The best high street fashion retailers have broken fashion’s glass ceiling by focusing on the season’s must-have items from the catwalk. These appear quickly on the rails faster and cheaper than they will be selling in the high end stores. As canny consumers mix and match to create the latest look, those retailers most adept at reading the market and their customers can keep increasing both market share and profit margins. Visual merchandising and advertising play a part in enhancing fashion credibility with the best retailers visible in the glossies, on bus stops, in catalogues and on the internet. By creating demand for clothes that look like they’ve come straight off the catwalk, but without the price tag, the high street is pulling in customers with significant spending power and spend per customer is growing. A number of techniques are in play in order to address this. The trend for low-cost designer lines continues with many fighting for share of voice. This has been good news for celebrity designers, or indeed celebrity fashionistas in general: on the back of H&M’s lead, Kate Moss has been used at Top Shop, while fashion designer Max Azria had a new range, 'Tex by Max Azria' in French retailer Carrefour.
Several established fashion retailers are also expanding their product lines, adding items beyond clothing such as shoes, accessories and cosmetics. Franchise stores and online sales websites are also both on the increase as an effective and fast route to market. That said, the heart of high street success is now just as much efficient management as it is product design. Both Zara and H&M have streamlined the production cycle with enviably efficient production and logistics management supported by feedback and communications mechanisms within the stores that allow for the right product, in the right quantity to be sold at the right place for the right price: a killer combination.