Fashion Marketing: Contemporary Issues, Second edition - Pr School

92 Fashion Marketing
Finally, the third and easily the most obvious aspect of fashion retailer internationalization
is the operation of retail shops by fashion retailers within foreign
markets. A number of questions arise as a result of this direct form of
participation within a foreign market by a fashion company, and these relate to
such issues as the reasons for opening stores abroad, the direction of that opening,
as well as the operating methods that companies adopt in order to operate
stores abroad. These various questions are the focus for the remainder of this
discussion.
Who are the international fashion retailers?
To definitively identify which fashion companies operate stores abroad is
highly problematic for a number of reasons. The first is that no international
database appears to exist which has tracked the international activities of
fashion companies. Secondly, if such a database did exist, then it would be
impossible to ensure its accuracy, since this is a dynamic and fast-changing
market sector; retailers enter and exit from national markets at great speed,
for as Dawson (1993) identified, the replication of a fashion retailer’s trading
format abroad is limited in terms of capital and management costs, and their
single brand format lends itself to economies of replication.
However, despite the difficulties of locating exactly who are the international
fashion retailers, it is possible to identify categories of fashion retailer
likely to engage in foreign market expansion. This can firstly be done on the
basis of country of origin.
Studies undertaken by Corporate Intelligence on Retailing (1997) found
that, within a European context, the most prolific international fashion retailers,
in terms of the number of European countries to be entered, and the
number of stores operated within these markets, originated from France, Italy,
the US, The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and the UK. No clear explanation
is provided as to why these markets should produce such internationally
oriented retailers, but possible suggestions include the recognition that these
countries have long been established as reputable exporters of clothing products
and their fashion retailers are expert in product and brand development,
distribution management and information technology.
A further categorization of international fashion retailers drawn from an
analysis of the most prolific fashion retailers is provided in Table 5.3, and
identifies their product focus, the number of stores and their size, their market
positioning and target customer groups.
Where are fashion retailers developing international
operations?
Studies which examine the direction of fashion retailers’ foreign market expansion
are limited, both in terms of the volume and the breadth of companies