An investigation of competitive pricing among apparel retailers and brands

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The aim of this paper is to investigate competitive pricing strategies of apparel brands and retailers. Design/methodology/approach -The paper begins with a broad discussion of competition by examining Porter's five forces model, and narrows by examining price competition within price tiers in the retail apparel industry according to store format and brands. Included are case studies of apparel retailers and brands incorporating concepts of pricing strategies, brand positioning, and price competition, with a focus on retail channel relationships. The paper analyzes the impact of price competition on apparel retailers and brands, and further examines price tiers as a competitive strategy. Findings -The study reveals that the concept of price tiers is applicable to apparel retailers and brands. Price tiering is a vehicle for market positioning for the retail apparel industry. Retailers are enacting a price tier strategy by branding their retail store formats or engaging store brands as a vehicle of differentiation for a tier. Retailers and brands can be successful with a price tier strategy, unless they fail to differentiate between tiers on factors other than on price alone. Research limitations/implications -The lack of relevant price competition literature, relating to the retailer apparel industry, forced the exploration of price competition literature from grocery and automotive sectors. Originality/value -The paper provides useful information on the impact of price competition on apparel retailers and brands, and also price tiers as a competitive strategy.

Slow Fashion – Balancing the Conscious Retail Model within the Fashion Marketplace

“…Developing strong brand equity, and increasing perceived product quality is recognised as vital to remaining competitive in the retail industry (e.g. Fratto et al, 2006; Das, 2015). This is not inconsistent with the main ethos of slow fashion – for example, the retailers in this study highlighted their efforts to build a brand image that avoided trends, and encouraging consumers to focus on the quality and longevity of their product range: “I've always focused in [store] here on styles that have a lot of longevity, so, trends I'll stay away from.…”

“…To compete in a discount dominated retail environment, some have suggested that clothing retailers must choose to either reduce costs, increase prices or redefine positioning (e.g. Fratto et al, 2006 ). For a small, high-end fashion retailer, competing on price is not always a feasible or logical strategy.…”

Millennials’ Intention to Use Self-Checkout Technology in Different Fashion Retail Formats: Perceived Benefits and Risks

“…However, within the literature reviewed, researchers have not fully examined its applicability in a variety of fashion retail formats, despite the growing demand among young consumers for convenient in-store technologies in the fashion retail environment (Sachdeva & Goel, 2015). Fashion retailers can be classified using the price points criteria (Fratto et al, 2006) into the lowest tier (fashion discount stores offering cut-price products), the middle tier (mass or fast-fashion stores offering budget lines and department stores with a range of moderate, contemporary, and bridge products), and the highest tier (luxury specialty stores where designer or haute couture products are available; Fratto et al, 2006). Thus, when predicting consumers' adoption of technology in the fashion retail environment, we must consider the different types of retail formats in which consumers expect different levels of service (Yuen & Chan, 2010).…”

A conceptual model of diversification in apparel retailing: the case of Next plc

“…(3) marketing capabilities in relation to market position and consumer perception (Birtwistle and Shearer, 2001;Davies & Brooks, 1989;King & Ring, 1980;Moore & Fairhurst, 2003;Newman & Patel, 2004); (4) branding Wigley, Moore, & Birtwistle, 2005); (5) product development and pricing (Fratto, Jones, & Cassill, 2006;Wigley et al, 2005); (6) foreign market entry (Fernie, Moore, Lawrie, & Hallsworth, 1997;Moore, Fernie, & Burt, 2000); and (7) retail format development Simova, Clark-Hill, & Robinson, 2003).…”