PARK AVENUE

Launched: 1986

About Park Avenue: As India’s premium lifestyle brand, Park Avenue’s designs embody the latest in international fabric, styling, colour and fashion trends. They cater to customer needs with formal clothing for varied occasions—a day at the office, high-powered corporate meetings, family get-togethers or festive occasions. Their creations can be found at exclusive Park Avenue stores and ‘the Raymond Shop’ chain of stores.

A brand from the acclaimed House of Raymond, Park Avenue has been the recipient of several awards for its lines and brands. Most recently, They received an award for ‘Most Innovative Brand’ at the Lycra Images Fashion Awards 2008.

Product Innovation: Their belief in constant innovation has led them to make shirt lines new and unique every time. New materials like Cotton XLA add extra comfort and durability, reducing the stress that stretching causes to the shirt. Pure White Shirts stay white for longer, and are made using our ETI(Easy To Iron) technology, while Crystalline shirts have a unique anti-microbial finish with anti-odour properties. And Park Avenue’s Anti-UV shirt is treated with a Liquid Ammonia finish that helps scatter the harmful UV rays, without them reaching the outer epidermal layer of your skin.

Park Avenue Woman: In 2007, Park Avenue Woman—a complete range of formal office wear for women—was launched. Park Avenue Woman is designed especially for the working women professionals of today. The brand offers three distinct and elegant lines that include business formal wear, leisure wear and evening wear. Park Avenue offers the finest fabrics, with attractive fits and cuts to style and give her the confidence to look her best and play the lead with least effort.

PEPE JEANS

Launched: 1973

About Pepe Jeans: Portobello Road, London. This is where the story of Pepe begins. This was the place where three NRI brothers, originally from Kenya, created a new concept in jeanswear design and marketing in the United Kingdom: Pepe Jeans. The jeans they designed focused on London’s energy and its street-inspired fashion. Within the first two years of the brand’s existence, Pepe Jeans became the second most popular jeans-wear brand in the UK, and began to spread its presence throughout Europe.

Pepe Jeans has become a leader in the international casual-wear market, by infusing traditional denim wear with a modern fashion collection influenced by the streets of London. New fabrics, finishes and silhouettes are constantly being developed to maintain Pepe Jeans as an innovative jeans and casual-wear resource right across Europe.

Pepe Jeans is now sold in more than 80 countries and new markets are being added rapidly. Pepe Jeans has the unique distinction of being one of the largest casual-wear brands in Europe, competing effectively on a global basis.

The year 1989 saw the launch of Pepe Jeans in India. Quietly making in-roads into many a heart, Pepe has become one of the most adored fashion brands in the premium segment; enjoying a market share of 25 percent, which is the highest in the international premium segment of the casual-wear market.

Pepe Jeans today is a complete casual-wear brand, and sells everything one would associate with casual-wear viz. casual cotton shirts, T-shirts, denims, fashion tops, dresses, jackets and accessories.

• It is all about premium jeans and casual-wear, young at heart, positively rebellious with a broad appeal, innovative but commercial, for both sexes, global, bold and ambitious.

• They are committed to quality. 

• They strive to be the most commercial, most service-oriented and most supportive brand, highly committed to the needs of clients whom they consider to be their partners. 

• They aim to become the main consistent player, without compromising on any of our fundamental values in every market they operate.

• They are focused on the upper middle to upper segment in their pricing structure and distribution channels.

• They support a unique store development (visual merchandising) program consistent with our modern and youthful urban image.

                                               

MUFTI

Launched: 1998

About Mufti: In 1992, Kamal Khushlani started manufacturing men’s shirts under the label Mr. Mister. Recognising fashion as the core strength of this fledgling brand, many boutiques deemed this start-up label fit for their shelves. Realising its true potential, and that of the market, the brand decided to move into overdrive. An ambitious project to leapfrog into a leadership position in men’s fashion was initiated in 1998 and the brand Mufti was launched. Mufti is a word derived from colonial India’s armed forces word for casual dressing as opposed to wearing a uniform. Mufti aims to attract the customer whose tastes have moved beyond off-the-rack mentality, and who is self-assured to makes a fashion statement reflecting his own distinct persona. The brand Mufti is meant to help a customer actualize his need.

Mufti is uniquely original in everything it does and does not imitate anyone. Everything, beginning from the name (a term from pre-independence India) to its business values to its image and advertising, reflects this belief.

Innovation is the brand’s core strength. Its philosophy is that fashion is something that is just so right for the time that it does not need to be oversold, just presented. True fashion is never old, dies young and is reincarnated as another young manifestation. Mufti doesn’t want just customers, but cult followers: Mufti people.

This philosophy is best reflected in the progressive tag-lines associated with the brand. From Mufti (Anything else than a uniform) to Mufti – Alternative Clothing to Mufti – No Explanations, the brand has evolved and adjusted to the changing socio-economic demographic scenario in India.

Mufti has always believed in innovative advertising along with creating innovative designs. The advertising theme in the past campaigns reflected a surrealistic Krishna—-an amalgam of a modern Indian and his cultural lineage. The current campaign, in line with today, reflects a global Indian who is confident, self-assured and willing to experiment and step away from the herd mentality—-aptly summed up as ‘No Explanations’.

PARX

Launched: 1999

About Parx: Parx is a premium casual lifestyle brand which is positioned to cater to the needs of consumers who are looking for dressing up for life. Right from its inception, Parx has been the preferred choice of brand in the casual wear segment with continuous innovations and international trends and styles.

The brand goes to great lengths to ensure quality. The manufacturing process uses the best of machinery, techniques, tracking systems and processes. These are automated to a large extent.

Distribution is through the following channels: Exclusive Parx brand stores, which are company-owned and operated; the Raymond Shop (which offers fabric from Raymond and other readymade brands from the house of Raymond); large format stores like India Bulls, Central and other leading menswear stores.

Target Audience: Parx reflects the persona of the energetic 22–30 year old who is aggressive, outgoing, dynamic and lives his life to the fullest. Parx reflects the pulse of the new generation which looks at clothing as a reflection of their attitude and vibrancy.

4.2 SOME MAJOR BRANDS IN INDIA

4.2 SOME MAJOR BRANDS IN INDIA

Launched: 1992

About Spykar: The Spykar story starts way back in 1992, when Prasad Pabrekar, led by ambition, ventured into fashion apparel and accessories to make use of his vast repertoire of technical knowledge in the processing of denim garments.

Spykar built its business around the ever young and the most universal youth product: denim. The enterprise has grown on the promise of a great product which compares to the best in the world, and the same has been steadfastly achieved. Besides creating a commendable product, Spykar has built one of the only successful and consistent youth-wear brands of the country.

Our team of young, dedicated and very creative designers, who are extremely aware of the latest trends in the international market, are continuously on a rampage to innovate and to bring new styles, cuts and fabrics to the market. We experiment a great deal on new styles and accessories, making them trendy and accessible to the Indian consumer. Since Spykar designs specifically for Indian audiences, we believe we have the best fits and designs in our repertoire.

Product range: Since the last five years, Spykar has shed its ‘Only Jeanswear’ image and entered into manufacturing and marketing various lifestyle accessories like eyewear, travel gear, deodorants, bags, funky jewellery, belts, socks, and other accessories through its own network and through the brand licensing route. Spykar is the only Indian brand which has licensed its brand name to third parties successfully in eyewear and travel gear categories.

Brand focus: The brand has always focussed on u:th and their aspirations and has built the product portfolio accordingly. All our marketing efforts are targeted at making the brand relevant at all times to this discerning audience. Spykar has always been at the forefront of youth-related initiatives, whether it’s events, college fests, movies, social issues like aids awareness, or rallies. Spykar has always been there to support the youth of India. And that, besides it products and designs, is what makes Spykar the most preferred and India’s leading youth brand of clothes and accessories.

Consumer connect: The brand keeps pace with the changing times by only engaging consumers through a slew of BTL activities. It’s been the biggest strength of the brand in establishing and maintaining a close connect with its target audience. Spykar, for the last five years, has reached its audiences through very strategic in-film placements which, though quite blatant at times, delivered the oomph. And so impactful has it been, that even in the absence of a brand ambassador, the brand’s imagery, positioning and popularity has only continued to strengthen!

Spykar belief: The company is eco-friendly, socially responsible, evolving, profit-oriented, always people-centric and fair to those who work for it.

4 GARMENT INDUSTRY

4.1 AN OVERVIEW

Textile Industry:

The Indian Textiles Industry has an overwhelming presence in the economic life of the country. Apart from providing one of the basic necessities of life, the textiles industry also plays a pivotal role through its contribution to industrial output, employment generation, and the export earnings of the country. Currently, it contributes about 14 percent to industrial production, 4 percent to the GDP, and 17 percent to the country’s export earnings. It provides direct employment to over 35 million people, which includes a substantial number of SC/ST, and women. The Textiles sector is the second largest provider of employment after agriculture. Thus, the growth and all round development of this industry has a direct bearing on the improvement of the economy of the nation.

The Indian textiles industry is extremely varied, with the hand-spun and Ihand-woven sector at one end of the spectrum, and the capital intensive, sophisticated mill sector at the other. The decentralized power looms/ hosiery and knitting sectors form the largest section of the Textiles sector

The industry has several vast sectors within it, viz, the mill sector, the clothing or garment sector, the handloom sector and the power loom sector. Each of these sectors employs lakhs of workers and also contributes significantly to the national economy. The tradable commodities under textiles include readymade garments (clothing), cotton yarns, fabrics, silk and woolen products, etc.

The garment sector:

The garment sector, however, has emerged as the most globalised sector in the world today. This sector alone employs about 4.3million workers. A large segment of the garment sector comprises of a vast domestic market, while another significant segment caters to the export market. Most of the units producing for exports are in Tirupur, Delhi and Mumbai. According to the ministry of commerce, 53per cent of the total textile exports in 2007-2008, was from the garment sector alone. Nearly 80 per cent of Indian clothing exports go to the USA and the EU where they face quota restrictions. Apart from agriculture and Patents, textiles and clothing in particular are the murkiest elements on the stage of world politics. The struggle on these two sectors continued throughout the Uruguay round for eight years. Textiles and clothing still remain as the most contentious issues. 

3.6 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

3.6 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

In the existing business environment, markets are turbulent and customer needs are fast changing. Therefore, companies should opt for ways to add value for their customer by offering products or services just the way they want it. When the customer has to choose from a large number of options, features, pricing structures and various delivery methods, offering a unique product to every individual customer will go a long way in adding value to the consumer decision making process.  Customer satisfaction is a continuous process which does not begin or end with a purchase. It covers the entire ‘ownership experience’ from selecting a product, to purchase, to aftercare to a repeat purchase. Thus, there are three stages in the customer satisfaction process, namely:
1.Pre sales: During this stage, the customer’s expectations are developed through the various information sources like advertising, word of mouth and so on.
2.During sales: When the customer is engaged in experiencing how to deal with enquiries and sell products.
3.After sales: This refers to the period where the customer has started using the product

The pre-sales period:

This refers to clear, useful information on:
·The product or service.
·Its quality aspect.
·Its core benefits or advantages.
·Its price
·Its availability or sales outlet.
·How to obtain it.

During sales period:
·Opportunity to inspect the products.
·Provision of an attractive sales environment
·Courteous and effective service.
·Reasonable and reliable delivery.
·Enhancing quality of goods or services.
·Prompt reply in case of complaint receipt.
·Freedom to choose with undue sales pressure.

The After sales period: 
·If required necessary support or advice must be provided.
·Prompt replacement or refund if necessary.
·A smooth and straight forward complaint procedure.
·Efficient repair and maintenance service.
·Efficient and effective consumer follow-up  process.

From the above points, it is seen that consumer satisfaction goes beyond the core product or service offering. Marketing decision makers must start by trying to understand the elements which together will determine the satisfaction levels. They must then list the elements in a proper sequence so as to identify what is to be done to increase the customer’s satisfaction level. This can be done only if the marketers involve a system which facilitates interaction with their customers. These interactions will prove to be equally important as the quality of the core product or service offered by the company in the long run.

3.5 THE FIVE STAGES IN CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS

1.     Problem Recognition

The buying process starts when the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need may be activated by internal or external stimuli. The intensity of want will indicate the speed at which the person will move to fulfill it.

2.     Information Search

An aroused customer will be inclined towards the search for information until the desired product is known and available. The person will also search for information until the desired product is known and available.

The person will also search for information relating to the brand, its location and the manner of obtaining the product.

3.     Evaluation of Alternatives

This is an important stage in the process of buying where several decisions are taken in the evaluation process.

The basic consumer evaluation process is as follows –

Firstly     – The consumer is trying to satisfy a need.

Secondly – He is looking for certain benefits from the product.

Thirdly    – He sees a product as a bundle of attributes.

4.     Purchase Decision

While the customer is evaluating the alternatives the person will have preferences among the various brands, a liking towards a particular brand will lead to the purchase of the product thus a prospective buyer heads towards final selection.

5.   Post Purchase BehaviorOnce the product has been purchased the consumer will experience some level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. If the derived satisfaction is as per expected satisfaction then it will lead to brand preference and brand loyalty leading to future purchases. If the purchase does not yield derived satisfaction then the customer becomes dissatisfied and will lose its preference.

3.4 MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYING BEHAVIOR

3.4 MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING BUYING BEHAVIOR

Personality-An individual’s personality relates to perceived personal characteristics that are consistently exhibited, especially when one acts in the presence of others.  In most, but not all, cases the behaviors one projects in a situation is similar to the behaviors a person exhibits in another situation.  In this way personality is the sum of sensory experiences others get from experiencing a person (i.e., how one talks, reacts).  While one’s personality is often interpreted by those we interact with, the person has their own vision of their personality, called Self Concept, which may or may not be the same has how others view us. 

 

 1.CULTURAL FACTORS

    Culture:

     Exert the maximum influence on consumer behavior. Culture is the basic determinant of a person wants. It refers to a set of learnt beliefs, values, attitudes, customs, habits and other forms of behavior that are shared in society.

  Sub Culture:

   Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific identification and socialization for its members. They are four types of subcultures they are : 
Nationality groups
Religious groups
Racial groups

      Geographic groups

                             

Social Class:

     It is the divisions of people in the society, which are hierarchically ordered, and its members share similar values and behavior.

SOCIAL FACTORS

Reference Group

They are the social, economic or professional groups that have a direct or indirect influence on the person’s attitudes or behavior. Consumers accept information provided by their peer groups on the quality, performance, style etc of a product. These groups influence the person’s attitudes and expose them to a new behavior.

  Family

      It is the most influential group as the attitudes, habits and values are shaped by the family’s influence. The members of family play different roles such as influencer, decider, purchaser and user in the buying process.

  Roles and Status

       Roles represent the position we feel we hold or others feel we should hold when dealing in a group environment.  These positions carry certain responsibilities The consumers buying behavior is also influenced by the roles and status of person. It influences a person in taking a certain decision.

PERSONAL FACTORS

Age

    According to Russell People buy different goods and services over their lifetime. The lifecycle of a person is infancy, adolescence, teenage, adult middle age and old age. In each stage the persons buying behavior is different. The person is dependent on others during the first three stages, then in the next stage he not only takes decisions but also influences others buying decisions and in the last stage of the life cycle the decisions are again made by others.

Occupation

      It also influences his or her consumption pattern because occupation decides his ability to buy For example – A blue-collar worker will buy work clothes and work shoes while a company’s president will buy expensive suits, club memberships and a luxury car.

Economic Circumstances

    Products choice is greatly affected by ones economic circumstances. People’s economic circumstance consists of their spend able income, savings, assets, debts, borrowing power and attitude towards spending versus saving.

Lifestyle

   It is the pattern or way of living of a person. This will be indicated through the person’s activities, interests and opinions. Hence he will chose products according to his lifestyle.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS

Motivation

   Motivation relates to our desire to achieve a certain outcome. For instance, when it comes to making purchase decisions customers’ motivation could be affected by such issues as financial position (e.g., Can I afford the purchase?), time constraints (e.g., Do I need to make the purchase quickly?), overall value (e.g., Am I getting my money’s worth?), and perceived risk (e.g., What happens if I make a bad decision?).Psychologists have developed theories of human motivation. The best three motivation theories are given by Sigmund Freud, Abraham Maslow and Frederick Herzberg.

   Perception

      A motivated person is ready to act. How the motivated person actually acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. To perceive is to see, to hear, to touch, to taste, to smell and to sense something so as to find meaning in the experience. People can emerge with different Perceptions of the same object because of three perpetual processes that is selective retention, selective attention and selective distortion.

Learning

   Learning involves changes in an individual’s behavior arising from experience or practice. Most human behavior is learned. It is produced through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement.

Beliefs and Attitudes

     A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds something. Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes. These in turn influence their buyer behavior. The beliefs may be based on knowledge, opinion, or faith. They may or may not carry an emotional charge.

An attitude is a person enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea. People have attitudes toward almost everything: religion, politics, clothes, music, food and so on. Attitudes put them into a frame of mind of liking or disliking an object.

3.3 BUYING ROLES

3.3 BUYING ROLES

A big task for the marketer is to identify the target buyers of a particular new product. The marketer has to know who makes the buying decision for the particular product category. Very often, most of the purchase decisions involve a Decision Making Unit (DMU) comprising of more than one person. So he has to understand the roles of the various people involved in the decision making process. There are five different types of roles that people play in a buying decision. They are as follows:

·Initiator: The person who first suggests the idea of buying the product or service.

·Influencer: The person whose view or advice influences the decision.

·Decider: The person who decides on any component of a buying decision: whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy, or where to buy.

·Buyer: The person who makes the actual purchase.

· User: The person who consumes the product or service.

It will be very useful for the company if it is able to identify the roles of the persons involved in the decision making process. This is because this information will help them in designing the product, allocate funds for the promotional budget, work out the communication media, and decide for whom the message is to be directed.

Buying Behaviour: Consumer decision making varies with the type of buying decision. The decisions to buy toothpaste, a tennis racket, a personal computer, and a new car are all very different. Complex and expensive purchases are likely to involve more buyer deliberation.

3.2 BUYING MOTIVES

3.2 BUYING MOTIVES

A customer purchases a particular product or service because of a strong inner feeling or force which instills in him a strong desire to have possession of the same. A buying motive can be said to be all the desires considerations and impulses which induce a buyer to purchase a given product. Basically, buying motives are of two kinds:

1.     Product motives.

2.     Patronage motives.

 Product Motives

The impulses, considerations, and desires that induce a person to be positively inclined to purchase a product is called product motive. The product is inclusive of the attributes i.e. color, size, attractive design, package, price etc, which may be the reasons behind product motives. Product motives can be classified on the basis of the nature of satisfaction sought by the buyer. Based on this classification, we can have two categories of product motives:

1.     Emotional product motives.

2.     Rational product motives.

Emotional product motives: Emotional product motives are those impulses which persuade a customer to purchase a product spontaneously without giving prior thought to the consequences of the action or decision. Evaluation of the pros and cons of the decision or logical reasoning and analysis is not pertinent in these purchase decisions. Here, the buyer lets the heart rule over the mind.

Rational product motives: Rational product motives, on the other hand, involve careful reasoning and logical analysis of the intended purchase. The buyer will work out whether it is worthwhile to purchase the product. The buyer will carefully think and work out the valid and relevant reasons to justify the proposed purchase of the product.

However, sometimes it has been observed that some product motives may be a mixture of emotion and rationality. In such a case, a buyer may react quickly to a situation and make an impulsive buying decision but there could be some conscious reasoning behind such a purchase. So a more logical way of classifying product motives is by adding two dimensions to the product motives- utility and prestige.

PATRONAGE BUYING MOTIVES

 Why do buyers purchase from specific shops? What are the considerations or factors which persuade the buyers to display such patronage? These questions can be answered by understanding buyer patronage motives. Patronage motives can also be categorized into two groups namely, emotional patronage motives and rational patronage motives.

Emotional patronage motives: Emotional patronage motives are those impulses which motivate or persuade a buyer to purchase from specific shops. There may be no logical reasoning behind his decision to purchase from a particular shop. He may simply decide to buy from his “most preferred” shop, merely based on subjective reasons.

Rational patronage motives: If a buyer solicits a particular shop after following a logical reasoning of the mind, this is called rational patronage motives. He may select a shop because it offers a variety of products, or stocks the latest designs and models, or assures prompt delivery and good after sales service.

As mentioned earlier, even patronage motives can be a combination of emotional and rational motives.