Introduction to the industry Consumers are evolving entities. Their aspirations & expectations are continuously changing.

Todays shoppers are more intelligent, discerning & tuned to their individual preference. They are increasingly fashion and brand conscious and select labels which define who they are or who they want to be. The biggest challenge for all the brands is to create loyal consumer who love them. Shoppers Stop Ltd 1

India represents an economic opportunity on a massive scale, both as a global base and as a domestic market. Indian consumer markets are changing fast, with rapid growth in disposable incomes, the development of modern urban lifestyles, and the emergence of the kind of trendconscious consumers that India has not seen in the past. 3 Apparel and fashion industry in India is in its growth stage. Using consumer sales promotion to differentiate ones offer has become an order of the day in matured urban markets. More and more budget is allocated to these activities in order to the lure the consumers. In such a scenario, it is very essential to study how consumers make their choices in Apparel & Fashion category where there are several brands in the consideration set of a consumer. The financial risk being high consumers do switch from one brand to another due to sales promotion offers and personal comfort zone. Hence it would of interest to a marketer to learn about the consumer preferences with respect to sales promotion offer; what schemes do consumer prefer for what kind of brands, which media do they prefer to know about the brand, product, and related schemes, who prefers the branded apparel and fashion products, the price range of the fashion products. These are the questions which consumer considers while choosing a brand. Similarly even a manager has to consider while introducing a product or brand. Brands build customer loyalty by delivering excellent value no matter the price point-high, low, or medium. Value includes styling, durability, quality fabrics, and consistent fit. To the consumer, a brand name represents familiarity, consistency, and confidence in performance. Brand names when linked with lifestyle, self-expression, and aspirations epitomize intangibles that are desirable to the consumer. Consumers consider fashion as part of an overall budgetary spend, so apparel purchases now compete directly with other choices from the technology, entertainment, beauty and general lifestyle categories for the discretionary rupee.

Todays global apparel environment is tougher than ever for brands. There are many reasons for the emergence of this challenging climate; From a proliferation of brands Fierce competition from retailers acting as brands Smarter consumers The consolidation of department stores Mass retailers redefining themselves Luxury designers creating for mass

The demand for luxury goods the growth of the discount sector All of this adds up to one stark fact: those brands that break through the noise and communicate their message to the consumer directly and clearly in a way that means something to them. Rising costs of living around the world cause consumers to stretch their incomes more thinly, meaning necessities are being weighed against apparel. Fashion must have value and purpose and truly resonate to the consumer. Strong brands with consistent powerful messages can create loyalty and a sense of worth that transcends the burden of choice. 2 Fashion is direct and individual communication. It also nourishes industries with high research requirements due to its present characteristics: Fast mutation of its specificities Its time to market Obsolescence of the product

The understanding of consumers desires, behavior, and of purchase process of fashion products is extremely important to design products collections as well as to placement of these products in market. Considering a marketing approach, a fashion product must satisfy the demand target, so the main idea (message) behind the brand (sender) must reach the consumer (receiver).

Building a strong brand requires careful planning and a great deal of long term investment. At the heart of great brand is a great product or service backed by creatively designed and executed marketing Kotler & Keller1

BRAND
Brand according to (American Marketing Association) is A name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. Branding thus is a means to distinguish one product from another and these differences may be functional, rational, or tangible related to product performance of the brand. Brand equity2 is added value endowed to products and services. This value may be reflected in how consumers think, feel, and act with respect to the brand, as well as the prices, market share, profitability that the brand commands for the firm. Brand equity is an important intangible asset that has psychological and financial value to the firm. Customer based brand equity can be defined as the differential effect that brand knowledge has on the consumer response to the marketing of that brand. Positive customer based brand equity is when consumer react more favorably to a product. Brand knowledge consists of all the thoughts, feelings, images, experiences, beliefs, and so on that become associated with the brand. In particular, brands must create, strong, favorable, and unique brand associations with customers, for example Ruf & Tuf jeans were introduced as youthful and sturdy brand. Brand Equity model Aaker Model2 Professor David Aaker views brand equity as a set of five categories of brand assets and liabilities to a brand that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firms customers. These categories of brand assets are: 1. Brand loyalty 2. Brand awareness 3. Perceived quality 4. Brand associations 5. Other proprietary assets such as patents, trademarks, and channel relationships.

Brand resonance model

Brand Salience relates to how often and easily the brand is evoked under various purchase or consumption situations. Brand performance relates to how the product or service meets customers functional needs. Brand imagery deals with the extrinsic properties of the product or service, including the ways in the brand attempts to meet customers psychological or social needs. Brand judgments focus on customers own personal opinions and evaluations. 1. Identity -Ensuring identification of the brand with customers and an associations of the brand in customers' mind with a specific product class or customer need 2. Meaning -firmly establishing the totality of brand meaning in the mind of customers by strategically linking a host of tangible and intangible brand associations 3. Response -eliticiting the proper customer responses in terms of brand related judgement and feelings 4. Relationship -converting brand response to create active loyalty relationship between customer and brand. Brand feelings are customers emotional responses & reactions with respect to the brand. Brand resonance refers to the nature of the relationship that customers have with the brand and the extent to which customers feel that they are insync with the brand. Fashion begins and ends with the customers Stephen Frings4 Fashion & its relation with brand As per Graca Guedes5 ,to the three components of fashion style, acceptance and styling, announced by authors like Frings, Packard et al and Wolse, a fourth element has been added. Those three components orient this new element the brand, but they are also determined by it. From this new trend, with social and economic implication, emerge 2 different concepts of fashion products: the fashion global product and the market segment fashion product. Marketing communication applied to fashion products The market of fashion products is highly competitive market whose main characteristics is the similar positioning of a large number of brands and, in this respect the brands image developed by marketing communications can influence the adoption process of the products. This process, the marketing stimuli, a side with the intention to influence the purchase decisions must transmit similar messages in all communication support. The harmony of this complex process must consider such aspects as the brand awareness and the brand image, both determined by the characteristics of consumers perception.

The image is a mental representation of the brand or product attributes and benefit. It is a multi dimensional phenomenon that depends on the perception of those attributes and benefits. In fashion products, both mental representation and its perception are built in a continuous way, and developed through the image of fashion transmitted by each seasonal collection and by all activities of marketing communication. The overall effect of fashion product branding depends on the Marketing Communication Advertising Public Relation Promotion Direct Marketing Special Events Fashion shows Sales force Store Visual merchandising Minor Project 08 Critical Analysis of Consumer Brand Preference for Apparel & Accessories 13 FMS Dept., National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai integration of all the components of the marketing communication plan, including visual merchandizing, with the product design. All these three elements have an impact over the adoption process and a similar final goal: to influence the purchase option of fashion products through the satisfaction of a certain fashion image demand. The brand image in the marketing communication process This system reinforces the need to develop of the brands image considering the implications over the brand identity and awareness of what confirms the importance of fashion products branding. The brand may benefit from a greater reputation and higher proximity to its buyers if the design of each collection takes in consideration the following aspects:

achieve image coherence and to capitalize on it in the market by building global brand.

The adoption process of fashion products reflects the great influence of the image of fashion that it transmits as well as its inherent identification potential (social, cultural and economic), besides its basic functions to protect the body. Recognizing this, consumer searches for fashions that more nearly fit his/her own needs and wants, rather than those of the idealized people who in the past have appeared in advertisements and commercials. The brand image in the marketing communication process This system reinforces the need to develop of the brands image considering the implications over the brand identity and awareness of what confirms the importance of fashion products branding. The brand may achieve image coherence and to capitalize on it in the market by building global brand. The adoption process of fashion products reflects the great influence of the image of fashion that it transmits as well as its inherent identification potential (social, cultural and economic), besides its basic functions to protect the body. Recognizing this, consumer searches for fashions that more nearly fit his/her own needs and wants, rather than those of the idealized people who in the past have appeared in advertisements and commercials. Brand Identity Idea Brand awareness Personality Characteristic Benefits Attributes Brand Product User Brand Image The store image in marketing communication process The store image development is established through its geographical location, the commercial zone where it occupies & its external design, as well as by the product that it offers and their

representation in the internal space of the store. The combination of these factors defines the store atmosphere of look or the customers impressions of the store. Image store Idea Geographic Location Visual Merchandising Exterior Design Interior design other Architecture LAYOUT competitive brands, and to track it over time. Assessing the strength of brand equity3 according to Richard Elliot & Larry Percy can be done by finding Brand awareness & salience, Brand preference and Brand users. Brand awareness according to Sroll reflects the extent to which people can either remember or recognize a brand. When people think about brands in a product category, those come to mind represent recall brand awareness; they are recalled based only upon a category cue. If someone is shown a list of brand names or pictures of packages, those that can be identified represents recognition brand awareness. Brand salience depends upon awareness, but reflects the relative strength of that awareness in relation to the target markets awareness of other brands in the category. This relationship will be reflected in the relative relationship between what is known as top-of-mind awareness and all the other brands in the category of which someone is aware. Brand preference, like brand salience, can be an indicator of the strength of brand equity. Brands that are preferred are likely to enjoy greater equity than those that are not. Preference for a niche brand may be high in its market segment, but relatively

Shopping Preference Time Period & Format of store It is evident from the pie chart that 38% of the total population prefers to shop every month. Multi Brand outlet leads the preference of retail formats followed by discount stores, exclusive brand outlets, and street shop. In India internet shopping is not so popular, out of 116 samples no one preferred internet shopping for garment and accessories. 7%

38% 31% 16% 8% Shopping Time Period every week every month every 3 month 15 65