How is FOREVER 21 establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK?
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study and Company Context
China and Hong Kong have recently become important targets for businesses to establish their brands and coupled with the immense challenges businesses encounter in the Asian segment of the market, it brings to mind the kind of work and preparation a business needs to do in order to establish itself in the market. The global clothing and apparel industry has experienced a speedy expansion and growth over the last decade, which has attracted an increased attention and interest in the industry. This growth and expansion alongside the increased interest from new entrants has increased the intensity of competition and necessitated a change of strategies apparel businesses or companies set up with regard to capital structure decisions, brand image management strategies and entry modes among other significant aspects.
Forever 21 is an apparel and clothing retailer that saw its establishment in 1984 in California by Don Wan Chang (Forever 21, 2014). Even though the store was originally known as Fashion 21 and had presence in Los Angeles only, it currently boasts of store presence in major cities in the United States, Canada, the UK, the Middle East and Europe. It deals in general clothing and clothing accessories. In terms of target market with respect to gender and age, the apparel retailer targets young women, young men and teenage girls.
Many forces have an effect on the existence and brand establishment of a business or company such as Forever 21 that has a comparatively short history of operation since its establishment in 1984. With the great significance laid on the importance of positive brand image, it necessitates carrying out regular evaluations and assessments of how a business’s brand image is faring in the market it operates. By conducting of situation analyses from time to time, a business should be able to determine the most excellent way to approach the market. This is true for both new and emerging markets and also applies to a business that intends to expand an existing market niche. In respect to this, this thesis conducts a situation analysis for Forever 21 to investigate how Forever 21 is establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK. The exposition includes analysis of market entry and expansion strategies employed by the firm and the accompanying financial outcome of these efforts. Efforts are also made to assess the marketing endeavours of the company in the two market segments alongside assessment of the unique challenges that face these endeavours and market forces are in play in the identified market regions. The market forces are evaluated by performing a situational SWOT analysis together with the Porter’s Five Forces analysis. This necessitates conducting of a systematic scientific study hence the thesis is organized in five main sections from introductory section through the conclusion.
1.2 Problem Statement
The global clothing industry has been on a considerably rapid expansion mainly as a consequence of the trade policies that were brought to existence in 2005. In 2005, the World Trade Organization instigated an accord on textiles and clothing (known as ATC), which did away with several of the quotas that until 2005 aided in the regulation of the industry. This initiative caused an outstanding vacillation in the equilibrium and stability of global apparel industry with respect to trade and production that made apparel companies and textile dealers to restructure their market approaches in bid to rearrange their production guiding principles and sourcing systems in the midst of the recently availed economic realities alongside the paradigm shift in geopolitics that affect business operations in several ways (Karina et al 2011). These transformations have given rise to other noteworthy factors that influence business competitiveness in the clothing industry on a global market perspective. These factors include costs of brand image management, costs that relate to labour, production, as well as business competencies along with other secondary factors.
Thus, emerging markets such as Hong Kong have provided opportunities as hubs for lower-value assembly inside the value chain of the clothing manufacturing because they offer low-cost substitutes in the manufacturing and assembly segment. To facilitate for other smaller companies and retailers, which may also be new entrants in the market to maintain their competitiveness, they must engage in activities that strengthen their brand image and these include upgrading their workforce skills, ensuring consistent quality and carrying out thorough brand marketing initiatives or else they fall out of the value chain. However, Karina et al (2011) point out that even though the global clothing industry has turned out to be a trillion dollar industry, it has developed into a significant economic centre of interest for many new entrants in addition to playing a major role as an economic stimulus for various economies chiefly the developing markets and low income economies where the low income economies and developing markets make up about 75% of the global clothing exports. According to Gereffi and Memedovic (2003), the industry is an archetypal representation of buyer-driven industry with power asymmetries within the value chain where the dealers and the target buyers in the world apparel industry do not have symmetrical power balance. On the other side of the exposition we have the UK, which an established market with established competitors in the apparel industry and therefore also rife with challenges.
As a result of the said power asymmetries between the dealers and buyers, the global buyers are the ones who establish the brand of products to be brought to market, where they are manufactured, who produces them and to an extended view, the costs of production. This constraint makes firms to come up with varying strategies to ensure that they are not only unique as distinct brands in the market but that what they bring to the market stands to gain customer loyalty. Others outsource production by initiating an exceptional network of global manufacturers who produce on contract basis and this is true more so in the developing countries given that that is where costs of production are low and offer opportunities for competitiveness in the exceedingly competitive world apparel market. The majority lead firms that build these manufacturing contracts are predominantly headquartered in the industrialized nations such as US and UK. Since each lead firm has its own brand image, it should not be uncommon that Forever 21 would wish to identify with an outstanding brand to help in boosting its own brand image
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Forever 21 is establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK. The investigation includes analysis of market entry and expansion strategies employed by the firm and the accompanying financial outcome of these efforts. Efforts are also made to assess the marketing endeavours of the company in the two market segments alongside assessment of the unique challenges that face these endeavours and market forces are in play in the identified market regions. The market forces are evaluated by performing a situational SWOT analysis together with the Porter’s Five Forces analysis. This necessitates conducting of a systematic scientific study hence the thesis is organized in five main sections from introductory section through the conclusion.
Since all global industries are subject to international standards, including the apparel industry and these standards are known to increase the brand standing of business organization in the market (Oakland 2003; also Karapetrovic & Willborn 2001), another task of the exposition is to assess whether Forever 21 embraces any working quality control systems. Lastly, the global clothing industry is also distinguished by market fragmentations where the market segment that accounts for the biggest share of the world attire retail market is the segment that deals with women’s wear (Karina et al 2011). According to Karina et al (2011), the women’s wear segment makes up over 50% of the industry’s global total value. There are also other segments that comprise the menswear, which makes up about 33% of the industry based on the 2010 figures and children’s segment taking the rest (Karina et al 2011). This study will also investigate how Forever 21 reconciles brand image with target consumer-based segmentation.
1.4 Goals of the Study
The goals of this study are encased in the broad and specific objectives that are laid down in order to be fulfilled by the end of the undertaking. The broad objective of the study is to investigate how Forever 21 is establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK. The following specific objectives are set to be fulfilled alongside the broad objective:
- To investigate how is FORVERY 21establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK?
- To establish how culture influence FORVERY 21 building their brand position in Global?
- To assess the various approaches and strategies used by Forever 21 to achieve stable brand position in the apparel industry
1.5 Research Questions
The research undertaking seeks to answer the following questions:
- How is FORVERY 21establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK?
- Why there is difference between managing a single market and global market?
- How does culture influence FORVERY 21 building their brand position in Global?
Chapter 2: Literature review
This section will review the past literature on brand positioning, international marketing among other concepts of marketing to understand what is being researched. The literature review will assist the researcher in achieving his objectives.
2.0 Introduction
Ries and Trout introduced the term positioning in 1969. It is a term in marketing that involves the capability of firms creating a status for themselves in the mind of consumers. It is in contrast with competitive branding. Brand positioning plays a key role in which assists in market strategy, this is by clearly defining what a brand is. The brand expression theory, which was coined by Gelder (2013), explains that branding begins with positioning, followed by brand identity and finally brand personality. Another scholar Egan (2007) describes brand positioning as a method of conveying effective marketing Communication in the field. This explains how brand positioning has a dominant effect in marketing and branding activities. Other scholars and marketers in the field have described it as product positioning as opposed to brand positioning, either way; both terms clearly give the idea of placing a product or brand in the mind of the consumer.
CBBE model (Customer based brand equity) is the benchmark that marketers use to successfully develop a brand. The CBBE model has a six concepts which include, brand performance, brand salience, brandjudgments, brand feelings, brand imagery, and brand resonance. These concepts are the basic steps involved in creating a strong brand. For this model to be effectively executed, the first step will be to determine the organizational expectations of the consumer’s knowledge on the brand as opposed to the current knowledge they already have. This is positioning the brand (Keller, 2008).
2.2 Basic Concepts of POPs and PODs
Gelder (2010) underlines the main purpose of branding is to make the brand conspicuous from its competitors in the market and to the appeal to the consumers. Therefore, to ensure effective positioning, the POPs (Point of parity) and PODs (Point of difference) have to be clearly defined. POPs have an advantageous attribute and benefits to competitive brands, this also enables it to be shared by other brands, or at the very least match the competitors claimed benefits. In addition, there are two structures of POPs, which include category points of parity and competitive points of parity. In the case of Category point of parity, are the necessary conditions for effective brand position. They are visible at the expected product levels and exist at the generic level but on a lowers scale. They can also be influenced by technological changes, consumer trends, and development of the legal system. When launching an extension for a brand into a new category, category point of parity becomes a very important tool. This is because many consumers in the market need some sort of assurance in the new category, therefore it is important that the category POPs are well established. The main aim of category POPs is to deny the competitors in the market a point of difference. Therefore, if a specific brand can achieve competitive advantage in a particular area that its competitors cant, the brand can be eventfully successful (Keller, 2012).
PODs are also a favorable and unique aspect of the brand. It is somehow similar to USP, which is the unique selling preposition; this is because, the POPs are the unique benefits acquired from a brand that the consumer cannot readily get from the brand competitor. Therefore, to gain PODs a brand must execute extreme superiority. This explains the fact where brands prefer to gain points of parity than points of difference. This is significantly explained in Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning, book by Hooley and Nicouland (2008).
2.3 Brand positioning Strategy
Branding Position has several key stages. The first stage understands what kind of benefit the brand can pull for the shareholders. Laforet(2010) has analyzed the positioning decision based on the PODs and POPs as expressed by Keller (2008). There are six requirements that are needed when making a decision on positioning; these are distinctiveness, clarity, Durability, commitment, coherence, and relevance. The next stage is identifying consumer targets. Therefore, the brands can divide a market on segmentation basis such as geography, demography, behavioral and psychographic.
Figure 1
Segmentation is very important because different consumers in the market have different knowledge and perceptions of brands. Even though many times consumers tend to position brands without marketers effort or inputs, the marketers never want to lose the opportunity to place the brands positioning. It is important to select target market keenly offering products great advantages. The third step is finding out why consumers would prefer the brand from others. Laforet (2010) explains that organizations can have a position from these kinds of attributes; firstly, the unique products benefits and attributes which is a significant functional value of the product. In terms of its usage, occasion, and the time of use, these are like foodstuff, household items, or personal effects. Thirdly is demography, which is categorized in age, sex, and social level in society. The final aspect is positioned in to non-functional or abstract value that encompasses sensory, social values, culture, self-esteem, and the brand personality. As soon as the brand has acquired its positioning, it can now start to strategically mark its competitors. The fourth strategy is making an analysis of the competitive brand position. Therefore, when marketers want to consider strategies of beating their competitors they have to formulate a positioning strategy. Kotler (2010), state that if a certain brand can differentiate itself creating a unique aspect, it must create a superior customer value, thereby gaining competitive advantage. The most effective method to find out consumer needs and gain a competitive advantage is constructing a permanent grid.
According to Laforet (2010), a perpetual map is the view consumers have of a market. In this specific scenario, the consumers are in control and form the criteria for making judgments. Easey (2009) states that a perpetual map specifies the consumer perceptions of the brand in comparison to the competing brand.
In Summary, brand positioning attempts to show how far a brand has gone, and its level in the competitive market. The consumer need is an important tool in branding and create an essence for the position. Therefore the POPs and PODs are tools that help branding acquire an image of brand marketing to meet specific aspects the consumers expect. Companies are able to know the desires and needs of consumers in comparison to their competitors by using the perpetual map during positioning. Therefore in order for a brand to acquire proper identification and successful implementation, it is advised that a brand should maintain its position where it can least be affected by the competition.
2.4 Why there is a difference between managing a single market and a global market Basic components of international marketing
Globalization is a popular term in Marketing. Rob (2010) explains how the rate of exports and imports has significantly increased over all over the world in a span of 50 years. This shows that organizations have moved from trading locally to internationally. International marketing is therefore the performance of business activities that eventually redirect the chain of a company’s business to more than one country with the intension of making a profit. When businesses decide to trade internationally or globally, they have to find out the different cultures in the new environment they are about to venture. This is so that they can strategically adjust to the new environment. The firm needs prior knowledge on the countries language, laws, and politics and how business is governed. They also need to find out the consumers’ expectations, tastes, and other variables like technology and infrastructure. Mcauley (2001) explains that international trade has changed the way business is conducted, market trend and spending habits.
2.5 International Positioning challenges
In terms of positioning, both international and local markets have some common characteristics. However, the international marketers have some factors that they need to while designing a position for a product or brand. These include the technological change, the country of the brand effects, labels and packaging and regulations (Haris, 2013). The development of new technologies has a significant effect on the international positioning. The marketing messaging will therefore be exchanged from one country to another. An example can be a Mexican soap being showed in an American television station. Therefore, the main aspect is to maintain the consistency. Most of the challenges experienced in the global sphere such as social networking, telephone access can be sorted by technological advancement. Therefore, technological advancement is a crucial aspect in globalization and product positioning, and therefore a gap in technological advancement can limit the performance of a brand especially in the less developed nations. The marketers should also be cautious and expect a situation where the marketers can reject the new brand and technologies. The country of origin effects can also affect the global positioning. This cultural aspect needs high consideration. The consumers can have a different perspective of the product because of the country of origin. This can critically affect the way the consumer relates and conceptualizes the particular product. There are four aspects of the country of origin effects, which are the made in country, designed in country, home country and origin country. Many consumers are willing to purchase products when they have positive attitude towards the country of origin of the product. Companies such as Coca-Cola and Toyota have a positive country of origin effect that helps differentiate the products in the market. Firms that are doing well globally have to be careful and aware of country of origin effect, since the can reduce feelings of purchase risk.
2.6 Product standardization and adaptation
Standardization encompasses of the legal system, culture, governance economies of scale and service standardization. Adaptation, encompasses the laws and adaptation, this is the adaptation of the service and types of the adopters. To sum it all up, the home markets are more suitable and safer than the international or global markets.
2.7 Culture
According to Maeguiles (1997) culture is cumulative aspect that comprises of knowledge, belief, norms practices, language and other aspects that are learnt by individuals of certain community. Maeguiles (1997) goes no to explain that culture mainly operates by forming loose boundaries expected to be followed by individuals. Therefore, culture presents a framework that individuals and families function. A significant outcome of culture is how it impacts consumption patterns of people and organizations. Based on underlying culture, it has been noticed that consumers seem to adhere to certain consumption patterns. According to Holt (2003) successful companies are able to change their branding strategies to be aligned to the dominant cultural and integrate their brands into these cultures.
Maeguiles (1997) affirms that one of the underlying concept of branding is its capacity to minimize customers’ cost required to search the market, and the perceived risk through undertaking standardization of messages, attributes, advertisements, features, communications and images. Consequently, brands generally try and keep their established brand identity, brand image and brand personality across all their markets. Maeguiles (1997) observes this type of standardization is what forms the basic elements of the brand itself create the first challenge for the brands operating in the cross cultural environment. On many occasions, brands are forced to adopt their products or services to the varying cultures, thereby going against the principle of standardization and instead embracing the adoption principle. This brings into focus the issue of adoption verse standardization.
Another key challenge that faces global brands that seek to expand to foreign countries is the issue of balancing between standardization and customization (Haper, 2002). According to Holt (2003) when some international brands enter foreign markets, they are tempted to implement their tested strategies and approaches in these new markets. Indeed, Holt (2003) notes that this approach has been followed by most brands. Contributing to this discussion Haper (2002) points out that it is assumed by the global brands that the customers in these new markets would be anxious to consume the great global brands because of the tradition and heritage associated with them. however, as noted by Haper (2002) this trend is slowly changing as international companies are learning that each customers from different cultures have their unique demands and needs, and the external factors in these markets such as economic conditions, social factors and other aspect as well differ.
2.8 Branding and culture myths
Holt (2004) reminds us that myths, norms and experiences assume an important role in regards to cultural branding, compared to other more traditional concepts of branding. Holt (2004) adds that consumers purchase the products or services to experience the stories or myths associated by the product or the service. Hence, the product or the service alone is merely a tool for storytelling. Kapferer (2008) shares the same views with Holt (2004) when he states that a strong cultural strategy is able to create a storied product or service, a product or a service that embraces unique brand attributes by way in which customers identify its perceived myths.
Holt (2002) observed that traditional techniques of branding for example, mind-shared branding, virtual branding and emotional branding are able to support non-traditional branding, however, they do not assist in building iconic brands. Holt (2002) asserts that iconic brands use advertisement to produce stories that help the country’s citizen to strengthen their identities during challenging societal changes. According to Kapferer (2008) the first step in creating a cultural branding for any organisation is to identify the myth markets that presently work in popular culture as well to focus on myth markets that is more appropriate for the brand. However, to achieve this Holt (2002) suggest that managers must posses knowledge and understand how three basic aspects of myth operate, these are, the national ideology, populist worlds and cultural contradictions.
National ideology: according to Holt (2004) nations require to have a shared moral consensus to operate. Citizens of a nation have to identify themselves with that nation, recognize the institutions and seek to improve them. Zaltman (2003) explains that nation operate based on certain group of values that underline what is fair and just for the society. These moral importances drive people to seek to achieve what the society perceives as accomplishment and respect. Accordingly, this defines the national ideology that links the daily life of people and their aspirations and that of the whole communities.
Cultural contradictions Zaltman (2003) notes that in many societies, individuals within these societies do not merely show their national ideology because of merely belonging to these societies or nations, rather it because of the prevailing conditions that makes it easy for them to seek to attain the society’s or nation’s ideals. Nonetheless, individuals face challenges in how to match the nation’s ideals with their personal life. The contradictions between the ideology of the person and the ideals of the society create and invoke the need to have symbolic pledges that reduces the tensions created.
2.8.1 Populist world
It is believed by Holt (2004) that cultural myths are based on populist worlds to provide their elements. Holt (2004) explains that populist worlds entails groups that show unique ideologies expressed by their traditional activities such as subculture and social movement that present strong cultural elements as individuals believe that the offer strong ideologies that can be relied upon. A good example could be the American pop culture. Holt and Cameroon (2010) argues at times source material (media, myths, brands and subcultures) is created to fashion new culture.
Brands that target certain myth markets find it challenging since these markets continuously change after sometime because of the disruptions that occur within the society that may result in creation of new myths. However, iconic brands are able to overcome these disruptions by penetrating the new myths. These brands may loss a small share of their markets but not big share to warrant concerns.
2.9 Cultural differences and branding
Zaltman (2003) contends that cultural differences found in across nations affects branding. He explains that cultural differences certainly can determine if a brand will succeed or fail. When brands enter different markets, they are confronted with a different culture and they have to careful balance between standardization and customization. This implies that as they seek to maintain the traditional brand identity recognized in the foreign market, they have to adopt the elements of the brand to this new market. These will include formulating new image, promotional messages, distribution channels and other elements in order to meet the local preferences.
There is also need to intertwine the brand into the local culture. According to McCraken (2005) the growth of internet provides brands a powerful marketing and communication tool to engage customers and try to be closer to the foreign culture in which the brand has a presence. McCraken (2005) adds that the brands can use the internet platform or the social media to create online groups, fan page, and online brand communities as a way of co-creating the brand value in relation to customers. By intertwining the brand elements into the social fibre of the local culture, brands take advantage of the cultural differences.
Holt and Cameron (2010) holds that to overcome the cultural differences, brands as well needs to understand and recognize the consumption patterns of the local culture. For example individualistic and collectivistic societies seem to operate in opposite ways. Kapferer (2008) notes that individualistic societies expect consumers to reach consumption decision as individuals, while collectivistic societies expect consumers to reach consumption decisions as members of a social group for example at family level or community level.
These cultural differences influence many branding strategies that are taken by brands when they enter foreign markets. Although globalisation and interconnected markets present global brands like Forever 24 with lucrative opportunities in form of unexploited markets, huge numbers of potential customers and wider reach, it as well presents clear challenges for example cultural differences and the consumption patterns that result from these differences. In order to fully exploit these opportunities, Kapferer (2008) suggest that brands out to be sensitive and response to cultural differences and adapt to them accordingly. Cultural differences found in different markets can be exploited to create an advantage an not a challenge when brands put into action the various best practices exiting in their respective industries and adopt brand strategies that successfully respond to the tastes and preferences of the local customers.
Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1The philosophic consideration and the research method
As already mentioned in the introductory chapter, the main object behind this research study is to investigate how Forever 21 is establishing their brand positioning in HK and UK. This strategy goes along way to include the evaluation of strategy adopted by Forever 21 with respect to branding helps the chain store maintain the brand over a long period of time during its brand development in the HK and UK, and how such brand strategy works for attracting consumers to purchase. Meanwhile, such research objective is designed to pay close attention on the discipline of marketing, rather than on other areas, such as strategic management. This is because brand positioning that Forever 21 implements over time. As noted by Lee (1991) this kind of research that seeks to answer the “how” questions are appropriate in applying qualitative research methodology. Nonetheless, a researcher needs to establish the philosophy that he will follow in his research because it will provide the research guideline that the research paper will adopt.
According to Bryman and Bell (2007), by also keeping one eye on the overall research objectives and aims, it seems that, rather than implementing a ‘scientific liked’ experiment in order to gain or general formula oriented ‘results’ to quantify the potential research outcomes, more details and ‘hidden’ elements that exist behind Forever 21’s brand positioning in HK and UK should be explored. Accordingly, this research will adopt the interpretivism philosophy. Lee (1991) tells us that interpretivism underlines that this approach requires the research to analyse the internal connections between varying social occurrences and attempt to establish the causal association between these varying social occurrences.
Ontologically speaking, under the guiding of interpretivism, the lens of objectivism is selected. As Bryman and Bell (2007) rightly argue, all social phenomenon are linked without the possibility that any of them exists alone. Therefore, in this present research, the lens of social constructivism is selected as appropriate. By being guided by the thoughts of social constructivism, as Bryman and Bell (2007) indicate, social phenomena are constructed by human beings as social actors. Therefore, the power of social actors is vital and influential, and thus should not be neglected at all. In other words, such social constructivism requires researchers to pay close attention to explore the importance of human beings on shaping the development and the change of social phenomena. As Bryman and Bell (2007) imply, the ontology of objectivism, as well as the lens of social constructivism, is normally and frequently calling qualitative based research methods as well. Therefore, both epistemology and ontology lenses that have been taken by this research are indicating that qualitative oriented research methods should be taken. By taking the research aims and objectives into account, such qualitative based research methods are capable of offering the researcher sufficient data to carry out potential research results.
3.2 Research design
This research, as the above mentioned, is qualitative oriented. Thus, the overall research design is followed with such qualitative orientation. In this sub section, the concerns regarding data collection and data analysis will be exhibited, while the general and guideline based interview questions also will be shown in later of this part.
3.2.1 Data collection
This research is designed to glean the primary based data, thus, information or data that is directly collected from the customers inside the store should be implemented. Under such the above circumstances, qualitative based data was gleaned directly from selected questionnaires. After the proposal writing procedure, the author of this research went to the Forever 21 and inquired the staff inside. Fortunately, the questionnairing permission was given by the store manager. As the result, the aim of gathering primary data was accomplished successfully in this research.
In general, 55 individuals were involved into the interview and data collection procedures in the past of 5 weeks. Among them, 30 participants are female customers of Forever 21, and the rest of 55 were contributed by male customers. All of questionnaire based data was fully gleaned by the researcher with approaching with participants in person inside the local Forever 21 store. Due to this present research’s focus lies on exploring consumer based issues, therefore, a consumer centric view is needed to be established. As the result, all of participants who were interviewed were customers rather than internal employees.
The interview questions were formulated to allow the researcher of this paper to maintain the proper research focus for the sake of the fulfilment of the research objectives, while on the other hand, allowing interviewees to have sufficient ‘space’ to share relevant information with the researcher. Therefore, such semi-structure based interviewing question enables the researcher to glean enough data within having proper ‘depth’.
The data collection procedure was accomplished by mainly using face to face and in person based style in terms of questionnaire in store with customers of Forever 21. At the same time, due to the limitation of research budget, the researcher of this paper did not have the chance to encounter other Forever 21 stores’ customer in other place in the UK. Therefore, this may lead this research to have relatively limited capability of quantifying the potential research outcomes, which can be utilised and quantified in large scope (i.e. in the whole HK and UK market, for example). As mentioned above, all of interviews were accomplished by participants under the in person supervision and interviewing procedures by the researcher of this paper. All of the above data was collected by the researcher of this paper alone without any extra assistance from any other third party or individual. Before this section can be ended, it would be vital to indicate that due to the limited time that the author has been given on accomplishing the present research, on the one hand, the interview question cannot be seen as having such ability of covering the whole range of necessary questions. While on the other hand, due to the limited time of doing this research, as well as the limited time that each interviewees was willingly to share with the researcher, only, in the end, 55 individuals were covered.
3.2.2 Data analysis
As being mentioned above, all data will rely on qualitative based resources which come from the data analysis procedure by using one to one in person interview. Therefore, as Bryman and Bell (2007) argues, the qualitative based data is required to implement qualitative based data analysis. However, just like Larossa (2005), indicates, there are a large number of different data analysis methods that can be adapted and utilized on analyzing qualitative data. Therefore, it would be vital to choose one of the most essential and most appropriate one to implement in this present research. As Larossa (2005), as well as Bryman and Bell (2007) indicate, for qualitative research based study, in particular with those ones that are relatively new and unexplored, Grounded Theory Method would be one of the most ideal option to be approached as data analysis methods. However, as Larossa (2005) further indicates, if the research is not a large scale based, or if the research is not heavily focusing on creating or generating theoretical frameworks or producing sound theoretical contribution, it would be a little bit complicated to use such Grounded Theory Method to analyse. Instead, researchers in such circumstances are encouraged to utilize basic coding procedures to analysis qualitative data. Namely, by using the inductive based method to summarise the most important parts or elements from interview or qualitative based data resources. This research, as being mentioned the above, only contains 55 participants as interviewees, therefore, such interviewee scale is not be able to be categorized as ‘large scale’ at all.
In order to convert the gathered data into meaningful information for decision-making, data analysis was conducted. To achieve this, the research employed tabulation and presentation of data through the use of statistical packages such as Microsoft Excel, with main analysis done using SPSS 16.0. Data was presented into graphs and tables to facilitate evocative analysis to be carried out, and the analysed data displayed by use of numerical, graphical and descriptive models.
3.3 The ethical issues that have been raised by this research
As Bryman and Bell (2007) mentioned, to do research, whatever the outcome will be and how carefully the research aims were given and planned, ethic issues should always be paid sufficient attention by researchers. In the whole procedures of running this research, in particular with the data collection procedures, two ethic issues have been caused.
The first is about Forever 21’s in store staff’s concern about their ‘business information safety’. They showed the worry that Forever 21’s competitors may be able to get such data and information that the researcher of this paper has gleaned, so that the business safety of Forever 21, in particular with the interviewed local store, was seen as being threatened. Although this research did not intend to gather information and data from internal staff of Forever 21, interviews have to be conducted inside the store and all of interview questions are all about something that was directly relevant to Forever 21. As the result, internal based Forever 21’s concern is not unnecessary. In order to ease such concern, the researcher of this paper, during the data collection procedures, promised that all of collected data would not be handed over to any other third party. All of the information that the researcher has had will be utilised for academic research purpose only.
The second is about customers’ concern of telling the researcher the real ideas that they have had. For example, not all of interviewed customers were happy with the shopping experience that Forever 21 gave them. They therefore worried that once, if Forever 21 knows that they stated something negative about the image of Forever 21, they would be added on the ‘black list’ by Forever 21 and so on. In order to get relevant data as reliable as possible, the researcher also clarified that all of data from customers as participants would not be passed over to any other third party, including the in store staff of Forever 21. Therefore, the data that has been gleaned by the author of this research can be seen as fairly accurate, real, and reliable.
4.0 Findings and Analysis
The results and findings of the study are presented in this section with a critical evaluation of the findings about brand positioning approach of Forever 21.This part provides an analysis of the research data collected from using the data gathering instruments employed din the study and which aim at offering a better understanding of the approach uses to achieve brand positioning in the UK and Hong Kong markets. The analysis is examined from various perspectives based on the questions used in data gathering and guided by the study objectives and aims. Through this take, the analysis of the findings makes it possible to come up with probable best approaches to achieving effective brand positioning in the two markets
Restatement of Aims and Objectives of the Study
The main objective of the study was to investigate the brand positioning approach in Hong Kong and United Kingdom with a case study approach focusing on Forever 21. Thus, as already mentioned in the introductory chapter, the main object behind this research study is to investigate how Forever 21 is establishing their brand positioning in Hong Kong and United Kingdom. This strategy includes the evaluation of strategy adopted by Forever 21 with respect to branding helps the chain store maintain the brand over a long period of time during its brand development in the HK and UK, and how the adopted brand strategy works for attracting consumers to purchase.
For this reasons, the analysis of study findings was carried out with a specific concentration on fulfilling the set aims and identified objectives is aim and all the objectives of the research study. In order to explore and examine the various aspects of brand positioning aspects used by Forever 21 to maintain its brand presence in the markets in which it operates; descriptive statistics are used to offer a presentation of the demographic profile of the participants. The examination of the brand positioning approach of the apparel retailer and the differences in approach between the two markets; UK and HK clothing markets also takes a notch higher and includes the use of other tools such as frequencies and inferential statistics. The study also aimed at establishing whether there is a difference between brand positioning approach in a global market and a localized market in the apparel industry and whether there is any difference between two markets that are evidently at different cultural and life cycle levels such as Hong Kong and UK apparel markets.
The analysis of results therefore concentrated on answering the main questions that had formerly been formulated to aid the research undertaking. Besides the questions that had been formulated prior to conducting the study, there are also other aspects of respondent characteristics that were collected and which gave further information on the demographic attributes of the sample hence the population represented. The following is an empirical, investigation and analysis of the results as drawn from the data collected from the participants using the questionnaires they filled in.
Descriptive Statistics
General Response Rate
A total of 30 participants participated in the data gathering exercise in filling of the questionnaires. Since the individuals sampled for participation were contacted in advance, the response rate was successfully realized at 97% with all the 29 out of 30 questionnaires being filled out fully hence being eligible for inclusion in the data analysis process. The questionnaires that were either only filled in part or not filled at all were eliminated from the analysis to alleviate the problem of dealing with extreme outliers. Only one questionnaire did not fulfil the criteria for inclusion and it was excluded on the basis of being only filled in part. With the 97% answering rate, the study was successful and therefore the filled questionnaires were able to represent the sample and be used in data analysis. Of all the respondents, 14 participants represented the Hong Kong and this represented 48.3% of the accepted responses while those who represented the UK section were 15 accounting for 51.7% of the total number of responses accepted. It had initially been hoped that the two markets would have an equal representation though one of the responses was rejected and this made the unequal representation to occur.
Demographic Profile and Characteristics of the Sample
Gender
Before looking at the demographic profile of the sample and characteristics of the respondents, it is important to note that as mentioned above, one respondent did not fill her questionnaire completely and this prompted exclusion from the final analysis. For this reason, results are based on 29 respondents being 100%. Male respondents represented 48.3% of the total 29 successfully filled questionnaires and this registered a crude frequency count of 14 participants. On the other hand, female respondents accounted for 51.7% of the 29 participants who responded fully and this registered a crude frequency of 15 participants.
The table below offers further information with reference to gender representation in the sample and responses received.
| |
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
Cumulative Percent |
| Valid |
Male |
14 |
48.3 |
48.3 |
48.3 |
| Female
missing |
15
0 |
51.7
0.00 |
51.7
|
100.0
|
| Total |
29 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Table 1: Gender
Respondents’ Age
On the subject of the age of the participants, it was found that a greater part of the respondents were individuals falling between the ages of 26 and 50 years of age. This is because the respondents who fell between 26 and 35 years represented 31.03% of the total response with a raw frequency count of 9 participants while those between 36 and 50 years accounted for 41.38% with a raw frequency count of 13 participants. This implies that by combining respondents in the two age categories, it is evident that the aggregate accounts for 72.41% of all the respondents with an aggregate raw count of 22 participants. The age groups 18- 25 and those above 56; each representing 6.9% are the least represented groups and they each have a raw frequency count of 2 participants. Those ranging in age between 46 and 55 accounted for 13.8% of the respondents having a raw frequency of 4 participants. Since the research did not attempt to establish the ages of all employees of Forever 21, it would not be possible to categorically state if these representations are fair representations of each age group in the firm. Nevertheless, the use of random sampling technique provides ample grounds for assuming that this gives a fair representation of the entire population in terms of age hence whatever responses they provide in reference to this age variation is also a fair representation of the entire population. The table below provides additional information with respect to these findings.
| |
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
Cumulative Percent |
| Valid |
18-25 |
2 |
6.9 |
6.9 |
6.9 |
| 26-35 |
9 |
31.0 |
31.0 |
37.9 |
| 36-45 |
12 |
41.4 |
41.4 |
79.3 |
| 46-55 |
4 |
13.8 |
13.8 |
93.1 |
| Above 56 |
2 |
6.9 |
6.9 |
100.0 |
| Total |
29 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Table 2: Age Bracket
Employment Area
The third question in the personal information section asked the respondents to indicate the part of the organization they are employed. This question basically targeted bringing out the information on whether the respondent is a supervisor, manager, regular employee or those in the sales and marketing section of Forever 21. Those employed in the sales and marketing section comprised the biggest number of respondents having a raw frequency of 14 that accounted for 48.3% of the total number of respondents who correctly filled the questionnaires. Based on the fact that the regular employees comprised 31% of the respondents with a frequency of 9 respondents, these two groups of participants together comprised the majority of the participants accounting for 79.3% of all respondents. Respondents from supervisory level were 4 in number and they together accounted for 13.8% of the total number of participants. The group with the least representation was the one comprising top management of Forever 21 where 2 participants participated and this was equivalent to 6.9% of the total number of responses. In respect to representation, just as seen for the two aspects above, the use of random sampling in the selection criteria provided a good and solid ground for assuming representation that adheres to normal distribution characteristics and thus it is assumed the information captured in the sample represent the population.
| |
|
Frequency |
Percent |
Valid Percent |
Cumulative Percent |
| Valid |
Regular Employee |
9 |
31.0 |
31.0 |
31.0 |
| Sales & Marketing |
14 |
48.3 |
48.3 |
79.3 |
| Supervisory Level |
4 |
13.8 |
13.8 |
93.1 |
| Top Management |
2 |
6.9 |
6.9 |
100.0 |
| Total |
29 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
|
Table 3: Level of Employee
Figure 1: Level of Employee
The study was a successful investigation into the brand positioning strategy used by Forever 21 to ensure that its brand image and position stand out competitively in the highly competitive and challenging HK and UK markets. The study focused on using the employees as the basic source of information since it would be easier to collect information based on their knowledge and perceptions of how the company approaches brand positioning in the market
There is another question that intended to establish if Forever 21 segments the target market based on any customer attribute. All of the 29 respondents indicated that the company segments its market based customer attribute. While this question did not have any further prompt to establish what aspects of attributes are considered, further research showed that the company segments market according to gender and age. However, there seemed to be a slight difference in the way the responses turned out.
In the question that sought the participants to indicate whether the company segments the market based on customer attributes, 100% of the responses gave a yes meaning that the company uses customer attributes of the target market to divide its market. When the question was adjusted to “the brand position of the products is affected by customer-based segmentation,” on a 5-point Likert scale, the choices from which the participants were to select ranged from “Not at All” (1) to “Extremely True” (5).
The two questions above intended to help in bringing out the perceptions of employees about the brand positioning approaches and strategy of their organization in Hong Kong and United Kingdom based on their knowledge and experience as part of the operations of the company in the markets in which they target customers of different gender and cultural backgrounds. There was ample evidence that there is a considerable degree of variation between targeting in United Kingdom and targeting in Hong Kong. When the respondents were asked if they felt or thought that the company has a culturally-driven targeting in its market that makes the strategy in UK different from strategy in Hong Kong, the majority of the respondents answered they strongly agreed that culture of the target market has an impact on brand positioning of the company and this revelations means that for the company to survive and successfully establish its brand in the market it must be culture conscious.
In the question that sought to uncover if the company constantly adheres to international standards for quality to boost brand image and position, the respondents were required to choose from among five choice based on 5-point Likert scale with only one choice allowed. From the analysis of the responses, the majority of the respondents agreed that the company always adheres to international standards and this portrayed another picture in the manner of responses in that the majority of those who indicated that the company always adheres to international standard were from the UK section. While there was no response marked against “Every once in awhile” and “Rarely”, there was also no responses that indicated the company never adheres to international quality standards applicable for the apparel industry. On the specificity of the responses, 89.7% of the respondents indicated that the company always adheres to international standards applicable in the clothing industry and this percentage represented 26 respondents. Of this percentage, 57.7% were from the UK section of the respondents and this represented 15 respondents. The remaining 42.3% of the respondents who indicated that the company always observes the international quality standards applicable to the clothing industry were from the Hong Kong section of the participants. There were also 2 responses that indicated that the company sometimes adheres to the international quality standards applicable in the apparel industry and 100% of those responses came from the HK section of participants. The graph below gives a pictorial presentation of these results with the options that scored zero in responses omitted.
Government regulations affect operations of business inn several ways and this was part of the questions that aimed at establishing the various factors that affect brand positioning for the company in Hong Kong and UK markets. In the responses, there was evidence that both markets are impacted by government regulations with respect to their brand positioning endeavors. Out of all the responses, only one response strongly disagreed to the statement that government regulations greatly impact brand positioning in the respective market. This represented only 3.4% of the entire responses and it is evidently not big enough to cause a significant impact given the remaining participants account for 96.6% of the participants.
Tests of Significance
In the need to test whether there was a significant difference between brand positioning approach in Hong Kong market and that in UK market, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. In the table below, the results of the analysis are displayed. The table displays a comparison between the two markets with respect to the costs of branding, impact of competition on brand positioning, impact of government regulation and the effect of customer preference diversity. The results of the analysis indicates that there is a statistically significant difference between the effect of costs on brand positioning in Hong Kong and UK apparel industry (F = 9.170; df = 1; p = 0.005). When this information is juxtaposed against the descriptive analysis results of the same variable, the outcome points to the evident differences in the way the employees perceive costs of advertising in the two markets to be and the effect of the costs on brand positioning. The graph below provides a summative overview of this.
Figure 2: Effect of Cost of advertising
With respect to the effect of competition on the brand positioning endeavor, the results indicate that there is no significant difference between the two markets. This implies that the two markets have a heightened competition and this competition has an impact on brand positioning. This means that when the company is considering its branding exercises, it must incorporate the aspect of competition and engage the branding with an aggressive approach. Yet the point just discussed above about costs has an implication on the extent to which this aggressive brand positioning can be done. With a mean square of 0.053 (F = 0.273; df = 1; p = 0.605), there is no sufficient indication that competition is statistically significant between UK and HK. The table below gives an overview of all this.
| ANOVA |
| |
|
Sum of Squares |
df |
Mean Square |
F |
Sig. |
| COSTS |
Between Groups |
11.015 |
1 |
11.015 |
9.170 |
.005 |
| Within Groups |
32.433 |
27 |
1.201 |
|
|
| Total |
43.448 |
28 |
|
|
|
| COMPETITON |
Between Groups |
.053 |
1 |
.053 |
.273 |
.605 |
| Within Groups |
5.257 |
27 |
.195 |
|
|
| Total |
5.310 |
28 |
|
|
|
| REGULATION |
Between Groups |
.828 |
1 |
.828 |
.864 |
.361 |
| Within Groups |
25.862 |
27 |
.958 |
|
|
| Total |
26.690 |
28 |
|
|
|
| Preference Diversity |
Between Groups |
11.882 |
1 |
11.882 |
6.020 |
.021 |
| Within Groups |
53.290 |
27 |
1.974 |
|
|
| Total |
65.172 |
28 |
|
|
|
Table 4: ANOVA
Still with reference to the above table, the relationship between government regulation in the United Kingdom apparel market and the Hong Kong market, there is no statistically significant difference between the perceptions on the statement that government regulations greatly impact brand positioning in the two markets (F = 0.864; df = 1; p = 0.361). These results could be construed to imply that the effect of government regulation on advertising hence branding and brand promotion is similar in the two markets. When it comes to diversity of customer preferences in the two markets and the effect of this diversity in influencing brand positioning approach, the results as displayed in the table above show that there is a statistically significant difference between the two markets. The graph below provides a deeper look.
Figure 3: Government Regulation
From the graph, it is evident that a majority of respondents gave responses that leaned toward the positive side; that is, they tended to mainly lean toward agreeing with the statement that government regulation has an impact on the brand positioning activities in the market.
In a summative perspective, the results analysis indicate that there are a number of factors the company is fully aware of or using when carrying out its branding and brand positioning activities. It incorporates quality standard adherence, advertising market segmentation based on customer attributes and adherence to government directives.
5.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The research undertaking targeted individuals of male and female genders from the UK and HK markets who are employees of the company Forever 21. With regard to the aspects of general responses, all respondents successfully participated in the data collection exercise although one respondent did not complete the entire questionnaire. This resulted to the response rate being 96.7% comprising 29 individuals who responded. The gender aspect of the participants can be termed as well represented. The respondent’s age indicated that the majority of the respondents fall within the 26 to 50 years age bracket. It is however notable that at least all of the age brackets were represented with the least representation having 2 participants; and this comprised two groups that each had 2 participants.
The research also attempted to classify the participants based on their employment area in the organization and this means that it was important to establish whether the respondent came from top management level, regular employee level, sales and marketing level or supervisory level. All the levels were represented and even though they were not equally represented, it deemed that the representation was a satisfactory representation of the entire organization. To address the issue of bias in the research undertaking, the research employed a randomized sampling technique and then further attempted to ensure all the participants responded to the questionnaires by contacting them in advance to request and remind them of the participation.
In the analysis of findings, the study has established that among factors that affect Forever 21 in the two markets, include government regulation which can be said to be an important factor in determining operation of businesses in varying ways. Costs of advertising seem to be higher in the UK market as compared to the HK market. As a result, Forever 21 incurs greater costs of brand positioning in the UK than in Hong Kong and these costs come mainly in the form of higher costs of advertising. Culture is another aspect that affects the brand positioning. Culture came in two main ways. The first is the corporate culture of the company, which is seen by the values, beliefs and aspects shared among the internal stakeholders of the company and which is also projected to the external environment. This affected how the company strategized its brand positioning through aspects such manner and quality of customer service delivery. The results indicate that the company puts emphasis on quality service delivery as a way to put across a strong brand image to the market. The prevailing culture in the market is also an aspect that affects the brand positioning strategy for the company. This comes from the revelation that HK has a stronger and rapid social change than UK hence greatly affecting brand positioning greater than the UK market. The UK market being relatively stable in social terms has less impact on brand since this would mean that these social dynamics are at least predictable in the UK market than in the HK apparel market. The company then has a gender factor in its brand positioning strategy, which makes it segment the target market based on gender thereby having products specifically targeting male consumers and others meant particularly for the female customers.
Rapid social changes have been observed to form part of important factors to consider in the brand positioning endeavor. The rapid social changes affect the way the brand will be presented, to what group of customers at what place and at what time the positioning has to be done. Cost of advertising was found to be a great impediment to brand positioning. When the costs of erecting and maintaining bill boards are high, this implies that the cost of maintaining the brand image to the customer goes high. However, one thing that clearly came out is that the company uses most of these factors as pillars in its brand positioning approach. Through the use of diversity in customer preferences, the company uses different approaches for the UK and HK apparel markets.
Recommendations
In respect to the findings of the study results, recommendations are made on two basic levels. The first involves the field of academia and future research studies. Based on the limitations of the current study, the study recommends that future research undertakings should take a more critical approach by studying the brand positioning of a specific company over a longer period of time since the factors that affect brand positioning such as cultural and social dynamics of the target market are aspects that change over time and even if they take place rapidly, the equilibrium is achieved over some prolonged period of time. As such, future research should delve to uncover or investigate how companies would deal with a challenge of brand positioning in an environment where the culture rapidly changes and before it reaches equilibrium another cultural change is embraced by the market.
Another level of recommendation relates to the company itself. In this respect, the study makes the following recommendations:
- The company should come up with a proper mix of global consumer culture brand positioning and local consumer culture brand positioning. This recommendations comes from the fact that while the firm has created its internal culture that it presents to the market, we live in a global village where every society not only has a distinct culture it represents but there is also an aspect of shared global culture. By coming up with a mix of the two, Forever 21 should be able to satisfy customers in any market it enters and create a long lasting brand position in the market that stands the test of competitive forces. These strategies have been established to create a successful brand positioning for a business since they lead to positive consumer evaluation of the products, more so a new unknown brand in the market (Bashar et al 2011).
- Since most customers can easily remember and relate ads due to the powerful effect of advertising, the company should invest in advertising and promotional activities that enhance its brand image and presence among customers by researching on the low-cost yet effective methods of presenting the brand to the customers.
- Take heed on the impact of product naming in different markets as one market may have a different take on a product name and affect its brand positioning negatively. There are plenty of examples of situations where big brands have flopped in other markets due to name clash.
The above recommendations which the research deems befitting for Forever 21; when coupled with favorable regulations, should enable the business come up with a brand image that is not only successful and long lasting but also a silhouette of dynamism in the midst of ever-changing global culture, local culture and general characteristics of the apparel industry.
Appendix 1: Employee/ Management Questionnaire
Dear respondent, thank you for taking your time to go through the questionnaire and fill it. The questionnaire is divided into sections and it would be greatly appreciated if you fill in all the questions.
- Personal Information
How old are you?
15-25
26-35
36-50
Above 56
What is your gender?
Male
Female
- Which part of the organization do you work for?
Top Management
Supervisory Level
Sales & Marketing
Regular Employee
- Brand Positioning
Does Forever 21 divide the market it targets based on any customer attribute?
Yes.
No.
I don’t know
- The brand position of the products is affected by customer-based segmentation
(1- Not at All; 5- Extremely true)
- The company’s brand is incorporated in all products no matter the target market segment
Yes
No
I don’t’ Know
- .Do you think that customers in UK and HK are aware about Forever 21 brand name?
Strongly aware
Aware
Little bit Aware
Not aware
- The company constantly adheres to international standards for quality to boost brand image and position
Always (1) Sometimes (2) Every once in awhile (3) Rarely (4) Never (5)
- Government regulations greatly impact brand positioning in this market
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Costs of advertising greatly affect brand positioning in this market
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Competition is great in this market and greatly impact brand positioning
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Diversity in customer preferences is high and affects brand positioning negatively
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Rapid social changes affect marketing initiatives including brand positioning
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Customer experience affects brand positioning more than marketing strategy
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Diversity in the products a brand represents affects brand positioning to a great extent
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Dynamism is a must in maintaining brand positioning in the market
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- A company’s corporate culture in customer service is the key component in creating a strong brand
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- A company’s corporate culture in customer service affects brand positioning more than brand perception
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Customer Service experience influences brand positioning more than customer experience on actual product
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
- Creating an internal corporate culture of inter-personnel competition is an effective method of improving brand positioning
□ Strongly agree □ Agree □ Don’t know □ Disagree □ Strongly disagree
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