Analyzing Strategic Marketing's Role in the Malaysian Fashion Industry

This report examines the role of strategic marketing in the emerging Malaysian fashion industry. It begins with an introduction to strategic marketing and its importance, followed by a literature review exploring the concept and its impact on business performance. The discussion chapter analyzes the trends in strategic marketing within Malaysia and the current developments in the fashion industry, assessing the impact of strategic marketing on the industry's growth. The paper concludes with recommendations for firms in the fashion industry to adapt and evolve their strategies. The report highlights the crucial role of strategic marketing in maintaining competitiveness in the fast-paced fashion industry and emphasizes the need for continuous strategic adaptation.

Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING AND ROLE
The role of strategic marketing in the emerging Malaysian Fashion Industry.
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Abstract
Strategic marketing is an imperative branch of marketing which has altered the way the different
business carries out their overall operations. The focus of the paper is on the role of strategic
marketing in the emerging Fashion Industry. Hence, the aim of the paper was to examine the
overall concept of Strategic marketing as a whole and to examine the manner in which the firms
will be successfully able to imbibe this concept in the Malaysian Fashion Industry. Therefore, the
paper followed a comprehensive format and in relation to this, the paper was divided into various
chapters and laid down the Introduction which helped in understanding the focus of the study.
This was then followed by the analysis of the various theoretical concepts and frameworks in the
Review of Literature. The Discussion in the third chapter derived the link between the Strategic
marketing and related growth of the Fashion Industry in Malaysia. At the end of the paper,
certain recommendations have been provided which can be adopted by the firms in the Fashion
industry. Hence, from the paper it was concluded that the strategic marketing has a pivotal role to
play in the Malaysian Fashion Industry and to keep up with the fast pace of the industry, the
firms would be required to keep involving their strategies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
The concept of Strategic Marketing............................................................................................4
The importance of Strategic Marketing.......................................................................................5
The role of strategic marketing in a business performance.........................................................6
The Malaysian Fashion Industry performance............................................................................8
Discussions with Critical Analysis................................................................................................10
Trends in the Strategic Marketing in Malaysia..........................................................................10
Current developments of Fashion Industry................................................................................13
Impact of the Strategic Marketing on the Malaysian Fashion Industry.....................................16
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................18
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................19
References......................................................................................................................................21

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Introduction
Marketing has a key role to play in any business. It is the key function which assists an
organization to perform well and undertake initiatives which will make it considerably popular.
In the same field, the Strategic Marketing can be understood to be an advanced Marketing topic
which outlines the manner in which the marketing is focused on the future of the firm. According
to Crinis (2017), the function of Strategic Marketing is a procedure with the help of which a firm
is able to differentiate itself from the various competitors who lie in the same field. The function
allows a business to capitalize on the strengths of the business and provide adequate value to the
competitors as well as the customers who are present. Hence, this can be considered to be very
simple with respect to which, the strategic marketing allows a business to get more creative with
the function of the marketing mix.
The strategic marketing is assisted with the understanding of the firm`s overall
aspirations and the capabilities which help a firm to perform well in the competitive landscape.
The main objective is to ensure that the operations of a firm can be differentiated from that of the
competitors and it guides a business with respect to how the firm has to perform and on what
basis should it be performing. It lays down a framework for the fundamental change so that the
industry or a firm can engage the market. The focus of the paper lies on the role of strategic
marketing in the Malaysian Fashion Industry (Dabija, Szentesi and Pop 2014). The Malaysian
Fashion Industry is a growing Industry which has earned revenues arriving to US$876 million in
the year 2019. The market volume will turn out to be US$1377million by the year 2023. The
Fashion industry`s largest component is the apparel industry is the largest segment and is
expected to have a market volume of US$593m in the year 2019. Compared globally, the

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revenue generated is mostly from China. Therefore, the primary motive of the report lies to
understand the role of strategic marketing in the overall popularity and the operations of the
Fashion Industry in the country. The paper is divided into five different sections whereby the
first section focuses on the Introduction, aimed at throwing light on the overall background of the
Industry and the report. The second section is the Literature Review which will examine the
concept of Strategic Marketing and its impact on the business. The chapter on the critical
analysis and the Discussion focuses on the role of Strategic Marketing in the field of Malaysian
Fashion Industry and how it impacts the overall operations of the industry. Certain
recommendations for the industry will be provided in the latter half of the report.
Literature Review
The concept of Strategic Marketing
The different organizations often make use of the concept of strategic marketing in order
to create a plan which will help the firm to determine the manner in which the firm will be able
to satisfy the different customers as present an also work on the aspect of increasing the
profitability of the business and improving the overall productivity (Farrag and Hassan 2015).
The companies believe that in order to ensure that they are successfully able to look after the
needs of the different customers and are being able to create a marketing plan which not only
improves the customer satisfaction but also seeks to work on the overall performance of the
organization and dictate the manner in which the marketing programs can be implemented. The
Strategic Marketing as a concept helps an industry or an organization to increase the market
domination (Varadarajan 2019). The companies generally tend to employ the means of
communication method like the podcasts, emails and other means to ensure that the firm is

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successfully able to attain success. The Strategic marketing not only helps in creation of the
marketing plans but also lays down a date in which these strategic goals need to be met with
(Felix, Rauschnabel and Hinsch 2017). Hence, in line with this, it is the duty of the firm to set
realistic objectives for itself, to create business tactics which are more effective, take market
failures into account and improve the overall performance of the firm at large.
The importance of Strategic Marketing
As discussed previously, the Strategic Marketing as a concept can be understood to be
very effective and assists in ensuring that, a firm will be able to attain its overall objectives
successfully and will also be able to outline the strategic needs of the business. The reason why
the concept of strategic management is critical can be understood in the sections which follow.
Strategic Marketing assists in evaluation of the external environment
According to Giroud (2017), the strategic marketing plan is very effective in nature and
provides the business with adequate resources which will ensure that, the information regarding
the competitiveness of the business environment can be attained and in addition to this, the data
which is collected can be analyzed in order to examine the manner in which the business will
perform in the future. This provides with a better insight into the industry and forms the basis
for better planning activities.
Assists in establishing clear marketing goals
The strategic marketing as a concept assists in helping an organization to prepare clear
marketing goals. In line with this, it is crucial that a time frame for the goals is prepared and they
are made specific as well as measurable (Hashim, Tajuddin and Zainol 2015). Through this, the

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goals can be utilised in order to engage in the development of the benchmarks which will assist
in the operations of the initial plan of the firm.
Assists in identifying actions to achieve the goals
The strategic marketing assists a business in ensuring that they are able to achieve these
goals. The SMART objectives can be understood to be essentially effective which assists in
defining the future of the firm and based on these objectives, a sound plan for the firm is
outlined.
The role of strategic marketing in a business performance
The strategic marketing has a very integral role to play in the business. According to
Morgan et al. (2019), there lies a very strong connection between the financial performance of a
business and the marketing performance. The sales volume of a business can be understood to
have a direct impact on the profit of the firm. Additionally, this sale is affected by the marketing
activities and lays down the overall market and innovation orientation which takes place inside
out and can be used to assess the marketing performance of the firm in some of the companies.
Some companies tend to benefit from inside out capabilities whereas some of the organizations
perform well due to high marketing orientations. In line of this, it has to be critically understood
by the firm that, although the internal aspects of the firm cannot be altered by the function of
marketing, however, the marketing orientation and the external marketing capability can be
affected by the function of marketing in a business.
Hassan, Bakar Sade and Sabbir Rahman (2013) states that the marketing strategy forms a
considerably relevant part of the firms operations and this is because, the different firms which
tend to perform well tend to incorporate the situational analysis in their overall operations which

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helps them to understand the kind of offering the firm requires and thereby helps them in the
determination of the manner in which the firm would be able to improve its overall operations.
The marketing proficiency has a major role to play in ensuring that the overall marketing
strategy can be formed accordingly and that the different managers can get an access to the real-
time customer information which will assist the firm in understanding the manner in which the
organization will be successfully able to engage in long term success, which drives customer
value. The strategic marketing also assists the managers in consideration of critical strategic
variables and activities which help it in achieving the competitive advantage.
According to Ibrahim, Ghazali and Zakaria (2011), the reason why the Strategic
marketing leads to a better business performance is because, it assists in ensuring that the
business will be successfully able to gain access to the information regarding the external
environment which will enable the organization to be able to make the right decision based on
this strategic information which is extracted. This means that the different organizations which
make use of traditional methods of marketing rather than the specialized means of marketing
often benefit more because, this traditional focus is undertaken by keeping in mind the overall
performance aspects and the reach out of the traditional marketing means. The changes in the
business environment need to be tracked to a great extent as it provides opportunity and threat
analysis which assists in understanding the strategic development. It is through the means of
strategic marketing, that a business will be able to reach out to the different customers and in a
manner similar to this, it will also assist the organization in building a sound strategy and
carrying the business forward. According to Khan et al. (2016), it is integral that for any
marketing strategy to attain success, it is crucial that the firm anticipates the competitors action

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on behalf of the moves of the organization as it will put more emphasis on the relationship
marketing and ensures the overall effectiveness of the organization.
Khan et al. (2015) states that when the Marketing strategy and the overall Business
Performance of the firms in Malaysia is analyzed then, in such a case, the long term
differentiation marketing strategy which is used by the different organizations tends to have a
better impact on the overall performance of the business. This is because, the new means of
marketing activities have become very popular for the different consumers as present in the
country and in relation to this, the new means of marketing attracts a larger consumer base and
hence, any successful brand as present in the Malaysian Fashion Industry will be able to ensure
that, by using these techniques, they are being able to attract a larger consumer base and thereby
ensure long term success.
The Malaysian Fashion Industry performance
According to Kuang-Ying Loo and Hackley (2013), the modernization as well as the
globalization has been able to revolutionalise the retail industry present in Malaysia and the
shopping preference of the Malaysian customers has been changing to a great extent and in line
of this, the shopping preferences of the different customers has also been changing considerably.
Therefore, this has led to a change in the overall retail ambience from the unorganized retailing
which comprises of the pavement vendors of the night markets, organized retailers in the
operating chains of the convenience stores, modern supermarkets and other such mediums. In
addition to this, the advancement of the technology has brought about a considerable change in
the shopping patterns which has broken away from the information technology and created the
birth of the online domains (Yasmin and Buzdar 2018).

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The online Malaysian Fashion Industry has enabled to bring about considerable changes
in the trends and patterns and has brought about considerable advancement in the overall
operations of the industry. In line with this, the online shopping not only provides a wider choice
to the different customers but in addition to this, has increased the overall operations of the
industry. Hence, the different retailers as present in the Malaysian Fashion industry tend to find
a way to become customer oriented and to drive better customer value which increases the
overall intention of the consumers and improves their overall retention as well. The country has
been entering the 21st century with considerable growth and has been able to transform the
Malaysian country from the low income nation to a middle income nation (Lee, Mohamed Udin
and Hassan 2014). The higher disposable income enables the high income Malaysians to be more
selective in nature and thereby their demands for the finest brand have increased and in relation
to this, the retailers within the department store formats have benefited greatly. This comprises of
departmental store formats like Mark and Spencer and Robinson and Co have been entering the
markets along with specialty store format.
In line with this, the brand Uniqlo which is a Japanese casual wear designer as well as the
retailer have planned to enter into the Malaysian market and therefore, have uplifted the present
positioning of the market and has induced the brands like H and M, Dorothy Perkins as well as
Cotton On. According to Musa et al. (2016), the major fashion brands who are present in the
market at present such as the Bonia Group, the Padini Group and other cosmetic brands have
used the format of the departmental stores and thereby adverted into the marketing domain of the
country. However, according to Parveen, Jaafar and Ainin (2015), this trend has been altering to
a great extent whereby the concept of the departmental store can be understood to be a different
aspect when compared to the presence of such brands under a brand name. This is because, the

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products tend to lose out on the self-identification and hence, there exists limited space for the
product lines and the brands. Therefore, in line with this, the specialty stores have become a
popular format and therefore, have become the most popular aspect of the industry`s success.
According to Rageh Ismail and Spinelli (2012), the specialty store of Uniqlo has adopted
strategies of the American retailer the GAP which has enabled the firm to develop specialty
stores and then produce their own clothing in order to sell it exclusively. These help the stores to
make the overall operations quite specialized in nature. According to Parveen, Jaafar and Ainin
(2015), the different customers as present will choose the stores as per the image and the style
which they carry and differentiate themselves with. However, more consumers will make the
choice based on the manner in which they are able to meet the needs of the different customers.
In addition to this, various specialized stores like Zara, GAP and H and M follow the style of a
fast fashion whereby Quick response, assortment changes and the Fashionable designs at
affordable prices are the key aspects which make the industry very competitive in nature. Hence,
it is as a result of this that when the fashion conscious customers are exposed to various designs
and related styles of retailers like Mango, New Look and Top Shop which converted the runway
designs to stores in a span of a month, were able to engage high sales.
Discussions with Critical Analysis
Trends in the Strategic Marketing in Malaysia
As the Malaysian economy has undergone a considerable change, it becomes increasingly
important for the organization to undertake considerate measures in order to be able to engage
with the different customers and hence, the tools of the Strategic marketing have come in handy
in this domain. There have been considerate trends in the Strategic Marketing and in relation to

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this; there have been various trends in the domain of Strategic Marketing which will bring about
considerate changes in the overall operations of the organization. These new trends in the
industry can be understood to have been elaborated in the given section.
Authentic face to face communication
The domain of visual communication has brought about considerable prominence of the
social media websites such as the Instagram and Snap chat. In addition to this, the marketing has
become all about personal stories, pictures, videos and other such domains which means that the
target audience has advanced considerably and they generally prefer to be stimulated as well as
entertained (Rageh Ismail and Spinelli 2012). Therefore, the major focus of the strategic
marketing as undertaken by the various firms can be understood to be more focused towards
having an overall approach which is best suited towards the trends which are present.
Artificial Intelligence
The artificial intelligence can be understood to be another trend which is present in the
domain of the strategic management which ensures that in case the company wants to ensure
success, it will be required to engage in the domain of Artificial Intelligence which will enable
the firm to make considerate decisions and provide 24*7 service to the different customers as
present (San Lim et al. 2016). In association with this, it also becomes important for the firms to
follow this aspect of the Strategic management if they want to engage in a long term relationship
with the different members of the target audience and help in handling customer interactions and
offer a profound service to the different customers.
Micro Marketing