Differentiation strategies in the fashion industry.

Abstract:

This essay looks at the various differentiation strategies for a company in the fashion industry. The chosen fashion company for this study is Zara. The reason for this is that Zara is a relatively new company which has grown quickly and today has a big market share. The aim of this thesis is to decide which differentiation strategies are the more relevant ones for Zara to attract new customers. This will be done through a discussion and analysis of all five of the differentiation strategies which are; product-, channel-, image-, service- and personnel differentiation. The theoretical framework gives an overview of the differentiation strategies; it also provides the reader with a description of branding, consumer decision process, competitive advantage, strategic customer and key competitors. These marketing factors can be describing and supporting factors to the most suitable differentiation strategy for Zara. The methodology chapter provides a description of the method choices for this thesis; this study is done by a qualitative approach. The methodology chapter also consists of a part about secondary sources, interviews, different question types used in the interviews and source criticism. The empirical findings consist of information gathered from face to face interviews. The interviews where done with three managers of Zara in France, Paris. In the analysis chapter there will be a discussion about the differentiations strategies that are mentioned in the theoretical framework, this will be combined with the empirical information gained through personal interviews with the managers at Zara. There will also be an analysis and discussion about the marketing factors mentioned above. The conclusion will conclude the analysis of the empirical and theoretical parts of this thesis and answer our research question. In the conclusion there is a description and summarize of the various differentiation strategies. In the conclusion there is a description and summarize of the various differentiation strategies discussed in the theoretical chapter. As a conclusion there is a need for improvements to the personnel-, service- and channel differentiation strategies. The needed future improvements will be discussed closely in the conclusion.