Covid-19 and the Nigerian Fashion Industry: Challenges and the way foward -By Nwabuzor Obianuju Cynthia

The outbreak of the coronavirus is first and foremost a human tragedy, which has affected hundreds of thousands of people globally. It is also having a growing impact on the global economy. With the situation evolving by the day, Governments have launched unprecedented public-health and economic responses, no one can really tell how long this would go on for as case growth keeps accelerating.

However, admist all of this happenings, we are clueless about what the world will look like and the possible implications and changes that might happen in the future and just as the world is gearing up to embrace the new normal, business will not remain the same.

Shifting the sight from global to the Nigerian scenario, the country has a host of new challenges to overcome. In the retail segment, the fashion retail sector has been the worst hit because while other key segments, such as food, grocery, pharma, etc, are still operational owing to their essential nature, the fashion industry is facing high loss of revenues.

With the pandemic still ongoing, we’ve been able to realize how fashion is just a secondary need and not an Essential like food, medications etc. With the emergence of this unprecedented times, we are posed with questions such as, “What would be the new normal for the fashion industry in Nigeria?” “Ways in we which the fashion industry can stay afloat and relevant during these very challenging times?”

It is important that the industry braces up, as there will be a change in consumers spending behavior and capacity.. According to Dolekoglu (2008), the main determining factor affecting consumer buying behaviour are Quality, Price, Trust, Availability, Frequent advertisement, Sales promotion, Brand image, Freshness and Habits. The post covid 19 Nigerian consumer won’t remain the same because rather than shopping with emotions, they become logical, conservative, realistic and open-minded with the way they spend on fashion needs and this can result to a decline in sales and a major lag in the fashion industry before things would return back to normal.

There is a possibility that there would be a recession worse than the Great Depression with the current situation which has affected a lot of small businesses which makes up 80% of the Nigerian business ecosystem but as it is now, theres a slow  reaction and solution by the government.

This current situation has also affected the employment level in the fashion industry especially now that demands have reduced drastically and would be low for another one year and this has resulted to companies reducing labour, cost of production and cost of sales.

Crisis helps to create new opportunities and also helps people and systems reassess their operations and also throws light on the gaps and cracks in our business models, and enlightens us on how to differentiate between vitals, necessities, and luxuries. This serves as a wake up call to the fashion industry in Nigeria, as to how they can sit to rethink and restructure their patterns to adjust to the new normal without liquidating.

Every designer and fashion entrepreneur must think industrialization and digitalization. It is imperative that e-commerce sales will become the new normal. The digital space has boundless potential even for physical stores and a rethinking of strategy now to go digital can yield benefits and expand business prospects in post-COVID times.

This is the set time to restructure and reset, to look inwards as to how we can sustain without going out of business. “What kind of fashion are consumers tilting to?”, “how can we implement the new normal into our business models? ” “Do you currently have a digital platform, do you need to set up one?” “How can I get quality fabrics locally?”, “how can i ship my fabrics in without traveling out?” All of this are questions posed in times like this.
Would we recover? YES, we will. Nevertheless, it is important that we come in terms with reality and work out ways in which we can resolve and transform. It is most definetly true we might not make so much money now, but what’s more important is that we structure ourselves and not run out of business. On a business level, times of crises can be both threatening and liberating, however, we need to know that cultural and organizational change is hard.

Yes this crisis is a deep-seated disruption, but this will push us and motivate us into restarting. At this point, more attention needs to be given to the Nigerian fashion industry. The world is paying more attention to African fashion.From the fabrics, to the ingenuity, and craftsmanship of African designers are unmatched. However, designers don’t have the support, capacity and resources to develop their own brands.

In conclusion, the impact of COVID-19 is changing daily, no one can ascertain what the future would hold but this is definetly a moment to rethink ways which we can recover and reboot post the pandemic.