keeping Up With the Digital World

Digital innovation is not new to the fashion industry. AI-assisted designs, data-integrated supply chains, tech-infused stores, and many more have been around for years. But, embracing digital transformation by creating a digital workplace will foster innovation and help your business keep up with modern consumers.

10. Employee Loyalty

Nowadays, most employees look for flexibility, inclusion, diversity, great company culture, and equality rather than big paychecks. Launching an intranet helps improve employee experience and engagement. It also promotes a positive sense of community within the workplace.