3.0 Industry and Competitor Analysis The fashion industry in the UK, Europe and the US has several players who compete for the rich market niche. Compare to its competitors in the clothing and accessories industry, Ted Baker performs very well as evidence by its improved financial ratios e.g the EPS over the past five years. 3.1 Industry Overview The high-street fashion industry is dominated by several firms but Ted Baker is continually winning attention in that industry. The Mintel stores (2013) reported that although consumers within the clothing industry increased their purchases of clothing items therefore driving up sales in the industry, volume growth slowed down due to inflation making the market vulnerable to rising costs especially that of cotton. The company’s pre-eminent rival Next Plc.
As demanded by common business projects, CSR initiatives require additional capital expenditure, higher-cost intermediate goods and higher labor inputs (McWilliams & Siegel, 2001). Inditex (2014), the owner of Zara and other fashion brands, reported to have spent 25.8 million euros and 37,760 working hours on CSR in 2014, which are not trivial numbers. The rising costs will be ultimately apportioned to selling price, triggering a potential risk of losing part of the consumers. Above all, consumers’ main concern is price and style while CSR is given a lower priority (Joergens, 2006). Another downside that is frequently ignored is whether CSR is consistent with brand concepts.
1. Retail Business Environment The US apparel industry is large, mature, and highly fragmented. This industry has stretched the boundaries of its creativity and imagination in finding new ways to increase selling opportunities and achieve competitive edge globally. The global economic downturn has had a severe effect over the apparel industry, but the denim market has regained its pace relatively faster as compared to other apparel segments. Denim jeans have become a necessity and wardrobe staple as it offers comfort and a longer life span compared to other types of apparel.
A new segment must be targeted in order to increase growth and profit. Currently, the most amount of viewers for TFC come from women aged 35-54 years old and women aged 18-34 do not view the channel as much, and should be focused on more. Advertising and cable fees are the primary source of Revenue for the channel, pulling in 230.6 million dollars and 80 million dollars respectively. Considering advertisement is the primary source of revenue, TFC needs to revamp their efforts and change segmentation in order to continue steady growth against competition that has taken note of their successes and taken viewers away due to increased fashion advertising and exposure. The data shows that advertisements are based on ratings, therefore ratings must increase from the 18-34 year old demographic.
Wal-Mart has increasingly faced stiff competition from brick and mortar and online competitors. To be in a position to compete effectively, the company has to increase its competitive advantage. Increasing price products – due to the increased cost of productions, the companies are not in a better position to make a better profit unless they increase the price of each unit of product. This posses a greater threat considering that the company has to choose between its customers and
China is the largest exporter of leather goods and apparel globally contributing to around40% to global leather apparel & goods exports of US$ 47.8 billion in 2010. Italy was second withcontribution of 10% to the global leather apparel & goods segment in 2010.China’s leather industry growth can be attributed to the first wave of economic reforms in 1978 withrapid development of Town and Village Owned Enterprises (TVEs) and second wave with foreignfirms investing in China. Incentives for Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIE), which included subsidizedland and power, reduction of import duties, tax holidays etc. has boosted Chinese exports manifold.Further, the cluster based approach has allowed Chinese companies to produce and deliver largevolumes of footwear per order in most cost efficient manner. The close geographical location ofsimilar manufacturers in the cluster enables efficient handling of production and delivery, sharing ofinvestment cost of building facilities and other infrastructure like Common Effluent Treatment Plants,and reduction in shipping costs between suppliers and manufacturers.
Overview Growing economy along with increase in standard of living for each individual have raised the bar of spending capacity. Once income is increased then people prefer high brand products such as Gucci, Rolex or Louis Vuitton, and Belligerent being one of the most luxurious brand in manufacturing sunglasses will add further value to the person perception towards this new brand. Our company has chosen Quatar. The luxury retail markets in the Gulf countries is valued at around $5.3 billion and is growing at the rate of 10 to 12 percent per anum. Country Profile of Qatar Qatar has a land area of 11,590 square km of which only 1.1% is arable.
In the recent years, the recession has greatly transformed consumers spending habits as they try to save as much as possible, which resulted in a new business cycle. The American consumers became attracted to affordable shopping now more than ever as their budgets got tighter. This is an advantage for retailers such as Forever21 or Target which are well known for their affordable clothing. This transforming business cycle is reflected by the increase in the profits of those brands, as the Forever21 ’stores brought in $135 million in profits in 2008, and as many retailers announced store closures, Forever 21 continues to expand’ (Melanie Hicken (2012). This portrays an optimistic beginning for Penneys, as the demand for their products is almost guaranteed especially as the brand has an advantage over its competitors due to the fact that their prices are even lower then
The growth of domestic market demand and rubber gloves product sales are steady upward trend in recent years. China’s export of rubber gloves are in a larger proportion. Due to the economic crisis in the second half of 2008, export sales decline significantly in 2009, and it resulting domestic production in 2009 significantly reduced. When the price goes up, the quantity supplied will goes up. For instance, supplier must according to the need of each person to deciding the quantity of supplied.
Throughout the last century the shipping trade has seen a general increase in total trade volume. Increasing manufacture and also the relaxation of national economies have fuelled trade and a growing demand for shopper product. Advances in technology have additionally created shipping more and more economical, swift technique of transportation. Over the last four decades total mobile trade estimates have quadrupled, from simply over eight thousand billion tonne-miles in 1968 to over thirty two thousand billion tonne-miles in 2008. like all industrial sectors, however, shipping may be liable to economic downturns. Indeed, following many years of implausibly buoyant shipping markets, for several trades the most effective in living memory, abundant of the international shipping trade has fallen prey to the worldwide economic downswing.