First of all, Ted Baker is operating on the fashion retailing market, which we are going to study, with particular attention to United Kingdom, where the company started. In this report, we will be mainly concerned with women swear retailing which is currently the most important part of the fashion industry and is still increasing: women swear expenditure has increased by 27.4% between 2000 and 2005 , will increase by 20.6% by 2005-20101 (forecast) and will account for 53.5% of total clothing market expenditure in 20101 (forecast). Nevertheless, expenditure on clothing is threatened by increasing expenditure on leisure, travel and financial services, but it can reveal new opportunities in the clothing market: for example participation in sports has increased over the long term and it has undoubtedly allowed sportswear clothing retailers to develop. However, space and new stores openings have been driving growth for many retailers3, which lead to a potential danger of saturating the market with too many offers or even to be in competition with yourself or other stores of your brand (cannibalisation of sales, already observable for Inditex brands).
[...] Thus, it seems that the target market of Ted Baker is of the one where this kind of service can be a great competitive advantage: its consumers are of the ones looking for exclusivity and this includes service. Furthermore, Ted Baker positions itself onto a designer market by its stores designs, prices and quality of the offer, and most designer stores propose very personal service to their customers so that they could feel special, which is something Ted Baker wishes its customers to feel[30]. [...]
[...] For an explication of this choice and an analysis of the market for personal shopping service see appendix H 1 - Target customers The customers targeted by this project are the mid-20s to mid-30s ones, working, and who have little spare time to go shopping: these ones need the shopping time to be short and efficient in that they do not have any time to loose. It can also be the ones who do not really know about how to dress and need advises to dress accordingly to their style and the trends: it can be people changing careers, people who do not care about fashion or the ones who simply do not know what to do with it. [...]
[...] Thus, they but can just be based on humour, which attracts a lot of people, who often do not even know it is Ted Baker at the beginning. A good example can be the “Story of why the chicken crossed the road” teasing they made[24], showing a whole succession of black and white comics about a chicken's life, which was just fun and without any link with the company. Obviously, this kind of marketing attracts younger people who are looking for something different, and is also a good way to differentiate itself from any other brand, and to increase awareness and get a positive brand- image. [...]
[...] Much Better About the Not so Not nearly better same good so good Fashionability Choice Quality Price / Value for money Service Store layout / easy to shop in Atmosphere What would make you buy more at Ted Baker? Cheaper prices More trendy outfits Tailored range A leisure range A sportswear range A maternity range More choice More sizes Store easier to find / to shop in A personal shopping service/shopping assistant service Other: . If you could buy your clothing at nay fashion retailer, regardless of price or location, what store would it be? [...]
[...] To conclude on this analysis, we can say that clothes retailing market is difficult to enter except for low cost retailers, who do not need brand recognition (people care less about brands if garments are cheap), and who can compete with the existing retailers. Substitutes are not a threat in itself in that nothing can replace clothes, but a lot of products can give the consumer the same satisfaction. Buyers have a very strong power over retailers in that they can decide of its success, and suppliers, by their number and because of the very low specificity of the products, do not have a strong negotiation power and often need to accept the retailer's conditions. [...]
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