SCHOOL OF FASHION (VIFT)

FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

VIT, Chennai.

COURSE CODE : FST4005

COURSE TITLE : Fashion and Apparel Marketing
MODULE :1

Presented by
Prof.S.Vinusowndarya
Assistant Professor Jr
VIT Fashion Institute of Technology
Chennai.

03-12-2018
 1.INTRODUCTION TO FASHION MARKETING
CHAPTER : 1
 Introduction to fashion marketing
 Marketing definition
 Market sector
 Fashion marketing in practice
 Fashion marketing for fashion industry
 Issues in fashion marketing
 Overview of fashion marketing process
Source : Emma Watson in Net-a-porter
 The Marketing Concept

Identify
customers

Determine what Communicate to

Business customers want customers

Make the right products

available at the right time
and at the right price
 INTRODUCTION TO FASHION

• Fashion is fundamentally a commercial business producing and selling

products, even though for designers, fashion enthusiasts and fashion
students it might feel very glamorous and exciting way to make a living.
• In order for the change which is intrinsic to fashion to take place, the
industry must continually create new products. Used in another sense, the
term fashion means to construct, mould or make.
• Fashion is not just about clothing therefore, also involves a strong creative
and design component.

Example:
• The level of design can vary considerably from a basic item such as a T-
shirt to the artistic creations.

Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label - M. Tereza Dickson

 Why to brand?

• Fashion is fast-paced concept, when one day you’re in and another day out. With our globalised world and
many new opportunities, young entrepreneurs and fashion graduates rush to establish new labels without
market research and development of a brand identity.
• Therefore, only one out of ten new fashion start-ups survive, leaving them on shaky grounds, and eventually,
they get crushed by much stronger and bigger brands. Clothing labels need to deliver more than just the
products, and this is where branding steps in.
• Branding will help the label to differentiate itself from other labels alike and make it easier for a customer to
recognise what is the brand message, values and to whom it should appeal.
• Branded products and services have added value, which have been deliberately designed for customers for
recognition, association, opportunities and meaningfulness
• Consumers like brands, because they help people to identify their preferred products, reduce the amount of
time spent making decisions, reduce levels of perceived risk and improve the quality of shopping experience

Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label - M. Tereza Dickson

 • When shopping and wearing branded products, they not only fit differently, but they make the entire
experience unique from the very moment you think about the brand and deciding what type of
garment you might considering of buying and why. Even if you don’t particularly search for a new
piece of clothing, you might feel your self-image needs updating, when the easiest way to update, is
by buying something new to wear.
• How two competitor brands, selling similar clothing, to same target group, have branded themselves?

Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label - M. Tereza Dickson

 INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING
• Marketing is an exchange process. It is the communication between the company and the customer, and
its purpose is to generate a diversity of assets for both parties. Marketing entails product development,
market research, product distribution, sales strategy, public relations, and customer support. Marketing
is necessary in all stages of a business’s selling journey.
• Marketing is the process of getting consumers interested in your company’s product or service. This
happens through market research, analysis, and a solid understanding of your ideal consumer’s wants
and needs. Marketing pertains to all aspects of a business, including product development, distribution
methods, sales, and advertising.
• Communication increases brand value and creates impressions, and half of the brand value consists of
the way it communicates. Marketing is about finding exactly whom to sell to, and why and how they
want to buy.

“Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups (organizations)
obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others”

- By Philip Kotler.
Source : blog.hubspot.com/marketing
 FASHION MARKETING
• “Running a successful fashion label requires around 90 percent business acumen and only about 10
percent artistic ability”
• To work in the industry you need to be ambitious, self-motivated, creative, energetic and passionate
about fashion and possess working knowledge about marketing and business.
How Fashion Is Marketed?

Marketing is a series of activities that fashion businesses undertake so that customers will buy products
from them instead of their competitors. It is the process of developing, promoting, and distributing
products to satisfy customers’ needs and wants
Marketing Concept?

To market effectively, fashion marketers follow the principles of the marketing concept. It is the idea that
businesses must satisfy customer needs and wants in order to make a profit

Retailers must consider the Products must match

•location •style,
•atmosphere, and •quality, and
•image of the store. •price to their customers.
Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label
 CONTI..
• Fashion marketing is the application of a range of techniques and a business philosophy that centres
upon the customer and potential customer of clothing and related products and services in order to
meet the long-term goals of the organization. It is a major argument of this book that fashion
marketing is different from many other areas of marketing.
• The very nature of fashion, where change is intrinsic, gives different emphasis to marketing activities.
Furthermore, the role of design in both leading and reflecting consumer demand results in a variety
of approaches to fashion marketing.
• The creative design personnel provide part of the mechanism by which the industry responds to the
need for change. At the same time the ability to identify products that the customer needs and will
buy is also essential to the industry.
• Marketing can help to provide this additional knowledge and the skills needed to ensure that the
creative component is used to best advantage, allowing businesses to succeed and grow.

Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label

 VARIOUS PHILOSOPHIES OF MARKETING
1. Production Concept: The idea is that consumers will favor products that are available and highly affordable
and that the organization should therefore focus on improving the production and distribution efficiency.

2. Product Concept: The idea is that consumers will favor products that offer the most quality, performance,
and features and that the organization should therefore devote its energy to making continuous product
improvements.

3. Selling Concept: The idea is that consumers will not buy enough of the form’s products unless it undertakes
a large-scale selling and promotional effort. This is the concept normally which comes to our mind when we
talk of marketing. But beyond a point it cannot market a product because consumers don’t buy a product
because marketers are offering a product. They will buy only when there is a need and a suitable product and
other mix are also offered. Hence the need for an effective, practical approach is needed, which necessitated
the next concept.

4. Marketing Concept: The marketing management philosophy is that achieving organizational goals depends
on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than
competitors do.

Source : How to Brand and Market a Fashion Label

 About Fashion Marketing Trends in 2018
24/7 Customer Service
• 87% of shoppers use their experience with customer service to determine if they shop at a store. To
better assist customers online, websites or phone apps can have real-time chatbots for consumers to
get answers from. Social media channels can also be used. Having a Facebook page with a quick
response rate will increase the chance of a shopper taking a look at your products.
Easy to Buy
• Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat now have a “click-to-buy” option.
Clicking on a photo will automatically direct you to the product page for a consumer’s immediate
shopping needs.
Artificial Intelligence
• AI will browse through a consumer’s shopping and browsing history to suggest the right items to
shop. AI can discover trends before they hit the mainstream because of its ability to gather and study
large amounts of data. Using its analysis, it will determine what styles, colors, and materials are
trending all over the world.
Micromanage the User’s Experience
• Fashion Influencer Marketing gains the loyalty of a customer by trying to fulfill a shopper’s impulsive
need for a product immediately. Think about ways you can make a consumer’s shopping experience
run as smoothly as possible. For example, let’s say a consumer finds a product they want in-store but
wants to see all the available colors and sizes for it. Inputting a few keywords into its online store
should easily get them what they’re looking for.

Source : www.brandinglosangeles.com/4-tips-fashion-marketing-trends-2018
FASHION MARKETING IN PRACTICE

• Within the fashion industry there is enormous variation in the size and structure of businesses
serving the needs of customers. From a small business comprising a self-employed knitwear designer
to major multinational corporations such as Liz Claiborne or Zara, diversity remains a key feature.
• With legislative changes and expansion of the EU, the gradual removal of trade barriers on a global
scale and the growth of the Internet, the fashion industry is increasingly a global business.
• This implies considerable variation in the cultural, social and economic perspective of the
participants. The consequence of these variations in size, experience and perspective is that the
practice of fashion marketing is not uniform at a national level, let alone at an international one.
• Design students were traditionally taught to approach problems as though there were no constraints
on time or cost so that creativity might flourish. The assumption of much of this training was that
creativity flourishes when there is freedom from structural factors.
• Marketers are taught to be systematic and analytical in approaching problems. The foundation of a lot
of marketing involves the setting of objectives and quantifying inputs and outputs, such as advertising
expenditure and market share.
 • Good designers and marketing personnel both recognize the need for thorough preparation and the
exercise of professional skill, both understand the importance of communication, although with
differing emphasis on the visual and process components, and both tend to be in agreement about
the functional aspects of clothing, such as whether a garment is waterproof or machine washable.
• Two views of fashion marketing can be labelled as design centered and marketing centered.

Orientation Design centered Marketing centered

Sample Fashion marketing is the same as Design should be based solely on

statements promotion marketing research

Assumption Sell what we can make Make what we can sell

Alleged High failure rates Relies on Bland designs Stifles creativity

drawbacks intuition
 THE FASHION MARKETING CONCEPT

• There is another way to view the relationship between marketing and design, and this is termed the
fashion marketing concept.
• Fashion design only requires sufficient promotion to succeed is a view applicable to a very limited
number of businesses – usually those producing expensive garments for an elite market.
• The alternative view of fashion design as a function of marketing research fails to recognize either that
many people do not know what they will like until presented with choices, or that their preferences
change over time.
• For example, many who profess to hate a design seen on the catwalk may later come to like it when they
try the garment themselves or realize that others have signaled acceptance. Good fashion design can
challenge conventional views.
• The fashion marketing concept attempts to embrace the positive aspects of high concern for design,
customers and profit by recognizing the interdependence of marketing and design.
WHAT FASHION MARKETERS DO?
A fashion marketing manager wears many hats. What might a fashion marketer do on a day-
to-day basis? 
• Market research and media planning, as well as branding, product display, ad creative,
and photography all fall under the purview of fashion marketing. Fashion marketers may
also be involved with public relations.

What sort of activities that fashion marketing personnel engage in?

• Fashion marketing research
• Fashion product management
• Fashion promotion
• Fashion distribution
• Fashion product positioning and pricing
• Fashion marketing research:
A fashion marketing researcher may investigate the market shares of competitors and trends in those shares.
Through a group discussion with potential consumers they may discover that a possible brand name has negative
connotations and needs rethinking. Fashion marketers must be able to perform qualitative and quantitative
research into fashion trends and the lives and behaviors of the people who may purchase fashion products.
Market research is presented  and used to make important decisions about fashion design and business activities.
• Fashion product management:

Fashion marketers are charged with creating the story behind the brand so that customers can relate personally
and see themselves wearing the designs. Logos, copy, and imagery all need to stay in line with the image and
lifestyle that a fashion brand represents and create a personal connection with target customers. A design
manager may be concerned with producing a range of shirts for a major retailer. The shirts must co-ordinate with
other garments such as jackets, trousers and ties, all of which may be provided by other manufacturers. The
design manager must collect and pass on information to ensure that designers are adequately briefed. Later the
manager will be required to sell the designs at a presentation to the retailer, usually in the face of fierce
competition. The design manager’s knowledge of the retailer’s customers and an awareness of his or her own
company costs will enable an effective marketing function.
• Fashion promotion:
A manufacturer of corporate workwear may have produced a range of clothes suitable for staff working in small
independent restaurants. After careful research and planning the manufacturer may decide that a brochure is needed as
part of the promotional effort. The brief to be given to the person preparing visual and textual material for the brochure will
include an estimate of the number of brochures needed and a list of addresses – essential fashion marketing tasks.

Fashion marketers use their creativity alongside market research to create compelling advertisements that resonate with
their target audiences. They also manage media planning to determine the scheduled distribution of advertisements. This
may include advertisements in newspapers and magazines, on television, and in digital formats such as social media.
• Fashion distribution:
An owner of a retail outlet selling her own specially designed millinery wishes to expand. She needs to research a few
options including franchising her business, obtaining concessions in selected department stores and linking with a leading
womenswear designer to produce new complementary ranges each season. Marketing research and analysis of the status of
the business along with the preparation of a future marketing strategy are the major fashion marketing activities needed
here.
• Fashion product positioning and pricing:

A major retailer discovers that a competitor is selling imported silk lingerie similar in design and quality to its own, but at
prices that are 20% lower. A fashion marketing decision must be made about the positioning and pricing of the product,
taking into consideration the strategic goals of the company as well as the price sensitivity of its customers.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN FASHION MARKETING
• The practice of fashion marketing is often criticized. These criticisms can be classified into two types,
the micro-issues and the macro-issues.

• Micro-issues concern particular products and services where consumers may feel that they have not
been fairly treated or that they have been misled. Most customers have bought clothing that has
fallen below expectations by, for example, coming apart at the seams or shrinking in the wash. These
problems may occur due to poor quality control or at worst a callous attitude towards customers.
Sadly, the view of customers as mere punters to be exploited does exist in some parts of the fashion
industry but it is a short-sighted attitude as lack of repeat business, legal redress and negative word
of mouth are all possible consequences.

• The quick and fair correction of genuine errors reinforces the message to the customer that the
retailer cares about long-term customer welfare. Unfortunately, some staff are placed in positions
where their own interests may not coincide with those of the firm or the customer – those who work
on a commission only basis, for example. Such practices should be condemned as they lead to an
undermining of public confidence in the fashion industry.
• Macro-issues are broader and emerge not from the conscious conspiracy of individuals or groups of
individuals but as unintended or unanticipated consequences of certain activities. The most obvious
example is the criticism that the bulk of the fashion industry is lacking in sensitivity to environmental
issues in that it encourages a throw-away society, conspicuous consumption and unnecessary use of
packaging.
• Eg: Marks and Spencer : lay claim to a serious attempt to address some environmental concerns
with their ‘Plan A’. The Marks and Spencer ‘Plan A because there is no Plan B’ involves a £200 million
eco-plan to become carbon neutral by 2012, to extend their sustainable fabric sourcing and to set
new standards in ethical trading. Other attempts to address such concerns, although on a relatively
small scale, include the so-called ‘environmentally friendly’ or ‘green’ fibres and recycled wool.
• However, the charge of encouraging a throw-away society is a problem that is likely to recur with
sharper and move vehement focus in the future. The public response to the various anti-fur
campaigns run by PETA, Lynx and others since the 1980s has reduced the market for fur products in
many countries and has transformed a status symbol of the rich to an item of derision.
 Plan A : Doing the Right Things

PILLARS OF PLAN A OBJECTIVES OF PLAN A

1. Climate change • Reducing the amount waste

2. Waste generated by the factory and store
• Promotion of healthy lifestyle
3. Natural resource
• Developing flat organisation
4. Improving organisation structure
structure • Developing the Online Retailing
5. Involving customer in plan A • Promoting and applying the
6. Fair partnership principles of fair-trade
7. Management relationship
ETHICAL ISSUES IN FASHION MARKETING:
• Another Macro ethical issue:
• The Madrid Fashion Week has banned models with a body mass index (BMI) of below 18.5; this is a
BMI that is regarded as unhealthy by the World Health Organization.
• The use of wider ranges of body shapes and sizes has been effectively used by Dove in their campaign
for real beauty. The non-response or excuse of ‘We have to do it, because everyone else does it’ from
some fashion companies may reveal an unwillingness to research other less potentially harmful ways
of promotion. In an industry with an abundance of creative talent, it is surprising to find such pockets
of conservatism.

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Madrid

 FASHION MARKETING PROCESS

• The marketing mix i.e. Product, Price,

Promotion, Place are developed and delivered
through managing the marketing process.
• This research can also involve the study of
competitors and analysis of the company’s
own marketing efforts.
• Putting all aspects of the marketing mix
together to achieve the goals of the
organization is the most important marketing
task. Activities must be planned, co-ordinated
and implemented effectively, and the results
monitored.
 Product detail

 Wide range of product variety

Category from Formals , Western Wide range of Skin care –
the age group : Casuals , Formals, kid’s , women’s , Cosmetics
Infants to Adult Sports wear , Sports wear, men’s and fragrance
Intimate , Designer wear, Accessories.
Wardrobe. Intimate,
Casual wear.
 Women’s wear

The core brand that M&S began with, it is the most well received and
well known amongst it in house brands.

High priced apparel brand with the attention to detail to give a designer
look.

With Limited M&S aims to keep specialized collection with attention

given to High Fashion and exclusivity.

Purely casual wear for women with emphasis on the pricing which is
affordable and styling which is minimalistic.
 Women’s wear

Casual Formals Formals Casuals Formals Casuals

Tops Trousers Trousers Jeans Trousers Trousers
Jeans Shirts Shirts Tops Shirts Jeans
Trigging' Blazers Dresses Dresses Jackets
s Woollen Dresses
Skirts s tops
Dresses
 Men’s wear

The brand features the seasons key trends, perfectly edited to give
aspirational yet attainable style wardrobe

The brands, here focuses on signature & exclusive contemporary

styles.

Smart & Casual clothing aimed at a young edgy style

A fresh casual collection inspired by the East coast living focusing on

the vintage laid back look

Cool, vintage inspired pieces, that create a relaxed & authentic look.
 Men’s wear

Casual Formals Casuals Formals Casuals Casuals

Polo shirts Trousers Polo shirts Trousers Polo shirts T Shirts
Jeans Shirts Chinos Shirts Chinos Shirts
Shorts Blazers Trousers Ties Shorts Chinos
Ties Jackets Woollens Jackets
 Cosmetics and perfumes
Men Women Unisex
• Harvard • Isis (women)
• Perfection
• Autograph • Tess Daly Beauty
(Autograph’s
• Woodspice • Florentyna
& Per Una)
• Blue Energy • Natural Beauty
• True red
• North Coast • Earth spa
• Collezione • In – bloom
• Timothy Everest • Royal jelly
• Floral collection
PRICING
₹800 – 6000

₹1800 – 8000

₹2000 – 8000

₹1500 – 5000

₹1500 – 6000

₹1000 – 4000

₹200 – 2000
STORE FORMAT

• After 2008 they makeover drastic reworking of store design by

installation of brighter, more spacious, modern with

contemporary design, laminate floors with white tile

throughout, also new mannequins in new designs and poses,

new display, larger fitting room.

• Recent invest in interior is “Light Touch”

 Promotion

https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRv
5udKGG68