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Chapter 1. Introduction 1.1 Motivation
To be more specific, two events motivated me to work on this thesis.
The first one comes from a conversation. Zara opened its first store in Taiwan, exactly on the first floor of the world’s second highest building of Taipei 101, on the 5th of November in 2011. That day I called my mother that she had no need to send me more packages with Zara clothes. Sadly she told me that the Zara store in our town just shut down. I was shocked:
Zara, one of the world’s largest clothing and accessories retailers, is closing down stores in the country where it was born. Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A. (Textile Design Industry) more commonly known as Inditex group, is one of the largest fashion distribution groups worldwide and Zara is its flagship chain store. In the financial year of 2012, Inditex’s net sales rose by 16% from 2011, to 15.9 billion euros (Inditex.com) thanks to the expansions in America and Asia, (being this latter market where Inditex has grown most), in contrast to a Europe with little movement and, a Spain suffering the worst economic recession in its history, with drastic cuts in public funds and consumption at its lowest points. In contrast, Zara’s success in further regions such as America and Asia is increasing: In Asia alone, Zara opened 11 new stores during the first months of 2013 (latest update 30th April), reaching a total of 326 stores nowadays.
The second event dates back to my first year in Taiwan, in 2009. On a group night out in Taipei, I wore a non-real leather purple jacket I bought during the summer sales back in Spain, an item I was long time yearning for and which I decided only to wear for special occasions. That night my jacket was stolen, in one of the safest countries in the world. That was the first time I realized how treasured Zara items could be. Unconsciously, I viewed
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myself having my first temper tantrums regarding to a fashion item: “it was not just simply a jacket; it was from Zara, my Zara jacket!”
On the one hand, the first event made me look deeply at the success Zara is achieving within the Taiwanese market and more precisely, within its society. “Zara must be spread all over the world far and wide. We first have to open in the most important cities to be known, so people (and future customers) see and buy our clothes. Then, we continue opening where it’s nearest to urban areas, to establish our presence”, said Amancio Ortega, co-founder of Inditex group and the leading figure behind Zara. Inditex is present in 86 markets across five continents, with a total of 6,058 stores, from which 1,763 are Zara. Currently there are 5 Zara stores in Taiwan. Since its arrival in 2011, the brand has become very popular among Taiwanese consumers. It is interesting to explore their consumption motivations, whether it is due to merely the clothing quality and/or affordable prices, or there are other motivations that go beyond.
On the other hand, the second event made me reflect on the influence that fashion clothing and brands can have in people’s behavior and to a further extent, the identity itself.
As Umberto Eco wrote in 1973, “I speak through my clothes.” In our daily life we attend a
“society of the spectacle”, where our selves consist essentially in the image reflected in the eyes of others. Consciously or not, we create an identity of ourselves through clothing and, through what we believe a specific clothing means within a particular society (included the correspondent brand and fashion style). Thus, we want to analyze whether Taiwanese also speak about themselves by purchasing or wearing any Zara item, and which consequently influences in their consumption behavior in Zara.
In regard to our research, this thesis will focus on the consumption behavior of Taiwanese
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consumers in Zara stores in Taiwan, from a cultural perspective.
1.2 Purpose
The present thesis aims to examine the phenomenon surrounding Zara among Taiwanese consumers. According to Monneyron (2005), “fashion, as a concept and as a recent social phenomenon, is created in Western societies” (p.15). Nevertheless, nowadays, and in any kind of society, when does fashion really become a social phenomenon? Therefore, we want to observe whether we are witnessing a fashion and social phenomenon of Zara in Taiwan.
And, why should we choose Zara over other fashion brands existing in Taiwan? Before Zara entered the Taiwanese market in 2011, the Spanish presence was, and still is, represented by 10 companies established in Taiwan (ICEX, 2011). Among them, only one belongs to the fashion sector, Flagship Fashion Trading Co LTD, which is responsible for importing clothes and accessories of Mango in the Taiwanese market. This fashion brand established itself in the Asian market with its entry into Taiwan in 1995. Currently, there are in Taiwan a total of 25 Mango stores. Opening their first store in 1984 in Barcelona and now with over 2,000 stores in 140 countries, Mango is since 1998, the second largest exporter in the Spanish textile sector - right behind Inditex group, with Zara as its flagship chain store.
Nevertheless, although the path in Taiwan for Mango is long, the overall feeling about Zara among Taiwanese consumers has made an unprecedented effect, only comparable with Japan’s Uniqlo, the fourth largest specialty apparel retailer worldwide (Uniqlo.com). The two giant clothing retailers are competing in Asia, the unquestionably hottest retail market in the world, and Taiwan, indeed, plays an important piece of their global expansion strategy.
Both share similar target demographics and store expansion ambitions but each has its own
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business model, and both equally successful. At the moment, Zara has opened in Taiwan five stores (since 2011), compared to the 27 stores of Uniqlo (since 2010). Meanwhile, Uniqlo has many more stores (1,120) in Asia than Zara (326). On the other hand, the Spanish brand has more presence in the rest of the world with 1,610 stores, while Uniqlo has
‘only’ 17 stores (Fastretailing.com). Therefore our thesis has decided to study the case of Zara in Taiwan as no other Spanish fashion reference has ever made such an impact in this country before, in a society that usually takes fashion influences from its Asian neighbors, mostly from Korea and Japan.
Taiwanese clothing styles are influenced by media culture, such as movies, television, popular music, and especially, fashion and cultural magazines which cover all latest fashion trends (both local and foreign) or social events where the stars wear the newest designs.
Although Taiwanese clothing styles are inspired by Western and Eastern flavors, consumers add a touch of Taiwanese unique style, which is a fusion of local customs and culture.
Fashion in Taiwan sticks to the traditions but it always keeps an eye on the newest trends of the global fashion panorama. However, the phenomenon of Zara in Taiwan looks impressive, if we take into account the following two facts: one, that the Taiwanese market is experiencing a new wave of foreign brands, while coexisting with local brands, and two, that Taiwan consequently lives in a highly competitive environment of fashion brands and retailers. So, how does Zara attract customers in Taiwan and to the rest of the world? First of all, there is no advertising: “we don’t want to create a perception or press the customers with a specific collection or clothes,” says Jesús Echevarría, director of communication of Inditex (Martínez, 2012, p. 73). As Martínez (2012) writes, Amancio Ortega, the man behind the success of Zara, considers that “the best advertising is being in the best street” (p. 149).
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Apart from the element ‘store’, Zara’s success is mainly due to the importance given to the rapid turnover of collections: Zara introduces new models twice a week, which makes customers visit the store frequently in search of more and more fashionable items, in a way to keep them updated, or to put in other words, in a way to create expectations on them, as items are produced in limited edition. Therefore we agree with Martínez (2012) when he points out that for the Inditex Group, the most important factor to consider is time (p. 131).
These recipes have, so far, worked in Taiwan and Zara keeps on expanding its global fashion throughout the country. Therefore, it is very interesting to analyze such fashion and social phenomenon in Taiwan, a country that keeps up with the latest international trends while maintaining its local style.
Previous studies about Zara conducted in Taiwan have been focused on the business models of Zara and its comparison, on the one hand, with luxury brands such as Armani or LVMH, and on the other hand, with retailer Uniqlo. However, our study will analyze Zara as a global brand from a cross-cultural perspective, by understanding Zara in its home market Spain, before focusing on the consumer behavior of Zara within the Taiwanese market.
1.3 Research Question
In Taiwan, the main competitor of Zara is Uniqlo. The increase of international fashion brands has put great pressure on Taiwanese clothing companies, says Alexander Wu, head designer for men’s wear at Shiatzy International Co. Ltd., the Taiwan-based company behind the famous Shiatzy Chen label. He states, “International brands have an appeal in Taiwan. The fierce competiveness of those brands comes from their ability to launch medium-priced products at a high frequency” (Taiwan Today, 2012). In Taiwan, Zara and
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Uniqlo also compete with NET (founded in Taiwan in 1991), Giordano (established in Hong Kong in 1981), Baleno (established in Hong Kong in 1996) and, Hang Ten (originally a sportswear brand created in California in 1960 and currently owned by Hang Ten Enterprises Ltd, located in Hong Kong).
Although it is not long since Zara has landed in Taiwan, Zara has already made an impact in the fashion consumption behavior within the Taiwanese market. But, why and how has it happened? This thesis explores first, what are the Taiwanese consumers’ perceptions towards the brand, from the perspectives of its clothing and store visiting experience. It’s also important to point out whether the customers knew about the brand before its entry in Taiwan. Second, we analyze the underlying social and psychological motivations that influence the fashion consumption behavior among Taiwanese in the Zara stores in Taiwan.
And third, we study their awareness of gaining something more than just a piece of Zara by performing such consumption activities.
This thesis will go through these questions, in order to find responses for the phenomenon surrounding Zara among the Taiwanese consumers.
1.4 Method
The content of the introductory chapter is collected from various sources concerning to the background and profile of Zara, such as its official website, the results published on March 13, 2013, the Inditex 2011 Annual Report and Martínez’s Zara: Visión y estrategia de Amancio Ortega (Zara: vision and strategy of Amancio Ortega), which talks about the success of the brand, and to an extent, of the whole Inditex Group, as well as the personal history of the co-founder Amancio Ortega. For Zara’s competitors’ information, we use their
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official websites. Chapter 2 covers the literature review regarding to the production and consumption of fashion. The content for this chapter is collected through references about fashion theories and concepts, sociological discourses, as well as fashion history, in three languages (Spanish, English and Chinese). Chapter 2 lays the path for Chapter 3, which entirely focuses on Zara. Our sources in Chapter 3 are similar to those in Chapter 1. In Chapter 3 we also include a brief comparison between two issues of the Taiwanese magazine 遠見 Global Views Monthly.
As for the second half of the thesis, which concerns the consumption behavior among Taiwanese consumers in Zara stores in Taiwan, we choose descriptive qualitative research method. We propose open-ended interviews with both customers and staff (store managers and store assistants) of the Zara stores in Taiwan. We also include a field trip with a fashion consumer.
Therefore, in order to address the research questions proposed above, these are the methods chosen for the data collection.
1.5 Thesis structure
The present thesis is intended to offer an introduction to the fashion consumption behavior in Taiwan among Taiwanese consumers, specifically in the case of the fashion retailer Zara, in its stores located in Taiwan. Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter explaining the motivation, the purpose, the research questions, the method proposed and the thesis structure. Chapter 2 has five sections. We review the interpretations of the concept of fashion proposed by several authors, as well as the analysis of sociological discourses. We continue analyzing fashion as a social phenomenon, the symbolic consumption in fashion
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and the concept of anxiety. Finally, we go briefly through the history of Haute couture, Prêt-à-porter and retailing, as well as the concepts of mass fashion and fast fashion. Chapter 3 covers the world of Zara by introducing background, current profile and business strategy of Zara and to an extent, Inditex. Then we have a look at its worldwide success, with special focus on the situation in Asia and in Taiwan. Chapter 4 brings the results from open-ended interviews with both customers and staff of the Zara stores in Taiwan, as well as the results from the field trip with a fashion consumer. In this chapter we will also analyze those results.
Chapter 5 is the conclusion of the thesis, including discussion, limitations of study and further research.
All in all, with this thesis structure we want to understand the fashion and social phenomenon around Zara in Taiwan by analyzing the consumption behavior among Taiwanese consumers in the Zara stores in Taiwan, from a cultural perspective.
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