Country Road Research Report
Executive Summary
Today, with technology integrated into our everyday lives, the fashion industry has been affected by it as consumers are much more informed about global brands and competition has increased tremendously. Customer loyalty seems to diminish and retailers have to use innovative technology to keep the consumers attracted. Social media, online retailing and visual merchandising are being increasingly integrated to enhance consumer experience and help the make better decision making for fashion products.
Country Road, a fashion store in Australia, is considering integrating social media, online retailing and visual merchandising. In this report, the trends of such technology are investigated, its impact on the market, and its future trends. The researcher has used primary and secondary research methods to do so. Primary research was conducted using interview method by interviewing five subjects. It was found that there is a growing trend for the technology and in the future it will be essential for the fashion industry to have visual merchandising integrated with social media and online retailing to keep up with competition and stay connected with the consumers. Recommendations like improve product presentation use of social media and online retailing, in-store visual merchandising, and evaluation were suggested for the firm. Such steps would help the firm attain, competitive edge in the fashion clothing market.
Introduction
The report is on Country Road, a clothing firm in Australia. The research intends to explore the viability for employing visual merchandizing in relation to social media and online retailing as its next marketing strategy.
Purpose
Country Road is a retail store in Australia primarily selling clothing to the Australian market. However, today the market has saturated and the firm needs to expand into new markets. Even online retailing has become competitive and marketers need to use innovative technology to gain the competitive edge. The global market is at the retailer’s disposal and the opportunity to reach out can be availed using online retailing, social media and visual merchandising. Such marketing will not only increase the customer base from the global market but will also help in increasing the local market as more local customer can see the brand on social media. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of such marketing need to be explored before the firm decides to implement such technological based marketing activities.
Aim
The report aims to investigate how online retailing, social media and visual merchandizing are related and how useful visual merchandizing can be in today’s competitive market (Jiang, 2007,pp.454-470). The report will help in assessing the advantages and disadvantages and will enable firms like Country Road to see whether such media will be beneficial for their firm or not. The result analysis will facilitate the decision to execute such marketing and promotion or to invest into some other more advantageous mode of promotion.
Objectives of the research
1.3.1 identify the current trends in social media, online retailing and visual merchandizing.
1.3.2 analysing the aspects of consumer behaviour that social media and online retailing facilitate and impact of the use of social media and online retailing on visual merchandising
1.3.3 Evaluating the extent of effect social media/online retailing can and will have on visual merchandizing
Methodology used
The objectives will be achieved using primary and secondary research method to investigate the issues addressed. The primary data will be collected using interview method while the secondary data will be collected from books, journals, articles and the Internet.
Chapter 2- Methodology
The term methodology refers to frameworks using specific methods in an attempt to explore a particular area of study. It is an academic skeleton, which facilitates with guidelines that a researcher may use for the practical research and analysis.
The research philosophy as stated by Saunders et al. (2007), that there are five main categories in the research onion. The philosophy, approaches, strategies, time horizons and the data collection methods employed. The philosophy applied in this research was the interpretivism where attempt was made to understand the different human behavior and the reasoning for their behavior. The reason why there was a change in the media used for marketing was analyzed under this philosophy. The author employed interpretivist perspective where the different responses of the respondents were collected and interpreted. In an attempt to collect information about Country Road, both primary and secondary research methods were used and the information so collected was understood using the interpretive method. In this research, inductive approach was used for the study. According to Maylor et al. (2005) a theory is developed after the data is collected. The research strategy that was used in the research was the exploratory research method where the interview method was employed to conduct the research question. Thus a qualitative data collection method was used. Qualitative data is the information collected using the procedure of conducting research where data is collected and studied using open or closed ended questions posed to the subjects. In this research, interview method was used to collect the data. It took ten days to execute the interviews. 5 subjects were interviewed out of which 3 were Country Road employees and 2 were marketing executives from various firms. Some subjects were interviewed face to face while the others on telephone. The interview had approximately 8 questions and the responses were recorded on tape or manually.
Secondary data is information previously collected by some other researcher. In this research secondary data was also collected using journals, books, magazines and the Internet.
Limitations and problems faced
There was time and monetary constraints thus many subjects could not be interviewed. Thus the results may not be applicable for other firms of the industry. There were times when the subjects were not available for the interview and thus a lot of time was wasted.
Chapter 3-Findings
This chapter highlights the findings and then discusses these findings in the light of the literature review.
Objective 1- identify the current trends in social media, online retailing and visual merchandizing.
The first objective is set to make the link between social media, online retailing and visual merchandising by showing the current trends that are in the marketing industry to use all these to enhance brand presence and facilitate shopping for customers. To brands are uplifting the visual in-store familiarity and reaching out to the brand via phones and I-pads etc. technology can easily be incorporated in the window displays of in-stores. According to a subject:
Fashion clothing requires high street retail outlets, as customers need to experience the products. Thus today, visual merchandising is incorporating social media and online retailing within stores to make the experience of shoppers better and worthwhile. Visual merchandising makes the customer’s visit more interesting and informative regarding the product he is looking for. QR codes are becoming a rage and enhance the shopping experience”.
According to Jiyoung and Ko (2010, pp. 164-171), social media has become an important part of everyday life and has been incorporated into the shopping style of the consumer. Consumers coming into the stores expect better and closer interaction with the products and this is what visual merchandising incorporated with technology does. Social media like Facebook and Twitter and interested with visual mechanizing within the store to enhance the customer’s experience (Suh, and Lee, 2005, pp. 673-697). By 2020, it is expected that visual merchandising will be completely incorporated with technology. However, Jiang, (2007,pp.454-470) is of the opinion that in the fashion industry, customers prefer in-store shopping to online stores, thus they will always come to the stores. Visual merchandising will make products much more attractive and may even serve as a competitive edge in the future.
Objective 2- Analyzing the aspects of consumer behavior that social media and online retailing facilitate and impact of the use of social media and online retailing on visual merchandising
Fast paced changes in the technological environment have dramatically influenced how consumers react to different products and brands. This objective aims to observe how social media and online retailing affects the consumer behavior patterns and decision-making. In addition, the impact of social media and online retailing on visual merchandising will be observed.
According to a subject: “with changes in the technology, changes have taken place in the way consumers shop, the media they choose to shop, they have become more informed and are knowledgeable about the various brands and products available to them not even in the local market but also globally. This makes it more challenging for the retailers and they have to use innovative marketing to attract these consumers. Visual marketing is a good way of doing that and engaging customers through social media while they are in the store is a good way of doing so”.
According to McCormick and Livett, (2012), consumer behavior is strongly affected by the media available and since it is easily accessible from their technological gadgets, it becomes more challenging for retailers. Social media, online retailing and visual merchandizing have surely impacted the consumers and in turn affect their brand loyalty and how they engage with their brands. However, Jiyoung and Ko (2010, pp. 164-171) point out that though apparently the social media and online retailing has impacted the consumer shopping trends, sufficient research has still not been conducted to show the amount of impact it causes and there is still more room for research and investigation within this realm (Li and Daugherty, 2003,pp.395-407).
Objective – Evaluating the extent of effect social media/online retailing can and will have on visual merchandizing
The aim of this objective is to estimate the amount of impact it has correctly had and how much of impact it will have in the future on the way consumers behave when making purchases after their experience with visual merchandizing.
According to observations of the interview, the respondent said that this is a growing trend no doubt and consumers are becoming technologically savvy but for certain purchases the consumers need to have traditional modes of shopping like in-store shopping. But how much it has impacted and what will the impact in the future going to be is difficult to assess. This may be because consumers may be put off by too much technology and may prefer interaction with humans for shopping of fashion clothing. They do need to try out clothes and need to talk to store attendants so that they may get one to one advise. Thus although it impacts the way consumers now behave but how this turns out in the future is difficult to assess.
In addition, as Khakimdjanova and Jihye (2005, pp. 307-318) point out, there have not been sufficient researches available to monitor the affects on consumer behavior, as it is difficult to do so. It is certain that the traditional shopping will soon become obsolete and new methods of promotion and attracting consumers will be available as technology progresses. However, Li and Daugherty (2003,pp.395-407) point put that how these are incorporated within the marketing plans of the clothing industry depends on how well and successful visual merchandizing and social/online retailing becomes today.
Discussion
It is apparent from the data collected that the consumer behaviour has changed since the inception of social media/online retailing and its integration with visual merchandising. This is because the products become more attractive to the consumers. The literature review support the findings of the research data collected and both the primary and secondary research infer that the trends have changed and in the future consumers will see more of visual merchandising incorporated with social media and online stores. Evidence in the data reveal that the fashion industry has accepted that there will be changes in the way consumers behave and how they are influenced with the marketing tools around them. According to McCormick and Livett (2012), consumers are becoming more aware of the global environment and thus it is becoming much more difficult to attain their loyalty. Thus social media and online retailing are becoming an important part in consumer shopping in the fashion industry and thus as a respondent says: “today every consumer has a mobile devise and marketing through it has become even more easy. The consumers are busy and are short of time and when they enter the store, they should be attended and if not then they should be entertained enough with product and brand information to keep them attracted within the store. This is where social marketing and visual merchandising comes in. Jiang and Benbasat (2005, pp.111-148) explains that by connecting the Facebook and twitter to the visual merchandising, the consumers can be kept engaged and such interactive marketing is highly appreciated by the consumers of today’. As the literature supports, such marketing is highly effective in terms of increased consumers (McCormick and Livett, 2012). Nevertheless as a respondent mentions: “social media has changed the entire face of shopping for the consumers. Plus the Internet has added to it. All marketing efforts have to be tailored as per the changing needs of the consumers and the technological changes and so do the visual merchandising.” such responses reveal that there is going to be more change in the marketing arena and the way promotion is done as supported by (McCormick and Livett, 2012). Social media and online retailing affect the visual merchandising and thus the future will have various innovative methods for promoting fashion products in store (Jiyoung and Ko, 2010, pp. 164-171). According to the results, the future is promising at it seems from the results that there will be a lot of integrated social media, online retailing and visual merchandising. As per the results, it is still not clear what type of visual merchandising is appropriate for what products and which type of visual merchandising will work better for clothing in the Australian market. As per (Suh, and Lee, 2005, pp. 673-697) since sufficient research has not been conducted in this area, not much can be said about this.
Chapter 4-Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion
Today, technology plays a pivotal role in a consumer’s life and the shopping experience as a whole has become very technologically dependent. Consumers in the fashion industry have become informed and thus they have a vast market open to them via the Internet from which they can shop. Thus competition has increased in the local fashion industry and Country Road has to pull up and start incorporating technology into its marketing strategy so that they can attain more consumers and retain the existing ones. The retailer has to be in line with the consumers of today and reach out to them in ways that will keep them attracted and connected with the brand. Not being able to do so may ultimately result in the reduction of brand loyalty and consumers may be disinterested in Country Road and may switch to other brands that employ innovative means with the help of social media and online retailing to keep connected to the consumers. Since today’s consumers are different. They like interaction with the brands and thus being connected with the products even when they enter the store is a good way of keep them engaged and the key is to keep them so engaged that they do not think if going to another brand. However, it is not known which type of visual merchandising will work for clothing in Country Road, as there has not been sufficient research in this realm. There seems to be a risk factor involved here for the firm, which it apparently has to take. However, the result suggests that the future trend of marketing and promotion is surely through innovative marketing tools used in conjunction with technology. This is possible with the help of social marketing, online retailing and incorporating it with visual merchandising in store. Since research has not proved its effects effectively, Country Road has to take a substantial amount of risk to have an edge over the competitors and pierce through the consumers to retain their brand loyalty. However, since the results are still not sure of such marketing, the firm is exposed to chances of risk as this type of marketing investment may not work as expected and the firm may lose out. Nevertheless the pros outweigh the cons, as there is a chance for the firm to attain a competitive edge. A lot also depends on how the firm approaches its consumers and whom it approaches. Simultaneously, it also has to coordinate its marketing efforts elsewhere like TV commercials, online presence, social media etc with its in-store merchandising to have an overall effect.
