Business Environment and Market Situation of Cotton on Brand - Assignment Example

?THE OF NEWCASTLE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS GSBS6010 Foundations of Marketing Theory Contents Contents 2 Marketing Plan 4 Executive Summary 4 Introduction 5 Situation Analysis 5 Internal Environment 5 History of Cotton On 6 Market Segmentation and Targeting Strategy 7 Marketing Mix 7 Product 7 Women 8 Men 8 Kids 8 Pricing Strategy 8 Place 8 Promotion 9 Differentiated Resources 9 External Environment 10 Economic Outlook 10 Scenario of Market for Fashion Industry Globally 10 Competitors’ Analysis 11 SWOT Analysis 12 Marketing Objectives 12 Proposed Strategies for Selecting Target Market and Positioning the Brand 13 Proposed Marketing Mix 14 Products Strategy 14 Pricing Strategy 14 Placing Strategy 14 Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy 15 Supply Chain Management 16 Implementation of the Proposed Changes in Strategy 17 Action Plan 17 Training 17 Motivating Employees 17 Responsible Individuals 17 Time Line and Budgeting 18 Measurement and Control 18 Conclusion 19 References 20 Marketing Plan Executive Summary One of the most widely used business principle is the 80-20 Pareto principle (Bunkley, 2008) which states that 80 percent of new business will come from 20 percent of existing customers. This makes knowing and nurturing relationships with existing customers even more valuable. However, the struggle is when a brand wants to expand its image and market. Cotton On is in that crossroad. It grew it business catering to the simple and relaxed 20 something market. However, the entrance of smaller companies that offer the same diversity in design and high class quality is forcing to reinvent itself (Cotton On, 2011). This paper will explore the marketing opportunities it can tap in order to reinvent its image to a flexible label that is essential to every fashion genre. For creating understanding regarding Cotton On’s operations and the environment for its business activities will be analyzed in detail. For this reason, number of strategic tools are utilized which enhances the description of business processes and operations. Cotton On’s internal analysis will be conducted which aims on understanding the internal environment of Cotton On as an organization and how its mission and vision are incorporated to the business processes. Internal analysis will also discuss the strategies adopted for attaining growth within the segment in coming years and how marketing mix has helped it to be different from its competitors. Cotton On’s target segment and its marketing strategies to promote products will also be discussed. External environment for Cotton On’s business activities will be discussed in a separate section. For analyzing the external environment, SWOT analysis will be utilized to understand the strengths and weakness as well as opportunities and threats coming from competitors’ business activities will also be analyzed. In addition, the surrounding environment, which includes the domestic and global market situation for the company, its size and the consumers of Cotton On’s products, will be assessed. The results derived from internal and external analysis of business environment for Cotton On will be utilized in the next stage to develop a set of objectives for the marketing of company’s products. These objectives will help further to develop marketing strategies which includes the selection of market segment and positioning of the brand. The suggested marketing objectives and strategies will be supported with the action plan, identification of individuals who are responsible to implement it, time schedule, and budgeting and performance analysis measures. Introduction Cotton On is one of the few organically Australian ready-to-wear (RTW) fashion label. Fairly young in the industry at less than 30 years old, they now have shops all over Australia, New Zealand, and America. It has uniquely mirrored the same image that Australia has project all over the world, relax, simple and comfortable. Its primary target is the youth, 15-30, who feels wants a simple no-nonsense style that is flexible yet fashionable (Cotton On, 2011). Through the years, there has been constant effort from the brand to reinforce their image through TV commercials, print ads, and out-of-home advertisements. However, the fashion industry has witnessed an incredible shift of media consumption from traditional to digital. Many of these digital adaptors belong to the same target market that Cotton On caters to, young from the broad C. Many businesses have taken advantage of this by, early on, exerting the same effort digitally as they do above the line (Cotton On, 2011). Unfortunately, Cotton On came in late. They, in fact, established their online store less than three years ago. Outside of the online store, very little effort has been exerted to utilize the digital media to reach the Cotton On target market. This lack of digital presence resulted to one of the biggest digital scandal in the business world when facebook members started spreading complaints and protests against Cotton On Children’s line. The protest claimed that Cotton On’s pieces contained “disrespectful” messages (Cotton On, 2011). Cotton On reacted late and not without considerable damage to the brand. If there is a lesson in this, it is the realization that there is a need for Cotton On fully embraces the digital medium. The report structure will include situation analysis, in which company’s internal and external analysis will be analyzed. The writer than explains the marketing objectives, marketing strategies suggested, implementation and control of the marketing plan. Situation Analysis Internal Environment One word – that’s all it takes for a person to know someone inside and out, its history, its sensibilities, its personality, and its relationships. That word is the brand name e.g. Coca-Cola, iPod, Nike, and Google. Their identities are so strong and so embedded to the minds of the consumers that no single study, perhaps not even a compound of a thousand, can comprehensively explain how each company built it. Cotton On, despite being a young label, has experienced a certain amount of success in positioning themselves in the market and securing a loyal consumer base who identifies them with the same laidback, simple, and organic image of the country where it originated from, Australia. It is, despite possible apprehensions of the fashion elite, a brand that exudes style. History of Cotton On It started in 1991 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Twenty years is considered young in the fashion retail business. Yet, it has expanded to more than 600, employing more than 4,500 people in the same countries where it distributes - Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the US. Its success may be credited to the same formula that casual brands like Roxy and Target has (Grail Research, 2009). It has managed to become an accessible brand but its lines were never tacky or common. By not emphasizing its affordability and flaunting its quality in both engineering and aesthetics, it allowed itself to develop a stylish image that cuts across all segments age, gender, and social class. However, their growth is not being translated or carried on to their digital presence. Cotton On has some of the fewest fans and followers on different SNS, they are also falling prey to many online fashion critics who are always on the lookout for any weakness a brand may show (Gay, 2010). Recently, Cotton On was criticized heavily for coming out with a children’s line with “offensive” messages. Cotton On was unable to respond quickly and they were unable to control the blow up simply because their presence online is not strong. They didn’t have the right people that could have gotten wind of the issue early and countering it early. Digital presence is the one aspect Cotton On must work on. The marketing strategies of Cotton On as a brand depend upon the newly developed mediums of marketing. The most popular medium that Cotton On uses is web-marketing. Cotton On’s website contains all necessary information and product catalogues that provides customers a chance to take an idea online, about what they want to shop or what exactly they are looking for. The basic strategy of Cotton On is to provide trendy dressing line to its customer base, which satisfies their requirements for clothing for office wearing and for going out. In addition, a number of accessories and add-ons are also offered to the customers to supplement the dressing line. The marketing efforts of Cotton On brand focuses on evoking customers to feel the hunger for wearing stylish outfits and look trendy whilst they are at their work place, in meetings and performing daily routines. Cotton On highlights the value it creates for customers’ money, in its marketing efforts. The value proposition creation by Cotton On focuses on providing, latest designs, durable fabric, range of colours, comfortable wearing and availability of garments in various sizes. In this way, Cotton On differentiates itself from other businesses in the marketplace offering same products and price. Market Segmentation and Targeting Strategy Cotton On’s segmentation strategy is based upon the demographic factors of the target market. This strategy has helped Cotton On to appeal as much customers in the market as possible. The vast market that Cotton On has to cover and the products it offers are not available in all areas of Australia. Another reason for demographic segmentation is that it helps to identify the three segments of the market easily, that is women, men and kids. Through segmentation strategy, it becomes easier for Cotton On to make customers’ shopping experience good, reduce the risk perceived by customers, providing them products that are affordable for them and delivering superior service quality. Cotton On focuses on building a customer base which is well educated, young and dynamic, have stable and sufficient income and have convenience to shop online or by visiting Cotton On store (Croft, 1994). The current target market of Cotton On comprises of customers who look for comfortable and easily available clothing line that suits their daily requirements for wearing it during dine-outs, clubbing, partying and office hours. Another segment is the kids segment, which is served on the basis of parents’ requirements and wants to make their children look trendy. Marketing Mix Product Cotton On offers an extensive range of male, female and kids wear which are designed and manufactured by utilizing fabric such as cotton, silk, woolen and others. The wide range of clothing line which is available to the customers is offered in different colors, sizes, prints and designs. All these products are designed according to the latest trends in fashion industry and the taste of the customers. These products are also customized to provide the comfort that a customer want from a dress. The main dressing line which is offered to the customers is as follows: Women Active: Tights, Track pant, Leggings, Waist pants. Dresses: Maxis, Skirts, Shirts, Knit wear, Strapless Dress, Jersey Dress, Frill Dress. Fleece: Hoodies, Sweat Wear. Jackets: Blazers, Biker Jackets, Denim Vest. Tees: Sleeves Tees, Sleeveless Tees. Denim: Pants, Cargo, Skinny Jean, Waist Jean. Shorts: Skorts, 3 Quarters, Denim Shorts. Men Fleece: Zip Thru, Denim Fleece. Jackets: Woolen Jackets, Denim Jackets, Leather Jackets. Knitwear: Knitted shirts, Knitted Tees. Tees: Sleeve Tees, Sleeveless Tees, Tanks. Denim: Track Pants, Skinny Jean, Straight Jean. Polos: Classic Polo, Half Sleeves Polo, Full Sleeve Polos. Shirts: Checker Shirts, Hooded Shirts, Office Wear, Denim Shirts. Kids Baby: Bibs, Shorts, Tees, Bottoms, Pants, Knit Wear, Rompers, Accessories, Tops. Pricing Strategy Cotton On has implemented penetration pricing strategy for its business as it is comparatively new and the high street brands produce enormous competition. In this way, Cotton On tries on to build a customer base by providing good quality clothing at cheaper prices to penetrate in the market and generate higher sales volume. Place Being a retailer, Cotton on finds itself at the end of its supply chain where it’s online and retail business formats interact with customers themselves. In technical terms, customers can acquire Cotton On’s products by placing orders online and the company ships the order to the customers within one week. The retail format of the company includes factory outlets and franchises located at dispersed locations throughout the markets in which it operates. Promotion Products of Cotton On are promoted in order to create awareness and communicate how its products are different from others. The marketing efforts of Cotton On include advertising campaigns to create rational and brand appeal. Advertisement campaigns are utilized to meet persuasive, informative and comparative objectives which entail to persuade target audience by providing them information about the products and services by communicating how Cotton On’s products provide more value to their money. Differentiated Resources Financial resources of Cotton On should be able to reduce the gap between production and supply, which in return helps the company to increase revenue by generating healthy inflows of cash. Providing customer satisfaction by timely delivery of products to the stores. Cotton On should possess enough experience in the marketplace to provide high quality products and enabling customers to access product information through utilization of customer care initiatives of the company. Cotton On needs to develop stronger bond with supply chain members and customers of the company to develop a service structure that ultimately proves to b e beneficial for the customers. External Environment The cards the Australian fashion industry has are not good ones. It seems easier to fold than to call it. The geography itself is a disadvantage of epic proportion. It is more than 20 hours away by plane from all of the major fashion capitals such as Paris, London, and New York. The time difference also means contradicting weather. When it’s summer in Australia, it is winter in Paris. To any fashion expert, that’s a recipe for disaster (Amed, 2011). Economic Outlook The international economic crisis also damaged the value of the Australian Dollar, from 53 to 106 Australian cents to the US dollar. Any fashions sales expert will tell you, that are setting yourself up for suicide and mutilation because it makes any exported product from Australia expensive (Gay, 2010). Juxtapose this with the continuous birth and growth of many other labels from or manufactured in Asian countries where labor and raw materials are affordable and you have a losing formula. Scenario of Market for Fashion Industry Globally The disadvantages don’t end there. The local market is small. There are only 23 million people in a country that highly penetrated by international brand whose volume of production allow them to sell products at a much lower price. The only way for any brand to grow is to go out of the Australia. The complexities continue. Unlike other secondary fashion markets like Brazil, India and China which is difficult because of the factors already mentioned above, difference in season, acquired cost because of transportation and taxes incurred. However, what may be the scariest competitor of Cotton On are the domestic brands that don’t bother to set up physical stores and do their business virtually. Consider that the internet started growing in the 80s and made leaps in 90s. People that were born in these two decades are the same consumers that Cotton On is catering to. They don’t know a world without internet. Therefore, they feel comfortable with it. Since businesses that operate virtually are able to cut operational cost through the absence of office utility bills, less manpower requirement, and store space rentals, Cotton On may have found a real threat (Amed, 2011; Fashuon Products, 2011). Competitors’ Analysis This is, of course, compounded by unique marketing strategies that pull in the influence of non-mainstream. They live and thrive on organic reviews posted by real consumers and not from those who got paid millions to appear in 30-second ad or a full page print ads. These brands talk about unique styles achieved through their non-existent mass production (Lane, 2010). Online brands and stores like Shop bop, Net-a-Porter, Modcloth, Delia’s, and Topshop are able to deliver the orders at the consumer’s doorsteps. This market is so strong that Australia is now the third or fourth most important market for many international fashion e-tailors, a ranking that is disproportionate to the country’s relatively small population. This is surprising considering Australia was slow to adapt this technology infiltration of the fashion environment. Many retailers claimed to be unable to delivery domestically because logistics complications. The lack of automated system that would allow each other to go in their system, confirm the orders, confirm the payments, and pull the stocks out to be delivered to the customer was the primary hindrance. It is, perhaps, this apprehension that allowed many small labels or international ones to come in early. Brands like Roxy, Billabong, and A&F were early in setting up their online ordering system. They also opened their online shops to different parts of the world including Australia (Tungate, 2008, pp. 43-216). This pushed many of the Australian online customers to gravitate towards international brands and away from Australian brands. International brands also learned how to adjust their line to fit the Australian market understanding that there is a gap between the weather of the North to Australia. Zara decided to customize its line and products to suit the Australian culture and weather (Jackson & Shaw, 2006, pp. 9-11). When the first store opened last year in Australia, every lifestyle and entertainment writer went wild and Zara officially released a statement that their Australian opening was one of the most successful Zara openings ever. Several styles actually went out of stock. There are many competitors that vary in size, style and image. The strength of these competitions is heightened by the technology at extends the reach of the every brand to every consumer (Hines, 2006, pp. 101-115). They are quick to adapt and quick to expand their online presence. If you go on Facebook, twitter, YouTube and other SNS, you will see that these are the brands that have the biggest customer base. They are also the ones that have made an active daily effort to communicate with their fans even if it is simply responding to fan inquiry or complaints (Easey, 2008). This is the same presence that Australian brands, Cotton On particularly, will have to push and strengthened. SWOT Analysis Marketing Objectives The brand has to evolve as fast as international brands are evolving to achieve a higher amount relevance to the Australian market (Abellan, 2010). The consumers now are aware of the availability of choices laid in front of them and they are more unwilling to compromise. They want, and they will, get what they want in style, quality, and economy. Brands must be able to adjust to this climate if they have intention of competing against international brand and smaller brands (Prentice Hall, 2011). The objective is single-minded but the roll out has to be comprehensive as to reach even the rural areas and cut across all fashion segments. The main objective is to establish a stronger relationship between the digital fashion market and the Cotton On brand. This is going to be done by: releasing advertising and marketing materials that will originate digitally designed content creating an interactive campaign that will allow the market to participate in building a project or material for the brand To generate gross revenues of around 30% from the operations of Cotton On’s online business model To generate gross revenues of around 45% from the operations of traditional franchise and factory outlet business model To avoid fraud or erroneous transactions by 90%, made by customers on Cotton On’s online business model building a community that is concerned about Cotton On The new materials that will be released will demonstrate how Cotton On’s easy and casual look makes it flexible enough to be transformed to different styles spanning different genres, sophisticated to street chick, edgy to preppy, rock and roll to pop. The look will be designed by the leading fashion bloggers in Australia. Their captive audience will benefit Cotton On since they can push traffic to the site of Cotton Up or on Cotton On’s social networking site. Proposed Strategies for Selecting Target Market and Positioning the Brand Cotton On is advised to conduct market research before designing and implementing a targeting and positioning strategy. An ideal set of targeting strategy should be based upon seasons and geographic attributes of the market. The seasonal targeting strategy would require Cotton On to create segments in the market that prefer dresses for seasonal wearing. For example, Cotton On should come up with different collection for winter season and different collection for summers. Geographic segmentation would help the company to avoid isolation in fewer markets. As the clothing is one of basic necessities, designing the clothing line according to the geographic attributes of the respective market would enable Cotton On to attract as much as customers as possible. Cotton On should position itself in the market place as the provider of quality clothing at competitive prices, which are comparatively lower from competitors. In addition, adding vibrant colors to its shelves and value addition to the products with trendy designs will be beneficial for the brand to retain customer base. Cotton On should strive to build the image of a brand that provides value to customers’ money, by offering latest ideas in clothing to win competitive edge over competitors. Proposed Marketing Mix Products Strategy Core Product The core product of Cotton ON would be the services it provides to the customers at its online medium of business and at Cotton On stores. Another core product would be the feeling of comfort and matching the latest trends that the customer will find by buying Cotton On’s products. Actual Product The actual product to be offered should be the trendy outfits and office wear range that Cotton On should offer to its customer base along with comfortable fabric and quality at affordable prices. Augmented Products The guarantee that Cotton On provides to the customers, regarding the quality of fabric used, after wash warranty and the comfort cantered at the comfortable feeling that customers will get from wearing Cotton On’s products will be the augmented products of the brand. Pricing Strategy The products that will be offered by Cotton On will be high-price-sensitive due to the reason that there exist a number of substitutes to what Cotton ON offers. Therefore; it is necessary for Cotton On to adapt a suitable pricing strategy that helps it to retain customer base and attract new customers. In such scenario, value addition becomes important, which requires Cotton On to offer discounts sales off day, customer loyalty programs and differentiated products that catch the eyes of the customers at first site. But before adapting any pricing strategy, Cotton On is advised to adapt penetration strategy which would help to build confidence in the market place and capture market share by attracting more customers. Placing Strategy Products that will be offered to the customers should be affordable for the customers and match their requirements. The store layout can also be changed, keeping in view, that the store design might also influence consumer behavior and psychodynamics. Channels and intermediaries can be utilized to facilitate the movement of garments from manufacturing plant to the stores. Cotton On should hold the position of value chain leader, as it requires the coordination of supplies to the end user. There should be collaboration between each member of the supply chain, in order to ensure that the relationships with the suppliers, distributors and intermediaries are looked after properly. Ensuring the efficiency in the supply chain would generate benefits in long run and help the company to maintain friendly, rapid and proficient delivery of products and services to the customers. In this manner, the business will grow and the supply chain will reflect stronger performance. Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy For a clothing business, the most appropriate alteration in marketing strategy is to revitalize the marketing communication methodologies. As majority of the customers of Cotton On belong to younger generation, it is necessary to design marketing strategies that are colorful and funky. Online marketing and personal selling will be the most suitable strategies to be proposed to Cotton On. Online marketing has emerged as the most efficient source of promoting products. People are now using internet more, which requires a brand to vigorously promote its offerings to the customers. It also provides the benefits in the form of enabling marketers to customize marketing messages whenever and wherever they want. The marketing message can be displayed as a text message or sent to the customer as news bulleting or via email. Social networking sides has been most successful source of marketing clothing businesses as the younger generation is linked with these sites through their daily lives. Sufficient amount of handy information can also be provided to the customers with the help of personal selling. The staff at Cotton On stores should be trained to communicate to the customers in a way, that they market the offers and products of the brand. These staff members should be provided with product information and certain gifts that will be offered to the customers, in order to win their loyalty and build a good image for the brand. Supply Chain Management Figure 1 Proposed Supply Chain Framework for Cotton On The proposed supply chain framework for Cotton On entails that the company should acquire best possible raw material within Australia and from international vendors who have good reputation. This raw material will move to the factory where the quality material will be picked by workers to stitch according to the instructions. Coding should also be done in the factory from where the finished goods will be directed towards the distributors. Distributors will take the products and deliver them to the local stores and international outlets. Distributors will also be responsible to handle the online orders. The stock information resource will handle the flow of data regarding the products available, what products are need to be manufactured and predict the most demanded products. Implementation of the Proposed Changes in Strategy Action Plan The recommended marketing mix strategy is mainly based upon the marketing and awareness creating activities. There are certain financial and time constraints involved in bringing around changes in the marketing strategies of a brand. But in longer run, these changes produces enormous revenues in the form of superior brand image and encouraging customers for purchasing the brand again and again. Training First of all, Cotton On will have to train the employees and educate them about the type of change that the organization want to bring, what will be their role in implementing those changes and what will be the returns for the company as a result to these changes. Than the employees should be trained regarding how to interact with customers and the impact of prices of the new pricing strategy so that they know, what amount to be quoted to the customers for the new clothing line. New marketing tactics should also be taught to the employees, as they are the one who directly interact with the customers. Motivating Employees Motivating employees is also necessary as they are reluctant to changes because of fear of losing their jobs or their role in the organization. Motivating is also necessary to implement the planned changes as the employees might not adhere to managements’ decisions and represent the company in a wrong way. Due to this reason, motivation plays a role of neutralizer of environment which results in the form of serving customers with the required passion and handling over the business in the right hands. Rewards and recognizing employees’ efforts are the best techniques that Cotton On should utilize in order to keep employees interested throughout the change process. Responsible Individuals Responsibilities should be divided to the head of those departments, in which the change has to be implemented. The head of IT department should look after the change process implemented for the improvement of online medium of business and the maintenance of the website. It department will also be responsible for taking care of the security system and the improvements brought within the system. Then the Head of the marketing department would take care of the audio and visual advertisements that are to be shown to the customers via internet and television. The same department will also handle the change process in research and development mechanisms and integrated marketing communication channels. Customer relationship department will be responsible to implement planned changes in measuring the customer satisfaction through research on market, to measure the impact of marketing mix and strategies. Human Resource department will be playing the leading role throughout the change process as it will neutralize the resistance to proposed changes and motivate employees to work together in order to implement changes successfully. Time Line and Budgeting Activities Finances Required Starting From Completion Date Market Research $ 5,000 15/01/2012 15/02/2012 Market Segmentation and Targeting $ 5,000 20/02/2012 31/01/2012 Developing a Marketing Mix $ 7,500 18/02/2012 28/01/2012 Staff Training $ 20,000 05/01/2012 Continuous Activity Upgrading the Website $ 8,000 15/02/2012 25/02/2012 Launching of Website $ 800 26/02/2012 _ Security System Update $ 10,000 23/01/2012 31/01/2012 Store Up gradation $ 35,000 20/02/2012 17/04/2012 Launching the Marketing Campaign $ 28,750 1/05/2012 _ Controlling, Adjusting and Monitoring $ 25,000 15/01/2012 Continuous Activity Total Finances and Time Required AU $ 145,050/- 4 Months It should be kept in mind that the total amount of finances required and the time line displayed can be altered according to the ease of Cotton On’s management. Measurement and Control In order to ensure that the change process is running smoothly and achieving results efficiently, there have to be some measurement and control mechanisms that Cotton On should implement. These can be formal and informal control systems. Formal control systems are directed and implemented by managers whereas the informal controls are initiated by the employees themselves in order to raise the motivation levels. Formal controls can be classified into three types. Process control systems compel management and organization to work in the right direction for achieving the overall objectives of the change process. The output control systems makes sure that the marketing efforts in the change process are implemented in correct manner and helping the organization to achieve the objectives. Marketing audit is the third kind of formal controlling of change process. These control systems are not only implemented at the beginning of the change process, but are utilized throughout the change process. Organizations utilize number of strategic tools to conduct market audits, such as SWOT, PESTEL, Value Chain or Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. Informal Controls aims at motivating the members of the team who is responsible to implement the change process. In addition, it creates an environment which is favorable for the change process and increase commitment levels among employees. Conclusion By analyzing the business environment and market situation for Cotton On brand, it can be concluded that the clothing brand has potential to generate sales and make profits by bringing improvement in its business activities. In order to retain customers, Cotton On will have to utilize its strengths and overcome the weaknesses, so that it can avail opportunities available and counter threats that might hurt its position in the market place. By implementing the recommended change process, it can be expected that Cotton On can maintain a long term relationship with its customers and grow steadily by considering the future horizons. References Abellan, M. (2010). Fashion Branding. Madrid: Instituto Monsa de Ediciones. Amed, I. (2011, May 20). The Fashion Trail: Australia, Against All Odds. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from www.businessoffashion.com: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2011/05/the-fashion-trail-australia-against-all-odds.html Bunkley, N. (2008, March 3). Pioneer in Quality Control Dies. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from www.nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/business/03juran.html Cotton On. (2011). About Us. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from www.cottonon.com: http://www.cottonon.com/au/about Croft, M. (1994). Market segmentation: a step-by-step guide to profitable new business. London: Routledge. Easey, M. (2008). Fashion Marketing. NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Fashuon Products. (2011). Fashuon Apparel Industry Overview. Retrieved November 2, 2011, from www.fashionproducts.com: http://www.fashionproducts.com/fashion-apparel-overview.html Gay, M. (2010, June 29). Australia Pressures Fashion Industry to Bulk Up Models. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from www.aolnews.com: http://www.aolnews.com/2010/06/29/australia-pressures-fashion-industry-to-bulk-up-models/ Grail Research. (2009). The Global Fashion Industry-Growth in Emerging Markets. NY: Grail Research. Hines, T. (2006). Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues. LA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Jackson, T., & Shaw, D. (2006). The Fashion Handbook. LA: Routledge. Lane, G. (2010, April). Fashion & Social Media. Retrieved October 31, 2011, from www.scribd.com: http://www.scribd.com/doc/29164302/null Prentice Hall. (2011). Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy. Retrieved November 2, 2011, from www.prenhall.com: http://www.prenhall.com/behindthebook/0132390027/pdf/Kotler_CH07.pdf Tungate, M. (2008). Fashion Brands: Branding Style from Armani to Zara. NY: Kogan Page. Read More