Internet and Brand Outreach: Impact on UK Fashion Retailers (C11MC)

This essay examines the profound influence of the internet on contemporary fashion retailers in the UK, focusing on how online platforms have reshaped brand outreach and consumer behavior. The study explores case studies of prominent UK fashion brands, including ASOS, Boohoo, Missguided, ...Read More

Running head: INTERNET AND BRAND OUTREACH
Internet and Brand Outreach
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1INTERNET AND BRAND OUTREACH
Right from sharing the images of campaigns to the controversy-courting catwalk
shows, internet and the online cultures has shaped the modern people’s reaction to fashion. It
can be said that internet has simply reacted with the fashion in order to transform the whole
fashion industry. Social media, in many ways, is democratising the fashion and is creating a
space for the online brands to cater to and flourish the incredible tastes of the customers. This
further has “opened up what was once a closed elite industry” (Rocamora 2017). This essay
shall elaborate on presenting a brief discussion on the topic- “Internet and Brand Outreach”,
while using different case studies of the UK’s fashion retailers. The main purpose of this
essay to analyse the influence of internet on the contemporary fashion retailers and their
overall business.
It is to note that the UK’s fashion industry plays a crucial part and contribute
significantly in the economy of the country. In the year 2017, it was about 29 billion pounds
(Ozdamar-Ertekin 2017). The two major reasons behind the growing demand for the clothing
that is made in UK are the increased awareness and the growing population. Over the past
five years, UK’s fashion sector has notably transformed and grown and at present, it is
considered to be the home to some of the top fashion designers of the world. According to the
recent data, at present, about 555,000 people are employed on the fashion retail and the
textile industry of United Kingdom and at the same time, majority of the jobs in the fashion
industries a are in the retail selling of clothing. This is why, the industry is highly important
for the economic growth and development of the nation. However, currently, the internet
revolution, along with social media is making the things easier for the fashion retailers of
UK. With the growth popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc., customers
have changed their buying behaviour (Ashley and Tuten 2015). Both convenience and speed
have become more crucial for the modern customers and majority of them prefer shopping
sitting at their own place without much hassle of visiting stores. This is leading the fashion

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retailers to introduce their personal websites where they showcase all their products to the
customers to purchase and make transactions through their respective websites (Nadeem et al.
2015). This is further benefitting the brands while extending their opportunities for positive
brand experience, engagement, and customer outreach. It is also to note that the total online
spending of the UK population has reached to 19.73 billion Euros in the year 2019, which is
very high as compared to that it was in 2014 (13.81 billion Euros) (Martin, Mortimer and
Andrews 2015).
Case study of asos.com- asos.com is considered to be one of the leading online
fashion stores for men and women in UK. It was launched in the year 2000 and targets the
people from belonging to age range of 16 to 34 years (Drew and Sinclair 2015). There are
more than 9k products available for its customers on asos.com that they can access any time
of the day and about 450 new fashion items are added to the website each week. They include
menswear, jewellery, beauty products, women’s fashion and accessories. It is also to mention
that the brand attracts more than three million of unique shoppers each month and has more
than 1.8 million registered users. However, as stated by Learner and Storper (2014) “an
online service of this scale requires a substantial background operation to fulfil orders and
to provide customer service”. Just 5 years ago, the brand used to have just 550 square meters
of warehouse space. At present, for meeting the increasing demands, asos.com presently has
32,500 square meters of the warehouse space, equal to five football grounds. It is to note that
asos.com has started using internet as its primary tool for growth. It has tapped into a highly
expanding online retail market. It is to note that asos.com targets its offer at a particular
market segment of the young fashion-conscious consumers (belonging from the age range 16
to 34) (Chamberlain et al. 2017). Its total market segment now comprise of 20% of the total
internet shopping population in United Kingdom. As per Wu et al. (2015), the women who
are from the age range of 20 to 24 are more possibly than the other segment for spending

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their money on the footwear and clothing. The average spending per customer on clothing
has increased significantly for the part of asos.com as it offers a wide and extensive range of
products for the women and men, covering footwear, accessories, brand clothing etc.
Clothing ranges of the brand cater the narrow market segments. For example, for the petite
women. With the same, the company also entered into several collaborations with the
designer labels. Its online presence has also helped the company to provide some well-known
brands that appeal the modern customers and some of the examples of these brands include
Adidas, Fred Perry, Diesel, French Connection etc.
However, it is to mention asos.com would not have developed and grown so speedily
if it would have failed to offer pleasurable shopping experience to its customers. The
company ensured that its website is successfully offering something of real value to all its
customer that they could not obtain by visiting a shop or a store. It provided them with
convenience, competitive prices, interesting styles, choice and all of them complemented
with high customer service like reliable delivery, order tracking facility, online transaction
service, size and colour options, and wide range of brands to choose from and prompt
(Ashley and Tuten 2015). Along with this, it also did high investment in its website as well as
its underpinning technology. All these has positively impacted the brand experience of
asos.com’s customers.
Case study of Boohoo- Since the launch of Boohoo in the year 2006, the in-house
designing team of the company has created some directional collections that not only just
combined that incredible value, but also the cutting edge style (Sobande 2019). Thousands
new pieces of products are uploaded by Boohoo every week, along with recommendations
from the stylists, all available with exactly next day and the international delivery, bringing
out the latest styles and fashion direct to the door of the customers. The website of the
company include menswear, jewellery, beauty products, women’s fashion and accessories. It

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has tapped into a highly expanding online retail market. With the same, the firm has also
entered into several collaborations with the designer labels. At present, the brand is so
successful that it now supply to the customers in more than hundred different nations all
around the world. It is also to note that the company is recognised by some of the top
customer titles Heat, Cosmopolitan and Reveal magazines in their yearly shopping awards
and gain editorial support from several leading fashion titles. It involved into digital
marketing like making their brand presence in Facebook and Instagram. Customers today are
harder to convince (Debbiche, Diener and Svensson 2014). This is due to the increasing
market penetration and this is why users require more convincing approach before visiting
the website. One can easily reach the people with advertisements that represent the brand and
can also add discount codes to the advertisement or a different type of promotion for
triggering higher advertisement response. With the same, the company is also effectively
addressing the concerns of its customers online and influence their opinion as well. The result
was that since its launch, the company witnessed 431.87% of increase in the non-brand
review of United Kingdom and 139.69% of increase in the ROI.
According to De Mooij (2010), the fashion industry of UK is becoming highly
globalised with the emergence of globalisation and many of the major retailers now make use
of the suppliers from across the globe. Internet, social media or digital media has provided
these fashion retailers an easier way of getting engaged with the suppliers and cater the needs
of the global customers while making their global presence and gain significant business
profit. Even before the introduction of internet, word of mouth used to play a significant role
in the promotion of products of the fashion brands (Bell and Taheri 2017). Along with the
popularity of the social networks like Twitter and Facebook, each and every person’s word of
mouth is able to reach thousands of followers each and every day. The fashion retailers are of
UK are interacting directly with their most loyal customers and in this way they are exposing

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themselves to an extended network of friends and the acquaintances to the services and
products that they might not have earlier sought out through visiting stores and shops
(Hackley 2010). Furthermore, one of the main changes that internet has brought in to the
world of fashion industry is the potential for the customers across the globe to look up for
products reviews at home or while even standing in a store. Hence, transparency is very high.
While businesses could not stop the negative reviews, study have showed that about 51% of
the online shoppers take in consideration the social media as an important source for
information during researching a particular product (Kavoura and Stavrianea 2014).
Furthermore, the company ensured that its website is successfully offering something of real
value to all its customer that they could not obtain by visiting a shop or a store. Along with
this, it also did high investment in its website as well as its underpinning technology.
Case study of Missguided- It is to note that Missguded is a value focused online
fashion retailer that was founded by Nitin Passi in the year 2018. It targets the people from
the age range 16 to 34 years who are attracted to affordable fashions. It is to note that
Missguided has developed recently as one of the fastest growing supply chains in the fashion
retailing industry of UK and at the same time, it is also to mention that it is all about this
speed of Missguided to market that has made the company website like the dynamic shopping
experience (Holloman 2016). There are thousands of new designs that are added every month
to improve the customer experience of the brand along with about 250 of new catwalk
inspired products and items each and every week.
It is to mention that Missguided enjoys a highly socially conscious reputation in the
UK market and at the same time, it receives high media coverage for its positive body image
campaign that sees the untouched models in the realistic manneguins and marketing materials
with stretch marks. Furthermore, the company has recently opened its own physical store for
helping cementing its own brand among the wider consciousness. It is to note that the brand

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has recently been valued at about 700 million Euros amid the speculation that Passi might be
planning a stock market float. The UK sales of the company have increased by about 49.4%
to 118.3 million Euros, while its business in the rest of the parts of Europe have rocketed by
209.2% to 36.8 million Euros. Apart from this, the international business of the company has
also increased by 94.9% to 50.7 million euros.
Case Study of Farfetch- Farfetch is considered to be one of the top 15 online fashion
retailers of United Kingdom. The inventory tracking technology of Farfetch are solving all
the dreaded experiences of being confronted with the “sold out” message right after clicking
on a desired clothing item online. By means of tracking what is being sold in more than four
hundred of independent boutiques, the company is offering its customers the access of more
than thousands of brands in about forty different nations. It is also to mention that the
boutiques enjoy the advantage of high exposure along low costs of shipping and some
superior logistics with the firm (Ashley and Tuten 2015). With the same time, the brand also
provides its customers the facility of same day delivery and that too in ten different cities.
Thousands new pieces of products are uploaded by Farfetch every week, along with
recommendations from the stylists, all available with exactly next day and the international
delivery, bringing out the latest styles and fashion direct to the door of the customers.
Furthermore, it is to mention that Farfetch is highly committed to some physical
retailing and is followed its acquisition of the Browns by means of converting the boutique
into technology focused “Store of the future” showroom” with the Farfetch founder as well as
the CEO of the company, Jose Neves saying that “The next stage in the evolution of the
fashion industry is the connected store, which uses technology to enhance the luxury retail
experience to become even more customer centric”. The fashion retailers are of UK are
interacting directly with their most loyal customers and in this way they are exposing
themselves to an extended network of friends and the acquaintances to the services and

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products (Guercini and Runfola 2015). It is to note that with a rise of about 70% in the total
revenue, the sales of the company in UK is growing to about 12 million euros and at the same
time is increasing the possibility of an IPO in the coming future that can help in valuing the
Farfetch at up to 5 billion euros (Berridge 2018). Lastly, it is also to mention in this context
that the creative social media campaigns of the company as well as a keen understanding of
its base of customers has helped the brand’s social media presence and awareness to grow to
about 5 million recently.
Hence, from the above analysis it is clear that majority of the fashion retailers in
United Kingdom use internet to attract more customers towards their brand. Over the past
five years, UK’s fashion sector has notably transformed and grown and at present, it is
considered to be the home to some of the top fashion designers of the world. At present, the
internet revolution, along with social media is making the things easier for the fashion
retailers of UK. With the growth popularity of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube etc.,
customers have changed their buying behaviour. The online fashion retailers in UK offer
transactions through their respective websites and at the same time, offer them with some
extended opportunities for brand experience and engagement. It has also made them increase
their sales while improving their brand perception and image in the minds of their customers
and making it very easily traceable for gaining progress and feedback on the campaigns for
getting their desired products and services in front of their eyes. However, it is also identified
that all the major fashion retailers of United Kingdom attain consistency of visual identity in
between the online and the other related channels, their usage of the online channels for
communicating about their brand values and for promoting their brand relationships could be
developed further.

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