What To Wear? What To Buy?

Shoes, clothing, and jewelry are all associated with fashion. But how does Michael Kors know what type of shoe to design for this winter that will sell? How does Bloomingdales know what designer clothing to fill their racks with? How did Tiffany’s know you would wear a key necklace? 

…RESEARCH! Yes, research helps in determining what works and what doesn’t in fashion among everything else. Research can be conducted by public relations professionals for designers and companies such as Michael Kors and Bloomingdales in order to see what consumers like and what they don’t. Not only can research find out what consumers like, but it can also determine what the best methods to reach consumers are. 

MAC Cosmetics reaches many of its consumers through advertisements in magazines such as Lucky because research has shown that women who buy Lucky purchase MAC. 

Qualitative research is an important method of research especially in fashion because it is used to observe perceptions and attitudes of people in their natural environments. So next time your at the mall watch out, someone could be watching you to see what you buy! Ethnographic research in terms of Shop-a-longs are often times conducted so researchers can observe consumers shopping in their natural environments and see their different attitudes toward products.

Focus groups are another form of qualitative research. Focus groups can be helpful in determining what types of clothing people like because participants of the group talk with one another to allow the researcher to gain insight on their attitudes. The main idea of a focus group is to develop new ideas among the participants and to discover hidden opinions.

Companies such as Target who stock their shelves with clothing from various designers need to conduct a lot of research. Since Target is a community store and is designed to meet the needs of the consumer with their "Expect More. Pay Less" attitude. Therefore Target knows that their main consumers are families. Cameras throughout the store can allow employees to see what customers are purchasing and what they are putting back down. 

Without research designers would be clueless and our closets would be empty!