Until recently the fashion industry has been relatively slow in making the leap into the digital arena, however, this is beginning to change. Although the recession has cut into high streets sales figures the economic downturn has created an exciting opportunity for fashion companies who are prepared to focus on their e-commerce strategy. It has been widely noted that within the fashion industry a new phenomenon has occurred in which money minded shoppers are trying to find discounts and deals online rather than heading in store. The key for success is trying to find a way of reaching this modern web savvy consumer with an online strategy that will improve your brand’s reputation as well as driving traffic and sales towards your site in a cost effective manner.

Emma Bonar, head of Karen Millen’s e-commerce department agrees that digital is the way forward for fashion. She says that “by investing and engaging in digital channels, brands will find themselves well placed to ride out the downturn and respond appropriately when the economy recovers”.  This is something that really resonates with us here at Yoma. We realise that the digital boom has completely changed the way that fashion brands communicate with and sell to consumers. It is now not enough to simply have a web presence; you need to know how to communicate with your audience in a way that is fresh, innovative and interactive. Not getting this right could result in a sharp rise in lost sales.

This is where Yoma come in. We understand the market and have a track record of success in delivering results for clients looking to establish or readjust their online presence. We believe that in order to succeed fashion companies must embrace the digital trend with an intelligent online marketing strategy, this is something we are very well placed to do. We have experience in using our knowledge of online marketing for our client’s benefit but you don’t have to take our word for it. Following our complete overhaul of leading fashion brand Tessuti’s digital strategy, the company benefitted greatly and stated that “our work with Yoma has grown our internet business. In the last twelve months we have seen our turnover double and the website, support, SEO and PPC service they have provided has been excellent”.

So, if your company is interested in achieving online success then talk to Yoma. When it comes to digital strategy we know all the current trends that are really turning heads online.

Social media isn’t the only thing that has been steadily developing over the course of 2011. It has also been a massive year for Yoma too as we continue to make an impact in the digital world. 2011 has seen us go from strength to strength and our success hasn’t gone unnoticed within the industry. A fine year was capped off with the news that Yoma are to be awarded the title of Web Development Entrepreneur of the Year at the 2011 Digital Entrepreneur Awards in Manchester. We are particularly proud of our web development capabilities and consider it a real honour to receive the accolade from our peers.

Over the year we have used our specialist knowledge in open source e-commerce and CMS platforms such as Magento and Joomla to create fresh, innovative and effective websites for major clients such as The Cavern Club, Soap and Glory, Wilkinsons and Barker and Stonehouse. These, now award-winning web builds not only offer easy navigation to users but also great return on investment for our clients who are benefitting greatly as a result of their new found, cutting edge web presence.

Brilliant web design is not all we have done this year though. Our specialist teams of SEO, PPC, Social Media and Email Marketing experts also enjoyed a successful 2011. Our wealth of experience right across the digital spectrum has resulted in real success for our clients and growth for Yoma. Although we are extremely proud of our achievements we certainly aren’t about to rest on our laurels. It is our aim to make 2012 just as successful, exciting and fun as last year for both us and our clients, we hope you can join us.

As part of our customers online marketing service we submit all of their products to Google Shopping, using a custom data feed. This is a really great way of improving the sites visibility and helps us with our ultimate goal; making them a return on their investment.

However, Google have been making changes which might have an affect on the ability to generate traffic from this source. This will NOT affect SEO, PPC positions or traffic. Previously Google collected the product information just by using the product title and description. However, from now on Google is trying to create a single page for every product and then on this page give users a list of sellers, prices, reviews and comments. In order to do this they now require 2 pieces of information, which need to supplied when adding new products to a website;

Google Shopping Now Requires:

MPN Attribute:

MPN stands for “Manufacturer Part Number”. Every manufacturer supplies a unique MPN for every different product which they make. You have 2 options for how you wish to input this information into Magento

SKU Field: You can use this pre-existing field to supply your MPN, if you don’t already.

Using the MPN Attribute: If your SKU field is used for another purpose, like an in-house record system or integrated with your tills, you can input the MPN number into your new MPN attribute which YOMA has created for you. To do this; simply click on any product inside Magento and scroll down to the new MPN field.

Manufacturer / Brand Attribute:

This information needs to be supplied for every product. If  the manufacturer of a product is known, it is really important to supply this information to Google. It is optional if you want this information to be visible on a website or not.

Help and information as you require         

If you would like anything further explaining, just ask and we’ll be happy to help.

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The Telegraph recently held its annual shop awards, which this year focused on independent stores.

In challenging economic times, it was suggested that this shift in focus for the awards could really highlight some of the smaller stores that have had to work hard in recent months to keep up with the larger chains and department stores.

Over 18,000 people voted for their favourite local business across 10 different categories, from women’s fashion stores to corner shops! The top three shops in each category were put into a shortlist, from which their panel of judges made the final decision.

So what does this have to do with Yoma, I hear you ask?

Well, our client, Sunday Best not only made it into the shortlist for the women’s fashion shop category, they won it! Sunday Best are officially Best for Women’s Fashion. With a huge range of different brands, and contemporary through to vintage styles, Sunday Best is the ideal shop for any woman wanting to look her best.

Why not take a look?

Huge congratulations to Sunday Best on this excellent achievement!

With the HTML5 specification not yet finalised and the availability of features across browsers patchy at best, many people in the industry still see getting to grips with HTML5 as a topic for there “Nice to Have” list.

After trying to get a copy of this book for a while, it was good to finally read through it. A beautifully designed and well structured piece of literature, I was able to read through it in a single evening as its less than 100 pages.

Jeremy Keith’s writing style is both informative and light hearted. He has a way of explaining HTML5 simply and in such a way that it won’t patronise you, but in fact gives you little tidbits to further research.

Whether you’re wanting to know more about best practice or should I say, “assumed practice” (due to the lack of aforementioned final specification), this book gives you simple analogies that you can put into practice when having a section vs article debate around the office.

Thoroughly recommended reading.

With a plethora of brands vying for positions across various media networks building an effective Display campaign can help organisations meet their overall marketing goals whilst being innovative.

As with any goal understanding your orientation is key, here at Yoma we like to talk – it’s good to; talking to our clients is one of the principle ways we go about understanding their goals and their orientation; Sales based, Brand based or any other number of objectives that there are.

Working with a number of clients, we are building up their online portfolios by integrating Display advertising with their traditional Search Marketing. Key to this effort is synchronising messaging across all areas to ensure the marketing message is leveraged with Punch! The great thing about consistent messaging is that using catchy tag lines or the same product ranges ensures your offering is firmly in the eye of potential customers.

Having had a bad press in the past for not being able to produce the same direct sales results as Display it now positions itself as occupying a key place in the buying cycle of consumers alongside Search. A recent study by Atlas 1 identified that integrated Search and Display campaigns could result in a conversion rate lift of up to 22%.

Understanding that they can work together, being able to review data from campaigns effectively and act on it is a core element of Yoma’s marketing ethos. Having established relationships and in-house experience we are able to offer clients the option of pushing ads across Google’s Search and Display networks and Microsoft’s Search and Display networks – reaching most of the online community!

These days, nearly everywhere you look, people are tapping away furiously on their iPhones. With over 300,000 apps available in the AppStore, there is an app for just about anything. Liverpool based digital agency YOMA have started to offer app creation as one of their many services (alongside web design and e-commerce, SEO, paid search management, social media and email marketing).

On 11th January 2011, YOMA released their very first mobile app for Hayabusa Fightwear (their client is the European distributor). Not wanting to do things by halves, its also a fully functional ecommerce application, so you are able to purchase products using the app too!

With UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) now being screened in over 130 countries worldwide, its popularity is growing all the time. As a result, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) interest has increased, with demand for products high. YOMA saw this as an ideal opportunity for their client and proposed the idea of a mobile app. Together with the growth of the smartphone/app industry, mobile commerce and the popularity of the product, this idea could only go one way.

Hayabusa Fightwear is highly regarded amongst the martial arts community as the gold standard in high performance MMA equipment and apparel.

Download the App here