An Introduction to Fashion Retailing

From Managing to Merchandising

Dimitri Koumbis

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781350098275
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350202832
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Fashion & Textile Industry
• Index: Business

If you're taking your first steps into the fast-paced world of retail, then merchandiser, store designer, retailer and educator Dimitri Koumbis is the ideal guide. In An Introduction to Fashion Retailing, he'll walk you through everything from the history of retail design, to the intricacies of consumer behavior, fast fashion and corporate social responsibility. You'll also learn professional techniques through detailed case studies of international retailers, including LVMH, Estée Lauder and ASOS. This revised edition includes expanded coverage of omnichannel retail approaches, retail KPIs as well as an outline of future retail trends in brick and mortar, e-commerce and technology. There's also a whole new chapter introducing visual merchandising, expanding on the importance of the store's overall design and visual representation of products.

1

What is retailing?

Retailing is a lucrative trade that spans the globe, accounting for much of the international job market in terms of employment and income. For many, the retail industry provides a means of income not only for its stakeholders but also for the communities in which it thrives (think about the tax revenue generated!). Retailers are quick to adapt to consumer needs, ensuring the latest trends are at their disposal. Advances in technology have allowed for a more seamless relationship between consumers and retailer, literally putting retailers and their goods at consumers’ fingertips. From the historic method of bartering goods to contemporary approaches in e-commerce, retail is a rapidly expanding industry that provides consumers with unlimited options for the fashion-forward products they wish to indulge in.

1.1 The sky is the limit

Shoppers have a plethora of shops to choose from within the Pavilion shopping centre, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Large shopping areas like this allow multiple retailers to be housed under one roof, similar to historic department stores discussed in this chapter.

The history of retail

Retail is a relatively young industry that is continually adapting to meet the changes in culture and technology but, even more so, to satisfy consumer demands. The concept of shopping in a physical store for a specific type or genre of goods developed rapidly as nations became more industrialized and mass-produced goods became more readily available.

To better understand contemporary retail environments, it is important to first understand their origin. The retail landscape today is a metropolis compared to the original trading posts that were erected in early civilizations. These trading posts were a means for providing inhabitants with basic necessities such as food, clothing and shelter. During this time, settlers relied on a bartering system, or trading one product for another, whether it be agricultural goods supplied by local farmers or pelts and meats supplied by trappers. This was a simple system, whereby goods acted as the monetary unit for purchasing other goods.

Between the ninth and eighteenth centuries CE, when trade routes began to extend from northern Europe to North Africa and the Middle East, and continued across Asia and down to the Americas, merchants began to better organize their offerings, focusing on a variety of luxury and foreign goods. Merchants would gather international wares along their routes such as clothing, textiles, perfumes, spices and even gold, forming partnerships in these regions, which can be seen as an early onset of the international trade process in place today. Additionally, like the contemporary supply chain, merchants moving product across these routes were often required to pay fees or tolls to transport their product to established markets or cities, whether by land or by sea.

1.2–4 Historic retail

Retailing has continually evolved, from the early shopping arcades in Europe and American trading in the US colonies, to the erection of specialty and department stores, which began to introduce customer service initiatives to draw in patrons. The scenes depicted here show the early years of the retail industry, capturing the beginning of a global industry.

Early Era Retailers

1670	Hudson Bay Company (Canada)
1734	Bennett’s of Irongate (UK)
1786	Galleries de Bois (France)
1834	Harrod’s (UK)
1852	Le Bon Marche (France)
1856	Marshall Fields & Co. (US)
1858	R.H. Macy & Co. (US)
1865	Printemps (France)
1872	Montgomery Ward (US)
1884	Marks and Spencer (UK)
1887	David Jones (Australia)
1895	Sears, Roebuck & Co. (US)
1909	Selfridges (UK)

As consumer’s want for foreign goods began to increase, these trading posts began to compartmentalize like goods to make shopping easier for customers and were referred to as general stores. Eventually, general stores gave way to limited stores, or stores that carried a single classification of goods, such as apparel, shoes and accessories. Today, we refer to limited stores as specialty stores, which are discussed in greater detail later in this chapter. Specialty stores were successful but hardly engaging, especially as technology began to evolve after the Industrial Revolution. This is when shopping became a leisurely pastime, whereby people could see the newest items that these technological advances were able to produce. This also allowed a greater number of finished goods to be sold, which led to competitive pricing and a greater variety of options for consumers. As demand for these products grew, the introduction of the department store became a blessing, allowing patrons to browse and buy.

Today, we discuss contemporary retailing through four distinct eras:

I.Emergence of modern organized retail (1860s–1940s)

II.Marketing- and advertising-driven retail (1940s–1970s)

III.Technology and e-commerce in retail (1980s–2010)

IV.Omnipresence and experience-based retail (2011–present)

The first era was briefly discussed earlier and stems from the Industrial Revolution and the mass production of goods for consumers who were continually demanding them. There was limited and non-cohesive marketing and advertising at this time and brands typically offered single-product categories. It was during this era that mail order was introduced in order to maximize sales in small, rural communities. Urbanization fostered the development of high streets (main streets) making it easier for patrons to shop product at fixed prices.

During the second era, brands began using marketing and advertising to help differentiate themselves (and their goods) from competitors. The introduction of the television, coupled with radio and print allowed retailers to create demand for their product, using human emotion as a motive to capture consumers. At this time, we see a great expansion of retail into rural areas, along with the introduction of both big-box (US) and hypermarket (Europe) retailers such as Carrefour, Walmart and Tesco.

In the third era, technology in retail becomes more prominent, with many brands having both physical and digital touchpoints for shopping. Even before online purchasing comes into play, retailers are using technology to better understand consumer purchasing patterns and to create overall supply chain efficiency. Consumer-driven production takes over as brands begin looking to their shoppers to determine what to make.

Lastly, we move into the fourth era, where digital and analogue retailing are no longer separated by the idea of touchpoints but work cohesively together in an omnipresent capacity (more on this at the end of this chapter). Retailers now look to give their customers the total shopping experience both on- and offline, capitalizing on their personal social currency to help market and drive their brands and products. Customers are purchasing from brands who align with their own advocacy and shying away from those who don’t. This consumer-driven era is still unfolding, surely to bring more remarkable advances in retailing as it does.

‘When this business was founded, it sought to win public confidence through service, for it was my conviction then, as it is now, that nothing else than right service to the public results in mutual understanding and satisfaction between customer and merchant. It was for this reason that our business was founded upon the eternal principle of the Golden Rule.’

– James Cash Penney, on his first general stores, Golden Rule Store, c. 1900s

Understanding the difference between retailing and the retailer

It is a common assumption that retailers sell a specific product type, but it is important to know that a retailer is a business that sells both goods and services to the consumer for personal use. While products such as fashion apparel and accessories, home hard and soft goods and electronics are often what we identify as that which the vast majority of retailers provide, to better understand the term it helps to acknowledge the other products and services offered.

For instance, dentists sell their services, providing patients with dental exams, cleanings and x-rays. These are not tangible items you put in a bag and take home, per se, but are a retail service provided for personal need. After a stressful school term, you are excited to utilize a gift card for a massage that your family gave you. You see the massage th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 What is retailing?
• 2 Retail consumer markets
• 3 Retail corporate offices
• 4 Store management
• 5 Visual merchandising and store design
• 6 Trends in retailing
• Conclusion
• Case study websites
• Glossary
• Industry resources
• Bibliography
• Index
• Acknowledgements
• eCopyright