TISHK INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Administrative Sciences and Economics

Business and Management Department
2019-2020

Course name:

A FINAL ASSESSMENT REPORT

Sustainable Marketing Activities of Traditional Fashion Market and

Brand loyalty

Prepared by
.....................

STUDENT ID: ...................

Group ......

Course instructor: ...........................

Introduction

In the recent years, sustainability has been one of the popular and most discussed topics due to

shifts and transformations in opinions and attitudes of consumers, media interests, ideological

interests, political interests, competitors, green taxes and threat of substitutes (Peattie and Charter,

2003). Despite these changes many companies refuse to put investments in greening their

businesses which can be die to lack of awareness in its advantages and not considering the long-

term benefits. Because greening a business will acquire a high cost in the short-term.

Sustainability includes a corporate’s economic, environmental, and social responsibilities. For

instance, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate environmental responsibility (CER)

are known to be parts of achieving sustainability. And research has shown that sustainability will

lead to having an increased number in customer base which comes with loyalty and trust,

meanwhile traditional fashion market is slowly losing to the fast growing fashion brands. Therefore

sustainability is one of the important topics of success in today’s businesses.

Here in this paper I will review the available researches on studies performed on sustainable

marketing activities, how they are implemented, and how they result in brand loyalty.

Literature review

Sustainable marketing refers to producing or promoting socially and environmentally responsible

products, values, performance, and practices. The World Commission on Environment and

Development in the Brundtland (1987) report refer sustainable development to “development that

meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their

own needs”. Other studies have developed the concept of sustainability by making frameworks such

as The Natural Step Framework (TNSF) and the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) (Martin & Schouten,

2014). The most recognized definition is that marketing sustainability activities should be made on

the basis of economic, social, and environmental factors. These three factors have to be

implemented in every step and decision made by an organization or corporate. The aim of
sustainability is to provide an image and values that in turn attract more customers or catches their

attention (Lee, Park,& Lee, 2013).

The first factor which is economy refers to decisions and activities that are made to benefit people

financially. Economic activities should be directed in a way that it supports people involved in it

with any possible way. A business has to economically bring advantages to its region, employees,

shareholder, investors, and most importantly customers as well as improving financial incomes of

the company in terms of profits (Choi & Park, 2015). For example corporates who position their

products in the market with a low price and a high quality are more likely to succeed in compare to

competitors, and they will not be replaced by substitutes. Economic activity management and

marketing should increase profits of a company, which in turn increases wealth creation which is

done through implementing latest economic progresses of the global community and leveling up to

the new world standards.

Social marketing activities are involved with the society. It is defined as the processes of the

business were the society is included. The long-term objective of all businesses is making profits

(Min Kong & Ko, 2017) but in order to achieve this a business has to become a member of the

society. For instance, people are willing to use products of brands that are socially responsible

towards issues in the region, and they develop trust towards such brands which in return increases

the brand’s desirability and sales. Social marketing activities that have worked well for many

businesses over the years include joining charities, donating money to people in need, or

participating in volunteering.

The third factor is the environment and refers to environmental marketing activities. The concept is

based on making products and goods that are up to expectations of people but are not harmful either

to then or the environment. Lately, there has been a deep concern for the environment by many

organizations and movements. People are more likely to buy good and needs that are not harmful to

nature, in terms of products that can be re-used or recycled. Corporates who support the actions
taken to protect the environment and have implemented environmental responsibility strategies

have shown improve in their performance.

The discussed literature are important in developing brand loyalty, which refers to loyalty of a

customer to buy good and products of a certain brand even when other (sometimes better) options

are available in the market. Brand loyalty is related to many other factors in addition to

sustainability marketing activities, such as customer trust, brand image, customer satisfaction, etc.

for instance, A brand image is usually developed for products to be recognized by consumers. A

well-known company like Coca Cola has built a strong brand image that is seeded in minds of

people to be the best beverage in the market, and people are always willing to choose it over

cheaper products. In these terms, brand loyalty is important to have a constant, or increasing,

customer base that will make sure products of the company are bought in the market. Therefore the

purpose of developing good brand loyalty over the years is to achieve the long term objective of

making more profits and selling more goods.

Lastly, corporates and business managers have to be conscious about the changes of the global

market and factors that affect desirability of their products. Taking sustainable marketing actions

are important for the long-term brand image and values. People build strong relationships and are

more satisfied with products produces by responsible products (Mittal, Kumar, and Tsiros, 1999).

Conclusion

In conclusion sustainable marketing activities are actions taken by corporates to implement new

ways of satisfying customers and bringing advantages both in terms of benefiting their region and

society and increasing wealth creation. Researches have determined many aspects of the subject and

minimize the definition into three terms which are implementing strategies that are socially,

environmentally or economically oriented. And brand loyalty is built when customers are satisfied

with performance and attitudes of a corporate. Once customers build loyalty, profitability increases.
References

1. Choi & Park (2015). ISO 26000 implementation and purchase intention: a moderated

mediation model of corporate image and CSR authenticity/fit. Journal of Product Research,

33(1), 133–143.

2. Jung, J., Kim, S. J., & Kim, K. H. (2020). Sustainable marketing activities of traditional

fashion market and brand loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 1–8.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.019

3. Lee, E. M., Park, S. Y., & Lee, H. J. (2013). Employee perception of CSR activities: Its

antecedents and consequences. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), 1716–1724

4. Martin, D. & Schouten, J. 2014. Sustainable Marketing. Essex: Pearson Edu-cation Limited.

5. Min Kong, H., & Ko, E. (2017). Why do consumers choose sustainable fashion? A

crosscultural study of South Korean, Chinese, and Japanese consumers. Journal of Global

Fashion Marketing, 8(3), 220–234.

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7. World Commission on Environment and Development 1987. Our Common Fu-ture. The

Brundtland Report. Oxford: Oxford University Press.