UK Fashion Industry: Strategic Analysis

Introduction
Fashion industry is one of the most thriving and profitable industries of the world. The advent of globalization has led to greater penetration of fashion into the mind of individuals. Mega fashion shows are being held in many nations across the world which has generated considerable interest among the individuals. The present study deals with the fashion industry of UK. The choice of the nation assumes significance as it is one of the largest fashion hubs of the world. The nation also houses some of the most popular brands in the fashion industry. A study conducted by research firm ‘Grail’ puts UK as among the top hubs in the global fashion industry along with USA, France, Italy and Japan. London Fashion Week which happens to be the largest fashion related event in the nation is the only fashion event that promotes works done by students thus highlighting its commitment and presence in the global fashion industry. Prestigious awards like ‘River Island Gold Award’ have their origins in UK (Grail Research, 2009, p.6, 8). The present study would focus on the industry analysis of the fashion industry particularly that of the UK market. The report would include an industry analysis along with the analysis of the competitive framework prevailing in the UK market. Subsequently the key success factors and strategic groups would be analyzed in the report. The report would also feature examples of the strategies that have been adopted by the market leaders to continue their sustainability in the industry.

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Industry Analysis
Global Fashion Industry- An Overview
Fashion industry includes fashion designer houses, retail chains and the firms engaged in the manufacture of apparels. A report published by Levis Strauss & Co has pegged the value of the global fashion industry at US $ 1334.1 billion as on 2008. The report also predicts a northward trend for this figure in the subsequent years. Apart from being a style statement, fashion also generates creativity, well being and identity. The report also states certain shortcomings of this industry which primarily includes aspects like poor working condition of workers in the industry, wastage of resources and also encouragement of unrealistic consumption. Certain other shortcomings include unavailability and high prices of raw materials which also emerge as a major challenge for the firm’s engaged in manufacture of fashion apparels across the world. Numerous opportunities also exist for the industry from the emerging markets like India, China, Brazil and Russia which have started emerging as fashion hotspots of the world (Levis Strauss & Co, 2010, p.5).
Overview of the UK Fashion Industry
UK has been among the pioneers in the global fashion industry whose association with the world of fashion dates back to the 1960’s popularly known as the “swinging sixties”, the “punk and romantic 1970’s” and “Cool Britannia Image” of 1990’s. Present age fashion designer label brands like Vivienne Westwood, Burberry and Mulbery, to name a few, are some of the numerous brand names housed in the nation (British Council Fashion & Oxford Economics, 2008, p.9).
A recent trend observed in the industry is that the nation is shifting from home based manufacturing units to sourcing products from foreign retailers. This has been attributed to the aspects of high labour costs coupled with the rise in prices of raw materials which has forced manufacturers to outsource their production units to nations like China which offer a significant pool of talented resources and raw materials at cheaper rates (British Council Fashion & Oxford Economics, 2008, p.16).
UK is one of the pioneers in the fashion industry, and the nation is accredited with numerous innovations in the industry segment. A research study conducted on the fashion industry in UK states that consumer spending on fashion apparels in UK saw a growth rate of 6.5 percent in 2009 with sales figures reaching 2.5 billion Pound. One of the major market players in the UK market Newberry reported 19.1 percent growth on an annual basis. The growth of fashion industry has been fuelled by large levels of spending by the local people. Over the last ten years spending levels of individuals have grown by approximately six percent on a real term basis. The fashion industry also has made significant contributions to the economy of the nation. In the year 2009, the industry is said to have contributed approximately 20.9 billion pounds towards the economy of UK which forms about 1.7 percent of the total GDP figure of the nation. Retailer GVA alone has contributed approximately 6.5 billion pounds towards the economy of UK. Indirect contributions to the economy include providing employment options to about 816,000 individuals in a direct or an indirect manner. This figure represents about 2.7 percent of the total workforce in the nation which highlights the growth and importance of this sector towards the economy of the nation. On a standalone basis i.e., excluding the employees at the retail stores, the sector employed about 155,000 individuals or about 0.5 percent of the total workforce based in the nation. The fashion industry is also one of the major contributors to the nation’s exchequer with contribution figures ranging about 13.2 billion pounds which stands at 2.6 percent on absolute percentage terms. These contributions have mainly come from VAT and through the income tax paid by the employees engaged in this industry (British Council Fashion & Oxford Economics, 2008, p.14).
 
The magnanimity of the fashion industry can be adjudged from the fact that the contribution of fashion industry towards the GDP of the nation is significantly higher than chemical and publishing industry. Fashion industry is the fourth largest employment provider in UK and comes only next to travel and tourism, telecommunications and real estate (British Council Fashion & Oxford Economics, 2008, p.20). This implies the huge potential of the fashion industry in UK. The following chapter would provide an analysis of the competitive framework prevalent in the UK market.
Porter’s Five Forces Model
Competitive framework for any industry can be analysed by using Michael Porter’s five forces framework. The analysis of a market using the framework proposed by Porter helps an organization to analyse the market potential of other players in the market. This helps in generating sustainable competitive advantage for the firms. According to this framework, the competitive framework can be analysed by using five factors namely,

Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Bargaining power of Consumers
Competition from existing players
Threat of new entrants
Threat of substitutes (Haag, 2007, p.72)

 
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Suppliers have a high barraging power when the raw materials are available in scarce quantities. It also rises when the number of suppliers for a particular product or raw material is quite limited. In case of fashion industry, suppliers constitute of vendors who provide raw material like cotton and other textiles which serve as raw material for apparels. The UK fashion market is characterised by the presence of a few suppliers which is generally due to high costs of raw materials. The suppliers also use traditional practices which again increases the cost of goods sold (Karra, 2008, p.27). High cost of real estate also serves as a major source of concern to the fashion retailers. This analysis implies that suppliers have a fairly high bargaining power. Market leaders in UK have started outsourcing their manufacturing departments to vendors based in nations like China and India where cheap raw material is present at affordable cost of labour (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2004, p.2).
Bargaining Power of Consumers
Bargaining power of consumers arise when the market is characterised by the presence of numerous players who have a large product line. Presence of large number of competitors puts consumers in the driver’s seat as they have numerous options. The present status of the consumer market in UK reveals the presence of large number players. Most of these players have high brand values products to suit every type of customers. This provides ample choices for the consumers. Hence it can be concluded that consumers have a high bargaining power in the UK market.
Major players in the market like Marks and Spencer, Austin Reed have started providing value added services to consumers to woo them to their stores. Celebrity promotions have also been used to target consumers like Lane Crawford roping in supermodel Maggie Cheung for its promotions.
Competition from Existing Players
UK is characterised by the presence of large number of global players like Marks and Spencer’s, Next, Arcadia, Matalan and Bhs all of which have formidable brand image and an impressive product line to target consumers. Competition exists in almost every segment of the target market. This implies that competition from existing players has a significantly high impact on the fashion industry in UK. Market leaders have formulated policies that tend to win the consumers in favour of their brands. Fierce competition has prompted leading market players to vouch for newer locations like for example Marks and Spencer’s eyeing the Indian market.
Threat of New Entrants
New entrants do not pose sufficient threats to the existing players. This is mainly due to the fact that the present market in UK is completely saturated with big brands like Marks and Spencer’s, Next etc. Moreover, high cost of establishing a business deters new players from entering the UK market. This implies that new players do not have significant power to challenge the existing players.
Threat of Substitutes
Substitutes are those products which have attributes that are highly similar to the original products. The customer segments of firms like Marks and Spencer’s are highly niche in nature and are unlikely to switch to substitutes which basically constitute low priced products. Hence it can be concluded that substitutes do not present significant threats to the existing players present in the market.
Key Success Factors
The key success factors for the fashion industry are stated below:

Government support
Customer Awareness
Ability to bring in continuous innovations

Government Support
Government support is a key element in the success of the fashion industry. Pro active policies by the government favour the emergence of new players as well as boost up the existing players by creating market conditions that tend to provide greater value to the customers. Creation of competition would automatically generate innovations which is the backbone of the fashion industry.
Customer Awareness
The success of fashion industry depends on high levels of consumer awareness. Consumer awareness implies that consumers get regular updates about the new products that are being innovated by the fashion industry. Events like London Fashion week, Paris fashion week and other such festivals have emerged as a platform for fashion designers and retailers to showcase their products and creativity. These festivals are characterised by presence of high profile celebrities who endorse products of different designers and fashion labels. In these events, awards and accreditations are given to talented individuals who generate creativity in their designs (London Fashion Week, n.d.). This also serves to motivate individuals to produce greater creativity.
Ability to bring in Continuous Innovations
Innovations are the key to success in the fashion industry. The basic tenets of this industry are based in continuous innovations. Firms like Hilfiger have created competitive advantage by introducing continuous innovations in their product line (Manlow, 2009, p.242). Innovations in fashion include amalgamations of modern and traditional fashion. Mega events like Paris fashion week and London fashion week serve as major forums where market players can showcase their products to the target audience. Firms are also roping in celebrities and supermodels to promote their designs. These innovations and subsequent endorsements by popular celebrities generate substantial interest among the target audience with regards to the diffusion of innovation among the general masses. Broad appeal and glamour of these events generate enthusiasm among the target markets with regards to adopting new products.
The analysis of key success factors reveals the importance of factors like government, awareness among the target market audience. The aspect of innovation also generates sufficient interest among the firms to innovate their products. The UK market represents numerous potential for the market players as all the three key success factors can be achieved by organizations. A suitable mix of the three key success factors would help in generating sustainable competitive advantage for the firms in the highly competitive market.
Strategic Groups
Strategic groups are defined as a group of firms and organizations which operate within a specific industry who have similar strategies. It has been observed that in most of the cases the difference among the different market players is generally captured by the presence of strategic groups within the industry (Kim & Mauborgne, 1999, p.86). The fashion industry in UK is characterised by market players like Marks and Spencer’s, Next, Arcadia, Matalan and Bhs who are global market players having operation in all major markets across the world. All these firms have the same target market and have a similar marketing mix for their products. The basis of forming a strategic group is based on the fact that all the above stated market players operate in a similar macroeconomic set up and have a similar target market. These firms intend to have similar positioning strategies. The presence of a strategic group also creates entry barriers for new entrants as well as generates sustainable competitive advantage for these firms in the market. Presence of strategic groups tends to stabilise consumer preferences, it also generates greater competition and rivalries among the market players, as all the players in the strategic group are known to target the same customer segment. This leads to aggressive marketing by the firms to beat their rivals in the business markets. The scenario in UK market resembles a similar situation with firms trying to use every possible strategy to beat their rivals and capture the market (Hoskinsson, Hitt & Ireland, 2008, p.87-88).
Conclusion
The concept of fashion has been prevalent in UK since time immemorial and the nation has been among the pioneers with regards to creativity in this sector. The study reveals that fashion industry is one of the most happening industries in UK. This can be gauged from its contributions towards the economy of the nation both in direct as well as in indirect terms. The UK market also represents tremendous opportunities for market players as it has a large customer base with high levels of disposable income which makes it an attractive destination for fashion brands across the world. The study also shows certain challenges which mainly arise due high cost of raw materials and labour. Presence of strategic group also tends to increase the competitive rivalry among the market players. In spite of this, the huge potential of the target market serves as an incentive for most of the market players to eye the lucrative market of UK. Hence, it can be concluded that success of an organisation precisely that of fashion, lies in its ability to generate continuous innovation and to mould the advantages of the market to generate sustainable competitive advantage.