Three of the country’s leading marketing and merchandising experts shared first-hand behind the scenes experiences and the nitty-gritty of the fashion business in an open forum at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde School of Design and Arts campus.
Speaking before an audience of the college’s budding style innovators of the Fashion Design and Merchandising Program, Millie Dizon, senior vice president for marketing communications of SM Retail, explained that there are many facets in the industry—design, merchandising, and marketing—that the young artists can explore.
“Fashion design is a highly creative field of new ideas,” she said. “Merchandising and marketing, on the other hand, lean more towards the business side.”
As someone working on the business side of it, Dizon stressed that a marketer must know the needs and desires of the customers but should have the goal to drive sales.
“Marketers connect the public to the world of fashion by researching the preferences of different audiences and by creatively presenting the product in a way that consumers would want to buy,” she stated. “No matter how beautiful your marketing program is, there’s no use if you cannot connect to your target consumers.”
Visuals, Dizon added, are everything. “A visual merchandiser plays a critical role in the look, feel, and culture of the brand. If done well, it can create awareness and at the same time increase brand loyalty,”
“Each brand has a voice – do not deviate from that voice. No matter how much change you do, your voice must be consistent,” she added.
Charlotte Armero, senior vice president for corporate planning and business development of Richwell Phils. Inc., explained that merchandisers follow a particular cycle: planning, buying, pricing, distribution, selling, performance analysis, and inventory management.
“In the four Ps in merchandising—price, promotion, place, and product—it is only the pricing that brings in the revenues, the other three are all costs, so check the historical sales, get the value patterns, and know the trends.”
Armero also noted it is vital to know the competitors especially if the consumers have a lot of options. “You must ask yourself: What makes our brand similar and different from others? Remember that more than half of consumers who had a bad experience with a brand usually move to the competitor.”
While the Philippines continues to be a mall country where people swing by the actual stores to shop, the rapid growth of the retail and fashion industry has indeed extended its marketing to various channels: traditional, e-commerce, multi-channel, and omnichannel.
Despite the vast reach of the online platform in the current digital age, Armero stressed that a good retailer must not stop from having social media accounts alone.
“Omnichannel is also the industry buzzword now,” Armero spilled. “When you say seamless experience when you do your shopping, it has to be through omnichannel.”
Following its direct translation from Latin, which means “every,” omnichannel basically covers all channels from the actual stores and online shopping to phone orders. “When you go omni, it means that you have to be accessible whenever and wherever your customer needs you.”
E-commerce continues to be one of the main trade halls of today. Mariel Caraig, senior vice president for category management of Lazada Philippines, clarified that e-commerce is any form of business transaction conducted online and not just shopping.
“It is because e-commerce has very low entry barrier,” Caraig explained. “You just need a phone and a decent Internet connection and you are ready to reach the entire Philippines and sell across the globe.”
She also noted that the digital platform demands low cost, disregarding the need for an actual store and high-tech computers.
“Many people say that the Internet is not the future but, actually, we say otherwise. Mobile is the future,” Caraig clarified. “E-commerce is growing faster than anybody has projected. There are currently 30 million smartphone users and in 2020, the Internet penetration is expected to grow by at least 50 percent, a proof that more people are getting more comfortable buying online.”
Currently, the Philippines has nearly 40 million e-commerce customers with 28 more million yet to be tapped. This, according to Caraig, is proof that the online business has not yet reached its full potential.