Apparel Marketing

Anyone who has ever seen a clothes advertising on television or in a magazine is aware of how products are advertised to the prospective buyers. However, advertising is much more than a single ad or even a series of ads. As far as a manufacturer is concerned, advertising is a part of a larger section of the company. This section is called the marketing division. It performs many different tasks. The goal is to sell a product better than the competitive company.

Market research is the study of buyers’ habits, needs, and wants. In a way, it involves finding out who are the buyers of a product. If, for example, the division sells clothes for children and young people, it must find the answers to many questions about the buyers. How long do they wear clothes? On what occasions do they wear them? What styles are popular this year? What colours are popular?

Advertising, or communicating with the customer, is the next responsibility of the department. Advertising is a way of describing and selling a product to the consumer.

Fashion promotion is another way of telling people-potential buyers – about a product. The goal of fashion promotion is to promote a product to fashion magazines and other publications. Fashion promoters supply photographs of the product and press releases to magazine editors and newspapers or write articles for fashion magazines. They often prepare press kits. These kits contain press releases and photos and are sent to editors all over the country. They may promote an old product, or they may introduce a new product, fabric, or method of production. The kits are planned to give fashion editors ideas for articles or short features.

Fashion promoters also handle all the publicity at trade, shows and anywhere else that a manufacturer might need promotion publicity.

Label development is the final stage. This involves planning what the labels on the product will say and how they will look. If they are well-designed, they catch the buyer’s eye. They contain important information that may help a buyer finally decide to buy a product.

Labels are used to state the manufactures’ name, and that was about all. Today, they are much more consumer oriented. Labels tell how to care for a garment, what its special features are and how it can be expected to wear. They must be designed in such a way as to attract customers’ attention.

After clothes are being advertised and marketed, clothes manufactures turn their attention to selling and distributing their clothes to the stores.

Apparel sales may be either retail or wholesale. In wholesale sales, clothes manufacturers sell their products to the stores. In retail sales the stores sell products to the consumer or customer. This is the responsibility of sales representatives and buyers.

Sales representatives work for the manufacturer. Very few clothes manufacturers own stores. A great part of their business involves selling to department and special stores. So they turn to sales representatives to do this. Buyers work for the various stores that buy and sale the clothes.

Sales representatives are expected to visit the sales offices or the manufacturer several times a year for sales meetings where new lines are presented. They learn about the garments – how they are meant to be worn, how they are made, how they can be cared for.

Sales representatives are the important pipeline between the customer, or retailer, and the manufacturer.

Buyers are the representatives of stores who place orders for garments from sales representatives. Just as sales representatives are the wholesalers, buyers are the retailers. Buyers are usually specialists. This means that a buyer only makes purchases in one or two clothing areas. Buyer may only purchase women’s sportswear or men’s jewelry or baby clothes, or preteen clothes. They make final decisions for stores. Once a buyer has chosen the clothes, store and department managers are alerted. Selling and buying are closely related.

III Answer the questions:

1. What is advertising?

2. Who is engaged in making ads?

3. What is the purpose of advertisement?

4. What is market research?

5. What does market research help to solve?

6. What is fashion promotion?

7. What do fashion promoters do?

8. Why are labels so important?

9. Who presents garments for buyers?

10. Why are sales representatives an important pipeline between customers and manufacturers?

IV Complete the sentences with the words from the text:

1. Advertising is much more than ….

2. … is engaged in making ads.

3. … deals with buyers’ habits and desires.

4. Advertising is ….

5. Promoters help to … a … to fashion magazines.

6. … include ideas for articles and a short description.

7. … tell how to take care for garments and can … buyers’ attention.

V Find the English equivalents to the words:
реклама, виконувати, ціль, конкурентний, спілкуватись, орієнтований на споживача, роздріб, замовлення, оптова торгівля

VI Make up sentences with the terms:

On television, section, the study of, potential buyers, to involve, to attract attention, to distribute

VII Give definitions to the words:

An advertisement, a kit, a consumer, promotion, a representative

VIII Translate the sentences into English:

1. Реклама не така проста річ, як думають звичайні споживачі, дивлячись її по телевізору.

2. Рекламою майбутнього товару займається багато професіоналів і навіть окремі підрозділи.

3. Необхідно вивчити потреби ринку, досліджувати побажання і смаки покупців.

4. Завдання реклами – це розповісти про найліпші якості та переваги товару, щоб продати його краще за конкурентів.

5. Рекламу в журналах та інших виданнях оснащують фото та малюнками.

6. Бирка на одязі може багато розповісти про виробника, як носити одяг та доглядати за ним.

7. Лейби привертають увагу покупця до товару.

8. Торгові представники компанії займаються продажем та розповсюдженням товару.

9. Торгові представники повинні володіти повною інформацією про товар.

10. Баєри – це працівники магазинів, які замовляють партію товарів для продажу.

IX Speak on the topic using the following words and word-combinations:

To see advertising on television, the marketing division, to perform tasks, to research the market, to communicate with the customer, fashion promotion, to supply photos and press releases, to prepare a kit, label development, to sell and distribute goods, sales representatives, buyers

TEXT B

I Read and remember:

1. a multi-industry complex – багатопромисловий комплекс

2. internal cooperation – внутрішня співпраця

3. a distinct segment – виразний, окремий сегмент

4. haberdashery – галантерея

5. china and porcelain – фарфор та порцеляна

6. to contribute – робити внесок

7. capacity – потужність

8. notable technological facilities – визначні технологічні можливості

9. state-of-the-art technologies – найновітні технології

II Read the text and define the main idea of it:

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30