Chapter 5. Conclusion
5.2 Limitations of study
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
clothing store’. Comments such as “that Zara T-shirt won’t last long” or “you buy in Zara just because you need some clothes quickly” are very common in Spain. However, the opinion about the quality of the clothes is also shared with our Taiwanese interviewees.
Nevertheless, it’s certainly because Zara has been established much longer in Spain than in Taiwan, therefore, the freshness of a foreign brand and its consequent social and fashion phenomenon in Taiwan is comprehensible.
From my perspective, it might be even harder to illustrate a customer profile of Zara in Spain, since persons of all ages visit Zara stores (whether they purchase or not is another issue). But this is what it surprised me in the beginning when I visited Zara stores in Taipei:
overcrowded. And it still shocks me nowadays during the weekends. From our observations, it seems that in Taiwan, and especially in Taipei, it’s usually Taiwanese youngsters aged between 20 and 30 who are the most common customers, whereas in Spain individuals aged approximately between 14 and 60 visit the stores. It’s curious to see such a difference.
Therefore, we think that this social and fashion phenomenon around Zara in Taiwan will remain for long, since its establishment is still recent. Maybe the arrival of another European brand would influence later in the perceptions of the Taiwanese consumers towards Zara and its clothes. In that case, it would be very interesting to evaluate the popularity of Zara, in comparison with the new European competitor.
5.2 Limitations of study
Initially we proposed to interview Zara store managers, in order to collect more insights about the brand in Taiwan and its customers. After unsuccessful attempts in the stores, we contacted with the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei. They kindly offered me the
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
chance to send them my request, so they could forward it to the representatives of Zara in Taiwan. Unfortunately, it was not possible to have a meeting with any store manager. The response from Zara Taiwan is reproduced as followed:
First of all, we would like to thank you for your interest in our organization.
We deeply regret that we cannot answer individually all the information requests from schools, universities and professionals regarding our company business model.
Please visit our website www.inditex.com where you will find all the available and updated corporate information regarding our company.
Yours faithfully.
However, we have had the great opportunity to conduct phone interviews with two Zara store assistants. They have provided us useful insights for our research, as well as the 11 individuals who accepted to be interviewed.
As we commented previously, we have not come up with the customer profile of Zara in Taiwan. Hence, our research has not covered a broader age strata. On the other hand, we haven’t focused on a specific Zara store in Taiwan, since the perceptions of the customers we have interviewed, have shown us, this is not relevant for our research. However, we also point out the time limitation. Zara has not been established in Taiwan for so long, as it has not even reached two years life yet. As one of our interviewees said, it’s still early to evaluate the popularity of Zara in Taiwan. Nevertheless, it is very interesting to observe how the first days of popularity haven’t changed much until today.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
5.3 Further research
Due to the limitations mentioned in the previous section, I believe that my study may conduct a further research. As I have studied the early stages of Zara’s popularity in Taiwan, and among female consumers aged between 20 and 30. Contrary to my expectations and perceptions of the Zara phenomenon in Taiwan, I have learned from our interviewees’
statements, that the main factor of its popularity is the variety of styles, rather than just certain adoration towards a foreign brand. Nevertheless, I have perceived the Zara phenomenon in Taiwan to be still quite obvious even some time after its first days. Hence, it would be interesting to study the phenomenon when more Zara stores are open throughout the country, so it becomes a more common store. And then, observe whether the perception towards Zara and the clothes have changed for their customers, whether, some day, they consider Zara as ‘just another clothing store’.
As we have interviewed ‘only’ 11 females, this research could further increase the target audience, so we can collect a broader variety of impressions. As we haven’t specified any Zara store to focus in, it would be interesting to compare the customers’ perceptions among the five stores (until now) in Taiwan, because as we mentioned before, even across the same country, models may vary, for example, the stores in Taipei from the store in Kaohsiung.
For example, a further study would include interviewing customers from Taipei 101, because they are mainly non-Taiwanese visitors, whether they go especially to the Zara store in Taipei 101, in case they find some particular item they haven’t seen abroad, or, just because they like checking what’s new in Zara. In either way, the Zara phenomenon from Taiwan would be spread in their home countries.
As well, there are rumors about the arrival of European brand H&M, and American brand
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Abercrombie & Fitch in Taiwan. Hence, it would be interesting to do a comparison of customers’ perceptions, from a cultural perspective, with Zara and any of these brands, if they arrive here some day.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendices
Appendix 1: Sales contribution of each of the eight chain stores, to the total sales of Inditex Group.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 2: Comparison of sales percentages between Zara stores and the sum of the other seven brands (Non Zara), during the financial years of 2011 and 2012.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 3: Business model of the Inditex Group.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 4: Inditex stores open around the world, classified by the eight retail formats (including Zara Kids).
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 5: History of global online sales of the chain stores in Inditex.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 6: Global sales platform of Inditex during the financial years of 2011 and 2012.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Appendix 7: Presence of Inditex stores in Taiwan
‧
Appendix 8: Chart of interviewees (11 customers)
Interviewees Age Occupation Monthly
income
18-22 Student & Part-time Below 30,000
18-22 Student, Dept. of Arabic language and culture
‧
‧
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
2.07 您在甚麼場合裡會穿上 Zara 的服裝或配飾？(可選兩項) 上課 上班 戶外活動 生日派對
其他 * 請問，甚麼樣的場合？__________________
3. Zara 品牌
3.01 您對 Zara 這品牌有如何的感覺？
___________________________________________
3.02 您覺得 Zara 這品牌的價值在於
___________________________________________
3.03 請問您會把 Zara 品牌定位在哪裡（請在空間寫下一兩個品牌）
有什麼品牌您認為比 Zara「高級」或「昂貴」：﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍？
有什麼品牌您認為比 Zara「大眾」或「平價」：﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍﹍？
3.04 您跟 Zara 服裝或配飾有著什麼關係？
___________________________________________
再次感謝您的填答！
請問您是否願意留下連絡資訊，並接受後續的訪談？
姓名：
手機：
email：
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Reference
Agence France-Presse. (2013 March 15). Inditex (Zara) sortea crisis en España gracias a su expansión en Asia. Yahoo! México Finanzas. Retrieved from
http://mx.finanzas.yahoo.com/noticias/inditex-zara-sortea-crisis-españa-204100282.html Anxiety. In Oxford Dictionaries. Retrieved from
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/anxiety?q=anxiety
Arnold, R. (2001). Fashion, desire and anxiety: Image and morality in the 20th century.
New Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers University Press.
Barnard, M. (2007). Fashion Theory: A reader. New York: Routledge Student Readers.
Cachon, G., & Swinney, R. (2011). The Value of Fast Fashion: Quick Response,
Enhanced Design, and Strategic Consumer Behavior. Management Science, vol. 57, (4), 778-795. Retrieved from http://www.stanford.edu/~swinney/FastFashion.pdf
Carlyle, E. (2013 March, 4). The Year’s Biggest Winner: Zara Billionaire Amancio Ortega. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2013/03/04/
the-years-biggest-winner-zara-billionaire-amancio-ortega/
Chung, O. (2012 January, 6). Nurturing the Fashion Industry. Taiwan Today. Retrieved from http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=190961&CtNode=124
Crane, D. (2000). Fashion and its social agendas: Class, gender, and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fashion. In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/fashion
Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. (2003). Case Study: Zara. Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, vol. 4, (2), 62-67. Retrieved from
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
http://www.supplychain-forum.com/documents/articles/Case%20Study%20Zara1.pdf Ferdows, K., Lewis, M., & Machuca, J. (2004, November). Zara’s Secret for Fast Fashion,
Harvard Business Review, vol. 82, (11).
Ghemawat, P., & Nueno, J. (2003). Zara: Fast Fashion. Case study. Harvard Business School, 1-35. Retrieved from
http://researchingsustainability.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/zara-harvard-case.pdf ICEX (2011 May, 9). Empresas españolas establecidas en: Taiwán [Spanish companies
established in: Taiwan]. Retrieved from
http://www.oficinascomerciales.es/icex/cda/controller/pageOfecomesGen/0,5936,539897 1_5399906_5503422_4485228_TAI,00.html
Kawamura, Y. (2005). Fashion-ology. Oxford; New York: Berg.
Lane, R. (2000). Jean Baudrillard (Routledge Critical Thinkers). Use-value and exchange-value (pp. 67-77). London & New York: Routledge.
Martínez Barreiro, A. (2006). La difusión de la moda en la era de la globalización.
Universidad de la Coruña. Facultad de Sociología, 187-204. Retrieved from http://ddd.uab.es/pub/papers/02102862n81/02102862n81p187.pdf
Martínez, D. (2012). Zara: Visión y estrategia de Amancio Ortega. Barcelona: Conecta.
Mass fashion. In Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Glossary. Retrieved from
http://www.glencoe.com/sec/busadmin/marketing/dp/ap_and_acc_mktg/gloss.shtml Monneyron, F. (2006). 50 respuestas sobre la moda. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.
Paro España, Tasa de paro 2013. (Unemployment in Spain, unemployment rate in 2013) Retrieved from http://www.datosmacro.com/paro/espana
Royo-Vela , M. & Casamassima, P. (2010). The influence of belonging to virtual brand
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
communities on consumers’ affective commitment, satisfaction and Word-of-mouth advertising: The ZARA case. Online Information Review, vol. 35, (4), 517-542. Retrieved from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1944272
Squicciarino, N. (2006) El vestido habla (5th ed.). Madrid: Cátedra
Sowden, L-J. & Grimmer, M. (2009). Symbolic Consumption and Consumer Identity: An Application of Social Identity Theory to Car Purchase Behaviour, 1-9. Melbourne, Australia: ANZMAC Conference (Australia and New Zealand Marketing Academy).
Retrieved from
http://www.duplication.net.au/ANZMAC09/papers/ANZMAC2009-206.pdf
Tan, J. (2011 November, 5). Spanish fashion retailer Zara opens at Taipei 101. Taipei Times.
Retrieved from http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2011/11/05/2003517470 Wang, Y. (2010). Consumer Behavior: Characteristics in Fast Fashion. Retrieved from
http://bada.hb.se/bitstream/2320/7723/2/2010.13.16.pdf
Yang, M. (2011, December 9). 非懂不可時尚首富成功經. 遠見 Global Views Monthly, 4-129.
Yang, M. (2006, December 1). 平價奢華風. 遠見 Global Views Monthly, 246-192.
Fashion Retailers Websites
Baleno http://www.baleno.com.hk/
Fast Retailing http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/
Giordano http://www.giordano.com.tw/
Hang Ten http://www.hangten.com.hk/
Inditex Group http://www.inditex.com/en Net http://www.net-fashion.net/
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Uniqlo.com http://www.uniqlo.com/tw/
Zara http://www.zara.com
‧
國立 政 治 大 學