The Fashion BusinessMarket ResearchDespite the importance of market information, I happily confess that our
group has no dedicated research department, and rarely uses the services of
research consultants. We have discovered that the most effective strategy is
to conduct this kind of research through those members of the group who
are operative (namely the design, sales and marketing areas). We base our
work on a very simple method: observation. Those who are involved with
the development and marketing of the product know it well enough, and are
sufficiently armed with the history of the company to know where to look
for the most relevant material, and how to interpret information.
The fashion market is so segmented that it is not uncommon for a
manufacturer to obtain results quite different from the ones foreseen by the
macrotrend. In 1996, for instance, the sales of our coats increased by 15 per
cent yet this outcome contradicted the general survey of the market that had
predicted a negative trend for this item. Trends in spending, social behaviour
and lifestyle, gained through macroanalysis therefore must be regarded as
background information.
It is of course essential that the company applies its creativity to developing
the right products for real market needs. With awareness of our capabilities,
our potential and our position in the market we must be alert to new
opportunities. Again, we at MaxMara believe that the most attentive and
intuitive lookouts are likely to be those that work within the company.
Nobody from outside, however well qualified, could produce a piece of
market research which says that if you product jacket x in cloth y and at z
price you will sell 10,000 of them, but with a healthy company culture we
can expect our project to evolve and develop along the right lines.
Data ProcessingThis kind of work is concerned less with broad intuition and more with
minutely detailed knowledge. We are in a position to check daily precisely
how the market is reacting to our products with reference to style, size and
colour. This can be done thanks to a data-processing system we developed
independently, to our specific requirements many years ago. Our sales
information is supplemented by interviews with the managers of our stores,
who can give us reasons for the success or failure of a particular model.
The importance of change in the fashion industry might tempt us to
conclude that we should not be too greatly influenced by information on the
market’s reaction to a particular product; after all the market is bound to