Based on the previously published series of articles “Why Garment Factories Should Enter the Retail Business – Part 1”, the fear and concern of manufacturers and suppliers in the face of changes in the general environment are analyzed and discussed. Next, in the second part, author Emma Birnbaum proposes two retail models that help enhance and redefine the direction of its operations.
I propose two different retail models, but they are by no means mutually exclusive and have proven to be feasible and successful. First, develop e-commerce brands or other brands. Second, use personal brand identity to promote and market products using brand labels.
Developing brands with own factories and direct-to-consumer
Inditex Group, the parent company of Zara, is the most high-profile example of this strategy. Inditex has always been ranked among the top three apparel companies in the world. The company has the ability to successfully integrate consumer demand and supply.
However, the question is not whether it is feasible to establish a factory brand, but to derive the most effective design blueprint for your operation.
As for the origin of the Zara brand, founder Amancio Ortega was in a dilemma when his customer refused to pay the order. But Ortega is a shrewd businessman, and he changed his strategy and decided to sell goods directly to consumers. After the goods were sold out, Ortega decided to switch to retail and began to reconfigure the supply chain to improve operational efficiency and agility.
To achieve its goals, Ortega approached the head of the information engineering department at a local university to establish a fully integrated data platform to promote transparent communication and communication throughout the company’s entire supply chain. The purpose of message exchange. This local technological foundation not only contributes to the group’s global expansion, but also makes Zara the only company to effectively shift from physical sales to a dual-track business of physical and online.
◎There is definitely room for substantial growth for other players, as long as you don’t get confused by leveraging differentiation to optimize yourself. In the current market, you can only win if you are unique.
Please take a moment to check out Zara’s website, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. The content on Zara’s website is superb, consistent, cohesive, pleasing to the eye, and most importantly, information can be accessed and delivered appropriately through multiple channels.
When viewing these links, keep in mind that this global giant was once a little-known little factory in Spain that was nearly driven out of business by dishonest customers.
Although Inditex does have flaws, it has consistently provided products that consumers are satisfied with because it can deeply implement the foundation of transparent management and build technological infrastructure. , to drive business growth and respond to changing markets.
However, Inditex’s supply chain is only half of this success story. The other half comes from companies being good at identifying consumer behavior and delivering products and shopping experiences consistently. Zara’s greatest success lies in producing a series of popular products of moderate quality and reasonable prices for the target group between the ages of 20 and 40. (In this case, I ignore the teen centerline of the Teacher Report Form (TRF)). The term “Trend” rather than “Fashion” is the key to Zara’s brand identity. Rather than creating fashion, it is editing trends that have been created by outside designers and styled through “influencers.”
Zara selects the designs it believes are the most desired by consumers, whether it’s punk rock or playboy-inspired styles. So there is no Zara image or ZaraItGirl. As long as you become a clear customer group, no matter who you are, anyone can wear Zara products without being identified as a Zara consumer.
Don’t forget, however, that Zara’s success is not that everyone wants to be a “hipster,” but that there is no other fashion-centric store in its price range The company consistently delivers products that meet consumer needs. There’s definitely room for real growth for other fashion players, as long as you don’t get bogged down in using differentiation to optimize yourself. In the current market, you can only win if you are unique.
◎Brand Identity
The most critical element of brand development today is to establish a new and cohesive Values, also known as “Brand Identity”. No matter how good you are at the design, production and distribution levels, if you don’t have a clearly defined, authentic image, you won’t be successful. Reject the one-size-fits-all model of the 1980s and 1990s and embrace niches with clearly defined values.
Personal beliefs will always resonate more than manufactured recognition. If you believe in Islam, why not produce leather products from animals that are fed a natural diet and humanely slaughtered, as mentioned in the People of the Book?
If you or your family are very concerned about environmental issues, why don’t you focus on waterless production or zero carbon footprint?�.
It is clear that influencers have considerable influence on the purchase of most consumer products; however, they remain a largely untapped resource for factories and suppliers. These entities may benefit the most from partnerships.
The power of influencers is now everywhere and continues to grow. Their ability to reach people and self-select global audiences has grown beyond the ability of retailers to conquer markets. The advocates behind every influencer have a supportive fan base. The result is a network of exponentially growing potential customers, each of whom becomes a part of the community’s culture, driven by the sharing of information and opinions, likes and dislikes. Basically, speed is transmitted through oral communication.
The booking value of influencers lies in their potential to displace traditional customers.
Unlike traditional brands, which find it difficult to break down their value beyond net profit, gross profit and market value, influencers are able to provide standardized messaging that demonstrates their value and reliability because data collection is built into social media and website platforms.
Such as independent affiliate links to measure influencer-driven traffic to a given website, social listening (Sociallistening) and/or data search to measure awareness, Cookietracking web tracker for measuring blog content and conversion metrics for determining how many views are converted into sales. One of the biggest advantages of this automated data analysis is the ability to test the market, especially before entering into a more long-term partnership.
◎New Enterprise
Both models outlined above require the same internal setup and establishment Three key positions: concept designer, social media expert, and developer. Integrating these three roles into your business system will help you change your business model.
Becoming a designer, businessman and brand can help diversify your sources of profit. An in-house design team with a deep understanding of automated production can serve as a design consultancy. An in-house social media team with embedded knowledge of consumer data and automated supply and demand systems can serve as a social strategist for the fashion industry.
Procurement and manufacturing are no longer enough to drive the growth of companies and industries. They certainly don’t have the capacity to economically reshor production in the Western world. However, expanding factory functionality to a service-oriented model will pave the way for dynamic scalability and replicability.
But perhaps most importantly, closing the gap between retail and production will allow manufacturers to work more efficiently, increase control, and capture greater proportions profit.
