Introduction
Textile and Apparel companies all over the world have embraced technology in their day to day practices. They are using the internet to market, build value and create awareness among customers. Use of the internet has also enabled customers to access information about the new products introduced in the market.
This provides customers with a good chance of comparing the prices and the quality of the products from different companies. Web sites and internets are helping in increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the companies’ practices since they can be able to reach more customers all over the world. It also provides customers with a cheap and a convenient medium of exchange. Therefore, the internet provides benefits to both the companies and the customers (Clark and Flaherty 84).
Culwell and Sons Company
Brief history
This company was started in 1920 as a small retail store to offer pressing services for men suits. That time it was known as Vasity shop but it was changed later after W.E. Culwel who was the founder decided to expand the company. The company incorporated clothing professionals and started selling the best quality mens’ suits. The company today provides all types of men wear in Dallas. The vision of the company is to be the best in Dallas.
The company required strong support from the internet in meeting their marketing strategy of reaching more customers around the world. They launched their website officially in 1997 with a purpose of creating the image if the company. One year later, customers could access information about the products of the company and they were also able to buy those products online. In 2005, the company’s online catalogue use became intense and it recorded 5% increase in sales.
Benefits from the Website Advertising
Through the website, the company is able to reach more customers and create value to its products. Through the website, the company is able to create awareness among the customers on the existing products or on the new products produced in the market. The internet advertising is much cheaper than the print adverts therefore; the company is able to reduce the advertising cost by doing their advertisements on the website.
Many customers must be reminded of the existence of the products and persuasion is also required for them to buy the products. The adverts made on the company’s website can stay for as long as the company marketing department wishes and can only be changed by the company and not any other person (Clark and Flaherty 88). This makes the company have the freedom to choose the period that the advert will be on the website.
Communication with customers is a factor that is used to create good relationship with the producers. Culwel & Son website have an email section where customers can present their views about the products and interact with the sales personnel through the email. This increases customer loyalty since customers have an opportunity to present their specifications about the products they are interested in.
The company’s sales persons are able to collect important information about their products for the research and development purposes to make sure they only produce products which satisfy the customers needs. There are a variety of photos of men wearing different types of suits on the company’s website.
Customers visiting this website are able to see different types of outfits, their sizes colors, and prices. It is so helpful to the customers since they are able to make the right choices. Culwell & son have more than 900 fabrics samples produced every season so they have to make customers aware of the products within the least time possible so that they can prepare others for the following season (Daly 9).
Feel Pretty Lingerie
Brief History
This company was established in 1999 to offer fine lingerie for women. They provide their services through the website. They get their products from the best apparel companies all over the world. They only sell their products online but they have a showroom and a store in Texas.
The company outsourced the services of website development so that they can be able to advertise their products online. Customers are able to make orders through the web. The company has been using their website to research and collect information from the customers. These have been helping them in the development of their products to fit the customers needs (Allen and Fjermestad 17).
Benefits of the Website Advertising
The company has a variety of women lingerie which they advertise on their website. This helps them to reach the target market faster than their competitors who do not use the website for advertising.
Feel Pretty Lingerie has been able to reduce the cost of advertising by just displaying their beautiful lingeries on the website for the customers to see. They also give offers to the customers which makes most of them remain loyal to them. Through online advertising Feel Pretty Lingerie has been able to give satisfaction to their customers since they are able to get the likes and dislikes of the customers.
The website for the advertising has no restrictions for example the geographical barriers, so long as a customer has the access of the internet, they can get the information about the existing and new products of Feel Pretty Lingerie. The company can sell the advertising space to other companies. Feel Pretty Lingerie does not benefit only on advertising on their website, but they also benefit from the other companies who use their web page to do their advertising (Allen and Fjermestad 14).
According to Tuunainen (1599), customers are able to access the company’s products and get feedback on their questions quickly on the website. The ladies are able to do the pre-purchase research with ease on the company’s website enabling them to gauge their potential and the quality of the product.
Online advertising and selling has enabled customers to compare the prices of their favorite products and therefore they are able to buy quality products at cheap prices. This is a more efficient way of the companies to inform customers about their products and services. Customers do not have to walk up to the shop only to find it closed. They can simply log in to the company’s website to get the information and make orders that they want any time of the day.
American Apparel Company
Brief History
The company was founded 1989 by Dov Charney from Canada and who had a passion for T-shirts in California. In 2000, the company grew rapidly and become the wholesale for T-shirts, uniform for other companies, fashion brands and screen printers. The company later entered into the retail market.
The company uses both the print and the website advert to make their products known by the customers. Although the company has received criticism about their advertising, they have performed considerably well in the market (Eid and Trueman 60).
Benefits of Website Advertising
Just like the other companies, the American Apparel has benefited much on the website advertising. This is because they are able to get to customers all over the world. The company is also able to reduce the advertising cost that would rather be used on other forms of advertising. Even though the company uses other forms of advertising, they dwell much on the online website. The company is also able to improve the credibility since the customers are able to access the information of the company from any location.
American Apparel is able to interact with customers and is able to improve on their products or may be changing the quality of the outfits according to the customers demand. They understand that the customers have different tastes and preferences and they therefore provide a space on their website for the customers to give their views, complains and compliments about their products and services (Plunkett 120).
The company’s website advertising involves photos of people wearing the outfits that the companies manufacture making it easy the customers choose the best colors and sizes. Below every photo on the website page there is a space for the customers to make their own comment. This to the advantage of the company since it is able to collect information which can be very useful in the manufacturing other outfits.
Conclusion
There is rising adoption of technologies in the way companies are doing the advertising. The print adverts are losing value in today’s world and the companies are using their websites to do the advertisement. The companies have also realized that customer’s involvement is an important resource for the research and development. Through the company’s website, customers are able to make their choices with ease and the company is able to get loyalty from the customers (Hammond and Kohler 20).
Works Cited
Allen, Eric and Fjermestad, Jerry. “E-commerce marketing strategies: a framework and case analysi” Logistics information Management 14 (2001):14-23.
Clark, Irvine and Flaherty, Theresa. Advances in electronic marketing. New York: Idea Group Inc., 2005. Print.
Daly, Lucy. “The use of e-commerce in the textile and apparel supply chain.” Journal of Textile and Apparel Technology Management 2 (2002): 1-12.
Eid, Riyad and Trueman, Myfanwy. “The internet: New international marketing issues.” Management Research News 25 (2002): 54-67.
Hammond, Jan and Kohler, Kristin. E-Commerce in the textile and apparel industries, Boston: Harvard Business School, 2000. Print.
Plunkett, Jack . Plunkett research plunkett’s apparel & textiles industry almanac: apparel & textile industry market research, statistics, trends & leading companies. Texas: Plunkett Research Ltd, 2008. Print.
Tuunainen, Virpi. “E-business in apparel retailing industry-critical issues.” Gdańsk 1.5 (2002): 1596-1606.