Fashion Buying
Introduction
This assignment compares and contrasts the roles, responsibilities and issues faced by UK based retail buyers when purchasing branded versus own branded fashion goods. It draws on examples from retailers, trade press and academic sources.
Fashion retailers are an important sector of the fashion industry, and are the link between fashion products and consumers. These retailers have power over the industry and are able to set trends. Over the past few years, retail own-labels have been leading the fashion industry. This has increased the power and important of the fashion buyer’s role. An understanding of the fashion environment – suppliers, wholesales, designers, marketers – is crucial for fashion buyers.
Branded and Own-branded
According to the American Marketing Association, the definition of a brand is:
“A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.” (Marketing Power, 2011)
Own-labels or own-brands refer to the products/services manufactured and sold under the retailer’s brand name. These are sold exclusively at the retail organisation’s outlets. These brands are very powerful and are more commonly known than manufacturer brands. Manufacturer brands refer to products/services that are given a brand name by the company that produces it. However, this is usually not the case in the fashion industry, as many retailers source suppliers and manufacturers from low cost countries (such as, in the Far East) to manufacture the goods for them. For example, Nike does not manufacture a majority of its products. The company has switched from being a manufacturing to a marketing company that focuses on the marketing of its brand. The diagram below illustrates the difference between the branded and own-branded products in relation to retailers. (Clifton, 2009)
Retailer
Brand
This assignment compares and contrasts the roles, responsibilities and issues faced by UK based retail buyers when purchasing branded versus own branded fashion goods. It draws on examples from retailers, trade press and academic sources.
Fashion retailers are an important sector of the fashion industry, and are the link between fashion products and consumers. These retailers have power over the industry and are able to set trends. Over the past few years, retail own-labels have been leading the fashion industry. This has increased the power and important of the fashion buyer’s role. An understanding of the fashion environment – suppliers, wholesales, designers, marketers – is crucial for fashion buyers.
Branded and Own-branded
According to the American Marketing Association, the definition of a brand is:
“A name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller.” (Marketing Power, 2011)
Own-labels or own-brands refer to the products/services manufactured and sold under the retailer’s brand name. These are sold exclusively at the retail organisation’s outlets. These brands are very powerful and are more commonly known than manufacturer brands. Manufacturer brands refer to products/services that are given a brand name by the company that produces it. However, this is usually not the case in the fashion industry, as many retailers source suppliers and manufacturers from low cost countries (such as, in the Far East) to manufacture the goods for them. For example, Nike does not manufacture a majority of its products. The company has switched from being a manufacturing to a marketing company that focuses on the marketing of its brand. The diagram below illustrates the difference between the branded and own-branded products in relation to retailers. (Clifton, 2009)
Retailer
Brand
References: * Clifton, R. (2009) Brands and Branding, USA: The Economist Newspaper Ltd. * Goworek, H. (2006) Careers in Fashion and Textiles, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. * Goworek, H. (2007) Fashion Buying, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. * Jackson, T. and Shaw, D. (2006) The Fashion Handbook, Oxon: Routledge. * Kincade, D & Gibson, F. (2010) Merchandising of Fashion Products, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. * Tokatli N. et al (2008) ‘Shifting global supply networks & fast fashion: made in Turkey for M&S, Global Networks, 8(3):-280 * “Marketing Power”, retrieved on 02/05/2011 from, http://www.marketingpower.com/_layouts/Dictionary.aspx?dLetter=B