Retail Marketing

Retail marketing

Sellier Knightsbridge – preloved boutique – Conscious consumerism –

– focusing on a fashion company or brand’s retail strategies as they relate to the consumer experience.

– use primary and secondary research methods to analyse the chosen company or brand in relation to current retail trends and the particular challenges facing the global fashion industry.

– How is this retailer demonstrating their commitment to sustainability and catering to the increasingly conscious consumer?
– How is it reflected in product / store environment / promotions / advertising etc? Is it greenwashing?

Outline

– Introduction
❖ Background of the brand
❖ Conscious consumerism issue in the world and its relation to retail marketing vs second hand industry
– Sellier Knightsbridge’s retail marketing strategy
Sustainability
Product portfolio
Social media engagement
Physical store environement
– Conclusion
Descriptive part about the product and linking to the analysis
Critical side of the boutique
Recommendations
1. Introduction

Sellier knighstbridge is a “UK’s fastest growing luxury reseller for pre-loved superbrands”.
It has one of the greatest collections of the rarestn Vintage Chanel handbags to the rarest Hermes handbags. Founded by mother and daughter, Sellier Knightsbridge has gained its customers’ trust i a very short period of time.

With the understanding of inevitable affect of fast fashion on our planet, climate change, the founders of Sellier knightsbridge encourage its customers to invest in timeless pieces at a more affordable price with luxuryy

With headquarters based in London, UK, Sellier Knightsbridge has recently opened their Monaco branch.

Our latest spend data, based on the purchasing habits of over 22 million UK bank cards, shows that in the past year, spend at second-hand marketplaces has jumped 85%.

To stay “on trend” with this growing set of consumers, retailers and marketers should consider making their eco-friendly ranges front and centre of their marketing campaigns and offer discounts on such clothing lines to shoppers.

There is a growing trend with a “new” consumer group which forces traditional retailers to consider and adapt their eco-friendly ranges in their campaigns and adapt this new business model.

People who shop for second-hand items tend to be conscious consumers who are aware forth negative effects of the fashion industry(Sweeny,2016)and the have initiated to make lifestyle adjustments to make better purchasing decisions.

Second-hand shopping consumers are classified through the conscious consumption (orgreen)theory(Peattie,1992),which is defined as“the purchasing and non- purchasing decisions made by consumers, based at least partly on environmental or social criteria” (p.118). Second-hand shopping isa outlet of conscious consumerism in modern society because it signifies recycling andrews clothing.

In the third quarter of 2020, e-commerce sales rose 37 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to the US Census Bureau.

London based luxury consignment store, Sellier Knightsbridge prides itself having a sustainable approach to conscious consumerism. On their website, while promoting the products, on emails, the brand is constantly reminding its customers about their environmentally friendly decision and thanks them. The question whether this approach covers only marketing tactic or a genuine willingness to be sustainable and environmentally friendly will be analysed in the following report.

2. Conscious Consumerism, Fast Fashion and Fashion Marketing

Fast fashion and slow fashion have been discussed more deeply since the pandemic hit our planet. Before discussing how and why slow fashion is becoming more popular and how consumers are changing their shopping behaviour, the terms should be clearly defined. Fast fashion is a term which describes mass market retailers , producing inexpensive garments in short, large quantities and in a short period of time. Whereas slow fashion is the complete opposite, where brands are producing garments based on their quality and longevity. The latter is the tactic which business.

Covid-19 and following natural disasters have led people to become more environmentally aware and make decisions in favour of mother nature. A targeted survey conducted in the last quarter of 2020 to assess consumers’ attitudes, behaviour and experience during the COVID-19 pandemic showed that 56% of consumers said environmental concerns influenced their purchasing decisions and 67% said that they bought products that were better for the environment, even if such products were more expensive.

Second-hand clothing market (e.g., redistribution systems) falls under collaborative consumption (Becker-Leifhold & Iran, 2018; Botsman & Rogers, 2010, 2011; Iran & Schrader, 2017) involving markets, where strangers, as opposed to kin and acquaintances, exchange goods and services (Schor & Fitzmaurice, 2015).

According to thredUP’s most recent resale report, the secondhand market is poised to hit a whopping US$64 billion within the next five years, and leading this growth is the resale sector, which is set to overtake the traditional thrift segment by 2024.

Analysts also predict that the total secondhand market will grow to US$80 billion by 2029, representing almost double the size of the US$43 billion fast fashion industry. The resale segment will lead the secondhand market at US$44 billion, while the traditional thrift sector will make up US$36 billion of the market.

The reuse of SHC underpins mindful thinking – a customer-centric approach to sustainability.
3. Sellier Knightsbridge Retail Marketing Strategy

Sellier Knightsbridge was founded in 2019 by two fashion lovers, a mother and a daughter, who were already sourcing rarest pieces for their close friends in private. After Covid-19 has hit the worlds, they had to change the brick and mortar business model of the company. A website was built in order to move everything online. Since then, Sellier Knighstbridge most sales come from online sales.

With headquarters based in the heart of London, Knightsbridge , Sellier Knightsbridge has become UK’s most trusted consignment store in a very short time despite the pandemic.

With repeated lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic causing chaos, the founders decided to launch an online platform to support their bricks-and-mortar store through the closures:

‘The idea behind the online launch was to replicate the experience of going shopping with a friend – showing amazing products that fit different styles and budgets, trying these styles on and explaining the product using our social platforms, predominately Instagram stories,’ says Hanushka.

The online website has been built, social media incorporation has been efficiently which have led to a change in a business structuring style. Now, Sellier Knightsbridge’ sales are mostly coming from online website, be it from the website or the instagram stories. Furthermore, having 60% of returning customer rate is showing the reliability, functionality of the business. How has the business achieved to make “another” preloved second hand boutique in the market one of the top companies in the industry, featuring in different magazines, blogs will be discussed later on.

3.1 Sustainability Commitment
On their website under every product description the company makes the following statement:
“… purchasing with us is contributing to an ethical and sustainable fashion future…You are making great choices for the planet and for yourself, Love Sellier…”

The founder claims that there has been a great shift in consumer awareness and behaviour change. Hanushka Toni, the co founder, is stating that few years ago
‘most people wouldn’t have given a second thought to the vast amount of resources, water and chemicals that go into manufacturing everything we wear. We also didn’t think as much about the huge volume of textile waste resulting from fast fashion.
‘Today, we are seeing buyers increasingly aware of the fact that [buying] pre-loved not only represents amazing value for money, but also the right choice for the environment – especially when we are talking about luxury products, which are built to last.’
‘The pandemic has really driven home the importance of our environment and being responsible for the world we live in,’ says Hanushka.

Fast fashion feels good in the moment, but the economics of it is pretty appalling. Take a Zara dress, which you may buy for £50. You may wear it three times and then sell it on Depop for £10 or give it to charity, which will probably incinerate it because they’ve got too much Zara anyway. Or, you could go and buy a beautiful vintage Chanel dress for say £350. On the base of it, yes of course it’s more expensive, but you’ll probably end up wearing that dress for the next three years because it’s a special piece. And when you come to sell it, you may sell it for what you paid for it, or even for a profit, and the person who buys it will do exactly the same thing. If you buy the right thing, and it’s a luxury pre-loved garment, you’re never really going to lose money.

Vintage is already conscious so they don’t need to shout out about it , therefore Sellier Knightsbridge is not mentioning sustainability on every story they post, on their main page on website. Customers are already aware of the company being second hand. What makes Sellier Knightsbridge the one, is the limited quantities of items that they accept to re-sell from their customers. They spend certain amount of time into pricing, describing and shooting the new items which needed to be uploaded to their website. Every item brought into the store goes through the authentication process of the microscopic authentication technology.

3.2 Product Portfolio
Sellier Knightsbridge’s product portfolio range consists of ready-to-wear clothes, bags, shoes and accessories for women only. When exploring the online website, among categories of products, they have “New Drops” where they add all new items of the day and week. The main product group of the brand are the bags, especially Chanel and Hermes bags, which are very hard to get.

When browsing through their website, the awareness of sustainability or the intention to draw the conscious consumerism image is lacking. The main focus is drawn toward the rarity, exclusivity of the items, this strategy can be explained to make the brand luxury, exclusive and exquisite. Surprisingly, this strategy does not affect the conscious consumers, on the contrary it makes customers buy the items in a very short period of time. It can be assumed that in order to showcase the consciousness and environmentally friendly image of the company the promotional activities towards this should be developed in order to diminish the risk of the image loss.
3.3 Consignment Service
The evolution towards terminated ownership is primarily inspired by the younger generations , who are constantly thriving for newness, while also caring about sustainability issues ( BoF and McKinsey &Company, 2019). With Sellier Knightsbridge customers can easily sell their unused items from luxury brands making money out of them as well as contributing to the environment.

On the website, customers can conveniently fill the form with every detail in order to get the quote for their unwanted items.

3.3 Social Media Advertising and Website Design

Sellier Knightsbridge puts a great effort into social media advertising. The admin has hired a group of social girls as they call it, who post every day on their stories, communicating with customers.

3.4 Physical Store Environment
3.5 Provide adequate training for employees
3.6 Pricing Strategy
3.7 Emailing strategy
4. Conclusion

Articles to read

https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/10/7/20894134/consumer-activism-conscious-consumerism-explained
https://www.beyondretro.com/pages/our-sustainable-vision
https://fashionista.com/2019/09/carbon-neutral-fashion-brands-greenwashing
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/society-and-culture/debenhams-closing-down-boohoo-fast-fashion-ethical-sustainable
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/212811788.pdf
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/212811788.pdf
GREGSON, N. and CREWE, L. (2003) Second-hand cultures. Oxford: Berg. (Materializing culture)
References
Include – 4 ps of retail marketing
4 cs of retail marketing
Omni chanell retailing

https://fashionunited.uk/news/retail/depop-opens-pop-up-store-in-selfridges/2019080644620
Depop pop up store in selfridges – might be recommendation

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/retail/the-future-of-online-shopping/