Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

Consumers have begun to shop for apparel again. But some apparel categories are doing better than others. And consumers are also showing a preference for specific channels, such as online. In addition, the cost of some raw materials and production will soar this year. All of these changes suggest that marketers will be seek to reposition apparel.

While women enjoy shopping for clothes, there’s one phrase in particular they don’t want to see: dry clean only. Indeed, three out of four female clothes shoppers (75%) say they avoid items that require a trip to the cleaners. Meanwhile, 59% are loathe to purchase clothing that has to be hand washed separately—and women aged 65 and up are even more likely to pass on fashions with tags that bear the hand wash separately mandate, with 68% reporting as much. According to the new research, 84% of female clothes shoppers are seeking out easy to mix and match separates, while 78% are drawn to classic styles that don’t go out of style and 71% are looking for items that don’t have to be ironed.

The recession wreaked havoc on the budgets and emotional well-being of women, the emotional center and primary shopper in many families. But as women adjust to the new economic reality, they are exhibiting behavior indicative of a new consumer era especially with respect to personal health and well-being. This change gives marketers a different way to position their products and services.

A new study commissioned by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) shows manufacturers have made huge strides in creating more energy efficient televisions. To put the gains in context, the power consumption of the average TV sold in 2010 consumes less energy than a 100 watt incandescent light bulb and less power than what is needed to light a typical living room. “Many consumers don’t realize they can replace an old analog TV with a new flat-panel digital TV that uses less energy,” said Douglas Johnson, vice president of technology policy, CEA. In terms of market share, CEA expects LCD TVs to account for 82% of TV display sales in 2011 with 27.1 million units shipped. CEA expects 4.6 million plasma TVs to ship this year.

Retailers hoping to boost their e-commerce sales this year should focus more on such areas as in-store pickup for online purchases and making shopping appealing for consumers with tablet computers, according to a new report from Forrester Research. Retailers also should give attention to social networks, but not expect to gain large amount of sales from Facebook and similar sites. The report also urges retailers to prepare for what Forrester calls tablet commerce, sparked by the release last year of Apple Inc.’s iPad. Tablet computers, along with smartphones, are enabling more consumers to shop on the go. Forrester predicts that in 2011, tablet commerce will constitute a new subset of mobile commerce.

Generational changes and economic turmoil are helping to upend traditional gender roles. Male-dominated industries such as manufacturing and construction were hit particularly hard during the recession, challenging the notion that men are the family breadwinners. Meanwhile, research suggests dads are spending more time at home and playing an increased role in family life. Half or more of dads polled by Yahoo! Research in October 2010 said they had taken an increased role in decision-making over the past year with regard to a number of categories such as baby products, toys, household products, apparel and CPG. Yet advertising has not kept pace with fathers’ new habits, as marketers continue to cater heavily to moms.