Fashion Merchandising & Promotion

1. Fashion Merchandising& Promotion

2. What is Merchandising? • Fashion Merchandising involves the activities of planning, buying and selling apparel and accessories. • It is the central function of Apparel Retailing • Includes the following areas: • Retail Positioning • Merchandise Buying • Merchandise Promotion • Visual Merchandising

3. The Retail Segment • General Merchandisers • Market all types of goods in multiple price ranges and try to satisfy as many needs of broad range customers. • Examples: Sear, J.C. Penney, Macy’s • Specialized Merchandisers • Offer limited lines of related products targeted to more defined customers • Examples: Aéropostale, Forever 21, Victoria's Secret

4. Types of Retail Merchandisers • Department Stores • Large scale general merchandisers that offer many varieties of merchandise grouped into separate departments. • Chain Stores • A group of stores that is owned managed, merchandised and controlled by a central office and have similar goods and prices • Can be general or specialized merchandisers

5. Types of Retail Merchandisers • Discount Stores • Retail establishments that sell merchandise at lower than recognized market-level prices • Specialty Stores • Carry large selections of limited classifications of merchandise. Usually have lower volume and higher prices • Non-Store Retailers • Selling without a conventional facility

6. Types of Retail Merchandisers Match the Following Store with its Retail Type • Department Store • Chain Store • Discount Store • Specialty Store • Non-Store A. Coach B. Amazon C. Macy’s D. T.J. Max E. Forever 21 Check your answers with Mrs. Wendt

7. Retail Positioning • Retail Positioning refers to where a retailers situates itself in the market. • General Retail Positioning Price Categories • Designer: (couture) original high priced-fashion for the tiny “class” market; distinctive style and emphasize top quality • Bridge: “secondary” lines of high priced designers; made with expensive fabrics, fine details & produced in small quantities

8. Retail Positioning • General Retail Positioning Price Categories • Better: high quality, but more reasonable prices; they are ready to wear garments that are more available to consumers than high fashion designs • Moderate: medium priced merchandise with well known brand names; sold through department & chain stores as well as specialty stores • Budget: lowest price category of apparel; sold on retail racks and shelves; no original designs resulting in knock-offs

9. Retail Positioning Match the Brand with its Price Category • Designer • Bridge • Better • Moderate • Budget A. Liz Claiborne B. Valentino for Angelina Jolie C. Gap D. Michael Kors for Macy’s E. No Boundaries Check you answers with Mrs. Wendt

10. Target Markets • Retail Positioning includes choosing a Target Market • Target Market: specific segment of a total market that a company wants as customers and toward whom it directs its marketing efforts. • Based on • Demographics: Age, Gender, Race, Education, Religion, Income, Occupation, and Geographic Location • Psychographics: statistics that try to explain consumer behavior such as: Lifestyle, Values, Attitudes & Self-Concept

11. Target Markets Match the Store with its Target Market • Forever 21 2. Banana Republic 3. Nike A. Various age groups with athletic lifestyles B. Teen to Twenties, with little to medium income C. 30 – 40 year old working women; with middle to upper middle income Check you answers with Mrs. Wendt

12. Retail Positioning Strategies • Product Strategy: the assortment breadth & depth a retailer offers • Breadth: the number of different item categories • Depth: the quantity of each item available • Three main approaches • Broad & Shallow: many categories, small quantity • Narrow & Deep: few categories, large quantity • Moderate breadth & depth: balance between categories & quantity

13. Retail Positioning Strategies • Price Strategy: pricing strategy should correlate with a retailer’s image, target market and competition. • Quality & price usually, but not always correlate • High price = high quality • Low price = low quality

14. Retail Positioning Strategies • Price Strategy Continued • Pricing Approaches • Prestige Pricing: setting high prices on items to attract customers who want quality goods or the status of owning expensive & exclusive merchandise • Price Promoting: advertising special price reductions of goods to bring in customers • Value Pricing: selling items below the suggested retail price • Everyday low pricing: promotes the idea that shoppers can shop anytime in the store and receive a fair price

15. Retail Positioning Strategies • Place Strategy: relates to the site location and physical design of the site. • Locations • Central business district: stores in cities or towns • Neighborhood shopping centers: 5 -15 stores • Community shopping centers: 15 – 30 stores • Regional shopping centers: Enclosed malls • Super regional centers: Mega-malls

16. Retail Positioning Strategies • Place Strategy Continued: • Facilities Design • Store exterior • Visible to traffic • Compatible with surroundings • Convenient for consumers • Store Interior • Selling areas: merchandise is displayed • Support areas: dressing rooms, bathrooms, checkout, etc.

17. Merchandise Planning & Buying • Merchandise Planning: involves estimating, as correctly as possible, consumer demand and how it can be best satisfied • Merchandise Buying: is done through vendors, such as apparel producers, to obtain the merchandise decided upon during the planning phase

18. Merchandise Planning & Buying The Merchandise Cycle

19. Merchandise Planning & Buying • Gather Information from • past sales records • Sales people • Consumer opinions and behavior • Merchandising bureaus • Vendors • Trade information • Comparison shoppers

20. Merchandise Planning & Buying 2. Prepare Buying Plans • Buying plan • Describe the types and quantities of merchandise to purchase • Create a dollar merchandise plan • Estimated budget for stock, sales and profit • Assortment Plan • Variety and quantity of stock keeping units (SKU) to be carries

21. Merchandise Planning & Buying 3. Select Merchandise resources • Manufacturers • Wholesalers • Web sites & catalogs • Importers • Vendors

22. Merchandise Planning & Buying • Market Week: scheduled periods of time during which producers introduce their new collections or lines (fashion shows all week) • Collection: total number of garments in a designer’s or producers seasonal presentation, especially for high priced garments • Line: group of styles within a collection that are produced and sold as a set of new selections • Typically has one design element in common throughout all garments • Color, line, balance, silhouette, etc.

23. Merchandise Planning & Buying Example of a Line

24. Merchandise Planning & Buying • Major Domestic Fashion Markets • New York • California: L.A. & San Francisco • Dallas • Chicago • Miami • Atlanta

25. Merchandise Planning & Buying • Major Foreign Markets • London, England • Paris, France • Milan, Italy

26. Merchandise Promotion • Purpose of Fashion Promotion • Inform • Create awareness and understanding of products • Persuade • Convince consumers of the benefits of using/buying products • Remind • Product availability, encourage purchases and stimulate additional purchases

27. Merchandise Promotion • Promotion Levels • Consumer: directly to consumers, usually done on a national scale by companies that do not sell directly to consumers • Trade: aimed within the industry • Fiber and fabric companies promote to manufacturers • Retail: promotion by a store to its customers • Promote merchandise chosen for their target market in hopes to create demand

28. Merchandise Promotion • Promotion Program: details of efforts for a period of time. It includes • Goals & objectives • Message or theme • Specific Promotion activities • Timing of activities • Media to be used • Assignments of responsibility • Budget • Evaluation Methods

29. Merchandise Promotion • Advertising: any paid form of non personal sales message made by a sponsor through a communication medium • Purpose: • Build a companies image • Promote a brand or product • Announce a sale • Retail Advertising Purpose • Bring customers to a sight • Promote an image

30. Merchandise Promotion • Types of Advertising • Product advertising: designed to sell specific, identifiable merchandise items, lines or services • Institutional advertising: designed to sell a reputation of an organization rather than a specific product • Cooperative advertising: sharing the cost with two or more organizations

31. Merchandise Promotion • Forms of Advertising • Merchandise Packaging: • Company names, logos, slogans on shopping bags, boxes, paper, etc. • Newspaper • Magazines • Outdoor: billboards, public transit ads, etc. • Direct Mail • Radio • Television • Websites

32. Visual Merchandising • VM: physical display of goods in the most attractive and appealing ways • VM Purpose: • Sell goods and promote store image • Educate about new items trends • Show how items can be worn • Grab customer attention • Provide information on price or special features

33. Visual Merchandising • Store Décor & atmospherics • Décor: style and appearance of interior furnishings • Theme should be carried throughout the store to fit company’s image • Should coordinate with merchandise • Atmospherics: features intended to create a particular emotional mood or attitude through sound, smell and the décor • Uses psychology to induce buying • Examples: type of music or pleasant aromas

34. Visual Merchandising • Merchandise Presentation: includes the ways that goods are hung, placed on shelves, or made available for sale in retail stores • Shoulder-out presentation • Garments are hung with only one side showing from shoulder to bottom (like hung in your closet) • Face-forward presentation • Clothing is hung with the front fully facing the viewer • Always done at the entrances and aisles of a store

35. Visual Merchandising Merchandise Fixtures • A-frames • Base cabinets • Build-ups • Card holders • C-rack • Drapers • Dump or table bin • Four-way rack • Gondola • Grid units • Hangbars • Pedestal units • Pegboard • Quad rack • Rounders • Showcases • Slatwall units • Spiral costumer • Straight arm • Superquad • Tables • T-stand • Tier tables or racks • Two-way racks • Waterfalls

36. Visual Merchandising • Interior Store Display: individual and notable physical presentations of merchandise • Use unique equipment or fixtures to feature distinctive merchandise • Should be color-coordinated, accessorized, and self-explanatory • Window Display: seen from outside the store • Enclosed; semi-enclosed; open; island

37. Visual Merchandising • Displays are intended to: • Stimulate product interest • Provide information • Suggest merchandise coordination • Generate traffic flow • Remind customers of planned purchases • Create additional sales of impulse items • Enhance the store’s visual image

38. Visual Merchandising • Displays should include the following: • Merchandise • One-category groupings; related groupings; Themed groupings; variety • Lighting • Floodlighting; spotlighting; pinpointing • Props • Mannequins, bust forms; decorative props; structural props • Signage