Analysis of the Australian Fashion Industry

Analysis of the Australian stylus IndustryAustralian elanWell k like a shotn Australian designers Lisa Ho, Collette Dinnigan, Sass Bide, Ksubi, Jayson Brunsdon, Leona Edmiston and Kit Willow be taking the world by storm and expanding into the international food groceryplaceplace.Fashion is bingle of Australias cardinal creative and design industries and there argon now over 2000 active spurt exporters delivering their carrefours and services in overseas markets.The export of Australian mood is not limited to exclusive designers. Street expose, and browse wear ar also famous worldwide. Quiksilver, Billabong and Rip Curl are famous for their boardshorts, T-shirts and wetsuits.Getting your denominate overseas is important, says designer Claus Maus, non only for building your brand but also for growing sales.The key markets take on fresh Zealand, United Kingdom and the USA. Annual textile, clothing and footwear exports are worth $A277 million, of which $A289 millio n is clothing.This essay pull up stakes examine the merchandise strategies adopted by some of these modal value brands to effectuate their recording tag internation wholey. internationalistic markets suffer translate opportunities for growth. To achieve this, companies need to develop and perform market activities aimed at their repoint customer.A detailed analysis of the environment is full of life before a comp some(prenominal) enters an overseas market. This analysis should include cultural, affectionate, good economic, technological, political and legal issues. Cultural differences whitethorn affect selling negotiations and intersection point use.Australian fashion is becoming more popular. Australian Fashion hebdomad is one of the first shows of the fashion season which mean Australian designers ordure be ahead of magazine in setting trends. It was during Australian Fashion workweek that Easton Pearson got their start globally. It is all ab step up timing.Fashi on does stiffly in neighbouring markets much(prenominal) as New Zealand, Indonesia and Singapore.In order to stay militant in the global fashion market, brand management and positioning is crucial. It is important for designers to lead a presence at major international fashion events with an philia to being picked up by overseas retailers and boutiques. It is important to attend to your consumer and listen to your retailer. The retailer leave throw off some reliable specific requirements will it turn up on time, it will be price decent and it will make your consumer feel special.The type of overlap will on the face of it determine the right market. For example, red-carpet fashion will do head in wealthy, affluent markets, whereas swimwear will do salubrious in super resort areas.The international fashion industry is tough, competitive and constantly evolving.Fashion can be very market and culture specific, so fashion labels should be aware that what is considered f ashionable and chic will differ good between markets. When going international fashion exporters need to consider the life-style of the customer they are targeting and adapt colour, garment practicality and fabric choices to suit the target climate, lifestyle and market groupSocial laws will dictate to what remain authoritative parts of the body should be covered and even the models displaying products should rebound the target market. Immodest clothes are considered inappropriate for many a(prenominal) Middle-Eastern women and in Mexico the colour purpose is associated with funerals.Easton Pearson, a undefeated fashion exporter had to adapt their sizing and hemlines for markets such as Japan and the Middle East.Successful jeans label Tsubi underwent a brand name change to Ksubi. . A shoe label in the United States called Tsubo claimed the name infringed its merchandisemark and challenged the argumentationes use of the name.This case exemplifies how much a brand name ess ence to the business. Colour can also be associated with a brand. Cadbury un victoriously took Darrel Lea to court over their use of a shade of purple.Within every brand there is a product. barely not every product is a brand. A product is something tangible, it has corporeal attributes, styles, features and price. A brand is the total consumer experience of a product, its personality, the trust you have in it, the status it gives you, the experiences you share with it.The cultural aspect of launching a brand cant be overlooked. Sometimes there are language issues, For example, The Ford Pinto did miserably when first introduced in Brazil, and it was discovered that pinto is adopt for small male sex organ. Ford changed the name to corcel which means horse and sales improved.Billabong is now the leading brand in Peru. star of the miens in which they have make this brand so well know in Peru has been through providing sponsorship to leading athletes. They sponsor surfers, skateboa rders and snowboarders and host many of the event that make up the surfing World Championships Tours as well as region-specific events. They know their customers well and develop innovative and functional products for them, break into overseas markets is exciting but also challenging. Developing an overseas market gives rise to opportunities to grow and prosper with increased sales and profits, improved house servant competitiveness and a reduced dependence on the Australian market and seasonal fluctuations.To enter the overseas market there are certain strategies that must be undertaken to improve success. Breaking into the international market can be costly in time, money and resources. Thorough preparation is essential. formulation should include professional advice, the ability to balance domestic and export market, do not assume all markets are the same and modify the product to meet regulations and cultural preferences of other countries.Planning is essential. Companies must be fitted and ready to export and must have total commitment from all staff. Research is essential and a thorough analysis should be made of the market, taking into account size and distribution capabilities and competition.Companies should respond to perceived demands in overseas markets such as niche markets and acquire resources and technology.A successful marketing scheme used by Sass Bide to launch their label internationally was having celebrities wear their clothing. Basically they asked plenty through fashion editors to try their jeans and first begun by sending their jeans to all of the editors in New York and London presented beautifully with a covering letter. This strategy worked as out of a dozen gifts sent, 6 would write back saying OH, my God, we delight this, and as a result celebrities would endorse them. They just had to get their product to the right people. They took this approach as they did not have the money to put across on advertising and marketing, an d thought that word of mouth marketing was the way to go. Working with influential people (celebrities) is an important of word of mouth marketing.nought counts the number of ads you run, they just remember the impression your make. (Wiliam Bernbach).Sass and Bide partners, Heidi Middleton and Sarah Clarke send packing a lot of time travelling making connections with the customers on a one to one level. They do not want to advertise they are more interested in intimate marketing as well as Public Relations. They relied on word of mouth marketing early on however this has changed over the years. The US market is very competitive so they now have a marketing plan and strategy in place to target the whole of the country. They target celebrities like Naomi Watts and kylie Minogue. They also do in-store appearances and hold teatime parties and invite all the stylists and editors to these tea parties.The SWOT analysis is a tool used to assess a companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunit ies and threats. Strengths and weaknesses come from within the company and are presently controllable. Strengths are attributes of the government that are athletic supporterful to achieving the objective. If a SWOT analysis does not start with defining a desired objective it may be useless. Identification of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is essential as steps in the turn of planning for achievement of the objective may be derived from them.Strengths include a strong brand name and a good reputation among customers Weaknesses include limited finances and lack of key distribution channels. Opportunities include fresh technologies, a new international market and loosening of international trade barriers. Threats are shifts in customers tastes, new competition and the interpolation of new regulations.Firstly, the company has to determine whether the objective of launching internationally is attainable. The organisation should ask how they use each strength, how t hey can stop each weakness, how to achievement each opportunity and how to defend against each threat.A fashion label inevitably competitive advantages that give it an advantage in meeting the needs of a targeted market (strengths). To be successful fashion labels need to be an innovative product combined into clarified design that bring unneurotic individual style. Brand ambassadors are also a key fraction in brand acknowledgement overseas.Limitations that a business faces in growth are a weakness. Weaknesses are harmful to achieving the final objective. Limited fiscal resources can contribute to weakness. The label must be able to chip in sales rapidly after the launch. This entails reaching enough people with marketing efforts and creating a retail network.Opportunities and threats exist independently of the business. Opportunities are favourable conditions and business can be rewarded from these benefits if it acts on them decently.Threats are conditions or barriers that may stop the organisation reaching its objectives. Threats must be acted on or avoided to prevent them from limiting the companys capabilities.When launching a fashion label internationally it is important to make sure the opportunities are used properly and the strengths made even stronger in order to find new arising opportunities. altogether the Australian fashion labels entering the international market are in direct competition with one another and are rivals. They all depart in similar fields and their target customers are similar. Billabong and Quiksilver are well established and have loyal followers.Even though competition is very hard it creates opportunity. Competition keeps the companies moving forward.Creating word of mouth marketing shift can make a big difference in the wisdom and pictorial matter of the brand. According to Andy Sernovitz, author of news of Mouth Marketing How sharp Companies Get People Talking there is a five T method to create efficient word of mouth endeavors. Getting the campaign to function is based on Business to Customer to Customer communication. The real message comes from the customer. The five Ts are Talkers Topics, Tools, Taking Part and TrackingWord of mouth marketing is fully actionable, trackable and plannable. The Internet provides excellent ship canal to track blogs and other forums. It is very important to identify who and why people are chew uping about the brand. Find people who will talk about the label and give people a reason to talk. Tools care the message spread faster and further. Track, measure an say what people are saying.It is important to be successful internationally to find people who will talk about you such as retailers, bloggers and retailers. Also the fashion label should give people a reason to talk through excellent products and great service. They can help the message spread faster and further by blogs, message boards and the internet. The company itself can take part by posting blogs, answering emails and offering personal service. Also you should measure and understand what people are saying by searching blogs and listening to feedback.The fashion product must also make the most of opportunities. The product image must appeal strongly to people who want to dress stylish but do not want to sacrifice their comfort. With a successful marketing campaign and image building the brand can give-up the ghost very valuable in a short period for time and generate lucrative offers from investors and competitors.Most South East Asiancountries correlate merchandise brand names and higher prices with superior quality. They generally pay close attention to the country of origin when evaluating quality and making purchasing decisions on apparel products. The average arget age of consumers in South East Asion for trade apparel is becoming younger from people in their 30s to people in their 20s.Given the growth South East Asian casual wear and sportswear market. Austral ian apparel in these segments has some distinct advantages that provide a good basis for establishing a storng brand image.Designer brands that are successful in the interntional marketplace have a high market potential to be successful in the South East Asian market. Department stores in south east asia are highly positioned and any international fashion brand ensure that is a priority to denter the segment stores.Sociuakl ResponsibilitySocially responsible organisations strive for marketing citizenship by adopting a strategic focus for fulfilling the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic social responsibilities that their stakeholders expect of them.At the most basic level all, companies have an economic responsibility to be profitable so they can provide a return on investment to their owners and investors, crete jobs for the community and contribute goods and services to the economy.Marketers re also anticipate to obey laws and regulations.Examples of social responsibilit y issues include environment, consumerism and community relations.Being socially responsible means an organisation shows concern for the people and environment in which it transacts business. In some cases social responsibility incorporates supporting social causes to help society. For example, some marketers sponsor charity events. Social responsibility does not automatically translate into increased revenue or public image. However, companies who adopt social responsibility tend to have a strong reputation which pays dividends in the form of increased customer loyalty.