Product Review Meeting For
Fashion Product Buying & Merchandising Karine Hawawini - S00703881
ABOUT &OTHERSTORIES: H&M Group owned & Other Stories was created in 2013 with the initial idea of creating a beauty only brand however the group thought it was too “restraint” and created a whole concept which led to the creation of & Other Stories. The brand has its own identity with an offering of classic, elegant, well-tailored, good quality yet affordable Scandinavian style ready-to-wear, accessories and beauty products. With a brand that keeps growing as according to the latest H&M Group annual report 2017, & Other Stories has currently 60 stories in 16 different markets and is planning this year to expanding to over 5 new countries including a new market which is the Middle East. However, after going to different stores around London (King’s Road, Oxford Street, Regent Street and Covent Garden), our buying and merchandising team thought of a new marketing strategy for the brand: collaborating with a sustainable brand to empathize its involvement in making the fashion industry more sustainable and environmental friendly. A) RESEARCH & Other Stories’ ethos includes the question of sustainability and is already involved in it in various ways: First off, they have an all equal rights policy with their own “Code of Conduct”, they are aware of the environmental and climatic challenges we are facing so they try to reduce their energy level to the fullest in their “Climate smart ways”. Moreover, & Other Stories have an “in-store recycling” program for their beauty packaging and recently with textile recycling. One of the most important thing about sustainability is to be transparent with its customer: & Other Stories is, everything is explained on their website in depth and in detail to assure the customer about their legitimacy. In fact, according to Fashion United, the H&M group has been ranked 5 th in the fashion brands who are the most transparent by the Fashion Transparency Index (2018). After analysing couple of stores in London, we concluded that the majority of & Other Stories stores focuses on ready-to-wear, accessories and beauty. The smallest shops don’t showcase swimwear or lingerie due to the lack of choice and focus in general of the brand. As the collection is due for Summer, we thought of creating a collaboration with an upcoming Brazilian beachwear brand called “Emi Beachwear”. Emi Beachwear is based in Rio De Janeiro and provides biodegradable swimwear that decomposes after 4 years being disposed. Their products are hand painted so each one of them is unique. Their goal is “with the conscience of all we can save the sea!”
Price Point: The price point of the two brands are quite similar which means that they target a customer with the same disposable income. For the collaboration we will keep the usual & Other Stories price point to keep their loyal customers.
Average of Bandeau current Bikini prices (all converted in BRITISH POUNDS) according to websites.
High neck bikini
One piece
Beachwear long dress
Beachwear short dress
Beach wrap
Emi Beachwear & Other Stories
47
42
65
152
82
139
42
N/A
42
N/A
N/A
N/A
Price strategy: We choose to make this collection in the U.K. as we only have 10 weeks for the collection to be ready to be sold in store. We will already have the handmade biodegradable fabrics shipped from Emi Beachwear in Brazil, so we can directly give it to our chosen factory. As this collection is only beachwear, we chose Kiniki (https://www.kiniki.com/pages/the-kiniki-factory), a factory based in Staffordshire specialised in beachwear. We want the collection to have the highest quality possible with less profit loss. However, since the price of the labour in the U.K. is more expensive than in Asia for example, the cost will be higher but for this collection, quality comes before the price. Moreover, as it is a sustainable collection, the fact that we use a factory based in the same country where the collection will be sold makes the collaboration even more credible regarding its concern for the environment. Marketing strategy: We want to bring attention to this collection 2 months before the launch through social media. We will post some campaign images and quotes explaining what is & Other Stories x Emi Beachwear and its role in making the fashion industry more sustainable. Moreover, two weeks before the launch, we will promote it again through sneak peek behind the scenes of the campaign and we will start a countdown a week before the launch. This strategy has an aim to bring excitement and desire to this collection, so this is why we forecast to sell the collection in maximum 7 weeks with half of the stock to be sold within the first three weeks of the release.
B) PRODUCT This collaboration may be a gamble in some levels as with only 17k followers on Instagram Emi Beachwear is not mainstreamed known however, the brand will gain high exposure by collaborating with an international known company like & Other Stories and for the Swedish brand, they will become more credible on their involvement in sustainability. The goal of this collaboration is of course to raise profit but to really mark & Other Stories as one of the most known sustainable brands on the high street and in the fashion world alongside brands such as Stella Mccartney. Looking at these two brands you might think they don’t have a lot in common however & Other Stories’ aim “is to create collections, with well thought-out solutions, that give people the opportunity to express their personality” which goes perfectly with Emi Swimwear’s idea of painting their “prints by hand to convey our affection through the brushes. We created with the intention of coloring all the oceans of this world with our biodegradable bikinis.” Wearing Emi Beachwear is being fashionable but supporting a cause which goes with & Other Stories’ idea of creating clothes to express the customer’s personality and with Emi Beachwear, their believes.
• & Other Stories x Emi Beachwear Fabric/Colour: The colour palette of this collection is quite clean and summery. In 6 items out of the 7, we have a touch of white to keep it light and fresh. The fabrics are biodegradable, handmade in Emi Beachwear’s factory in Rio which brings a unique touch to this collection. The patterns are inspired by tropical nature from Brazil, with plants to animals; the wild is making its appearance! Mood/Inspiration: This collection is inspired by white sand beaches, the Brazilian sun and all the fun that goes with it. These items from the collection are comfortable to wear yet fashionable and we want this sense of laidback/”effortless” mood to come out when wearing these items. Packaging: Each item will be sold in a logo bag made of recyclable linen which can be reused as a beach bag or shopping bag. Moreover, the labelling tag will be made of hemp with an explanation of what is & Other Stories x Emi Beachwear and how the customer is making a difference in the fashion industry but still being fashionable.
• Visual range plan of the & Other Stories x Emi Beachwear Collection
The & Other Stories x Emi Beachwear is a 7-piece collection including swimwear and beachwear. Each item is named after a beach in Brasil to remember that the collaboration is with an independent and sustainable brand based in Brazil. The key trend item is the Muro Alto Beach wrap as they are back in style for this summer. We have already seen them on the high street at H&M and River Island and also in the luxury market with D&G and Melissa Obadash.
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The collection in detail:
Rio Bandeau Bikini: - Cost price: £18 - RRP: £45 - Margin: 50% - Quantity: 750 - Fabric: Emi Biodegradable fabric - Colour: multi green - OTB budget: £33,750
Copacabana High Neck Bikini: - Cost price: £18.80 - RRP: £47 - Margin: 50% - Quantity: 550 - Fabric: Emi Biodegradable fabric - Colour: Silver - OTB budget: £25,850
Azul One Piece Swimsuit: - Cost price: £20 - RRP: £50 - Margin: 50% - Quantity: 400 - Fabric: Emi Biodegradable fabric - Colour: multi stripe - OTB budget: £20,000
iPanema One Piece Swimsuit: - Cost price: £20 - RRP: £50 - Margin: 50% - Quantity: 450 - Fabric: Emi Biodegradable fabric - Colour: multi black - OTB budget: £22,500
Gunga Short beach dress: - Cost price: £25 - RRP: £70 - Margin: 55.36% - Quantity: 500 - Fabric: Recycled linen - Colour: white/green - OTB budget: £35,000
Madeiro Long beach dress: - Cost price: £50 - RRP: £120 - Margin 50% - Quantity: 700 - Fabric: Recycled linen - Colour: white/blue - OTB budget: £84,000
Muro Alto Beach Wrap: - Cost price: £25 - RRP: £70 - Margin: 55.36% - Quantity: 650 - Fabric: Recycled linen - Colour: multi floral - OTB budget: £45,500
• Sales weekly plan: For this collection, we aim to sell it in 7 weeks, this is due to the fact that we want to promote it through social media two months before the launch and during the two weeks before the launch we will release campaign images, sneak peaks, the sustainable ethos of the collaboration and of course, explaining the process of this biodegradable fabric which will keep the potential customer wanting more and get more curious. This marketing strategy will be supported by Social Media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram. The first two weeks we aim to sell at least half of the stock due to the customers anticipation for the release. • Pricing and margin sheet: The OTB will be of £266k which is quite relatively low, but it is explained by the fact that this 7 piece beachwear collection will be only sold in 6 U.K stores in small quantities to bring hype and desire. Margin: For this collection we aim to have an average of 50% margin as it is Made in the U.K and it is a small collection, so risk is smaller. Grade: The collection will be featured in 6 of the 10 shops in the UK, including 3 in London flagship stores. As the collection is small, we choose to sell all the items from the collection to the 6 chosen stores. Choice of quantities: Our predicted three bestsellers will be the Rio bandeau bikini, the Madeiro long beach dress and the Muro Alto beach wrap, this is translated through the higher number of quantities. We think the bandeau style will be successful due to the shape that is predominantly chosen by women due to its practicability for not having visible tan lines. Regarding the long beach dress, the white colour is appealing to anyone during Summer and customers love a white dress. Finally, the beach wrap can be seen as an impulse buy as you don’t need to try it since it fits all sizes and has been designed to go with any swimwear to mix and match patterns which is on trend at the moment.
• Size chart: Emi Beachwear’s sizing ranges from S to L with some items that are a Unique size. However, at & Other Stories, the swimwear sizing ranges from 34 to 42. For this collaboration we will follow Emi Beachwear’s sizing as it is more cost effective and as it is beachwear, the fabrics are overall quite “stretchy” and the fit doesn’t need to be as precise as if it was for tailoring or sportswear for example. The swimwear in this collection is designed to be worn as holiday wear and not professional swimwear.
We chose to make more items in smaller or bigger sizes depending on the style. For example, the Azul swimsuit is a low V neck cut and will be more successful for fuller bust and on the contrary the Copacabana high neck bikini will suit smaller bust therefore we choose to make more size Small in this style. • Trading: Branch Cover: Below is the forecast in details of the quantity we aim to sell within 7 weeks. For example, if we sell 220 items every week of the Rio bikini, we have enough stock to sell for over 3.4 weeks. (750/220 = 3.4). However, due to anticipation and buzz created through social media in the two weeks before the launch, we aim to sell half of the collection in the 3 first weeks and progressively the sell numbers will die down throughout the remaining weeks until it will sold out. We prefer to make smaller quantities, so we are guaranteed it will fully sell and it sells out within the three first weeks, we will know the collaboration was a high success and for the potential second collection we will make much more higher quantities.
Sell Through: We used the Rio bikini as an example of rate sell through and we estimate to sell an average of 51.7% of its total stock in the first two weeks.
Stock turn: Since we are trying out this collection, we will only do one this year. If it succeeds, we might think of continuing the collection by releasing two a year. After the stock we made is sold out, we will not plan on making more as we want it to be a small and rather exclusive capsule collection. If it sells out in the 7 week that we planned, this will be a heads-up for our team to start discussing about a continuous relationship between Emi Beachwear and & Other Stories.
CONCLUSION: We forecast that the collection will be successful due to its sustainability feature, fashion focused and awareness on social media. Moreover, according to a Unilever 2017 report, a third of UK consumers (33%) prefer to buy sustainable brands. This collection can bring new customers to & Other Stories through their involvement in fashion
sustainability. If the collection is successful we will continue this collaboration worldwide and online by creating two collection a year. We will expand to more beachwear items such as kaftans, hats and beach bags. Moreover, & Other Stories can also open itself to new markets by creating tall, petite and plus size collections which can thereafter be added to the Emi Beachwear collaboration.
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