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Content 1. Consumer and Company Information 2. Location and Store Design 3. Product Choice and Assortment 4. Promotion 5. Pricing
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Consumer and Customer Information
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A Boy Named Sue Where aesthetics meets ethics... A Boy Named Sue was started in early 2012, over lunch at some French cafe in Hong Kong. The main objective of the brand is to bring together designers with a visionary approach, blending goodwill and aesthetics. The two founders met through fashion blogging, where both of them joined a worldwide blogger collaboration called The 15/30 Project. In which, each blogger had to curate a capsule wardrobe of only 15 items to wear for 30 days (a month) to promote creativity through sustainability, the concept of cost per wear and a culture that doesn’t promote reckless fast fashion shopping. “Eco-fashion has always been regarded as a very conceptual thing, we want to bring it down to reality where people can actually wear it on a day-to-day basis,” The brand was developed as an online eco-boutique, which incorporated with designers from all over the world, including US, UK, Germany, Denmark, and also Hong Kong local individual designers’ works. They are one of the first few brands in the fashion industry that aimed to promote sustainability with aesthetic to be worn like any other causal wear. They mainly operate through the internet in Hong Kong, and they also produce online magazines with stories to help connect people outside of their office hours. “It was such a shock to see how our clothes are made, it’s really sad that people don’t know this and how we just go through life buying clothes with no regard for the integrity of what a garment has,” A Boy Named Sue is providing the public with an alternative way to purchase clothing, and let the public know that there is an urge for them to change the way they consume.
(A Boy Named Sue)
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Vision and Mission To inspire, educate and cultivate a community of women with a creative and conscious wardrobe. “Son, this world is rough. And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be tough. So I give ya that name and I said goodbye I knew you’d have to get tough or die“ A Boy Named Sue is an e-commerce boutique stocking eco and socially conscious clothing labels. They aimed to connect and create a community of women who love clothes, and enable eco-designers to get their deserved recognition and funding from these ladies.
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Brand Portfolio How we curate our brand portfolio.
Social
Brands that have a people-driven cause. These designers seek to have a social impact by providing a solution to an issue within a community close to their heart; through creating employment, ensuring that fair labour conditions are met, helping marginalized members of the society or sustaining a dying craft.
Local
Collaborations with local independent designers, in our own city of Hong Kong; to support creativity, while encouraging the use eco-friendly practices and sustainable materials.
Eco
Eco-conscious designers who promote environmental stewardship through careful analysis of their production chains, choice of materials, reduction in energy input and closed loop waste disposal, to reduce their ecological footprint.
(A Boy Named Sue)
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Objectives and Goals Brick and Mortar over ecommerce
We are creating a pop-up store proposal for A Boy Named Sue, to aim to develop into a new market, create a different shopping experience for our customers, and further promote the brand. Ecommerce in Hong Kong is getting more popular now-a-days. While consumers are increasingly comfortable with a multichannel retail environment, and there is also transparency of information available online to help customers decide what to buy, marketers are also actively developing omni-channel marketing strategies across different channels. Traditional retailers are aiming to develop their business on the online platforms, and tried to use advanced technology to improve customer’s shopping experience. As majority of Hong Kong consumers have the habit of researching products on their smartphones, through the process of letting customers get access to the online stores directly can potentially facilitate the company in promoting their business. Hence, as an online retailer, A Boy Named Sue can make use of this advantage. (Internet, 2016)
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However, as online shopping is of a totally different experience from traditional shopping through a brick and mortar store, 61% of the consumers would prefer shopping in store than through the internet. We are still seeing traditional retailing as a mainstream. Reasons for that is because people always prefer trying on the clothes before they purchase, they also want to receive the product immediately after purchasing it. Some people may see shopping in malls as a social activity that they can do with their friends. It is also reflected that 40% shoppers spend more than they had planned while shopping in stores. As online retailing can facilitate shoppers to look at more information before they purchase an item, it also increases difficulty for an online retailer to compete with more of the other brands with a similar aesthetic. Besides, other reasons for why people prefer shopping in a brick and mortar stores than online retailer is because they may be attracted by a beautiful storefront and displays, which let customers make an impulse purchase. Customers also enjoy strong personal connections with store employees, if the company has trained their employees well like corporations such as Apple, Whole Food, and Nordstrom’s. People also enjoy the ability to touch and hold the products before they make a purchase. (Botelho, n.d.) Hence, with the many advantages that a brick and mortar store can enjoy, it turned transforming A Boy Named Sue as a physical store an opportunity to let the brand further develop. By setting up a pop-up store for the brand, they can test the market’s reaction to the business, at a lower price and risk. More resources can be put in developing a permanent brick and mortar store in the future if results of the pop-up store is ending positively.
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Target Market Target market for the brand is high income and educated women between 30-45 years old who is conscious about sustainable fashion and environmental issues.
Demographic Our customer base on women aged 30 to 40 years old, with an average monthly income of around HKD$25,000. Their occupations are mainly senior office workers, secretaries, accountants, marketers or teachers. They have an education level of university or above. Psychographic They are conscious to social and environmental issues, fashion forward, while they also are attached to their smartphones and social media for most of the time in daily life. These consumers will want the minimum amount of time to shop for the most amount of items. Geographic We aim the global market. However, most ecommerce users for our online business are based in Hong Kong and Mainland China. They also include a small portion of customers who are foreigners who live in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong citizens who live in overseas.
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Sales Channel A Boy Named Sue is an online boutique which people purchase their goods online, and have them shipped to them afterwards. The company offers free delivery within 2 working days. Customers can pay by paypal or credit card.
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Location and Store Design
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Location Setting @ K11 Art Mall The K11 Art Mall is a place which collaborates people with art and nature, they also support local young designers to start up their business within the mall. The mall’s value and objective is in line with philosophy of A Boy Named Sue, which operates their business following a sustainability triangle that correlates the eco-conscious designers, brands of people-driven cause and local independent designers. Besides, the mall is located in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is a central district of Hong Kong, and there are a lot of office workers around for their holidays or at leisure time after work. The location is a place which the target market of the brand spend their time to shop in. The neighboring stores can create an atmosphere that is suitable for A Boy Named Sue in general. We have chosen to rent a pop up store space at the B2 level, which is named as Dress Up Island. This area is chosen particularly because of the neighboring fashion boutiques which operates in a similar market position as A Boy Named Sue, they include fashion brands like Bauhaus, D-mop Zone, Flavor Dresser, and Mila Owen, etc. Other types of retailers, such as coffee shop and floral shops can also help the brand to create an ideal environment for the business.
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City Analysis @ Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a city located at the coast line of China. The city is basically divided into Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, and New Territories, three areas. Which is then further divided into 18 districts in total. The city is one of the most densely populated places in the world, which consists around 7.3 million people by year 2016. (Population)
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Design Needs and Details As we transform into a Brick and Mortar... Minimal Stock DIsplay The Pop-up store will maintain a minimal design, with a limited amount of styles and products to be displayed in store. Visual merchandising of the store will be kept as minimal and simple as possible. Fitting Room A simple and comfortable fitting room which allows people to try on clothing that they like is a neccessary part of the pop-up store. This can enable that the objective of the pop-up project is acheived. Stock Room For Storage The stock room does not have to be a large space, as the store won’t be keeping a large amount of stocks for their products in the store. They just need to have a enough space to store up the different sizes of different styles for people to try on. Comfortable Reading and Relaxing Area It is a small relaxing space which people can sit down to chat with their friends, and even with the founders or sales person of the store. People can read magazines that are published by the brand, and relax themselves from their hectic life-style in the store.
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Floor Plan Photo Booth
Round Wooden Stool
Small Round Tables for accessories
Sofa
Rack 1 Plant
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Tabl
Storage storage
Table
Accessories’ Shelves
STROAGE
Sofa
Hangers for Bags
STORAGE
le
Plant
Round Wooden Stool
Recycling Bank
Sofa
Fitting Room Rack 2
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Product Choice and Assortment Plan
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Basic Assortment Product offerings for A Boy Named Sue can be classified into three main catrgories, including Accessories, Clothing, and Leisure. Basic assortment of the three categories will be 30%, 45%, and 25% respectively. The reason for that is because the brand is operating as a fashion brand, which mainly focus on selling clothing. And besides, one of the main objectives for our pop-up store is to let customers try on the clothing before they purchase it. Hence, most of the products to be sold within the pop-up store will be clothing. The brand also offer accessories to their customers, however, as the brand does not hold many types of accessories, it will just be 30% of the whole assortment. The reason for putting accessories in store is to let customers feel the product and to let them try to match the item with their clothing. Leisure is a minor part of the whole assortment, as this category is only made up of two items, which is the magazines and fabric slution.
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30% Accessories
Clothing
45%
Leisure 25%
Key Products Accessories Bags will be a main category within the accessories’ assortment. The brand sells different types of bags, including clutches and totes. Besides, bags are one of the necessities which everyone need. herefore it can dominate the majority of accessories’ assortment.
16%
34% Jewelry
Flip Flops
The Pop-up Store will be opened in Summer, hence, people will be searching for flip flops to wear to beaches. To respond to this need, a small portion of the accessories assortment will be the flip flops, as there is just one style of it that is available for the brand.
50% 50%
50% Bag 40% Clutch 30% Tote 30% Spike Bag
First Necklace Lime Blossom Moonstone Pendant
There are two different types of jewelries that can be offered in the company. Therefore, they can hold 34% of the whole assortment, which is of a medium portion within the assortment. (A Boy Named Sue)
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Key Products Leisure 35%
Juniper Eco Fabric Solution
As a key product that is promoted by the brand Collective, the fabric solution will make up 35% in the assortment of Leisure section, which is a comparatively an important portion out of the other five magazines within the category of leisure items.
65%
Magazine
There are five different types of magazines that are offered on the compay’s website. By distributing 65% of the leisure items to be magazines, and assort each book at an average portion. That means, each book will be made up of 13% of the total leisure items. The reason for why magazines has to be placed in store is because customers who visit the store can read them in the relaxing area, while they are waiting to get into the fitting room, or when they feel tired from shopping.
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Key Products Clothing
Key products of each category was chosen from the offerings of the brands that cooperate with A Boy Named Sue, with the silhouette from trend forecasting report by WGSN. The following key products are technical drawings which were picked from the trend reports, and later on, clothing of a similar style and silhouette will be chosen to place in store for the pop-up project in Spring Summer 2017.
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Key Products Clothing
20%
Skirts
With a skirt, you can always mix-andmatch it with other tops to create a new look. It also can fit the needs of a woman working in the office. Hence, skirt also dominate a major part within the category.
24%
Tops
Tops is a main category within clothing because they have the most variety of styles. And regardless of season, you can always mix-and-match your tops with clothing of other season, and wear it all thorugh the year.
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16%
Dresses
As our main target customer are professional working women, we want to provide them with a right look to wear while they go to work. Hence, dress will be another main category in clothing.
8%
Shorts
Shorts are part of the summer fashion. However, it may not be so suitable for our target market to wear it on day-to-day basis. Hence, assortment for this category will slightly be reduced.
Key Products Clothing
8% 12%
Trousers
Trousers can be worn through out anytime in the whole year, regardless of what season it is. Women with a more conservative style will prefer this kind of clothing to be worn as formal daily wear to work.
Jumpsuits
Jumpsuits are a new and uprising trend through these few seasons. Though it is favored many fashion forward young women, some people still find it inconvenient to wear and take off. Hence, there won’t be a large number of jumsuits offered in the store.
12%
Cardigans and Jackets
Though cardigans and jackets may not be items to be worn in summer. As most of our target market are based on customers who work in an office with the cool air-conditioning, jackets and cardiagans may still be needed for our target market during Summer. (Sinclair, 2015)
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Clutch
40%
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40%
30%
30%
30%
30%
Moonstone Pendant Brand: Nallik Material: Semi-precious stone, handworked brass setting, silver goldplated chain. Price: HKD$ 868
First Necklace Lime Blossom Brand: Royal Blush Material: Mint vegetable tanned Italian calf skin, gold plated chain. Price: HKD$ 855
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Promotion
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Store Design Visual Merchandising The store interior has mainly been designed and rendered by two interior designers, Mina and Hugo. They created two distinct pictures for the store appearance to suit the brand’s aesthetic for this pop-up store project. Both designs fulfil the needs for A Boy Named Sue to operate as a physical store which was started up as an e-commerce company. While both of them can also create a relaxing atmosphere for customers to sit and relax, to shop for products that they like. Both interior designs were based on a shop that we have chosen from K11 B2 level. Both of them have inlcuded all design needs within the renderings. Visual merchandising of chosen products offering were also included in the pictures.
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Rendering 1 By Mina Rhee
The interior designer has aligned her design for the store closely to the brand’s moods and aesthetics. Similar colors that the brand used in their website were also applied extensively to the store interior. From bits of images that we saw over the company’s website, and on the brand’s social networking platforms, we see that similar pictures are appearing within the store for the actual store design. By stepping into the store interior, we can immediately indulge ourselves to the world for A Boy Named Sue, and feel the atmosphere that the brand bring in to their customers.
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Front View
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STROAGE
storage
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• All fixtures are made of wood. • Fitting room curtain is in white cloth. • Plants are placed in the store. • Spotlights will be used on top of every shelf or rack in the store to show the products. • Lamp fixtures are made of iron. • Three blue sofas are placed in the store to let people sit on. • Photo booth background is made of logo in neon lights.
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Back View 45
Rendering 2 By Hugo Liu
The interior designer wanted to promote a mixture of Taiwanese and Japanese aesthetics in the atmosphere. Wood is a main texture used in decorating the store interior. While plants are also placed in the store to respond to the company’s philosophy as a sustainable fashion brand. The store can act as a secret place within the busy city, which let customers relax themselves from the busy lifestyle they used to stay in, and to enjoy a new shopping experience in a relaxing way.
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Social Media Campaign Photo Booth By setting up a photo booth in store, people can take a picture of their own or with their friends, and receive a free photo of their own, which is attached with a calendar, if they share the photo on the social media and hashtag #aboynamedsue, or by following the brand’s Instagram page. This event aims to promote the brand through social media, and attract more people to look at the current online retailing platform that the brand is operating at. It aims to promote the brand through the word of mouth, and to gain loyalty in customers for the brand.
Photo Booth
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Sustainable Campaign Used Recycling Program This campaign is aimed to provide the customers with a platform for them to recycle their used clothing. This act can further educate the customers about sustainability in fashion, reduce wastage problem, and help to promote the brand as a green fashion company. Friends of the Earth is a green organization which welcomes all corporations, schools, or other organizations to participate in their “Used Recycling Programme�. People can donate all kinds of used clothes or new clothes, shoes, bags, and towels through their used clothing recycling banks. Corporates or organizations can choose either to join the permanent or short-term programme, by downloading the application form and email it back to Friends of the Earth. Friends of the Earth also offer recycling banks and provide logistic support for the collection of used clothes. FoE (HK) pays for the third-party and fire insurances for all recycling banks. http://www.foe.org.hk/recycle/eng/collect_donate.html By collaborating with Friends of the Earth for implementation of this campaign, costs for transporting the recycled materials to charitable organizations and insurances can be saved. However, in order to make the recycle bank match with interior designs and aesthetics of the store in general, a new appearance for the recycling bank will be designed. In order to encourage more customers to participate in the campaign, for one old clothing that the customer donate, they can get 10%off on one piece of garment they purchase from A Boy Named Sue. If they donate two pieces of old clothing, they can get discounts off on two pieces of garments. The more they donate, the more amount of clothing they purchase can receive a discount.
Push Caution!
Used Clothes Recycling We also collect CD & well-wrapped printer cartridges.
Used Clothes Collection Bin
Recycling Bin
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The Purchasing System QR Code Clothing tags for each garment is attached to a unique QR code, which allows customers to scan it using a specific app that is designed for the popup store. Customers can then purchase the items directly through their mobile phones, and have the goods shipped to them on the next day.
Customers who visit the pop-up store can purchase items that they like through scanning the QR code to their mobile phones in hand. An alternative can be through the i-Pads that are offered for customers to use in store. Payment methods include the current PayPal system, and by credit card. Goods will be shipped to customers the next day of purchase. The other processes and returns policies will remain the same as operations before.
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Technology In-store The I-Pad system
Through the I-Pads in store, customers can look up for clothes that they want, and purchase directly through the online shopping platform.
Customers can access to looksbooks of the latest collections offereed by the brand through the ipads in store.
Customers can also find guides for the use of the company’s lifestyle products. Articles about sustainability in fashion will also be available to educate the customer about the topic.
The ipads that are placed in store contain lookbooks for collections that are offered by the brand. Customers can search for items that they like through the ipad, or directly purchase an item through the system if they don’t want to use their own mobile phones to make an order.
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Pricing
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Price Range
TO
Betron Stripe Dress - $764
Tux Jumpsuit - $2403
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TO
Greek Leather Flip Flops - $489
Classic Flea Tote - $1705
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Sumzine Vol.1 Magazine - $93
THISPAPER Issue. 2 - $194 57
References L. (2015, January 21). Super Stylers: Tania and Sam of A Boy Named Sue. Retrieved October 2, 2016, from http://www.sassyhongkong.com/superstyler-a-boy-named-sue-style/ A Boy Named Sue. (n.d.). Retrieved October 02, 2016, from http://www.aboynamedsue.co/shop/category/ KAPLAN, M. (2013, April 3). SWOT Analysis for Ecommerce Companies. Retrieved October 02, 2016, from http://www.practicalecommerce.com/ articles/3971-SWOT-Analysis-for-Ecommerce-Companies Internet Retailing in Hong Kong, China. (2016, January 15). Retrieved October 02, 2016, from http://0-www.portal.euromonitor.com.library.scad. edu/portal/analysis/tab Hong Kong Average Monthly Salaries (n.d.). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://www.tradingeconomics.com/hong-kong/wages Botelho | Small Business, C. (n.d.). The Pros and Cons of Online Retailers vs. Brick-and-Mortar Stores. Retrieved October 03, 2016, from https:// www.aabacosmallbusiness.com/advisor/pros-cons-online-retailers-vs-brick-mortar-stores-173028000.html Sustainable Fashion: A Boy Named Sue. (2012). Retrieved October 03, 2016, from http://hk.asiatatler.com/fashion-beauty/fashion/sustainable-fashion-a-boy-named-sue Key Items Apparel Women / Young Women. (2015, August 17). Retrieved from https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/60196/page/1 Sinclair, R., & Yiannakou, L. (2015, October 27). Design Development Trousers & Shorts Women / Young Women. Retrieved from https://www. wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/62493/page/1 Sinclair, R., & Yiannakou, L. (2015, October 20). Design Development Dresses & Skirts Women / Young Women. Retrieved from https://www.wgsn. com/content/board_viewer/#/62103/page/1 Sinclair, R., & Yiannakou, L. (2015, October 6). Design Development Jackets & Outerwear Women / Young Women. Retrieved from https://www. wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/62095/page/1 Sinclair, R., & Yiannakou, L. (2015, October 13). Design Development S/S 17 – Woven Tops. Retrieved from https://www.wgsn.com/content/ board_viewer/#/62102/page/1
Population - Overview. (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/so20.jsp Population and Household Statistics Analysed by District ... (n.d.). Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://www. statistics.gov.hk/pub/B11303012015AN15B0100.pdf
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