Gabriela Pedranti & Albert Quintana Word count: 2 529
5FAMK002C Fashion Consumer Culture CWK2
BA Fashion Marketing and Communication, Level 5, 2017-2018.
NURIA PONS ROSSELLO
SEMIOTICS AND SOCIOLOGY RESEARCH
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.ABSTRACT
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2.INTRODUCTION
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3.LITERATURE REVIEW
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4.TARGET 5.SOCIOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
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6.BRAND CODES
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7.CULTURAL CODES
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8.VISUAL MAP
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9.AREAS TO EXPLORE
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10.CONCLUSION
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11.BIBLIOGRAPHY
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ABSTRACT The aim of this project is establishing a Swedish jewellery company in Hong Kong, China. A semiotic and sociology research will be studied regarding the target segment chosen covering their traditions, habits and current situation. Moreover, for the semiotic chapter, an identification of different brand and cultural codes that might affect the establishment of the company in Hong Kong.
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INTRODUCTION
Hong Kong is the city chosen to open a store, due to the fact that is one of the three more fashionable cities of China, followed by Shanghai and Beijing. China is the first country in the world that invest the most in luxury purchases. Especially when travelling abroad or online since a significant amount of Western brands are not physically available in Hong Kong yet. However, with the opening of the store they will be able to purchase their products in their own city. Cornelia Webb is a Swedish designer who creates sculptured and minimalistic Scandinavian style jewellery for men and women. The company, that launched in 2005, has the name of the designer and is based in Stockholm. The company has their own online and physical stores in Stockholm and online. Other selling points are designer department stores such as Harvey Nichols and multi brand stores. Cornelia Webb’s products are sold in the main online luxury fashion retailers such as Net-A-Porter and Farfetch. They have positioned themselves in the international luxury market and their price range goes from 300 to 20 euros.
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LITERATURE REVIEW The topic that is being examined in this research is the Chinese’ consumer behaviour, targeting a very specific segment of the population. The target segment chosen are girls in between the ages of 19 to 35 living in Hong Kong. Some lectures relevant to the subject would be ‘What do affluent Chinese consumers want? ´(Laura R. Oswald). In this semiotic research, the author goes over how brands, especially luxury, are perceived in China. For example, the awareness, the perception of quality, the identification, the emotional recognition and loyalty. The author also answers question such as, what consumers want and the stages of brand literacy.
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DESIRED TARGET The target market that we want to achieve with the Chinese expansion are the female of the ages from 20 to 29.Some of them are considered from the millennial age group They are almost a third of the population of the country. Those generation belong to the period in which the one-child policy come into force and the increase of the economy of China. This generation is privileged with a good economy since they have a high financial family support. A majority of them are already homeowners which means that they have financial security. In China, the education is of the main interest of millennials. Our target segment is very educated and very social, especially through technology. They usually live in one of the biggest cities of the country and they value their purchases and choices.
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TARGET ANALYTICS
HONG KONG Total population of Hong Kong: 7 336 585 Women population in Hong Kong: 3 961 200 3
Female population by age: From 20 to 24: 224.8 From 25 to 29: 282.5 = 507,3 Female economically active from 20 to 29: 385,9 Female employed from 20 to 29: 366,5 Female students from 20 to 29: 78,2 Estimated number of potential target: 830,6
(To reach to this number I went throughout women who are economically active, employed and students and I summed them together).
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SOCIOLOGY DEVELOPMENT
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR Family situation
Traditions
As mentioned before, the target selected was born during the only-child policy which lead to positive and negative effects. They are considered a privileged generation because they obtained the full attentions of their parents as well as grandparents. The parents were focused to satisfy their children and provide them with highest quality products. They were willing to scarify themselves to offer a good financial support to their only child. In addition, for families a quality education is the main interest because they want to provide a bright future for their children. Parents, or even grandparents, pay for their children’s education, tuition fees and other student expenses such as accommodation abroad and so on. Therefore, they do not have any kind of student loan and mortgage to take care of. Some families purchase properties for them as well. However, those individuals might feel a constant pressure to satisfy their parents and to be successful. In conclusion, since millennials have all their basic needs and more covered they can invest considerable amounts of money in other activities, such as travelling, or luxury products.
Some Millennial Chinese women had developed some cultural shifts. They believe that young women should be independent financially and emotionally, therefore they like to purchase their own jewellery pieces to show status and enhance their style. Although, traditional values and beliefs are still important for many Chinese millennials. It is believed that women are supposed to marry before turning thirty which benefits the wedding market. The wedding market is 50% of the jewellery sales in the country. Jewerelly is very commonly used in traditional Chinese weddings. Buying jewerelly as gifts for family members still remains as a popular tradition. For example, for birthdays as a way to show love and gratitude. It is seen as a financial investment to pass through generations. Moreover, those purchases can also be caused for achievements or as congratulation presents. As mentioned before, Chinese people really value traditions. In terms of jewellery, gold plays a big role since they consider it makes them feel secure and value, and brings them luck. It symbolises love and affection.
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Habits The internet and social media has played a huge role in this segment of the population. They grow up with it and it was their way of obtaining entertainment and socializing. Due to this fact, shopping was also done online because it merged the two factors, socializing and entertainment, which meant the grown of e-commerce. Continuing with shopping habits, we can mention some patterns. For starters, millennials trust more fashion magazines and brand’s own publications, in order to discover new trends, than social media. It is commonly thought that due to their rich economy, those consumers will be more impulsive when purchasing, but instead they like to investigate and inform themselves before the purchase. Although they tend to shop online, they prefer to visit the store to try out the product as well, especially with jewerelly pieces. Their most valuable factors are quality and uniqueness. In those terms, Chinese consumers are more loyal to brands. Furthermore, it is needed to mention WeChat as the major social platform in China in which many fashion brands operate such as Celine or Givenchy. It is a convenient merge for chinse consumers within social media and e-commerce and a better way for brands to know consumers.
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Conspicuous consumption Luxury brands, such as Louis Vuitton and Prada, consider China to be one of the most profitable market by sales. In the recent years, they have been placing more stores in Asia, especially China. It is clear that luxury goods are very important in Chinese’s consumers minds. Especially, the younger generation are driven by ostentation. In that sense, those consumers mainly purchase ‘in brands’ and, give special importance to logos. In terms of shopping habits, social distinction plays a huge role. Therefore, the ability to purchase luxury pieces, carry and show them around makes the consumer feel satisfied and gives them a sense of belonging to a community. It could be due to the fact, that in this country shopping is considered a way of socializing and entertainment but also the admiration of the western cultures, owning to European brands luxury brands being the predominant in China. In addiction, the industry of replicas of luxury goods in China is growing every single day, which means that displaying your economical power and prestige, even though it can be not genuine, is important in the populations’ minds.
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BRAND CODES
GENDERLESS Jewellery has always been considered feminine and directed to women, specifically. Cornelia Webb’s products are aimed for both genders equally. They do not specify if a necklace has been designed for a women or for a men. It is about self-expression giving value to the product on itself without directing it to an specific gender. The traditional stereotypes for masculine and feminine jewellery do not appear on the brand image.
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DESIGN EXTRAVAGANZA Cornelia Webb’s design might look simple and minimalist at first sight but if you look carefully into every piece you can see the thoughtful design process. Every piece is made to delicate but still giving away a sense of edge and a twist to it. Their message is to give away a sense of sensuality while keeping it ‘simple’. The pictures of the models showing the pieces displayed on the websites also give away this provocative feeling and sensuality.
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GOLD AND SILVER Many brands only focus on one type of material, while Cornelia Webb offers a series of pieces in two types of materials, gold and silver. The fact that they cover with the same percentage both materials means that they want to offer a variety of choices to their customers so they can pick what they feel identified the most. In that sense, people love or hate one of the two materials, and some combine them equally.
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ANATOMIC FIT The jewellery pieces have a distinctive design, it stands out with a strong and clear message. But more importantly, is the fit. The jewellery is sculpted to fit the curves and contours of the body. For example the rings are carefully design to fit perfectly in more than one finger or the necklaces and chokers to the collarbones. The body is a landsape and the jewellery will focus and emphasise a certain body part.
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CULTURAL CODES Superstitions and Symbols Traditions and superstitions are a very common treat of the Chinese culture. Starting with marriage, there is always a costume and a jewerelly garment associated with it. They believe that good luck will be brought by love and marriage Concerning the meaning of colours and their identity. White is based on the combination of red and black which signifies honesty, purity and neutrality. Black is associated with the evil, sadness, suffering and bad luck. People try to not wear anything black during festivities or important occasions, although younger generations are starting to dress in black. Finally, red portrays the joy in life, the wealth and the good luck. When giving a gift, for more luck, is it needed to provide more than one gift, always a pair number. It is also believed that sharp objects could take the fortune out of someone’s life. In conclusion, diamonds should always be clear and white to obtain the positive aspects of life, such as happiness, wealth or joy and gold jewellery is more likely to bring you good luck than any other type.
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Western identification The Chinese culture is very nationalistic, as well as, collective. The population takes critics towards the Government personally. Younger generations appreciate the openness of western cultures. Concerning the American countries, they consider obtaining an education in America or a job position as a high achievement. Regarding Europe, Asian perceive it as the heart of fashion and consumerism, especially known for its luxury side. Asians care about the message that they transmit with their purchases, especially if they are expensive, they give away prestige and wealth. Luxury brands have been using different strategies for Chinese consumer, focused on identifying the consumer with the brand. Brand loyalty is promoted by emotional identification towards those brands. The Chinese government has used different methods to stop the increase of luxury purchases, for example banning luxury advertising on television. Moreover, due to the fact that Cornelia Webb is a Swedish luxury brand is is needed to mention the Swedish/Scandinavian perception that Chinese have. More importantly, they are considered innovative and hard working. Therefore, China has been doing investments worth hundreds of billions dollars in China, especially with the acquisition of Volvo.
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Professional career over partnership Marriage has always been highly important in the Chinese tradition. Although, women from younger generations are pursuing their dream careers and a good income to support themselves. They are prioritizing work over partnership. In terms of consumerism, they tend to buy pieces for themselves to build self-confidence and enhace their style. To a young Chinese woman, being able to afford a fashion and jewellery means she is succeeding and focusing on career. A new trend has appeared in China which is basically celebrating Single’s Day, in which major sales are being held in stores.
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Women’s beauty standards Chinese’s beauty culture has progressed to encourage individuality and self-expression. However, quite a few of the typical beauty standards still remain the same such as pale skin, big eyes, thin and tall bodies. Comparing them to the western females who prefer to be sexy, Chinese women choose cute over sexy. Self-care and physical appearance is extremely important, therefore clothing and accessories play a huge role. In terms of jewellery, besides being associated with good luck, is also a way of showing elegance and value. Nevertheless, China is still a sexist country in which some men are unable to adapt to changes. Women are expected to be docile and submissive while having a job and maintaining the household and kids.
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VISUAL MAP
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AREAS TO EXPLORE
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Chinese consumers are driven by self-identification towards brands and what brands actually represent. First of all, the brand values should be well-establish in the storytelling of the brand. The message that they should convey is emphasizing the European origin of the brand, and also the Scandinavian style. Finally, transmitting the powerful design that the jewellery pieces have to the empower the independent young Chinese woman of today. In terms of distribution and brand awareness, WeChat would be a great platform to begin to establish the brand, in which many luxury European fashion houses are already selling their products such as Celine.
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CONCLUSION
The challenges to bring a Swedish company to Hong Kong are not that high, it is evident that the brand awareness is low in all of Asian countries but the fact that they are distributing in the major retail stores such as Net-a-Porter and Farfetch will give them credibility and a trustworthy feeling. Chinese consumers will be willing to purchase from this brand giving the fact that is European luxury. Cornelia Webb values individuality and self-expression, as well as our target segment chosen.Those girls in between the ages of 19 and 35 will be feeling powerful and stylish, which is exactly what they are seeking currently with all of their purchases. In addition, the fact that the brand is selling jewellery is a big advantage since it is considered an element of fortune and the jellewery market will never totally decrease in China. In conclusion, the brand meets every characteristic that the target segment is looking for. Therefore a successful opening in Hong Kong could be possible for the long term.
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