Marketing U.S. Apparel in Mexico: After the economic crisis that affected the macroeconomic environment across the globe, the sales of apparel in Mexico recovered in 2010 following its decline in 2009. The main reason for the decline of sales during this period is that the economic crisis lessened the disposable incomes of many Mexicans. As consumers in Mexico tend to minimize their expenses during economic uncertainty times, the apparel industry in this country has shown modest growth in the past five years. In relation to the marketing of U.S. apparel products in Mexico, many consumers in the country have very positive opinions about the products. As compared to products manufactured in the country and other parts like Asia, Mexican consumers prefer apparel products from the United States. Consequently, American apparel products have continued to gain very positive and complementary reputations in Mexico. Notably, Mexican consumers normally buy products at regular prices because they consider lower prices as a sign of poor quality.
The Apparel Industry in Mexico: Based on the market reports of June 2010, Mexico accounted of 24.6 percent of U.S. exports of textiles and apparel. This is primarily because Mexico provides significant market opportunities for producers in the United States to meet the increasingly growing needs and wants of Mexican consumers (Forsythe et. al, 1993). The Mexican apparel industry has developed to become the largest importer of apparel
The former includes garments and textiles, footwear, electronics and various other sectors that require a large labour force to produce its goods or services, whereas the latter, includes—but not limited to— the production of chemicals, petroleum and automobiles. Among the many industries mentioned above, garment and textile and the automotive industries predominate in the maquiladoras. In fact, Wilson (1995) states that the automobile industry in its search for cheaper labor in the wake of increasing competition from the Asia market led U.S. companies like Ford, Chrysler and General Motors to significantly increase their investments in the maquiladoras in the 1980s (Wilson, 1995, p. 142). In regards to the garments and textiles, Billes (2003) argues that the movement from the border regions the interior parts was most apparent for firms that produced garments and textiles. Moreover, the search for cheaper labor as wages in the urban and northern border regions were rising led firm to migrate to poorer states like Yucatan (Billes, 2003, p.
2a. Consumers would certainly see a hike in prices on the imported product and in turn could affect the consumer’s ability to afford neither the domestic made clothing nor foreign made clothing.
It is impossible to beat a cheap price. In today’s world, finding a sought after item at a dirt cheap price is one the main motivation American’s get in the car and battle the craziness in the mall. And as the basic American human beings that we are, it is never possible for us to be complacent with the amount of stuff we currently have. Eventually, we will come across a friend that has the next must have item that will cause us to run to our local mall and purchase a similar item at the lowest price possible. With all that said, it is no wonder why the industry of fast fashion has taken off over the past decade. Felipe Caro and Victor Martínez-de-Albéniz, researchers for UCLA’s school of supply chain coordination, define fast fashion as “a business model that combines four elements: (i) fashionable clothes mostly for consumers under 40; (ii) affordable prices in the mid-to-low range; (iii) quick response; and (iv) frequent assortment changes”. Retailers like H&M, Forever 21, Target, and Wal-Mart have been able to take this business model and make a fortune. But while all these quick trends and cheap prices are great for the consumer, its cost on the foreign worker and the environment does not go uncovered. In the book Overdressed by Elizabeth Cline, she presents many arguments supporting the claim that fast fashion is unethical based on
"In 1994, both countries [Mexico and the United States] signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which has increased their mutual trade and foreign direct investment. Between 1994 And 2005, the US-Mexico foreign direct investment flows increased substantially from 16,968 billion to $71,423 billion. By 2007, the Mexican commercial relationship with the U.S. almost tripled from $297 billion to $930 billion." [2] This mutual increase in business inherently has had an attendant growth in "the number of foreign enterprises who have situated in each country." [2] With this increase in international business and trade comes cultural shifts and increased globalization and differences in managerial functions.
In February 2002 the Argentine peso lost 70% of its value compared to the United States dollar. This devaluation drastically raised the price of imported products. According to a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in April 2002, 68% of the consumers in Argentina were buying fewer products than before the devaluation, 24% were buying the same number of products, and 8% were buying more products. Furthermore, in a trend toward purchasing less-expensive brands, 88% indicated that they had changed the brands they purchased. Suppose the following complete set of results were reported. Use the following data to answer questions 9 through 12.
Often, when we think of a t-shirt, not much consideration goes past throwing it on and walking out the door. We discover in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, author Pietra Rivoli conveys the story of a t-shirt she purchased in Florida for just $5.99. Beginning with core element of the t-shirt, she describes the cotton boom in the United States and why we have reigned supreme as the leading cotton producer. She even meets with a Texan farmer who warms your heart from the very beginning of the chapter. Next, the cotton goes on to textile mills and factories, and Rivoli explains the history of the textile industry. With this lesson, she demonstrates how the textile industry boom was a
I lived in front of La Plaza Mall for about 8 years. I noticed the La Plaza Mall has a lot of customers from Mexico. A lot of the Mexican customers seem to be attracted by the clothing and buy in abundance. Moreover, the community indeed has increased their demand for clothing. An example is Black Friday. Traffic worsens, and people camp outside
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 major goods and services traded between Mexico and the US are agricultural products and US exports of private commercial services. These to go major goods are imported and exported between US and Mexico. According to USTR.gov, "United States goods and private services with Mexico totaled an estimated $536 billion in 2012. Would exports totaled 243 billion! Imports totaled $293 billion. The total US goods and services trade deficit with Mexico was $49 billion into thousand and 12. "Since US and Mexico our neighboring countries, most of the important export come at a better value priced tag for consumers since shipping cost is much lower than other trading partners such as China and Europe. Trade in private services with Mexico (based
2. Richard M. Johns (2006). The Apparel Industry. 2nd ed. UK, London: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.. 1-124.
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
American Apparel (AA) is a well-known United States clothing brand that has gained recognition among the retail industry. American Apparel headquarters is located in Los Angles, California where it manufactures and distributes its clothing products. It is known in today’s society, to be sweatshop free and has a strong belief of workers’ rights. However, American Apparel has had a downfall in the retail industry losing revenue. This research of American Appeal will provide feasible reasons why the company should enter China international market to improve on sales revenue.
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.
According to the data, the total volume of textiles exported from China has started a continuous rapid growth since 2001 (the year of China’s accession to the WTO) as shown in the first graph above, which roughly
Owing to the successfully accomplishment of " low price, quality assurance" and excellent online sales channels, UNIQLO sees itself as nicely positioned to weather the China's slowing economic growth (Roxburgh, 2016). Meanwhile, serious competition with other apparel retailers is the primary obstacle to the development of UNIQLO. In the view of Zhu (2013), the Chinese market is massive, diverse, and has enormous potential. For the sake of truly thrive in this market, there is a need for foreign brands authentically understand the changing characteristics of Chinese customers, and establish quality products and services to satisfy their requirements. One recommendation is because this report use the SWOT analysis and Marketing Mix to assess UNIQLO's marketing strategies in China, it is worthwhile for further researchers to utilize other marketing tools to evaluate UNIQLO such as Porter's Five Competitive