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The Rise of the Continental Chain on The British Highstreet
By Terissa Teh
Going back some 40 years ago pre-defined lifestyle shopping was all the rage in the 60's where shops such as Habitat and Biba catered for young aspiring consumers. They showcased ideal lifestyles and made shoppers think "which one do I belong to?" followed by buying into either this lifestyle or that lifestyle. This in turn led to decisions on what sort of image they wanted to project to match in with their new found style. Major clothing stores jumped on the bandwagon in the 'coming of age' 70's period such as Mothercare & Marks and Spencer then big player Next in the 80's which were hot favourites.

During this period further a field Italian Benetton positioned themselves on our high street with its vast colourful offer of well made clothing. Their formula worked well with strikingly modern window displays showcased in all white stores with free standing units. There was something for all the family in Benetton and most major fashion themes were apparent in their collections. In fact there was a time when consumers would have been happy to be dressed head to toe in Benetton but those days of brand loyalty are now over.

The company had a good run in Britain and although is still a long standing store they have failed to keep up with the increased high fashion pressure from other European competitors that are now the familiar names to most regular shoppers, those being H&M, Mango and Zara.

The emergence of these relatively new stores on our high street has been so successful due to a high demand for fast fashion. Styles featured in magazines are what we want to wear here and now, disposable items that can be mixed with the more expensive, classic pieces already in our wardrobes.

High end designers have created brand extensions that offer these same pieces but on an average income who can afford to spend their hard earned cash on triple figure nautical wear that will only be a fashion faux pas in a couple of seasons?

This thinking is exactly what has fueled the success of affordable European fashion brands.

H&M a Swedish brand who pride themselves in being cost conscious was inspired by US stores in the 50's which offered ready to wear boutiques stocking fashionable clothes at affordable prices. Their winning formula of their own motto "fashion & quality at the best price" inventive design, easily affordable and efficient logistics. A team of 100 designers based in Stockholm make sure that they do not copy runway styles. Their influences instead range from street trends, exhibitions, movies, magazines and trade fairs. Designs leave their computer screens and reach shop floors within an impressive 2-3weeks.
Their high profile designer collaborations have caused the UK in particular the corner of Oxford Circus mayhem with Karl Lagerfield and Stella McCartney designing entire collections attainable to the masses.

This is backed up by their large scale advertising campaigns that easily compete with the big brands using models such as Claudia Schiffer, Jade Jagger, Heidi Klum and Helena Christensen to show H&M's mixture of style, looks and ages.

All these factors contribute to a global annual turnover of 56.5 billion SEK (US$7billion), not bad for cheap clothing…

A store that chooses not to spend money on advertising is Zara, part of one of Europe's largest, fastest growing and most successful clothing retailers, Grupo Inditex. Other well known chains within the same chain are Pull and Bear, Massimo Dutti and Bershka. Inditex trades across 2,240 stores in 56 countries worldwide and is particularly apparent in the UK.

But if all are in direct competition with one another, how do these stores manage to co-exist often on the same high street or shopping centre in major UK shopping districts?

The first Zara shop opened in La Coruna, Galicia, in 1975 and there are now over 400 Zara stores around the world. In the last 5 years their sales have increased by 25% year on year. But what sets them apart from close competitors H&M and Mango?

For one Zara has its own design and manufacturing centre in La Coruna - Spain, this means that they cancel out the huge sourcing operation that H&M looks after in more than 900 different firms. The average age of their employees is 26 so they live, wear and define their key audience of shoppers. The brand itself is contemporary and lifestyle offering directional yet classic clothing for women, men and children. It is affordable, cutting edge and although not of the highest manufacturing quality, will last for a few seasons.
If you have ever tried their trousers you will know they are made for 6ft women but smarter pieces have that certain Spanish tailoring which is always more appealing than our homegrown labels.
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Similarly to H&M they can produce new lines within 3 weeks and unlike higher end brands that need to predict designs and produce in 9 months high fashion brand designers can instead react to high street shoppers' needs. Their ranges are smaller yet more frequent giving buyers ample choice and a need to repeat visit stores to check what's new. In a typical year Zara introduces 11000 new garments and many of these will only be available to buy for a few weeks before selling out.

Zara are able to co-exist with their high competitor H&M because as with Mango their clothes have a higher stylised edge translating catwalk trends to the high street.

Mango, another Spanish company is a prestigious multinational company dedicated to the design, manufacture and marketing of fast fashion and accessories solely for women.
Their lines are Casual Sport, Suit and Mng Jeans, from pure basics to high fashion exists informal and formal collection aimed at a large public whose style is in between suit and sometimes more casual sportswear.

They might not be as large as Grupo Inditex or H&M but MNG has performed well in the UK. As with H&M they produce stunning advertising campaigns with innovative fashion photography and without any luxury designer collaborations.

No concentrated shopping area seems complete without any if not all of these three brands. Even if seemingly common each store is still unique as it's customised by buyer allocation to ensure clone stores do not exist. The location of each shop deeply reflects what is inside and what the demands from shopper feedback are.

Aside from variations in product offering there is an existing core of intelligent logistics within each of these brands. Highly efficient communication between sales from the store directly to their headquarters and manufacturers enable them to stay at the front of their high paced turnover.

The fact of the matter is consumers are becoming smarter in the way that they shop. Although they will always have their preferential designer they will also know that a disposable piece of high fashion from a chain store will complete their outfit just as well. At prices so affordable all of these retail concepts play on those Friday nights when a shopper feels that they have nothing to wear and a guilt free trip to one of these stores will solve that problem; and with so many new looks to create who better to turn to than the cheap and chic Continentals?

Notes
www.benetton.com
www.hm.com
www.zara.com
www.mango.com

Terissa can be contacted at: qt@london.com