Consumer Insights - Wazir Advisors

Strategy > Consumer Products and Retail > Consumer Insights

Identification of Core Consumer for an International Fashion Retailer

About the Client

A European fashion retailer present in India through 3 casual wear brands intended to become a market leader by taking an accelerated growth path. For the purpose, it wanted to understand changing Indian consumer dynamics and clearly define the core customer for each of its brands to be able to market its products around the same.

Project Objectives:

Core objective was to conduct extensive consumer research for 3 brands to clearly define the core customer, answering the following key strategic questions:

Who is the core consumer?
Which other brands do they shop? Why?
What are their expectations from client’s brands? What are the gaps?

Deliverables:

1. An in-depth market-focused pan-India consumer study was conducted targeting a sample size of 1,100 for each of the 3 brands spread across brand shoppers & non-shoppers. Based on insights from the research following data was presented-

Demographic and psychographic profile of the consumers
Complete wardrobe analysis of the target group
Top of the mind casual wear brands & relative preference
Perception about client brands
Reasons for buying and not buying from client’s brands
Defining the core customer of the client brand as well as those of its competitors

2. Strategic inputs were also provided on account of research findings like-

Strengths vis-à-vis competition brands
Gaps vis-à-vis competition brands in terms of product offerings, pricing, brand value, channel presence, and communication

Consumer Insights on the Fabric Market and a Fabric and Apparel Brand for an Investment Firm

About the Client

A leading global investment firm wanted to evaluate investment in a suiting fabric brand. For this, they wanted to gain consumer insights about their preferences with respect to the overall market as well as the brand concerned

Project Objectives:

Core objective was to evaluate the brand for investment, and validate the assumptions on which the investment theory is based. Key strategic questions included:

What are the consumer’s product preferences wrt fabric and RTW vs. RTS? In which direction is the market moving?
What is the perceptions about the brand among consumersas well as in the trade channel? What is the growth potential of the brand?
How do consumers view and compare the brand relative to its key competitors? What is their recall for different brands and how do they rank/rate them?
What are the opportunities for brand extension into adjacent categories? Can other brands in the portfolio be restored to their former strength?

Deliverables:

1. Detailed consumer research, which included Quantitative research covering ~1000 consumers across 7 cities; In-depth interviews of ~60 core customers of the relevant brand; 6 FGDs with ~8 respondents per FGD, to answer the following questions:

1. Profile of consumers and their Influencers/drivers
2. Consumption pattern and buying behavior
3. Preference for a certain fabric. Preference for RTW vs. RTS
4. Where do they buy the suiting fabric from: EBOs, MBOs etc.?Where do they get the fabric stitched?
5. Perceptions & ranking of brands on various parameters
6. Client brand recall and perceptions. How does it fare vis-à-vis other brands?
7. Would they continue to buy suiting or would they like to switch to RTW?
8. Brand extension possibilities? Awareness/ Recall about portfolio brands?

2. Visited brand and competitor outlets to gather information on offerings, product range, service levels, ambience, staff, pricing etc. Based on this, the brand’s stores were assessed vis-à-vis key competitor’s stores on various critical and hygiene parameters

3. Met key channel intermediaries including agents, wholesaler and retailers to understand:

Trade perceptions about the brand and performance vis-à-vis competitors
Potential for growth and opportunities for brand extension
Reason for decline of the other brands in its portfolio

4. Assessed the opinion of the leading brands in the segment on the overall industry trend and growth prospects as well the client brand’s ability to grow topline and maintain margins, its challenges, and opportunities going forward, extending product categories and services, etc.

5. Identified possible avenues of growth such as channel expansion (offline and online presence), product range expansion, more frequent design updates, or brand extension into related categories