Marketing Essay—H＆M市场成功的分析与评价

1、 baydue论文网 专业留学生essay代写网站Marketing EssayHM市场成功的分析与评价Analysis and Evaluation of H&Ms Market Success Does the Company Educate its Consumers or Does it Serve a Unique Market Segment?ABSTRACTIn the current retailing market, Hennes and Mauritz AB (H&M) remains a unique phenomenon in part due to the observable difference in the behavior of the companys customers. This study evaluates two theories attempting to explain the deviation in H&M customers behaviour-patterns. The first theory suggests that th

2、e customers behaviour is attitude-bound and learned-taught through the customer-company interaction. The second theory argues that H&M customers belong to a genuinely unique market segment. The researcher surveyed 160 shoppers at H&M and one of the department stores and used a grounded-theory approach to analyse the data. The results substantiated the first theory claiming that shopping behaviours were taught and learned. The study had an important practical value. However, its results were subj

3、ect to l reliability and validity threats; thus, further research would be required to confirm the findings.I. INTRODUCTIONThe issues of consumer relationships have been the focus of marketing research inquiries for at least a century. In the last decade, with the discovery of organizational core competences, relationship knowledge experienced a new wave of research interest and was named among the leading “strategic powers” of an organization (Hamel & Prahalad 1994, pp. 3-5; Bergenhenegouwen et

4、 al. 1986, p. 29). Hennes and Mauritz AB (H&M) stands out in its respective market largely because of the companys unique and innovative approach to serving its customers. Moreover, the company is frequently cited for its ability to create customer needs rather than address the existing market requests (Kumar 1997, p. 834).As an intangible attribute of the companys market activities, the companys relationship knowledge is invisible to the observer; therefore, H&M customer relations cannot be ana

5、lysed directly (Petts 1997, p. 551). However, it is possible to explore this attribute indirectly through its effect on H&M consumers. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate H&M consumers shopping-behaviour patterns and to compare them to the behaviour of department-store shoppers. The outcomes of the comparison were expected to explain the foundation of H&Ms consumer-relationship strategy as aimed at changing their consumers behaviour or at serving a pre-defined market segment.To intro

6、duce the reader to the topic, the second chapter of this paper offers an overview of the company as well as a summary of the relevant theories. The third chapter describes the methodology utilized in the study. Chapters IV and V present and discuss the findings while the conclusion overviews the process to evaluate the practical and theoretical utility of the presented research.II. LITERATURE REVIEWCompany overviewH&M is a clothing retailer with its operations primarily set in Europe, North Amer

7、ica, and Asia (Datamonitor 2006, p. 4). The company is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden and employs 68,000 workers in more than 1,500 outlets worldwide (Datamonitor 2006, p. 4). H&Ms strategic approach is to offer designer clothes to general population at affordable prices; the company works with such brand names as Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, and Roberto Cavalli (Capell & Beucke 2005, p. 16; Kroll 2004, p. 71; Zimmerman 2009, p. D1).H&M builds its strengths by operating through compleme

8、ntary retail channels stores, Internet, and catalogues in several geographic locations and by offering a balanced product mix, which appeals to a number of customer audiences (Datamonitor 2006, p. 5). However, currently, the company faces the threat of decreasing retail sales in Eurozone amplified by strong competition from Target and Wal-Mart (Datamonitor 2006, pp. 6-7).H&M Consumer RelationsAccording to Kumar, the new age of retailing is characterized by the changing relationships between reta

9、ilers and their customers (1997, pp. 834-835). More specifically, H&M belongs to a group of retailers, which learned how to drive the market by driving the consumers behaviours instead of being driven by them (Kumar 1997, p. 834). Kumar argues that by adopting EDLP (everyday low pricing) strategy, H&M teaches fashion buyers to not wait for department-store sales but rather buy H&M low-price brand-name products (1997, p. 834).Raugust expands the discussion to claim that, in addition to the prices, H&M changes customers behaviour by creating a thrilling shopping experience (2004, p. S10). The company renews its store inventory daily; therefore, even the customers who come to the store every day can expect to discover new deals on each shopping trip (Raugust 2004, p. S10). Thus, H&M manages to keep their stores intriguing for its customers and to make them return more often than they would otherwise.

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