#Christine Tsui Fashion Community Group Discussion#
How to conduct a market research on physical fashion stores?
Date：07/06/2018
Time: 8pm to 10pm
Host by Amin-Shenzhen-Handbag designer
Pic from internet
FORWARD
Store visit is an useful market research method to know about the business in a physical store as well as a technique to figure out consumer behavior.
DISCUSSION OUTLINE
1. Preparation before market research
2. How to decide when and where to conduct market research?
3. What are the focuses in fashion store visit?
4. Conclusion
PART ONE Preparation before market research
a. Research Objectives
3. Figure out consumer preferences and buying power.
4. Verify the problems shown in the reports.
b. Research Team
Macy’s group store visit (Pic from internet)
What kind of people would be involved in a market research team in terms of different research objectives?
A market research team may consist of designers, pattern makers, merchandisers, sales and so on. Sometimes, all of them are from different departments, while they are from the same department more often.
c. Research Objects
PART TWO How to decide when and where to conduct market research?
Gucci in different location and time (Pic from internet)
a. WHEN
We always firstly talk with store managers to know about the peak time in stores, then come and observe stores at the peak time.
Ye Fangben-Nanchang-Shopowner
The best time to visit a street store and a store in shopping mall are different. The peak time are from 10:00 am to 11:30 am, from 4 pm to 06:30 pm, and from 7: 30 pm to 9: 00 pm.Amin- Shenzhen-AGL
In working days especially at afternoon, there are less consumers in stores than usual. Thus visiting stores during these period is mainly for products research. When visiting stores at evenings or weekend, the research team will pay more attention to the sales performance.
Tina- Xiamen-AGL
Market research on store sales performance is best conducted in weekend. Because sales performance in weekend reflects on the real consumption power.
b. WHERE
Sales performance in stores of the same brand but located at different business circles may be different. For example, there would be a number of consumers walking into stores in mid-range department stores while there are less consumers in stores located at top grade shopping malls. To gain a comprehensive market research result, the research team should visit and observe stores located at different areas.
PART THREE What are the focuses in fashion store visit?
2. Store area
3. Store construction style
4. Customer service
5. Amount of merchandises
6. Visual merchandising
7. The proportion of new arrivals
8. The proportion of seasonal products
9. The proportion of discounted products
10. Consumer traffic
11. The dress up of consumers
12. Sales turnover
PART FOUR CONCLUSION
Christine Tsui 