Fashion Consumer Research

Could Microfilms help Agnès b. convey

the brand image and concept
LIAO LI YUAN

SUPERVISOR: Mme. PACQUET HAINAUT

CONTENTS
Motivation................................................................................................................................ 3
Objective .................................................................................................................................. 4

History of Agnès b. .......................................................................................................................... 4

Store locations ................................................................................................................................. 5

SWOT .............................................................................................................................................. 6
Comparison of online market ......................................................................................................... 7

Define the objective ......................................................................................................................... 7

Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 9

Introduction of methods.................................................................................................................. 9
Target group.................................................................................................................................. 10

Results of questionnaires............................................................................................................... 11
Probe consumers shopping experiences ..................................................................................................... 11
Analyze how much the brand transmit the brand image.............................................................................. 13

Investigate the help of Microfilm to convey brand image and concept ........................................................ 14

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 16
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Recommendations ......................................................................................................................... 16

References ............................................................................................................................. 17
Consumers recommended Microfilms .......................................................................................... 17
Other information of Agnès b. ..................................................................................................... 17

2
Motivation
Overall, comparing to other French fashion brands, Agnès b. has early developed Asian market
which showed more successful among their every market. Its founder, Madame Agnès Andrée
Marguerite Troublé, has decided to sell the products without advertisement for 40 years. Even
though the simple design usually meets the public tastes, we should also examine this policy
could still support the growing benefit in future Asian markets. Considering millennial is the
growing consumers who will dominate the buyers’ market for more than 30 years, this essay is
aimed at millennial for measuring if Agnès b. can still extend the brand image for increasing the
sales in Asian without advertisement in next decades.

Agnès b. held many activities and owns different types of shops, such as Agnès b. CAFE L.P.G
in Taipei, Agnès b. fleuriste in Hong Kong and so forth. All these events enhance the brand
visibility without advertisement. It confirms that Madame Agnès used the suitable policies to
raise the sales. Nevertheless, it exists a serious question which is whether the consumers know
exactly the brand concept, image and even DNA through purchasing the products and joining the
activities.

Brand DNA is deemed the heart of a brand, especially for a fashion brand. Certain brand image
makes the brand business run long-lasting. People can easily answer what is the symbol of LV
and Chanel or facilely described the image of DIOR, Hermès or even adidas. Brands maintain its
business hundreds of years by successfully convey their DNAs and images. Nonetheless, Agnès
b. doesn’t clearly express its image and concept to consumers as a fashion brand. As a result,
how to pass the correct brand image to customers while increasingly selling the products is the
main point of the brand in future.

In view of the founder’s non-advertising regulation, there is a popular way to bring the conception
to audience- micro film, which is popular marketing method in Asian. Storytelling is not just the
way of selling but also the method to communicate with your customers. Chanel and Yves Saint
Laurent all have their own film which successfully persuade to customers by legends. Even if
Agnès b. doesn’t have such dramatic story to disseminate, it can still use micro films to express
the art viewpoint of brand, the central idea of Mme. Agnès, brand style and so forth. Instead of
putting on the products, a story is more convincing.

The survey is made for verifying the problem and giving the suggestion to the brand.

3
Objective
In order to precisely define the objectives, there are several background researches; brand history,
store locations, SWOT analysis and figures on social media comparing to competitors.

• History of Agnès b.

1975
Opened first shop in Paris

1980
First oversea shop in New York

1981
Started designs of men wear First Asian shop in Tokyo

1984
Opened "La gallerie du jour" in Paris

1987
Launched collection of perfune "Le B Perfume", skin care and cosmetics

1988
Start selling red scarves without margin for the benefit of AIDS patients

2009
Has been associated with the Potemkin label and has been designing DVD

2012
Created agnès b. Cinema in Hong Kong
Arts Center, agnès b. CAFE, travel shops
Start operating Instagram page
and flower shop

2015
Began fans page on Facebook

4
 • Store locations

- France：Provence、Bordeaux、Cannes、Lille、Lyon、Marseille、
Montpelier、Nantes、Nice、Paris、Marne la Vallée、Strasbourg、Toulouse

- China：Beijing、Shanghai、Shenzhen、Guangzhou、Chengdu、
Shenyang、Dalian、Kunming、Chongqing、Harbin

- Japan：Chiba Shi、Fukuoka Shi、Hiroshima Shi、Kagoshima Shi、

Karuizawa、Kobe Shi、Kumamoto、Kyoto、Nagoya、Osaka、Sano Shi、
Sapporo Shi、Sendai Shi、Tokyo、Yokohama Shi

- Taiwan：Taipei、Taoyuan、Hsinchu、Taichung、Tainan、Kaohsiung

- Hong Kong

- Macao

- Singapore

- United Arab Emirates： Dubai

- German：Berlin

- Nederland：Amsterdam

- The USA：New York、Believer Hill、Chicago

- UK：London

5
 • SWOT
Opportunities
1. On new emerging markets like
Indonesia and Malaysia which
have growing potential clientele
for their products.
2. The brand with its range of
products and services can also
look forward to innovating new
retail formats.
3. Tie-ups with fashion houses to
increase visibility
Threats
1. The highly fragmented fashion - The brand should well use the
industry where there is a high
bargaining power of buyers and
low brand loyalty.
2. The crunch with the market
recessions and reduced
spending on lifestyle products.
3. The foray of various fashion
designers into this segment also
increases the competitive space.
Sources:
Wiki (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agn%C3%A8s_b.)
Agnès b. official online page (https://www.agnesb.fr/boutiques/france)
MBA SKOOL.com
(https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/lifestyle-and-retail/3781-agnes-b.html)
6
Strengths
1. Strong brand presence with over
200 boutiques
2. Various social media and an
exclusive online store
3. Diversified products to show urban
lifestyle.
4. Has taken up several green
initiatives
5. Undertakes several CSR initiatives
for fighting AIDS
6. Has own restaurants, cafes, flower
shops, wedding organizers
Strengths and Opportunities
- With its supply of basic 200
boutiques, the brand could show
more presences by building more
pop-ups stores in new Asian
markets.
- Through innovative sorts of shops,
the brand can convey new ideas of
brand concept to consumers.
Strengths and Threats
social media to compete with the
emerging fashion competitors.
- The CSR activities could help
raising brand’s reputation and
keeping the customers who has the
same idea.
Weaknesses
1. The brand has not indulged in
any advertisements and
promotions.
2. The brand has limited presence
in emerging economies which
are huge markets
Weaknesses and Opportunities
- Lake of advertisement may
slow down the steps for
opening new markets.
- Since the brand has well
developed the Japanese and
Chinese market, it could expend
the new Asian market, such as
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Vietnam, which based on the
geographic benefit.
Weaknesses and Threats
- The new various fashion
designers share the same
consumers with existed brand.
Without developing new
markets and correctly send
brand’s concept and image to
customers, the brand will be
replaced by any new brands.
 • Comparison of online market

Agnès b. Agnès b. Sport b. Agnès b.

lunettes fleuriste
Facebook 554,129 9,240 73,115 58,729
followers
Instagram 137,000 403 28,300 no
followers

FOLLOWERS IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook Instagram

2,118,264

1,900,000
1,300,000

746,000
554,129

150,672
137,000

56,348

AGNÈS B. ISABEL MARANT JACQUEMUS TORY BURCH

• Define the objective

After researching information of the brand, Agnès b. has many stores in Asian and
concrete activities for CSR and the art. However, comparing to other potential
competitors, it doesn’t perform well on the social medias which attract consumers the
most nowadays.

Micro film is a viable approach in marketing as a result of Madame Agnès’ claim, which
is non-advertising sales and fashion is art. Micro film can share the brand image and
concept without giving sales idea. Moreover, storytelling usually attracts people to
continue following and makes people easily believed and understood. In Japanese and
Taiwanese markets, today, the micro film is not just famous on Youtube but also has
several series to tell the entire story and makes audiences addicted.

Hence, this survey investigates if the micro film can help Agnès b. convey the brand
image and concept in order to increase brand visibility and selling. There are three steps
to analyze the objective.

7
 1. Probe the shopping experience of consumers

2. Analyze how much the brand transfer consumers the brand image and concept

3. Investigate whether micro film can help consumers understand the brand concept

For the sake of approaching the problem, some items should be mentioned in the
questionnaires.

Consumer needs

For ensuring the thinking of consumers, 5 points LIKERT scale is used to measure
whether they consider micro film helps to know more about the brand.

Product information

Diverse product is the advantage of Agnès b. What is the product consumers buy
usually from the brand and what the feels products bring to them are both important
questions to analyze the consumer behavior.

Promotion information

Agnès b. holds lots of events every year and month without physical advertisement.
It is necessary to know if consumers frequently know and join the promotion events
or they are hard to get the information. This question can help indirectly understand
whether the brand needs other channels of publicity and well uses digital marketing
skill. It probably beneficial that Microfilms played at the right time can achieve the
effect of promotion and increasing the searching of consumers.

Distribution information

In order to know the main channel to convey information to consumers, the survey
must be included the distribution map to investigate where consumers often go to
buy the brand products. On the other hand, through the result, the brand can also
find where needed to be improved.

Consumer suggestions

At the end of survey, consumers could also provide their opinions about the theme
of micro film for Agnès b. Sometimes, the decision which the consumers decide is
the best idea.

8
Data Analysis
• Introduction of Methods
Generally, quantitative and qualitative research have different definitions in the aspects
of the objective, type of data and scope of inquiry in nature sciences.

Quantitative research usually uses statistical or computational techniques to examine a

phenomenon. The objective of quantitative research is to adopt mathematical models,
theories and hypotheses in regard to the phenomena. Quantitative date is based on
numerical form, such as percentages and etc., which will yield an unbiased result that can
make inferences to some larger population.

On the contrary, qualitative research uses a scientific method to observe a non-numerical

data. The objective of qualitative research is referring to the conceptual definitions,
symbols and description of things. As a field of study, qualitative methods are best for
investigating many of the why and how questions of human experiences in making
decision.

In this survey, the qualitative research is mainly adopted to analysis the results according
to the numbers of respondents which is 31 people, and the objective of the survey.
Nonetheless, the quantitative research is used on presuming the main gender of buyers in
agnès b. Asian market. Even though the number of participants is not huge enough, the
other essay also support the results which can be generalized to larger population. In
terms of the way of collecting the questionnaires, the survey uses the online google form
to gather fast reply.

Sources: Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research

9
 • Target group

For the areas, this survey is focus on Asian markets in where the main consumers of
Agnès b. stay. There are 4 Chinese, 9 Japanese and 19 Taiwanese in the survey.

For the ages, the Millennials who were born from 1980 to 2000 are targeting. All these
32 people of the survey are between the age of 18 to 36. Millennial is now the group
dominate the fashion market and will keep growing for 20 years. The market of millennial
can help the brand to understand both recent and future its market situation.

For the genders, the survey investigates men and women. However, it has been widely
speculating that women are the main buyers in Asian market of Agnès b. with 38% of
men and 62% of women in the survey.

Nationality

13%

Taiwan
Japan
28%
59% China

Genders

38%
Female
Male
62%

10
 • Results of questionnaires

A. Probe the Consumers shopping experiences

1. The products which consumers bought

Buying products
Never bought
Food
Flowers
Accessories
Men wear
Women wear
Wallets
Bags

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Numbers of respondents

Agnès b. has various products which are even included the food. According the
below chart, Asian customers tend to consume bags with the figures 9 people
having experiences. There’s no one has experience of buying flower. This
situation explains flowers may provide the product diversity but may not develop
as well as other products. The highest number in the survey is 12 people who have
never bought which means the market still has room for growing.

2. The places where consumers bought products

Buying channels
Never bought
agnès b. Cafe
Pop up stores
Concept stores
agnès b. Stores
Outlet
Duty free shops
Online shops
Official online shop
Name brand counters

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14

Asian consumers tend to buy Agnès b. products in name brand counters in

department stores where more than one third people have the same experience.

11
 Surprisingly, although Agnès b. has more than 200 stores worldwide, there is only
three people have bought in Agnès b. stores and one people bought in concept
store. Zero is a significant figure to present that no one bought products in pop up
stores and official online stores, which means the brand should improve their
selling online. In comparison to other competitors, Agnès b. also owns less
followers on Instagram which may directly cause the few amounts of online sales.

3. Buying reason and the experiences of joining activities

Buying reasons Joined events

9% 3%
25% 3%
9%

19%
38%

94%
Cheap prices Famous brand
Good quality Preferred style New year lucky bags
Brand concept Unknown brand Free coffee tasting
be not willing to buy never joined

Consumers bought Agnès b. products because of the style with 38% supporting.
25% of consumers indicate brand reputation is main reason for buying and 19%
of consumers concern the quality more. There are still 9% of people don’t know
the brand and 9% of people aren’t willing to buy. One of the reasons is that in the
case of the same price, she prefers to buy Coach instead of agnès b. No one bought
Agnès b. products on account of cheap prices and brand concept. There are three
reasons for explaining. First is that brand concept is not the strong reason for
consuming products. Second one is that the brand concept is not clearly
transferred to consumers. The concept is not attractive enough is the third possible
reason.

On the other chart, almost 94% of consumers never joined any Agnès b. activities
even though they have well known the brand. The brand should consider more
whether the communication of the events effectively conveys message and
whether the event can attract people to participate.

12
 B. Analyze how much the brand transmit the brand image

WEARING FEELING WHERE

Be a personality Simple CONSUMERS GET
Be a gentleman Artistic THE FEELING
Noble Classic Products Activities
Don't know Social media Logo
Shop decoration No idea
9% 6%

10%
13% 3%
3%
3%

44%
19%

6% 81%
3%

Brand image of consumers

No idea
Gentle
Modern
Noble
Young
Rebel
Cute
Be a personality
Light & Handy
French Brand
Fashion
Simple
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Numbers of respondents

According to the first pie chart, there is 44% of consumers feel simple about the
products. The second chart also confirms that the product is the most common way
for consumers to understand the brand image; there is 81% of agreement. However,
when there is an open-minded question about the brand image, less than one forth
people regard it as a brand with simple image. The phenomenon explains the brand
gives the consumers plenty of images which may confuse them. Same product may
provide different feeling to the buyers. The diverse shops and products even provide
more confusion. However, a short film usually brings the same feeling to audience,
such as joyful, sad and scaring. The brand should figure out a way to express clear
brand image to its customers.

13
 C. Investigate the help of micro film to convey brand image and concept

1. The experiences of watching Microfilms

Favorite Microfilm of consumers:

Dior, Chanel (the most popular among all respondents), Yves Saint Laurent,
Volkswagen, H&M, Salvatore Ferragamo, Burberry, Gucci, Prada

EXPERIENCE OF WATCHING
FASHION MICROFILM
YES NO

31%
69%

USED MEDIA FOR

MICROFILM
20

15

10

0
Youtube TV Social media Cinema Never seen

Based on the bar chart, people used to watch Microfilms with only 3 people don’t
have watching experiences. Nevertheless, there are still 69% of audiences have
never watched the fashion Microfilm. If Agnès b. makes its own film, it will be a
quite innovative method in fashion industry. For executing the project, the brand
could use Youtube to share its short films.

14
 2. Agreement of consumers

Whether Microfilm conveys brand value,

image and concept

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Very agree Agree Neither agree Disagree Very disagree
nor disagree

Numbers of respondents

Consumers give positive opinions about the issue of that the Microfilm brings
brand value, image and concept. Half of consumers agree and 6 people very agree
of the viewpoint. On the contrast, there are only one person in the response of
disagreement and very disagreement. This result can verify that this method is
theoretically feasible.

3. Suggestions of the theme in Agnès b. Microfilm

² Style: French romantic, gentleman, artistic, white and black, European,

simple and indie

² Place: street, winter in France, social occasion in England

² Character: couples, young woman, career woman, freshman graduate

All of these key words are the fantasies of consumers about the brand.

15
Conclusion
Ø Conclusion
Microfilm can be a useful method to convey the brand value, image and concept, and further
increase the sales of Agnès b.

In the first part of survey, people can realize that consumers seldom join the brand events
and buy on official online shop. Moreover, the background investigation reveals how well
the competitors manage the online marketing. This situation provides Agnès b. the chance
to well develop its digital marketing. In the second part, the consumers express the diverse
viewpoint of the brand image. Grounded on the chaos, the brand exposes the shortcoming
of not sharing a unified image. In the final part, consumers support the idea of using
Microfilm to spread brand value.

According to the results of investigation, the brand can try making Microfilms to send the
integrated brand value, image and concept to consumers.

Ø Recommendations

1. The marketing method

Agnès b. could give promotion, tell brand stories and other methods to attract more
followers on Instagram due to the serious competition environment in fashion industry.
The brand should focus more on the digital platform which can quickly expand the
market with low cost. The office online stores should be examined again since seldom
people buy products there.

2. The sales area

Korean is becoming a fashion country in Asian. Southeast Asian people who represent
huge population follow now the Korean fashion. With many stores in Asian, Agnès b.
should also consider to open Korean market where can influence more consumers.

3. The products

A central idea and main image is important for a brand. Mme. Agnès has lots of
innovative idea about products but the link among all the products should be thought
carefully. Otherwise, each of them can’t continue growing in the market.

16
References
Consumers recommended Microfilms

Cartier (The proposal in airport) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LANxsF3aWgM

Burberry (The Tale of Thomas Burberry) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D5IZtDCS5c

Other information of Agnès b.

Market study: Agnès b. in China (http://daxueconsulting.com/agnes-b-in-china/)

Financial reports of Agnès b. (https://fashionbi.com/brands/agnes-b/financials)

Official website of Agnès b. (https://www.agnesb.eu/brand/)

Facebook of Agnès b.
(https://www.facebook.com/agnesb.officiel.fr/?brand_redir=1865407897014724)

17
2018/11/22 Agnès b. Market survey

Agnès b. Market survey
Investigate consumers awareness of Agnès b. 

* 必填

1. What is your nationality?  請問您的國籍是？あ
なたの国籍は？ *

2. What is your age?  請問您幾歲？今年、おいく
つ？ *

3. Gender/Sex?  您的生理性別？性別は？ *
單選。
女性
 Female 
 Male 男性

4. What products of Agnès b. have you bought?  您購買過什麼Agnès b.的產品？買ってことある
のagnès b. （アニエスベー）の商品は？ *
(可複選)

 Bags 包包 バック
 Wallets 皮夾 財布
 Women wear 女裝類 レディース
 Men wear 男裝類 メンズ
 Accessories 飾品 アクセサリー
 Flowers 花
 Food 食品
 Never bought 沒買過 買ったことない

 其他： 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pIKCr63A5Hlt5WTBogNLy2yhfwJY63ltYFSvKu8Ggwk/edit 1/4
2018/11/22 Agnès b. Market survey
5. Where did you buy it/them?  您在哪裡買的？どこで買いましたか？ *
( 可複選)
 Name brand counters  百貨公司專櫃 デパート
 official online shop 官方網站 ホームページ
 online shops 購物網站 ネットショップ
 Duty free shops 免税店
 Outlet 暢貨中心 アウトレット
 Agnès b. stores 直營店面 直営店舗
 Concept stores 概念店 コンセプトストア
 Pop up stores 快閃店 フラッシュモブ
 Never bought 沒買過 買ったことない

 其他： 

6. What is/will your reason for buying products of Agnès b.?  您購買/會購買的原因是？買った理
由は？  /  買いたい理由は？ *
單選。
 Cheap prices  價格便宜 安い
 Famous Brand 品牌有名 アニエスベーは有名なブランド
 Good Quality 品質優良 品質がいい
 Preferred style 風格偏好 デザインが好き
 Brand Concept 品牌理念 ブランド理念がいい
 Be not willing to buy 完全不想購買 全然買いたくない

 其他： 

7. What do you feel while wearing Agnès b.?  穿上Agnès b.讓您有什麼感覺？アニエスベーの服
装を着たら、どんな気持ち？ *
單選。
 Be a personality 有個性 個性的
 Simple 簡約 シンプル
 Be a gentleman 紳士
 Artistic 藝術氣息 芸術的
 Noble 高尚 上品
 Classic 經典 クラシカル

 其他： 

（discount is not included) 您參加過什麼
8. What kind of events have you joined in Agnès b.? 
Agnès b.的活動？（不包含打折）参加したことあるagnès b.のイベントって何？（タイムセール
除く） *
 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pIKCr63A5Hlt5WTBogNLy2yhfwJY63ltYFSvKu8Ggwk/edit 2/4
2018/11/22 Agnès b. Market survey
9. LV for travel, DIOR for elegant women, and what kind of concept does Agnès b. convey to
之於旅行
you? LV 之於優雅女性 而 傳達給您什麼樣的概念？ は旅行、 は上
, DIOR ,  Agnès b. LV Dior
品な女性、あなたにとって はどんなイメージを届けてる？
agnès b.   *
 

10. What makes you feel this?  是什麼給您這樣的感受？どうしてそうおもってるの？ *
單選。
 Products  商品
 Activities 活動 イベント
 Social media 社群網站 ネット（ex:facebook、インスタ...など）

 其他： 

11. Have you ever watched the micro films of fashion brands?(ex: Cartier)  您看過時尚品牌的微
電影嗎？(例：卡地亞) ブランドのマイクロ映画を見たことある？ *
單選。
 是 はい
 否 いいえ

讓您印象最深刻的微電影是哪個牌
12. Which micro film of what brand impresses you the most? 
子的哪部？印象的なマイクロ映画ってどんなブランドのどんなマイクロ映画？ *
 

13. Where do you usually watch the micro films?  您通常在哪裡觀看微電影？普段、どこでマイク
ロ映画を見てるの？ *
單選。
 TV電視 テレビ
 Youtube
 social media  社群網站（FB/ Instagram/ etc.）ネット（ex:facebook、インスタ...など）
 其他： 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pIKCr63A5Hlt5WTBogNLy2yhfwJY63ltYFSvKu8Ggwk/edit 3/4
2018/11/22 Agnès b. Market survey

您認為
14. Do you agree that micro films help you to understand the brand value and concept? 
微電影有幫助您理解品牌價值與理念嗎？マイクロ映画によってブランドの価値と理念を理解でき
るようになったの？ *
單選。
 Very disagree 非常不同意 非常に不同意
 Disagree 不同意
 Neither agree nor disagree 普通
 Agree 同意
 Very agree 非常同意 非常に同意

如果Agnès b. 拍了
15. If Agnès b. has a micro film, what the phenomenon and story would be? 
微電影，您覺得會是什麼氛圍與故事？もし、アニエスベーがマイクロ映画を作ったら、どんな雰
囲気、どんなストーリーになるんだと思うの？ *
 

技術提供：

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1pIKCr63A5Hlt5WTBogNLy2yhfwJY63ltYFSvKu8Ggwk/edit 4/4