Grete Birtwistle

The Burberry business model: creating an international luxury fashion brand

The performance of the British fashion brand Burberry has been determined largely by the adoption of business models which, on occasion, have been detrimental to the companys performance. For the financial year ending 31 March 1998, Burberry saw its annual profits drop from £62m to £25m, leading financial analysts to describe it as “an outdated business with a fashion cachet of almost zero”. However, from 1997, at the instigation of a newly appointed chief executive, Rose Marie Bravo, Burberry has radically re‐aligned its business model and has enjoyed, as a result, significant improvements in its business performance. Drawing from extensive documentation that was published by Burberry in support of their initial public offering (IPO), this paper will provide a review of the history of Burberry; evaluate Burberrys re‐positioning strategy as defined by the firm in their IPO prospectus; and critically delineate Burberrys current business model.

Quick response: perceptions of UK fashion retailers

Defines and discusses the level of quick response implementation by fashion retailers, their understanding of quality response (QR) is explored and the processes for replenishments examined. This exploratory study, based on a survey of fashion retailers trading in the UK, revealed that information technology is particularly important to the large, multiple “own brand” fashion retailers as it enables the various parties in the supply chain to communicate and to respond to demand. Results indicate that retailers have not fully understood the benefits of implementing a QR strategy and perceive it more often as a strategy for internal supply chain management rather than an external supply chain strategy.

Channel power, conflict and conflict resolution in international fashion retailing

Research that has considered the problems faced by internationalising retailers has tended to focus upon such dimensions as non‐conducive environmental conditions and inferior internal capability, rather than the conflicts that may arise from the partnerships that are formed in order to facilitate the internationalisation of retailer operations. This study seeks to re‐dress this research neglect and does so by focusing upon the fashion sector. The aim of this study is to identify the problems that may arise from fashion retailers’ international relationships. The paper reports the findings of an in‐depth study of the relationships of ten international fashion retailers. It is found that these relationships face significant tensions, specifically with respect to strategy non‐compliance, perceptual disagreements, and arguments concerning the demarcation of decision making responsibility. The paper concludes by identifying areas for future research consideration.

Retailer and consumer perceptions of online fashion retailers: Web site design issues

Examines the Web sites of online fashion retailers. It evaluates the role of the Internet as a distribution channel and in particular discusses issues of Web page design. Retailer and consumer views within the fashion sector are explored in a three‐stage qualitative research process. This research highlights the differences in retail and consumer perception of fashion Web sites. While retailers are satisfied by their online offer they lack an understanding of consumer needs. Consumers are disappointed in the lack of service and product provision provided by fashion Web sites. Areas of concern include overall Web page design, level of interactivity, absence of information about fashion trends and inconsistency across Web sites.

Product and brand: Critical success factors in the internationalisation of a fashion retailer

Purpose – To explore the factors crucial to international fashion retailer success and evaluate how internationalisation could be controlled efficiently by a firm.Design/methodology/approach – The study adopts a qualitative approach in the form of case studies of two international fashion retailers. This involved structured interviews with management to explore their knowledge and experiences supported by secondary research such as company and media reports.Findings – Defines the critical success factors especially contingent to their businesses, emphasising the importance of brand management, product development and differentiation to international fashion retailers.Research limitations – An exploratory study which model needs testing using quantitative methods.Originality/value – Understanding of how fashion retailers successfully internationalise will increase company efficiency.

More than just a name above the shop: a comparison of the branding strategies of two UK fashion retailers

UK fashion retailing is characterised by high levels of market concentration, centralisation and outlet standardisation. In the pursuit of market share, the multiple fashion retailers are implementing branding strategies that aim to differentiate their product offer and reinforce their market positioning. Empirical research, via key informant interviews, examined the branding decisions of two multiple fashion retailers and established four main methods of brand differentiation.

Customer decision making in fashion retailing: a segmentation analysis

Research into store image, market positioning and store choice has mainly been carried out in supermarkets or department stores and only a limited amount in speciality retailing. This study uses conjoint analysis to examine the way consumers choose where to purchase menswear fashion clothing, based on their perception and trade‐off of four attributes ‐ price, quality, selection and staff ‐ shown to be important in previous research. The results indicate that quality was the most important attribute to the respondents in this study. The paper concludes by analysing sub‐segments of shopping preferences for customers of Next for Men, a UK fashion retailer.

Consumer perception of five UK fashion retailers

Developing a strong, positive image has become essential to the maintenance of sustained competitive advantage. Research into store image has allowed retailers to create positioning strategies and enabled them to differentiate their stores in terms of the products, prices or services on offer. This paper presents the findings of a survey based on responses from 860 customers of multiple retailers selling womenswear fashion clothing. It examined the principal dimensions involved in store image, utilising a multi‐attribute model, and compares results with qualitative store choice statements. The paper concludes by exploring how retailers could manipulate image variables to maintain or defend their market positioning.

Food retail positioning strategy: a means‐end chain analysis

This research conducts a means‐end chain analysis of the food sector and explores the extent to which the findings made can be used to inform the retail positioning strategy of food retailers. Using means‐end theory as the theoretical underpinning of the study, the paper employs laddering methodology to identify the linkages between food retail store attributes and personal values. The findings of the paper present a more personally relevant representation of consumer’s perceptual orientations towards food retail store image. At the attribute level “good quality products”; “good reputation”; “store has additional services” and “value for money” are most sought after. These were linked to the consequences “feel good” and to “save time”. Overall, the findings support previous value driven research, concluding that “happiness” and “quality of life” are the most strived for personal values. Strategic implications for retailers are discussed and future research recommendations are made.

The UK grocery business: towards a sustainable model for virtual markets

Purpose – With the emergence of enabling internet technologies and increased competition between UK supermarkets has led the “big four” – Tesco, J Sainsbury, ASDA and Safeway/Morrisons – to develop grocery operations online. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and present best practice strategies employed by major retail organisations concerning these deployments. The paper argues that Tescos superior performance can be identified through five critical factors. However, continued success using existing models and thinking is problematic and that future advantages will rely on taking a complex adaptive systems view of the deployment of E‐Grocery systems.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology employed is a conceptual synthesis of current knowledge, based on theoretical constructs and empirical observations.Findings – There is evidence of varying degrees of progress and lessons learnt, from adopting strategies and internet technologies, with new ways of conceptualizing and managing virtual ret...