Basis Situation Analysis Report Chapter 6 - 8

Chapter 6: Competitive Situation

6.1 Direct Competitors

6.1.1Brands Outlet

Brands Outlet from Padini Group is a recently introduced brand which their proposition is  convenient, good quality, good variety and affordable.

Brands Outlet started in 2007, bringing variety of brands to men, women and children, from casual wear to career wear, inner wear to accessories.

Brands Outlet carries in-house labels, a small variety of consignment brands and has promotions all year round. The in-house brands are Garage, Guya, Industries, Tizio Studio Men , X-Girl, Mirror, Theory, Quincy, Blitz, Downtown, Duchess, Seven Nights, Studio Ladies , Nature Clothing, Lady Legs and Traffic.

Founded                  : 2007

Headquarters          : Glenmarie, Selangor, Malaysia

No. of store(s)          : 8

Similarities                 :  Provide same range of unisex fashion products

Strength                    : Offers great range of designs in the fashion products

Weakness                 : Quality is slightly worse than F.O.S. It is still a new brand                              compare to F.O.S. Not as well known as F.O.S

6.2.1 The Reject Shop

Reject Shop is a home grown Malaysian chain store which focuses on retailing global branded garments which are off-season stocks, discontinued stocks together with Metrojaya's own developed good quality merchandise at great value low prices.

Well known brands from the USA, Europe and Australia find their way onto the shelves of Reject Shop, enabling the store to offers men, ladies, and children apparel across a full range of sizes. Since its introduction in 1990, Reject Shop now operates a nationwide chain of stores and outlets at leading shopping locations throughout Malaysia.

Founded                  : 1990

Headquarters          : Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

No. of store(s)          : 40

Similarities                 : Provide retailing branded garments which are off-season,                                 discontinued stocks or late order cancellation stocks. 

Strength                    : Well known local brand, big amount of outlets.

Weakness                 : Do not have Asian cutting measurement

6.2 Indirect Competitors

From its simple beginning in 1970s as a family owned business, VOIR Group has grown into a multi-brand fashion wear, casual apparels and lifestyle enterprise with strong local distribution network and rapidly expanding overseas presence.

VOIR Group is the leading brand owner and retailer of women's fashion & casual apparels, shoes and accessories in Malaysia. Besides women's clothing, the men's fashion and casual apparels and children's wear are also key contributors to the group's growing business.

VOIR Group's own branded products such as VOIR, Applemints, SODA, South China Sea, G&H and NOIR, together with its licensed international brand Diadora, is easily available through its extensive nationwide point of sales network of multi-brand concept stores (VOIR Gallery) branded specialty stores and specialty counters at all major department stores.

Founded                  : 1970

Headquarters          : Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia

No. of store(s)          : 25

Similarities                 : Provide same range of unisex products 

Strength                    : Well known local brand, big amount of outlets. It offers                            more variety of designs.

Weakness                 : Do not have young, stylish, fashion forward designs to                                          attract  younger age consumers. 

Chapter 7: SWOT Analysis

7.1 Strength

·         Popular brand

·         Stylish and comfortable vibrant products

·         Affordable prices

·         Products are suitable to middle class familes

·         Good quality at reasonable prices

·         Asian cutting measurement

·         Focuses o the little simple details that make different outcome in design.

7.2 Weakness

·         Bad product display at the stores like a factory.

·         Seldom use media promotion like television, radio, internet, etc.

·         Small, limited variety of clothing design

·         Not all products have fixed Asian cutting measurement.

7.3 Opportunity

·        People are aware of fashion trends and concern about their appearances.

·        it is a local brand, Malaysians will be loyal to local brands and achievements,

·        Affordable and reasonable prices of the products is what consumers love the most.

·        Customers will shop for clothes when festivals coming near.

·        Year end raining season can boost their sales on their umbrella products.

7.4 Threats

·         Saturated fashion apparel market/ industry

·         Competitive to other fancy fashion forward brands.

·         Fashion and apparel products are considered as a luxury in Malaysia.

·         Some people do not prioritize appearances with fashionable clothing products.

Chapter 8: Strategic Target Audience

8.1 Proposed Primary Target Audience

8.1.1 Demographics

·         Age                                        : 15 - 25 years old

·         Gender                                 : Both gender

·         Education                            :  fresh post-graduates and below

·         Occupation                                    : Student to Working Adults

·         Income Range                   : RM 400 - RM 2000

·         Race & Ethnicity                 : All races

·         Geographical Location   : Urban and Sub-urban Areas

8.1.2 Psychographics

·         Perception                           : Prefer attractive, simple little designs and                                                       comfortable but  yet stylish at economic price.

·         Learning                               : Friends, family , internet and magazines.

·         Motivation & Needs          : Comfortable and stylish colourful clothes and accessories at low prices in order to look stylish without spending too much money.

·         Attitude & Personality       : Positive, happy, active, adventurous, wise money spender, like to appear simple but still remain attractive to gain confidence.

·         Lifestyle                                  : Active, stylish, economic, modern lifestyle.

8.2 Proposed Secondary Target Audience

 8.2.1 Demographics

·         Age                                        : 28 - 38 years old

·         Gender                                 : Both gender

·         Education                            :  Post graduates

·         Occupation                        : Office worker ( white collar )

·         Income Range                   : RM 3000 - 4000

·         Race & Ethnicity                 : All races

·         Geographical Location   : Urban and Sub-urban Areas

8.2.2 Psychographics

·         Perception                           : Prefer simple little designs and comfortable                                                   but  yet stylish at economic price.

·         Learning                               : Friends, family and internet.

·         Motivation & Needs          : Comfortable, good quality, and stylish colourful clothes and accessories at affordable prices. Wanted to look stable,                                                      mature and good looking with style to boost self esteem, look presentable to friends and family.

·         Attitude & Personality       : Brave, social-able , understanding, wise, thoughtful, like to look good by just dressing simple design , stylish clothes.

·         Lifestyle                                  : Relax stylish, economic, modern lifestyle.

Basic Situation Analysis Report Chapter 4 - 5

Chapter 4: Consumers and Stakeholders

4.1 Current Consumer's Characteristic

4.1.1 Demographics

·         Age                                        : 15 - 40 years old

·         Gender                                 : Both gender

·         Education                            :  Secondary School and above

·         Occupation                                    : Student to Working Adults

·         Income Range                   : RM 400 - RM 4000

·         Race & Ethnicity                 : All races

·         Geographical Location   : Urban and Sub-urban Areas

4.1.2 Psychographics

·         Perception                           : Prioritize simple, comfortable , expressive and                                              yet stylish appearances.

·         Learning                               : Friends, family and internet.

·         Motivation & Needs          : Comfortable, good quality, and stylish                                                           colourful clothes and accessories at                                                               affordable prices.

·         Attitude & Personality       : Positive, happy, wise money spender, like to                                                appear simple but still remain attractive.

·         Lifestyle                                  : Active, stylish, economic, modern lifestyle.

4.2 Stakeholders Characteristics

F.O.S do not have joint venture partners or stakeholders. The company is private limited company, fully run by Optimum Global Resources Sdn. Bhd.

Chapter 5: Industry and Market Place

5.1 The Industry

5.1.1 Definition of the Retail Industry

Retailing is a business of selling goods to important customers for personal, family and household use. Retailers are business firms which involves in offering goods and services directly to consumers.

The function of overlooking the wholesale and retail sector falls under the supervision of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) through the Committee on Wholesale and Retail Trade. The Committee was born in 1995 to control the industry, including foreign participation in the sector. Authorization for foreign companies to set up or opening wholesale or retail operations locally or relocate the branches is needed from the Committee.

5.1.2 Shape of the Industry

The retail environment  in Malaysia has been through a continuous changes in the past 10 years. The retail division in Malaysia contains a complicated blend of many changing forms of economic behaviour and organization apparent such as hawkers, street traders, small family business, wet and dry markets, night markets, bazaars and supermarkets.

But the retailing in Malaysia was growing to be more mature. Retailing industry is expanding as retailers with growing retail brands in Malaysia offering a wider choices to consumers in both brands and styles.

The Malaysian retail industry is floating with strong retail growth of 12.8% in 2007,the highest since 1992 while private consumption spending grew at 11.7%. With slowdown economy and the increasing prices of basic products, the consumers begin to limit their spending as they facing financial difficulties.

5.1.3 Development of the Industry

After the recession hits the economy of Malaysia in year 2008 and 2009, 2010 finally has witnessed economic recovery. The purchasing power is slowly growing of both local and international consumers due to spending from pent-up, restricted, suppressed demand and increasing tourist arrivals. Retailing had a healthy growth in 2010. But with many uncertainties shadowing global economy, economic environment still remained challenging. Thus, retailers resumed their proceed their expansion plans in a moderate way, while consumers spent cautiously.

Foreign retailers getting stronger reputation as the consumers demanding more choices from retailing and getting more international tastes. This has made the retailing in Malaysia more competitive and saturated. GCH Retail, Tesco Stores, AEON Co and Carrefour Magnificent Diagraph foreign retailers are rapidly growing in Malaysia and replacing many local leading players in retailing. In 2010, The Store Corp, Econsave Cash & Carry, Parkson Corp were the only three local players who in the top 10 list of value share.

5.2 The Marketplace

5.2.1 Current Market Condition

Women's apparel is one of the most competitive market place in Malaysia. Majority of the foreign or international brands for women's apparel market has established the business for very long time compared to some of the local brands in Malaysia. This is a problem to local fashion retail market when the foreign or international brands have entered Malaysia's market.

The biggest fashion market in Malaysia is Bukit Bintang area as there are several shopping centres located there and frequently visited. Zara, GAP, Charles and Keith, Aldo, G2000, Topshop, MNG, Padini, Forever 21, Pull and Bear, F.O.S, ESPIRIT and many more well known fashion retailers are located in that area which is a busy consumer's traffic.

Other than that, popular huge shopping complexes like Mid Valley Megamall, One Utama, KLCC, Sunway Pyramid, The Gardens, The Curve, IOI mall are good market place for the fashion industry. The majority of the stores in the shopping malls are fashion retailer and outlets and these malls are always packed with people during the weekends and public holidays.

5.2.2 Changes in the Market Place

As the technology and electric media develop further,  Malaysians are slowly becoming more conscious about their appearances as fashion trends is introduced to them easily by the advance technology and surrounded by media in urban areas. 

Basic Situation Analysis Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Company

3.1 Company Overview

F.O.S is an established clothing retail chain that specialises in imported stock lots and overruns. The opening of the first outlet in Sunway Pyramid in 1997, during the economic crisis in Malaysia, is the birth of F.O.S.

F.O.S has grown to a total of more than 40 outlets to date throughout major shopping complexes located in the Peninsular as well as East Malaysia. F.O.S is locally established. The success story lies in the very concept of F.O.S itself. A wide range of clothing and accessories are made available at an affordable price at F.O.S.

Cancellation orders of stock provisions from international renowned brands unavailable locally are made available in F.O.S. They form a significant share of our merchandise, which are sold at only a fraction of the original retail price. F.O.S also carries its own in-house development brands which complements the stocklots and provides a much welcome variety to the merchandise available at F.O.S.

3.2 Business Description

3.2.1 The Store

F.O.S stores are directly link to customers. F.O.S  stores are usually  have spacious appearance and wide space for displaying all products. Their outlets are mostly situated in shopping malls. Their stores is designed for attracting  middle class customers to search for their simplicity and stylish products. The main products such as new arrival clothes, promotional items  are placed within reachable and easy spotted areas. But other products are placed on racks  and not easy access places.

3.2.2 Store Locations and Counts

Location (Malaysia)	Store Number
Kuala Lumpur	10
Selangor	13
Pahang	3
Perak	1
Penang	4
Johor Bahru	3
Malacca	4
Negeri Sembilan	1
Kedah	2
Sabah	4
Sarawak	1

3.3 Company History

Factory Outlet Store originally was born in 1997 where the first outlet is opened in Sunway Pyramid and from there F.O.S keep expanding until having more than 40 outlets in Malaysia.

3.4 Key People

* Due to the nature of the company, which is a Sendirian Behard establishment, a private company, the key people was considered to be private and confidential. I was not able to obtain any official data on the key people.

3.5 Location and Subsidiaries

3.5.1 F.O.S (Malaysia)

F.O.S (Factory Outlet Store)

Optimum Global Resources Sdn. Bhd.

No.20, U1/20 Jln Jurunilai,

Hicom Glenmarie Industrial Park,

40000 Shah Alam. Selangor Darul Ehsan.

3.5.2 F.O.S Branches (Malaysia)

Kuala Lumpur         - Berjaya Times Square, AEON Cheras Selatan Shopping Centre, AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre, Ampang Point Shopping Centre, Bangsar Village Shopping Centre, Taman Maluri Shopping Centre, Wangsa Walk Mall, Carrefour Wangsa Maju, Maju Junction Mall, Sungai Wang Plaza.

Selangor                   - 1 Utama Shopping Centre, IOI Mall, Mid Valley Megamall, Subang Parade Shopping Centre, Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre, The Curve, Ikano Power Centre, The Mines Shopping Fair.

Pahang                     - East Coast Mall, Berjaya Megamall, First World Plaza.

Perak                         - Ipoh Parade

Penang                     - AEON Sebarang City Shopping Mall, Sunway Carnival,

                                       Queensbay Mall, AEON Seberang City Shopping Mall.

Johor Bahru             - Johor Bahru City Square, AEON Bukit Indah Shopping

                                       Centre

Malacca                  -Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, Mahkota Parade,

                                      AEON Bandaraya Melaka Shopping Centre.

Negeri Sembilan    - Jusco Seremban 2 Shopping Centre

Kedah                       - Langkawi Fair Shopping Mall, Lagenda Heights Village

                                       Mall

Sabah                       - Centre Point, 1 Borneo Hypermall, Warisan Square.

Sarawak                   - The Spring Shopping Mall

3.6 Brands Major Products and Services

F.O.S produces polo tees, basic tees, plaid shirts, shirts, graphic tees, long pants, short pants, jackets, hoodies, skirts, dress, coats, flatties, ballerinas, slippers, sandals, baby shoes,  hang bags, eco bags, school bags, shoulder bags, blouse, tunic tanks, coats, jackets, tights, socks, purse, scarves, nail polish bottles, sun glasses, boxers, briefes, trunks, innerwear and watches.

3.7 & 3.8 Corporate Vision & Mission

·         To provide quality stylish clothing at an affordable price in a bright, vibrant and happening atmosphere to our customers.

·         Hope this message is communicated through our stores as well as out slogan tagline: Find it. Love it. Buy it for Less at F.O.S!

3.9 Company Current Promotional Strategy

F.O.S now is  running our Clearance Sale Event. F.O.S has  just completed 2 locations which are in Petaling Jaya and the event is now happening up north in Penang & Langkawi. F.O.S is   phasing out our Buy 1 Get 2 Free promo slowly on selected stores as stocks are sold out. F.O.S will soon launch our Christmas Eco Bag promo next month. Strategy will still be more value to stretch your money’s worth.

3.10 Product Sales History

F.O.S are constantly adding more products to our merchandise line. In the past year alone, we have introduced fragrances, sun shades, bedroom slippers, cardholders, ballerinas, watches, and nail polish just to name a few. F.O.S is also collaborating with Disney on the long run to come up with exclusive Disney merchandise sold only at F.O.S. F.O.S tries to offer fresh and new items made available at our stores. F.O.S want to change and provide more to their customers in their  stores.

3.11 Current Marketing Objective

3.11.1 Long Term Objective

Long Term Objective is to be the first destination for all Malaysians to go to when they want to shop for clothes.

3.11.2 Short Term Objective

Short Term Objective is to reinforce our brand into all Malaysians top of mind.

3.12 Media Expenditure

F.O.S do not often advertise in the media. F.O.S spend averagely around RM20K to RM30K annually.

Basic Situation Analysis Report part 2

2.3.2 Packaging

F.O.S shopping bag

Brands Outlet Shopping Bag

The shopping bag design with the competitor's shopping bag are similar.

2.4 Product Range

New designs or collection and promotions can be found in every week to keep the store active and to keep the consumers surprised in order to maintain popularity of the brand.

2.4.1 Men's Clothing

Polo Tees, Basic Tees, Plaid Shirts, Shirts, Graphic Tees, Long Pants, Short pants, Jackets, Hoodies

2.4.2 Women's Clothing

Blouse, Basic Tees, Dress, Polo Tees, Graphic Tees, Skirts, Plaid Shirts, Shirts, Shorts, Long Pants, Tunic Tanks, Coats, Jackets

2.4.3 Kids' Clothing

Short Pants, Long Pants, Dress, Skirt, Graphic Tees, Polo Tees, Hoodies

2.4.4 Accessories

Socks, Purse, Scarves, Earrings, Nail Polish Bottles

2.4.5 Caps

2.4.6 Footwear

Slippers, Sandals, Baby Shoes, Flatties

2.4.7 Eyewear

Women's Sunglasses and kids' sunglasses

2.4.8 Watches

2.4.9 Underwear & Innerwear

Boxers, Briefs, Trunks, Singlets

2.5 Distribution

2.5.1 Direct and Indirect Distribution

F.O.S has some products are not from its own in-house designers. Therefore, F.O.S also distributes the imported stocklots and overruns to their customers. F.O.S also distributes directly its own in house designers' products. F.O.S currently have 25 outlets in Klang Valley and 22 outlets are outstation, one is the 22 outlets are in the East Malaysia. Until today, F.O.S is still expanding and growing more outlets in Malaysia.

2.6 Product Life Cycle

Based on my interview with Brand Manager of F.O.S, Nicholas Lo said the product life cycle of F.O.S is still growing and expanding although F.O.S has been in the industry for 14 years.

2.7 The Brand

2.7.1 Mission Statement

Direction of F.O.S is simplicity which can be seen in F.O.S store layout. F.O.S has managed to create a unique identity for itself from its store layout. Customers are able to easily recognise an F.O.S outlet. All outlets are large and give out a sense of wide open space which enables one to have a clear view of the entire store with just a glance. Each section for men, ladies, and kids are also departmentalized which creates the right environment for customers to shop with ease and comfort.

2.8 Brand Image and Implication

F.O.S is an established retailing outlet brand . F.O.S provides great variety of retail apparel products for all ages from kids to elderly adults. Many people in Malaysia know this brand but not a lot of people are loyal consumers who believe and love the brand. This brand has been in the industry for 14 years and its popular but sadly the market situation or business are competitive and doing just fine compare with its competitors.

2.9 Strength and Weakness

2.9.1 Strength

·         Vibrant and colourful design products

·         Stylish and affordable

·         Suitable products for middle class families.

·         Consistent productivity

·         Asian cutting measurement

·         Great variety of fashion products

2.9.2 Weakness

·         Too competitive in fashion industry

·         Do not have great variety of designs

·         Bad product display

·         Lack of promotion with media such as internet and magazines.

·         Not consistently having Asian cutting measurement

2.10 Advantages and Disadvantages

2.10.1 Advantages

·         F.O.S has local products and also products from other countries.

·         Reasonable, more affordable prices compare to its competitors.

·         Great variety of fashion products for attending different kind of events and activities.

2.10.2 Disadvantages

·         Too competitive in the fashion industry from fashion forward perspective.

·         Not clear, define brand proposition is known to the audience.

2.11 Unique Selling Proposition

The proposition of F.O.S is stylish, good quality and affordable.

2.12 Promotional History

·         F.O.S every year will have warehouse sales for their products

·         Every week F.O.S will have one promotion

·         F.O.S now having a promotion of buy one get two free basic tees

F.O.S in the past years, they did sponsored a cheer leading boy team called Mickeymitez  by providing them the uniform clothes and they won the competition. Then, during this year Hari Raya, F.O.S thought of collaborating with Disney Mickey and came out a collection of mickey graphic tees and ambassadors are the Mickeymitez members.  

F.O.S have an active Facebook page and Twitter to communicate with its customers or fans of F.O.S

     2.13 Positioning Statement

      F.O.S is a fashion clothing brand that communicates to middle class families at all ages by providing a wide range of fashion products for both genders from casual simple look to formal stylish look with good quality at an affordable price.

      The first outlet store opened in Sunway Pyramid in 1997. Ordered stock provisions which had cancelled from international renowned brands are made available in F.O.S.  Only a fraction of the original retail price is being sold as the international renowned brands form a significant share of F.O.S' merchandise. F.O.S also has its own in-house development brands which complements  the stocklots and provides a variety to the merchandise available at F.O.S.