Fashion Accessories Retailing - UK - The Consumer – Where They Buy Accessories
Mintel and GMI
then asked the nationally representative group the following question:
“Where did you buy accessories for yourself, your
partner, or as a gift, in the last 12 months?”
Key points
●
M&S is the leading
retailer for buying accessories, but it is only just ahead of Primark. While
M&S has increased its percentage of customers strongly since 2004, the
biggest gainers include Primark, Accessorize and Burton. This shows how
consumers are attracted by low price, fashion and also more design-orientated
specialist retailers’ ranges.
●
The internet is now
a major channel for accessories as 16% of adults bought accessories online in
2008. Accessories are easy to buy remotely as there are no size/fit issues.
●
Supermarkets’ share
of shoppers has declined. Their somewhat limited offers and often poor displays
could be key factors here. Also, Tesco does not have a transactional website
for its clothing lines – but will soon so this should boost its opportunity to sell
more.
●
There is little
loyalty among accessory shoppers. Stronger commitment to the fashion
accessories category by retailers is needed to build repeat visits and
purchases – such as stronger integration with the clothing lines and stronger
promotion in the windows, in-store and in advertising.
Winners and losers
●
The
table below highlights the biggest winners and losers over both the 2004-09
period and the latest year. While Primark and value retailers have become more
popular, supermarkets have slipped behind, which indicates that people are not
just shopping on cheap price, but also want fashion and style.
●
While
M&S (28%), Next (18%) and New Look (14%) have remained stable in 2008,
other winners have been the specialists, including Accessorize. This indicates
that people are looking for a good choice and something different, and are
willing to pay a premium for that.
FIGURE 18: Winning and losing retailers, in the % of
consumers buying accessories from them, 2004-09 and 2008-09
Biggest winners 2004-09*
|
Biggest winners
2008-09 |
Biggest losers
2004-09 |
Biggest losers
2008-09 |
M&S
|
Value
retailers**
|
Other dept
stores
|
Supermarkets
|
Next
|
Accessorize
|
Sports shops
|
Debenhams
|
New Look
|
Primark
|
Debenhams
|
River Island
|
Topshop/Topman
|
Burton
|
Market stalls
|
Bhs
|
Accessorize
|
Market stall
|
Other clothing
shop
|
Dorothy Perkins
|
Claire’s
|
Other accessory
specialists
|
Airport/abroad
|
John Lewis
|
Dorothy Perkins
|
Other accessory
specialist
|
Sports Shops
|
|
Burton
|
House of Fraser
|
||
Other dept
store
|
|||
Airport/abroad
|
* excluding
Primark and Value Retailers as these were not surveyed separately in 2004 and
2005. Also excluding online, which was only surveyed separately in 2009
** excluding Primark – surveyed separately in 2006-2009. Also excluding online, only surveyed separately in 2009
** excluding Primark – surveyed separately in 2006-2009. Also excluding online, only surveyed separately in 2009
SOURCE:
Mintel
2009 retailers bought from
●
As
in the clothing and underwear markets, Marks & Spencer is the clear leader
as the retailer where most consumers buy fashion accessories. However, its lead
here is very much challenged by Primark (only 3 percentage points behind), so
it needs to boost its USPs more, for example through quality, while also
possibly promoting its fashion credentials more in accessories.
●
Internet
is also a much stronger competitor here than for underwear (11% compared to
16%) as most accessories do not have the size/fit issues, and are therefore
much easier to buy remotely. However, it is of note that traditional mail order
has significantly declined, and this could be due to migration by the mail
order companies and by consumers from this channel to the internet.
M&S needs to make a stronger fashion statement
●
Marks
& Spencer is making inroads into attracting 20- and 30-somethings buying
accessories, though its core customers remain the over-45s, and most likely
ABs.
●
M&S
has an opportunity to make a bigger fashion statement with accessories –
perhaps giving them more prime space and grouping them into fashion themes of
the season (ie colour, print, occasion) as well as displaying them among the
clothing (to show what they can go with). The retailer could also look to make
more of its ‘outstanding value’ products (better signage/displays/window
promotions), to attract a broader socio-economic group.
Primark and New Look’s opportunity is men
●
While
Primark is the most popular destination for young women, it could do a lot more
to attract men (it has 18% of male shoppers compared to 32% of women) and its
currently limited accessory range (apart from a fairly good selection of ties)
could be usefully expanded. However, Primark’s strength is that it is shopped
at almost equally by all socio-economic groups (with the highest concentration
among under-34s, but also 21% of 35-54s), and across most geographic regions.
●
New
Look’s menswear range in clothing has expanded in choice and number of stores,
but accessories are still quite limited. As with Primark, there is an
opportunity to expand on their male accessories.
The internet cannot be ignored
●
Both
men and women are buying accessories online, and they are most likely to be
under-34s. As the supermarkets’ main customers are over-25s, they have the
opportunity to attract this younger customer via their websites – though Tesco
will not launch its site until the autumn, which means it could have been
losing out on potential sales.
●
The
internet cannot be ignored by any retailer (and accessories are ideal to buy
online, as there are no size/fit issues), so we would expect Primark to look at
this channel to further boost its sales in the future.
●
Next’s
key strength is its well-established multichannel operations. It has a fairly
broad appeal, but needs to encourage more 40-somethings, in order to be more of
a competitive challenge to M&S.
Key analysis:
Multichannel is crucial: The opportunity to reach all consumers everywhere is
particularly vital with accessories, and not all are making the most of the
opportunity. Among value retailers, New Look reports fast growing sales whilst
Primark has yet to go transactional. This must surely be just a matter of time,
but requires investment in infrastructure and logistics in order to keep its
prices low.
Promote the
broader offer: M&S is only making fairly small inroads in attracting
younger customers and those from lower socio-economic grades. While maintaining
its quality credentials, it could usefully highlight outstanding value and
fashionability more strongly. Window displays with more use of accessories
could help. River Island is a good example of a retailer that uses accessories
very effectively in its windows along with the clothing offer.
Supermarkets may
be losing out: A relatively small percentage of consumers are buying
accessories from supermarkets – they are bigger players in clothing – and this
could be due to the limited product offer and some poor displays. They may be
concerned about shoplifting and so having a strong transactional website is
essential – this autumn sees Tesco finally launch its site.
Debenhams may
have gone too aspirational. The department store is most popular among 25+ and
ABC1s (16% compared to 9% C2DEs). The retailer has worked hard, and succeeded,
in becoming more fashion aspirational. But in accessories – which are dominated
by the brands and Designers at Debenhams ranges – it may need to ensure a
greater balance with lower-price/great value merchandise. As it is strongly
multichannel, it could use its website for promoting its broad accessories
ranges more strongly with budget/style advice.
Young fashion
retailers could stretch age appeal. Topshop, Topman, River Island and H&M
have the opportunity to appeal more to the 25-34s, as people buying accessories
from them significantly decline after the age of 25, according to Mintel’s
consumer research, although much of their accessory product offer has a broad
age appeal for people interested in fashion. Promoting accessories as ‘wardrobe
updates’ and ‘easy fashion’ may encourage them.
This could also
stretch value appeal. While these young fashion retailers offer well-priced
accessories – especially H&M – they only have limited penetration of lower
income groups. Stronger promotion of ‘great value fashion updates’ in the
window could be an attraction.
Claire’s is
strong. This retailer’s enticing – if often dense and difficult to shop – store
environment and product offer clearly has great appeal both to youngsters
buying for themselves and older women buying gifts. There is no ‘social divide’
although Claire’s is clearly looking to have a more aspirational appeal, for
instance in their recent introduction of more leather items in bags and belts
(see company profile).
Further analysis
Here we look at
what fashion accessories consumers have been buying over the past year, by
which retailers they have bought from.
●
New Look appeals
for fashion and value: High percentages of consumers buying belts (70%),
handbags (71%) and scarves (61%) bought from New Look. It has a strong
selection of well priced fashion accessories (under £30) that provide
gratification without breaking the bank.
●
Gloves are strong
online:
Consumers buying gloves and hats bought from the internet (47% and 42%
respectively). Gloves are commodity purchases, but are also considered
traditional gifts.
●
Online purchasing
of hats driven by choice: The popularity of buying hats online is, however, less
obvious, as trying them on to see suitability is probably more key here than
for other fashion accessories. However, there are many special occasion
websites for hats, and the popularity of fascinators will have been an
influence here – they have less need to be tried on.
●
Opportunity for
M&S: Consumers
buying belts, handbags and hats are least likely to have bought from Marks
& Spencer, showing a clear opportunity for the retailer to become stronger
here via clearer displays, co-ordination with clothing and more visual ‘how to
wear’ style suggestions.
Key analysis:
Young fashion retailers are hotspots for belts: This shows how they (ie New
Look and Dorothy Perkins) have capitalised on these products being in the
fashion spotlight – they often show belts on mannequins, both in the window and
in-store, and are generally strong on visual merchandising. Clearly Debenhams
and Accessorize could do more in this regard.
Accessorize a
handbag destination: Despite its often small stores, more than three-quarters
of consumers buying handbags bought from Accessorize. In fact, it is the most
popular (77 %) destination for bags among the retailers in this survey. A key
attribute is the breadth of offer – from inexpensive canvas shoppers to
decorative premium evening styles – and distinctive design handwriting. It is
also making more of its Fairtrade selection of bags this year.
H&M’s strong
backing of scarf trend pays off: Of all the fashion retailers in 2008, H&M
was the strongest in jumping on the catwalk trend for headscarves and other
scarf designs. It includes scarves also in its advertising campaigns. This has
paid off with the greatest percentage (67%) of scarf buyer shopping at H&M.
Strongly backing an accessory fashion trend and integrating it into promotional
activity is something that all retailers could do more of, and more
convincingly. H&M should also do well with its Jimmy Choo tie up later this
year, putting it on the map for aspirational and desirable shoes and bags.
Dorothy Perkins
stands out: For consumers buying belts, bags and scarves, DP has been a popular
destination. In the last year it has become much stronger in capitalising on
fashion looks – and at competitive prices – and accessories have benefited from
this. In-store, the visual merchandising shows a good co-ordination between
accessories and clothing (showing a clear and integrated buying strategy) which
others could take note of.
John Lewis needs
stronger communication: This department store group has strongly upped its
fashion credentials in both clothing and accessories over the past couple of
years, across brands and its own-brand. But, the percentage of people shopping
there for most accessories is relatively low. Perhaps more promotion is needed
– ie advertising in magazines and also in the windows – to attract fashion
shoppers who may still have the perception of it being rather old-fashioned.
Also Read What Fashion Accessories Consumers Buy in UK. Contact Thesis Writers at Mahasagar Publications, India.
