Contemporary Issues in the Global Fashion Industry DE1223
Total Word Count 6,003 words
Submitted to Prof Bruce Montgomery 24/04/2015
Submitted by Henry Lorenz, Pooja Nagaraj, Moontaha Nasir MA Fashion Management Northumbria University Arts, Design and Social Sciences
Table of contents
II
Table of contents Table of contents
II
1
Executive Summary
1
2
Introduction
2
2.1
Objective of this report
2
2.2
Methodology
2
2.3
Research Tools
3
2.4
Background Information about Shanghai Tang
3
3
Findings
3.1
5
Company Structure
5
3.1.1
Current Situation
6
3.1.2
Gaps and Opportunities
8
3.2
Design
12
3.2.1
Current Situation
12
3.2.2
Gaps and Opportunities
19
3.3
Digital Media
24
3.3.1
Current Situation
24
3.3.2
Gaps and Opportunities
29
4
Conclusion
32
5
Recommendations
33
6
Appendices
34
6.1 7
Survey among MA Design students Bibliography
Declaration
34 38
Table of Figures
III
Table of Figures Figure 1: Shanghai Tang Store Network
4
Figure 2: Organizational structure of Shanghai Tang, own assumptions
5
Figure 3: Raphael Le Masne de Chermont
7
Figure 4: Joseph Li
7
Figure 5: Burberry Logo and Christopher Bailey
8
Figure 6: Responsibilities of a Chief Creative Director
11
Figure 7: Joanne Ooi
11
Figure 8: Shanghai Tang
12
Figure 9: Collection Analysis Shanghai Tang
13
Figure 10: Spring/Summer Collection 2009 by Jospeh Li
14
Figure 11: Spring/Summer Collection 2015
14
Figure 12: Autumn/Winter Collection 2009 by Joseph Li
15
Figure 13: Autumn/Winter Collection 2014 by Winnie So
15
Figure 14: Women's Imperial Collection 2013 by Joseph Li
16
Figure 15: Women's Imperial Collection 2014
17
Figure 16: Men's Imperial Collection 2014 by Armele Barbier
17
Figure 17: Spring/Summer Collection 2015 by Masha Ma and Wang Pei
18
Figure 18: Jacky Tsai Collection
18
Figure 19: Burberry Check, Scarf and Trench Coat
20
Figure 20: Shanghai Tang Spring/Summer 2015
20
Figure 21: Silk and 'Made in China'
22
Figure 22: Different use of Silk
23
Figure 23: E-Commerce Growth
24
Figure 24: Burberry Website
25
Figure 25: Brands in China
26
Figure 26: E-Commerce in China
27
Figure 27: China is now the number 1 digital retail market in value and penetration
27
Figure 28: Capture Audience
30
Figure 29: Homeware products with personal engraving
31
Executive Summary
1
1
Executive Summary
The importance of emerging economies and markets has increased and evolved over the last years. Countries such as China, India and Brazil are growing in terms of their economic power. This comes along with a steady increase in wealth and a rising middle class. Several years ago, international luxury fashion brands identified the significant growth potential within these countries and started to expand and grow their business towards the undeveloped markets in Asia. Their aim was to capture new markets and customers. At the same time, local luxury fashion brands were almost non-existent. Therefore, traditional Western brands could enjoy a dominant position within these markets. However, the circumstances have changed over the last years and so the competition within emerging markets. Brands like Shanghai Tang and Manish Arora evolved from those markets and started to compete against the already established traditional brand in their countries. Customers are proud and becoming increasingly aware of brands that have grown from within these countries. Moreover, customers in these markets are becoming more sophisticated. Since emerging brands began to evolve, the question arises how long it will take until these brands start to challenge traditional Western brands in their own territories in Europe and America. Simultaneously, emerging brands could still learn from already established Western brands in order to strengthen their business. Therefore, this report aims to identify potential growth strategies for Shanghai Tang, China’s first luxury fashion brand by providing recommendations for change and sustainable improvements.
Introduction
2 2.1
2
Introduction Objective of this report
The aim of this report is to analyse the Chinese luxury fashion brand Shanghai Tang in order to provide recommendations for future strategies in the areas of design, company structure and digital. In order to achieve this aim, the purpose is to explore how already established luxury fashion brands are operating in these areas by comparing and contrasting Shanghai Tang with Burberry. The learning outcomes of the comparison will be then applied to Shanghai Tang.
2.2
Methodology
For this report, primary and secondary research has been applied. The primary research has been used in order to receive insights into the culture, history and behaviours of Chinese as individuals as well as customers. Moreover, this research method provides information about perceptions of brands, high-priced products and products labelled as ‘Made in China’. Additionally, it also provided information about the brand recognition of Shanghai Tang among Chinese as well as Western students. The primary research included:
An interview with Northumbria University staff who lived in China for several years
An interview with an former Shanghai Tang employee
A survey among Design students from China as well as several other nationalities
The secondary research supported the results of the primary research and provided additional information about the brand. It also provided detailed insights into certain aspects such as the brand strategy. The secondary research included the following sources:
Interviews with o
Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, CEO of Shanghai Tang
o
Armele Barbier, Head of Design Menswear
Journal articles
Newspaper articles
Management books
Fashion blogs
LinkedIn profiles
Introduction
2.3
3
Shanghai Tang website www.shanghaitang.com
Burberry website www.burberry.com
Research Tools
For the report, the authors used the following research tools in order to analyse Shanghai Tang and to get an understanding of the brand:
2.4
Brand Onion
SWOT Analysis
Porter’s Five Forces
Background Information about Shanghai Tang
Shanghai Tang was founded 1994 in Hong Kong by David Tang. His initial aim was to create a fashion brand that takes its inspiration from China of the early 1920’s and 1930’s when Shanghai was also called ‘the Paris of the East’. Nowadays, Raphael le Masne de Chermont, CEO of Shanghai Tang, states that the company is still “deeply anchored in a tradition of Shanghainese tailoring that dates back to the 1930s” (luxury-Insider.com, 2011). In its early years, the brand focused on bespoke tailoring and ready-to-wear clothes and emphasized rather on wealthy Westerners than on the local customers (Harilela, 2013). In 1997, Tang aimed to expand the business globally and opened the first location abroad – a prestigious store in New York. However, the store could never generate enough sales to be profitable and therefore the company had to move to a smaller location after merely 19 months. At that time, Tang sold a large part of his shares to Swiss company Richemont in 1998 (Anon., 2013 I). In 2001, de Chermont entered the company as CEO. His aim was to change the approach of Shanghai Tang by making the clothes “more relevant and wearable, as well as more appealing to well-travelled fashionistas” (luxury-Insider.com, 2011). In order to achieve this goal, he brought Joanne Ooi as Creative Director into the company who worked for Shanghai Tang until 2008. Both decided to mix traditional Chinese and contemporary elements in order to attract also mainland Chinese customers. Since then, each collection has a theme that is related to China and the Chinese history. Additionally, they repositioned the brand and started to expand its product line by adding accessories and homewares (Harilela, 2013). In 2008, the company was fully acquired by Richemont (Harilela, 2013). Today, Shanghai Tang has 62 stores in six different countries around the world. However, nearly 90 per cent are located in China. Additionally, the brand sells its products through its own online
Introduction
4
store. Shanghai Tang has achieved a balanced customer base with 51 per cent coming from Asia and 49 per cent from other parts of the world while mainland Chinese represent nearly 30 per cent of all customers (Zhang, 2014) (Harilela, 2013). Shanghai Tang names itself “the pioneering international luxury lifestyle brand from China� (Shanghai Tang, n.d.).
Figure 1: Shanghai Tang Store Network
Findings
5
3 Findings 3.1 Company Structure
Figure 2: Organizational structure of Shanghai Tang, own assumptions
Findings
6
3.1.1 Current Situation Organizational Structure The organizational structure of Shanghai Tang can be described as functional with a top-down management approach (Daft, 2004). Therefore, employees with the same background, knowledge and expertise are grouped together in one department of the organization such as Design or Retail (Daft, 2004). The advantage of this structure is an effectiveness when it comes to achieving goals and coordinating the organization hierarchically. Moreover, employees are managed by someone who has similar knowledge in the same field. Therefore, he is able to provide clear and justified feedback on the work of the employees (Woods, n.d.). Additionally, the overall communication within a department is clear and structured (Usmani, n.d.). The weaknesses are that change takes time, the communication across departments is rather inefficient and the decision making process within one department can take some time due to the hierarchical structure (Daft, 2004). The reporting and supervising structure is also hierarchical. The employees report directly to the manager of each functional department who then report to the CEO. Furthermore, functional managers are responsible for the overall performance and outcomes of their department and give instructions to the employees. Therefore, roles and hierarchies are determined (Usmani, n.d.). Until 2008, Joanne Ooi were the Creative Director at Shanghai Tang and played a vital role when it came to turn the company into a luxury fashion brand. Moreover, she was involved in setting up a new design strategy (Joanne Ooi, LinkedIn, 2015) (Privy Editor, 2014). After she had left Shanghai Tang, the position has remained vacant until today. In addition to this, there is no Head of Design who could take care of a design strategy in which all collections fit into. This is also related to Marketing & Communication and has a negative impact.
Personalities This section provides background information for Raphel Le Masne de Chermont, CEO of Shanghai Tang as well as Joseph Li, Head of Womenswear Design due to the fact that both will be part of recommendations for change within the organizational structure as discussed in 3.1.2.
Findings
7
Raphael Le Masne de Chermont – CEO After graduating from the Audencia Nantes School of Management with a Master degree in Management and Finance, French born Raphael Le Masne de Chermont started his professional career at Cartier in 1987. He then joined other companies as CEO that were also owned by the
Richemont
Group
such
as
Piaget
(businessoffashion.com, n.d.) (Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, LinkedIn, 2015). In 2002, de Chermont were asked to take responsibility as CEO of Shanghai Tang. At Figure 3: Raphael Le Masne de Chermont
this time, the brand was a destination for Western tourists who wanted to take home a souvenir from China and were
hardly accepted by Chinese customers. De Chermont realised that this concept would not be sustainable for the long-term success of the brand. (Ryder, 2014). Therefore, he was the driving force behind the change from a “quirky concept store for Westerners” into a luxury brand that also attracts mainland Chinese customers (Wilkinson, 2014). New designers were hired who changed the design of the garments but kept the Chinese DNA of the brand (Wilkinson, 2014). Under his leadership, the brand expanded its product portfolio significantly by adding fragrances, home & accessories as well as the Shanghai Tang café. Moreover, he created a clear long-term vision of the brand (Ryder, 2014).
Joseph Li – Head of Women’s Wear Designer Joseph Li grew up in Hong and Canada. At the age of 23, Li started to design his own collections from scratch and designed several items. He was already 30 years old when he graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London 2004 with a degree in ‘Womenswear
Fashion’.
Until
then,
he
never
received
and
experienced a proper fashion or design training. After his time in London, he moved back to Hong Kong and was hired for the first time as Chief Designer for Womenswear by Shanghai Tang (Harilela, Figure 4: Joseph Li
2009). After three years, he decided to open his own design house
and to create a label (Moleskine, 2010). However in 2013, Le Masne re-hired Joseph Li in order to “re-energise the ready-to-wear side of the business” (Harilela, 2013).
Findings
8
3.1.2 Gaps and Opportunities Shanghai Tang is facing a significant gap within the design department. Moreover, de Chermont can be questioned as CEO. However, Shanghai Tang could take advantage by addressing these gaps and turn them into positive aspects.
Design department At the moment, there is no person who oversees the entire design department. This is causing some issues and has an impact on the collections, cooperation of all designers and the external appearance. It seems that each designer strives to fill in the role of a Chief Creative Director (CCD). Moreover, the collections do not seem coordinated or compatible. For instance, Armele Barbier mentioned in an interview that she tries “to link them (the Menswear Collections) with the themes in the ladies collection but I do adapt it for menswear” (necescity.com, 2012). It appears that every designer does his own collection without taking the other designs seriously into account. It can be assumed that the vacant position have led and will still lead to an inconsistency within the department.
Figure 5: Burberry Logo and Christopher Bailey
By looking at British luxury brand Burberry, the significance of a person who is in charge for the overall design and direction of the Design department becomes obvious. At Burberry, Christopher Bailey is responsible for all aspects that “touches the consumer” from around 50 collections per year and store designs to social media sites – he oversees everything related to design (Friedman, 2013). His influence helped to transform the struggling company “into a full-fledged luxury-goods maker” (Roberts, 2013).
Findings
9
In addition to this, Bailey has been the driving force behind Burberry’s digital expansion over the last years which is also linked to marketing and communication. Among several other initiatives, he decided to stream the brand’s runway shows online and uploading images of the latest collections on Twitter before traditional media such as print magazines received them (Butler, 2013). Furthermore, he influenced Burberry’s social media presence significantly. Bailey can be credited for implementing ‘The Art of Trench’ where people can upload a picture of themselves in their own favourite Burberry trench coat on a special company owned social media site (Burberry, 2015). Moreover, Burberry is “the most widely followed fashion brand on Facebook” according to Joanna Shields, former vice president for Facebook Europe, Middle East, and Africa, which goes back to Bailey’s efforts. (Sullivan, 2011). His impact on Burberry’s ‘own’ digital world as well as global brand awareness and recognition is significant. Not only digital and social media play an important role for his position but also taking care of all aspects related to the brand’s fashion shows and overall external appearance (Butler, 2013). Another aspect is that Bailey and former CEO Angela Ahrendt worked together very closely, supported each other and gave productive feedback (Hall, 2011). Such a strong and healthy relationship between the business part of a CEO and the creative part of a Creative Director appears to be vital for a successful operating luxury fashion company. The role, duties and responsibilities Bailey has taken over emphasize on the importance of this position. In this respect, the presence of a CCD appears to be vital for the success of a company since he takes care of various design related aspects across the entire organization. Therefore, a luxury fashion company cannot afford to not fill this vacancy. Since Shanghai Tang did not fill the gap after Ooi left the company in 2008, the question arises how and if the brand is able to manage this role without a loss of quality. Therefore, the recommendation is to reappoint this position within the organization due to the following reasons. Firstly, someone from within the company would not need much time to settle in and should be able to start his work immediately. Secondly, the new CCD knows the brand and its customers already. Joseph Li who is currently in charge of the Womenswear design shows the potential to become the new CCD. He has a Chinese background, received design education and training abroad and gained experience by working in foreign countries as well as setting up his own design house and fashion label. Li knows the brand and its DNA already during his time at Shanghai Tang. Due to these facts, it would be a reasonable choice to promote Li as new CCD while he still oversees the Womenswear design. However, Li should be implemented to oversee the work of all four designers at Shanghai Tang. Moreover, he would provide a clear strategic direction and design strategy for the department, help by developing a consistent impression through all collections and collaborate closely with all
Findings
10
designers when it comes to the themes of each collection. Furthermore, he would influence all aspects that are related to design in general. As already mentioned, part of Christopher Bailey’s responsibility as CCD is to take care about Marketing & Communication aspects of Burberry. Since Shanghai Tang does not have a CCD, the company is lacking in this respect and fails to communicate effectively which is also a wellknown gap at the top level of the brand.
“While I don’t know people who don’t like Shanghai Tang, I know a lot of people who haven’t heard of Shanghai Tang.” – Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, 2013 (Gollan, 2013) “What many people don’t realise is that our apparel changed a while ago, but the way we were communicating the message was not right.” – Raphael Le Masne de Chermont, 2013 (Harilela, 2013)
Additionally, these statements are underpinned by a survey (Appendix 6.1) conducted by the authors of this report among 49 students (14 of Chinese origin) who are currently studying a MA Design course at Northumbria University. The evaluation showed the following facts:
86% of all students have not heard about the brand before
86% of students with Chinese origins have not heard about the brand before
Due to these reasons, the CCD has to collaborate closely with the Marketing & Communication department. Creating a link between both departments is important in order to ensure that the media receives latest information about collections, themes and new developments in terms of design. Moreover, he takes care of the external appearance and brand awareness including aspects such as social media and events. Keeping Christopher Bailey’s impact on Burberry’s marketing & communication as well as the overall business in mind, a new Chief Creative Director could be able to push Shanghai Tang further and into long-term growth and success. However, the recommendations for change that will be discussed in 3.2 and 3.3 are highly linked with the position of the Chief Creative Director.
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11
Digital
Marketing & Com.
Core element
Chief Creative Director
Figure 6: Responsibilities of a Chief Creative Director
Chief Executive Officer De Chermont is in charge of Shanghai Tang for more than twelve years. On the one hand, he has turned the brand into the first luxury fashion brand in China and made the company profitable again. It is due to him that Shanghai Tang has shown a positive development since he took over the responsibility as CEO and his management background certainly contributed to his achievements. On the other hand, he has no expertise in design which can be seen as a weakness for the company since he cannot fully estimate the influence of design. In that respect, it can be argued that it is time for a change at the top of Shanghai Tang. A new CEO could provide new inputs, lead the organization in a new direction, move Shanghai Tang to the next level and bring the brand in the right position for the next years. A CEO with a design background would have also a better understanding of what is happening in the design department and could work closely with the CCD. Joanne Ooi who already worked for Shanghai Tang as Creative Director between 2001 and 2008 should be taken into consideration for the position of the CEO due to several reasons. Ooi has a deep understanding of the brand and its DNA. She knows the origins, where the brand comes from and has an understanding of design due to her working experience. As already mentioned, she played an important role when de Chermont turned Shanghai Tang into a luxury fashion brand. In addition to this, she has already gained Figure 7: Joanne Ooi
Findings
12
almost six years experience as CEO in different organizations. At the moment, she is in charge of Plukka, an online jewellery retailer since 2011 (Joanne Ooi, LinkedIn, 2015). That means she won’t be available unless the Richemont Group tries to win her back for the brand. However, all the above mentioned facts would support the implementation of Ooi as new CEO.
3.2
Design
3.2.1 Current Situation From the year 2003, Shanghai Tang is considering ready-to-wear collections. However, there was a time when the collections were more westernized and less traditional. To solve this issue, Joanne Ooi, former Creative Director of Shanghai Tang developed an inspiring and clearly considered strategy in which “each collection would reflect a China related theme” (Tischler, 2006). De Chermont and Ooi renovated the brand strategically and made it more traditional to emphasize themselves as the first luxuries Chinese brand.
Target Market
Figure 8: Shanghai Tang
In the global fashion industry, being aware of current and upcoming fashion trends is critically important in order to stay ahead of competitors and to provide up-to date fashion. However, it is challenging for a brand to satisfy all consumers. Therefore, international fashion brands tend to identify their target market according to their available resources. In this respect, Shanghai Tang
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13
targets cosmopolitan customers (especially in China) and international travellers as a symbol of luxury. The analysis of Shanghai Tang’s collections consists of four major parts:
Figure 9: Collection Analysis Shanghai Tang
Seasonal Collection Analysis From 2003 onwards, Shanghai Tang has been using symbols, materials, textures and prints that are inspired by the vast lexicon of Chinese culture and ancient historical meanings as their signature style. However, the brand experimented with a variety of designs and redeveloped it by time. Renovation of the patterns was one of the major part of the changes. The strategy was to get apprehended in international markets. In this respect, de Chermont states that “we decided that it was a new beginning for us. We were saying goodbye to the first stage of Shanghai Tang� (Zhang, 2014).
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14
On the one hand, the Spring/Summer Collection 2009 was inspired by the revolutionary history of China, when the geometric prints and bold colours were the main design elements with leather accessories (luxuryinsider.com, 2009). While on the other hand, the current Spring/Summer Collection 2015 is more realistic and evolved with jewel inspired tones with looser shapes and modernized by using prints wrap dress.
Figure 10: Spring/Summer Collection 2009 by Jospeh Li
Figure 11: Spring/Summer Collection 2015
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Similarly, the Autumn/Winter collection 2009 was inspired by the Penarakan tradition with an emphasize on cubism prints with sparkling wiggle touch whereas in 2014, the collection was inspired by the veritable representation of modern contemporary Chinese chic embracing distinctive cultures (Krezic, 2014) (luxuryinsider.com, 2009).
Figure 12: Autumn/Winter Collection 2009 by Joseph Li
Figure 13: Autumn/Winter Collection 2014 by Winnie So
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Imperial Collection Analysis Shanghai Tang introduced its Imperial Collection in 2008, designed by Womenswear Designer Joseph Li in order to illustrate the effortless refinement and artistry of the brand (Barnett, 2008). Additionally, the Imperial Collection of 2013 was made to rejuvenate Chinese culture with a contemporary touch. However this collection was limited with cocktail dresses, qi paos with distinctive cloud prints and expensive silk materials (Yan, 2013). Armele Barbier, Chief Menswear Designer, created a Men’s limited edition Imperial Collection which she claimed as an attribute to elegance and richness using expensive Italian textile and complex constructive method. In 2014, the women Imperial Collection was more about accessory toned clothes with traditional touch.
Figure 14: Women's Imperial Collection 2013 by Joseph Li
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Figure 15: Women's Imperial Collection 2014
Figure 16: Men's Imperial Collection 2014 by Armele Barbier
Collaborations with different Designers Nowadays, high profile brands and designers collaborate with each other as a promotional activity or sales strategy. For instance, Shanghai Tang collaborated with Jacky Tsai, a wellknown traditional Chinese artist in 2014. One year later, the Chinese designers Masha Ma and
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Wang Peyi collaborated with the brand for the Spring/Summer Collection. These collaborations allow Shanghai Tang to get more diversification in its design and also to make the brand more popular among the younger generation in China (Zhang, 2014).
Figure 17: Spring/Summer Collection 2015 by Masha Ma and Wang Pei
Figure 18: Jacky Tsai Collection
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3.2.2 Gaps and Opportunities Gaps Core Element By carefully analysing the design of all three designers (Womenswear, Menswear, and Knitwear) at Shanghai Tang one is able to identify that the brand refuses to have any particular core elements that could distinguish it among other luxury fashion brands. This can be considered as one of the main gaps of Shanghai Tang and is also closely related to the absence of a CCD. Core elements often play a very important role in order to create a strong brand awareness and recognition. Moreover heritage brands choose their key components to reflect their extraordinary cultural history, to illustrate the brand’s personality and to create an emotional connection with the customers as a part of the brand value proposition (In this respect, customers buy expensive luxury products not only for the quality and the performance of the product, but also because of the extraordinary heritage of the brand as well as its perception and recognition within the society (Posner, 2011). For instance, Burberry is highly recognizable due to the distinctive check, trench coat and use of minimal colours. They made an excellent foundation in global markets by using the ‘Burberry check’ as their core element. The trench coat was made in England by Gabardine but over the years Burberry renovated and changed the product style only by putting more detailing, colour, different fabrics, buttons, collars, cuffs, textures and silhouettes.
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Figure 19: Burberry Check, Scarf and Trench Coat
However, despite being the first Chinese luxury fashion brand, Shanghai Tang was not able to establish a proper brand identity by developing a highly recognisable and distinctive core element. Therefore, it can be said that the lack of a core element is one of the main factors which are effecting Shanghai Tang’s brand identity and awareness as well as its collections.
Figure 20: Shanghai Tang Spring/Summer 2015
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Opportunities Use of Silk History amplifies that silk has been the great symbol of luxury and richness among Chinese since the ancient times. Moreover, it was first manufactured in ancient China. Therefore, silk fabric is highly related to the Chinese culture (texeresilk.com, n.d.). Since Shanghai Tang is focusing on China with the aim to expand its business in this market, the brand should use silk as a core element. The use of silk will have two major advantages. Firstly, it reflects the Chinese tradition, heritage and culture by creating a sentimental connection with the customers. Secondly, silk can be used as a bridge between Chinese tradition and modernization, which represents the brand itself. ‘Made in china’ by using Silk China is one of the leading fashion markets in the global industry (fashionunited.co.uk, 2013). In addition to this, the luxury lifestyle, income and spending criteria of China has changed over decades. Being the 2nd largest consumer of luxury goods, Chinese people are proud of ‘Made in China’ (Smith, 2013). On the other hand, while international fashion brands are struggling to expand their businesses in China because of market entry barriers, cultural differences and values, Shanghai Tang has a great opportunity to use ‘Made in China’ to attract Chinese customers as well as international consumers who admire the Chinese heritage. If Shanghai Tang is using silk as its core element, the brand will be able to create a strong personality and recognition as the first Chinese emerging luxury brand that will be using silk as its core element. This could ultimately lead to setting up a strong brand awareness within the global fashion industry.
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Figure 21: Silk and 'Made in China'
Exploration on Fabric Development China is full of opportunities and scopes. In order to use them effectively, brands need to construct an exploration of creativity to attract people towards them. In this respect, fabric development is one of the important aspects. There is no limit of creativity in fashion.
Using Metallic Fabric, plating or detailing
Circuitry inspired patterns
Robotic looking elements
Unusual silhouettes
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Figure 22: Different use of Silk
Findings
3.3
24
Digital Media
3.3.1 Current Situation Currently, Shanghai Tang has an online store that delivers products to a wide range of countries around the world. There has been recent updates on the website about the latest collections and campaigns which are not ready to be purchased online.
Figure 23: E-Commerce Growth
In today’s world, the internet is one of the fundamental principles that allows accessibility and democracy. Luxury brands are taking digital or e-commerce business as a tool to communicate their brand identity and brand values. While people are living in the ‘real world’, they are also connected through technology and online services. This has a direct impact on the growing need for e-commerce. The below chart shows the growth of e-commerce over the past years and how effectively it will increase the next five upcoming years.
Why does digital media play an important role? When we take a closer look at the picture below, we can clearly see how Burberry has become aware of the importance of digital media. The brand is constantly developing its online strategy according to the latest trends by having a clear vision on the number of people accessing digital media. Today, Burberry’s total retail revenue has increased by 14 per cent which is also due to
Findings
25
the good performance of the company’s e-commerce (Financial Times, 2015). Keeping Burberry’s statistics in mind, the need for developing Digital Media at Shanghai Tang has become essential.
Figure 24: Burberry Website
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Moreover, Figure 25 shows how other luxury brands have conquered China’s digital world in 2010. The estimate contribution to the digital world in 2010 is 80 million, which is about to increase by 180 million in 2015 (China's Speaker Agency, n.d.).
Figure 25: Brands in China
This diagram shows a significant increase of Chinese online customers between 2010 and 2015. These numbers emphasis how important the Chinese online market has become for luxury brands (China's Speaker Agency, n.d.). These brands could benefit from significant growth potential that can still be found in Chinese e-commerce.
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Figure 26: E-Commerce in China
During the research, we also identified how China has developed in their world of digital market compared to other countries like the US, Germany and Japan which were leading the digital market during the evolution in 2009. The below graph clearly shows the increased growth of China in the digital world and how this trend will continue to have a greater digital penetration in the following years.
Figure 27: China is now the number 1 digital retail market in value and penetration
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Shanghai Tang should develop its e-commerce since 
there is a growing number of people using digital media as one of the fastest and most convenient means of communication

there is an increase number of people using online shopping
These two main reasons contribute to the brand’s need for improving and strengthening the ecommerce presence in China.
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3.3.2 Gaps and Opportunities By comparing Shanghai Tang with Burberry’s e-commerce presence, one of the leading digital luxury brands, we were able to identify significant gaps which are shown below:
Shanghai Tang
Burberry
Shanghai Tang does not have a clear online
Burberry has a clear strategy – O2O Offline to
strategy that can assist the customers
Online – an experience that is created for the customers who will be able to experience more or less the same customer service whether they shop online or in one of Burberry’s retail stores
One major aspect people in China expect is the
On the contrary, Burberry has succeeded in
reflection of their rich tradition, history and
portraying the evolution of the brand, the long
culture. Shanghai Tang has achieved this over
history of the products and the rich tradition that
the years. This achievement is not very well
captures the attention of the customers.
portrayed on the website which does not encourage the customers to look at other elements of the brand at the same time
Customization or personalization of a brand’s
Burberry has studied the needs of customer
products makes the customers feel special and
engagement, which is a tremendous
creates a level of engagement. It creates an
advantage. This approach helped them to
emotional bonding that can be delivered
create attributes for online customers that
through a brand which in turn constructs
engages them to remain on the website for
customer loyalty. As the internet shopping is
several minutes to enjoy a great shopping
increasing, customization differentiate the
experience
products from prices with an added value (Bain Insights, 2013). Shanghai Tang is lacking in this respect does not offer customized or personalized products that can create a higher level of engagement between the customers and the brand.
Table 1: Shanghai Tang/Burberry comparison
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Knowing where future growth markets can be found is one reason why Burberry has developed online campaigns and online strategies that will strengthen the brand. In contrast to this stands Shanghai Tang with less awareness of creating an enjoyable offline and online experience for its customers.
Customer Service Customer Service is a service provided by an organization before, during and after buying products or services. It can have an impact on the choice of customers where to purchase a certain product. Additionally, customer service can have an impact on the degree to which customers categorize their shopping experience as good or bad. Shanghai Tang already offers great customer service in its traditional retail stores. However, we think the brand should aim to achieve the same status online. Hence, we recommend Shanghai Tang to use customer service as a tool to build a bridge between the traditional retail store and the online shop. The aim should be to offer the same high quality service by introducing great customer service to the online shop.
Figure 28: Capture Audience
In-Person Customer Service Online Shanghai Tang could implement an ‘In-person customer service online’. This is a program that allows an online customer service person to interact with and assist the customer before, after
Findings
31
and during a purchase. Since Shanghai Tang is known for an excellent Customer Service, this will be an opportunity to capture the online audience. Personalization or Customization According to Forbes the latest trends for launching products are to have a piece of signature that will represent the brand. Personalization or Customization is one excellent trend that a brand can introduce to Shanghai Tang. One of the major gaps that was identified is not having personalized products that will depict Shanghai Tang. Shanghai Tang is well-known brand that represents a great value through its products. Hence, it will create a great impact if the brand introduces personalized products or Customized products. As Shanghai Tang always wants to do things differently they could initiate Personalization or Customization with Home-wear a smaller foray of products and develop to larger product ranges that we think is different compared to other luxury brand where they start from larger foray of products to smaller product range. This will help them to boost the sales of home wear products, which accounts to 15% of their sales at the moment.
Figure 29: Homeware products with personal engraving
Conclusion
4
32
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that
Shanghai Tang is a well-known brand that has established a great history, culture and tradition through their diversified products
the brand shows some significant gaps and weaknesses that can be filled if the brand is able to undertake few significant changes
the absence of a Creative Director or Head of Design is the greatest weakness and has negative impacts on the design as well as the entire organization
a clear design and communication strategy is missing
the gaps within the design department have negative repercussions on the brand awareness and recognition due to a lack of distinctive and recognizable core elements
the brand is perfectly located in one of the fastest growing economies and luxury markets in the world. It is the right opportunity to establish themselves in the home market as other luxury brands are finding opportunities to expand their business towards China
Shanghai Tang could capture the Chinese market more effectively
the company should develop a stronger position in China which will ensure increased sales and long-term success
the main objective of Shanghai Tang should be to establish the brand among mainland China. This will help to gain an increased market share and to get into the right position for the next few years
Shanghai Tang might be able to expand its business globally from a stronger basis in China
Burberry, as one of the leading luxury brands, is finding significant opportunities to increase its market share in China
Shanghai Tang and Burberry share similar aspects regarding their origin that reflects the history, culture and tradition of their countries. Although both brands are heading in the same direction to achieve the aim of capturing Chinese market, Burberry has succeeded and Shanghai Tang is yet to succeed
Recommendations
5
33
Recommendations
We recommend that Shanghai Tang should recruit a new CEO from a design background to build a proper design perspective for the brand. According to the analysis, this can be seen as one of the major weaknesses. Therefore we recommend that the brand should aim to bring back Joanne Ooi as new CEO.
We highly recommend that Shanghai Tang should reappoint a new Chief Creative Director from inside the company and to promote Joseph Li. This step is expected to help the company being more focused about the strategic moves. Li already knows the brand and his vast experience will help to make important decisions for the brand. Besides having a Chief Designer as Creative Director, the brand will be more focused on design elements.
It is recommended that Shanghai Tang establishes a core element to enhance the brand awareness as well as to reflect the Chinese culture. In this respect, the brand should make use of silk.
We also recommend that Shanghai Tang should improve its digital media presence due to an increasing number of online users and consumers around the world. Hence, we recommend to implement ‘In-Person Shopping Assistance’ and offer customized products to provide the customers a legitimate luxury online shopping experience and seamless services, both offline and online.
Appendices
34
6
Appendices
6.1
Survey among MA Design students
The survey has been conducted among 49 students who are currently studying a MA Design course at Northumbria University. The most relevant questions and answers are shown in this section.
DO YOU KNOW THE BRAND SHANGHAI TANG?
Yes 14%
No 86%
DO YOU KNOW THE BRAND SHANGHAI TANG? Chinese students only
Yes 14%
No 86%
Appendices
35
HOW MUCH DO YOU AGREE TO THE STATEMENT "WELL -KNOWN BRANDS ARE BETTER"? 10=I highly agree and 0=I highly disagree
0
Total numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
HOW MUCH DO YOU AGREE TO THE STATEMENT "EXPENSIVE PRODUCTS ARE BETTER"? 10=I highly agree and 0=I highly disagree 0
Total numbers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Appendices
36
WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED WAY OF BUYING CLOTHES? ONLINE OR IN A RETAIL STORE? Both 6%
Online 8%
Retail 86%
WHAT IS YOUR PERCEPTION OF ‘MADE IN CHINA’? excellent
good
bad
none of these
excellent 10% none of these 29%
good 41% bad 20%
Appendices
37
ARE YOU MALE OR FEMALE? male
female
male 31%
female 69%
WHAT NATIONALITY DO YOU HAVE? Chinese
Indian
British
Malaysian
Thai
Russian
German 2% Russian 2%
South Korean 9% Chinese 33%
Thai 14%
Malaysian 5% British 21%
Indian 14%
South Korean
German
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Declaration
Declaration We assure that this work has been produced completely autonomously and that all utilized sources have been referenced accurately and correct as required according to Northumbria University regulations. Furthermore, all direct and indirect cites have been indicated as such and assured that there is no identicalness in any way with any assignments, final papers, theses or dissertations previously submitted covering the same or similar topics. Moreover, this work has been explicitly and only produced for the purpose of meeting the requirements for passing this particular module and was not before submitted to any other academic institution within the framework of an examination.
Newcastle upon Tyne, 24/04/2015 Place, Date
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