Inquiry Based Learning Project: Fashion Retail Industry Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the fashion retail industry, examining emerging trends such as sustainability, artificial intelligence, and the 'buy now, pay later' model. The study uses Pretty Little Thing as a case study, conducting SWOT, Porter's Five Forces, and PESTLE analyses to evaluate its market position and competitive landscape. The research explores consumer behavior, including online versus offline shopping preferences, payment methods, and style changes. Primary and secondary research methods are used to gather data and information. The report also offers recommendations for Pretty Little Thing to improve its operations, focusing on customer engagement, attracting new clients, and staff training. The findings highlight the dynamic nature of the fashion retail sector and the importance of adapting to evolving consumer demands and technological advancements.

Inquiry based learning
project

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Emerging trends in fashion retail industry...................................................................................1
SWOT, Porters Five Force along with PESTLE analysis...........................................................2
Recommendations........................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Retail sector implies to supermarkets, chain stores, franchise stores, departmental stores
and so on who acquire their merchandise from the wholesalers and then they stock those
merchandise (Nucamendi-Guillén, Moreno and Mendoza, 2018). After stocking they try to resell those
goods in little amount to single consumers. This research is about the fashion retailing which act
as a mediator among customers and manufactures. This research generate emerging trends in
fashion retail industry can be determine along with this analysis will be made based on this
research and some recommendations are also provided in context to Pretty little Thing, which is
a United Kingdom founded women clothes retailer.
MAIN BODY
Emerging trends in fashion retail industry
Mode retailing is the market section that intermediates producers and consumers. It can be
defined as the "purchase and sale of clothing by the manufacturer." With the change in the
preference of customers and trends in market this industry has gone through numerous of
changes. But in recent times the utilisation of technology has increase very rapidly. In context to
Pretty little Thing, this company has also witness the emerging trends with the change in life
style, preference of women. The trends which this enterprise has observe during current time are
mention as under:-
Sustainability: With the introduction of digitisation another trend which this industry have seen
is sustainability. These days’ clients are becoming more nature friendly which is forcing this
industry to include eco-friendly activities (Leslie and Hauck, 2005). In recent times Pretty little
Thing has recognized that the trend of buying rental clothes is increasing very fast. This becomes
difficult for the company to sale its luxury clothing items. It is very important to introduce such
kind of fashion which can survive in the marketplace for long run.
 Artificial intelligence: Introduction of technology has completely modify the purchases
procedure of the customers. They are now purchase merchandise from online sites like
amazon which impacted the in store sales. Social media also plays important role in this
aspect and encourages the e-commerce business. Only those enterprise will witness their
success who are capable of attracting youth through this channel. This offers them to buy
merchandises any time and any place by browsing various online clothing sites. Pretty
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little Thing, has seen that their in store sales have decrease as people are preferring online
sale which makes them realise that their stores may suffer from the losses.
Buy now and pay later: With the aid of this facility customers can buy their product immediately
and make payment relating to them on later basis (Bruce and Daly, 2006). Companies like Klarna,
afterpay which are working in this way and are planning to spread their business globally. This
deliver the opportunity to buyers through which they can make monthly instalments of huge
amount without any kind of interest rates. This method offer the transparency which helps them
to control their budgets. Introduction of credit cards, payments in instalment bases has increase
this trend and this is not cresting any type of burden on customers in terms of payments. In
context to Pretty little Thing, they are still looking for such kind of methods so that they can have
more customers.
Below mention are the question which are formulated for this research so that the emerging
trends in fashion retail can easily determine and the effect of these trends can be easily
understand:-
 From where customers buy their clothes online or offline?
 Do they instantly pay for their purchases?
 How and when companies make changes in their production process?
 What type of payment method customers prefer?
 How often they change their style?
 At what time they prefer to do shopping?
SWOT, Porters Five Force along with PESTLE analysis
Primary research: Primary analysis is characterised as a technique used by researchers for
specifically collecting data, instead of relying on previous data (Lund, 2015).
Secondary research: Secondary or desk analysis is a form of study requiring the use of current
data.
To analyse the functioning Pretty Little Things require to get questions of this question which is
conducted between the 50 clients:-
 What they prefer online or offline shopping?
 They are comfortable for second hand clothes?
 How much they spend on their clothes?
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Analysis of SWOT, Porters Five Force along with PESTLE of Pretty little Thing is mention
underneath:-
Porters Five forces:It assist companies to determine their level of competition. In context to
Pretty Little Things tis model will aid them to know about their competition in market place.
 Buyer Control: The first powerful force is the negotiating power of shoppers, who may
opt to bring down prices, not purchase goods, or move stores. In the case of the apparel
industry, buying power is a comparatively strong factor. They have several alternate
shopping locations and little motivation to stick with a company in particular, allowing
them plenty of indirect negotiating power which could be a problem for Pretty Little
Things.
Power of supplier: The fashion retail sector has relatively few to negligible influence as a
supplier (Nilsen, 2019). Most clothing factories are manufacturers in the third world who earn only
fractions of their earnings. Suppliers have no influence of the fashion industry because they are
unfortunate and can be exchanged. Input costs are now relatively low for this sector and for
Pretty Little Things it will remain there until the global gap in production closes considerably.
 New Entry Hazard: As stated previously, in this field, there is nothing that is special, so
this power is marginally weak for Pretty Little Things. New entries could however find
innovative ways of popularising its own (not so special) products and, as a consequence,
create new brands — maybe with the smart use of social media.
 Threat to replacement: Fortunately, clothing can hardly be replaced for people in the
luxury shopping industry which implies that this force is very low in this sector. Pretty
Little Things don’t have much fear of replacement as clothes are not replaced by
merchandise which are luxury.
 Rivalry Competitive: The style industry is interesting in terms of the intensity of
competition analysis. Most stores are really close in sale which implies that Pretty Little
Things have to fight their competition.
SWOT: SWOT analysis assist enterprises to know about their strengths, weakness,
opportunities along with their threats which will aid them to frame their actions according. In
reference to Pretty little Thing, there SWOT analysis is underneath:-
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 Strengths: The 18 to 25 demographic models are young, their communication style is
targeting the students and the people who are looking for accessible prices, while the
fashion market is aimed at people with highly cost-efficient fashion in the young (18-25)
woman's demographic age (Lamond, Zheng and Tian‐Foreman, 2009). The demographic 18 to
25 model choice are young. Social media platforms – it's almost important for all luxury
brands in this highly competitive sector to work on the social media to get involved in the
business. PLT has a great twitter profile and more than 29,000 followers on its
Instagram’s page (98,000 followers), and Facebook's 307,000 like them.
 Opportunities: Introduction of small labels will boost the appeal of Pretty little Thing
along with this it will also encourage more buyers to purchase smaller brands if it placed
more lines and boutiques on its website. This would be a perfect chance for both the
Pretty little Thing as well as for smaller boutiques to create better brand awareness along
with small commission by selling their clothing on fashion-based stages.
 Weakness: The Facebook page of Pretty little Thing is loaded with negative comments
which act as their weakness because, they are not able to generate new customers as
many of them read those comments which also make it difficult for them to build the trust
of their customers.
 Threats: There are various sort of companies which are easily available for the customers
on one platform trough internet which implies that they can buy anything from anywhere.
This deliver local as well as global competition to Pretty little Thing.
PESTLE: PESTLE analysis implies to external factors of the macro environment which scan
components of environment to frame strategic management.
Political Factors: The UK government has the power and ability to promote companies to
acquire fabrics locally, especially when import taxes are increased as compared to other
countries. Most of the people are purchasing from companies who manufacture clothing in the
UK, as opposed to companies who usually ship their fabrics (Doeringer and Crean, 2006).
Environment Factors: Fashion also has an impact that is not pleasant on the climate (Scheibler,
2017). There are some cotton clothes, but first they are chosen as well as sent to be sewn as
Denim. Jeans are harmful chemicals can be quickly soaked. The clothes are normally wrapped in
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plastic containers, which are later discarded. All the above components impact the Pretty little
Thing activities.
 Social Factors: Music and films have always had a huge influence on every country in
fashion. People want to buy clothing in videos or films In addition, the fashion industry
has influenced musicians and iconic looks. In context to Pretty little Thing, they are
require to analyse these factors and see towards whom their clients are influenced.
 Economic Factors: There are still countries that have recovered from so many years of
stagnation, but many people find extra money to invest them into clothes and fashion
accessories. Pretty little Thing are require to bring affordable range of merchandise which
will aid them to attract more customers.
 Technological Factors: Internet shopping is now one of the most comfortable for those
who lived in this period. People rather than businesses like to buy online. Pretty little
Thing are require select the perfect suited product which their clients are looking for
with several filters.
 Legal Factors: For a company to be legitimate, the export limits, tax limitations along
with inflation costs should be enforced. Pretty little Thing need to get cognition about
what are the policies they require and they shod be fully informed about the laws with
whom they trade.
Recommendations
Any suggestion which deliver best course of action in order to derive effective results are
consider to be the best recommendations (Cachon and Swinney, 2011). In context to Pretty Little
Things are given the following recommendations which will enhance theirs functioning:-
 Commit the client to the highest possible degree: Note I didn't tell greet the client. Hello,
merchants who station a parrot greeter on the front of the shop, how are their clients are
today? They're not engage able, they're upset. The best retailers who recruit and prepare
are aware that there is a conversation with the client. This does not mean that firms put
100 questions or lead their customer to a kiosk, but that their selling partners are
encouraged to find a way to enter into a conversation with customers.
 Attract new clients with fantastic screens: Pretty Little Things with the aid of an
entertaining website, a podcast as well as social media can generate more customers. The
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rational move in pursuing full-price consumers consists in giving them a reliably good
experience. This means that the killer window shows that the temptation is to sell
everything in the shop, instead of with one groupset. This means a blog that allows their
consumers to do something of their products and this means an attractive approach for
social media that involve Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and many more.
 Continuously educate the staff: Many retailers recruit former employees of rivals
because they are already qualified. Pretty Little Things will be benefitted with these
qualified workers who work in that other shop – potentially on the job with no follow-up.
This suggests that they have a "right" approach - whether firm do so or not.
 Cognition about customers: To prosper Pretty Little Things must know who their clients,
along with who are not are. This will prevent overestimation along with this they will
also create a lively niche for their store and this information will keep them safe.
 Find potential customers: Customers of the court who can pay the entire cost. By doing
so the temptation of Pretty Little Things is not hunt down bargainers. Thye will buy
their own wasted profits for their loyalty. Yeah, firm can buy close-outs and products
last year, but it's inexpensive - low demand.
 Invite shoppers to return often: Pretty Little Things can call on the buyers sometimes so
that they can come back. They will take their last thing with them, how customers have
sent them back to their own country. Thank you very much, but the right sales specialist
find a way to come back to the service shop, thank the customer again for their pickup.
 Livestream: Pretty Little Things can do Facebook as well as Instagram live update. Social
media are more than mere deals, coupons along with shots. Using a live stream that
answers questions of prospective clients, it shows current customers something fresh as
well as give them the opportunity to get new eyes to their contents along with new foot
traffic throughout their doors with genuine personality. Discover how Facebook live
video kills five independent retailers as well as they are require to note it's called
Facebook, not item book.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be derived that retail sector derive their products from
wholesalers for stocking those products. In terms of fashion industry there has been various
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trends which influence this sector they might be technology, customers taste and so no. To
evaluate these companies must to PESTLE, SWOT as well as Porters Five Force analysis to
consider each and every aspect. The recommendations like commit the client to the highest
possible degree, attract new clients with fantastic screens, continuously educate the staff,
cognition about customers, find potential customers, invite shoppers to return often, along with
livestream will enhance the performance.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Nucamendi-Guillén, S., Moreno, M. A. and Mendoza, A., 2018. A methodology for increasing revenue in fashion
retail industry. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.
Leslie, C. A. and Hauck, W. E., 2005. Extent and nature of sexual harassment in the fashion retail workplace: 10
years later. Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal. 34(1). pp.8-34.
Bruce, M. and Daly, L., 2006. Buyer behaviour for fast fashion.Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An
Internation
Friedrich, D., 2020. How regulatory measures towards biobased packaging influence the strategic behaviour of the
retail industry: a microempirical study. Journal of Cleaner Production. 260. p.121128. al Journal.
Lund, C., 2015. Selling through the senses: Sensory appeals in the fashion retail environment. Fashion
Practice. 7(1). pp.9-30.
Nilsen, S., 2019. Customer greeting in offline retail stores: A literature review and a case study (Master's thesis,
OsloMet-storbyuniversitetet. Institutt for atferdsvitenskap).
Lamond, D., Zheng, C. and Tian‐Foreman, W. A., 2009. Job satisfaction and turnover in the Chinese retail
industry.Chinese Management Studies.
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Scheibler, J., 2017. Circular economy: implications for the Swiss fashion retail industry.
Cachon, G. P. and Swinney, R., 2011. The value of fast fashion: Quick response, enhanced design, and strategic
consumer behavior. Management science. 57(4). pp.778-795.
Hacker, E. M., 2020. Beyond Barneys: A Crisis for Fashion Retail with the Advent of the Coronavirus
Pandemic. NYUJL & Bus.17. p.211.
Doeringer, P. and Crean, S., 2006. Can fast fashion save the US apparel industry?. Socio-Economic Review. 4(3).
pp.353-377.
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