Strategic tools for the practising manager

KIT

THIS WEEK: THE INDIAN DESIGNER APPAREL MARKET

The Indian apparel market was worth Rs 88,340 crore last year. The total market for designer apparel was Rs 9,835 crore.

Currently, the global designer wear market is worth about Rs 1,62,900 crore. It is growing at 9 per cent every year.

The Indian fashion industry accounts for barely 0.1 per cent of the international industry's net worth.

Indian designer wear commands a category engagement of 66 per cent for male customers and 57 per cent for female customers. The category engagement in western designer wear is 5 per cent.

Excluding western wear, the per capita per annum spends on designer wear for men is Rs 42,627 and Rs 48,271 for women.

About 58 per cent of male shoppers and 69 per cent of female shoppers prefer shopping for designer wear in departmental stores. Comparatively, 42 per cent of male buyers and 34 per cent of female buyers vouch for exclusive brand showrooms.

The frequency of purchase is the highest amongst youngsters. However, women in the 41 to 50 years age group are also big shoppers.

The northern and western regions of India account for the highest shopping of designer apparel.

Selections from management journals
NUGGETS

In his memoirs, French statesman Charles De Gaulle related how persuasive Winston Churchill had often been in conveying toughness during World War II. One of his tactics was to express anger, thereby forcing his counterparts, in De Gaulle's view, to take his positions more seriously.

INSEAD Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour Marwan Sinaceur and co-author Lara Tiedens of Stanford University's Graduate School of Business tested De Gaulle's opinion, hypothesising that overt expression of anger can increase the expresser's ability to obtain more concessions from counterparts in negotiations.

They conclude that this is only true when those on the receiving end have poor alternatives to a negotiated agreement. The article talks about when and why anger expression is effective in negotiations.

Get mad and get more than even
Marwan Sinaceur & Larissa Z Tiedens
Insead Knowledge August 2006

Read this article at http://knowledge.insead.edu

To stimulate growth in the present marketing environment, companies must identify and prioritise opportunities at the points where proliferating segments, channels and product categories intersect.

But because most companies still regard customer insights as an isolated research capability, they can't obtain or integrate the information they need.

A customer insights network helps marketers look at the world through a number of lenses and to develop proprietary information about customers.

It's also vital to embed customer insights in the organisation's key decisions by restructuring brand and sales planning, new product development, marketing investments, and other business planning processes.

Capitalising on customer insights
John E Forsyth, Nicolo' Galante and Todd Guild
The McKinsey Quarterly
2006 Number 3

Read this article at http://e.mckinseyquarterly.com