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Graduation Project

ENHANCE BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY BY EFFECTIVE

BUYING AND MERCHANDISING
BESTSELLER INDIA (JACK AND JONES)

Submitted by

MEGHALI ARORA
MFM/18/22
BATCH – 2018-2020

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE POST GRADUATE

DEGREE “MASTER OF FASHION MANAGEMENT (MFM)”

Submitted to

DEPARTMENT OF FASHION MANAGEMENT STUDIES

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY
[MUMBAI]
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Graduation Project

ENHANCE BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY BY EFFECTIVE

BUYING AND MERCHANDISING
BESTSELLER INDIA (JACK AND JONES)

Submitted by

MEGHALI ARORA

Under the supervision of

Dr. Sonali Saldanha
Assistant Professor

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE POST GRADUATE DEGREE

“MASTER OF FASHION MANAGEMENT (MFM)”

Submitted to

DEPARTMENT OF FASHION MANAGEMENT STUDIES

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY
[MUMBAI]
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DECLARATION

I, Ms. MEGHALI ARORA, hereby declare that the Graduation Research Project
(GRP) entitled “ENHANCE BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY BY EFFECTIVE
BUYING AND MERCHANDISING” is the result of my own research work carried
out by me during the period from January 2020 to April 2020 except as cited in the
references. This report has not been submitted to any other University or Institution
for award of any degree/diploma etc.

Meghali Arora
20/07/2020

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. MEGHALI ARORA of National Institute of Fashion

Technology (NIFT), Mumbai has successfully completed his/her GRP work titled -
“ENHANCE BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY BY EFFECTIVE BUYING AND
MERCHANDISING” in partial fulfillment of requirement for the completion of 2
Years Post Graduate Programme "Master of Fashion Management (MFM)" as
prescribed by the Department of Fashion Management Studies (FMS), National
Institute of Fashion Technology.

This 'Graduation Research Project' report is the record of authentic work carried out
by her during the period from January 2020 to April 2020 under my mentorship.

Signature
Dr. Sonali Saldanha
Assistant Professor

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This graduation project report is accumulated product of my arduous work and

determination along with the guidance of my seniors within the organization as well
as in college. Graduation project at Bestseller India (Jack and Jones) was an
opportunity to shake hands with the practical world of business. This report would
have not been successful without the help of a few people. I am indebted to all those
who helped me in gaining knowledge and insight into various aspects of this project.
I want to express my deepest gratitude to Mr. Murli Methil (Industry Mentor), Ms.
Sagarika David, Mr. Bhanu Gaur from the Buying and Merchandising (SIS) team. I
am grateful to them and the whole team for providing all the essential information and
guidance throughout my project.
I also extend my deepest gratitude towards my mentor Mrs. Sonali Saldanha, Assistant
Professor, Department of Fashion Management Studies, NIFT Mumbai, for guiding
me throughout the internship.
At last I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all those who have directly or
indirectly contributed to this document.

Meghali Arora
2018-2020
Master of Fashion Management (NIFT, Mumbai)

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RECOMMENDATION

The Research scholar Ms. MEGHALI ARORA presented the salient features of her
GRP work. This was followed by questions from the External Jury members. The
questions raised by the Jury Examiners were also put to the scholar. The scholar
answered the questions to the full satisfaction of the jury members.
Based on the scholar’s research work, her presentation and also the clarifications and
answers by the scholar to the questions, the board recommends that Ms. MEGHALI
ARORA, be awarded the Master Degree in "Master of Fashion Management (MFM)"

1. (Name of the Jury Member with Signature)

2. (Name of the Jury Member with Signature)

3. (Name of the Jury Member with Signature)

4. (Name of the Jury Member with Signature)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

NUMBER
LIST OF TABLES x
LIST OF FIGURES xi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xiii
1 COMPANY PROFILE 1
1.1 Jack and Jones 3
1.2 Brand Prism
4
1.3 Brand Presence 4
4
1.4 STP
1.5 Categories 7
1.6 Research Methodology
8
1.7 Literature Review
9
2 BUYING PROCESS & OBSERVATIONS 11
2.1 Process 11
2.2 Study of OTB Sheet 14
2.3 Analysis 17
2.4 Definitions 18
2.5 Some Suggestions 20
3 BUYING & MERCHANDISING 23
3.1 Punching 23
3.2 Allocation 25
3.3 Analysis of Buy Summary Sheet - North 28
3.4 Pre-Allocation Plan 29

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3.5 Study of Daily Sales Report 29

4 SELL THROUGH ANALYSIS 31
4.1 Region 31
4.2 Category Sales Contribution 32
4.3 Category Sales Region Contribution 34
4.4 Category – MRP Contribution 37
4.5 Lifestyle Analysis 38
4.6 Attribute and Fit Analysis 38
4.7 Color 42
4.8 Size 43
5 COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS 44
5.1 Product & Price 44
5.1.1 Suggested Styles 49
5.1.2 Positioning based on Average Price 50
5.2 Promotion: Studying Digital Marketing 53
Opportunity
5.2.8 What can Jack & Jones do? Campaign 63
ideas
6 SUPPORT FUNCTIONS 66
6.1 Visual Merchandising 66
6.2 Sourcing 69
6.3 Marketing 71
6.4 Planning 71
6.5 Designing 72
6.6 Overview of Brand Workflow 74
7 POTENTIAL CATEGORIES 75
7.1 Market Research & Recommendation 75

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7.2 Eyewear Trend for Reference 79

8 SUSTAINABILITY STUDY 81
8.1 Introduction & JJ strategy 81
8.2 Market Study & Sustainability 85
8.2.1 Fashion transparency Index 86
8.3 Strategizing for Co-vid 90
9 FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 92
CONTACTS MADE 94
REFERENCES 95
APPENDICES 97

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LIST OF TABLES

TABLE CAPTION/TITLE PAGE

NUMBER
3.1 Number of Options Dropped after Buying 28
4.1 Sale Mix, Buy Mix, Sell Through basis Region (AW19) 31
4.2 Sale Mix, Buy Mix, Sell Through basis Category (AW19) 32
4.3 Category + Region Analysis (AW19) 34,35
4.4 Sell-Thru Analysis basis Attribute: Shirts & T-shirts 39
4.5 Analysis basis Fit: Denims 41
4.6 Analysis basis Color: All Categories 42
5.1 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: T-shirts & Polos 44
5.2 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: Shirts 46
5.2.1 Psychological Pricing by Pepe Jeans 46
5.3 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: Jeans 47
5.4 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: T-shirts & Polos 50
5.5 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: Shirts 51
5.6 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: Jeans 52
A1.1 Category-MRP Contribution and Proposed Option Plan 97
A1.2 Lifestyle Sell-Through Analysis 99
A1.3 Attribute Sell-Through Analysis 100
A1.4 Fit Sell-Through Analysis 101
A1.5 Color Sell-Through Analyis 102
A1.6 Proposed Size Mix 104

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE CAPTION/TITLE PAGE

NUMBER
1.1 Raw and Rugged Fashion (Targeting) 5
1.2 Perceptual Mapping 6
2.1 Fit Guide 13
2.2 Metrics for Analysis 17
2.3 Past Season Allocation & Buy Mix Mapped 18,19
2.4 Suggested Calendar 20
2.5 Range Plan 21
2.6 Theme Plan 21
3.1.1 Snippet from Punching & Grading file: Store Clustering 23
3.1.2 Snippet from Punching & Grading file: Buy Quantity & Depth 24
Multiplier
3.1.3 Snippet from Punching & Grading file: Split amongst stores 25
3.2 Dump from SAP for allocation 26
3.3 Purchase Order Sample 27
3.4 Snippet from Pre-allocation Sheet 29
4.1 Graphical Representation: Category Sell-thru AW19 33
4.2 Category Sale Mix AW19 33
5.1 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: T-shirts & 45
Polos
5.2 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: Shirts 47
5.3 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: Jeans 48
5.4 Suggested Styles 49
5.5 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: T-shirts & Polos 50
5.6 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: Shirts 51
5.7 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: Jeans 52
5.8 Captions used by Levis 53

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5.9 Zara’s Post on Social Media 54

5.10 Pepe Jeans London Caption Strategy 54
5.11 Bershka: Millennial Slangs 55
5.12 Levis’ Documentary 501 Jeans 55
5.13 Bershka: Zeitgeist Campaign 56
5.14 Levis’ Sustainability Campaigns 56
5.15 Zara’s sustainable keywords 57
5.16 Bershka Customer Engagement 58
5.17 Visuals Done by Bershka: Horror Cinema Collection 59
5.18 Levis’ Collaboration with artists 59
5.19 Levis’ Music Collaboration 60
5.20 Brands’ Social Media Engagement 62
5.21 Referral Marketing 64
6.1 Snippet of Trend Presentation 66
6.2 Snippet from magic Box: Drop, trend name, keywords 67
6.3 VM strategy 68
7.1 Fashion Accessories Market: Region, Global, 2018 75
7.2 Potential Categories: Style Recommendations 77,78
8.1.1 H&M Transparency Tactics 89
8.1.2 H&M Transparency Tactics 89

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The project is aimed at enhancing the business productivity by effective buying and
merchandising by studying the procedures and processes whilst being a part of Shop-
in-Shop format. An in-depth scope of study was considered – understanding the steps
involved in buying and merchandising at Jack & Jones, interacting with support
functions and understanding the impact of their role in buying and merchandising.
The study included ascertaining the key factors of buying and merchandising which
influence the business and how to leverage them to induce higher business growth.
The buying process was mapped by attending the buyers’ meet and ascertaining the
steps involved in buying and how the range is phased out during the season; and giving
recommendations for the same. A detailed study of Open-To-Buy plan was taken into
account to get a better understanding of buying process and the retail metrics involved.
To determine the effect of the deviation from the planned category mix, buy summary
sheet was analyzed and hence drops were taken into account. The process of
merchandising included understanding the pre-allocation plan and the importance of
daily sales report for Large Format Stores. Category analysis was initialized with sell-
through analysis and recommendations were made on the basis of region, MRP
performance, sub-brands, color, size, fit, attribute – an option plan was suggested
based on the following analysis.
The competitive mapping was done for the Top 3 categories – Denims, Shirts and T-
shirts on the basis of price and product and hence the positioning defined keeping with
the Average Selling Price (ASP). The study suggested the styles that can be done by
Jack & Jones in future and the MRPs the brand can capitalize on.
For the promotional aspect, the marketing strategies of competitors’ was elaborately
studied in terms of digital content and engagement. A quantitative outlook of social
media was provided along with the suggestions for marketing campaigns.
Further, the various support departments were studied to get a holistic view of the
brand work flow.
The duration of the study was 4 months wherein 5 weeks were allotted to buying
meets, 2 weeks for induction from various departments, 2 weeks for the detailed sell-

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through analysis, 1 week for competitive mapping. Given the pandemic, the store
visits were cancelled and the following 6 weeks included secondary research and
market study on the potential categories - the latest trends for the same, a detailed
study on sustainability and fashion transparency index – suggestions for the same and
the tit-bits of how the brand can overcome the pandemic downfall with strategic move
and merchandise placement and pricing.

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Chapter 1
COMPANY PROFILE

Bestseller A/S is a privately held family-owned clothing company based in Denmark.

The company was founded in 1975 by Troels Holch Povlsen in Brande, Denmark.
Originally its focus was on women's fashion. It introduced children's clothing in 1986
and menswear in 1988.

Bestseller has over 5,700 stores selling its product in more than 45 countries, and the
company employs around 15,000 people which makes it one of the largest fashion
companies in Europe.

Bestseller has shops in most European countries, the Middle East, India, China and
Canada (over 45 countries in total). It is one of the biggest European fashion
companies in China with more than 1,200 shops and is said to be "one of the only
foreign clothing companies successful at penetrating the middle price range Chinese
consumer market". Shops sell either clothing of one single brand or of all brands of
the company. There are more than 800 shops selling Vero Moda around the globe.
The Jack & Jones brand is sold in approximately 2,000 retail shops, of which 270 are
Jack & Jones franchises.
BESTSELLER has no ownership interests in the production chain but cooperates with
selected suppliers primarily in China, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Italy. They work
with around 300 manufactures of garments and accessories. With their Code of
Conduct, BESTSELLER works to ensure a sustainable approach in the cooperation
with the suppliers.

COMPANY VISION:
One World, One Philosophy, The Bestseller Family is the symbol of the company
culture.

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One World
Bestseller’s world is built on fairness and opportunities. Cultural differences are an
advantage, which will promote quality, extraordinary results and good values. Always
trying to give more than they promise they try to meet remoteness with closeness.

One Philosophy
The family makes Bestseller’s 10 basic principles come alive. They define the values
and are reflected in the way the brands interact with the world around them. It bases
all relations on trust, respect and honesty. The basic principles guide the actions and
determine how the business is done.

One Family
The feeling of being part of a family unites the organization across borders, brands
and departments. The company helps the colleagues and is proud of them when they
succeed. Bestseller treats all people as individuals but think and act as a team.

Jack and Jones

Veromoda

Only

Produkt
Bestseller India

Selected Homme

Finance

Planning

Marketing

Distribution

Sales

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1.1 JACK AND JONES

The story of JACK & JONES begins in 1990 when BESTSELLER sends a young,
fiery soul to the Oslo fashion fair with a modest, but carefully chosen collection aimed
at young men. The reception exceeds all expectations and the creation of a new
menswear brand is a reality. In the following years JACK & JONES manifests itself
as one of the strongest jeans brands on the market and within a few years, the brand
has several hundred stores. Today, JACK & JONES is one of Europe’s leading
producers of menswear with more than one thousand stores in 38 countries and JACK
& JONES clothes are sold by thousands of wholesale partners all over the world. Jeans
are still regarded as the backbone of JACK & JONES’ business. They continue to
have a high level of expertise when it comes to the craftsmanship, quality and design
of jeans.
The three values for JACK & JONES are: Men’s comfort zone, Value for money and
Top 10 trends.
EBO

SIS

Buying & Online

Merchandising
- Captive
(jackandjones.in)
Wholesale and
Distribution - Online Partners

Designing
Multi Brand Format
Jack & Jones

Visual
Merchandising

Sourcing

Marketing

JJ Junior

Planning

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1.2 BRAND PRISM:

Physique: Personality:
Trendy, Street, Relaxed,
raw, authentic, Innovative,
edgy Outwardly

Relationship: Culture:
Not harsh on Individuality,
pockets, independent,
nostalgia, follow the gut
zeitgeist
Reflection: Self-Image:
Confident, At par with latest trend,
rebel, bold, outspoken,
energetic

1.3 BRAND PRESENCE (India):

 Total No. of EBOs: 75

 Total No. of SIS: 550
 Online Partners: 10
 Official Website (https://www.jackjones.in/)
Jack and Jones uses Sales or Return (SOR) Model with all the SIS partners.

1.4 STP:
1.4.1 Segmentation:

Jack and Jones has its stores across India divided as per regions:
 North
 East
 West
 South

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Combining the geography with demography, the characteristics of a Jack and Jones
customer include:
Men, educated, urban population, married and unmarried, working, college students,
with an average income of more than 6 lakhs per annum.
These are men who like socializing, go to parties, are modern, chic yet prefer being
raw and authentic. They follow trends, love experimenting with fashion, prefer smart
casuals.
Also, Jack and Jones focuses on user-situation segmentation planning the launch of
collection on the basis of festivities, holidays, planning discounts keeping in mind the
current spirits of the times. For example: launching kurta style shirts during Diwali.
A Jack and Jones man is either an actualizer who is successful, active, sophisticated
with many resources and high self-esteem and thus, image conscious; or an
experiencer who is young, enthusiastic and highly experimental, thus prefer variety.

1.4.2 Targeting:

 Age: 18-35 years

 Working, College
 Fashion followers
 Mid to high range income group
 Aware of trends
 Urban area
 Go out with friends and family
 Follow subculture : outwardly

Figure 1.1 Raw and Rugged fashion

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d8/3b/0b/d83b0bf329
20a23e795dab8dc50ccbf7.jpg

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1.4.3 Positioning:

High Price

Low High
Design & Design &
Experimentation Experimentation

Low Price

Figure 1.2 Perceptual Mapping

Jack and Jones positions itself as a premium brand offering fashionable clothing. It
places itself as high on design and innovation. However, considering the competitors
like Zara which is higher in design and almost equal in pricing, Jack and Jones need
to gear up with experimental fashion. However, Levis’ has a higher pricing but it plays
more on the brand origination and timeless denims. Pepe Jeans London though lower
on both the aspects plays with the pricing psychology as discussed further in the
project. Lee and Wrangler are brands at affordable prices and less experimentation in
design.

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1.5 CATEGORIES:

Jeans

Knits

Outerwear

Categories Pants

Shirts

Shorts

Sweat Pants

Sweats

Tailoring

T-shirts

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1.6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Buying Process:
Attending meetings
+ study of OTB

Analysis of Buy
Summary Sheet

Sell- through
analysis

Competitive
Analysis : 4Ps

Potential
Categories : Trend
Research

Suggesting Option
Plan and buy mix

Suggestions on the
basis of Research

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1.7 LITERATURE REVIEW:

Menswear market in India was INR 1,05,050 Cr in 2014, grew at a CAGR of 9.2% to
reach INR 1,61,570 Cr in 2019 and is expected to reach INR 2,52,550 Cr in 2024.
Owing to the graudual shift of men’s apparel market towards casual wear such as
denim, t-shirts/polos and activewear are growing at a much faster CAGR of 14%, 12%
and 14% respectively. This is also a result of growing fashion consciousness and
aspiration beliefs, increasing brandization, and acceptance of specilaised clothing with
features such as odour resistant jeans etc. not just in metros, but also in mini metros
and tier II cities across India.

According to the research report published by Global Industry Analysts Inc, the global
market for active and fitness clothing is projected to reach US$231.7 billion by 2024.
Growth in the market is driven by growing portion of the population living healthier
life styles and stronger participation in sports and fitness activities. The research also
indicates that technological developments designed to improve comfort and
performance has led to the growth in sales of the sports apparel.

As per a report by indiaretailing.com ‘Men’s western wear accounts for at least 60-
70 percent of the overall fashion market in India’

“One of the biggest triggers for western wear was the adoption of western clothes in
Bollywood and South Indian Cinema in the 70s. This brought core categories like
shirts and trousers to the masses as daily wear. Although customized tailoring was the
norm back in the day and the only option, the Ready-to-Wear (RTW) segment frog
leaped to popularity by late nineties, especially in urban centers, and ever since, the
segment has grown rapidly and outpaced the Ready-to-Stitch segment in the western
wear market in India.”
A research by mordorintelligence.com says:

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The global Menswear market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.7% during the
forecast period, 2020 to 2025.

 The adoption of luxury lifestyle among consumers has influenced the

purchasing power to opt for luxury wears among millennial. People tend to
spend on fashion wear, party wear, even nightwear.
 Rapid growth and rising urbanization has spawned a modern class of
consumers with more money to spend and a growing passion for current
fashion. The demand for occasion-specific clothing is growing within the
menswear segment.

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Chapter 2
BUYING PROCESS AND OBSERVATIONS

2.1 PROCESS:

• Trend research
Design • Buyers pitch in the input
Presentation • Story board
• Current year pantone

• As per the mood • Planners create the option plan

Creation of boards and the • Buyers Contribution.
story boards • Option plan shared with designers -
Range • Estimate of MRP planning the styles as per MRPs
and margin
keeping the margins in consideration.

• Selecting styles as per the option • Deciding the fits for bottom wear
The buying plan • T-shirts and shirts as per lifestyle
meet • Any colour change, silhouette (Core, Premium, Vintage, Originals)
change, fabric change discussed

• Store grades – A+, A, B, C and D

• Grade A – All stores
Grading • Grade B – Stores till B
• Ranking is done to give a measure
of depth.

• Drops are decided as per

the months of the season.
• Sending a lot including a
Drops story
• Sometimes a Capsule
Collection is also
introduced

• What percentage of a • The buy mix and the

category would be sales mix is mapped.
Phasing dispatched in the
stores as per the
months of a season.

• Option plan, category mix is

combined with the budget.
OTB • Average Buy Price and Average
Selling Price for a category

• The selected styles are bought by

each buyer as per their OTB.
Punching • For A+, store-wise punching is
done, else punching is done as per
cluster.

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Step 1:
Design presentation was conducted by the designers.
The presentation displays the trend research – conducted through WGSN, market
visits and competitor mapping. The inspirations are taken as per the research carried
out by the designers. Buyers pitch in the input as per market research done at their
end. A story board is also presented, laying out the basis for the buyers to buy as per
the inspirations. Samples or illustrations pertaining to the story or the theme are placed
for references. Current year pantone colors are mentioned, aiding during the buy
process.

Step 2:
2.1
Once the design presentation is done, the buyers come up with the range created as
per the mood boards and the story boards. An estimate of MRP and margin is taken
into account during the sample creation.
2.2
Meanwhile, the planners create the option plan, keeping in mind the past season sell-
through respective to categories. Buyers contribute to the option plan keeping in mind
any new styles to be introduced or repetition of a particular style under a specific
MRP.
The option plan is also shared with the designers giving them the idea about the MRPs,
thus planning what styles to present under what MRPs keeping the margins in
consideration as well as the vendor negotiations. It also helps them in designing
silhouettes, colors for a style. The styles for T-shirts and shirts are presented based on
the sub-brands as well – Originals, Core, Vintage and Premium.
Originals: inspired by the indie and urban pop culture scene, also includes the
licensed merchandise. [Fast Fashion].
Core: utility streetwear with a strong graphical concept and an eye for innovative
details [Street Fashion].
Vintage: reviving authentic vintage items and reproducing washes, trims and fabrics,
it aims to capture the true soul of Jeans. [Authentic].

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Premium: classic styles, e.g. dress shirts or blazers in new fabrics, new colors or with
added details, based on current trends. [Classic, casual with modern twist].
Step 3:
The buying meet initially consists of selecting styles as per the option plan - buying
a number of options against a particular MRP. Any color change, silhouette change,
fabric change is also discussed during the initial meetings. Price negotiations are also
done during the buying meetings. A percentage of NOOS and Express is subtracted
from the option plan, though NOOS is decided simultaneously.
T-shirts and shirts are bought as per lifestyle and MRP. The further meeting for buying
includes deciding the fits for bottom wear.
Similarly the styles are bought for outerwear and tailoring. The tailoring category
includes the blazers, trousers and suits.

Figure 2.1 Fit Guide

Step 4:
Once the styles are bought, the process moves onto grading – grading the styles as
per the stores to which the styles will be sent. The stores are graded as A+/A being
the top stores followed by B, C and D. If a style is graded as A, it’s for all the stores
and B is for the stores ranked till B.

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The ranking is done for the styles attaching a measure of depth to them.

Step 5:
Further the drops are decided as per the months of the season and also sending a lot
including a story. Sometimes a Capsule Collection is also introduced resultant of some
influential pieces with alike designing or patterns.

Step 6:
Phasing – a step to decide what percentage of a category would be dispatched in the
stores as per the months of a season. The buy mix and the sales mix is mapped for the
same which gives the potential for the categories to be phased out in a lower or higher
percentage over the months.
The sales mix gives the proportion of a category the business sold over the total sales.
Buy Mix: the proportion of a category the buyers buy over the total buys. Potential of
categories is mapped taking into account the sell-thrus, average selling price. The sell
through can be mapped for a region, sub-region, at a store level and even at attribute
level. The lifestyle mix and size mix is also taken into account.
A balancing is done to match the buy budget as against the quantities actually bought
by the buyer. A buyer is allowed to buy 3-4% over the budget allotted in case of
cancellations of options by the sourcing team on account of MOQs, cost etc.
Option plan, category mix is combined with the budget in an OTB (Open-to-Buy)
sheet.

2.2 STUDY OF OTB SHEET:

The OTB sheet has a winter and a non-winter phasing due to the regions and
respective seasons. The stores are divided into – Full price stores, JJ shoes and JJ
Premium.
The category mix changes at region/sub-region level for SIS and store-wise for EBOs.
The JJ premium and JJ shoes are the stores, mostly top selling SISs where an area is
dedicated to them.

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The Danish Rack (TDR) is the Bestseller’s multi brand franchisee format, having most
of its brands under one roof.
The sheet records the Average Buy Price and Average Selling Price for a category.
Formulas learnt:
Projected Buy Quantity = Projected sales quantity/ Sell thru target
Monthly buy value = Buy quantity X Average Buy Price The markdowns are
mentioned to take an estimate of the discounts or promo codes in future and is
subtracted from the Average Buy Price to get the Average Selling Price.
The sales value is distributed at various levels: month, category, sub brands, region,
sub-region and store level. The projected sales value is further bifurcated to generate
the sales value from fresh stock.
Further the quantities are worked out as per the following formulas:

Category Fresh Sale Quantity = Fresh Stock sales value (after category mix and
lifestyle mix) Average Selling Price

Category Buy Quantity = Sales quantity

Sell – thru

The sheet also takes record of monthly stock holding i.e. opening stock of last month
+ opening stock of new month- sales of last month.
The monthly buy value is calculated as follows:
Buy value = Buy Quantity * Average Buy Price
Further the buy quantity and value are calculated excluding the NOOS and Express,

Fashion Buying quantity calculated as Buy Value excluding NOOS/Express

Average Buy Price
Monthly Buy Options = Category Buy Quantity
Average Depth

The option phasing is calculated over the options planned for a particular category
and final phasing is calculated over the options actually available.

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Buying is done twice a season. A pre-autumn and a pre-spring buy is carried out which
includes the styles only from Denmark collection. A percentage of total budget is
taken for these pre-season buys.
The percentage for NOOS and Express is subtracted from the total budget calculated
which gives the budget for the Fashion Buy.
Meanwhile, any Denmark styles bought by the buyer under the main buy requires
replacement of some of the Indian styles bought to ensure the overall OTB is intact.

Sales Budget:
A new budget after the hike is taken after considering the numbers and inputs by the
sales and operations team, Top management, Ops head, brand heads comes to a target.
This target is split in Seasons – Months – Days (Basis the festive calendar and growths
projected).
Sales for the previous season are mapped. The season for which the planning is done
takes an increase of 10-15% into account and so a projected sales budget is
formulated.

For example: If the overall sales for the AW’19 was INR 1, 00,000, with an increase
of 15% the projected sales budget would be INR 1,15,000.
The buy is calculated by taking selling thru into account. The sell-thru for the pre-
EOSS is considered for the calculation and not the one for the EOSS. This is because
pre-EOSS sell thru i.e. the full price sell-thru is less than the EOSS sell thru.
Higher the sell-thru, higher is the quantity to be bought and thus a higher risk.
Projected Sales quantity = Projected Sales Value / Projected ASP
The projected sales quantity is used to derive the buy quantity. The average
markdowns are also taken into consideration.
The buy component derived is divided into SIS, SIS PR, TDR and Online channel.

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2.3 ANALYSIS:

An analysis is always done on like to like basis and is based on three main
components:
 Buy Mix
 Sales Mix
 Sell-thru

A lifestyle mix, size

mix and attribute levels
are studied sub region
wise (and sometimes
store wise) to map the
performances.
An overall region
performance is done,
which is further broken
down to category level,
partner performance
and store performance.

Figure 2.2 Metrics For Analysis

The overall region tones down to sub-regions and then to category-grade level. A
cluster-wise mapping is done for buy mix, sales mix and sell-thru and a buy
percentage is proposed by the buyers, corresponding to the categories.

The category with the sell-thru near or above the total sell-thru, can be proposed for a
higher buy mix (also taking the Grade into consideration while breaking down the
total proposal store wise.)

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For example – In Kolkata, the sell-thru for jeans is higher than the total sell-thru and
thus a higher percentage of buy is proposed for the same.

2.4 DEFINITIONS:

NOOS: The Never-out-of-stock styles are the ones which overtime have been
preferred by the customers repeatedly, thus always maintaining a base stock for
NOOS and mapping for replenishment weekly or fortnightly.

Express: The express buy is a mid-season buy done either to introduce new collection
as per the changing trends or to re-order some best-selling styles of the season.

Forward Week: enough inventory on hand for the sales planned until the next delivery
arrives. A standard cover of 10-12 weeks is considered in fashion retail.

Stock Turn ratio: is mapped monthly, how many times during a certain calendar
period a retailer sells its inventory and replaces it. It is calculated as – Net sales/
Average Retail Stock

Phasing:

Phasing is done to distribute the buy among the months of the season as per the
category performance and previous season sales.

Figure 2.3 Past Season Allocation and Buy Mix Mapped

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The highlighted box is the phasing done by the buyers based on the previous season
allocation and the sales against that allocation in a particular month. A brand phasing
is done by the planning department which is tweaked by the buyers.

Figure 2.3 Past Season Allocation and Buy Mix Mapped

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2.5 SOME SUGGESTIONS:

 Making a Calendar as per the regional festivities, events, times going around
as follows:

Figure 2.4 Suggested Calendar

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 A Range book can be maintained with description, fabric, category, price,

delivery, grading etc.

Figure 2.5 Range Plan, Source: past year Benetton Project

 Theme Category Plan can be maintained.

Figure 2.6 Theme Plan, Source: past year Benetton project

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 The review of Top10/20 styles should be done at the option planning stage for
next season. This will give the designers an idea of what styles they can carry
forward in the same/new color or with minor variations and how many designs
are needed for the next season. This can be worked out as the percentage of
total options required.

E.g. 10% of T-shirts can be created from the bestsellers of the previous season and
90% can be new designs or patterns created by the designers.

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Chapter -3
BUYING & MERCHANDISING

3.1 PUNCHING:
Once the grading and ranking is done, buying for A+ is done at store level and cluster
buy is done for the grades A, B, C and D. Given the large number of stores separate
buy cannot be done for each store and hence, clusters are formed.

A+ STORES

Figure 3.1.1 Snippet from Punching & Grading File: Store Clustering

The OTB gives us the total buy quantity and the buy value (that the planning team has
worked out basis the growth projection over last year numbers) for the season. The

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pre-buy is subtracted from the total buy quantity giving us the final quantity for
punching. Punching is what styles the buyer decides to buy for each store. The
punching starts with low grade stores and works in a reverse order.
The depth factor or multiplier is used to define the quantity of a particular style. It
helps the buyer buy less for low performing styles and more for high performing
styles. A variation of 20% is allowed in the depth factor.
Buy Quantity = Multiplier X No. of doors X Size Set X Proposed Mix

DEPTH
FACTOR/MULTI
PLIER

Figure 3.1.2 Snippet from Punching & Grading File: Buy Quantity and Depth Multiplier

24
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Figure 3.1.3 Snippet from Punching and Grading File: Split amongst stores

The buy value is calculated and hence the margin against the cost value. The total
quantity is split amongst the stores taking the proposed size mix into account.

3.2 ALLOCATION:

Allocation refers to the process of deciding the quantity per style that should be sent
to the stores in a region. The buy summary sheet and punch file is converted to do the
allocations. The allocation is done as per the lot which arrives weekly.

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Z-allocation from SAP is a dump which gives the quantity available at the Warehouse
for allocation. The styles are looked up in Z-allocation against the EAN no. to
determine if a style is available for allocation.

Figure 3.2 Dump from SAP for Allocation

A buyer does the allocation as per the proportion of his/her buy over the total buy.
A code [ME80FN] gives the delivered quantity as against the ordered quantity in SAP.

For dispatch, a specific format is maintained, the data is placed in a common folder
from where the file is picked by the BOT. An order number against each store is
created and sent to warehouse, the delivery number is created against the order
numbers. The creation of delivery number for an order marks the finalization of the
allocation of that style/order. The deliver number is run in SAP and PI (Purchase
Indent) is sent to the partners. The partners raise the PO (Purchase Order). The PO
and SO number is combined and sent to warehouse for the dispatch of stock. The
dispatch report can be referred to track the orders.

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Purchase Order Sample:

Figure 3.3 Purchase Order

A PO partner contributes 70-75% of the business as compared to a Non PO partner

which contributes 25-30% (given the pick and pack directly from the warehouse).

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3.3 ANALYSIS OF BUY SUMMARY SHEET – NORTH:

Objective: To analyze the effect of deviation from the planned category mix

Category Count of Option Options Dropped Percentage of drop

JEANS 110 21 19%
KNITS 67 10 15%
OUTERWEAR 93 30 32%
PANTS 37 20 54%
SHIRTS 219 18 8%
SHORTS 24 2 8%
Sweat Pants 14 0 0%
SWEATS 86 27 31%
TAILORING 37 3 8%
TSHIRT 510 109 21%
Grand Total 1197 240 20%
Table 4.1 Number of Options Dropped after Buying

Jack and Jones uses a standard sheet to record the options ordered containing
the drops, style number, style name, color, category, sub-brand, MRP,
distribution as per size and store, vendor cost price, MRP, fabric and fit. The
buying summary sheet for North was analyzed, on the basis of category and options
offered in each category. The total options observed across all the categories is 1197
taking the drops into account. However, 240 options across all the categories were
cancelled i.e. approximately 20% of the total options initially selected.
The highest drops observed are in the pants category (54%) (39% if considering data
for all the regions) followed by outerwear (32%) and sweats (31%). An overall drop
of 20% (approximately 25% in case of universal data) leads to a high distortion in the
initial planned category mix. This also affects the planned options, thereby affecting
the initial business targets.
Though the gap is covered up in Express buy, it decreases the category width at the
same time, leaving us with a skewed assortment for a time period and the category
might be hindered due to limited options.
A skewed category mix might also affect the category sell-thru.

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3.4 PRE-ALLOCATION PLAN:

Figure 3.4 Snippet from Pre-allocation sheet

Once the buy is done for A+ and cluster buys for A, B C and D, the
buyer/merchandiser prepares the pre-allocation plan before the beginning of the
season. The total quantity bought is split for each store as per the ratio of size set
decided by the buyer. Once the season starts, the available options are dispatched as
per the pre-allocation sheet which then constitutes the actual allocation sheet.

3.5 STUDY OF DAILY SALES REPORT:

A DSR is used to map the performance of the options allocated to stores. The overall
sales target is bifurcated season-wise, further monthly and then daily on the basis of
regions (which is toned down to individual stores)

A store is said to be a Like to Like store if it is functional from the inception of the
financial year and goes on till the end i.e. 31st March of the next year.

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The report is generated by Management Information System, the buyer analyses the
YTD (year-to-date), MTD (month-to-date) and STD (season-to-date) for the region
or stores. If the targets are not achieved in time, deeper analysis is done at style level.
This may also require merchandise balancing – the transfer of style from a region to
another based on its performance. The Like to Like study gives the overview of the
previous season, the quantity bought, sold, profit earned within the same time period.
This also gives the idea about the pace at which the business is functioning.
The Rate of Sales (ROS) is taken into account by the buyers to check the movement
of a style. A style-wise ROS is compared to an overall ROS (ROS = sales quantity /
shelf life).
In case of slow movement of styles, promos are run. E.g. Bucket list discounting –
Buy 2 get 1, Bill value offers – 1000 off on 6990 / 2000 off on 9990. A healthy –
broken analysis is done for sizes. JJ’s pivotal sizes are M, L and XL. In case a broken
size set is present in a top performing store, the healthy sizes are moved from the C
and D stores. The remaining broken size sets are put on discount under EOSS.

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Chapter - 4
SELL - THROUGH ANALYSIS

Objective –

To assess the category performance in AW19 on the following basis:

 Region
 Sales Contribution vs Buy
 MRP Performance
 Color
 Size
 Fit
 Attribute
 Lifestyle/Sub-brand
 Provide suggestions on the basis of the findings ( Option Planning)

NOTE PROPOSED
POTENTIAL
HIGHEST PERFORMING

4.1 REGION:

Region SALES MIX/CONTRIBUTION BUY MIX SELL THRU

East 10.8% 10.4% 40.99%
North 29.9% 33.9% 37.58%
South 22.6% 23.2% 38.36%
West 36.7% 32.5% 43.41%
Grand Total 100% 100% 40.10%
Table 4.1 Sale Mix, Buy Mix and Sell-thru Basis Region (AW19)

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o West has the highest contribution in sales and a decent proportion of buy is
done as compared to other regions and hence the sales are above par too.
o Taking sell-thrus into account West is highest performing area followed by the
East.
o However, the buy for east is less and hence also the sales contribution
implying that east has potential, thereby more can bought for the region.
o For NOOS, the core category, West has a high contribution in sales followed
by the North. However, a higher percentage was bought in North as compared
to sales contribution, also the sell-thru is below the average sell-thru.

4.2 CATEGORY SALES CONTRIBUTION:

Category Sale Mix Buy Mix Sell-thru

JEANS 26% 26% 41%
KNITS 6% 4% 53%
OUTERWEAR 12% 11% 45%
PANTS 5% 5% 46%
SHIRTS 22% 24% 36%
SHORTS 1% 1% 38%
SWEAT PANTS 2% 2% 35%
SWEATS 6% 5% 42%
TAILORING 2% 2% 42%
TSHIRT 19% 19% 39%
Grand Total 100% 100% 40%
Table 4.2 Sale Mix, Buy Mix and Sell-Thru Basis Category (AW19)

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Figure 5.1 Graphical Representation: Category Sell-thru AW19

Figure 4.2 Category Sale Mix AW19

Autumn Winter has been all about knits with a sell-thru 53% with a buy contribution
of 4% and sales contribution of 6%.

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Jeans have a contribution of 26% in sales with sell-thru of 41%. Given the season,
outerwear displays a decent sell-through of 45%. Shirts and T-shirts are potential
categories with more of full sleeves being introduced.

4.3 CATEGORY SALES REGION CONTRIBUTION:

Region Category Sale Contribution Buy Mix Sell-thru

East JEANS 29% 27% 45%
KNITS 6% 4% 56%
OUTERWEAR 14% 14% 44%
PANTS 5% 6% 38%
SHIRTS 16% 19% 35%
SHORTS 1% 1% 41%
SWEAT PANTS 3% 4% 39%
SWEATS 6% 6% 42%
TAILORING 1% 1% 39%
TSHIRT 19% 19% 40%
East Total 100% 100% 41%

North JEANS 25% 24% 39%

KNITS 10% 8% 49%
OUTERWEAR 19% 18% 45%
PANTS 3% 4% 47%
SHIRTS 16% 18% 33%
SHORTS 1% 1% 38%
SWEAT PANTS 3% 3% 38%
SWEATS 8% 8% 39%
TAILORING 2% 1% 43%
TSHIRT 13% 15% 33%
North Total 100% 100% 38%

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South JEANS 27% 27% 38%

KNITS 3% 2% 59%
OUTERWEAR 5% 5% 42%
PANTS 6% 6% 47%
SHIRTS 32% 33% 37%
SHORTS 1% 1% 35%
SWEAT PANTS 2% 3% 29%
SWEATS 3% 2% 43%
TAILORING 3% 3% 42%
TSHIRT 18% 18% 38%
South Total 100% 100% 38%

Region Category Sale Contribution Buy Mix Sell-thru

West JEANS 26% 26% 45%
KNITS 4% 3% 59%
OUTERWEAR 8% 8% 46%
PANTS 6% 7% 47%
SHIRTS 22% 24% 40%
SHORTS 1% 1% 37%
SWEAT PANTS 1% 2% 35%
SWEATS 5% 4% 47%
TAILORING 2% 2% 41%
TSHIRT 24% 23% 43%
West Total 100% 100% 43%
Grand Total 40%
Table 4.3 Category + Region Analysis (AW19)

Analysis:

o Studying category-wise, jeans have a sales contribution of 26% with a buy of

25% proportion over other categories. The sell through is 41% with high
performance in East and West.

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o More knits can be bought for all the regions, with no significant difference
between buy proportion and sales contribution and sell-thru being above
average in all the regions.
o Though the sell-through for outerwear is above average that is 45%, the sales
contribution and buy proportion are aligned implying the range is liked by the
customers, so similar styles can be introduced with minor variations or
different colors.
o Pants being the smaller category, display a sell-thru of 46% with a percent
difference in proportion in sales mix and buy cat mix, so the percentage can
be maintained at 6%.
o Shirts holding a category proportion of 23%, contributes 21% to sales, with
overall sell-thru less than the average and also less than the average sell-thru
if compared region-wise. A market research to identify gaps and opportunities
can be done to improve the performance and can be bought at the same
percentage to not limit the offering.
o Shorts being the seasonal category, can perform better if the styles hit the store
during the months of August and September
o Sweat pants, though with the sell-thru below average, contribute to sales a
little less than the buy. More options can be bought for experimentation.
o Sweats being one of the performing categories can be increased by a percent
or two, displaying a decent sell-thru.
o T-shirts seem to be a performing category in South and West, with a decent
sell-thru, while the overall mediocre performance can be analyzed through
front end assessment.
o Tailoring display a sell-thru of 42%, implying a potential which can be built
gradually.
o NOOS was bought from pants, shirts, t-shirt and jeans.
o Pants and shirts under noos are the performing categories.
o Jeans is a potential category in North and West taking the sell-thrus into
account.

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4.4 CATEGORY-MRP CONTRIBUTION ANALYSIS (Table in Appendix 1):

The analysis reveal that the consumer is not very price sensitive. Their willingness
pay to matches the price offered if the price justifies their perceived value of the
product.
INR 3499 is the highest performing MRP in Jeans, with 14 options being offered for
the season.
INR 3299 and 4499 are the potential categories where more options can be offered.
3299 can be a mix of both fashion and NOOS as NOOS3299 displays a high
performance.
INR 2499 performs better given the price advantage for a denim.

o For Knits, INR 2299 is key MRP and hence taking the price point benefit more
can be allocated. The sell-thru is much higher than the average sell thru.
o INR 3299, has an apt buy mix and sales contribution, with a sell-thru of 48%,
more options can be bought.
o For Outerwear, INR 6499 can be worked through the potential by buying
more.
o Pants show decent performance as far the MRPs are concerned, further study
can be done during further seasons to capture the pant-MRP trend
o Shirts - INR 3799 is the least performing category, a style analysis can be done
while keeping the option number uniform.
o Shorts- INR 2999 and 2499 though being the high price points for shorts excel
in performance and a good number of options can be offered, also keeping in
mind the months they reach the floors.
o Number of options can be increased in INR 3499 for sweats, while cutting a
little in INR 2999
o Sweat pants, the buy and hence the sale revolves around INR 2499, 2799 and
2999.

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o Tailoring being a budding category is still under experimentation stage with

INR 3499 displaying a decent performance and focus being on making the
category more youth oriented.
o For t-shirt - INR 1299 and 1499 are the pivotal MRPs

Also, options were proposed for AW20 keeping in mind the analysis.

4.5 LIFESTYLE ANALYSIS (Table in Appendix 1):

As discussed in Chapter – 2 t-shirts and shirts are subdivided on the basis of lifestyle
as Originals (fast fashion), Core (Street fashion), Premium (Classic casual) and
Vintage (authentic)
Following are the findings after studying the lifestyle wise sales of shirts and t-shirts:

o Core and Premium are the performing sub-brands for both shirts and t-shirts
o The NOOS is taken from Premium for shirts and from Originals for t-shirts.

SHIRTS:
o Core is a performing brand in East and South, displaying potential in West.
o Originals sold higher and quickly in West
o South and West pulls off premium well.
o Vintage shows a capability across all the regions and hence can be bought
more.

T-SHIRTS:
o Except North, all the regions perform well for T-shirts in AW due to extreme
seasonal change in the North.

4.6 ATTRIBUTE AND FIT ANALYSIS (Table in Appendix 1):

Attributes were studied separately for shirts and t-shirts. An overall study was
done which was then further bifurcated into region wise attribute analysis. The
following were the observations:

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Final category Attribute Sale Contribution Buy Mix Sell-Thru

SHIRTS AOP 9.33% 9.01% 37%
Camo 0.52% 0.51% 38%
Checks 16.73% 20.26% 31%
Colour blocked 0.53% 0.59% 32%
Denim 1.77% 1.96% 34%
Dobby 0.00% 0.00% 25%
Neps 0.11% 0.07% 56%
Placement Print 0.64% 0.55% 42%
Printed 5.58% 7.74% 28%
Solid 53.65% 50.17% 39%
Stripes 10.24% 7.68% 49%
Textured Fabric 0.31% 0.24% 49%
Yarn dyed 0.58% 1.23% 18%
SHIRTS Total 100.00% 100.00% 36%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 36%
Table 4.4 Sell-Thru Analysis basis Attribute: Shirts

Final category Attribute Sale Contribution Buy Mix Sell-Thru

TSHIRT AOP 13.52% 11.36% 48%
Camo 3.59% 2.88% 49%
Chest print 2.00% 4.95% 15%
Colour blocked 1.13% 1.11% 43%
Embroidered 1.27% 0.72% 67%
Jacquard 0.51% 0.28% 68%
Placement Print 4.54% 6.03% 29%
Pocket patch 0.00% 0.00% 0%
Printed 56.57% 55.18% 40%
Side patch 0.62% 0.87% 30%
Solid 10.68% 12.00% 38%
Stripes 3.99% 2.66% 60%
Textured Fabric 0.19% 0.22% 34%
Yarn dyed 1.39% 1.74% 31%
TSHIRT Total 100.00% 100.00% 39%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 39%
Table 4.4 Sell-Thru Analysis basis Attribute: T-shirts

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SHIRTS:
o Neps, Placement print, stripes and textured fabric are major attributes to be
considered, with AOP displaying a prospect.
o Denim, AOP and stripes are exceling attributes in the EAST
o Stripes, Denim, Colour-block, Placement Print in North
o Stripes, Placement Prints, Neps - South
o Colour-block, Camo, Stripes, Neps – West

AOP, Denims, Stripes and Neps can be undoubtedly repeated executing a

compounding performance

T-SHIRTS:
o Embroidered, jacquard and striped t-shirts did remarkably well, hence can be
repeated.
o AOP and Solids can be variated and experimented with in the following
seasons.
o Stripes, Jacquard, Camo - West
o Stripes, Embroidered, Colour-block, Camo, AOP, Jacquard - East
o Stripes, Embroidered, Colour-block, Camo, AOP, Jacquard - South

Colour-block and Jacquard exhibit high performance, hence buy proportion can
be increased.
Stripes, Jacquard, AOP, Embroidered can be maintained at the same proportion and
other attributes can be experimented with, e.g. Yarn Dyed and placement prints

Fit has been an important factor while buying denims for the range. As per the
observational study:

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OVERALL VIEW OF PERFORMANCE ACROSS ALL REGIONS

Fit Sum of STR Buy Mix Sale Mix

Ben 39% 43.39% 41.35%
Clark 23% 5.28% 2.98%
Erik 60% 0.24% 0.37%
Fred 29% 0.20% 0.14%
Glen 41% 20.16% 19.24%
Liam 53% 17.90% 23.59%
Paul 30% 0.32% 0.22%
Simon 31% 0.63% 0.47%
Tim 41% 11.87% 11.64%
Grand Total 41% 100.00% 100.00%
Table 4.5 Analysis basis Fit: Denims

o Erik which is anti - fit and Liam, the skinny fit exhibit high performance
o Slim fits - Tim & Glenn, Skinny fit -Ben : lay out potential

A region – wise study for fits shows:

o Ben displays potential across all the regions given a higher sell-through and a
sales contribution more or equal the buy mix.
o Simon performs higher in south as compared to other regions.

The excel highlights the fits on the basis of performance being and the potential they
hold which can help the buyers buy appropriately for their regions.

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4.7 COLOUR (Table in Appendix 1):

OVERALL VIEW OF PERFORMANCE ACROSS ALL CATEGORIES

Basic colour Sum of STR Sum of Buy Value Sum of Sale Amt..
Beige 65% 0.45% 0.62%
Black 42% 21.78% 23.29%
Blue 38% 36.43% 34.37%
Brown 34% 4.81% 3.89%
Green 39% 13.24% 13.31%
Grey 38% 5.70% 5.81%
Maroon 40% 4.33% 4.52%
Off-white 45% 1.48% 1.69%
Orange 22% 0.14% 0.07%
Pink 36% 0.33% 0.28%
Purple 37% 1.47% 1.25%
Red 39% 4.34% 4.29%
White 51% 3.85% 5.06%
Yellow 37% 1.65% 1.54%
Grand Total 40% 100.00% 100.00%
Table 4.6 Analysis basis Color: All Categories

o The overall analysis reveal that range can be done around Beige, Black, Off-
white and white colors.
o For Jeans, grey exhibits a probable growth.
o Red is a capable color in knits.
o White color can be experimented with under pants.
o More of white color can be done for shorts, given the high sell-thru, the buy
proportion can be increased.
o Taking the commercial nature of blue into consideration, style
experimentation can be done for tailoring.
o For T-shirts, green and pink are upcoming colors in market (as observed).

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4.8 SIZE (Table in Appendix 1):

Buy summary sheet Analysis reveal that size plays a pivotal role in buying across
regions as well as the allocation of styles. The buy mix, sales mix and the sell –
through together reveal the following:

JEANS Larger sizes are preferred in North and East as compared to West and South,
hence, the ratio can be skewed accordingly.
KNITS S,M,L are the pivotal sizes for all the regions
OUTERWEAR S,M,L are the pivotal sizes for all the regions
PANTS The ratio is skewed towards larger sizes in East and North, a mixed size set in
South and smaller sizes in West.
SHIRTS North has extremities with S and L performing largely, South has a balanced
ratio and West has more of initial sizes.
SHORTS Shorts have usually performed towards the larger sizes across all regions taking
the comfort into account.
SWEATS Sweats perform decent across all the sizes except North, East and West where in
performance revolves around S,M,L
TAILORING The size performance is similar to that in Sweats.
TSHIRT West has a balanced size set performance with potential in Small; with M and
XL probabilities in South.

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Chapter – 5
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

5.1 PRODUCT AND PRICE:

The competitive analysis was done across the 4Ps of marketing: Product, Price,
Promotion and Place.
For Product and Price, Top 3 categories – T-shirts, shirts and jeans were studied for
United Colors of Benetton, Levis’, Zara, Pepe Jeans London, Wrangler and LEE as
against what Jack & Jones offers.

T-shirts and Polos

Price Range UCB Levis Zara Pepe Lee Wrangler JJ
Below 799 15 0 36 10 0 5 27
800-1099 19 10 109 42 50 81 109
1100-1399 63 26 13 84 67 100 77
1400-1699 41 59 47 23 28 35 130
1700-1999 75 39 107 104 31 17 26
2000-2299 1 27 0 1 3 5
2300-2499 0 6 0 2 1 0 4
2500 and above 0 11 1 6 0 0 0
Total 199 178 313 271 177 241 378
Table 5.1 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: T-shirts & Polos

Pepe Jeans:
- Did a lot of checks in INR 1099-1499.
- A lot of Knit T-shirts in 799-999.
- Did a collection Gym Indigo with basic washes.
- Prominent MRP is INR 999
UCB: Typography round neck and V-neck T-shirts under INR 799

Zara: did a lot Regular fit t-shirts under INR 799 with INR 590 prevalent.

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Under the MRP 800-1099, INR 990 is prominent in ZARA, the offerings being striped
t-shirts, pique textured t-shirt, longline t-shirts and block t-shirts.
Zara offers a lot of options under 1700-1999.

T-shirts & Polos

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Below 799 800-1099 1100-1399 1400-1699 1700-1999 2000-2299 2300-2499 2500 and
above

UCB Levis Zara Pepe JJ Wrangler Lee

Figure 5.1 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: T-shirts & Polos

As observed, Pepe Jeans and Zara are the leading brands as they offer a lot options
especially under the MRP 1700-1999.
Taking the sell-through analysis for MRP into account and the competitor analysis
INR 1700-1999 and INR 2000-2299 have potential for JJ, the average sell-through
being 40% across this price range ( excluding knit top wear).

*The data has been taken for SS20 through secondary research (websites and company resources), given the co-
vid situation.
*The data for Lee and Wrangler has been estimated from the options offered with online partners, the data on their
website being insufficient

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Shirts
Price Range UCB Levis Zara Pepe Lee Wrangler JJ
Below 1999 4 12 136 11 33 90 0
1999-2499 76 30 3 166 180 120 43
2500-2999 101 82 169 106 90 70 85
3000-3499 14 7 56 10 7 13 66
3500 and above 1 17 4 0 2 0 9
Total 196 148 368 293 312 293 203
Table 5.2 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: Shirts

Levis’ enters the market at INR 1599 and Zara at INR 1890, the exit price for both
being INR 5000. Zara does lots of shirts at INR 2590.

Pepe does a lot of options under INR 1999-2499 and INR 2500-2999, this is because
pepe offers shirts at a difference of every INR 100, thus a kind of psychological
pricing where with just 100 bucks a customer can upgrade to more options and
diversified products.

Price Options
Table 5.2.1 Psychological Pricing by Pepe Jeans
1999 29
2099 1
2199 45
2299 19
2399 34
2499 38

ZARA: Did a lot of odour repellent shirts under INR 1890 and at 2590.
The Worker Shirt has been done by all the brands

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Shirts
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Below 1999 1999-2499 2500-2999 3000-3499 3500 and above

UCB Levis Zara Pepe JJ Wrangler Lee

Figure 5.2 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: Shirts

JJ is at par for most of the price points with the competitor brands and above par for
INR 3299 and above.
However, strategy similar to Pepe can be followed within a high performing price
range i.e. either 2500-2999 or 3000-3499. This will aid more upselling and also
grabbing on extra revenue.

Jeans
Price Range UCB Levis Zara Pepe Jeans Lee Wrangler JJ
Below 2999 11 24 85 8 90 100 5
2999-3499 18 68 4 28 80 60 19
3500-3999 33 31 56 99 70 75 23
4000-4499 0 20 0 7 14 8 20
4500-5999 4 51 0 28 1 1 19
6000 and above 2 13 0 0 0 1 14
Total 68 207 145 170 255 245 100
Table 5.3 Competitive: Price and Option Distribution: Jeans

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Jeans
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Below 2999 2999-3499 3500-3999 4000-4499 4500-5999 6000 and above

UCB Levis Zara Pepe JJ Wrangler

Figure 5.3 Graphical Representation of Competitive Mapping: Jeans

ZARA: Did a technical jeans under INR 3990 with high elasticity and reflective
properties
- Given that Pepe and Levis do a lot of options in terms of color, moreover
tapping every price point with a gap of INR 100 (E.g. INR 1899, 1999, 2199
and so on), JJ can tap the INR 3500-3999 with more options.
- Considering the sell-thru analysis, INR 5999 is a potential MRP with sell-thru
39% (the weighted Sell-thru for jeans being 41%), hence it is an opportunity
for JJ, as other brands except Levi's are not offering any unit here.
- Tapping INR 5999 would mean greater focus on the quality and design
perspective.

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5.1.1 Suggested Styles:

Given the research on the basis of product, some styles were also suggested depending
on the Segmentation and targeting of Jack and Jones. A detailed presentation was
prepared for the same. Below is the glimpse of the same:

Repaired Jeans Canvas Pants

Dungarees Selvedge slim fit Layered T-shirt

Asymmetric hem

Experimental Pieces

Thermo -Chromic

Pintucks on Chest Experimental Shirts

Figure 5.4 Suggested Styles

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5.1.2 Positioning based on Average Price:

T-shirts and Polos

Brands Entry Median Exit Average Price Approx.
UCB 999 1599 2199 1599 1599
Levis 999 1699 3000 1999.5 2000
Zara 590 1890 2790 1690 1690
Pepe 799 1399 2799 1559.7 1560
Lee 899 NA 2499 1560.5 1570
Wrangler 795 NA 2295 1508.3 1510
JJ 799 1399 2599 1590.6 1600
Table 5.4 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: T-shirts & Polos

Levis

Jack & Jones, Zara

UCB, Lee

Pepe Jeans

Wrangler

Figure 5.5 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: T-shirts & Polos

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Shirts
Brands Entry Median Exit Average Price Approx.
UCB 1999 2399 3699 2643.4 2640
Levis 1599 2799 5000 3299.5 3300
Zara 1890 2590 4990 3440 3440
Pepe 1699 2399 3499 2480.25 2500
Lee 1599 NA 3799 2487.8 2488
Wrangler 1495 NA 3295 2356.1 2350
JJ 1999 2799 3999 2939 2939
Table 5.5 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: Shirts

Zara, Levis

Jack and Jones

UCB

Lee, Pepe Jeans,

Wrangler

Figure 5.6 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: Shirts

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Jeans
Brands Entry Median Exit Average Price Approx.
UCB 2799 3299 6999 4113.28 4110
Levis 2199 3899 11000 6599.5 6600
Zara 2290 2790 3990 3140 3140
Pepe 2599 3599 5999 4132.3 4200
Lee 1999 NA 4999 3262.4 3300
Wrangler 1895 NA 7495 3290.6 3300
JJ 2499 3999 10999 6299 6299
Table 5.6 Entry, Exit, Median Price, Average Price: Jeans

Levis

Jack and Jones

UCB, Pepe Jeans

Zara, Lee, Wrangler

Figure 5.7 Brand Positioning basis Average Price: Jeans

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5.2 PROMOTION: STUDYING THE DIGITAL MARKETING

OPPORTUNITY

For the promotion part, the digital aspects of marketing were studied for Zara,
Bershka, Levis and Pepe Jeans.

OBJECTIVE:
To study and analyse the marketing strategies of competitors in terms of digital
content and engagement.
The brands were studied for their content, the user engagement, the frequency of
posts.

5.2.1 Caption on the posts

LEVIS

Figure 5.8 Captions used by Levis, Source: https://www.facebook.com/Levis.india/?brand_redir=95181800661

Levis put informational captions on their posts giving a one liner description for the
product. They mention the shopping links which is also done by Jack and Jones. Levis
has come up with a ‘Shop Now’ button on Facebook posts. Facebook is the platform
where Jack and Jones need more engagement.
Taking example of Zara, the brand dedicates separate posts for educating the
customers about the special features of their products.

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They also put up posts on instagram informing customer about the collections and
corresponding drops.

Figure 5.9 Zara’s Posts on Social Media,

Source: https://www.instagram.com/zara/
https://www.instagram.com/zaraman/

Zara makes sure they are using revolutionary fashion vocabulary to gain customer’s
attention – Edwardian, Romanticism.
What Pepe follows as strategy for captions is they provide information so that a
customer can make a right choice. E.g. - educating them about the fits.
Targeting the youth they follow using captions to which youth can resonate.

Figure 5.10 Pepe Jeans London Caption Strategy

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Bershka on the other hand creates trend alerts and use the millennial slang like swag,
haters, savage

Figure 5.11 Bershka: Millennial Slangs, Source: https://www.instagram.com/bershka/

5.2.2 Capturing the Authenticity and Origination of Brand:

Levis is always seen talking about their iconic 501 jeans as they maintain the
authenticity and keep their customers aware about their origination. They did a 90s
inspired San-serif logo to take the people back into time. The most out of the box idea

Figure 5.12 Levis’ Documentary 501

done by Levis was to come up with a documentary for its jeans and how it influenced
the culture. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyOhs-C_M1c )

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The brands have their spirits high with the zeitgeist.

Example - Levi’s did a campaign for LGBTQ during the
section 377 verdict. The brand collaborated with Mr. Gay
India 2014 – Sushant Divgikar. They also played on the
mood of time with campaign #ishapemyworld –
acknowledging different choices of women. The
campaign earned 2.9million views.

Levis even collaborated with the Netflix show Stranger

Things, thereby tapping the customer preferences at the
right time.
Taking another Example of Bershka, the brand captured Figure 5.13 Bershka: Zeitgeist Campaign,
Source:
the quarantine trend of ‘Don’t text your Ex’ and came up https://www.instagram.com/bershka./

with a product with the same tagline.

Another trend that the brands have been taking in is the DIY trend, telling people how
they can upgrade an old jeans. Example – Levis

5.2.3 Sustainability:

Figure 5.14 Levis’ Sustainability Campaigns

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Sustainability being the need of the hour, the brands have been snowballing over it.
Levis came up with a campaign making the customers about washing techniques for
denims, promoting DIY giving tip to the audiences about they can repair or recycle
and give a new look to their denims.

Bershka and Zara

have incorporated
sustainability at the
highest amongst the
competitors (More
about the
transparency in
Chapter 8). They
have come up with
Figure 5.15 Zara’s sustainable Keywords, Source:
https://www.zara.com/in/en/join-life-man-new-in-13023.html?v1=1548566 different label called
the Join Life
Collection which is a collection from conscious efforts and innovative fabrics. They
use keywords like water, biodiversity, climate.

A distinct thing that ZARA did was to make energy efficient consumption for its
stores. They have implemented centralised systems in most stores which allow the
brand to program lighting, heating and air conditioning to suit the store needs.
Pepe Jeans came up with a TruBlu sustainable Collection - collection has been created
using organic cotton that reduces the use of pesticides allowing wildlife to flourish
and eliminates water pollution in rivers and ground water.The denims under this
collection are sustainable in washes (Wiser Wash Technology).
Brands like Levis use informational tags educating the customer about the product
and it’s care in terms of sustainability.

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5.2.4 Customer Engagement:

Brands use various tactics to get the customers interact to them digitally. Pepe Jeans
romps energetically on the contests and giveaways. For e-mail marketing Levis offers
20% discount to new e-mail subscribers.

Figure 5.16 Bershka Customer Engagement, Source:

https://www.instagram.com/bershka/

Bershka interacts with the audiences on the social media sites – making the replies
informal, praising the audience for choices using emoticons, making it more
personalised.
Bershka even takes audience poll on their Instagram stories. Bershka did a ‘You
Decide’ story for its followers, asking to them help choose

Both Bershka and Zara did hashtags encouraging the customers to curate outfits and
tag them using the hashtags. They feature the customer on their websites and

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instagram page – playing on the belongingness and social connection needs of people.
They make them part of the creator community.
To make the customer feel that the brands are listening to them United Colors of
Benetton and Pepe Jeans have come up with custom studios and personalisation
denims in the store.

Bershka plays around with strong Visual strories – the

ones you can not ignore. The images are powerful and
encapsulating.

Figure 5.17 Bershka: Visuals for Horror

Cinema Collection

Figure 5.18 Levis’ Collaboration with artists

Research says that millennials are interested in art more than the Baby boomers. The
study also found that social media is driving additional interest in art among all
demographic

 53% of people say they have interacted with art on social media
 55% say that social media plays an important role in discovering new art

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The fashion industry taking the advantage of this trend sees brands coming with art of
revolutionary artists over the Tees. Example – Zara did the pop art work of Andy
Warhol.

Levis in India collaborated with visual artists to add quirk to the merchandise and also
incorporated Indian crafts in its jeans to pay tribute to the craftsmen.

5.2.5 High on Music:

Figure 5.19 Levis’ Music Collaboration

 Levis collaborated with Spotify – Spotify has a Levis playlist

 Collaborated with Khalid, Justin Timberlake – doing Q&A with them, live
performances.
 Organized music week, with information sessions about elements of music
production.

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Bershka grabbed the consumer’s attention at the store by

playing the tracks of famous rapper and artists like BTS,
Rkomi, Billie Ellish – personalised radio experience in
store.
Pepe Jeans on the other hand collaborated with gaana.com
and came up with a stay home playlist during the
lockdown. They also did a contest where the subscription
for the application was the prize.

5.2.6 Out of the Box Activities taken by the brands:

• Bershka has been taking part in the event Vogue fashion Night Out(VFNO)
 gives consumers the insider access they are seeking by making them
feel valued more than ever with experiences and value added offers
 VFNO is an initiative for sluggish sales as well as marketing.
 The vogue subscribers get the VIP Lounge access at these events
• Zara did a fashion collaboration project with the design students and came up
with a capsule collection, it was an initiative for creative expansion and
inclusion of youth.
 The students were featured on the social media pages.
• Feature in Magazines – Levi’s featured its collection in ELLE India for
the Pride campaign with Tan France

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5.2.7 Quantitative outlook on the social media reach:

Brand/Channel Instagram Facebook YouTube Pinterest

Zara 243000 26084803 75700 10000000
Bershka 8900000 11564308 37600 9000000
Levis 497000 26094910 396000 10000000
Pepe 97400 2641248 14300 364200
JJ 462000 2235657 69700 449700

SOCIAL MEDIA REACH

Instagram Facebook Youtube Pinterest
26094910
26084803

11564308
10000000

10000000
9000000
8900000

2641248

2235657
497000

462000

449700
396000

364200
243000

97400
75700

69700
37600

14300

ZARA BERSHKA LEVIS PEPE JJ

Figure 5.20 Brands’ Social Media Engagement

The numbers above represent the followers/subscribers on the media channel.

Amongst all the brands, Levis has garnered the highest audience for Youtube. This
implies doing documentaries or series can actually work in favour of the brand.
Bershka engages audience over Instagram as people are seen keen about the content
and comments showcase the interaction between and the brand and the followers. Zara
and Levis take over Facebook, giving to their storytelling posts and editorials.
Moreover, the brands make sure they post daily to be in sight of the audience.
However, the analysis shows that one platform that holds a lot of potential and is not
much employed is Pinterest where different boards pertaining to brands can be
maintained be it styling or lifestyle content.

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5.2.8 Following the study of competitors, what else can Jack and Jones do?

• Taking sustainability and climate into account – Plant a tree for every
sustainable product sold
 E.g. sustainable brand No Nasties – they have a groove where they
plant tree for each product sold.
• Breaking Stereotypes. E.g. Men can cry campaign by Gillette.
• Check in store availability in store through website E.g. ZARA
• Focusing on engaging editorials.
E.g. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=773148176533460
• Offering Customisation at stores E.g. Pepe, UCB
• Using trending keywords like dope, mercury retrograde, swag, savage, lit
• Playing on trends E.g. Don’t text your ex
• Collaborating with visual artists
• In-store music experience

Campaign Ideas include:

 Taking the trends of mental health and body inclusivity, a campaign can be
done with a comical take on them. Spotting the influencers of comedy, a Q&A
can be done with them. – This is because celebs like Kenny Sebastian, Sumit
Vyas have already been carriers of the brand.
 More of BTS can be given to the audiences, Showroom tour / store makeover
tour, Documenting the process of making our merchandise
 Using the mascot to the advantage - Letting people know about its significance
#BeJJ campaign using the mascot.
 Do a basic line of unisex clothes or matching clothes for couples, bro-sis, dad-
son, mom-son.

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 Highlighting the product features on website or

Instagram using tap dots.
 The audience Jack and Jones target are huge fan
of gaming and thus, can experiment with the video
game concert while collaborating with a music
artist. The video game concerts are virtual concerts
with animations, lighting etc. The animations here
can use the JJ mascot also, whilst JJ sponsoring the
concert.
The recent example is the Travis Scott Fortnite
concert which was attended by 12 million people. Gaming be at a hype, games
like Fornite, Call of Duty can be targeted.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URCLFqeNHYk)
 The brand can do exclusive collection in collaboration with famous artists
which would be available only for a limited period of time – it would buy it
now or never. This would also create an impulse in the customers to buy the
product – hence higher rate of sales, higher revenue. This will fulfill the social
currency aspect of customers (share to look good in front of others)
 Referral
marketing is another
underutilized strategy
– a referral code can
be generated at a
certain amount of
online shopping – this
will increase the
customer base as well
as online traffic.
Figure 5.21 Referral Marketing

 A very basic marketing strategy used by many brands is the story of the
artisans involved in making the product, such posts make the people feel

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connected to each other – this incites a sense of admiration in the customers

making them want to support the artisans. Example : Matter
 Competitions can be organized for young designers and the winning design
gets tangible printed collection. This can be done through voting over social
media channels – widening the reach. Example : Threadless
 Using the art of storytelling – JJ can do a “Year at JJ” campaign just like
Google, giving glimpse of the year in terms of products, events, community
filling the people with nostalgia and looking forward to the next year.
 Brand Lululemon organizes free yoga classes at its store – doing what their
label stands for – fitness; similar workshops can be done by JJ – thus,
increasing the interaction with customers and potential customers

*A detailed presentation on marketing was created to study the digital campaigns, it is attached in the zip file
‘Reference Documents’ as it could not be included in the Appendices.

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Chapter – 6
SUPPORT FUNCTIONS

6.1 VISUAL MERCHANDISING:

A training with visual merchandising was conducted for product knowledge to give
insights to both the front-end and the back-end team.
The designers prepare a line sheet which visually communicates all of the information
necessary for a buyer and the visual merchandisers to make a decision about
purchasing and displaying the collection.

Figure 6.1 Snippet of Trend Presentation

A presentation called the ‘Magic Box’ is prepared by the visual merchandisers

comprising the drop, trend name, the keywords to be used at the front end and make
consumers aware about the collection and hence the article they are purchasing.

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Figure 6.2 Snippet from Magic Box: Drop, trend Name, Keywords

The visual merchandisers prepare a sample layout each season which is followed at
all the stores across the various channels. The layout is done as per the area and the
fixtures of the store. The visual display includes the signage, the display of
merchandise which is the in-store product launch depending on the line sheet and the
communication with the buyers about the styles that will hit the store.
The façade or the window launch is planned depending on the trend sheet shared by
the designers. These displays are theme based, for example: the current display for
Johnny Bravo collection.

The VM team also conducts research on current and future trends in design and
lifestyle, and associated target market features so as to make the store visuals attractive
and relatable at the same time to the target customers. They study the moods of the
customers at a given point in time.

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Figure 6.3 VM Strategy

The visual merchandiser is responsible for identifying the appropriate supplier of

props, hardware and lighting to be sourced in bulk for every store as 31 the visual
display remains the same for every store throughout the country. Not only this, the
VM staff work with architectural features of stores to maximize the available space
so that the merchandise is visible to the customers and the store doesn’t look cluttered
at the same time.

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The visual merchandiser visits branches to coach in-store visual merchandising or

sales teams to interpret the guidelines and training them in the execution of the visual
concept

A monthly VM strategy layout is done for the four sub-brands. A season area is
decided to display the season merchandise. E.g. Premium, Tailoring for AW. The
façade is done weekly – the window mannequins are edited every week. The Originals
are displayed in the highest quantity followed by Core, Premium and Vintage.

6.2 SOURCING:

Once the order is placed, a sample is handed over to the vendor. This is the sample
created by the designers along with the CAD. The sample is sent to the vendor for
analysis – fabric, smv, pricing. After the analysis, sourcing receives the price and a
tentative delivery date for the style, which is forwarded to the buyers. The price if
seemingly exceeds the budget is negotiated with the vendors. The finalized price and
drop approval is received from the buyers and the order is sent to the vendors. The
order approval includes the pre-production sample, photoshoot sample and the fabric.
The final inspection is done and there are follow-ups for the delivery.

6.2.1 Delivery Overview:

The sourcing team maintains the delivery overview file (created fortnightly) which
presents the final drops as intimated by the vendor. The style numbers are created as
against the style name mentioning the color and the option id as well.
It also displays the samples selected for the press review. The cost price, MRP,
margins for each style is mentioned. Different POs are raised for SIS, SIS PR, and
also different POs for different regions.

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Order

Sample Handover

Analysis by Vendor
Issues Faced:

Buyer  Not matching the

Minimum Order
Drop + Price Approval
Quantity
 Price Negotiations
 Lead time / delays
Vendor

Order Approval

Final Inspection

Delivery Follow-up

The sheet mentions the estimated ETA, the status of the styles – Arrived at DC,
cancelled, Goods in transit, Goods not left. The actual arrival is compared with the
ETA informing us about the delayed or an early delivery.

The delivery overview sheet is shared with the buying and merchandising team. It
helps us track the delivery of the bought styles, during allocation and informs the
buyer about the cancelled styles.

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6.3 MARKETING:

The marketing is done as per the lot/drop which will hit the store. A sheet for the same
is shared by the buyers to the marketing team, the sheet mentions the theme/story and
the drops of the styles. The marketing team creates a presentation of the styles and
send it to the partners where the stylist selects the styles for the shoot. The agency
sends reference images (flat-lay) for the shoot setting out the props and the type of
locations that might be needed.
Once the location and product styling are agreed upon, 15-16 styles are shot in one
shoot, thereby shooting a month prior before the styles reach the store. The shots are
then put up on social media depending upon the drops mentioned.
Before shooting, a pre-production meeting is done where the budget for shoots, styles,
props is decided.

6.4 PLANNING:

The planning department determines the size of the goods to be purchased per
category compared to the budget of for a given time. Editing helps organization chart
the course of the achievement of its aims. The process begins with a review of the

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present organizational functions and identifying what needs improvement to work the
following year. From there, planning involves visualization the results the
organization wants to achieve, and to determine the steps it is necessary to get to the
intended destination - success, however measured in financial terms, or for purposes
that involve a high valuation organization with customer satisfaction. The planner
decides on Product Contribution integration. The sheet is useful in finding out if the
number of styles to buy next season. The planners also read previous sales reports to
come up with Open to buy quantity. An Open to buy program is a marketing
management inventory management tool it helps you figure out how much inventory
you need to buy every month to make your sales forecasts. It is a monetary value guide
the kind of product should be commercially viable, and constantly changing based on
how the business is working.

All stores in Bestseller are divided into clusters from A - at best to D - worse. Based
on total sales of stores, the planner puts the stores in specific clusters and then
organized each retail sales target accordingly.

6.5 DESIGNING:

As a fashion designer, the main task of the design team is to develop and create various
pieces of apparel. The team ought to have a design background and expertise in
apparel designing. The head at Jack & Jones does her research while others designers
in the team depend on trend reports published by fashion industry trade groups and
also keeping a close watch on competitor’s collection. The design team keep up to
date with emerging fashion trends as well as general trends relating to fabrics, colours
and shapes. They attend frequently held fashion shows and haute couture collection
launch as well as use software like WGSN to keep a track of what the future entails.
Trend reports help them know what styles, colours and fabrics will be popular for a
certain season in the near future. It’s not only the apparels that Jack & Jones offers. It
also offers a perfect ensemble of lifestyle. Thus, design team is always working on
developing either a new style or even a complete range. They also undertake styling
of merchandise to obtain a perfect look. They monitor the current fashion trends and

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movements with the purpose of designing products that meet contemporary

purchasing preferences.

The design team works with many other people. The design head is in charge of
supervising the design team, who does most of the actual drawing and cutting of
specific design ideas. In addition to this, the team also works with the marketing team
to determine the best way to present their ideas to the target customer. Not only this,
the team works closely with sales, buying and production teams on an ongoing basis
to ensure the item suits the customer, market and price points. The reason behind
consulting the buying team is the fact that the members of the buying team are made
to attend various trade shows and fashion shows to know more about market trend in
terms of fabric, trims and styles. The buying team conducts the trend spotting. Hence,
it is wiser for the design team to work closely in sync with the buying department.

This department understands the design from a technical perspective, i.e. producing
patterns and technical specifications of a design so as to attain efficiency and
effectiveness while producing a style. Technical aspect includes the fabric properties
and functions etc. The design team also assist the buyers while buying the readymade
styles during the buying meet as they are aware of the technicalities of the fabric and
the garment.

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6.6 OVERVIEW OF BRAND WORK FLOW:

• Analyse past business trends

• Markdowns
Planning • Financial plans and budget

• Analyse past season buying trends

B&M

• Studies global trends - selectively takes up trends

Design

• The B&M and Design reach a consensus for styles to be offered, thus a right mix of product and
B&M + decide the drops
Design

• Competitive Price, not compromising on quality

Sourcing

• The ordered merchandise reaches the warehouse

• The B&M allocates as per EBO, SIS, Online and TDR.
Allocation

• The VM department plans the displays which is standardized across stores.

VM

• They work on different avenues to increase visibility

• Celebrity tie-ups
Marketing • Marketing material like catalogues

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Chapter – 7
POTENTIAL CATEGORIES

7.1 MARKET RESEARCH AND RECOMMENDATION:

As observed, Jack and Jones does a small section for Footwear and accessories,
however it constitutes only a smaller proportion (2% approximately) of all the
categories. Studying the market trends Footwear and accessories is one the potential
category, where JJ can encash the opportunity.

Figure 7.1

• Growing attraction for the luxury lifestyle, high purchasing power and the
influence of celebrity endorsement are the key drivers.
• India and China take the centre stage
• India with a medium market size for accessories – the untapped potential can
be explored

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Taking in account the target audience that is 18-35 years of age following points can
be noted:
• The tastes and consumption patterns are influenced by international television
shows and the hold of social media
• This demography focuses more on functionality with fashion.
• Trend of accessorising as a fashion statement social media-savvy and fashion
conscious young man.
• Bespoke – is the concept (anything commissioned to a particular
specification, altered or tailored to the customs, tastes, or usage of an
individual purchaser)

As per the report published by mordorintelligence.com:

• The Indian fashion and lifestyle market is set to grow at a compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 12%.
• This includes a chunk of the total accessory market as well, which is estimated
to grow from 8.8% to 14%.

“People take their shoes very seriously”

o For Footwear, Nike and Adidas are the leading brands as per the study
o JJ sneakers should be based on utility and functionality.
o E.g. Nike categorises shoes as lifestyle or as per sports
o Product design could be evolved dropping the suede shoes.
o Since JJ focuses more on lifestyle segment, Zara and Levi’s are the direct
competitors.
o A look-book can be done for shoes to encapsulate the target customer.

“Eyewear – Fashion statement” (A research on eyewear trends attached at the end of

the chapter)
o The market is expected to grow annually by 5.6% (CAGR 2020-2023).
o Considering the market share of Lenskart that is 25%, JJ can collaborate for
statement pieces

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o On sustainable grounds, JJ can collaborate with small private labels to come

with a range of wooden eyewear.
o Zara does a range of sunglasses with the trending silhouettes.

Bags, Wallets and Card Holder

o There is huge opportunity in the market to venture into this segment.
o Although the initial number would be low, the product quality has to be
extremely superior along with offering the essential requirements of the
customers.
o The perceived MRP should be in sync with the actual MRP of the bags
which should offer some kind of utility to the customer.
o Starting with the timeless pieces would be a recommendation.

Style Recommendations:

Billfold wallet Card

Holder
Figure 7.2 Potential Categories: Style Recommendation
Figure 7.2 Potential Categories: Style Recommendations

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Leather Holdall /
Weekend Bag

Quirky Laptop Bag

Figure 7.2 Potential Categories: Style Recommendation

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• Considering the competitor study, Zara, Bershka are doing good number of
options in footwear accessories, H&M, though not a direct competitor but can
be looked into for the products being offered.
• The accessories could be used as cross-selling items with a look book being
introduced.
• Digital posts can be done to create the awareness – styling tips for accessories
• The opportunity lies in the fact that there is no particular brand doing only
men’s accessories.

7.2 EYEWEAR TREND FOR REFERENCE:

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Chapter – 8
SUSTAINABLITY STUDY

8.1 INTRODUCTION AND JJ STRATEGY:

Fashion – an industry of $2.4 trillion is considered one of the most polluting

industries. A research done by BBC says that the fashion industry accounts for
about 10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater - fashion sucks
up more energy than both aviation and shipping combined.
The issue is the complex supply chains and what to do with the clothing once the
customer no longer wants it. UN states the example of a pair of jeans consuming water
equivalent to 10 years’ worth of drinking water for one person i.e. 7,500-10,000 litres.
A study by the competitor Levi Strauss reveals that their iconic 501 jeans produce
33.4 kg of carbon dioxide of which 40% is from consumer use – washing and disposal
– the main reason Levis has come up with a campaign where they are educating
customers about washing denims.
Moreover, Amazon’s research shows that 33% of consumers see brands as responsible
for the environment.
Given the need of the hour, Bestseller is at par with its sustainability efforts. It has
introduced its Fashion FWD program with the vision – climate positive, fair for all
and circular by design. Bestseller has laid down the goals to be achieved by 2025 and
had published them online. The fashion FWD strategy covers 4 core areas of value
chain:

Re-evaluating the
value chain

Fashion FWD

Creating FWD Engaging FWD Making FWD Delivering FWD

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The strategy aims to achieve the transparency, traceability, digitalizing the ways of
working and constant innovation. The business aims to be climate positive by
removing more greenhouse gases than emitted; being fair for all by focusing on fair
wages; and circular in design by reusing resources at each level.

CREATING FORWARD - DESIGNING RESPONSIBLY

Source: https://about.bestseller.com/

Creating FWD aims at preferring fibers and materials with lower environmental
impact and innovative design philosophy. The recycled polyester made using plastic
bottles has already been put to use. The company has partnered with Ellen MacArthur
Foundation whose vision is to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
For sustainable cotton, Bestseller is sourcing it from Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) –
where the cotton is produced with minimal negative impact of pesticides and
fertilizers and also taking in account the workers’ safety and well-being. The second
alternative is Cotton Made in Africa (Cmia) which is improving the living conditions
of smallholder cotton farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Lyocell, recycled wool and post – consumer cotton are other methods where
innovation is focused.
Bestseller also focuses on Animal welfare and has been a part of Fur Free Retailer
Programme. The company has committed to source the wool as per the Responsible
Wool Standard by 2025.

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MAKING FORWARD – PRODUCING LEANER

Source: https://about.bestseller.com/

Making FWD aims at reducing the energy, water and chemicals used and the waste
that is created. Bestseller has set Greenhouse gas emissions reduction target with the
Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The plan is to focus on improving supplier
performance by consolidating the orders to the suppliers who score high on the
Sustainability Evaluation. The evaluation will be based on energy consumption and
the use of renewable energy. This will be done through factory visits and third party
verifications. The company has collaborated with Sustainable Apparel Coalition
(SAC) and is planning to adopt Higg Index to measure performance. (The Higg Index
measures environmental (energy/greenhouse gas emissions; water;
wastewater/effluent; air emissions; waste; and chemicals management) and social
impacts across the life cycle of an apparel and footwear product)
The next step is to decrease the volume of samples produced by employing
digitalisation. Moreover, an analysis has been done in order to mark the water
consumption. The company focuses on the chemical management - BESTSELLER’s
Restricted Substances List (RSL) describes the limitation and prohibition of
substances in products manufactured for BESTSELLER.

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ENGAGING FORWARD – CONSUMING BETTER

Source: https://about.bestseller.com/

Engaging FWD aims at fair incomes and women’s empowerment. As per this
initiative, Bestseller has published its factory list to maintain the transparency. The
company is also working on its diversity and inclusiveness awareness programme.
The HERproject is a programme in Bangladesh, India, Cambodia and Pakistan that
focuses on aspects of female health, including personal hygiene, birth control,
maternal health, contagious diseases and nutrition.
As a member of Action Collaboration Transformation, Bestseller follows the
collective bargaining approach between employers and workers and their
representatives.
The Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (known as ‘the Accord’) was
formed as an agreement between the international union IndustriALL to better and
safer working conditions for over 240,000 workers.
Bestseller promotes workplace safety - BESTSELLER CARES Programme in
Denmark seeks to safeguard the physical and mental well-being of the colleagues with
special health insurance coverage, inhouse physiotherapy and nutritionally beneficial
food in our canteens. The company has various training programmes to develop and
enhance the skills.

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DELIVERING FORWARD – CONSUMING BETTER

Source: https://about.bestseller.com/

Delivering FWD aims at transparency and circular model. Bestseller is the strategic
Partner of the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), a leadership forum aiming to mobilize
the global fashion system towards circularity. The future plan is to contribute to the
collection of used garments to drastically reduce the amount that ends up in landfill.
Bestseller down-cycles its damaged products. The excess products are either sold at
discounts or donated to Danish Red Cross.
For transparency, Bestseller focuses on:
 Publishing a list of key material (tier 2) suppliers by 2021
 Providing the customers with information on the environmental impacts of the
products and show year-on-year improvements.

To maintain the transparency Bestseller published the sustainability report in 2018

with a detailed outlook on 2025 plans.

8.2 MARKET STUDY AND SUSTAINABLITY:

Just like customization counters, the brand can set up counters for second-hand
clothing terming it as vintage and relating to subcultures, at the same time making the
customer aware of the reasons behind it.
Informing customers how to make the best out of clothing piece and making them part
of the sustainability initiative by making them aware for how long a piece of clothing
can be worn to minimize the environmental impacts. Example – a research says that
continuing to actively wear a garment for just nine months longer could diminish its
environmental impacts by 20–30% - thus one must invest in high quality clothing.

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Making people aware about the low environmental impact clothing, e.g. JJ’s low
impact denim and also giving customers washing tips through in-store posters or
posters online or just a little guide on the tags.
For fabrics that cannot recycled to make another garment, the company can
collaborate with NGOs or organizations to produce out of the box things, for example
– recycled fabric bags, wall art from waste clothing etc.

8.2.1 Fashion transparency index:

A thorough study of Fashion Transparency Index (published by Fashion Revolution)
was done. Bestseller’s score for both JJ and VeroModa was in the range 21-30% being
less than its competitors (Zara, Bershka, Levis who stand at a score of 41-50%). The
transparency index is measured on the following parameters –

 POLICY COMMITMENTS

https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/

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 GOVERNANCE APPROACH
- Who in the company is accountable for social and environmental performance
and impacts
- See if brands publish direct contact details for relevant department
- Name of the board member who is responsible for social and environmental
issues.
- See if brands are disclosing how their employees beyond the
sustainability/CSR team (buyers, designers, sourcing) are incentivized to
achieve improvements in social and environmental impacts.
-
 TRACEABILITY

https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/

 KNOW, SHOW, FIX

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 SPOTLIGHT ISSUES

https://www.fashionrevolution.org/about/transparency/

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SCORES

PARAMETERS/SCORE Bestseller Competitors

Policy Commitments 61-70% 81-90% ( Zara, Pull n Bear)
Governance Approach 31-40% 41-50% ( Levis)
61-70% (Zara, Bershka)
Traceability 21-30% 11-20% ( Zara, Bershka)
Know, show, Fix 11-20% 31-40% (Zara)
41-50% ( Levis)
Spotlight Issue 11-20% 41-50% (Zara)

Given the comparative study, Bestseller has the lowest score in Know, show, fix and
the Spotlight Issues, thus have an overall low score of 30% implying that the company
is likely to be publishing more detailed information about the policies, procedures,
governance, social and environmental goals and supplier assessment. The brand
publishes a basic list of manufactures only containing the factory name and address,
there is less or no sharing about supplier assessment. The spotlight issues are just
touched upon and not widely disclosed.

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Given H&M with the highest score

of 70%, few things can be taken
into account:
- Answering the customers for
any questions they have.

Figure 8.1.1 H&M Transparency tactics

- Coming up with a collection specifically focused on innovative fabrics or ways

of sustainability, e.g. – Join Life by Inditex, Conscious by H&M. Moreover,
giving the audience some ‘did you know’ facts.

Figure 8.1.2 H&M Transparency tactics

- Giving information about the product, e.g., H&M has created a system where
the customers can scan the barcode over the tag through the H&M application
and they are directed to the page displaying the information about the product
– material, country, suppliers, factory.

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8.3 STRATEGIZING FOR COVID:

Taking the current pandemic situations into account, the brand would need to
change the strategies and selling patterns to be at par with the industry and to combat
the situation in a mindful way. The reports say that every brand is studying China
closely to watch the consumer spending patterns. The retailers in China resorted to
providing cash vouchers to induce shopping. However, staying at home has given
people more time to think and reflect on their choices, therefore, sustainability
remains the core of the consumption patterns. As per Business of Fashion (report The
State of Fashion 2020), the consumers might grow antipathy towards waste-producing
models. They might focus on conscious shopping. Contrary to this, the research says
that the consumers might return to outside clothing – revenge shopping as termed by
the researchers in China and hence the specialists suggest that brands can capitalize
on occasion of dressing up. In essence, the brands have to have a balanced approach
even after the dust settles and not being complacent – continuous study of consumer
behavior and demands.

Given the elective nature of fashion, the brands need to display connection and hence
the models might be customer driven. A survey by McKinsey reveals that 48% of
population surveyed in US say that economic uncertainty has held them back to make
the purchases they would have otherwise made. Digitization as already been predicted
as one of the mega trends is what brands are planning to extract the advantage of – the
direction in which the consumer preferences are also moving.

 Since shopping is shifting online, Levi’s partnered with Japan’s online

fashion store to tackle size issues – one of the main reasons of return in e-
commerce. The customer just has to enter his/her weight and height, the
system uses the data to find the perfect fit for them from the 64 different
sizes as accommodated basis the weight and height criteria. (Sizing
technology)
 Another initiative can be to give virtual tours to customers/virtual
showrooms. Levi’s played on this by giving a virtual view of its display of
history at the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Another example is of the

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brand Asics which conducted a review with media employing VR and

headsets to watch the holographic presentation.
 With the movement of shopping to online space, brand can provide live
chat sessions with the sale assistant or at the least have the chat bot feature
on the website to give a personalized experience to the customers.
 Another approach can be to play higher on the core product line of the
brand – thereby offering lower price points but more options at the same
time. This will also cut the need for rampant discounting. Another strategy
can be repurposing the existing stock, e.g. product bundling of a shirt and
t-shirt, calculating a price for the bundled products differently whilst
maintaining the margins.

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Chapter 9

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

 Maintaining a range book with price, fabric, cost, margin, grading, fit/style
description.
 The review for Top 10 / top 20 styles should be done before the buying for a
season starts.
 Do a review with sourcing time with a temporary buy sheets especially for
pants to check for cancellations and then substituting with other options to
maintain the mix (as per the buy summary sheet analysis)
 The buy for east is less and hence also the sales contribution implying that east
has potential, thereby more can bought for the region.
 Shirts and T-shirts are potential categories with more of full sleeves being
introduced in AW.
 Shorts being the seasonal category, can perform better if the styles hit the store
during the months of August and September
 For Outerwear, INR 6499 can be worked through the potential by buying
more.
 AOP and Solids can be variated and experimented for T-shirts.
 The overall analysis reveal that range can be done around Beige, Black, Off-
white and white colors.
 Taking the sell-through analysis for MRP into account and the competitor
analysis INR 1400-1999 has potential for JJ
 A strategy similar to Pepe can be followed within a high performing price
range i.e. either 2500-2999 or 3000-3499 (offers shirts at a difference of every
INR 100).

 Taking sustainability and climate into account – Plant a tree for every
sustainable product sold
o E.g. sustainable brand No Nasties – they have a groove where they
plant tree for each product sold.
 Offering Customisation at stores E.g. Pepe, UCB

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 In-store music experience

 The brand can do exclusive collection in collaboration with famous artists
which would be available only for a limited period of time – it would buy it
now or never. This would also create an impulse in the customers to buy the
product – hence higher rate of sales, higher revenue. This will fulfill the social
currency aspect of customers (share to look good in front of others)
 The audience Jack and Jones target are huge fan of gaming and thus, can
experiment with the video game concert while collaborating with a music
artist.
 Referral marketing, organizing competitions and storytelling.
 Coming up with a collection specifically focused on innovative fabrics or ways
of sustainability, e.g. – Join Life by Inditex, Conscious by H&M. Moreover,
giving the audience some ‘did you know’ facts.

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CONTACTS MADE

1. Mr. Murli Manohar Methil, Head – Buying & Merchandising – JJ

Partner Business
E-mail Id – [email protected]

2. Ms. Sagarika David, Assistant Manager

E-mail Id – [email protected]

3. Mr. Bhanu Gaur, Buyer

E-mail Id – [email protected]

4. Ms. Rupalli Mallick, Buyer

E-mail Id – [email protected]

5. Ms. Vedika Kumar, Buyer & Merchandiser, Jack & Jones Online
E-mail Id – [email protected]

6. Mr. Sayed Mohd. Yasin, Visual Merchandiser

E-mail Id – [email protected]

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REFERENCES

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/are-millennials-interested-in-art-yes-
new-park-west-gallery-study-finds-300718490.html

https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/why-the-music-industry-needs-the-
video-gaming-industrys-help-to-scale-virtual-concerts/

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/24/entertainment/travis-scott-fortnite-
concert/index.html

https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/menswear-market

https://www.indiaretailing.com/2019/11/11/fashion/mens-western-wear-market-
evolving-rapidly-in-india/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/storytelling-examples/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/fashion-marketing-examples/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/lululemon-marketing-strategy/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/warby-parker-marketing-story/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/social-currency-marketing-examples/

https://www.referralcandy.com/blog/47-referral-programs/#fashion

https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/20/levis-partnered-with-tiktok-on-social-commerce-
and-doubled-its-product-views/

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/covid-19-might-change-the-way-we-dress-forever

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/cons-products/fashion-/-cosmetics-/-
jewellery/covid-19-impact-fashion-brands-push-spring-summer-clothing-till-
october-to-clear-inventory/articleshow/75206286.cms
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/the-state-of-fashion-2020-
coronavirus-update-bof-mckinsey-report-release-download

https://www.businessoffashion.com/daily-digest/2020/05/07?from=2020-05-
06&to=2020-05-07

https://www2.hm.com/en_in/hm-sustainability/lets-change.html

https://www.zara.com/in/en/man-shirts-l737.html?v1=1445099

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NIFT Resource Centre:

- Graduation Research Project: Category Performance Analysis for
Development of Option Plan for SS18
- Graduation Research Project: Designing an Ideal Merchandise Mix for
Tommy Hilfiger Men’s Sport-line Collection based on HIT Analysis and Store
Clustering

Sahyadri Journal of Management: Brand Positioning of Men Apparel Brands

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: Sell-through Analysis

Category-MRP Contribution and Proposed Option Plan

Table A1.1

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Table A1.1 (Continued)

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Lifestyle Sell-Through Analysis

Table A1.2

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Attribute Sell-Through Analysis

Table A1.3

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Fit Sell-Through Analysis

Table A1.4

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Color Sell-Through Analyis

Table A1.5

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Table A1.5 (Continued)

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Proposed Size Mix

Table A1.6

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Table A1.6 (Continued)

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APPENDIX 2: Competitive Mapping: Product, Price Comments

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APPENDIX 3: Suggested Styles (Detailed PPT)

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