Analysis of Changes and Strategies for UK Fashion Retailers

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the UK fashion retail market, examining significant changes and proposing strategic recommendations for retailers, with a particular focus on ZARA. The report identifies key trends such as customer engagement, the rise of social shopping, and the impact of digital marketing. It delves into specific strategies that ZARA could adopt to maintain its competitive edge, including promoting sustainable practices like "Buy less, Wear more," prioritizing customer needs, and leveraging digital marketing channels. The report also discusses the importance of adapting to evolving consumer preferences, incorporating ethical sourcing, and staying ahead of competitors. It highlights the need for retailers to embrace innovation and adapt to the changing landscape of the fashion industry, ensuring long-term success in the UK market. The report concludes with an overview of the challenges and opportunities facing fashion retailers in the UK and offers actionable insights for navigating the evolving industry dynamics.

Running head: UK FASHION RETAIL
UK FASHION RETAIL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Relevant Changes.......................................................................................................................3
Customer engagement............................................................................................................3
Exhibition...............................................................................................................................4
Zoned Leasing Method..........................................................................................................4
Sales and Discounts................................................................................................................4
Social Shopping.....................................................................................................................5
Renovated Fashion Show.......................................................................................................5
Immediate Fashion Recognition............................................................................................5
Revival of the Couture...........................................................................................................6
Body as a part of Fashion.......................................................................................................6
Retailer-Consumer Loyalty....................................................................................................6
Strategies and Tactics ZARA should adopt...............................................................................6
Buy less Wear more...............................................................................................................7
Reading the Label..................................................................................................................8
Prioritization of the Customer................................................................................................8
Environmental sustainability..................................................................................................9
Mass Marketing or Market Penetrating..................................................................................9
Digital Marketing.................................................................................................................10
Watching over the Rival Companies....................................................................................10

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Shop and Charity..................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
This paper intends to find out how over the last few years UK fashion retailers have
gone through several changes. This paper will mention recent trades in UK clothing market
and will concentrate on a particular retailer; namely, ZARA that has both store based trading
and also online fashion clothing retailing available in UK (Saraswat 2018). The report will be
segmented into two different parts where the first part will focus on the key changes that have
been taking place in the fashion industry for last few years especially emphasizing on the
recent changes brought into the clothing market of UK by this specific retailer called ZARA
while the second part deals with the provision of several suggestions on specific strategies
and tactics that ZARA should have applied in order to cope up with the recent changes that
are taking place in the clothing industry of UK.
The first part is indicative of different changes and this report will mainly talk about
ten changes that UK fashion clothing industry is facing. It will also incorporate different
changes that ZARA has thought to introduce for coping up with the recent trend and the
second part is replete with different strategies and tactics that ZARA should follow for further
improvement.
Relevant Changes
Customer engagement
It is a brilliant method that has been taken into consideration for the fashion clothing
retailers in recent time. This is considered to be an old technique that had been reformed and
restructured to make the customers aware of the proper information, look after their
convenience and entertain them throughout the growing journey of the retailer. This section
requires the retailer to understand what the customers are expecting from the retailer
(Robinson and Hsieh 2016). For instance UK has witnessed a unique policy of engaging

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customers by Harvey Nichols that determines its strategies based on the searching behavior,
shopping pattern of the customers.
Exhibition
Fashion industry concentrates on reaching its customers in several innovative
techniques and exhibition is one of them. Sometimes aligning with the concept of magazines
the fashion retailers change their themes and arrange their gallery according to the theme at
an interval of four to six weeks.
Zoned Leasing Method
Another trend that UK has observed in the last few decades is that it is designing the
centers of the city for augmenting the fashion trend. When Lamb’s Conduit Street and Mount
Street or the South Audley Street receive success accidentally for preaching independent
menswear, other streets feel enthusiastic to promote the streets solely for blooming fashion
industry like Covent Garden and Henrietta Street are deliberating contemporary luxury and
menswear respectively (Gardetti and Torres 2017).
Sales and Discounts
UK has doubled the frequency of sale and increased the amount of discount. It has
been observed that retail price has been up that is nearly 60% for the designer clothes
throughout the year. However, certain people go for those products during sale. That implies
that sales and discounts not only have raised the number of consumers who feel comfortable
purchasing designer clothes only in the time of sale but also have brought about a remarkable
change in the UK Consumer Price Index. It has heightened by an amount of 29% (Taplin and
Winterton 2019).

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Social Shopping
It is an unavoidable fact that social media is one of the fastest ways to reach and
address the customers. Therefore, the retailers are taking advantages of the social media to
expand their business on a global scale. The brands and the stylists are ready to share the
commission from 3% to a range of 20% to the social media like Facebook, Pinterest,
Instagram, and Twitter to promote their products and reach out to the more number of
customers. Expensive brands like Louis Vuitton, Chiara Ferragni and Dior have invested
enormously in social media and are likely to earn nearly U$8 million (Scuotto et al 2017).
The advertisements in Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest assist the brands to reach out to the
prospectus customers and inflate their profit.
Renovated Fashion Show
The definition of fashion show is not restricted to the house of fashion but it has
spread to the whole community on an international level. Fashion show is now transformed to
attract a more number of customers and grow the interest of any interested customer because
it is not limited to the fashion critique and stylists anymore. Anybody can come to any
fashion show at least brands like Givenchy and FROW have taken this kind of initiatives to
raise the strength of the customers across the globe (Stone and Farnan 2018).
Immediate Fashion Recognition
Street fashion is considered to be very important for it has the possibility of doubling
the profit of the retailers. However, this can be made possible through technological
innovation where photograph of any cloth will make the customer identify the exact cloth and
he can buy that very cloth easily. UK has come up with this innovative technique after it has
witnessed Cortexica working in the same field from US successfully. Snap Fashion from UK
is trying to develop this kind of technology for the advancement in retailing.

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Revival of the Couture
With the idea of fast fashion any interested consumer can get the hold of latest design
from the house of elegant designers at a reasonable price. The trend of mixing high and low
fashion has always been there from the side of high-fashion consumers however, the brands
have considered that they should be expanding to the other sections of the consumers as well
(Okonkwo 2016). Designers are now getting engaged more in filling the gap and doing
something for the mass.
Body as a part of Fashion
The definition of fashion has shifted from clothing to personal style where tattoos and
piercing are given more importance and millennials are observed to be interested in
fashionably updating their bodies with tattoos, hair colors and piercing in noses and ears. This
is also a new trend that is transforming fashion (Grogan 2016).
Retailer-Consumer Loyalty
Brands like Sephora and ZARA is focusing on creating an ecosystem to involve more
peers to connect to all the customers through a communicable network. All the brands are
emphasizing upon creating a chain so that they can stay connected with their customers and
provide them with what they need.
Strategies and Tactics ZARA should adopt
There are certain strategies that ZARA has been following since ages to stay at the
summit of success in UK fashion industry. The way the global fashion is taking a new shape
and dimension and the way UK is in leading position to transform the fashion industry ZARA
must take up some strategies to remain firm in its superior position of 25th in the list of top
international fashion brands in the market. The brand has always engaged itself in producing

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clothes that are persistent of high quality and are affordable while purchasing. ZARA has
always tried to address its consumers in a convenient way so that the loyalty remains intact at
any circumstances. Customers are given the utmost priority and the new trends are always
updated by the brand. It goes through the process of making new designs in almost every
week that goes to the store.
As far the research is concerned other brands take duration of at least 6 months in
order to fill the gap where ZARA is in a leading position. ZARA is commonly quoted by the
media to be famous for producing “freshly baked clothes” because the founder believes that
clothes should be treated as perishable goods like yogurt and bread and it should be thrown
away after it is used for a while (Anwar 2017). However, this might not be the case for every
customer. Therefore, certain strategies need improvisation and it must include something new
for its uninterrupted success.
Buy less Wear more
Zara believes in the strategy of satisfying its customers with the latest fashion trend
and fulfilling them with then right kind of clothes at the right time of the year. It has always
focused on loading the stores with summer, autumn and winter collection on right time with
the policy of delivering the niche quality clothes to the customers. However, the brand must
adopt with the idea of “Buy less and Wear more”. This is a concept where the brand must
promote the idea to the customers regarding how a single cloth can be worn for a long time.
ZARA on the contrary believes in changing the wardrobe as quickly as possible. However, it
has been observed that it is possible to save 8% of carbon along with 4% of waste and 10%
water if the active life of half of the UK clothing can be extended (Fletcher 2018). It is true
that by selling fewer amounts of clothes ZARA has to go through a pressure on the revenue
but it has to be kept in mind that it will contribute to a better future through saving the

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environment. This might lead the brand to compromise with the profit but it will help ZARA
to build a better reputation in the market.
Reading the Label
It has been proven in the research that synthetic fibers that are produced from
petroleum consume less water and does not need as much land as it would be required for
cotton. However, it cannot be forgotten that this kind of materials emit greenhouse gas more
than cotton. Therefore no brand will be willing to make their products with these fibers.
According to the CSR policy of ZARA it has been notified that ZARA has announced to
abandon the procedure of making clothes out of synthetic fibers that can be obtained from the
fossil fuel like petroleum (Aftab et al 2018). Here ZARA can adapt to a new technique of
producing clothes. It can easily depend on the synthetic polymers that can be obtained from
that of the Bio-based elements (Henninger, Alevizou and Oates 2016). The elements those
are easily available are corn and sugarcane from which synthetic polymers can be collected
and then they can be transformed into clothes. This idea is not only less expensive but also
eco-friendly and ZARA should definitely think of the environmental sustainability more and
start adapting the strategy as soon as possible.
Prioritization of the Customer
ZARA is one of the best fashion retailer operating all over the world especially UK
that prioritizes its customers at the utmost level possible. An instance can make this very
clear how ZARA plans its clothes according to the needs of the customers. In the year 2015, a
particular store of ZARA did not have pink scarf in its collection along with the other stores
across the globe. This was communicated so fast that within a span of 7 days it produced
nearly 2000 or more pink scarves to satisfy its customers (Thompson and McLarney 2017).
However, the customers who are already with the brand for few years will be supporting the

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brand for a longer time but the customers who are new and are aware of the brand are at
dearth of using ZARA products. Here the brand needs to brainstorm and understand whether
the target customer that ZARA already has with it is satisfying the brand or it must expand on
a larger scale to compete with other rival retailers (Bui and Muñoz Martinez 2019).
Environmental sustainability
Zara has always focused on what the customers are looking for but it must not forget
that before everything the brand must take care of the environment. It cannot cause any kind
of trouble to the environment. UK is showing a remarkable progress in identifying the issue
with the process of production of the retailing companies. Prestigious brands like IKEA, GAP
and Nike along with 59 brands in total have decided to increase the amount of their usage of
recycled material like polyester by a range of 25% minimum within this year (Pedersen,
Gwozdz and Hvass 2018). ZARA should also come forward to this movement and participate
heartily to increase its use of recycled clothes. According to the opinion of the founder of
ZARA this brand does not believing in recycling but in throwing away once it is used.
However, the declining condition of the environment calls for a change (Pal and Gander
2018). ZARA should pay immediate attention to the issues encircling human lives and do the
needful to save the environment and the good will of the company.
Mass Marketing or Market Penetrating
The world is moving so fast and at the age of social media everybody is aware of the
fashion brand ZARA. ZARA has its supreme range of market those are belonging to the
higher economic class. However, it has to take certain other factors into consideration that
when the other section of the customers are aware of the brand but are unable to grab a hold
of the products because of unaffordable price it generates a negative impression regarding the
brand among the customers (Brooks, A., 2019). ZARA is an unbeatably successful retailer in

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UK and all over the world but it will be unstoppable and unparallel if it starts reaching to
more people making them more fashionably aware. For that, ZARA must know how to make
quality products at lower price so that they can be sold at a lower price at the same time. If
the price is lessened it will be reachable for more customers than ZARA has ever anticipated
(Brydges and Hracs 2019). It should concentrate on the idea of making regular clothes to
appeal more number of people.
Digital Marketing
As mentioned in the relevant changes, it is obvious that social media is the fastest
means to allocate news or anything that one has to offer. Similarly, ZARA should focus on
establishing a good network in social media like Sephora is creating. It will not only enable
the company to grow and reach out to a larger number of customers but also help the brand to
get the information about the needs and demands of the customers within a touch of a single
button (Nash 2019). The official website should be user-friendly so that anyone and everyone
can get all the information easily.
Watching over the Rival Companies
A close competitor of ZARA is Mango. Mango is leading in a very rapid way. It is
obvious that other fashion retainers will grow as fast as ZARA is growing. However, ZARA
has to strictly keep an eye over the strategies and techniques that others are following. If one
company is producing goods keeping the fact of environmental sustainability on mind then
ZARA must invest on something that would also promote its environmental awareness and
responsibility.
Shop and Charity
When a company is growing faster it should also look after its reputation in public. It
takes an effort of thousand years to build something goof but it takes a single touch of flaw to

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ruin the slowly built empire with care and affection (Pal 2017). In the time crashing down,
when the whole world is fighting against a horrible Corona virus a company like ZARA can
offer a huge amount to donate not only for the sake of saving its reputation but also for
leading the humanity to its victory.
Conclusion
The report has delivered few things in order. First the report has talked about what are
the relevant changes that are hitting the fashion industry of UK for last few years. It also
showed with examples how different clothing retailers are trying to cope up with the changes.
Starting from the invention of new policies to improvisation of prevailing policies the
companies are trying their best to remain in the industry. The later part of the report has
concentrated on how ZARA as a leading retailer in UK is successfully running throughout its
existence. It has also emphasized upon the strategies that ZARA already is aware of and the
strategies that ZARA must take into consideration. The report is prepared to analyze the
strategies that can be acted out by ZARA, which will eventually help the company to grow
more.

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Anwar, S.T., 2017. Zara vs. Uniqlo: Leadership strategies in the competitive textile and
apparel industry. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 36(5), pp.26-35.
Brooks, A., 2019. Clothing poverty: The hidden world of fast fashion and second-hand
clothes. Zed Books Ltd..
Brydges, T. and Hracs, B.J., 2019. The locational choices and interregional mobilities of
creative entrepreneurs within Canada’s fashion system. Regional studies, 53(4), pp.517-527.
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loyalty: A quantitative study on Zara.
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