Fashion Marketing and Merchandising

Product Planning Even fashion must be thought out and planned. New items are discussed and trends analyzed to determine what the buying public will purchase. ◦ This is done at least 2 seasons ahead of when product is planned for the store.

Product Life Cycle Introduction Growth Maturity Decline ◦ What do you think happens in each of these phases?

Activity Grab a magazine or two ◦ Find a picture of a fashion product in each phase, cut it out NEATLY ◦ Glue it to the correct large sheet of paper in the room ◦ You may not be able to do this with all fashion items but try!!! If not successful, select products close to the industry.

Lines and More Before break, you create a product line. Using that knowledge and your book, what do you think the following terms mean? ◦ Product item ◦ Product line ◦ Product width ◦ Product depth

Market Research All industries must use research to determine what products to offer. Gather information Analyze it and make projections and suggestions

Distribution Before consumers can buy a product, a designer must make sure that their items/lines get to the consumer. ◦ This is done by the function of marketing known as distribution

Role of Buyers in Distribution The buyer could be an employee of a company or the owner of a boutique ◦ They determine what will be sold in the store and then source the materials

Buying Process The merchandise cycle is three steps ◦ Merchandise planning  Look at records of sales and trends, make predictions ◦ Merchandise buying  source it, make orders, set delivery times ◦ Merchandise selling  Exchange of goods and money

Types of Stores Department stores Specialty stores Boutiques Designer stores Outlets Discount stores Mail order Online

Stores All stores use the selling process. ◦ What are the 7 steps of the sales process?

Pricing Levels Couture – Dior/Chanel Bridge lines – Ellen Tracy/Linda Allard Better garments – Liz/CK/Chaps Moderate lines – Charter club/INC/Levis Budget lines – Walmart/Target/sometimes outlets

How to determine price? Add up all your expenses plus a profit to set price: ◦ Achieve desired profits ◦ Obtain large sales volume ◦ Be competitive ◦ Present and protect your image Price increases at each level of the chain – textile mfg to product mfg to wholesaler to stores etc

Pricing Strategies Prestige pricing Skimming Penetration pricing Odd/even Psychological

Displaying Fashion Visual merchandising is important. ◦ If it looks good on display, consumer believes it will look good on them ◦ Store layouts and more are all taken into consideration  Storefront ◦ Window displays and entry points ◦ Layout ◦ Store flow ◦ Interior displays