Fashion marketing : influencing consumer choice and loyalty with fashion products

144 Pages·2015·1.42 MB·English

by  Le Bon

THE BUSINESS Fashion Marketing L Consumer Behavior Collection
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EXPERT PRESS B
Influencing Consumer Choice and O Naresh Malhotra, Editor
DIGITAL LIBRARIES N
Loyalty with Fashion Products
EBOOKS FOR Caroline Le Bon
BUSINESS STUDENTS
Fashion is everywhere! It transcends domains and applies
Curriculum-oriented, born-
to almost any kind of product (e.g., apparel, cars, digital
digital books for advanced
business students, written devices, food, literature, travel, music, house decoration, Fashion
and personal wellness). Fashion greatly influences public
by academic thought
leaders who translate real- interest, media coverage, and product success. The global
world business experience fashion industry is among the most important in terms of Marketing
into course readings and investments, trade, and employment, despite its depen-
reference materials for dence on unpredictable demand.
students expecting to tackle This book focuses on the fashion apparel and accesso-
Influencing
management and leadership ries industry in an attempt to help managers answer the
challenges during their following questions: Why and how do fashion products
professional careers.
appeal to consumers, despite their constantly varying at- Consumer Choice
POLICIES BUILT tributes? What specific elements and benefits of fashion
BY LIBRARIANS influence consumers, and how can companies exploit
• Unlimited simultaneous them and gain from these? Which marketing strategies and Loyalty with
usage and tactics should companies use to increase fashion
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• Unrestricted downloading products’ success while communicating and managing
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and printing customers’ image? How can companies maintain cus- H Fashion Products
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• Perpetual access for a tomer loyalty and generate higher profits with fashion ON
one-time fee products? By undertaking deep analyses of manufactur- M
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ers and retailers’ best practices, interviewing customers R
maintenance fees K
and companies, and reviewing recent academic research E
• Free MARC records T
on fashion marketing, this book answers such questions I
• No license to execute N
and thus helps managers leverage the value that fashion G
The Digital Libraries are a
adds to products while creating loyal customers in truly
comprehensive, cost-effective Caroline Le Bon
competitive fashion markets.
way to deliver practical
treatments of important Caroline Le Bon is Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the
business issues to every University of Houston-Downtown and a Research Asso-
student and faculty member. ciate at the University of Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III,
France. She received a Master’s degree in Retail Manage-
ment, Logistics and Negotiation from the University of
Paris Dauphine; a Master’s of Science in Marketing from
For further information, a
the University of Paris Sorbonne; and a PhD in Marketing
free trial, or to order, contact: 
from the University of Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III. She
[email protected] has 10 years of experience as a fashion buyer in Paris.
www.businessexpertpress.com/librarians Consumer Behavior Collection
Naresh Malhotra, Editor
ISBN: 978-1-60649-904-7
Fashion Marketing

Fashion Marketing
Influencing Consumer Choice
and Loyalty with Fashion Products
Caroline Le Bon
Fashion Marketing: Influencing Consumer Choice and Loyalty
with Fashion Products
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2015.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
First published in 2015 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-904-7 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-905-4 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Consumer Behavior Collection
Collection ISSN: 2163-9477 (print)
Collection ISSN: 2163-937X (electronic)
Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd.,
Chennai, India
First edition: 2015
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.
To my husband Joël and our globetrotters
Clément, Valentine, and Mathilde
To my mother, my first fashion model

Abstract
Fashion is everywhere! It transcends domains and applies to almost any kind
of product (e.g., apparel, cars, digital devices, food, literature, travel, music,
house decoration, and personal wellness). Fashion greatly influences public
interest, media coverage, and product success. In this global industry, many
actors interact, including designers, suppliers, and retailers, who collaborate
to sell apparel and accessories. In addition, the global fashion industry is
among the most important in terms of investments, trade, and employment,
despite its dependence on unpredictable demand.
Thus, fashion companies face a dilemma: On the one hand, they repeat-
edly create ephemeral products that must seduce customers each time;
whereas on the other hand, the products need to provide continual profits.
A key challenge for fashion managers is to design and launch new fashion
products that will achieve success with customers during their very short life
spans, in which setting they also affect consumers’ personal seductiveness,
desire, and appearance. For example, will the long skirt have the same success
than the skinny jean, or will the high heel prevail over the flats? A fashion
dress is more than just a dress—it can change people’s appearance and reveal
consumers’ identity. Consequently, fashion managers are responsible for not
just their product lines but also the self-images they help customers convey.
This book focuses on the fashion apparel and accessories industry in an
attempt to help managers answer the following questions: Why and how do
fashion products appeal to consumers, despite their constantly varying attri-
butes? What specific elements and benefits of fashion influence consumers,
and how can companies exploit them and gain from these? Which marketing
strategies and tactics should companies use to increase fashion products’ suc-
cess while communicating and managing customers’ image? How can com-
panies maintain customers’ loyalty and generate higher profits with fashion
products? By undertaking deep analyses of manufacturers and retailers’ best
practices, interviewing customers and companies, and reviewing recent aca-
demic research on fashion marketing, this book answers such questions and
thus helps managers leverage the value that fashion adds to products while
creating loyal customers in truly competitive fashion markets.
Keywords
customer loyalty, fashion, fashion equity, fashion marketing, social influence,
symbolic influence

Contents
Preface ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi
Acknowledgments ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������xiii
Introduction �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv
Chapter 1 Fashion as the Empire of Seduction ...................................1
Chapter 2 Fashion as a World of Influences ......................................21
Chapter 3 Fashion and Product Variety ............................................29
Chapter 4 Overseeing Cost and Price in Fashion Marketing .............37
Chapter 5 Fashion as a Means of Communication ............................47
Chapter 6 M anaging Channels of Distribution
and Enhancing Fashion’s Impact ......................................67
Chapter 7 Leveraging Fashion Equity, the Absolute Benefit ..............81
Chapter 8 H andling Managers’ Challenges for Successful
Fashion Products ..............................................................91
Conclusion .........................................................................................107
About the Author ................................................................................109
Notes��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������111
References �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������115
Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������121