Retail management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Retail management - Essay Example The fashion industry today is marked by short life-cycles, high volatility, low predictability and high impulse purchasing (Christopher, Lowson & Peck, 2004). The fashion retail industry in UK is turbulent as the fashion conscious consumers expect and thrive for constant change. Added to the changing consumer preferences are the factors like globalization and the technological changes that have truly revolutionized the UK fashion retailing industry. The fashion retail market is split into number of segments – luxury, high street and supermarket/out-of-town discounter (Bruce & Daly, 2006). With the supermarkets having entered the clothing sector, the fashion retail has been redefined. It enables the time-starved consumers to purchase cheap clothing instead of visiting high street. The cheap chic revolution has turned the UK fashion market upside down (Mesure, 2007). With the rise of the discount retail store the number of garments purchased by women each has doubled. Various reasons have been accounted for this changing trend – shift of production to the Far East, the weak US dollar and the abolition of textile quotas have driven down prices even in chains like Asda and M&S. The phenomenon of disposable fashion rules – â€Å"buy it, wear it, and chuck it† is the mantra that the fashion conscious follow in the 21st century. Consumers expect low prices, and increasing incomes are the key to increased ec onomic activity. According to Jones and Hayes (2002), clothing and fashion purchase decisions are based on want rather than need (cited by Priest 2005). It depends upon how the consumer wants to be perceived. Competition is fierce and the market is characterized by excessive discounting. Even top socio-economic groups are price-savvy. Decreased consumer spending has a negative impact on the retailers. Besides, cost of retail space has gone up and rents have risen. According to a research by This is Money, people shop at both the top and bottom ends of

Social Networks in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Social Networks in Marketing - Essay Example In turn, the relationship between consumers and branding is arguably paramount in determining the centre of how value should be marketed to retain and persuade new customers (Merz, He & Vargo 2009). Therefore, the increase of consumer power arguably forces organisations to undertake a more lateral approach to marketing as opposed to merely focusing on competitors (Avlonitis & Indounas, 2007). This argument is reinforced by the proposition of Weinberg et al that organisations shouldn’t assume what the customers want, but that it is imperative for organisations to add value in addressing consumer needs to survive in the multi-channel marketplace particularly in light of the growing influence of social networking on consumer choice (2007). With regard the contemporary business environment the application of CRM is also impacted by the increase of online business and in particular social networking (Cova, 2006). The ecommerce business model has dramatically reshaped consumer consu mption and the classic bricks and mortar business mantra of â€Å"location, location, location† (Chaffey, 2006). ... Therefore it is important for businesses to understand the internet medium to apply CRM effectively in the current retail climate with reference to the power of social networking. This is particularly important in light of the strategic driver of the internet medium being information sharing and increased knowledge as highlighted by the social networking phenomenon (Cova, 2006). For example, the incoming of the second media age and multiple digital platforms has created new societal trends and business opportunities through the multimedia business model, which has challenged pre-existing methods of information dissemination (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). On one side of the spectrum this has led to increasing commercialisation of the customer, which is further reflected by changing consumer habits and multi-chain retail strategy (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). On the other side of the spectrum, the digital era has redefined how the people interact with each other, thereby marking a shift in so cietal relationships and trends, which in turn informs cultural norms and enables innovation in building consumer/business relationships where the objective of marketing strategy should be to ensure that consumers are at the core (Beckett & Nayak, 2008). This paper critically evaluates the impact of social networking on marketing strategy. It is submitted at the outset that whilst increase of consumer control has been acknowledged in academic discourse, there has been some debate as to the role of social networking and its inclusion in marketing strategy to reflect increased consume power (Saren, 2007). For example, Brown (1992) had argued that the postmodern socio-economic paradigm has led to an increased focus on marketing