An Investigation into Pull&Bear

*

PULL&BEAR A BRAND INVESTIGATION

D A I S Y

M I L W A R D

*

INTRODUCTION

This report is an investigation into the company Pull&Bear, part of the Inditex group, in order to gain insight into the brand and understand how it works. Beginning with an in depth look into their target market, 16-24 looking into studies of youth marketing techniques, in particular surrounding social media.

Following by, detailed brand analysis of the company, its business model and its role within the fast fashion movement. Before outlining the strengths, weaknesses and threats. With hope to work within the realms of marketing and promotion, I used this report as an opportunity to gain insight into marketing structure and initiatives currently used, particularly within the saturated youth market. This report was the driving force behind my spectacle product, giving it substance and context supported by facts. *

BRAND ANALYSIS

1

MARKET INSIGHT

According to Sean Pillot de Chenecey the age ranging from 16-24 is the most ‘over-researched and analysed demographics in the world.’ and this is no surprise as the youth population contribute to over £20billion to the UK economy every year. As the most analysed demographic in the world, marketing experts are eager to find out what they really want- the ‘Youth Market Insight Report’ (conducted by the Beans Group) attempted to do just this.

It is now common knowledge that young people are social media junkies, with the average 16-24 Internet users present on 1.6 sites, with Facebook being the overwhelming favourite. But how can this be used effectively in the realms of marketing?

The report found that those that do follow brands online have a defined demand- material gain, whether this is through competitions, discounts or free products. Or indeed, to be entertained, a concept that hasn’t been fully indulged by fashion retailers other than through the medium of Fashion

Film. Contrary to the British media, the majority of the youth population spend nights at home in their bedrooms. As summarised by TBG Digital’s Jeremy Waite, “50% of people go online to waste time. So lets give them some really cool shit to do there”.

Through research, it has been identified that convenience is the most valued factor in regards to online retail. With 52% admitting they will buy something whether they can afford it or not, convenience is a massive contributor in terms of online spending.

Aside from social media, as with all target markets, customer service and retail space remains key touch points.

Poor customer service seems to be a hot topic with the youth population, with half of them believing they do not receive the same service as someone double their age. This combined with poor retail space are the number one reasons for young people abandoning a brand. As documented by Mobile Youth- brands need to transform retail stores into social spaces.

*

COMPANY OVERVIEW

P

ull & Bear are an ltd company founded in 1991, belonging to the Inditex Group (Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterque).

Inditex now makes 840 garments a year and has around 5,900 stores in 85 countries, though that number is always changing because Inditex has in recent years opened more than a store a day, or about 500 stores a year. Right now there are around 4,400 stores in Europe, and almost, 2000 in Spain alone.

Inditex grossed 2.1 billion Euros in the first quarter, reaching a gross margin of 60.2%.

Pull&Bear is present in 67 markets (60 physical stores plus a further 6 online only) and has a network of 792 stores.

The Pull&Bear chain of fashion stores was born, a result of a market segmentation strategy initiated by the Inditex Group. This was the moment when people were demanding a basic fashion style influenced by international trends, fashion that could also quickly adapt to their needs, with three fundamental premises: fashion, price and quality.

The underlying idea of Pull&Bear was to bring fashion to the people. This concept, alongside an aggressive price policy resulted with the opening of their first store in Portugal in 1992.

“The blueprint for fast fashion, deigns hit the shopflooors in just fifteen days.�

-sunday times

In the following five years Pull&Bear arrived in Greece, Malta and Israel, marking a strong position on each of the markets. Turnover at the close of 2011 stood at 957 million euros, a 12% rise over the figure for 2010. More than 60 million items were sold in total, including over 20 million T-shirts.

Just as for five of the Inditex chains, 2011 was for Pull&Bear the year of the launch of its online store in thirteen European countries (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Holland, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom and Sweden).

- Inditex

TARGET MARKET

According to Pull&Bear their

target market is-” young people who are engaged with their environment, who live in the community and relate to each other.

Young people who have a casual dress sense, who shun stereotypes and who want to feel good in whatever they are wearing.”

Different lines appeal to different ages, the casual line, in which the primary fabric is cotton, made up of illustrated t-shirts, sweatshirts, jeans and plimsols is directed at the teenage market. On the contrary, the second line for both male and female is more adult, directed at young adults that have grown up with the brand. A collection made up of day and night pieces inspired by international trends, turning trends into easy to wear garments. The Pull&Bear Heritage, launched last year, is a collection for men directed at the more adult section of the market, with a definite boho air for those who appreciate the quality and

finish of garments. ‘The men’s Pull&Bear line offers functional garments, neutral colours, whose aged appearance and attention to detail gives it its own personality.

Each apparel collection is supported by a fragrance, shoes, accessories, bags and sunglasses.

2

RETAIL/ONLINE

Pull&Bear is present in 67 markets and has an international network of 792 stores, with 50 stores set to open this year. Pull&Bear stores must be located in main streets or shopping centres in urban centres with a population density greater than 50,000 habitants. The minimum regular surface area of points of sale is about 550 metres squared, with a 12-metre facade and a 3.5-metres overhead height.

Each store is a franchise with merchandise sent each season by Pull&Bear Spain, twice a week, specific to the market of each store.

The current store concept, designed by in-house interior designers is inspired by New York ‘lofts’. The retail spaces are directed inspired by the details of the lofts, high ceilings, industrial elements and concrete floors in order to create a welcoming space where both male and female collections can be presented.

Pull&Bear operates an online presence in over 50 markets, with access to the full Men and Women’s collection. The website is sleek, well designed, fitting with the interior of the stores, with choice to view each garment on a model, alone or in carousel format. In keeping with the brand visuals in store, the latest campaign is showcased the homepage. This home page takes you through photos of the campaigns along with videos and interactive access to buy the garments featured. Also featured is a look book for each range. The website features a page dedicated to the ‘Latest Products’ alongside a page dedicated to ‘Must Have’ Products- a selection to the best garments in the collection that season. A selection entitled ‘Today we Love’ is also featured, daily featuring a staple pieces for their latest collection, for example ‘The Chino Pant’, listing all the pieces in the collection and accompaniments for them. The children’s wear collection is exclusive to the website and not available in stores. The Childrenswear campaign is can also be found on the website and is a series of tiled GIFs with each child in a Pull&Bear outfit, playing with various objects.

WINDOW DISPLAYS

*

WINDOW DISPLAYS

3

COLABORATIONS

In launch of their ‘Heritage’ range, Pull&Bear joined forces with the Seattle based band ‘Bryan John Appleby’ to present its new Spring Summer campaign in a music video featured the band fully styled in the new collection. The video for the song ‘The Words of the Revelator’, directed by filmmaker Christian Soren Hanson, specifically featuring a folk band depicted on a Californian beach reflected the mood of the new collection.

The music video was supported by a website specific to the Heritage collection featuring an interview with the band, the music video, a collection of still life

photographs, a look book of the band and the collection itself.

For the last four years, Pull&Bear has been the official sponsor of the Aspar Motorcyle Racing Team in their quest for the podium.

The Aspar Motorcycle Team is one of the most famous and influential teams in Spain with a substantial cult following.

The collaboration was formed with the aim to bring young people into contact with the values transmitted by sport such as teamwork, effort and the will to overcome. In promotion of this sponsorship the brand feature a website and photo shoot with the team and interviews, entitled ‘The Motor

biker’s’. Pull&Bear has regular collaborations between illustrators and cartoonists (such as Marvel Comics) to created limited edition t-shirts, which are a staple part of the teenage collection.

‘collaborations formed with the aim to bring young people into contact with the values transmitted by sport such as effort and the will to overcome!’

MARKETING INITATIVES

*

MARKETING INITATIVES

MARKETING INITATIVES

4

MARKETING INITATIVES

As an international company the majority of marketing is based online with their website being the main avenue to each marketing strategy. The brand is present on all social media platforms- Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Vimeo, YouTube.

As a brand, directly aimed at the youth market, their Twitter account is used to interact with consumers, replying to posts about their latest purchase, giving them fifteen minutes of fame, keeping them involved in the brand. Pull&Bear has a regular blog, which you can access through the website.

The daily updated blog posts regular updates of latest collections with interviews with up and coming artists and places to visit. The Pull&Bear blog entitled, ‘Pull the Metal’ is in collaboration with ‘Metal Magazine’ with a strong emphasis on the fusion between Music and Fashion with a playlist to accompany it. However the blog incorporates all elements of popular culture with selections for; Art, Books, Films, Shopping, City Notes, TV and Video games. The main medium of marketing is through campaign videos as they are versatile, universal in any language as a large international company. Another than online strategies, Pull&Bear operates events through ‘Pull&Bear On Tour’, concerts in their stores worldwide and secret parties. They also participate in Vogue’s Fashion Night Out annually and host elaborate opening parties for each of their stores. The latest technology has been introduced within stores allowing the customer to move from being a passive subject to participating and interacting with the space. In this regard a series of touch screens, computers and photo booths are available in order to share the experience of the brand through social networks. There are no current records of the brand advertised in UK publications, however their arrival of the first store in London was documented in Vogue, Elle and Company Magazine. Pull&Bear have also commissioned an app, available to all Apple Products, that allows you to view their latest collections, enter competitions and purchase items.

*

S W

*

O T

S.W.O.T

* *

[STRENGTHS]-This diverse product offering has enabled the Inditex group to carve a niche for itself and emerge as one of the largest fashion distributor globally, a pioneer of ‘fast fashion. Inditex’s philosophy is to under-produce inexpensive high fashion apparel, thereby encouraging frequent purchases and limiting its own markdowns.

Each of Inditex’s companies follow this template- trend focused, decadently made but inexpensive sold in high-end looking stores. Each store has incredibly high turnover, receiving deliveries twice a week in order to keep the merchandise fresh. While the Zara concept has some similarities to H&M, Mango or Topshop it offers a higher degree of fashion more quickly and frequently than its competitors. Zara has mastered a mixture of attractive, traditional styles and fashion that appeals to its customers and also has a higher flexibility is sourcing than most of its competitors, which gives it an edge over the others.

[WEAKNESSES]-Weak international presence of other brand concepts, although Pull&Bear is present in 67 markets, it is relatively unknown in the United Kingdom, mainly focused on the Spanish market, shown by the website first language to be Spanish. In 2005, the Zara chain contributed 65.9% to the total sales, while all the other concepts put together amounted to only 34.1% of the total sales. Other concept within the Inditex Group are more focused on the Spanish market, other than Zara, Inditex’s other brands such as Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, Bershka do not have international appeal.

Unlike Topshop and other Arcadia brands, they do not offer student discount and lack the interaction with the youth in this country.

S.W.O.T

* * [OPOTUNITIES]-Designer Collaborations within all of their concepts could expand the company into new markets and would receive a lot of free press- particularly for one of their companies such as Pull&Bear, increasing their dominance in this country. Introducing student discount would also allow for interaction with their younger target market, particularly Pull&Bear, as this is their market.

Although, Inditex’s ethos is to put higher revenue into locations opposed to heavy marketing techniques, more emphasis could be placed on campaign videos, a cost-effect way to heavily promote the brands on a global platform, sending the campaign viral. The use of film as a medium also allows universal, international usage.

[THREATS]-Competitors such as H&M and Topshop are doing really well with designer collaborations and have border target markets including maternity clothing. Inditex needs to increase its digital dominance with creations of app etc. Rising cost of textiles and shipping will make it harder to branch into markets such as Asia, particularly with all production centred around Europe and North Africameaning it will be harder to emulate this fast paced fashion further a field.

COMPETITORS

6

COMPETITORS

At present, Inditex biggest competitor in this country is the Arcadia Group formed of high-street brands Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Burton and Dorothy Perkins.

Arcadia’s total group sales were virtually flat at £2,678.0m (August 2012), compared to the 2.1 billion grossed by Inditex. In terms of design Topshop is undisputedly fashion forward, it just lacks the pace of the likes of Zara, with Arcadia’s prices ever-increasing.

It is thought, that brands such as Dorothy Perkins need to be taken more up-market to reach the level of Zara. Unlike, all of the Inditex concepts, all of the Arcadia companies started in the United Kingdom becoming established household names, posing a threat to Inditex concepts such as Pull&Bear that are not as well established.

Arcadia has a strong interaction with the student market (the target market many of their brands are aimed at), formed through strong social media marketing techniques and strong advertising, offering student

discount.

In terms of fast fashion H&M are Inditex’s biggest rival. Inditex exceeded H&M in the profit stakes, becoming the most successful fashion retailer since 2008. Inditex has fared better than its smaller rival as it sources a larger proportion of its stock form Europe and North Africa where wage inflation is lower than Asia. Although both are fast fashion companies, the business model to H&M differs slightly. For example, Zara estimates fifteen days from which a design reaches the shop floor, much faster than their rival. However, H&M’s main lines do operate on this new fast fashion model in order to follow trends, this is mixed with ranges that do not such as the ‘Basics’ range to increase longevity.

*

It is fact Inditex is currently the most successful retailer to date, exceeding Gap in 2008. Although they have a strong business model there are several weaknesses surrounding their concept Pull&Bear, over-shadowed by Zara.

Inditex choose not to put investment into advertising, instead investing into product and store locations. It is true the Pull&Bear stores are completed to a high-level finish, the brand is relatively unknown and this will only come from advertising. This model works only for Zara as it extremely establish and now staple on the British high street. As an international company, present in 67 markets the best form of advertising may come in the medium of film as it is universal to any country. Pull&Bear has had film campaigns in the past but are not well distributed, creating that needed hype.

The campaigns also do not promote the brands ethos- quality fabric. In particular, Pull&Bears more adult line has similar design aesthetics to that of Zara but this is not translated well in their currently film campaigns.

With goals to work in the marketing industry, I have gained knowledge and understanding of marketing structure and techniques, gaining an insight into the youth market. I have identified areas of weakness and opportunity within the brand Pull&Bear and will take this forward into creating my spectacle product- creating a film campaign for Spring/Summer 2014.

This campaign with focus on the quality fabrics and finishes which are not currently promoted and their target market, ‘young people who are in touch with their environment’, in conjunction with their new one hundred per cent organic cotton initiative. *

*