Fashion Marketing & Merchandising

The goal of fashion marketing and merchandising, for both manufacturers and retailers, is to sell merchandise at a profit. This requires careful planning and coordination.

In the old days, people shopped in open markets, finding products that were unique and gave excitement to their everyday lives. Today, people shop in pretty much the same way, but openmarkets have evolved into departmental and specialty stores and huge malls that continue to entice the shopper. The customer has become the most important ingredient in successful fashion retailing. Determining the needs and requirements of the customer has become very important and this has led to the creation of specific goods and stores for specific categories.

For many years, fashion producers were only concerned with what was economical and easy for them to produce. They would spend considerable time and money trying to convince the consumer that what they produced was the best in the market. The fashion producer had little or no interest in the needs and wants of the consumer. However, marketing has proved successful in the growth of consumer goods such as automobiles, packaged foods, health and beauty that it hasbeen adopted by fashion businesses now. The key task is to determine the needs and wants of target markets and deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently to the customer.

Through sophisticated marketing techniques such as focus groups, surveys, data mining, and market segmentation along with systematic approaches such as electronic data information, inventory tracking and constant evaluation of advertising a consumer’s taste can be determined. The industry's awareness of the importance of pleasing the target customer has greatly increased.

Fashion marketing includes all of the activities involved from conceiving a product to directing the flow of goods from producer to the customer. Activities of marketing include product development, pricing, promotion, and distribution. If a fashion retailer or manufacturer is to make a profit, the firm must have a product that consumers perceive as desirable, and the product must be presented to potential customers in a way that makes them want to buy it.

Fashion marketers also track trends in population growth and diversity. Products that will meet the needs and desires of these customers are then developed or selected. Most fashion manufacturers and retailers recognize that following a consumer-marketing approach leads to a profitable business.

Fashion merchandising is defined as the buying and selling of goods for the purpose of making a profit. Merchandising is the planning involved in marketing the right merchandise at the right price at the right time in the right place and in the right quantities. Merchandising is concerned with all the activities necessary to provide customers with the merchandise they want to buy, when and where they want to buy it and at prices they can afford and are willing to pay. This includes making buying plans, understanding the customer, selecting the merchandise and promoting and selling the goods to the consumer.