Rethinking Retail:
The Landscape Has Changed, Now What?

At Fashion Decoded, Mairi Fairley (Chair of OC&C Strategy Consultants) gave a striking but pragmatic assessment of the fashion industry’s current state. No buzzwords. No sugar-coating. Her message to the audience of senior retail execs?

“Just doing more of what you’re doing slightly better won’t cut it anymore.”

From inflation to innovation, Mairi walked through the numbers, the patterns, and the pressure points. We wanted to highlight five of the most important insights from her session. If you’re serious about navigating this market, these are the truths to sit with.

1. Growth Is Gone. Margin Is Squeezed. Innovation Is No Longer Optional.

Retailers are now facing a rare double threat:

→ Volume growth has flatlined: the days of growing by simply selling more are over
→ Margin pressure is accelerating: costs are rising across labour, logistics, and marketing

Mairi’s analysis shows that for the first time, fashion is battling pressure on both the top and bottom line.

“We’re entering a share-gain market. You’ll have to win at someone else’s expense.”

2. Resale Isn’t a Trend. It’s 25% of the Market.

One of the most eye-opening stats: 25% of fashion transactions in the UK now happen through resale. When you add the resale back into the first hand market you get back to the 2-3% growth we were seeing a decade ago.

Resale is not just for premium brands and items, the bulk is for mass and value brands. Primark, M&S and H&M dominate the charts on platforms like Vinted.

“Consumer volume hasn’t disappeared. It’s just moved out of the first-hand channel.”

The opportunity? Rethink resale as a formal part of your omnichannel model, not a competitor.

3. Performance Marketing Took Over But At What Cost? Brand Is the Differentiator Again.

Over the past 15 years, fashion brands have shifted from 80% brand spend to 80% performance. It makes sense on many levels, it’s easy to track, the ROI seems clear. But it has ended up commoditising many brands. It is a sugar-rush that leads to a lack of differentiation and brand love. The overall numbers really don’t stack up anymore.

→ Higher CAC
→ Lower customer lifetime value
→ A constant treadmill of buying transactions, not building relationships

“In a world of stagnating volume, it’s all about share. If you can’t answer why customers would choose you, you’re in trouble.”

In every market on axis of price and quality, there are always large number of brands clumped in the middle and the middle is a very dangerous place to be. Brands like Zara and Uniqlo have managed to extract themselves from the middle by doubling down on distinctiveness, through style, quality, and consistency.

4. The Disruptors Aren’t Coming. They’re Already Here.

Shein and Temu are no longer fringe players, they’re rewriting the rules. According to Mairi’s analysis, Shein alone has become the largest fashion retailer by volume in many Western markets.

→ Shein’s CAGR from 2019–23: +79%
→ Temu’s Q4 2022–Q4 2023 GMV growth: +2307%

These brands are thriving in a low-margin, high-expectation world by building models around data-powered inventory, AI-led trend prediction, gamified UX, and mobile-first engagement at speeds legacy players aren’t yet matching.

“Consumers are making different trade-offs now—price, speed, experience, entertainment. And they’re not waiting for us to catch up.”

For traditional retailers, the implication isn’t just “do it cheaper.” It’s:

→ Be faster to react
→ Design smarter product loops
→ Make shopping feel as intuitive and engaging as content

In other words, learn from what’s working, even if you don’t like how they’re doing it.

5. Data is Abundant. Application is What Matters.

The fashion industry is sitting on a growing treasure trove of data product, customer, behavioural, supply chain. But Mairi’s warning was clear:

“The question isn’t if you have the data. It’s whether you’re using it well enough.”

As well as learning from the likes of Shein and Temu, retailers are leaning into four key areas:

→ Personalisation: match product to intent
→ Profitability: reduce markdowns, increase forecast accuracy
→ Sustainability: reduce waste and sampling
→ Productivity: automate intelligently, improve margin

The businesses that win will be those that know how to activate the right data, ask the right questions at the right level of precision, across the value chain.

Final Thought

Mairi didn’t paint an easy picture. But she left us with something better: a clear call to action.

This isn’t a time to iterate gently. It’s a moment to rethink, restructure, and rebuild the business for where the customer, and the cost base, is headed. Fashion is changing. Slowly is risky.

We strongly recommend you watch the full session with Mairi Fairley here