Table of Contents
Issues in the Market
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- Key themes of the report:
Insights and Opportunities
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- Creating an all-year-round buzz
- Size matters
- ‘Mobile fashion’ – success elsewhere, why not in Ireland?
- Male shopping experience must be more tailored
- Irish consumers want to stay younger for longer
- The untapped ‘green’ market
Market in Brief
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- Key Points
- Confidence is slowing down the consumer boom
- Minor increases keeping the overall market stable
- Young no longer the principal target
- UK picture sets a familiar scene?
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- Figure 1: UK clothing specialists, market positioning, 2006
- M&S customer base going grey
- Value retailers not just for less affluent
- Value market crowded
- Dunnes is leading the market
- Is there a future for Matalan’s out-of-town outlets?
- Who’s innovating?
Fast Forward
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- What is Fast Forward Trends?
- Trend 1: Sense of the Intense
- What's It About?
- What We've Seen
- What’s next?
- Bordering on too-personal shopping
- No time to try things on?
- Trend 2: Shopping Comes Alive
- What's It About?
- What We've Seen
- What’s next?
- Trend 3: Instant Gratification
- What's It About?
- What We've Seen
- What’s next?
- Bringing the personal shopper online
- Recycle it?
Internal Market Environment
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- Key Points
- Falling prices across the market
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- Figure 2: UK: Inflation on clothing and footwear, 2001-05
- Will this continue?
- Profit margins squeezed
- NI and RoI textile companies have suffered
- Impact of widening waistlines
- Buying into the celebrity lifestyle
- Any press is good press?
- Take That – the new face of M&S
- A-Wear using Irish Celebrities
Broader Market Environment
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- Key Points
- RoI forecast economic downturn affects consumer confidence
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- Figure 3: RoI, health of the economy Sept 2007
- Consumers thinking twice before spending
- Interest rates affecting NI industry
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- Figure 4: UK and Eurozone interest rates, 1998 to 2007
- The Stormont ‘feel-good’ factor – economic myth?
- Danger of the weak dollar
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- Figure 5: Dollar exchange rate versus UK pound, 2003-07
- Online retailing: the new frontier?
- Winning older customers – the new challenge
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- Figure 6: Population change by age group, NI, 2000-2020
- Figure 7: Population change by age group, RoI, 2000-2020
- Tomorrow’s 35-54-year-olds are today’s 15-34s
- The disastrous summer of 2007
Strengths and Weaknesses
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- Strengths
- Weaknesses
Competitive Context
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- Clothing sales outstrip other markets in
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- Figure 8: UK breakdown of sales through clothing, footwear and textile retailers, by sub-sector shown as a percentage of total sales, 1994-2006
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- Figure 9: Annual UK percentage change in retail price index for selected product groups: Jun 2006-Jun 2007
- Clothing competing well in Republic of Ireland market
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- Figure 10: Consumer spending on clothing, Ireland, 2001-05
- Figure 11: RoI, percentage of total consumer spending, by sector, 2001-05
Who’s Innovating?
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- Key Points
- Own brand re-invention
- Rise of ethical/green issues
- E-fashion hitting the big time
- Dorothy Perkins’ organic range
- Asda ponder microchips
- M&S has big and tall range for the larger gentleman
Market Value and Forecast
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- Key Points
- Irish clothing retail market is still reasonably healthy
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- Figure 12: All-Ireland clothing retail market, by value, 2001-12
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- Figure 13: Indexed growth in retail clothing market, 2001-12
- Supermarket retailers to be winners
- E-commerce – the future
Market Segmentation
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- Key Points
- Menswear market continuing to grow slowly in NI
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- Figure 14: Menswear retail market, by value, 2001-07
- NI womenswear growing very slowly but expected to fall again
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- Figure 15: Womenswear retail market, by value, 2001-07
Industry Views
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- Online opportunities
- Resisting the signs of ageing
- Supermarkets threatening traditional clothing powerhouses
- Irish consumers getting fuller figured
- The decline of brand loyalty and the rise of celebrity status
- Weather issues
- Ethical trading concerns
Companies and Brands
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- Key Points
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- Figure 16: Profiled retailers
- Asda (NI only)
- Arcadia Group
- Market Positioning
- Arnotts (RoI only)
- Benetton
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- Figure 17: Benetton group, outlet data, 2001-05
- Bhs (NI only)
- The Bhs brand
- Brown Thomas
- Clerys
- Debenhams
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- Figure 18: Debenhams Product Mix (as % of turnover), 2006
- Third-party brands
- Dunnes Stores
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- Figure 19: Dunnes: Group financial performance, 2001-07
- Gap Inc
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- Figure 20: GAP Inc group financial performance, 2002-06
- H&M Hennes & Mauritz
- Heaton’s
- Matalan (NI only)
- Marks & Spencer
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- Figure 21: M&S turnover and net profit in the UK 2001-06
- Next
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- Figure 22: Next retail UK and RoI outlet data, 2002-06
- Primark/Penneys
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- Figure 23: Primark own brand portfolio
- River Island
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- Figure 24: Comparison of operations between tesco in UK and RoI
- Figure 25: Tesco UK sales and profit figures 2001-06
- TK Maxx
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- Figure 26: TK Maxx: Group financial performance, 2001/02-2005/06
The Consumer
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- Key Points
- Where are people buying their clothes in NI and RoI?
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- Figure 27: Where people are buying their clothes from in NI and RoI
- Dunnes cornering the older market
- Primark takes second place with M&S not far behind
- Supermarket chains eating into specialists’ sales
- Sports casualwear very popular in Greater Belfast
- Mail order catalogues fail to penetrate
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- Figure 28: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months, by social class, NI, July 2007
- Debenhams fails to attract less affluent
- Primark attracts all economic backgrounds
- Loyalty to Dunnes and Primark among lower economic backgrounds
- Clerys failing to attract young consumers
- Low take-up rate for online retailing
- Arnotts and Clerys failing to attract custom from beyond Dublin
- Penneys failing to dominate the less affluent market
Consumer Attitudes Towards Clothes Shopping
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- Key Points
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- Figure 29: Shopping preferences, NI and RoI, July 2007
- Women still more fashion-conscious than men
- Worried about shopping online
- Men less wary of online retailing
- Women fuelling “disposable clothing” boom
- Young more fashion-conscious than old
- Less affluent more tempted by bargains than style
- Young shop as a social activity
- Shopping as a leisure activity
- Wives filling the role of personal shopper
- Less affluent consumers attracted by “The Sales”
- Lower social classes not worried about style, but price
- Rural prefer shopping on their own
- Target consumer groups
- RoI Clusters
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- Figure 30: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, RoI, July 2007
- NI Clusters
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- Figure 31: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, NI, July 2007
- Bargain Hunters – 11% of RoI consumers – 17% of NI consumers
- Social Shoppers – 18% of RoI consumers – 21% of NI consumers
- Reluctant Shoppers – 35% of RoI consumers – 18% of NI consumers
- Sole Shoppers – 26% of RoI consumers – 33% of NI customers
- Fashion Victims – 10% – of RoI consumers – 11% of NI customers
Appendix
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- Figure 32: Clothing inflation, UK, 1995-2005
- Figure 33: UK: Inflation on clothing and footwear, 2001-05
- Figure 34: Sterling to euro conversion rates
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- Figure 35: Dunnes: Outlet data, 2002-06
- Figure 36: RoI, Leading clothing specialists, estimated market shares, 2005
- The Consumer
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- Figure 37: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months, NI, July 2007
- Figure 38: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months, NI, July 2007
- Figure 39: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months, by age, RoI, July 2007
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- Figure 40: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months segmented by social class, RoI, July 2007
- Figure 41: Where clothes have been purchased in the last 12 months segmented by social class, RoI, July 2007
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- Figure 42: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007
- Figure 43: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007
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- Figure 44: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007
- Figure 45: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007
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- Figure 46: Attitudes towards clothes shopping, by gender, RoI, July 2007
- Figure 47: Agreement with attitudes towards clothes shopping, by age, RoI 2007
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- Figure 48: Agreement with attitudes towards clothes shopping, by socio-economic group, RoI 2007
- Figure 49: Agreement with attitudes towards clothes shopping, by region, RoI 2007
- NI clusters by demographics
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- Figure 50: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, NI, July 2007
- Figure 51: Consumer typologies, by shopping attitudes, NI, July 2007
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- Figure 52: Consumer typologies, by shops bought clothes in for self/partner, NI, July 2007
- RoI clusters by demographics
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- Figure 53: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, RoI, July 2007
- Figure 54: typologies according to shops bought clothes in for self/partner, RoI, July 2007
- Figure 55: Consumer typologies according to shops bought clothes in for self/partner, RoI, July 2007
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