Fashion Marketing Proposal
An Investigation on the Role of Fashion Marketers in Brand Management in the UK
Introduction
This paper presents a proposal on how fashion marketers perceive their roles in brand management in the United Kingdom. Brand management basically concerns branding and various ways by which brands acquire and sustain value in the marketplace. Fashion is key industry in the UK economy with approximately 110, 000 people employed within the industry. The demand for fashion people that are equipped with business knowledge is constantly growing as well specifically that the shift was apparent toward marketing, marketing communications and distribution and supply chain relationships. The functions and responsibilities of fashion marketers are extended to include contemporary understanding of fashion marketing that is matched with the requirements of the sector. There is therefore the necessity to understand in-depth the diverse roles of fashion marketers in accordance with the requirements of the industry.
Background and Context
Fashion marketing combines various elements of advertising, business administration, ergonomics, graphic design and interior decoration for the purpose of taking clothing lines into public’s attention. Fashion marketers are expected to be competent in their field specially in having a good sense of popular culture on what would and could be stylish in the future. Rickman and Cosenza (2007) contend that fashion forecasting and fashion trending is necessary to keep pace with the changing dynamics of the marketplace. Fashion marketers also act as visionaries whom not only recognize the fit between fashion brands on which consumer group but also on knowing how to market these brands to the target groups. As such, fashion marketers connect designers and the public.
Lea-Greenwood (1997) maintains that fashion marketing communication in the UK domestic arena heavily relied upon the combination of public relations, press office activity and a widespread presence or distribution strategy. Fashion retail brands are challenged with increasing saturation and government regulations hence expansion opportunities were seized. However, UK fashion brands experienced another challenge which is brand awareness of consumers other than the Britons. Newman and Patel (2004) also assert that aside from the brand image, adoption of quality marketing orientations is an important endeavor in fashion marketing. Satisfying the target market through effective marketing strategies is equals to displaying high levels of confidence in the merchandise proposition. Sustainable positioning is an element of fashion marketing that is critical for fashion marketers as this will determine the range of marketing activities that are aligned with fashion consumers.
Convincing power must be inherent to fashion marketers in order that people should be persuaded to what they think are trendy and fashionable. Goldsmith et al (1999) assert that fashion innovativeness among fashion marketers is based on self-concept. Fashion innovators and their self-image could be a fruitful way to appeal to important consumers. How fashion marketers could effectively manage the brand in compliance the expectations and requirements of both the designers and the public must be explored. For instance, fashion marketers should be experts in the changes that are currently happening and will happen in the UK fashion sector in the future. Moore and Murphy (2000) relate that adoption of products and brands of new target market segments which have been traditionally for other market segments. Fashion marketers must develop an understanding of the motivations which led this specific segment to adopt products and brands or broadly market extension and development.
Saren (2006, p. 221) claims that brands are important to fashion marketers – it is what they create, manage, nurture, love, protect and make huge amounts of money.” With this said, it is the responsibility of the fashion marketers to construct strategic brand management objectives aside from other tasks of creating advertising campaigns that have public appeal and trend-setting. Moore (1995) emphasizes that the reformulation of image and buying strategies require that branding strategies should set apart a brand in an environment with little generic differentiation. Fashion own-branding has emerged as the cornerstone of the marketing strategies of the major retail companies. Seeking to identify the mechanisms by which own-brands are created and maintained is significant for fashion marketers.
Lifetime customer value is also critical in fashion marketing hence delivering the proposition that will create and capture customer share or simply customers’ spending power is also a must for fashion marketers. According to Hines and Bruce (2007), effective retail design that combines and uses different design concepts to conceptualize and construct a retail space is a key to successful fashion marketing (p. 121). The retail design contributes to the total retail experience hence it is necessary that the needs and desires of the shoppers must be met as this will implicate satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Either of the two, this will reflect the expertise of fashion marketers when it comes to retail designing. Fashion provision and shopping environments are two important components that fashion marketers must be well-informed of (Otieno et al, 2005).
Visual merchandising which combines product, environment and space is created to stimulate and engage display to encourage sale of the products (Easey, 2008, p. 232). Lea-Greenwood (1998) claims that renaming of display as visual merchandising has led to the centralization and professionalism of the function. Visual merchandising benefits the brand through communicating a cohesive brand image, differentiating the offer from the competition, integrating promotional effort across the brand and increasing availability of technology to facilitate the process. However, fashion marketers do not necessarily regard visual merchandising as a strategic process hence neglected within the literature.
As such, fashion marketers also act as brand managers, however, in what ways and to what extent do fashion marketers identify themselves as brand managers is not known. Specifically, the functions and other responsibilities of fashion marketers when it comes to retail design and visual merchandising are also unknown.
Aim and Objectives
The main aim of this study is to investigate the various roles as well as functions and responsibilities of fashion marketers in brand management particularly in retail designing and visual merchandising. Likewise, another key objective which is to determine how fashion marketers create value through effective brand management will be addressed. In lieu with this, specific objectives that will be addressed are:
1) Analyze how fashion marketers implements brands
2) Evaluate what shapes the brand decisions of fashion marketers
3) Explore challenges faced by fashion marketers when managing the brands
Methodology
Primary and secondary research will be conducted in the study. In the primary research, the study will survey 25 fashion marketers about how they manage brands. A structured questionnaire will be developed which will be divided into four parts: demographic, brand management, retail designing and visual merchandising. It is planned that the questionnaire will have a 5-point Likert scale and ranking questions.
Aside from the survey, a secondary research will also be performed. Literature review will be built from the insights from journal and book contents. Sometimes, secondary research is required in the preliminary stages of the research to determine what is known already about the topic and what new data are required, or to inform research design. Interpretation will be conducted which can account as qualitative in nature.
Limitations and Risk Assessment
One of the potential limitations of the study is the number of samples. The target number of samples is small considering the total number of fashion marketers in the UK. However, this may be also valid because the number of sample is adequate to produce the general idea of the roles of fashion marketers in brand management. To compensate, a recommendation for future study will be provided so as to promote the continuous investigation on the issue.
Another limitation is the availability of related literatures about the roles of fashion marketers in effective management of brands in particular retail designing and visual merchandising. An initial research on the internet was already conducted prior to this proposal and it was found that resources that exactly relates with the topic are scarce. However, a good contingency for this is by reviewing literatures on specific variables related to the study topic.
There is an inherent risk for fashion marketers as the respondents of the study and that is the risk of exposing fashion marketing intelligence. Because the study will involve informations about branding and its management, commercial confidentiality of any information obtained will be treated with utmost respect. I will establish with the fashion marketers to be surveyed the use of my data and will ask their permission in case of publishing data.
Time Frame
TASK
Weeks
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
Read Literature
Finalize Objectives
Draft Literature Review
Devise Research Approach
Review Secondary Data
Organize Survey
Develop Survey Questions
Conduct Survey
Analyze secondary & primary data
Evaluate data
Draft Findings Chapter
Complete remaining chapters
Submit to tutor and await feedback
Revise draft and format for submission
Print, Bind
Submit
References
Easey, M 2008, Fashion Marketing, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Hines, T & Bruce, M 2007, Fashion marketing: contemporary issues, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Goldsmith, R E, Moore, M A & Beaudoin, P 1999, ‘Fashion innovativeness and self-image: a replication,’ Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 7-18.
Lea-Greenwood, G 1997, ‘Marketing communications in the internationalisation of UK fashion brands,’ Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 357-358.
Lea-Greenwood, G 1998, ‘Visual merchandising: a neglected area in UK fashion marketing,’ International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 324-329.
Moore, C M 1995, ‘From rags to riches – creating and benefiting from the fashion own-brand,’ International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 23, no. 9, pp. 19-27.
Moore, C & Murphy, R 2000, ‘The strategic exploitation of new market opportunities by British fashion companies,’ Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 15-25.
Newman, A J & Patel, D 2004, ‘The marketing directions of two fashion retailers,’ European Journal of Marketing, vol. 38, no. 7, pp. 770-789.
Otieno, R, Harrow, C & Lea-Greenwood, G 2005, ‘The unhappy shopper, a retail experience: exploring fashion, fit and affordability,’ International Journal of Retail& Distribution Management, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 298-309.
Rickman, T A & Cosenza, R M 2007, ‘The changing digital dynamics of multichannel marketing: the feasibility of the weblog and text mining approach for fast fashion trending,’ Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 604-621.
Saren, M 2006, Marketing graffiti: the view from the street, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
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