Marketing in Fashion - Essay Example

STRATEGIC MARKETING A CONTEMPORARY REVIEW FASHION MARKETING 9 May 2009 TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary 3 Introduction 4 2. Market environment 2.1 Political factors 4 2.2 Economic factors 5 2.3 Social factors 5 2.4 Technological factors 6 2.5 Ecological factors 6 2.6 Legal factors 7 3. Consumer buying behaviour 7 4. Marketing research 8 5. Shop-window dressing 9 6. Using celebrities as models 9 7. Advertising 10 8. Using catchy terminology 10 9. PR events 11 10. Targeting sociological needs 12 11. Building strong customer relationships 12 12. Creating brand equity 13 13. Involving employees 14 14. Bibliography 15 SUMMARY Marketing fashion is a process that ensures that the products, from the producers' hands, reach the consumers' hands by motivating the consumer to buy the products. However, marketers cannot coerce customers into buying and this is especially true for the fashion industry. In the fashion industry, the external environment poses several challenges to marketing, which can be classified as political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal. Fashion marketing should be oriented towards satisfying customers' needs. Marketing research is a primary strategy used by marketers to assess the market environment and the customer-mix and to learn the customers' needs. A shop-window provides 24-hour advertising and creates and identity for the shop. Using celebrities as models has also been a successful marketing strategy. Advertising has always been an effective marketing strategy for fashion clothing. Creating and using catchy terminology to describe fashion apparel is a recent and effective trend in fashion marketing. PR events such as press and commercial events play a significant role in fashion marketing communications. Meeting sociological needs of the people like overweight, age and utility is an emerging trend. An example is the marketing of designer clothes for plus-size women. Building customer relationships can help create new customers and keep the old ones. A well-recognised brand name is the most valuable asset of any business. This can increase customer loyalty in the short term as well as retain substantial value long term. Lastly and most importantly, assuring employees that the organisation values their input is important for the success of any campaign. FASHION MARKETING: A CONTEMPORARY REVIEW 1. Introduction Marketing fashion is a process that ensures that the products, from the producers' hands, reach the consumers' hands by motivating the consumer to buy the products. However, marketers cannot coerce customers into buying and this is especially true for the fashion industry as evidenced by the failure of the Woolworths womenswear retail chain (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.2). Marketers of fashion will have to consider all factors that influence the industry to ensure successful reception of products. While consumer preferences and utility would be the main factors to be considered while marketing fashion, with the increasing popularity for green products, social marketing strategies will have increased significance in fashion marketing in the coming decades. This report aims to analyse all marketing issues including those relating to the market environment, consumer behaviour and consumer relationships, marketing research, promotions like shop-window dressing, advertising, fashion shows, using celebrities as models, advertising, advertising jargons, creating brand equity, PR events, etc., sociological needs and staff involvement. Marketing tools like brochures, catalogues, press kits, look books, etc. have not been included in the report as they are routine and general, and do not have any specific use in fashion marketing in particular. 2. Market environment In the fashion industry, the external environment poses several challenges to marketing, which can be classified as political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal. 2.1 Political factors Political activities have a marked effect on people's moods, which, in turn, affect their aspirations, lifestyles, consumption and expenditure. International political events have a greater influence in that they sometimes make the international movement of products or raw materials easier and sometimes these movements are regulated or even restrained. The single European market, with its broadened field of competition, has put the UK fashion industry under pressure to compete on several fronts, including design, manufacturing quality and production costs (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.7). 2.2 Economic factors Fashion, being international in nature, is affected by international economic issues as well as national economic issues. Factors like Trade agreements such as GATT (General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade) and exchange rates will affect exports and imports of the industry (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.8). Inflation along with the availability of consumer credit stimulates buying. On the other hand, recession encourages people to cut back on non-essential purchases which would include fashion garments. Today, however, more than the economic cycles, people's attitudes influence the fashion market where they prefer individualism, and the customer is more likely to buy a garment because it suits him or her rather than because it is the fashion of the day (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.8). 2.3 Social factors The changed structures of the family, with more women working, building a career and aspiring for and achieving success, being ready to live alone and the increased acceptability of single parenthood have had a significant impact on fashion. Instead of just the teenagers, women aged between 25 and 45 are considered young. Women wish to dress for success, and designers like Donna Karan and Giorgio Armani were among the first who catered to their needs. Next was one of the first to give these women a designer look (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.9). Not only has fashion moved from the teenage towards the grownup market, today fashion focuses on people who are at retirement age also. This market is called the grey market consisting of affluent people who still consider themselves young, have access to fashion, and have developed a habit of spending on fashion. 2.4 Technological factors Technological factors impact fashion marketing to a great extent. Technology has a role to play in the area of not only production, but also in designing. There are increasing number of professional fashion technology institutes teaching and training young aspiring designers and better equipping them for the profession. A negative impact of technology in the fashion industry is the increasing speed with which a design reaches the masses. As mentioned earlier, this shortens the period for which a design enjoys exclusivity. This also poses a threat in that designs can get copied and duplicated easily. 2.5 Ecological factors Environmentalism and increasing trend of using eco-friendly products through eco-friendly processes has had its impact in the fashion and clothing industry. Now there are increasing customers who favour using green products. Green products are valued high by customers. This year the fashion industry in UK took a giant step towards cutting the industry's environmental footprint. More than 300 organisations, including Marks & Spencer, Tesco and Sainsbury, marked the opening up of the London Fashion Week in February by signing the government's Sustainable Clothing Roadmap under which they have undertaken to cut the industry's environmental and carbon footprints as well as improve labour practices (Murray 2009). Marks & Spencer has drawn a 200 million eco-plan to become carbon-neutral by 2012, extending their sustainable fabric sourcing and setting new standards in ethical trading (Easey 2008, p.14). 2.6 Legal factors Laws and legislations of a country have a significant impact on its market environment. There could be several laws promoting or restraining import and export of products, regulating prices, protecting labour and environment, etc. A recent issue has been the allegations made against certain big names like Matalan and Mothercare that they are not paying living wages to the labourers who work for them outside the country. The charity War on Want and the anti-sweatshop coalition Labour Behind the Label reported that these companies paid their labourers in Bangalore, India, just 13p an hour for a 48-hour week (McVeigh 2007). Due to their low pay, the workers had to sometimes depend on government food parcels. Similar allegations were also made against several other companies such as M&S, Primark, H&M, Gap, etc. 3. Consumer buying behaviour Fashion is a social phenomenon that provides individuals with a statement of their identity (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.14). Fashion marketing should be oriented towards satisfying customers' needs and wants. An organisation that fails to satisfy customers cannot hope to stay in business, let alone succeed. Human needs provide consumers with motivation, and marketers, by understanding their motivational drives, will be guided on how to target their products. Consumers' motivation arises from different needs. They can be physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs or self-actualisation needs (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.10). Other factors that affect customers' buying habits are personality, perception, influence of peer groups, etc. Social class and how it is reflected through the dress code is an important element in fashion designing and marketing, especially in the British society. Knowing the various classes and their preferred code of dressing can help marketers target their products. Culture refers to the beliefs and attitudes particular to different groups or communities of people. Culture has a great influence on people's living styles, their dress code and how they wish to be seen by others. No marketer can succeed without an in-depth insight into the culture of the people he or she is selling products to. UK today is diverse in its population and cultures. Designs made for the career women, and designs and shows oriented towards the ethnic mix of people shows the industry's attempt towards catering to the needs of its diverse customers. The Scottish Asian Wedding Show presenting contemporary clothing with eastern and western influences is an example of the industry's endeavour to win over its diverse customers (Scottish Asian Wedding Fashion Show 2009). 4. Marketing research Marketing seeks to satisfy the customers' needs and wants. This necessitates that the marketers have an insight into the needs and preferences of the customers whom they wish to target. Marketing research is a primary strategy used by marketers to assess the market environment, the mix of the customers, their age groups, demographics, etc. Marketing research provides designers with information regarding the customers' preferences and comforts in terms of design. It also keeps the marketers abreast of the political, economic, social, technological, ecological and legal factors that influence the market environment. Marketing research helps make sales forecasts, which, in turn, helps organisations to create its production and marketing plans. Marketing research helps in making pricing decisions, selecting distribution channels, planning promotions and in knowing the appropriate message and the appropriate media to carry it through to the buyer. Top designers like Bruce Oldfield remain in constant contact with his clients and customers (Bohdanowicz & Clamp 1994, p.29). Several methods are used in marketing research like personal interviews, group discussions, surveys, sampling, questionnaires, telephonic interviews, etc. 5. Shop-window dressing A shop-window provides 24-hour advertising and creates and identity for the shop. In chain stores like Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Miss Selfridge, etc., the window display establishes corporate identity in such a way that a potential customer can identify the shop from its outward appearance (Ridout 1988, p.69). The aim of the shop-window is to make products look so irresistible that customers cannot stop from entering the shop where the salespersons take over. Shop-window displays are made to look abstract, sometimes with a theme, sometimes creating moods and feelings, etc. Stores spend a great deal in buying new mannequins and also in updating their old ones in terms of makeup, wigs, looks etc. Stores like Next display large fashion photos of outfits on models, which is a comparatively inexpensive method as the displays can be changed easily and frequently (Ridout 1988, p.70). However, when shop-windows are cluttered, the passersby fail to notice the message and what is kept for display due to his or her limited attention span at the window. 6. Using celebrities as models Fashion industry uses famous people as models, making them wear its products for big-time events like music shows and award shows, and using actors for displaying new clothes and designs in the movies and on the TV. Magazines carry unlimited articles with writers giving endless, descriptive reports on what the celebrities wore for various functions. This form of advertising has met with great success, and public are known to glean for such information. This strategy has proved to be so successful that it might even end the need for models and catwalks. This strategy has also proved to be a win-win situation for the celebrities as well as the industry, as they can have the advantage of receiving new and trendy products free of cost (Fashion industry marketing strategies 2009). 7. Advertising Advertising has always been an effective marketing strategy for fashion clothing. Photographs of clothes displayed on attractive models in the most advantageous manner in the right background and lighting by skilled photographers makes any random reader of a magazine or a chance viewer of a TV commercial or anybody casually passing by a billboard stop short and take notice. Online adverstising is one of the more recent strategies in this tenor. Online advertising can be done through creating online versions of print magazine, by placing advertisements on specific sites for exposure, and through strategic placing of photographs and articles about the fashion industry (Fashion industry marketing strategies 2009). A large number of people, especially women, participate in online activity, for targeting whom fashion magazines maintain an Internet presence and receive continuous free advertising. Information regarding fashion and related events, company press releases, and industry news can also be spread across the Internet. Moreover, all leading fashion brands have web sites carrying all kinds of information on their products and they even sell their products online. Examples are Marks & Spencer, Topshop, Mothercare, etc. An ethical issue that has been raised is that women are shown in advertisements as mere sex objects. 8. Using catchy terminology A recent marketing strategy of the fashion industry is to create catchy terminology to describe fashion apparel. A couple of terms used by fashion industry for certain categories of women's clothing are 'street casual' and 'office casual,' with the latter being also referred to as 'conservative elegance' (Fashion industry marketing strategies 2009). Marketing strategy has labelled a lot of must-have items for women such as the little black dress, blue jeans, Jackie O sunglasses, A-line skirts and headscarves (Paxton, as cited in Fashion industry marketing strategies 2009). The success of this strategy has been proved time and again over the years. The concept of 'casual Fridays' has also been successful in keeping blue jeans and casual clothes in fashion always. 9. PR events PR events play a significant role in fashion marketing communications, and they are classified as press and commercial events. Press events include fashion shows segmented into women's and men's ready-to-wear and haute couture (Haid et al. 2006, p.177). There are two main seasons for women's ready-to-wear, the autumn-winter and the spring-summer. Men's ready-to-wear is a twice yearly event shown only in New York and Milan (Haid et al. 2006, p.177). Haute couture is the very core of fashion business where personalised items are skilfully created, which can be afforded only by a few clients worldwide. Haute couture is of high significance in marketing in that it sets the trend in fashion for the rest of the world. Commercial events involve trunk shows that have emerged only recently, starting in the US. Here, customers are invited to an exclusive purview of a new collection before it comes to the stores so as to enable customers to place personal orders. Trunk shows can be in the form of fashion shows or by appointment. Celebrity dressing is another powerful form of fashion promotion where a stylist meets a celebrity with a variety of clothes like a personal shopper and individual photo shoots are done either as a visual press conference or these photographs are sold to several publications (Haid et al. 2006, p.187). Recently fashion shows have been attacked with several criticisms that the over-representation of tall and slim female models contribute to dietary problems in adolescent females (Easey 2008, p.14). As a consequence and in response to this criticism, The Madrid Fashion Week has banned models with a body mass index that is less than 18.5 (Easey 2008, p.14). 10. Targeting sociological needs A very recent trend followed by the fashion industry worldwide is meeting sociological needs of the people like overweight, age and utility. An example is the current trend of the fashion industry, more prominently in the US and the UK, towards catering to the needs of plus-size women. Until recently, trendy clothes were always designed for trim women of normal weight, and the recent move to provide fashion clothing for plus-size women have turned out to be a huge success. But the industry has been criticized for not making the necessary modifications to the clothes to fit them respectfully and for just creating larger sizes of clothes designed for model-like figures (Fashion industry marketing strategies 2009). It would not be totally right to assume that plus-size women will buy anything that is the right size for them. 11. Building strong customer relationships Building customer relationships, one of the most essential strategies to create new customers and to help keep the old ones, is a three-step process. Step one is to gather information regarding the customers and to gain insight into the differences in their purchasing behaviour and their demographic profile. Prior surveys conducted by the government or other public agencies can be important sources of information regarding customers, their age groups, income levels, occupations, and other demographics. Step two is to find out the different places where the different people with different demographic profiles are concentrated. Knowing their consumption preferences, media preferences, etc. would help in planning the appropriate media to target different groups of customers. It is not enough to choose the appropriate media, but it would also be most essential to choose the right message that the advertisement should carry to directly appeal to the targeted demographic group of prospective customers (Francese 2002, p.109). Step three is to set a simple system to keep in constant contact with the organisation's best customers. These communications can be done through e-mail, telephone or in person with the definite purpose of discovering what they most like about the products or the business. This can be used as the basis for the next advertisement campaign (Francese 2002, p.110). Besides, these communications can also reveal what more the customers would expect or wish the business to provide or what modifications would they prefer in the products. This information can be utilised to improve the product or the business, thus ensuring it to be more profitable. A unique selling proposition which offers unique benefits for the customers should be the purpose of every business. This will sustain the business for many years (Francese 2002, p.131). Offering products at low prices has always been a unique selling proposition and many a time, it has been a huge success, sometimes forcing competitors to do the same. For example, when Topshop offered highly valued designs at low prices, they received much acclaim, along with other giants like Primark. This forced Marks & Spencer also to follow likewise by cutting its prices. However, a major criticism that this much-applauded, very successful strategy faced was that "while British consumers might be basking in the glory of mountains of widely available, easily affordable, up-to-the-minute clothingworkers in the developing world could be paying the price" (The real cost of fashion 2007). 12. Creating brand equity A well-recognised brand name is the most valuable asset of any business. This can increase customer loyalty in the short term as well as retain substantial value long term (Francese 2002, p.112). The image of a brand and what it stands for can be instantly recalled by the customers once firmly fixed in their minds, which can ensure their loyalty for the brand and continued custom for years to come. Successful brand building involves identifying customers' needs and catering to the single most important need of the customers. Customers remember the brand for how well it benefits them. Making a brand promise which is of high value to the customers is another element in creating brand equity. Promise, once made, should be kept always. This helps in customers remembering the brand for the benefit, which will give the product a competitive advantage and the customers will be ready to pay more. Advertisements should consistently give the brand message so that the customers identify the benefit with the brand and the product. The advertisements should focus on the product's or the company's best value proposition. The company should focus on its specialised target customers however small a fraction they may be. The company should make sure that it knows its customers well and that the customers know the company and its products well. Mothercare is an example of a brand that fulfils most, if not all, of these requirements. The name Mothercare itself carries the message. The promise of comfort and style through all stages of maternity is being consistently kept (Mothercare n.d.). The various products offered by Mothercare shows that an in-depth study has been done on the various needs of its customers at their different stages of pregnancy. 13. Involving employees "The best marketing begins with a staff meeting" (Francese 2002, p.121). The employees' creativity and their knowledge of their customers' needs can help in planning an effective marketing campaign. Moreover, this confirms to the employees that their input is valuable for the success of the enterprise. Testing advertising themes on employees can also preclude any lapses that could have otherwise occurred in the marketing campaign. 14. 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