My research subject relates to clothes because there are many young people who

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1 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) Writing Style Instructor s Choice Award International Marketing Strategy of T-shirts Azusa Ida Recently, there are many young people who wear the latest fashion and many kinds of clothes stores exist. Then, if a Japanese apparel company tries to sell their products in the Japanese market and in a foreign market, what kinds of products sell well in both markets? The purpose of this paper is to investigate this issue as well as to find out some points companies need to know when they do their marketing research and sales promotion. This time I focus on T-shirts because most young people have some. I sent out a questionnaire about T-shirts to university students in Japan and Australia. From the results, I found out effective strategies using some examples when a Japanese apparel company sells their T-shirts. 最近ファッションに敏感な若者が多くアパレルショップも多様なものが存在していると思いますそこでもし日本のアパレル企業が日本と他国の市場へ向けて商品を販売する場合どのような商品が適しているかということを調査したうえで問題などを考慮していきますまたマーケティングリサーチや販売戦略を行う際にはどのようなことを重視するべきかについても検討します今回は誰でも持っていると思われる T シャツについての調査を日本とオーストラリアの大学生を対象に行いましたそこから得られた結果をもとに事例研究などを交えながら日本のアパレル企業が日本とオーストラリアへ向けて T シャツを販売するための戦略を考えました Introduction My research subject relates to clothes because there are many young people who like to wear the latest fashion. They wear various kinds of clothes they like and there are many clothes stores in town. Here I define two kinds of clothes companies, domestic companies and foreign companies. I have studied business marketing at this university and would like to know what differences or problems exist when foreign apparel companies sell their own products in Japan. The reason why I chose T-shirts as the theme of this research is it is common clothes for young people. In this paper, I would like to examine the possibilities of differences in marketing strategies by taking a look at consumers point of view. My main question is If a Japanese apparel company tries to sell its own products in Japan and a foreign country, what difficulties do they have to consider? When this company sells the same clothes in a foreign country, they need to consider different 1

2 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University strategies from what they use in Japan. They must think about marketing strategies for both markets. Then they have to research in Japan and in a foreign country to understand this matter. By chance, this summer, I went to Australia; therefore I was able to take this country as an example. So, comparative data were taken both in Japan and Australia. In this research, I focus on apparel markets of young fashion; therefore I collected the data of young people in Japan and Australia. Background In this section, I will show three examples from the literature to understand what successful keys exist when a company sells their products outside the country. I take two examples in which companies advanced to foreign markets and think what they did to have a success. I also take other example: how Japanese young people and Australian young people think about the latest fashion or shopping, because I sent out the questionnaire about T-shirts to young people in Japan and in Australia. I am going to consider what T-shirts those young people would like and what strategies are good for them when a Japanese apparel company sells the products in or outside the country. First, according to Horide and Yamada (2003), A Japanese beer company made inroads into the Chinese beer market. That market was full of domestic companies and foreign companies; however, the company was able to have a success. What were their successful points? How did they put their strategies into practice? Here are some points why the company was able to have a success. In the Chinese beer market, most customers liked light type beer and many domestic companies had put out light type beer. Domestic companies had products which were low-priced and 2

3 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) middle-priced. The government-managed company and major companies monopolized the middle price market, and many local companies had products which were for the low price market. However, those beers were not good quality because they were produced with low costs. On the other hand, customers were apt to be influenced by foreign products. Foreign beer companies had products which were strong type and highly priced. After this the Japanese company examined the Chinese beer market completely, and they made inroads into the market which was the light type and middle-priced. This company was able to satisfy the customers foreign brands inclination, interest in new products, light type taste, and reasonable price. Therefore, they were able to have a success in this market. Second, Yahagi (2000) indicates that European retail companies have advanced into foreign market and there are three factors which are important points to advance. The first factor is the push factor from the domestic market, the second factor is the pull factor from the foreign market, and the third factor is the inside factor from the company. The main reason European retail companies advanced to foreign markets is because they cannot develop their business as they like by regulation. The European retail market is also in full growth and European economy hangs low. These cause the push factor. On the other hand, there are foreign markets which are attractive to advance. What is more, foreign customers would like products from abroad. These cause the pull factor. The inside factor means companies should develop their business strategies and skills to grow. It is also useful to make inroads to foreign markets. Third, I focus on young people in this research; therefore I have to know young people who I sent out the questionnaire. I sent it out in Japan and in Australia this time. There is an example how Japanese and Australian young people think about the latest 3

4 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University fashion and shopping. Moses (2002) indicates that Japanese young people like shopping more than young people in other countries. The author also mentions that Japanese young people are keen customers and they think brand name is more important than price. I think they have enough money to buy it; however, do they really think brand name is important when they buy something? In the case of Australia, most young people think America leads the latest fashion. They like touching the outside world through fashion, entertainment, and internet; however, do they really think America and Europe lead the latest fashion? As mentioned above, there are some successful elements when companies sell their products outside the country. If companies don t have a plan to advance to foreign markets, they have to advance to foreign markets according to circumstances. In either case, it is a good chance for companies because they could increase their business opportunities. How can companies find the market to advance? I think they have to examine the markets and know about customers preference. I made a questionnaire which included questions to know about these things. Data & Results I made a questionnaire which includes questions about T-shirts. Here are some questions: What are the three most important factors you think of when you choose to buy a new T-shirt?, How much money do you usually pay for a new T-shirts?, How much money do you spend on clothes for a month? I sent the questionnaire out to 45 young people in Japan and 45 young people in Australia. They were mainly university students. Here are the three questions and results with graph. 4

5 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) 78% Japanese young people and 52% Australian young people answered design of T-shirts was the most important factor when they buy a new T-shirt. 48% Japanese young people answered price of T-shirts was the second most important factor; however, only 24% Australian young people answered price was the second most important factor. Many Japanese and Australian young people think design of T-shirts is the most important factor when they buy a new T-shirt. This result was the same as I had expected. Figure 1. What are the 3 most important factors you think of when you choose to buy a new T-shirt? Most Important Design Latest fasion Comfortableness Material Japan Australia Brand name Price 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 2nd Most Important Price Comfortableness Latest fasion Material Japan Aus tralia Brand name Design 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 5

6 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University With regard to the question about the price when they buy a new T-shirt, most Japanese young people answered from 2,000 yen to 5,000 yen and most Australian young people answered from 2,000 yen to 6,000 yen. Therefore, the question about the price they pay for a new T-shirt had the same result in Japan and Australia. Figure 2. How much money do you usually pay for a new T-shirts? Price they pay for a new T-shirt 6000yen yen yen yen yen Japan Australia yen yen 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% The next question is about the money when Japanese and Australian young people spend for their clothes per month. Most young Japanese people answered from 5,000 yen to 20,000 yen; however, most Australian young people answered from $20 to $200, which is 1,800 yen to 18,000 yen. Therefore, the question about the money they spend did not have the same result in Japan and Australia. In general, Australian samples were more scattered than Japanese samples. 6

7 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) Figure 3. How much money do you spend on clothes for a month? Japan 30% 20% 15% 20% 5% 5% 3% 3% 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 8,000 5,000 2,500 0 Australia 15% 17% 15% 11% 11% 9% 9% 7% 2% 2% 2% $20 $30 $50 $60 $80 $100 $150 $200 $300 $350 $500 Discussion Through this research, I found differences between the Japanese market and the Australian market. I figured out some key elements and problems which a Japanese company should think about when they sell T-shirts in Australia, which is a different market from Japanese. Here I would like to propose four suggestions. First, from the result of the important factors, many Japanese young people and Australian young people think design of T-shirts is the most important factor when they 7

8 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University buy a new T-shirt. In addition, Australian young people tend to follow the latest fashion more so than Japanese young people. I think Japanese young people would like clothes which look cute or cool, and they are also the latest fashion in Japan. On the other hand, Australian young people would like clothes which are the latest fashion currently popular in Europe or in the United States. Therefore, from the designing point of view, if a Japanese apparel company tries to sell their T-shirts in the Japanese market, they should focus on whether they are cute or cool in Japan. And if they try to sell their products in the Australian market, they should put out the latest T-shirts in the world. Second, if companies consider the price of the T-shirts they sell, both Japanese and Australian young people would pay from 2,000 yen to 5,000 yen. Therefore, this company can put out their T-shirts for this range of price for both markets. However, the range of money that Australian would spend for their clothes also varies, so it is equally important for a company to consider putting a wide variety of price for their T-shirts to sell in Australia. Third, I saw many clothes stores in Australia and found clothes in various colors and sizes. I think in Japan, we have fewer variations in colors or sizes than in Australia. Therefore, for a Japanese company to advance to Australia, they need T-shirts with various colors and sizes. Forth, if a Japanese apparel company sells their T-shirts in Australia, they have to do sales promotion for the market in which they sell their products. Morokami and Fujisawa (2004) emphasize the importance of promotion strategy, especially advertisement, when companies advance to foreign markets. They also mention that promotion is influenced by the culture of each country and it is not also the image of 8

9 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) products but also the image of the companies. Therefore, companies which advance to foreign markets always have to pay attention to their promotion strategies. Davies and Yahagi (2001) indicate companies which advance to foreign markets have to keep their own business know-how or skills when they sell their products in other countries. As mentioned above, companies should accept cultural differences and local ways when they do sales promotion in foreign countries. On the other hand, they should keep their own business strategies when they produce or sell their products in other countries. Conclusion This paper has attempted to investigate what strategies are necessary when a Japanese apparel company sells the same clothes in Japan and in a foreign country. Therefore, I researched about T-shirts in Japan and Australia. First, if a Japanese apparel company sells their new T-shirts in the Japanese market, they should put out the T-shirts which are cute or cool as these are also the latest fashion in Japan. I think the Japanese apparel market is very small because the population in Japan is not so large. Therefore, if this apparel company tries to sell their products in Japan, they have to do market research completely and they need to know consumers preference to make products that satisfy their customers. Second, if a Japanese apparel company sells their new T-shirts in the Australian market, they should put out the latest T-shirts in the world. Then this company needs to research in other European countries and the United States because Australian young people tend to follow the latest fashion there. In addition, this company has to prepare T-shirts with various colors and sizes for the Australian market. They also need extra promotion strategies for the Australian market which are different from what they use in 9

10 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University Japan. They also have to research and understand consumers preference or their culture completely. Then they can do sales promotion that is accepted by the market they sell their products. Third, the price of T-shirts this company sells for both Japanese and Australian markets can be almost the same. However, for the Australian market, they need a wider price range than for the Japanese market. Finally, I think there were some problems in the questionnaire. I wrote wrong information in this questionnaire for Japan; therefore I was not able to collect exact samples about one question or compare the results between Japan and Australia. I also should have defined the questions more clearly; some people did not understand some questions completely. References Davies, Ross, & Yahagi, Toshiyuki( 矢作敏行 ). (2001). アジア発グローバル小売競争東京 : 日本経済社 Horide, Ichiro( 堀出一郎 ), & Yamada, Teruhisa( 山田晃久 ). (2003). グローバルマーケティング戦略東京 : 中央経済社 Morokami, Shigeto( 諸上茂登 ),& Fujisawa, Takeshi( 藤沢武史 ). (2004). グローバルマーケティング東京 : 中央経済社 Moses, Elissa. (2002). ティーンズマーケティング 1000 億ドル市場の攻略法東京 : ダイヤモンド社 Yahagi, Toshiyuki( 矢作敏行 ). (2000). 欧州の小売イノベーション東京 : 白桃書房 10

11 Student Papers in Business Administration, No. 1 (2006) Appendix A The questionnaire of T-shirts 1. What is your age group please circle How many T-shirts do you have? Please choose one. ( ) What are the 3 most important factors you think of when you choose to buy a new T-shirt? Please choose 3 factors in the order of importance most important ( ) 2 nd most important ( ) 3 rd most important( ) 1price 2design 3material 4comfortableness 5latest fashion 6brand name 4. How much money do you usually pay for a new T-shirts? Please choose one. ( ) 1$5-9 2$ $ $ $ $ $60-8none of fee above (reason) 5. How much money do you spend for T-shirts throughout the year? About $( ) 6. How long do you wear each T-shirt? Please circle one. 1 one season 21 year 31-2 years 42-3 years 53-4 years 64-5years 7more than 5 years 8 It varies (please specify the reason) Reason: 7. How much money do you spend on clothes for a month? About $( ) 8. How much is the total price of today s outfit? About $( ) 9. How do you get your money for your clothes? Please circle the most important source of your funds for clothing. 1 salary 2 allowance 3 someone buy them, for me 4 other sources ( ) Thank you for answering my questions 11

12 Faculty of Business Administration, Hokkai-Gakuen University 12