APD 242 Project 2

WHAT'S SHAPING FASHION????

Origami is often used as inspiration in the design of shape for many garments.

Picture sources: http://magicalmusing.com/

http://www.popfi.com/

http://www.crustation.wordpress.com/

Marigolds and other flowers are used as inspiration as well.
Picture sources: http://homeideas.howstuffworks.com/growing-annuals

http://www.smh.com.au/

Slanting Architectural structure of this building is extremely similar to that of the gown.
Picture Sources: http://www.trendhunter.com/photos

The shape of this building, with the window panes and curtains being the center of attention matches the shape of this garment.

Picture Sources: http://www.moca.org/museum/imagerotator

http://www.twenty1f.com/

The decorative bell shape of this gown matches the intricate structure of this building.

Picture Sources: http://www.trendhunter.co/photos

The matching rose buds are an another example of how flowers inspire shape of garments.
Picture Sources: http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2008-weekly
http://shopdailyprogress.comcdp//shop/media

Insects are another natural inspiration in the silhouette of garments.
Picture Sources: http://fashion-clicks.blogspot.com/2009/2009/05/

http://fohn.net/monarh-butterflypictures

This garment is bell shaped below the waist with pleating to represent the hard shell of a insect.

Picture Sources: http://doublecalyx.blogspot.com/2008/02

The fins of this fish was the inspiration in this light, flowing, angular shaped garment.

Picture Sources: http://www.trendhunter.com/photos

The flowing of water inspired the shape of this garment.

Picture Sources: http://www.hiking.asveg.com/update.htm

http://twenty1f.com

WALGREEN'S Has The Green Light!

This weekend I took a visit to Walgreen's on Spring Garden Street, as I do once a month or so, to pick up my prescription. While making my purchases, I was able to look around the store and see not many people there on a Saturday afternoon. I began to wonder why the store was this way. I was hoping that the weather played a huge factor in the slowness of business. This is because this Walgreen's has great advantages in store location.
This particular Walgreen's is a stand-off location right next to UNCG's campus and close to Greensboro residential area so therefore it is in walking distance of many people. It is on located on the corner of two of the busiest streets, Spring Garden and Aycock, so there is tons of traffic, by car and foot just alike but it is managable. It is also right across from a well known homey restaurant, in which they can pick up their customers also. There are also many other businesses around that area that they can pick up customers from too. They also have an excellent parking lot which can accommodate many customers at one time.
Although this store may seem great, this location does have it's downfalls. For instance, one of the company's biggest competitors is located right across the street and has been there way longer than this new store. Therefore they have had years to establish customer loyalty with residents that have been in the area for awhile. Also there is a median that separates the traffic on Spring Garden Street makes it impossible for customers driving on the right-hand side of the road to turn directly into the store's parking lot. If they wish to enter the parking lot, they have to make a U-turn at the light on a tight street. Their other option would have to be to take a left turn at the light onto Aycock Street and wait for oncoming traffic to stop (because there is no light there) so they can pull into the parking lot, near the pharmacy drive-thru, and drive around to the front of the store to park. This is extremely irritating, when it could have been a simple turn if not for the median blocking it off. So to avoid this, many consumers will just go to CVS, which you can get in and out of without a problem.
In the end the goods do outweight the bads. Hopefully this store and location will do well. This store is a good location, I just think they should try to tweak somethings with the city!

Claire's Demise

Time and time again we hear about how the bad the economy is and how dreadful this recession has been. But when you go to your local mall or strip center you are often remind about how true these statements are. Retailers are fighting to keep their companies alive but unfortunately many companies have or are on their way to declaring bankruptcy and are going to be forced to close their stores.

Many factors are involved in the failures of retailers especially in such a bad economy. A store could fail because of no comparative advantage, lack of resources, inadequate marketing, not having an effective target market, not enough traffic in near the location of the store, etc. In the case of Claire's Store, Inc many of these factors played a role in the downfall of this store.

The downfall of Claire's Store was caused by the fact that the Claire's has to wide of a marketing target which is customers ranging from the age of 3-17, whereas one of their main competitors, Icing focuses their target to 17-23(MarketLine, p.1). With a smaller age range, Icing is able to focus their energy and merchandise towards the same age group. Whereas Claire's tries to satisfy different age groups and a lot of money is wasted on merchandising. Another reason why Claire's is failing is because of the shortcoming in anticipated sales. So this created a huge inventory backup. Gene Kahn, the CEO of Claire's Store, Inc stated that "the fiscal 2008 results reflect the difficult economic environment giving rise to a consumer pullback that is impacting retailers around the globe(MarketLine, p.1)." If Claire's wants to turn this situation around, it is going to take a whole new marketing strategy. And also the help of another company to get them out of debt.

This is an unfortunate but common situation and hopefully retailers are learning from the failures of other companies. Retailers need to focus they marketing strategy and plain and use their resources wisely. And hopefully the economy can be restored within the next couple of years.

MarketLine. (2008, April 7). Claire's Stores: new strategies for growth. Retrieved from http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5089696486507553464

MarketLine. (2008, April 4). Claire's Stores Q4 net sales down. Retrieved from http://libproxy.uncg.edu:4944/library/NewsArticleDisplay.aspx?R=8E826C08-2459-4977-9658-669E341E565A

Target Market

Targeting your market is essential in the business world because not everybody is going to buy everything. In order to be successful you have to narrow the audience that you are trying to reach. This approach saves time, resources, and most importantly money. Once you find your specific customer you will know what they want and you do not have to spend time and money on trying out ideas that may or may not work. This aspect of the business world will make things run more efficiently and productively because you will know what areas want and what they do not want. This makes it easier to satisfy the customer because they will be certain that they will be able to find what they need with this particular business without any doubts.

It will also help you as a supplier to learn about what the people need in the various areas that are being sold to. If you are searching for a specific audience, you must research those places and find out exactly what they may need in that area. For instance, it would be backwards to open up a ski shop in Las Vegas, Nevada because the consumers do not need ski clothes in their everyday life. It is essential to learn the consumers lifestyle in order to provide their necessities.

This is why surveys like VALS surveys are so beneficial to retailers. This is because the personality and activity questionaires are so important because retailers are able to see what people are into nowadays and also to find out what the consumer need is. These questionnaires also help retailers find out what the consumer's motivation to spend. I found the VALS questionnaire to be extremely accurate and I do agree with the eight different segments of consumers.
Abercrombie and Fitch's target customer is a male/female, ages 16-22, who likes nice things and likes to have the prep look. This corresponds with the VALS segments because that consumer would fall under the achiever category because their image is important to him/her. He/she is also motivated to demonstrate their success to their peers. This is the appropriate segment because innovators category is for finer merchandise than Abercrombie and Fitch.

The Scoop on H&M

So some people may know that H&M stands for Hennes and Mauritz. The reason that name came to be is because the store was originally opened in Sweden in 1947 it was called Hennes, which is Swedish for hers. Then this store bought Mauritz Widforss, which was a men hunting and clothing store, which then made the infamous H&M which is now controlled by Stefan Persson, who is the billionaire son of the first owner Erling Persson. The Hennes store was created by Erling Persson because he came to the US after WWII and was so impressed by the high fashion styles sold in Macy's, Barney's, etc.
H&M 's headquarters is in Stockhelm, Sweden and employs over 68,000 people. It operates over 1,700 stores in 34 different countries. And about 60% of the clothing sold in H&M is made in Asia and the rest is mostly made in Europe. The #1 market for H&M is Germany, which makes up about 25% of their sales.
I found out that H&M is the 66 most recognized brand in world. The Company is worth $11 billion. The full company name Hennes and Mauritz was rebranded H&M to be simplify the perception of the company worldwide. H&M is one of the few corporations with a two letter domain.


sources used in this blog were wikipedia, market line, and hoover.

261: Intro to Retailing

My Favorite Retailer:

My favorite retailer would have to be Hennes & Mauritz, better known as H&M. This clothing store is my favorite retailer because I have a passion for fashion and apparel retail. H&M is the only store that I just HAVE to go to when I see it, regardless of whether or not I have money. So I have to name it as my favorite. I have always been a fan of H&M. It has been the one store that I consistently shop at and have no problems with. There are many reasons why this store is my favorite.

I love how H&M always keeps up with the latest trends for men and women. Then put great care in the collections that they put out and make sure that their clothing is up to date. Which is very easy for H&M to do because their stores are worldwide. They also put new collections out very often and it is known for fast fashion. Another reason why this store is so great is they have many available sizes in the store. Which makes fashion accessible to many people and not just sizes 0-8. H&M also have excellent customer service, I have never once had a problem with the store management or return policy, etc. The store is also reasonably priced for the quality and stylish clothing that they have. And Also another reason why H&M is my favorite retailer is because they do some many collaberations with other designers such as Robert Cavalli, Viktor & Rolf, Madonna, and Kylie Minogue.

I just feel that H&M is great store because it is quick fashion all year round. They have many stores worldwide which makes the fashion extremely accesible. They have excellent customer service. They have many available sizes. And make it possible for you to wear Cavalli at such a low cost. In conclusion, I just feel that H&M is a great retailer, which is very successful and I expect to see a lot more from the store.

Home Fashion Retail

The housing crisis has a direct correlation to the home fashion retail industry. If a family is barely able to afford housing then how would they be able to furnish there house? And if this is so, then the home fashion industry is going to do poorly.
One of the main issue in the recession that we are in is that families are having to downgrade on many things, housing being one of the major units. So many families are moving from pricier neighborhoods to cheaper neighborhoods, or moving from houses to apartments, etc. And most of the furnishing that they had before is being reused because they do not have the money to buy new furnishing. This is hurting the home fashion industry very badly.
The home fashion retail industry is trying to do everything in the power to make industry more affordable to people at this time. This is why you see a lot of brand name lines like Martha Stewart selling their collections at discount stores like Walmart. The industry is also using brighter colors and design more now than before to lift people's spirits in this time of recession. I feel like these changes are more than necessary if this industry wants to survive during this housing crisis.