By Lauren Barrett
Paul Smith was born in Nottingham in 1946, his childhood passion and ambition was to become a racing cyclist, until at 17 he suffered a terrible accident. His introduction into fashion was completely accidental, as a few months later; he went to a local pub popular with local art students. He knew he wanted to be part of this exciting world full of ideas. In 1970 Paul opened his first tiny shop in Nottingham and started taking evening classes in tailoring. By 1976 Paul has debuted his first menswear collection in Paris. Now, with 40 years in the business he has over 14 different collections, is wholesaled in 66 countries with over 200 stores throughout Japan alone. Smith owns 60 percent of his business and the other 40 is owned by Japanese investors Itochi who play a silent role. Paul Smith continues to play a huge role within everything business and design related. He is still one of the best British Designers.
He is still one of the best British Designers. Paul Smith has 14 different collections: Paul Smith for men and women, PS by Paul Smith, Paul Smith Jeans, Paul Smith London, R.Newbold (Japan only), Paul Smith Black, Paul by Paul Smith, Paul Smith Accessories, Paul Smith Shoe. Paul Smith rugs, china, spectacles and fragrance are made under license. Paul has said in interviews “were leading a uniquely British brand, we mix up one off antiques with high quality tailoring: the chair you sit on when you buy a suit is for sale and we can wrap the suit and have the chair waiting for you when you get home!� Through his five press offices in London, Tokyo, Paris, Milan and New York, Paul Smith is able to engage with international media. Paul Smith also regularly engages through the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube, Google+ and Instagram.
Best of British, Art lovers, simple and classic tailoring. For a long time this has been the predominant image when the words Paul Smith were used and even for those who weren’t part of the art and quirky scene, ownership of a Paul Smith item was still a passport to a very good investment and would go someway to establishing your credentials as a well-dressed individual. This image has somewhat stayed the same but has re-established its name. Paul Smith has now expanded globally with a higher percentage of sales now being made through out Asia, especially in Japan where 241 stores have opened compared to that of the 17 in England. Paul Smith’s customers range from the creative community to students, Hollywood actors and pop stars to business professionals, varying in ages from 18-66+. The brand is made up of character and fun and this vaguely reflects throughout the brands social media. Paul Smiths brand is on a wide variety of social media platforms all that are in current trend.
Facebook Paul Smith clothing has 743,607k likes the most of any social media platform. It is posted on around once a day very similar to posts on twitter, just a filtered down few. I think Facebook is a slowly disintegrating social media platform, as the younger generation don’t tend to use Facebook as much. I think the social media team at Paul smith is doing the right thing by not posting as much on Facebook.
Twitter @paulsmithdesign has followers 138k, one of the most of any of his social media platforms. These posts are original, product-based material along with exhibition dates. This is posted on regularly with at least 2-3 posts a day. I think the twitter is good as most posts are product related, so you see the brand you see the next collections, you see what is going on within the brand, exhibition wise and collaboration. The only problem I think twitter faces are the lack of written tweets, hash tags and things to get the brand really noticed.
Pinterest Paul Smith has 12.2k followers 3k pins and 28 boards. All the boards include fashion campaigns, Paul’s inspiration, a board for each collection and photographs of Paul’s shops. I think to gain more audience through Pinterest Paul needs to add a board for each collections fashion shows, add photos on the runway and behind the scenes, to make them more accessible and of a wider audience than just on platforms like Vogue.
YouTube has 3,797 subscribers and all posts are fashion based showing the latest campaigns, catwalk collections and some behind the scenes footage. I think the videos posted on here are very interesting but more footage could be posted more regularly, or even create a viral video.
Instagram for company is paulsmithdesign and has 37.6k followers, nowhere near the amount of other high-end designers. The posts on average are around 1-2 photos a day, mainly of architecture and random photos with the odd photo of the Paul Smith clothing, accessories and collaborations. All likes of posts are under 1,000. This account is following 514 people that are all fashion, magazine, or celebrity related. Paul Smith also has his own Instagram account Paul Smith or can be found by using the hashtag takenbypaul. This account has 236k followers and posts on average 2-3 times a day.
All photos are taken by Paul himself and are all of art inspirations, landscapes, architecture and things he finds interesting. There are no photos of any fashion collections or things sold by him. He is following 209 people and again all are fashion related, celebrities, bikes, cars, or bloggers. I don’t think that Paul Smiths design Instagram are taking advantage of the power that Instagram holds at the moment. This should be there perfect platform to post photos of younger A list celebrities wearing Paul Smith, increase fan base and also to reach out to a wider but younger audience. This is what needs to be re branded to expand Paul’s social media power and drive more sales globally.
Current trends that could affect Paul Smith are the demands to keep up with new social media platforms. Paul Smith Is very up to date with his social media apart from one platform, he doesn’t yet have an App. Paul smith not having an app that audiences can download on their phones look at the latest exciting things Paul’s doing all the new launches. This side of social media is letting him down. Another factor that could affect this sector is that Paul Smith’s biggest market is in Asia. There are current recession scares for the economic climate over there that is looming. In China, since the Paris terror attacks stocks and markets have decreased which could also cause the economic structure in the U.S to tip into recession. Also Japan’s economy has narrowly just avoided a technical recession. This could affect buyers throughout Asia for some of Paul Smith’s consumers. This factor will not affect consumers in a higher social bracket with higher income but will affect those one off consumers. I think that Paul’s Smiths competitors are: Ted Baker, Hugo Boss and Reiss. Ted Baker is a British brand, which started out as a shirt specialist in Glasgow. Ted Baker has a focus on the attention to detail especially within Men’s Tailoring. Ted Baker is one of the fastest growing lifestyle brands in the UK and now offers a wide range of collections including Menswear, Womenswear, Global, Endurance, Pashion, Langley, Accessories, Fragrance, Skinwear, Eyewear and watches. Many collections are in the same areas as Paul’s. Ted Baker has also extended his brand internationally with stores in Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore and Bangkok. I think that Ted Baker is a competitor to Paul Smith as they have very similar collections and both started out and specialize in Men’s tailoring, there both best of British and are very quirky, Paul Smith’s price points just being slightly higher.
Hugo boss is a German brand founded by Hugo Ferdinand Boss in 1924. HUGO BOSS is made up of the collections of BOSS, BOSS Orange, BOSS Green and HUGO. Hugo Boss also has a wide product rage classic to modern apparel, eveningwear, sportswear, shoes and leather accessories as well as licensed fragrances, eyewear, watches, children’s fashion, home textiles and mobile accessories. This again is very similar to that of Paul Smith and also Ted Baker. I think that Hugo Boss is a main competitor to Paul Smith, as Hugo Boss is very well known for a classic suit similar to Paul. His price points on clothing are pretty much the same and both hold Catwalk shows and have a very credited career. Hugo Boss also has a strong social media with a large following. Also they have a large advertisement budget as they are all over magazines and TV adverts. Also I think that Reiss is a competitor for Paul Smith. Reiss started up in 1971 and has created an ethos centered in creating design-led menswear, womenswear and accessories, all with a commitment to deliver exceptional design, quality and value. Reiss is a highly respected company, which has a large celebrity following, from the Royal Family to Hollywood stars and stylish celebrities. The price point for Reiss is a lot lower than that of Paul Smith but this is why I think they are main competitors. Reiss also has a massive celebrity and younger clientele unlike that of Paul Smith who is on the whole quite dated. Reiss don’t have the budgets of Paul Smith and Hugo Boss but I think it has the consumerism and similar higher income clients.
*“Paul smith deployed search technology from SLI Japanese audiences are very big on having celebSystems, a worldwide e-commerce acceleration pro- rities or Asian Pop artists to look up to and follow vider, to ensure their online shoppers can readily every move, this could be a great opportunity find the products they are seeking in as few clicks as for Paul to dress one and advertise. Also Paul possible online and through mobile. Following this needs to be advertising in magazines and on TV change in technology Paul smith has seen a 39% campaigns even if it’s just for his perfume brand increase in site search conversions, 45% increase this is all good exposure for him. The threats for in visitors and 11% increase in overall site revenue. Paul Smith as a brand are from the competition The e-company wanted to offer a compelling online against other well known brands. For example his shopping experience that would make shoppers competitors; Hugo Boss, how they advertise and come back.” This is a great opportunity for Paul are always on TV screens or in magazines, how Smith as it does work to increase sales. As this is a well they are known in the younger generation massive strength to him he now needs the exposure and worn by a range of different audiences. How to drive these sales along with it. Pauls weakness is their social media is operated so that Hugo Boss that his lack of celebrity endorsements not adver- isn’t just a known brand is a worn brand. Another tising his clothing to a wider and younger audience. strength that Paul Smith can play on is the fact Everyone has heard of Paul Smith but wouldn’t necthat everything is designed in house, he has 3 essarily buy his clothing. His global domination of architects, 12 designers, Graphic design, Social the market especially in Asia is a massive strength Media, Marketing Press all in one building. This to Paul Smith; the Chinese and Japanese economic means all teams can work together to create the markets are some of the worlds leading. Therefore best possible social media to make it more fun there are many high-end clients in this area and and quirky, they also can work together to create the economy is enabling more consumerism. Paul new social media for example an App and all Smith needs to market a lot more in Asia, not by work on a design aspect individually. opening more shops but by advertisements and updating his social media.
The solution to solve these problems wouldn’t be out of Paul’s budget. To create a younger clientele Paul needs to be in touch with younger A list celebrities, for example on his Instagram he his following Tinie Tempah. This would be a perfect clientele to widen his appeal. Tinie has 664k followers on Instagram alone, posting this kind of exposure on Paul’s design Instagram and of more stars could work to his advantage and be very cost affective. For Paul to introduce an App on average this will cost him around £270.000. This compared to his yearly income of £202.7m wouldn’t really stretch the cash. Add on top the payments to his in house design teams its still very reasonable. Also to create extra exposure and widen his brand to a younger audience I think Paul Smith needs to advertise more in magazines such as Grazia, Vogue, Wonderland, I.D and Elle. He doesn’t advertise any of his campaign shoots in any magazines, which I think, really lets him down.
Advertising in these magazines would open up his audience to those very interested and up to date with fashion trends and the markets, but also to those that enjoy reading these magazines who don’t tent to have a lot of fashion knowledge. His campaign shoots he does are very fun and bold so this would be a perfect place to advertise these shoots as they really do stand out, and will stand out to a younger not older audience too. To achieve this Paul will really need to extend his advertisement budgets greatly, and not just rely on his name and word of mouth. He will need to do this for both his clothing collections accessory lines. He will need to allow at least 300,000 more, which again is not out of his budget range. If Paul implies all of these techniques he will create a younger target audience and will once again get his name back out there to both International and a Global audience. This is what I propose needs to be done to increase Paul’s sales and improve his social media.
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