The document summarizes a research paper presented at the Academy of Marketing Conference in 2013. The paper examines how global fashion brands standardize or adapt their marketing approaches when entering the Saudi Arabian market. Interviews were conducted with marketing representatives of four global fashion brands to understand their degree of adaptation. Customer surveys were also administered to examine how Arab consumers perceive the brand personalities and images of these global fashion brands compared to their home markets. The results found that while the brands implemented some adaptations, consumers did not recognize significant differences. The paper concludes that international fashion marketers need a deep understanding of local consumer behavior to effectively position their brands in the Arab market.

1. Academy of Marketing Conference 2013
The title of the paper:
The Fashion Marketing Scene in Saudi Arabia:
Standardisation vs. Adaptation
By
Izzudin Busnaina
University of Benghazi
Mrs Baraah Rawas
University of King Abdulaziz
Mrs. Liz Watson
Nottingham Trent University

2. Outlines
• Marketing in global arena … why go global?
• Classification of Fashion Markets
• The fastest emerging market … the Arab World!
• International marketing decisions … Standardize or Adapt?
• Research context and methods
• Results; marketers’ point of view
• Results; Arab customers’ point of view
• Conclusions and future research
2

3. Marketing across the World
‘Go Global!’ … Why?

No way to play safe even in domestic
markets (Kotler, 2008)

Low costs and economies of scale
(Ryans et al., 2003)

The rich world will continue to suffer
from anaemic growth; the emerging
world, by contrast, is witnessing a
remarkable growth level
(Wooldridge, 2010)
3

4. Fashion Marketing
4

5. Fashion Marketing
International fashion markets can be classified into three types
(Grail Research, 2009)

Global Fashion Hubs

Growing Fashion Markets

Emerging Fashion Markets
The Fastest … more than 15%
growth annually (GAN, 2010)
5

6. The Arab World … ‘Emerging Markets’
22 Countries
358,000,000 People
Majority are Muslims
Arabic (Official Language)
GDP > $2.3 trillion (2011)
World’s eighth-largest economy
Per Capita Income > $6,700
More ½ the population < 25 years
(Mahajan, 2013; Harvard Business Review)
6

7. Research Area … Saudi Arabia?
•
•
•
•
The 2nd largest Arab countries
Middle Class 65%
Real Growth Rate 6% (2012 est.)
GDP – per capita $25,700 (2012 est.)
(World Bank’s World Development Indicators database,
and CIA’s The World Factbook, 2013)
7

8. Research Area … Saudi Arabia?
• Consumers spend > 10% in global fashion
• Younger generation has become Westernized
• Highly global fashion brand conscious
• Attractive fashion market
• Contextual differences between
its local regions
8

9. Marketing across the World
Standardize or Adapt?
The Globalization of Markets, 1983
In Homogeneous
Markets
In Heterogeneous
Markets
Operating Efficiencies
and Economies of Scale
Better Satisfy
Local Circumstances
9

10. Fashion Marketing Decisions
‘How to brand a product?’ is a crucial
question in marketing (Kotler, 2003)
The brand image is a mirror reflection of
the brand personality or product (AMA, 2012)
What’s the effect of brand’s image in Fashion Marketing?



Purchase intention & choice
A determinant variable in advertising designing
A major component of brand identity
10

11. Research Framework
• The factors of marketing programme decision
(i.e., the degree of standardisation/adaptation)
• Market influencing factors
(i.e., mode-of-entry and competition)
• A brand personality might produce 2 different
brand images
Home Markets
Consumers
- Attitudes
- Perception
Brand
Personality
Marketing Programme
Degree of
Standardisation
/Adaptation
Foreign Markets
Consumers
- Attitudes
- Perception
A
Perceived Brand
Image
B
Perceived Brand
Image
Influencing Factors
(Adapted from: Mrugank and Thakor, 1996; Jain, 1989; Kotler, 2003)
11

12. Research Questions & Aims
Using Saudi Arabia as a proxy of ME fashion markets,
we address two questions;
1.
To what degree do global fashion companies actually
adapt/standardise their brands offerings for Saudi Arabia?
2.
Do Arab consumers perceive the
global fashion brands in Arabic
countries differently than in brands’
home markets?
Research Objectives


Determine the standardisation/adaptation degree of the fashion
global brands offerings in Saudi Arabia.
Explore how Arab customers perceive the fashion global brands’
personality and image.
12

13. Research Methods & Measures
Using 3 fashion products categories …
Clothing
Accessories
Jewelry
Structured interviews with 4 brands’
agents in Saudi Arabia


To establish how they had conceptualised
the notion of adaptation/standardisation
Their actual marketing practices in Saudi
market
13

14. Research Methods & Measures
Consumer’s point of view
(≈ 50 customer questionnaires)
1.
2.
Recently purchased these brands’ products
And have a shopping experience in western
markets.
Using the cognitive approach (Thomas & Sekar, 2008) and
previous research on branding (e.g., Aaker, 1997; Azevedo &
Farhangmehr, 2005; Geuens et al., 2009), we measured …



Consumer’s attitudes toward the fashion brands
Brand loyalty and personality
Differences in brand image between Arab markets
and brand’s home market
14

15. Results:
Marketing Implementations in Saudi Market
There are remarkable differences of
Brands under investigation – managers’ point of view
customer characteristics between Saudi
Arabia and the brands’ home countries
Marketing
Activities
Market Research
SaCo. 1
SaCo. 2
The key actual practice in Saudi SaCo. 3
market
GUESS &
Burberry
H&M
Levi’s
Ready-made information about Arab consumers
Adapted
Adapted
Adapted
Product
Decisions
Some adjustments are applied on potential product
Slightly Adapted
Standardized
Slightly Adapted
Pricing
Marginal Adapted Slightlyaccording to Saudi Adapted
Slightly adjustment level Adapted Slightly market
Promotion
The most likely to be
standardised
Adapted
Adapted
Adapted
Some changes are made on the advertising copy
15

16. Results:
Arab customers’ responses
General level of similarity from customers’ point of view
1= Different / 5 = Similar
Marketing Program
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
The most common
features
Product (3.36)
Pricing (2.58)
Similarity Levels
(Mean Values)
Promotion (2.57)
16

17. Results:
Arab customers’ responses
Preferred fashion brands for Saudi consumers
37.8%
26.7%
26.6%
8.9%
Factors on loyalty of Saudi customers to fashion brands


Brand’s history/heritage
Fashion product’s quality
17

18. Results:
Customer’s Perception Vs Brand’s Personality
Brand A
Brand B
Brand C

Rotated Component Matrix
18

19. Conclusions and Implications

The 4 global fashion brands implement marketing adaptation in their
programmes to Saudi Arabia. However, Arab consumers do not
recognize such implementations.

Marketing adaptations produce undesirable influence on consumers
in Saudi Arabia, as they perceived different personalities of the
global brands to that which these brands promote.

International fashion marketers should implement and design their
marketing programme based on a good understanding of buyer
behaviour in this region.

Fashion marketers should consider Arab markets’ characteristic
before deciding whether they have to create different brand image
(e.g., Levi’s in USA and Europe; Roth, 1995) to target Arab markets.
19

20. Limitations
• Purposive sampling
• Relatively small number of global
fashion brands available for study, as
well as small sample of Arab customers
• This paper provides a useful initial insight into global fashion
branding in Saudi Arabia and Arab consumers’ perception
toward fashion brands.
• And, it’s a point of departure for research to study a large
number of international fashion brands across Arab
countries.
20

21. Thank you

22. Fashion Brands
Burberry a
Brand Personality’s
characters
GUESS b
H&M c
Loading
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Loading
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Loading
Mean
Std.
Deviation
Honest
.603
3.63
1.09
.946
3.50
1.09
.707
4.17
0.83
Caring about you
.735
3.50
0.82
.925
4.00
0.85
.772
4.25
0.97
Exciting
.693
3.75
1.00
.925
4.00
0.85
.696
4.17
1.19
Up-to-date
.685
3.88
0.72
.614
3.83
0.72
.898
4.33
0.89
Reliable
.729
4.06
0.93
.792
3.67
0.78
.696
4.17
1.19
Successful
.841
4.13
0.72
.848
4.17
0.94
.950
4.58
0.67
Charming
.851
3.88
1.02
.848
4.17
0.94
.890
4.25
0.97
Feminine
.905
3.81
0.99
.594
3.83
0.83
.844
4.08
1.16
Active out door
style
.400
3.88
3.67
1.07
.679
4.50
0.67
Tough/strong
.495
3.75
1.06
.776
3.75
0.87
.678
4.00
1.13
Pioneering
.866
3.94
0.85
.693
3.58
0.67
.769
3.83
1.34
Feeling of energy
.646
3.38
0.89
.966
3.42
0.79
.927
3.67
1.30
Global
.877
4.06
0.77
.636
4.25
0.87
.897
4.33
0.98
Feeling young
.833
3.44
0.96
.693
3.92
0.90
.772
4.25
0.97
Sexy
.740
3.00
1.10
.549
3.75
0.75
.779
3.92
1.24
Pride
.725
3.56
0.90
.594
3.67
0.78
.686
3.83
1.53
Personalized
luxury
.790
3.69
3.83
0.83
.847
3.67
1.61
0.50
0.79
.671
.685
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis; Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.
(a) Rotation converged in 6 iterations, (b) Rotation converged in 6 iterations, (c) Rotation converged in 3 iterations