Clothing Retailing: Brand vs Own Label - Ireland

Published by: Mintel International Group Ltd.

Published: Nov. 1, 2007 - 107 Pages

Table of Contents

ISSUES IN THE MARKET

Key themes of the report:

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

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

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?

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?

INTERNAL MARKET ENVIRONMENT

Key Points

Falling prices across the market

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

Key Points

RoI forecast economic downturn affects consumer confidence

Figure 3: RoI, health of the economy Sept 2007

Consumers thinking twice before spending

Interest rates affecting NI industry

Figure 4: UK and Eurozone interest rates, 1998 to 2007

The Stormont ‘feel-good’ factor - economic myth?

Danger of the weak dollar

Figure 5: Dollar exchange rate versus UK pound, 2003-07

Online retailing: the new frontier?

Winning older customers - the new challenge

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

Strengths

Weaknesses

COMPETITIVE CONTEXT

Clothing sales outstrip other markets in

Figure 8: UK breakdown of sales through clothing, footwear and textile retailers, by sub-sector shown as a

percentage of total sales, 1994-2006

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

Figure 10: Consumer spending on clothing, Ireland, 2001-05

Figure 11: RoI, percentage of total consumer spending, by sector, 2001-05

WHO’S INNOVATING?

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

Key Points

Irish clothing retail market is still reasonably healthy

Figure 12: All-Ireland clothing retail market, by value, 2001-12

Figure 13: Indexed growth in retail clothing market, 2001-12

Supermarket retailers to be winners

E-commerce - the future

MARKET SEGMENTATION

Key Points

Menswear market continuing to grow slowly in NI

Figure 14: Menswear retail market, by value, 2001-07

NI womenswear growing very slowly but expected to fall again

Figure 15: Womenswear retail market, by value, 2001-07

INDUSTRY VIEWS

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

Key Points

Figure 16: Profiled retailers

Asda (NI only)

Arcadia Group

Market Positioning

Arnotts (RoI only)

Benetton

Figure 17: Benetton group, outlet data, 2001-05

Bhs (NI only)

The Bhs brand

Brown Thomas

Clerys

Debenhams

Figure 18: Debenhams Product Mix (as % of turnover), 2006

THIRD-PARTY BRANDS

Dunnes Stores

Figure 19: Dunnes: Group financial performance, 2001-07

Gap Inc

Figure 20: GAP Inc group financial performance, 2002-06

H&M Hennes & Mauritz

Heaton’s

Matalan (NI only)

Marks & Spencer

Figure 21: M&S turnover and net profit in the UK 2001-06

Next

Figure 22: Next retail UK and RoI outlet data, 2002-06

Primark/Penneys

Figure 23: Primark own brand portfolio

River Island

Figure 24: Comparison of operations between tesco in UK and RoI

Figure 25: Tesco UK sales and profit figures 2001-06

TK Maxx

Figure 26: TK Maxx: Group financial performance, 2001/02-2005/06

THE CONSUMER

Key Points

Where are people buying their clothes in NI and RoI?

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

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

Key Points

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

Figure 30: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, RoI, July 2007

NI Clusters

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

Figure 32: Clothing inflation, UK, 1995-2005

Figure 33: UK: Inflation on clothing and footwear, 2001-05

Figure 34: Sterling to euro conversion rates

Source: Mintel

Figure 35: Dunnes: Outlet data, 2002-06

Figure 36: RoI, Leading clothing specialists, estimated market shares, 2005

The Consumer

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

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

Figure 42: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007

Figure 43: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007

Figure 44: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007

Figure 45: Shopping preferences, NI, July 2007

Figure 46: Attitudes towards clothes shopping, by gender, RoI, July 2007

Figure 47: Agreement with attitudes towards clothes shopping, by age, RoI 2007

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

Figure 50: Consumer typologies relating to attitudes towards shopping for clothes, NI, July 2007

Figure 51: Consumer typologies, by shopping attitudes, NI, July 2007

Figure 52: Consumer typologies, by shops bought clothes in for self/partner, NI, July 2007

RoI clusters by demographics

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

APPENDIX: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Total

Abstract

• Department stores, eg Arnotts, Debenhams, M&S.
• Value retailers, eg Primark, New Look.
• Specialist clothing retailers, eg Next, River Island.
• Independent retailers/boutiques - included here are small chains and independent stores that carry a range of brands. The brands carried may vary from value brands to designer labels, depending on the retailer’s market positioning.
• Supermarket own-labels - this includes supermarkets such as Tesco and Asda, which sell a range of generally low-priced clothing using their own label alongside more traditional sales of foodstuffs and textiles, e.g. the George at Asda range.
• Textiles - products include bedding, curtains, cloths, etc.

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