Abstract
Although scholars and business leaders generally expect the small fashion boutique retail format to phase out in China after the China joined the WTO, it has so far remained very resilient under current retail changes. This essay investigates the characteristics of the small fashion boutique format and explicates why small fashion boutiques remain to have certain advantages over larger retail formats. Based on case studies, ethnographic observation, and in-depth interviews of successful operators, I find that small fashion boutiques excel in relational marketing and store branding. I document how small boutiques operators invest their effort in relational marketing by developing friendship with a group of core customers and supplying accurate fashion information to all customers. I also demonstrate how small fashion boutiques effectively gain store brand equity through flexible visual merchandizing and cultivating a charismatic image for the operator.
Highlights
Are small fashion retailers in China flourishing or perishingThe Chinese apparel retailing market will become very competitive when no restrictions on the market access in equity, geographic areas, number of and form of establishment will be imposed on foreign investors after three years of China’s accession into WTO
The previously discussed resilient features of small fashion retailers in China could well make it possible for them to survive the competition brought by WTO and the corporatization of local fashion retailing
Store branding and visual merchandizing will always remain more flexible in small fashion stores than department stores and specialty chains
Summary
The Chinese apparel retailing market will become very competitive when no restrictions on the market access in equity, geographic areas, number of and form of establishment will be imposed on foreign investors after three years of China’s accession into WTO. One of foci of urban regeneration in China is huge and centrally located underground shopping compounds that contain hundreds of small fashion stores Some of these aggregates were built more than a decade ago, but many of them are recently developed and the number of them is still growing. The current resilience of the small fashion boutique format in urban China hints that it is perhaps not as primitive and weak as it appears They may be uncompetitive in certain ways, I will show that they possess certain advantage over larger retail formats in the context of Chinese retailing. I will analyze how small fashion retailers in China make use of the special characteristics of the small fashion boutiques format to capitalize on these two aspects of marketing operation
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