Chapter 4. Research and Analysis
4.1 Interviews with Zara Taiwanese consumers
4.1.7 Reason of Zara’s popularity in Taiwan
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4.1.7 Reason of Zara’s popularity in Taiwan
“Because the price is not very expensive, and the clothes are not very easy to become old fashioned.” Alice
“Zara is more popular in the central and northern part of Taiwan.”
Vicky
This ‘basic’ question refers to the initial motivations of our study. We want to know how Taiwanese Zara fashion consumers perceive the existent or non-existent popularity of the brand in Taiwan. We want to know what are the factors.
Rachel and Alba compare the popularity of the first months when Zara arrived in Taiwan and the situation now. According to Rachel, “in the beginning Zara was very popular because it’s famous. Of course it’s still very popular! Besides, in comparison with other famous brands the price in Zara is cheaper!” We can observe that the initial popularity of the brand comes from the overall reputation that Zara has achieved abroad. Whereas Alba describes two situations she thinks it’s hard to understand:
The first time I went to a Zara store in Taiwan was during the first days of its opening (November 2011). I accompanied a friend. There was a crowd and entrance was limited every certain period of time. But just this past month (April 2013), I went to the Zara in Dongqu area 東區 during the weekend, and to my surprise it was full of people queuing at the entrance. I was shocked and wondered “hasn’t Zara been established here for a long time already? How come such a scene can occur again?”
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Alba believes and clarifies that actually the popularity of Zara is not because it’s Zara, but because it’s a foreign brand: “Most people would visit the Zara store and/or buy (大家會 一窩蜂地去購買或逛), still until today, long after the opening day. I think this is a habit in Taiwan.” She believes that although prices are considered expensive here, people still buy because it’s a foreign brand. She adds, “I guess people like to show off and say I’ve been to Zara today!”
In contrast to what Rachel thinks of the prices in Zara “in comparison to other brands, it’s cheaper”, Alba considers the prices in Zara are indeed expensive, and people mainly purchase Zara or go to Zara just because of the foreign reputation. On the other hand, Alice disagrees slightly with Alba’s opinion: “There are many foreign brands in Taiwan, so I don’t think it’s a matter of foreign reputation or “revere foreign” (崇洋媚外).”Alice justifies the popularity of the brand as followed: “because the price is not very expensive, and the clothes are not very easy to become old fashioned.” Exactly what Zara promotes: fashion at affordable prices. Similarly, Valeria explains that the popularity of the brand comes from two key points in Zara’s business model, the rapid turnover of collections at affordable price:
Because in Taiwan there is no other European brand with such qualities:
fast and with a fair price. Besides, Zara covers several age strata, there are many collections addressed to different age strata of consumers; for example, Mango can’t do this.
As well as Valeria, Joanne believes that Zara sells at fair prices:
The concept of ‘fair price fashion’ in Taiwan is very popular. After all,
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and beautiful. Furthermore the price in Taiwan is settled with sincerity, it’s cheaper than in Hong Kong and Japan. Hence, good sales are inevitable.
Joanne further illustrates the possible Taiwanese consumer profile of Zara: “I think Zara in Taiwan is considered to be popular, but maybe only among people aged 20-40, and probably among female consumers. But I have many friends who buy clothes in the kid section for their children.”
However, what we have read until now are opinions from consumers who are more familiar to the Zara stores in Taipei and the fashion style in Taipei. Vicky, who lives in Kaohsiung city and worked for some months in the Zara store there, goes to Taipei from time to time. She believes that the so-called popularity does not apply for the rest of Taiwan:
I think that Zara is more popular in the central and northern part of Taiwan.
The sales of Zara in Kaohsiung are not as good as in Taipei. When I go to Taipei, I go to the Zara in Dongqu. I’ve found out that there are more models in Taipei than in Kaohsiung. As far as I know, there are no jackets in the man section in Kaohsiung.
In contrast to the comments above, Laura, a master student of Telecommunications, is not sure whether Zara is popular or not in Taiwan, especially among those consumers who haven’t heard about Zara before it arrived here:
I think that if one likes or pays attention to Zara, is probably in love with it or have a better understanding towards the brand. That consumer frequently checks new items or conveniently passes by the Zara store when he or she hangs out. And usually, the majority of such consumers
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know about Zara because they have been abroad, or purchase clothes with brands, or they are fashion followers. But, regarding to those Taiwanese who have known Zara for the first time, since it came in Taipei 101, maybe they find Zara as just ok, or maybe think prices are still expensive. Zara has been in Taiwan for just one or two years, like for example most of my acquaintances, they haven’t quite got to know the brand, hence Zara is not popular for them.
From our interviewees’ statements we can observe that the main reason is the reputation the brand has achieved abroad, especially in other countries, not just locally in Spain. As well, we must point out that the concepts of rapid collections turnovers and fair price are strongly perceived by the consumers. And as Vicky pointed out, such popularity may differ across the country, as the fashion-awareness is mostly concentrated in the capital of Taipei.
However, as Laura explained, Zara has not been here for long (less than two years), hence we can consider it may be still early to evaluate the popularity of the brand in Taiwan. We also noticed that the quality of the clothes in Zara hasn’t been even mentioned as part of the popularity of the brand. Nevertheless, this question needs to be under further research.
Veblen’s analytical framework about conspicuous consumption, states that individuals want to impress others and demonstrate their purchasing power through consumption.
Individuals acquire goods to compete with each other, as if they were saying, “who is more fashionable than me?” Although such concept was valid for pre-consumerist societies, Bourdieu proved it is also possible in consumerist societies, even if the strict class distinctions are removed. If we observe the Taiwanese consumerist society through our interviewees’ statements, the concept of fashion does not stick to a social hierarchy. Thus
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the trickle-down theory doesn’t have any effect in our research. As Spencer explained, fashion is intrinsically imitative. And this describes exactly the situation in Taiwan, but as we have verified, it’s not about competing with each other or exposing their economic power by consuming in Zara, instead, their consumption or window-shopping in Zara responds to a wish to be in fashion, to express their own style. Through our interviewees, we have learned that they are more concerned with the designs of the clothes, rather than with the brand itself. Their interest in the brand is related to the variety of styles they find, though not with the quality of clothes, which they consider is not as good as expected from a foreign brand that has achieved global reputation. We observe that for them, the combination of clothes is more important, as it serves them to construct their own style, hence, to express their own identity. Indeed, fashion is seen in Taiwan as social phenomenon, in the sense that consumers interact with each other by expressing their own style, in order to look different from the rest, but still within the boundaries of what’s considered fashionable. And how do they know what’s fashionable? By doing the ‘fashion research’ in the stores in alleys, night markets, as well as online clothing stores and fashion magazines.
Thus, the fashion phenomenon in Taiwan is not about economic or social status, but rather about clothing styles.