Perspectives of Zara Store in Melbourne - Research Paper Example

Introduction Marketing is a skill that is useful in the promotion and sale of goods or services. In this essay we will look into the analysis of Zara store in Melbourne. The analysis will look into marketing strategies used by the store in attracting customers and customer preferences that make in the Melbourne area. Zara opened its store in Melbourne to tap into the eager and big market provided by the Melbourne population. The launch of the Zara store in Melbourne was after the successful operation of the Sydney store. The Zara brand leverages its marketing strategy on pricing of its products and its stores are located in developed countries. This essay is going to take a research on the marketing strategy used by Zara in marketing its products with focus being on the newly opened Melbourne store. Organizational Background The Zara brand is owned by Inditex of Spain, this brand sells high quality imitation designs from high end fashion products. Inditex developed the brand through imitating high end designs and selling their products at low costs. The Zara brand makes use of a model whereby the company does not spend on advertising but believes in opening new stores. The high cost of designer wear led to Inditex to develop the Zara brand to cater for a market segment that had long been ignored. Zara has been selling its products at a low cost to various market segments in different places in the world. Zara is a famous brand and the good performance in the Australian market led to the company opening a new store in Melbourne. The new store in Melbourne will cater for low and medium income earners with focus being on young consumers (DeBonis, 2003). Zara brand caters for the middle and low income demographic citizens in the area of Melbourne. Marketing Context Zara has adopted several strategies to market its products through the use of its price regime. The price of goods sold by Zara makes the brand so famous among its customers in various places in the world. Zara sold its products based on the fact that consumers wanted a brand that sold quality goods at affordable prices and thus Zara developed several imitation products for sale. The situation that led Zara to develop their own niche in design and marketing of its products is the ignored market that was not catered by high fashion brands. As a result, Zara developed a brand that imitated the famous fashion brands such as Hennes & Mauritz (H&M). The prices offered by Zara are the main selling point for the Zara brand and this helps in improving the customer numbers in the store (Glynn, 2009). The circumstance to be investigated is the factors that make the Zara brand to be popular among its customers. The big question is if Zara leverages its marketing strategy based on pricing, turnaround time or product offering. The process of understanding the marketing strategy used by Zara is to investigate the brand using their newly opened store in Melbourne as a sample in studying the store. The main marketing context is the strategies employed by Zara in attracting or promoting its brand in Australia (Schmidt, 2007). Marketing Issue The main marketing issue to be investigated in the selling or promoting of the Zara brand is the pricing system of its clothes. The prices offered by Zara made many customers to prefer the products of Zara. The pricing system used by Zara designs is to reduce response time and thus selling the clothes at discount prices. The main marketing issue to be investigated in this study is that of pricing and its effect on customer numbers. The main question to be asked in the investigation and analysis of Zara is: Is the price of Zara products the main driving force in attracting customers to buy its products? Zara makes use of its wide array of products to attract customers to its stores in different locations in the world (Glynn, 2009). The bulk of Zara’s customers are people who have little or medium income and these people are found in different locations in the world. The study is meant to investigate how Zara makes use of its pricing regime and store location to attract a bulk of its customers. Methodology Collecting data on the effect of pricing on consumer behaviour in relation to Zara stores is very challenging. The best methodology to be used in researching the Zara brand is through the use of the questionnaires to be handed out to Zara customers. The new store in Melbourne will be used as a test study centre for new customers. The best method of research to be used in collecting and analysing data is through questionnaires to be filled by the Zara customers (Rommel, 2008). These questionnaires will be placed in the new store to be located in Melbourne, Australia. Questionnaires and interviews will be structured in a manner where questions will be put forward to customers with the aim of getting information from the main consumers of Zara products (Curry, 1998). Questionnaires are good in getting factual information from interested study group while interviews are also effective in getting the same information. This study will be undertaken by an external research company with the aim of establishing information concerning the marketing issue. The results of answers from the consumers of Zara products in Australia will be used analysing the marketing study to be used in Australia. In conducting the research study, several errors might arise including incorrect answers being provided to the questions being asked (Wrenn, 2006). Another error that could arise includes the sample population being sampled represents a small set of the population in the Melbourne area. Thus, the sample size might not be reflective of the customer preferences in the Melbourne area. The problem of sampling a small section of the Melbourne population could be solved using random sampling with focus being on customers who do not necessarily purchase goods from Zara. To minimize the chances of customers giving wrong answers, the questionnaires must be designed in a manner that does not ask personal questions (Hanssens, 2003). Discussion In the process of conducting research it is imperative to come up with solutions that meet correctness and verifiable answers, several procedures have to be followed. For instance, in the study of marketing strategies or factors to be analysed we have to look into customer preferences in purchasing Zara products. Zara is a fashion brand that is well known for its imitation designer wear suited for a large cross-section of different customers. Zara does not conduct vigorous marketing of its products through use of advertising or promotions but it instead leverages its products based on pricing. This strategy has ensured that the brand remains popular among its loyal customers (Burns, 2000). For instance, the store in Melbourne is located among other stores which attract affluent customers. As a result, Zara is able to attract customers who have little money to spend but feel like they deserve to shop like affluent people. The best method to be used in understanding the marketing strategies employed by Zara is through investigation of one of its outlet stores (Berdy, 2000). Zara has been successful in producing many brands of clothing that sell well among different locations globally. The research study to be conducted on Zara will be difficult due to errors arising from the study. These errors include assumptions from the researchers undertaking the study. Assumptions make the consequence of the study to lack accuracy and correctness needed in achieving perfect results. The market segment in which Zara operates in requires small and targeted sampling to get the best results required in concluding the research study (Keller, 2001). Conclusion Zara is a famous brand that has been built over a period of three decades through use of various marketing skills and strategies. The brand is sold on a global scale among different market demographics. Zara’s opened new store is located in an area where other trendy and technological stores are located. However, the store does not create a double effect as other stores do. For instance, if a Louis Vuitton store is opened in Melbourne, the store will growth in the store and among other stores such as the iPhone store. The Zara brand has been successful in coming up with a lot of products with little shelf life and this has provided customers with opportunity to choose a product of their own liking. In this essay we were to study marketing issues such as promotion, advertising or pricing and analyse the circumstances under which any of these strategies is employed in marketing Zara. From the study, we could be able to conclude that Zara markets and promotes its products through price offering. The brand has been successful in using this strategy in maintaining its market position in the various countries or regions they operate from. The study of these strategies was however not simple but due to the several errors that could prevent the research study from completing successfully (Berthon, 2008). The most important people in conducting this research study are the customers who purchase goods from Zara. Making these customers to be the subjects of the study will be prudent in producing accurate and correct results. References Berdy, M 2000, ‘Testing Test Market Predictions: Comments’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 2 no. 4, pp. 196–200. Berthon, P & Napoli, J 2008. ‘Brand management in small to medium-sized enterprises’, Journal of Small Business Management. Vol. 46 no. 3, pp. 33-36. Burns, A & Bush R, 2000, Marketing research: Volume 1, Pelshiver, Chicago. Curry, D. J 1998, The New Marketing Research Systems, John Wiley & Sons, New York. DeBonis, J, Balinski, EW & Allen, P 2003, Value-based marketing for bottom-line success: 5 steps to creating customer value, McGraw-Hill Professional, Sydney. Glynn, M 2009, Business-to-business brand management: theory, research and executive case study exercises, Emerald Group, London. Hanssens, DM & Parsons, LJ 2003, Market Response Models: Econometric and Time Series Analysis, Springer, Canberra. Keller, KL 2001, ‘Building Customer based Brand Equity’, Marketing management, Vol. 10, no.2, pp. 14-19. Rommel, N& Wincer, P 2008, ‘Building Customer Loyalty Internal Marketing, Business Marketing Quarterly. Vol. 18 no. 2, pp. 52-61. Schmidt, M & Hollensen, S 2007, Marketing research: an international approach, John Wiley and Sons, New York. Wrenn, B, Stevens, R & Loudon, D 2006, Marketing research: text and cases, Taylor & Francis, London. Read More