Author Profile

Dr. Stephen Alexander is a teacher, researcher, and business leader with over 30 year’s experience in brand management, retailing, and marketing across higher education and the global fashion industry. He is a Reader in Fashion Retailing and Marketing and Research Lead at the Fashion Business School, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. His research explores multi-sensory fashion retailing, customer experiences across digital and physical channels, innovative and responsible retail formats, and emerging retail technologies. His work is widely published across fashion, marketing, and business disciplines. Known for his academic leadership and commitment to pedagogic excellence, Alexander has led transformational curriculum development, fostered vibrant research communities, and built lasting collaborations with industry and academic partners around the world. She integrates her extensive industry background in brand strategy, business leadership, and people performance into her teaching and scholarship. Stephen holds a PhD in Fashion Omnichannel Retailing and Customer Experience, M.Sc (Distinction), B.Sc (First class) in Fashion Management and Marketing, and, PG Certicate in Teaching & Learning for Higher Education. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, Regional Editor for Bloomsbury Fashion Business Cases, and an inaugural member of the Designing Retail and Services Futures Special Interest Group (Design Research Society).

About The Book

Throughout modern history, retailers have opened their doors to consumers, providing them with goods and services that satisfy both rational and emotional needs. They do this by evoking a customer's sensory system, to create memorable experiences that will entice shoppers to visit again and again. Starting with a brief overview of the history of retail, market research, site selection and retail typology are then discussed. The differences between onsite and off-site retailing are distinguished; and multi-channel approaches that have been used in retail test markets as a means to cost-effective growth within the industry are explored, with specific reference to how technology has created a new formula within a stagnant model. Fashion Retailing further explores back-of-house functions, such as human resources (hiring, payroll, job descriptions and salaries) and loss prevention from a management standpoint. Front-of-house functions, including merchandising (product analysis, fixturing, fixture sales tracking), visual merchandising (seasonal displays, windows, mannequins), circulation patterns and the relationship between the merchandising and management teams in driving overall sales and brand image, are explored across different retailers. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of how the retail model operates in an effort to continually capture the ever-changing market, as well as an insight into corporate social responsibility (CSR) and brand sustainability. This book explores the history and evolution of modern retailing, covering topics such as market research, site selection, and retail typology.

Table of Contents

Preface
1.
INTRODUCTION TO FASHION RETAILING..........................................1
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Retailing: From Consumption to Consumerism
1.3 The Changing Players in the Retail Market
1.4 Studying Retailing
1.5 Retail Marketing
1.6 Role of Fashion Marketers
2.
FASHION, BUSINESS AND PRODUCT..................................................25
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Fashion Business – A Paradox?
2.3 The Role of Product Within A Fashion Business
2.4 Balanced Product Ranges
2.5 Balanced Budgets
2.6 Working Together – Buying and Merchandising
2.7 The Concept-To-Carrier Bag Model
2.8 An Introduction to the Buyer and Merchandiser Roles
2.9 Summary
3.
FASHION PRODUCT MARKETING & MERCHANDISING.................47
3.1 Fashion Product Industries
3.2 Fashion Marketing and Merchandising
3.3 Fashion Product Business
3.4 Conclusions
4.
ORGANIZING BUYING AND MERCHANDISING................................64
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Value Chain
4.3 The Structure of Buying and Merchandising
4.4 Assistant Buyer
4.5 Buying Administration Assistant (BAA)
4.6 Assistant Merchandiser
4.7 Allocator
4.8 Reorganizing the B&M Structure
4.9 The Buyer and Their Key Contacts
4.10 The Merchandiser and Their Key Contacts
4.11 Meeting Schedules – How B&M
Work With Other Activities in the Value Chain
4.12 Summary
5.
FASHION RETAILING: EVOLUTION, CHANNELS, AND TECHNOLOGIES ......................................................................................89
5.1 Introduction to Fashion Retailing
5.2 The Structure of Global Fashion Retail Markets
5.3 Retail Marketing and Marcomms Mix
5.4 Retail Marketing Mix
5.5 The Marcomms Mix
6.
PEST ANALYSIS OF FASHION RETAILING .......................................126
6.1 Socio-Cultural
6.2 Technological
6.3 Porter’s Five Forces in the Era of Mobile Communication
6.4 The Bargaining Power of Buyers
6.5 The Bargaining Power of Suppliers
6.6 The Intensity of Competitive Rivalry
6.7 The Threat of Substitute Products Or Services
6.8 Emergence of Omni-Channel Retailing
6.9 Omni-Channel Development
6.10 Towards A Definition of Omni-Channel Retailing
7.
PROFILING THE MODERN DAY
MULTICHANNEL CONSUMER ............................................................161
7.1 Channel Switching
7.2 Researching Online
7.3 Browsing
7.4 Multi-Device Ownership
7.5 Channel Adoption
7.6 Fashion Retailing Initiatives
7.7 Digital Visualisation of Fashion
7.8 Omni-Channel Initiatives
7.9 Conclusion
8.
FASHION MARKETING RESEARCH ..................................................194
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The Purpose of Marketing Research
8.3 An Overview of the Marketing Research Process
8.4 Problem Definition and Setting Research Objectives
8.5 Research Design
8.6 Data Sources
8.7 Practical Sampling Methods
8.8 Primary Data Collection Methods
8.9 Data Collection Methods
8.10 Questionnaire Design
8.11 Attitude Measurement and Rating Scales
8.12 The Role of Marketing Research in New Product Development
8.13 Forecasting Fashion
8.14 The Internet As A Research Tool
8.15 International Marketing Research
8.16 Summary
9.
THE FASHION MARKET AND THE
MARKETING ENVIRONMENT .............................................................223
9.1 Introduction
9.2 The Development of the Fashion Market
9.3 The Fashion Market: Size and Structure
9.4 Marketing Environment
9.5 Micro-Marketing Environment
9.6 Macro-Marketing Environment
9.7 Trends in the Marketing Environment
9.8 Summary
10.
FAST FASHION IN A
FLAT WORLD: GLOBAL SOURCING STRATEGIES..........................263
10.1 Introduction
10.2 A Model For Understanding Sourcing Methods
10.3 Zara’s Method
10.4 Kohl’s Method
10.5 Conclusions
Bibliography...............................................................................................276
Index...........................................................................................................299