Apparel Industry Australia

In this report I will analyse Country Road Clothing Company (CR) and the CR customer. Specifically, I will be analysing the marketing environment and Country Road’s approach to this environment and how CR market to their customers. I will look it why the marketing in Australia is so successful but how this same success was not translated in overseas markets. I will also discuss the different macro and micro environmental influences to this failure in the U.S. markets and make recommendations on how CR might have learnt from previous marketing mistakes and show how they are striving for success in the future.

This paper is intended to shine a light onto distribution channels, both direct and indirect, as well as, provide a better understanding of channel levels. It will also deal with the different channel organizations, including conventional, horizontal, vertical and multichannel marketing systems.

As mentioned in an earlier assignment, there are three main types of distribution channels. The first is the channel that goes from the producer, then to the wholesaler, then to the retailer or sells to the consumer. The second channel starts with the producer who sells straight to the retailer, who then sells to the consumer. The third channel goes directly from the producer to the consumer. Channels one and two are classed as indirect marketing channels, whereas channel three is a direct marketing channel as it goes straight from producer to consumer.

Australia’s lack of international competitiveness as a result of geographical location and small population, as well as the decline of the manufacturing industry to overseas low cost producers, with the problem being further increased by the high AUD exchange rate, as a result of the mining boom. The fall in domestic production has led to an increase in imports and a fall in productive innovation compared to advanced economies has led to a rise in CAD.

Australia’s fashion industry has traditionally been bricks & mortar, later adding e-commerce sites to replace the catalog of old. However as was discussed in the 2016 industry event Ragtrader Live, the type of industry and business structure that exist in Australia and looking to be the norm is e-tailers such as The Iconic and Omni-channel such as Myer as tech continues to drive business

Although the Chinese apparel manufacturers would lose profitability due to rising cotton prices and competition from emerging countries, they stand to gain the most from the removal of U.S. quotas and tariffs. According to the author, in 2007, 95% of the 20 billion garments Americans made were purchased overseas. Due to U.S. trade barriers, China’s share of the U.S. apparel import was only 30%. Once these barriers were removed, Chinese apparel would flood the American market due to their low cost and dominance in garment manufacturing. Experts predict that China could eventually supply 85% of U.S. apparel. As they increase their market share in the

The company sells its products through two separate channels of distribution. Each is treated as a

The clothing industry in the US entails more than 100,000 stores with combined revenues of over 150 billions dollars a year. The giants within this industry include Abercrombie & Fitch, GAP, Urban Outfitters, and TJX Companies, which I shall be concentrating on

2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.

Additionally, most of the clothing industries operating in Australia, one or two companies are specialized in the production of a lot of products which are normally sold at the national level, again a good number of smaller clothing companies work in local, in cities or within the state territories. The diversity of the market looks more fruitful for companies to serve in a specialized niche market and to build a number of semi-monopolistic market spaces. Clothing market and some of the similar industries in Australia are always determined by the climatic condition and people's lifestyle. This decides how the people spend on clothing and the kind of clothes which normally being bought, for example clothes such as sports wear and casual wear. It's however,

There are segmented clothing and retail industries around the world. Therefore, there are provisions for a smaller number of firms in the industry. Although Creación has direct competitors like Jovian and

Rivalry among existing competitors: The apparel industry is highly competitive with a great number of both local and global competitors. As the market is mature, its growth is small. Accelerated growth and expansion to new markets are not easy goals to achieve. The barrier to get out of the industry is quite low for distributors, but high for producers. Most fashion manufacturers moved their production base to low-cost countries like China as wage and raw materials in developed markets like Western Europe are high. Besides, there is no great discrepancy in terms of quality of products, so customers make their purchase choices based on price and brand recognition.

The company sells its products through two separate channels of distribution. Each is treated as a

Country road has been well established as an Australian brand in Australia before it engaged in globalization. Having a strong foothold in the Australia fashion, it is one of the most representable and well-favoured fashion brands in Australia. With its growing success, this gave the firm the confidence to venture into the global market and had the capabilities to do so after Myer Emporium

The clothing industry, as one of the most globalized industries in the world (Bonacich et al 1994), is currently undergoing a restructuring, especially the fast fashion sector. Fashion markets are synonymous with rapid changes and short product life cycles. Therefore, changes in consumer demand for newness and fashion trend force the emergence of ‘fast fashion’ strategy in retailers like Zara and H&M and shifts in the focus of competitive advantage from price towards quick response. That is to say, clothing firms, which are adopting global or offshore sourcing strategy, are not considered to have more competitive advantages as before.