Key Changes in UK Fashion Clothing Market: Primark Strategies

This report analyzes the key changes in the UK fashion clothing market and the strategies adopted by Primark to respond to these changes. It covers customer taste and preferences, customer engagement, trends in shopping on social media, and more. The report also discusses Primark's pricing strategy, maintaining product quality, creating a brand image, supply chain management, effective communication, and window display skills.

B09919
CASE
STUDY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Identification of key relevant changes in UK fashion clothing market...........................................3
1. Change in customer taste and preferences:...........................................................................4
2. Customer engagement:.........................................................................................................4
3. Change in exhibitions for sale:.............................................................................................5
4. Trends in shopping on social media:....................................................................................5
5. Instant fashion recognition:..................................................................................................5
6. Importance of fashion show:................................................................................................5
7. Physical versus fashion:........................................................................................................5
8. Sales centric to brand centric:...............................................................................................6
Strategies and tactics used by Primark to respond major changes in fashion clothing market.......7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
This report is based on research on recent trends in UK fashion clothing market. It
will cover identification of key changes in UK fashion industry. The selected
fashion retail company for research is Primark which is an international retailer
firm offers latest fashion, beauty and homeware products at best prices. It was
established in 1969 and operates more than 370 stores all over the world. This
report will provide analysis on Identification of driving factors of clothing
industry, exploration of people preference and taste, understanding the consumer
behavior and customer opinion on shopping at retail shop. The competitor taken
for chosen company is Asda. Second half of this report will discuss the
suggestions and strategies adopted by Primark to overcome major changes happen
in UK based fashion industry.
The UK clothing market is expected to cross £46.3bn at the end of 2020; the
growth rate taken is 10.4% between 2020 and 2024. Inflation rate continues boost
fashion market but experiences decline quantity sale in 2019. It is expected that
Primark will overcome this deficiency over 5 year’s period of time.
Identification of key relevant changes in UK fashion clothing
market
UK fashion clothing industry is big industry all over the world; from retail outlet
to online shaping takes many decades. Now purchasing is not only the process of
buying goods and services physically from shop, mall or show rooms; moreover
customers start preferring online shopping in these busy routine work
requirement. Online shopping is become emerging market where small marketers
get equal expose and opportunities as like big retailers. Increasing traffic over
online platform also raises competition between various small and large
enterprises (Lo, Yeung and Cheng, 2012). The battle is for providing best
customized product at convenient prizes. But latest reports say that still in

clothing industry; fashion aspirants popular brand clothes to showcase others.
Fashion raises the attitude of showcasing personal attire to others and brand ranks
number one which provides extra value and uniqueness to product (Bakewell,
Mitchell and Rothwell, 2006). Some of the important key relevant changes in UK
fashion market are discussed below:
1. Change in customer taste and preferences:
After researching past trend it was found that customer’s tastes and
preferences has taken several variations especially in fashion industry of UK.
Fashion clothing market is one of the most rapid change industries as
compare to other sectors such as automobiles, cosmetic, real states, education
and construction. These rapid changes occur due demand by customers. The
main reason behind this is meant to be Hollywood stars and idol models. Last
year sales of Asda and Primark shows that every week customers demand for
new design in clothing and more 80% customers showed positive response
towards latest product launch in the market. This creates competition between
clothing sector to do research and launch latest product in the market. Past
trends of customer preferences show that in 2011 only 15% customers
showed positive response but in 2019 end more than 80% client’s shows
positive attitude over change in design fashion and pattern (Hines and Bruce,
2007).
2. Customer engagement:
Retailers always gives priority to customer engagement; recent trend analyses
reveals that marketers makes strategies to find ways on the basis of
information, convenience and entertainment to benefit customers for their
engagement with company. Competition has increased where innovative
ideas and innovations in product make it difficult for retailers to work with
old tactics. Analyses on expenditure on customer preference research by
marketers shows that spending by retailers grows by 15% every year but in
2017 48.9% growth in this expenditure has been noticed (Brooks, 2019).

3. Change in exhibitions for sale:
Previously sales exhibition were in the form of only physical availability of
store and museum show operated by anchors and speakers but innovative idea
has changed these way; now latest magazines and novel books are filled with
attractive colorful design of latest clothes on role model impress the
customers to press towards purchasing particular product (Easey, 2009).
4. Trends in shopping on social media:
Recent trend analysis shows that online marketing and shopping also changed
during year. Especially data reveals that Primark product selling on social
media cost through commissions has risen from 3% to 20%. Social media
superstar’s payment also rose from $15,000 to $60,000 dollar per campaign.
Now company started appointing brand ambassadors for product promotions;
in upcoming years these brand promoters will be offered some shares in the
company for value created by them.
5. Instant fashion recognition:
Street fashion is now getting more importance than retail shops as new
technology has pioneered photography skills to take picture of clothing,
match with needs and purchasing it online. Many online shopping sites
provide option to customers to buy best products online at feasible prices.
6. Importance of fashion show:
Clothes were only mean to wear to protect from cold and follow social
obligations but with the entrance of fashion concept whole industry has
changed. Now clothe are not only for wear but showoff own preciousness to
others; its part of uniqueness and look different mentality. The fashion shows
has changed whole market by creating demand for fashionable wardrobe
collections.
7. Physical versus fashion:
As fashion is not only limited to cloth but to whole appearance of person; this
is the reason clothing is now becoming associated with tattoos, piercings and

hair styles. Demand for funky, air bagged and formal changed the strategy of
whole market. Now it’s become challenge for companies to produce certain
quantity of clothes match with latest trends because lot of pressure of
production of new trends forces firm to be updated with what is going on in
fashion industry. It’s become highly risk market where there is no guarantee
of stable sale and more chances of under and over production. Analysis of
stock maintenance in recent years shows that today in more than 75% case;
company faces over and under production situation. Previously there was no
such circumstances due stability of fashion for longer period of time (Piercy,
2016).
8. Sales centric to brand centric:
Earlier companies mainly focus on increase its sales revenue by forcefully
pitching the product to customer. Managers make efforts to sale clothes
anyhow by hook or crook; marketing team used to focus on makes price
strategies and cost cutting policies. But today’s fashion market had totally
changed their view and plan. Now they try to make their brand strong to built
separate identity from other customers.
Future estimates:
It is estimated that in future fashion market will go through further more rapid
changes. UK fashion market will grow by 17.4% over the next six years to
$78bn; it is also forecast that clothing will give tremendous performance
retail growth between 2020 and 2023, as the first rapid growing sector
followed by health & beauty and food & grocery. In deflation period growth
of clothing market is expected of 17.2% over the previous year. The main
source for growth driven will be consciousness of appearance, attraction
towards fashion trends and desire for uniqueness (Lavergne, 2015).
Adults have higher purchase frequency having 55.3% buyers are of age
between 16-24 visit retail shop atleast once per month and attracts towards

fast fashion trends; while 13.8% customers age between 50-65 visits shopping
malls once a month.
Strategies and tactics used by Primark to respond major
changes in fashion clothing market
Scope:
 It is forecasted that Primark will become UK’s second largest clothing retailer
at the end of 2020 overtaking ASDA.
 Menswear segment of Primark is forecasted to be grown by 13.8% over the
next six years.
 More than 75% UK citizens had shopped through online past year.
Short summary of strategies:
 Use of in-depth value retailer analyses in order to understand the reason for
having winning market share
 Analyses of social media impact on online and offline shopping to fully
utilize this platform to increase online traffic on Primark website
 Consideration of threats from small sellers to make sale strategy accordingly.
 Identifying the impact of co-relation between price, quality and customer
service on product demand and modify policies of different locations to
maximize potential sales (Yan, Hyllegard and Blaesi, 2012).
Various strategies to respond major changes in cloth fashion sector:
1. Price strategy: Price of product is one of the crucial factors considered by
customers; a perfect pricing strategy could help Primark in responding to
change occur in fashion market. It is helpful tool to create impacts on
customers during perception and evaluation stages of buying process. Primark
should build image of its brand for providing quality products at higher prices
so that customer would justified with the price as worth to money. But
discount rate provided by Asda for quality products increases the competition
for Primark. So company has two alternatives to overcome this situation;

either decrease price or increase quality of product. Reports shows that
Primark has recorded turnover of $35million past year; firm has continuously
lost its market share because of increase rival competition in UK clothing
retail market. The most threats were reflected from small entrants who sales
high quality product at low prices to gain market share even at no profit no
loss situation. Asda is one of the close competitors of Primark imposing
revenues of $31 million by the end of year. After comparing revenue growth
of both company Asda and Primark; it was found that Primark revenue is
decreased by more than 2.6% with decline in operating profit by $12.3
million in 2019. Study says customer switch to cheaper products. Hence
Primark should make a strategy to increase its product quality to maintain
brand image in market (Birtwistle and Moore, 2007).
2. Maintaining a better quality product: Primark can face this rapid change
market through maintaining the perception of quality market in the mind of
customers. Survey shows that only 40% clients believe that Primark has
maintained its quality product; while only 31% questioners believe that
product of Primark worth to money. Hence it is believed that Primark should
cut down it rate to give competitions to supermarkets and discount stores;
especially to Asda.
3. Creation of brand name and image: Primark could hire latest designers and
marketers to build a totally new product and promote it all over world. First
thing company should focus on is brand name and image through providing
quality product at best prices payable by customers or charge by Asda a
rivalry company. During research it was found that men are less responsive
towards price as compare to woman; not much conscious about quality of
product.
4. Supply chain management: Franchising, merchandising and distribution are
all medium of sales and know as supply chain of company’s operations. A
strong position in the supply chain will give strong negotiation abilities with
other buyers. Maintaining good relation with wholesalers, manufacturers and
other retailers make it simple to manage changes in this industry by Primark

(Gam, 2011). Over 56% cost of product is fixed by manufacturers and
wholesalers; a liaison with these mediators will help Primark in maintaining
the price with quality and will provide cost advantage over competitors.
5. Effective lines of communication: Communication with target audience will
help Primark in understanding their preferences and tastes and also what they
want and at what price. Company should build strong medium through which
its important messages reach to target customers. There two ways of
communicating with clients; offline and online:
 Offline: Building brand sign at point of sale make it easy for Primark to be
recognized by customers easily; advertising promotions and other
marketing activities will add value to clothing product. Some of the
technique which can be used by Primark to attract more traffic is Mid-
Season sale technique; providing 50% off on product which going to be
outdated.
 Online: In textile industry; it is important to mark presence online due to
high competitive market. Every year thousands of new ventures enter into
market with attractive policies and strong strategies and effect big retail
company with their creativity in fashion industry. It was recorded that
above 45% of UK’s GDP is contributed by online businesses. Asda has
adopted strong product policies especially through online to attract its
customers (Kozlowski, Bardecki and Searcy, 2012). Hence, Primark needs
to connect with its customer segments on social media sites such as twitter,
facebook, google and instagram. It should build strong SEO techniques for
optimized results.
6. Effective window display skill: It is an art in which product is present for sale
through combination of objects and materials. It is depended on the choice of
Primark which clothing it wants to window dressed; these choices could be
effective if done after proper market analyses and online surveys. People only
attracts towards retail mall if found something attractive at display. During
survey it was found 65% women enter into retail outlet after seeing window
display product especially gold, cosmetics and clothes. It should be take care

by company about appearance, type of lighting used and design used at
display. Sometimes brand ambassador’s picture frame with product also gives
effective results.
7. Using latest technologies to communicate with customers: Only building
brand image and strong point of sale is not enough to survive in this fast
changing fashion world. Primark requires connecting with people not only
through social sites but at personal level like sending messages to customers
at their personal number regarding any latest updates like discount offerings,
new product launch and wish messages to connect directly with customers.
Latest trends shows that big retail companies started launching their apps with
customizable features like online ordering, checking live updates, know about
offerings, separate wallet for their discount off digital amount and assist
customer service for any enquiries. So it’s suggested that Primark should built
their own app to give personal assistance to their customers to make them
attached with company for long period of time.
Some of the other tactics:
 Organizing marketing campaign at public places to aware the people about
new brands.
 Visible at all places especially where competitors brand is present to get
available to the customers.
 Diversification of product line like men’s wear, women fashion world, kids
wear, etc. for providing complete family package.
 Come up with many patterns, designs and variety to provide huge options to
clients; as he should feel that company is customer centric.
 Should provide more customizable options to customer like stitching options
through tailor at point of sale; as it is assumed that customer don’t have
enough time and prefers only those products which doesn’t requires to visit
any other place. Hence providing all services at one point will give strategic
advantage to Primark.

CONCLUSION
On the basis of above report analysis it can be concluded that Primark is big retail
company. It is facing declining sales due to poor pricing policy and not active on
online platform as its competitor firm Asda do. Hence it is recommended that
company should active on social sites like facebook, instagram and twitter and if
possible it should also hire digital marketing team to rank number google search
engine list through effective tools like SEO, Addwords, google analytics, etc.
Change in fashion trend of clothing in UK become problem for old textile market
but opportunities for new venture to come up attractive design.

REFERENCES
Book and Journal
Bakewell, C., Mitchell, V.W. and Rothwell, M., 2006. UK Generation Y male fashion
consciousness. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An
International Journal.
Birtwistle, G. and Moore, C.M., 2007. Fashion clothing–where does it all end
up?. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.
Brooks, A., 2019. Clothing poverty: The hidden world of fast fashion and second-hand
clothes. Zed Books Ltd..
Easey, M. ed., 2009. Fashion marketing. John Wiley & Sons.
Gam, H.J., 2011. Are fashion‐conscious consumers more likely to adopt eco‐friendly
clothing?. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International
Journal.
Hines, T. and Bruce, M., 2007. Fashion marketing. Routledge.
Kozlowski, A., Bardecki, M. and Searcy, C., 2012. Environmental impacts in the fashion
industry: A life-cycle and stakeholder framework. Journal of Corporate
Citizenship, (45), pp.17-36.
Lavergne, M., 2015. Fixing fashion: rethinking the way we make, market and buy our
clothes. New Society Publishers.
Lo, C.K., Yeung, A.C. and Cheng, T.C.E., 2012. The impact of environmental
management systems on financial performance in fashion and textiles
industries. International journal of production economics, 135(2), pp.561-567.
Piercy, N.F., 2016. Market-led strategic change: Transforming the process of going to
market. Taylor & Francis.
Yan, R.N., Hyllegard, K.H. and Blaesi, L.F., 2012. Marketing eco-fashion: The influence
of brand name and message explicitness. Journal of Marketing
Communications, 18(2), pp.151-168.