“52-week merchandising is already a thing of the past.” These were the words of a buyer from a certain men’s select shop. As temperatures remained high throughout October and November during this year’s autumn-winter sales battle, winter items – especially original outer wear for cold weather – hardly moved off the racks.

▼ Meanwhile, there is a strong tateure trend of consumer preference focusing on specific brands. Popular models of The North Face down jackets and Patagonia fleece jackets were either sold out in the pre-orders, or there were long lines of customers waiting outside the stores on the day the stock arrived, with all items sold within a few hours.

▼ The reason for this prominent tateure trend is not just due to a lag in the transition between seasons, notes the buyer. “Now you can search the internet and easily find out what’s trending now, where to buy popular brands, and even which sites have the best prices.”

▼ Even if a particular item you’re after is sold out, “If you keep checking e-commerce sites specialising in resale items and flea market applications, you’ll probably find that item somewhere; and if you’re not too fussed about the price, then you can buy it.” In an actual store though, “you have mannequins dressed in coordinated outfits, and racks and shelves of other items you’re not particularly interested in, all of which can be a bother and rather irritating to the customer.”

▼ It’s become a matter of course for clothes lovers to track down coveted items on the internet. As long as the weather remains unstable, stores cannot follow the previous year’s approach of “these clothes will sell in this particular period”, even for original items. Select shops must be one step ahead of consumers in finding the tateure brands and products, and do more to stock those items for sale.