Standard 2
Fashion Marketing
• Student will understand the basics of fashion marketing.
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Objective 1: Define Marketing Terms
Objective 2: Describe the 4 P’s of Marketing
Objective 3: Describe the methods of market segmentation
Objective 4: Describe the six marketing functions
• The process of developing, promoting, and
distributing products to satisfy customers’ needs and
wants. It is a series of activities that fashion
businesses undertake so that customers will buy
products from them instead of their competitors.
• To market effectively, fashion marketers follow the
principles of the marketing concept, which is the
idea that businesses must satisfy customers’ needs
and wants in order to make a profit.
• The specific group of people that a
business is trying to reach.
• Identifying a group of consumers, or target market, is
achieved through market segmentation, which is a
way of analyzing a market by categorizing specific
characteristics.
• Demographics: personal
characteristics such as age, gender,
income, ethnic background, education,
religion, occupation, & lifestyle. For
Example: A retailer such as PacSun
targets a teen or young adult customer.
• Psychographics: based on
social & psychological characteristics such
as attitudes, interests & opinions. For
example: PacSun, many of the customers
may be interested in surfing or
skateboarding.
• Geographics: statistics about
where people live. Could include: region,
city, county, & climate. For example:
PacSun tends to focus its marketing
campaigns in warmer & coastal regions
rather than in colder climates.
• Behavioral Segmentation :statistics
about consumers based on their
knowledge, attitudes, use, or response to
a product.
• Purchase Occasion: instance when a consumer
might use a product – casual or work attire.
• Product Benefits: study of the benefits that
consumers desire in a fashion product or service
such as stain or wrinkle-resistance.
• Usage level & commitment : how often consumers
use a product & their loyalty to purchasing it.
• The planning, buying, and selling of fashion
apparel and accessories to offer the right
merchandise blend to meet consumer demand.
• To sell a fashion product to target customers,
businesses must apply the marketing mix. The
marketing mix consists of four basic marketing
strategies (4Ps) – product, price, place &
promotion.
• Refers to what company is
offering for sale to
customers to satisfy their
needs & wants.
• Includes goods & services.
• Fashion marketers develop
strategies that include
producing, packaging, &
naming a product.
• Examples of Goods:
• Examples of Services:
• The amount of money
consumers will pay for
a product.
• Fashion marketers
must determine how
much consumers are
willing to pay.
• Refers to the way products
are distributed and their
systems of delivery.
• Important place decisions
include how & where a
product will be distributed,
where the customer will
purchase the item, and
when the product is
distributed.
• Any form of
communication that a
business or organization
uses to inform, persuade,
or remind people to buy its
product.
• Pricing
• Channel Management
• Promotion
• Selling
• Product/Service Management
• Marketing-Information Management
• Fashion businesses must develop, maintain, & improve their
products in response to customer demands. Fashion producers
look for new ways to use existing items or produce new ones
that will continue to interest the consumer. For example: a
current textile in apparel is spandex. Although this material has
been in existence for years, its popularity increased when
designers began using it for women’s & men’s active-wear
fashions.
• A primary goal of any business is to make a profit. A key
factor in achieving this goal is to price a product accurately.
Pricing includes how much to charge for goods & services in
order to maximize profits. Although companies price their
merchandise based on what the customer is willing to pay, they
must be careful not to set prices so low that business does not
make a profit.
• This marketing function is responsible for identifying, selecting,
monitoring, and evaluating sales channels, also known as
channels of distribution.
• Each channel of distribution is a path or route that goods and
services take from the producer to the ultimate consumer or
industrial user. These paths or routes aren’t physical, however.
Instead, they refer to businesses or people who perform a
variety of activities to enable products to be in the right places
at the right times.
• Effective channel management is often a key to a business’s
success because it puts products in the customers’ hands.
• The world of fashion is ever-changing. Gathering information is
critical. Information is obtained primarily through marketing
research, which helps fashion businesses determine their
customers’ preferences & how to better market products.
Businesses are able to effectively use the information through
marketing-information management systems. The five main
elements are:
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Input – reports, past records, or surveys
Storage – storing the information on a computer, jump drive, etc…
Analysis – studying the information gathered
Output – reports of the analysis & conclusions drawn from the information
Decision Making – the final results of the first four elements.
• When new or existing products are developed, fashion
marketers must promote their products to make sales.
Promotion is the communication technique a business uses, such
as advertising, and other promotional methods, to interest
customers in buying the products. Manufacturers also promote
their merchandise to retailers through catalog & Internet
methods.
• The selling function involves the direct personal contact that
businesses have with their customers. Developing good selling
skills is especially important for selling more expensive apparel
and designer fashions. Sales personnel must be able to
communicate the benefits & features of the items so that
customers are willing to pay higher prices.
Direct Channel
• The path of distribution in
which products are sold by
the producer directly to the
customer.
Indirect Channel
• The path of distribution of
products that involves one
ore more steps, or
intermediaries. For example,
a product moves from the
manufacturer, to the
wholesaler, to the retailer,
and then to the consumer.
• Personal Selling – any form of direct contact
between a salesperson and a customer
• Retail Selling – customers come to the store
• Business-to-business Selling – takes place in a
manufacturer’s or wholesaler’s showroom or a
customer’s place of business
• Telemarketing – selling over the telephone
• National Do Not Call Registry, established
by the FTC in 2003
• Help customers make satisfying buying decisions, which
create ongoing, profitable relationships between
buyer and seller.
• Repeat business is crucial to the success of any
company
• Providing solutions to customers’ problems by finding
products that meet their needs.
• Problem – Customer stands all day on her new job and
her feet hurt.
• Solution – Salesperson suggests shoes designed for
comfort and support.
• Customers don’t buy products – they
buy what products can do for them.
• May be basic, physical, or extended attributes
• The most basic feature is the product’s intended
use
• Additional features add more value to the
product
This car is a bright shade of red.
• The advantages or personal satisfaction a
customer will get from a good or service
• Benefits become selling points
• How does the feature help the product’s
performance?
• How does the performance information give the
customer a personal reason to buy?
This bright red car
will attract the
guys/girls
Our cars are so safe,
we guarantee you
won’t be crushed in a
crash from the side.
• A list of a product’s features and associated benefits.
• What motivates the customer to buy?
• Rational Motive – a conscious, logical reason
for a purchase
• Emotional Motive – feelings such as social
approval, recognition, power, love, or prestige
• Extensive Decision Making – used
when there has been little or no
previous experience with the item
• High risk items
• Very expensive
• High value to the customer
• Limited Decision Making – when a
person buys goods and services that
he or she has purchased before but
not regularly
• Moderate degree of risk
• Person needs some information before
buying the product
• Routine Decision Making – person
needs little information about a
product
• High degree of prior experience
• Little perceived risk
{ Initiating the Sale
Steps of a Sale
Approaching the customer
● Determining needs
● Presenting the product
● Overcoming objections
● Closing the sale
● Suggestion selling
● Relationship building
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Approaching the Customer
The first face-to-face contact
with the customer.
● Can make or break a sale
● Sets the mood or
atmosphere
● Establishes a relationship
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You never get a second
chance to make a first
impression!
The Approach in
Business-to-Business Selling
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Set up an
appointment
Introduce
yourself with a
firm handshake
and a smile.
Be more
personal with
customers you
know.
Use good
opening
statements with
new customers.
The Approach in Retail Selling
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If customer is in a hurry,
approach quickly.
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If customer is undecided, let
them look.
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Encourage customers to look
around and to ask questions.
Methods for the initial approach:
Service Approach Method
Ask if assistance is needed.
● “May I help you?”
● Problem – customer says, “I’m just
looking.”
● Instead, ask “How may I help you?”
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Greeting Approach Method
The salesperson welcomes the customer
“Good morning.”
Establishes a positive atmosphere.
Merchandise Approach Method
Let the customer look around. When they
show interest in a product, the salesperson
makes a comment or asks a question.
The most effective approach because it
gets the customer talking about the
merchandise he/she may be interested in.
If I were an article of clothing
Students will write a 3-5-paragraph essay to complete the
following statement.
“If I were an article of clothing, I would be…”
Included in this essay must be a detailed description of
what the article of clothing looks like, the characteristics of
the article of clothing which are similar to your
characteristics as a person, and how you would spend your
day as this article of clothing. (What would you do? where
would you go?)
Each paragraph must be at least 5 sentences in length.
Include one picture.
If I were an article of clothing, I would be a pair of indigo
sandblast Levi´s Super Low Boot Cut Jeans. I have a flirty lowrise styling in slim-fitting stretch denim with a 32” inseam.
Notice my classic five-pocket styling and button fly. I am made
of the best denim fabric known to mankind, cotton/lycra
spandex. I am machine washable.
I am everyone’s favorite thing to wear and am extremely
versatile since I can be dressed up or down. I promise to always
make you look good. I even make you happy when you feel like
you’ve gained ten pounds. I make you look sexy when you go
on a date. I am a classic. I will never go out of style. My owner
will wear me every week, until the brink of death when I am
faded and my inseam is falling apart.
A day in my life would be spent in Nordstrom’s. A pretty, young
Marketing teacher would spot me from across the store. Yes! I
am her size, but do I fit her? She takes me to the dressing room
for the dreaded trying on process. A perfect fit! She admires me
in the mirror. Or is she admiring herself? Yeah, I make her look
good and she knows it. She doesn’t even take me off. She walks
up to the cashier in the jeans department. All the other jeans are
jealous because she picked me. No one has ever been worn out
of the store before, that is, until now. After she pays for me and
walks away from the cashier, he checks her out. No, wait, he’s
not checking her out, he’s admiring the detailed stitch on my
back pockets. He’s checking me out! Hey, slow down Marketing
teacher. What’s the hurry? If he wants to look, let him. She
stops. Now’s my chance. Hey babe, what’s your name?
Tina Walsh
Lake Taylor HS
Norfolk VA