Delia Vazquez

Effective Design Management for Small Businesses

Abstract How small firms invest in design expertise to develop new products and corporate identities to communicate their services is little understood. The research reported here documented the ways in which small manufacturing and service companies use professional design skills and their approaches to managing product, engineering and graphic design. Many firms are wary about the potential cost of employing professional designers and are unsure about the commercial outcome of design investment. Thus, a need exists to enhance design awareness amongst small firms. Those firms that employed design effectively found that design contributed to their business success. However, expertise in sourcing, briefing, liaising and evaluating design were varied and so training small companies in design management skills is needed also.

A case study exploring the packaging design management process within a UK food retailer

Food retailers invest heavily in design expertise to create exciting packaging to entice customers to buy premium food products, and to strengthen their competitive edge. The process by which food retailers manage food packaging design has not been documented and this is an oversight in the design management and retailing literatures that this paper addresses. An in‐depth case study of one of the top four UK retailers is presented and their approach pack design management is analysed and discussed. The process outlined here was in place in 1997 at a time when the retailer had just moved from number three in the market place to number two and was aiming to be number one. The process documented is that of a dynamic growing food retailer working on improving its brand image through packaging design.

Investigating linkages between online purchase behaviour variables

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between the online consumer behaviour constructs of attitude, motivations and information search in order to develop an online consumer behaviour framework.Design/methodology/approach – An email survey collected data from 577 UK respondents and canonical correlations are applied to examine the relationships.Findings – The results provide empirical support that attitude is an antecedent variable, and that motivation variables have a significant causal relationship with information search variables.Research limitations/implications – Two limitations are identified. Firstly, the data collected focussed on UK respondents, consequently the generalisability of these results is in question and further research is required. Secondly, the attitude measure could include more items to further aid reliability.Originality/value – This research advances the development of the Online Consumer Behaviour literature by adding knowledge on the nature of the...

Design management – the unexplored retail marketing competence

Food retailers invest heavily in design expertise to create exciting packaging and to develop store environments to entice customers to buy premium food products, and to strengthen their competitive edge. The process by which food retailers manage design has not been documented and this is an oversight in the field of design management that this paper addresses. Cases of four UK retailers are presented and their approaches to design management are compared and discussed. A model of retail design management is presented which represents current “better practice” in UK food retail; in addition, a model of the seven Ps of design management is presented to foster better understanding of the role of food retail design management function.

Exploring the Retail Design Management Process- A Case Study

Design is an increasingly important part of the competitive strategy of food retailers in the UK. This paper examines the design management process within one of the leading UK food retailers to provide a model of the process. This model constitutes a contribution to design management theory in the retail sector. The process of retail design management is explored and discussed. This paper attempts to provide an exploratory base for future linkages to be made between design management and retail marketing theories.

Enabling the digital fashion consumer through fit and sizing technology

Abstract Online fashion retailing is a major growth area. Innovative online fit and sizing technologies that facilitate purchase continue to develop and launch, however, problems associated with digital expectations of fit and size in consumer decision-making remain unresolved. This research focuses on 20 prominent fit and size technologies from a sample of 30 and uses content analysis to examine website design and operation. Content analysis, combined with an extended literature review, enables the linking of academic theory and practice. The research provides the basis for a discussion of best practice utilisation of fit and sizing technology through the Omni-fit model, which accounts for the combination of technological approaches and the emerging influence of augmented and virtual reality fashion technology. The results include the need for improvements to 3D visualisation, user experience, and online customer relationship management of existing websites, aligned with Omni-channel retailing practice.

Design - A Panacea for Enterprise Britain?

Design investment is treated by many government agencies as a panacea to stimulate innovation and enterprise by small businesses in Britain. Resources are available for small companies to harness design skills and talents, but how are these resources managed and what impact do they have? Can we develop a more effective use of design within this sector of industry? This paper presents the key findings of a two-year Design Council funded research project to assess approaches to design management by small firms. It was evident that many small firms lacked awareness of design and so were not confident in expending time and money to exploit their skills. In the majority of companies considerable effort had to be made by professional designers to manage the design process efficiently. The research highlights the need to raise awareness of the benefits of design investment and to train small business managers in design management.

Measuring Consumer Engagement in the Brain to Online Interactive Shopping Environments

Online shopping environments are becoming more interactive as technology advances. As a result, it is necessary to explore marketing theories and neuro scientific explanations to why this is the case. A reviewed approach of consumer engagement to online interactive shopping environments is considered in this chapter. The online interactive elements of traditional fashion websites that are considered includes; social media, browsing and videos. Measurements of consumer engagement are reviewed via marketing consumer engagement theories (CE) and a cognitive neuroscience technique using an Electroencephalogram (EEG) (A non-invasive procedure measuring the brain’s electrical activity). ASOS.com, the U.K. top fashion online pure player, is used as a preliminary research study, the results demonstrate that engagement is significantly different in social media, video and browsing tasks and browsing for jackets online elicits more engagement. Originality of this research stems from the novel way to look at engagement and the ability to combine traditional and non-traditional marketing methods thus addressing emerging fields of the future such as virtual shopping.

Perceived Brand Image of Luxury Fashion and Vintage Fashion—An Insight into Chinese Millennials’ Attitudes and Motivations

China has seen a dramatic increase in sales figures of luxury items, which accounted for 20% of global sales in 2015. The sheer purchasing power of this emerging economy makes it an attractive destination for luxury fashion brands seeking to expand their businesses. Young Chinese consumers are the key target audience for luxury fashion, as their ability to travel to the West further exposes them to fashion brands such as Hermes, Chanel, and LV. Purchasing, owning, and wearing luxury fashion has become a statement in the Chinese industry, which can be linked to motivational reasons such as value consciousness, susceptibility to normative influence, and the need for uniqueness. Vintage fashion has seen a dramatic increase in popularity in the Western Hemisphere and slowly, but steadily spilled over to China. Luxury brands are developing vintage lines, whilst new vintage stores start to emerge across various Chinese cities. The latter expand rapidly and gain popularity, especially among the younger consumers (millennials). This research focuses on Chinese millennials and their perceptions of luxury fashion and vintage fashion in terms of brand image. This exploratory research takes on a qualitative approach by interviewing 15 Chinese consumers, both male and female, who have experience in purchasing luxury and vintage fashion. This research contributes to knowledge as it explores the vintage fashion context in China, which thus far is under-researched. Practically, this research contributes by providing suggestions to retailers on how to enhance their brand image and target millennials more successfully.