FASHIONMAGAZINEINCHINA: RESEARCHONDEVELOPMENTANDISSUESOFWORLD7CLASS FASHIONMAGAZINEFASHIONMAGAZINEINMAINLANDCHINA JENNIFER,ZHAODONGCHEN NETTIE,ZHANGNI ROXANNE,YUSHUNA YVONNE,HOUYIFEI APROJECTSUBMITTEDINPARTIALFULFILLMENTOFTHE REQUIREMENTSFORTHEDEGREEOFMSOCSCINMEDIA MANAGEMENT SUPERVISOR:DR.DAVIDKO SCHOOLOFCOMMUNICATIONANDSCHOOLOFBUSINESS HONGKONGBAPTISTUNIVERSITY HONGKONG MAY2012
Acknowledgement TheauthorswishtothankDr.DavidKoforhisadviceandsupportinthepreparationof thisproject.theyarealsogratefultotheirparentsfortheirloveinthepastone;year. We are here thanks for the participation of editor Gloria Deng from ELLE, Sirine Shi frommariaclaire,amberzhaofromharper sbazaarandlukeyufromcosmopolitanto receivetheinterviewandsharetheiropinionwithus. Allthefieldresearchesdescribedinthisprojectwereourownoriginalworkandwere carriedoutbyourselvesunderthesupervisionofdr.ko. Students Names: Jennifer, Zhao Dongchen Nettie, Zhang Ni Roxanne, Yu Shuna Yvonne, Hou Yifei Signatures: MSoSc. in Media Management SchoolofCommunication HongKongBaptistUniversity Date: i
Executive)Summary) This project provides an analysis and evaluation of the current performance and existingproblemsofworld:classfashionmagazinesinchinesemainlandmarket.aiming at examining why the sales volume, market share and the readership of these world:classfashionmagazineshavegraduallydeclinedsincethepeakoftheminearly 2000sandtorecommendwaysfortheirfuturedevelopment. The research draws attention to thefactthatbefore 2005, Chinese fashion magazine marketshowacompetitionpatternofthethreepillarsofelle,cosmopolitanandrayli. Over the next two years, although world:class fashion magazines still maintain the advancedstatusinthisindustry,themarketshareandreadershipinthewholemarket decreasedgradually.furtherinvestigationsofquestionnaireanddeepinterviewreveal thatjapanesefashionmagazinesenjoyedgreatfavorofcustomersduetotheirfriendly and practically Asian:style. Moreover, in terms of the positioning and targeting of world:classfashionmagazines,therearedramaticdifferencesbetweentheirexpectand thereality. Finally,thereportconcludesthatthemajorproblemsofworld:classfashionmagazines are, vague positioning, lack of practical, homogenization of content and low brand loyalty.inordertoincreasethemarketshareanddeepenthelocalizedperformanceof world:classfashionmagazines,thisreportofferedseveralsuggestions. iv
Itisrecommended: World:class fashion magazines should firstly focus on contents building and increasetheattractionofthecontentitself. (SimilaropinionheldbyLaurenR.BaileyandYoo:KyoungSeock,2010) Incomestructureofcirculationandadvertisingrevenuecouldbeimproved. (SimilaropinionheldbyHa,LouisaandLitman,BarryR,1997) Though Japanese:Korean fashion magazines are more popular in Chinese market, world:classfashionmagazinesshouldmaintaintheirowncharacteristics. (SimilaropinionheldbyLi,Dong:Xin;Lee,Yong:KiandGriffin,Mitch,2011) Theuseofsocialmediaandonlineversionoffersopportunities. (SimilaropinionheldbyLaughlin,JohnDandMacDonald,JasonB,2010) Newentrantsshouldpaymoreattentiononmarketpositioningandlocalization. (SimilaropinionheldbyLi,Dong:Xin;Lee,Yong:KiandGriffin,Mitch,2011) The report also provides a special and interesting finding of the subtle interplay between world:class fashion magazines and luxury brands, which one behaved as the mainsupporterandtheotheractasthepromotionplatform. ) v
Table)of)Content) Part)1)Introduction.1) 1. ProjectObjectives..1 2. StructureofPaper...1 3. LiteratureReview...2 4. Methodology......6 Part)2)Fashion)Magazine)Industry)in)Mainland)China...7) 1. IntroductionofFashionMagazine....7 2. EnvironmentalAnalysis......9 3. IndustryAnalysis.....12 Part)3)WorldFclass)Fashion)Magazine)in)Mainland)China... 18) 1. Introduction....18 2. CurrentPerformance.....21 3. MarketingStrategy......26 4. SWOTAnalysis...31 5. ExistingProblem......36 Part)4)Questionnaire)Analysis........39) 1. RationaleofQuestionnaire........39 2. QuestionnaireSample.......41 3. ResultAnalysis..........42 4. Conclusion..........62 Part)5)Interview)Analysis..........65) 1. RationaleofInterview..........65 2. BriefIntroductionofInterviewees.......65 3. AnswersAnalysis............67 4. ComparisonwithQuestionnaireResult.........79 5. PossibleReasonsofExistingProblem..........81 Part)6)Conclusion............84) 1. SpecialFindings............84 2. Conclusion............85 3. SuggestionforFutureOperation..........86 4. RecommendationsofFutureEntrants..........88 5. Limitation..........89 Reference..........90) Appendix...........94) vi
) List)of)Figure)and)Tables) Table1ComparisonsamongWorld:ClassFashionMagazines...19 Table2Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inBeijing...22 Table3Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inShanghai..23 Table4Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inGuangzhou. 23 Table5Kindsofadvertisingofluxurygoodsinworld:classfashionmagazines.....25 Table6Thepriceofworld:classfashionmagazinesinMainlandChina...27 Table7SWOTAnalysisofworld:classfashionmagazines...31 Table8GenderofRespondents...42 Table9AgeofRespondents...42 Table10AreasofRespondents...43 Table11EducationLevelsofRespondents...43 Table12OccupationsofRespondents...44 Table13PurchaseHabitofRespondents...44 Table14One:wayANOVA...46 Table15Gender sinfluenceonpurchasebehavior...46 Table16RelationshipbetweenAgeandPurchaseBehavior...46 Table17One:wayANOVA...47 Table18Areas InfluenceonPurchaseBehavior...47 Table19RelationshipbetweenEducationlevelandPurchaseBehavior..48 Table20One:wayANOVA...48 Table21RelationshipbetweenMonthlyIncomeandPurchaseBehavior 49 Table22FashionMagazineClassifications...54 Table23FashionMagazineNumber...55 Table24ProductInvolvementofWorld:classFashionMagazine.56 Table25BrandRecognitionofWorld:classFashionMagazine..60 Table26BrandRecognitionofJapanese:KoreanFahionMagazine..60 Table27BrandRecognitionofDomesticFashionMagazine...61 Table28BusinessLevelStrategyofWorld:classFashionMagazinesinChina..79 vii
Picture1ThecoverofthefirstissueofELLE ssemimonthly 26 Picture2ThefirstcoveroftheJanuarypairsissueofCosmopolitan..27 Picture3Postersfor BazaarCharityNight&2010VOGUEFashionNightOut.31 Picture4CoversofElleandMarieClaire..71 Picture5CoversofHarper'sBazaarandCosmopolitan.. 71 Picture6CoversofVogueChina.72 Picture7E:FashionMagazine..75 Picture8ElleSemimonthlyIssue...78 Picture9DoubleIssueofCosmopolitanandHarper'sBazaar.79 Figure12009:2010SalesVolumeofWomanMagazineinChina.15 Figure2MarketShareofFashionMagazineinFirstHalfYearof2011.16 Figure 3 Amount of Luxury Goods Advertising in the World:class fashion Magazine in the1sthalfof2011... 25 Figure4WhereYouGetFashionInformation...46 Figure5PurchaseFrequencyofRespondents...51 Figure6PageNumberPreference.51 Figure7CoverModelPreference...52 Figure8ArtisticDesignPreference..53 Figure9ContentPreference..54 Figure10FashionMagazinePreference 55 Figure11ComparisonofFashionMagazines'ProductInvolvement...59 viii
Part%1%Introduction% 1. Project%Objectives% 1988,thefirstworld1classfashionmagazineenteredChinamarketandalsobecamethe first fashion magazine in China. From then, several famous fashion magazine opened Chinese market successively. However, with the prosperous of Chinese fashion magazineindustry,theseworld1classfashionmagazineshaveenteredanembarrassing situation have long history and high reputation, but face decreasing circulation and readership. ThisprojecttriestoanalysiscurrentsituationoffashionmagazineindustryinMainland Chinaandinvestigatingthebusinessstrategyapproachoffashionmagazineindustryto find the reason of these problems and obtain the experience of operating world1class fashionmagazineinmainlandchina,meanwhile,tohelpthesemagazinesfindasuitable wayforfuturedevelopment. The project will answer the questions raised in the field study through taking the 5 existingworld1classfashionmagazinesinmainlandchinamarketasexamples,totheir business strategy approach in China market, to obtain the reason of current problem andobtaintheexperience;andtorealizechineseconsumerinsight,analysiswillalsobe donethroughresearchingandanalyzingtheirreadingpreferenceandhabit. 2. Structure%of%Paper% The report will be divided into six parts. Part 1 is the introduction of the report, includingprojectobjectives,structureofpaper,literaturereviewandmethodology. 1
Part 2 is a macro view of fashion magazine industry in Mainland China. An environmentalanalysis,togetherwithanindustryanalysiswillbeprovidedwithinthe chapter. Part 3 will provide a specific analysis focused on five mainstream world1class fashion magazines performanceinmainlandchina,includingtheswotanalysis,currentstatus analysis,andalsotheirexistingproblems. ThequestionnairewillbeanalysisinPart4whiletheresultofinterviewsisinPart5.By sending questionnaire to hundreds of people and interviewing the editors from these magazines, we could have an in1depth understanding about the present situation of fashion magazine industry. After identify problems and shortcomings, we will try to figureoutthepossiblereasonsofexistingproblems. Finally,inPart6,conclusionwillbemadeandsuggestionsforfutureoperationwillbe given.wewillalsosuggestseveralrecommendationsforthefutureentrants. 3. Literature%Review% In order to have a better understanding about Chinese fashion magazine industry, we didalotresearchesandfindoutsomefacts. A. Entry(Process(of(Foreign(Magazines( Four major magazine groups publish magazines in China: two from the United States 1Hearst and Conde Nast1 and two from France1Hachette Filipacchi Medias and Marie Claire.ApartfromtheseWesterngiants,Asianpublishingcompaniesareendeavoringto popularize their media products overseas. Wang Hanfang (2005) stated that the first 2
generation of publications that entered the Chinese market was Western magazines, and many used Beijing as their marketing base. The second generation was Asian magazines from Japan, South Korea, and Singapore, with Shanghai as their marketing base and Japan as the leading and most popular Asian country to enter the Chinese magazine market. Second, the opening up of the market to various transnational productsalsoledtoaneedforgreateradvertisingofproductsandservices.therefore, therapidexpansionofinternationalwomen smagazinesinasiaisalsodrivenbyglobal brands in need of advertising vehicles in markets with high economic growth rates (InternationalHeraldTribune,2004). B. Entry(Mode(Into(A(Foreign(Market( Usuallytherearefivemodestoenteraforeignmarket exporting,licensing,franchising, jointventureandwhollyownedsubsidiary. ToenterChinesemagazinemarket,therearetwowaysinwhichforeignpublisherscan choose from: translated the original magazine into Chinese and start copyright cooperation.theformeroneistotranslatethecontentwithalittlelocalizedproduction. Inatranslatedversionmagazine,morethan80%ofthecontentandpicturesaretaken directly from the western edition especially the international edition. Majority western1style magazines now published in China are using the second type of cooperation.magazinesmayusesomecontentandpictures,sometimeswithinatopic, fromtheinternationalversionintochineseversionandaddalotlocalproducedtopics andcontents. 3
According to the laws made by the GAPP (General Administration of Press and Publication),themagazinesshouldobeythefollowingprinciples: Thepercentageofeditorialcontentthatisdirectlytranslatedfromtheoriginal versionshouldbelimitedto50%(wen&fang,2003). Women s magazines published through copyright cooperation should use Chineseonly(Wen&Fang,2003). The global titles cannot be used solely on the front cover, but have to be accompanied by the Chinese title that signifies the local brand of the internationalwomen smagazine(gapp,2000). TheglobaltitleshouldbesmallerthantheChineseone(GAPP,2000). C. Porter s(five(forces(model( Figure1Porter'sFiveForceModel In order to have a detailed analysis about the western1style magazines current situationinchinesemagazineindustry,weshouldfocusontheindustryenvironment. ThemethodthatwewilluseisPorter sfiveforcesmodel 4
In1980,MichelE.PorteroftheHarvardBusinessSchoolpublishedhisunderstandingof acompetitivestrategybasedonthenowfamousfiveforcesmodel,fromthenon,the FiveForcesModelhasusedasanevaluationtooltoanalysistherelatedenvironment.It hasalsohelpstosupportdecisionmakinginstrategicchoices. Briefly, Porter s model tries to consider about the environment and the strategic positioningofthecompanyintermsofstabilityofdifferentforcesthatthefirmhasto contendwith.basically,theseforcesare:thebargainingpowersofbuyersandsuppliers, thethreatofnewentrants,thethreatofsubstitutes,andrivalrybetweencompetitors. These five give the complete model of the factors that determine the competitive strategyofthefirmwhichwewilluseinthefollowinganalysis. Containing a lot of commercial advertising, especially the western luxury brands, fashionmagazinesareconsideredtobeanidealmediaformarketdevelopingandother promotionactions.advertisingstatsinfashionmagazinesshouldbecarefulconsidered, itevenrelatedtosomemulti1culturalcommunicationissues. The readers response and attitude toward the advertisement is a measure of advertisingeffectiveness.readerswhogrowupinaparticularcultureareusedtotheir own culture value system, beliefs, and perception processes. They understand and receivetheadvertisingmessagesinamannerthatiscompatibletotheirculturalvalues and standards. That is to say, the social values and cultural characteristics of target readersmaylimitthechoiceofadvertisingthemesusedinoneparticularculture(yong, Zhang and Neelankavil, 1996). Oh s (1976), Li s (1978) and Hofstede s (1980) 5
cross1culturalvaluestudiesresearchallshowthatchinaisconsideredtobeacountry with a collectivistic culture ( Multinational Advertising Campaigns as Intercultural Communication:SuccessesandBlundersinMainlandChina ).Advertising,asaformof socialcommunication,isparticularlyreflective,andindicativeofcultureanditsnorms (Cheng,1994).HenceadsinAsiaareverydifferentfromwesternadvertisingexecution (Hong,MuderrisogluandZinkhan,1987).% 4. Methodology% Since the project is aiming at analysis the current situation of western1style fashion magazines in China and discover their problems, exploratory research will be used. Then, four research approaches1primary research, secondary research, quantitative researchandqualitativeresearchwillbeused.theuseofthefourresearchapproaches will be focused in varying degrees according to research objects and research needs. Theprojectwillfocusontherequiredinformationthroughmethodologyoftheproject, andthenexpandsresearchintheformofpointingoutcoretopic,discussing,analyzing andcomingtoconclusion.% % % 6
Part%2%Fashion%Magazine%Industry%in%Mainland%China% 1. Introduction%of%Fashion%Magazine% % A. A(brief(history( Since1988 Elle,afashionmagazinefromFrance,enteredtheChinesemagazinemarket and acquired a Chinese title, Shi Jie Shi Zhuang Zhi Yuan (Elle China). The beautiful pictures and interesting text made$ Elle fame andcame out on top. It became the first fashionmagazineinmainlandchinaandopenedthedevelopmentofmainlandchinese fashionmagazineindustry. 1993, a fashion magazine named Fashion was founded; in 1998, it cooperated with Hearst 1 the largest U.S. publishing group, publishedcosmopolitan. This is a perfect combination of advanced publishing concept joint with localization and internationalization. In 1995, with the popularity of Japanese fashion, China Light IndustryPresscollaboratedwithJapanesepress1FriendsofHousewivestolaunchthe Rayli, different from$ the luxury of Elle$ and$ Cosmopolitan luxury, it was edited in a practical way. Then the popularity of Rayli proved that the positioning was very successful.meanwhile, the domestic fashion magazine had developed. Many domestic fashion magazines founded and operated independently such as Shanghai$ Style and Mien.Duringtheperiodfrom1988to2004,thefashionmagazineindustryinMainland Chinawasinitiallyformedanddevelopedtoflourish. B. Identification( ( In this project, the fashion magazine refers to the periodical issue magazine which 7
contains fashion1related information with various photographs. It has a clear distinguish between women fashion magazine and men fashion magazine by focusing ondifferenttopicthatthereaderspayattentionto. Onthecontrary,thereisstillanotherkindof fashionmagazines suchasmilk,1626 and YOHO which are also popular among youth without gender limitation. These magazines are focused on trending lifestyle and instead of global luxury brands, they are often introducing local produced tide brand and cutting edge IT inventions. The fashioniconintheireyesisnotonlyentertainmentcelebritiesbutalsoyoungertrend leaderswhoarelivinginapersonalizedstyle.generally,wenamethesemagazinesas consumer magazines, or say, trend magazines.therefore,todistinguish and mainly focusonfashionmagazine,theprojectwillexcludethiskindofmagazine. C. Category( ( Nowadays, the number of fashion magazine issued is about 100 in Mainland China includedsomeregionalissue1fashionmagazine.inthisproject,tomaketheanalysisand comparisonmoreclearly,wedividedthemintothreecategoriesbasedontheirfeatures. a. WorldGclass%fashion%magazine% Usually, refer to the western1origin fashion and lifestyle magazines, such as VOGUE, BRAZAAR, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and Marie$ Claire. Advocating western fashion trends which selling prices are all above 20RMB and their target reader are medium1to1high incomebourgeoisie. 8
b. JapaneseGKorean%fashion%magazine% They are defined as guiding Asian style of fashion which is more suitable for the tiny Chinesewoman.Thefashiontrendandlifestyletheyproposearemucheasiertoacquire younglady sneedofbeingfashionablewithlowerbudget.theirwearingstyleiswidely welcomedbygirlsespeciallyfromsmallcities. c. Domestic%fashion%magazine% The domestic fashion magazines are local1original magazines selling in very low price and their target readers are also lower income women who interested in fashion and discount information. Different from former two, these magazines are often published every week or two. And they may contain more entertainment gossips and other regionalculturecontent. 2. Environmental%Analysis% % AnenvironmentalanalysisisconductedbyusingPESTanalysistorealizetheinfluence of Mainland China publishing industry environment will bring to these western1originated fashion magazines through political, economic, social and technology. A. Political(Factors( ( Political factors include political system, situation, attitude of government and legal environment.itisafactthatasasocialistcountry,chinahasmorecontrolonpressand publications. Fashion and lifestyle magazines can hardly have impact and negative influence for country s political system and stable. Basically, fashion and lifestyle 9
magazineiseasilyacceptedbygovernment. Thelegalenvironmentcouldbeanimportantfactor.Differentcountrieshavedifferent policies for importing a magazine. In most countries which have strong faith of free press, there is not too much barriers for importing a foreign magazine. However, in some conservative countries, importing a foreign is difficult. For example, Chinese government has strict censorship for all publications especially for magazines introduced.inmainlandchina,therearefourdepartmentshaverighttolaunchchina StandardSerialNumbering(CSSN)theyarePressandpublicationsadministration,State ScientificandTechnologicalCommission,OfficeofoverseasChineseaffairsandGeneral PoliticsDepartmentofPLA.EveryintroducedmagazineneedsaCSSNfromthesefour departments but the number basically is not provided for them. The only way is cooperatingwithadomesticpressandusingtheircssntopublishintroducedmagazine. Besides,feeforcharteringtheCSSNfromdomesticpressisveryhigh. B. Economic(Factors( Economic factors include three elements 1 people s economic state, consumption concept,andeconomicunion. People s economic state can be reflected in many sides, such as income per capita, employment status. Magazines must make sure their target markets have enough purchasing power to buy magazines. Income per capita and employment status can objectively show local people s income level. With rapid development of economy, Mainland Chinese desire a higher life standard. They need a guide to a more luxury 10
lifestyle,whichmakethemarketofworld1classfashionmagazinesaprofitableone. C. Social(Factors( a. Consumption%concept% Consumption concept is based on people s income level. When Chinese people have better life they prefer to enrich their material life. Women have an inherent love of beauty. The social trend will make these world1class fashion magazines reaching audienceeasily. b. Social%Values Socialvalueisrelatedtoaudience sopinionandattitudetowardsproducts.paris,milan, London and New York are regarded as world Fashion center; all these world1class magazineswetalkaboutarebasedoneuropeanandamericanfashiontrend.besides, attitudetowardsforeignproductinchinaishail1fellow.fashionopinionfromwestern countriesisauthoritativeinmostchinese smind. c. Culture%&%Religion% Different regions have different culture and religions. Western1originated magazines should respect and follow Chinese local traditions and taboo to avoid culture and religionconflict. D. Technologic(Factors( SinceInternetopenedforpublicin1988,ithadagreatdevelopmentandbecomesmore and more important for people s life. It provides a nice platform to do business and share information. Also, readers reading habit is changing fast. Electronic reading 11
depending on its convenience becomes more and more popular. Launching electronic version is a realistic issue of great urgency. World1class fashion magazines should followthisnewtrendtolaunchelectronicversionandsatisfyallreaders demands. New technology also provides a nice platform to improve the customer relationship management. More and more companies set up their official fan page on Facebook or createofficialmicro1blogaccount.fansorreaderscandirectlycommunicatewithstaff. Even,itcouldbeaneffectivesolutionofcrisispublicrelation.Magazinescanlauncha statementornotificationonmicro1blogwhentheyfallincrisispr.% 3. Industry%Analysis% Michael Porter s 5 forces model that consists of 5 categories is used to analysis the world1class fashion magazines in China. The degree of these threats determines the attractiveness of the market, especially profit margins. To find a position of these magazinesinpublishingindustrycandefendthemselvesagainsttheseforcestoachieve acompetitiveadvantage. A. Threat(of(New(Entrants( Withfemalepurchasingpowergetsstrongerinthesociety,thefemalemarketisabig cake and becomes more and more attractive. So the profit of fashion media industry alsoattractsmanyfirmslikemanyotherfemalebusinesses. Magazine market has fairly low barriers to entry in most countries, since government policiesareusuallylax.althoughinsocialistcountrylikechina,thelaxtowardsfashion magazineisrelativelytolerant.inaword,themarketprofitcannotbeguaranteedbythe 12
governmentpolicy. But running a magazine is not just to rent an office and hire some editors. Especially magazinespositionedthemselvesashigh1end,needcapitalsupport,needtobuildbrand, needtocultivatetrainededitors,inordertokeeployalreadership.inthispart,itwill lowerthethreat. What smore,channelaccessisanotherfactortokeepthenewcompetitorsaway.the new entrant would have to be able to secure the distribution channel to ensure the exposuretothecustomersotherwiseitwouldnotbeabletomakeasignificantimpact ontheoverallindustry.thiselementalsoreducesthenewentrants threats. Tosumup,it smoderatetolow. B. Bargaining(Power(of(Buyers( Whenitcomestothesecondforce,wethinkit smoderatetohigh. At First, through contrast of headlines among different countries fashion magazines amongvogue,elleandbazaar.thecontentsarenomorethanfashion,beauty,lifeand Culture; even through they re written in diverse styles. Thus, the bargaining power of buyersismoderate. However,someotherfactorsmayhigherthepower.Thebuyershaveagreatinfluence on the contents provided by the magazines. The publication houses have to provide information that is sought after by the public and information that is relevant, interesting to the targeted audiences otherwise they would lose sales to its rivals. No matteryourmainprofitisfromthesalesortheadvertising,circulationisthekey. 13
Furthermore, buyers switching cost is quite low. According to the figures, you could findthatevenayear scostislimited.sothebargainingpowergetshigheragain. C. Bargaining(Power(of(Suppliers( The suppliers for the magazine industry would be divided into two parts, one are the firms providing papers, inks, and any other material that would be used in the production of the magazine, the other are the content producers, including the staffs suchaseditor,photographer,model,designer,etc. Due to fashion magazines daily expense on suppliers are the most, it means the suppliers are important to buyer s business. But with the business scale growing, the magazineswillpaylessonthem.itcomesoutafactthatthefashionmagazineindustry alsohasbargainingpowertowardsitssuppliersatthesametime.andoffsetprintingis nolongerasecret.manyprintinghousescanofferthisservice.coatedpapersarecheap andwidelyused.freeinternsareapplyingtobecomeafashioneditorcontinuously. Inadditionswitchingcostsbetweensuppliersislowduetothehighnumberofthem.In generalsituation,thepublicationhousewillchooseafixedpartner.oncethemagazine hasahugecirculationlikenewspaper,theymayprinttheyifthey rewillingtosacrifice the flexibility for lower budget, that is to say, the magazine industry pose a credible threatofbackwardintegration.sothebargainingpowerofsupplierisrelativelylow. D. Threat(of(Substitute(Products( Thethreatofsubstituteproductsisbadlyhigh.Thehigh1endfashionmagazineindustry providesinformationonwomen sfashion,entertainmentandgossips.theinformation 14
canbedistributedthroughanumberofmediumssuchaswebsite,blog,newspaper,tv, radioandotherprintedadvertisements.everytypeofmediumhasitsownadvantages. Whethertheywillbeatmagazineisaccordingtodifferentaudiences readinghabits.in conclusion,thethreatishigh,buttheyhaveapossibilitytoco1exist. E. Competitive(Rivalry( Half of the top 10 world1class fashion magazines have published in Mainland China: VOGUE, Harper's$ Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, ELLE andmarieclaire.rivalsgathertogether and attempt to share this giant cake. These icon magazines have aggravate market competes and, meanwhile, have occupied the vast majority of the market share in advertisingandpublishingindustry. The bar graph has shown the overall trend of China fashion publishing industry from 2009 to June of 2011. After June 2010, amount of circulation had risen slightly in the firsthalfyearof2011. 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 2009-2011 Sales Volume of Women (Unit: 10,000) Magazine in China Figure2200912010SalesVolumeofWomanMagazineinChina Whenlookingintothecompetitivelandscape,themarketshareofVOGUEwasonly8%. 15
OtherglobalcompetitorssuchasHarper's$Bazaar,Cosmopolitan,ELLEandMarieClaire also have to meet the terrible result between 5% and 8%. It is fact that in Mainland China,themostpopularfashionmagazinesareRayliandVIVI.Theyhavesharednearly 65%ofthetotalcirculation. 2011 $ 22% 5% 5% 8% VOGUE 22% 13% 9% 8% 8% ELLE Figure3MarketShareofFashionMagazineinFirstHalfYearof2011 There are two differences in general. Firstly, the dressing style: In Japan magazines, models are cute and tiny which stands for the majority stature of Asian girls wearing dressesinbrightcolorsandflowerpattern.obviously,modelsinvogueorbazaarare much taller and slim that adapt to the western taste of beauty, showing simple style clothes. Secondly, target readers: VOGUE and its fellows have focused themselves on sophisticatedwoman,professional,welleducatedandhavestrongpurchasingpowerin buying luxury goods.meanwhile, Rayli and VIVI have position their reader as a child womanwithlimitbudgetandunlimiteddemandoffashion. There might be some successful factors to win 65% market share in shadow of competitiveworld1classfashionmagazines.first,bothviviandrayliarerepresenting 16
anasianstyleofdresscollocation,thesameculturebackgroundhavedeterminedthey can catch the consumer insight easily. Next, correct positioning of their target reader. When an affordable fashion magazine introduce some unaffordable merchandise it is more likely to a nightmare. Readers want to wear the magazine cloth within their budget and most of goods in VIVI and Rayli are fair priced. Thirdly, market coverage: thesecond(orthird)1tiercitieshavecontributedalottothetotalcirculationofrayli andviviwheretheworld1classfashionmagazinehasnearlyignored. % % % 17
Part%3%WorldGclass%Fashion%Magazine%in%Mainland%China% 1. Introduction% In 1988, ELLE entered the Chinese market and became the real birth of fashion magazinesinchina.thedevelopmentofacertainindustryisalwaysinseparablefrom economicdevelopmentandsocialprogress.duringthatperiod,chinawasinthereform andopenupera,people'sliveshavebeenpreliminaryimprovedandtheconceptsalso changed.theworld Fashion begantoappearandpeople swillingnesstoacceptnew thingisincreasing.therefore,thepublicationof ELLE marks an upgrade of China's spiritualandculturallevel.sinceellewastheonlyfashionmagazineinchinaatthat time, it maintained a thriving situation in the market. Due to China s huge market potential,halfofthetop10world1classfashionmagazineshavepublishedinmainland Chinawithinthefollowing151year1timeandgatheredtogethertosharethisgiantcake. These icon magazines have strong market competitiveness and, meanwhile, have occupiedthevastmajorityofthemarketshareinadvertisingandpublishingindustry. The chart below has shown the comparison among The Powerful Five. Originated from USA, the Harper's$ Bazaar and Cosmopolitan came from the family of Hearst Corporation while ELLE and Marie$ Claire have France background. In 1998, Cosmopolitan entered China s market with the copyright cooperation with the largest U.SpublishinggroupHearst.Cosmopolitan$hadaboldattempt,whichinitiallysetupits own publishing philosophy. Its accurate market positioning, and advanced media managementphilosophymadecosmopolitangraduallybecomeapowerfulmediabrand.% 18
Table1ComparisonsamongWorld1ClassFashionMagazines 1 A. The(Mature(Stage(of(the(Fashion(Magazine(Market( From 1998 to 2000, make1up, photography and other related industries gradually mature.atthesametime,themiddleclassincreasedinlargenumbersinmajorcitiesof China that made the elegant pragmatism gain large market share. During this period, wordssuchaspettybourgeoisie,white1collarworkersemergedandmarkedthelevelof consumption in China has greatly increased. Additionally, it created a demand and opportunitiesforthesaleofworld1classmagazines. B. Fashion(Magazine(Market(Boom( ( Since 2000, fashion magazines came to the period of dramatic changes. In 2001, Harper s$ Bazaar that belongs to the Hearst Corporation$ entered China. One year later, Marie$ Claire entered the Chinese market. It is a fashion magazine with France background.thepublisherofmarie$claireismorecomplicated.marie$claireusedition wasstartedbythehearstcorporationandinuk;marie$claire$ispartofipcmedia.in China, the world's largest consumer magazine publishers1hachette Filipacchello 1 DataSource:HearstCorporationOfficialWebsite 19
cooperated with the Chinese sports newspaper and publishedmarie$ Claire$ China. The timeoftheentranceofvoguewasquitelate,in2005.thismagazine,whichisknownas the FashionBible,wasfoundedin1892andhadstrongparentcompany1CondéNast. C. Brand(Positioning(and(Target( Thetargetaudienceandbrandpositioningofthesesfiveiconmagazinesvariedslightly. To be specific, both BAZAAR and VOGUE have positioned themselves as high1end readingmaterialaimingattheelitewomenandrichladies.bypayingcloseattentionto career planning topics and sexual society culture, the Cosmopolitan and ELLE act as a fashion consultant to ladies from their 20 to 40 years old. Among all these five magazines, Marie$ Claire is more close to the real life contained a unique humor edit style. Different from others, VOGUE have also shoulder the responsibility of atalent scouttodefinefashiontrendandfindoutnewgeniusinfashiondesignandphotoshoot. Inthefollowingyearsandtillnow,theworld1class magazines mentioned above had developed into more editions, which target at more specific audience and triggered heavilycompetencewithlocalizedmagazinesandsomeasia1basedfashionmagazines. And,sincetheInternetgainingmorepopularity,increasingamountofpeopletendsto browse free news via Internet, which impacting the traditional paper media. The complexmarketprovidesbothopportunitiesandthreats.howtomaintainthemarket shareandbrandloyaltywithownexistingstrengthandhowtoavoidtheweaknessto restore the loss of readership became essential points for the future developments of thesesworld1classfashionmagazines. 20
2. Current%Performance% IntheChinesemarket,thereadershipoffashionmagazinescontinuoustogrowandthe market shows a good prospect. However, in terms of world1class magazines, their performanceistepidandgraduallylosestheabsoluteadvantageinthemarket.though the high1end brand image is successfully built in China, they did not maintain the top statusduetothedevelopmentofnewentrants. To be specific, prior to 2005, the overall market competitive landscape of the fashion magazine market was basically the pattern of three pillars of Cosmopolitan, ELLE and Rayli. And after VOGUE entered China, the competition for distribution channels and talentsisaggravatedandthecompetitionofthetopfourformed.however,accordingto themonitoringdataofcenturychineseinternationalmediaconsultationinc.(ccmc)in 2007, the competitive landscape of fashion magazines changed a lot because the absolute advantage of world1class fashion magazines are broken by Japanese and Korean based fashion magazine, such like Rayli,$ Mina and Vivi.Currently,theoverall performanceofworld1classfashionmagazinesisnotassatisfactoryastheydidinearly yearswhentheyenteredchinesemarket. A. Market(Competition(Analysis(of(WorldIClass(Fashion(Magazines( ( ( Themarketcompetitionanalysisofworld1classfashionmagazinesisconductedmainly fromthreeaspects.first,itisthecompetitionofpublishinganddistributionmarketand readership.second,itisacompetitionforadvertisingmarket.third,world1classfashion magazine snewattemptofpublishingtoreplytomarketcompetition. 21
a. On%the%average%of%sales%and%market%share% Takingthedataofthesalesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou for instance, the advantages of Rayli are prominent. Thetablebelowindicatedthedetaileddata. From the sales ranking of fashion magazines in the second half of 2011 in three main metropolisesinchina,wecouldfindthattheaveragesalesofraylifaroverweightthat of world1class fashion magazines. In terms of the average market shares, Rayli dramaticallyexceedstheworld1classfashionmagazines.takingthedatainbeijingfor instance, the market share of Rayli is 21.80%, which is more than twice of Cosmopolitan s market share and four times of Harper s$ Bazaar s. The table above demonstratedthattherayligroup sthreefashionmagazinesarethemarketleaderdue totheirtotalmarketshareexceed35%andkeptstablesalesinmainmarket.itisworth tomentionthatviviownedhighmarketshareinshanghaiandguangzhouthatgained thepercentageof26.32%and30.26%respectively. Table2Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inBeijing 22
Table3Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inShanghai Table4Salesrankingoffashionmagazinesinthesecondhalfof2011inGuangzhou Among world1class fashion magazines, as latecomer, the performance of VOGUE is relativelystablethatitmaintainssalesandmarketshareinthefirstfivein2011.the seriesmagazinesoftrendsmediagroup(cosmopolitanandharper s$bazaar)couldbe thestrongcompetitorsofrayli,however,anysinglemagazinesoftrendsmediagroup couldnothavethegreatimpactonthemarketasraylidoes.beingasthefirstentrantin Chinesemarketandtheoncelargest1circulationfashionmagazines,ELLEstilloccupya certainpercentagemarketshare.however,bothelleand$marie$claire,whichalsohas 23
thecopyrightoffrance shachettegroup,showmarketdecliningandweaksales. b. Advertising%revenue% Advertising is the most important income of fashion magazines. Cosmetics, luxury products,high1end consumer goods, clothing and other products are almost always femalefashionproducts;therefore,fashionmagazinereceivesgreatfavorofadvertisers. From the competitive situation of the advertising market, the four major groups basicallyhaveformedaseriesofmagazine,whichhavedifferentpositioning.however, thefashionjournaladvertisingcompetitionmainlyreflectsthecompetitioninthefield of high1end women's fashion magazine: VOGUE, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper s$ Bazaar$ andmarie$claire. The amount of luxury goods advertising in the world-class fashion magazine in the first half of 2011 in China (Units: Million) ELLE Cosmopolitan VOGUE Rayli Fashion & Beauty Harper's Bazaar Marie Claire Rayli Her Style Self Rayli Young Pioneer Vivi Mina 0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 Figure4AmountofLuxuryGoodsAdvertisingintheWorldQclassfashionMagazineinthe1stHalfof2011 Thefigureabovereflectsthatworld1classfashionmagazinesaretheimportantmedium for the promotion of luxury goods companies. Since consumers of luxury goods have highincomes,andpursuehighqualityandfashionablelives,whichhasahighdegreeof 24
coincidencewithworld1classfashionmagazine stargetreaders.therefore,world1class fashion magazines such as ELLE, Cosmopolitan and$ VOGUE, which listed as the top 3, have become the main platform of advertising of luxury products. In the first half of 2011, the total amount of advertising of ELLE is 214.10 million far overweigh that of Rayli$Fashion$&$Beauty. Table5Thekindsofadvertisingofluxurygoodsinworld1classfashionmagazinesinthefirsthalfof2011 (Units:$In$million)$ Itisworthtofindthatdifferentkindsofluxuryproductshavedifferentchoiceandfocus of advertising. The table above shows that cosmetics and make1up products mainly chosecosmopolitanforadvertising,recordedat111.24and21.43millionrespectively. Ontheotherhand,jewelry,clothing,watch,leathergoodsandfragranceselectELLEas themainmediatoputadvertisements. Inconclusion,world1classfashionmagazinesshowobviousadvantagesinattractingthe advertising of luxury brands. And the incomes brought by advertising revenue far exceededthatofmiddle1classfashionmagazines,suchasmina,viviandself. c. A%new%attempt%of%publishing% At the beginning of 2012, two main world1class fashion magazines Cosmopolitan and ELLE took new actions to reply to the market competition. ELLE changed into 25
semimonthlywhilecosmopolitanestablishedtwoversionsinonemonth.thepictures belowshowthecoverpagesofthetwomagazines. Picture1ThecoverofthefirstissueofELLE ssemimonthly Picture2ThefirstcoveroftheJanuarypairsissueofCosmopolitan 3. Marketing%Strategy% In order to cope up with the changing market environment and achieve sustainable competitiveadvantagestocompetewithdomesticandjapanesestylefashionmagazines, world1classfashionmagazinesneverstoptheireffortsinplanningandconductingtheir marketstrategiesandmakeadjustmentaccordingtointernalandexternalchanges. A. Product( Fashion is the core product of world1class magazines. The magazine is the major 26
medium to offers the latest information on fashion to target audiences. Their actual products are brand name, packing (cover), quality of the articles, styling, and all the feature stories covered in the magazine. In China, world1class fashion magazines also provide certain augmented products such as websites, blogs, online service, membershipclubandnowsomemobileterminalsuchasappleapplications. B. Price( World1classfashionmagazinesusedifferentpricingapproachindifferentcountries.In Chinatheyusecompetitor1basedpricing.Aswecouldseefromthetablebelowthatin ordertocompetewitheachotherandgaincertainmarketshare,thepriceofthetopfive world1classfashionmagazinesarethesame,atrmb20. % Harper s% Bazaar% Cosmopolitan% ELLE% VOGUE% Marie%Claire% Price%(RMB)% 20 20 20 20 20 Table6Thepriceofworld1classfashionmagazinesinMainlandChina Competitor1basedpricingauthorizeslocalmarkettoadjustpricebasedonthechanging ofcompetitor.inmainlandchina,themiddle1classfashionmagazinessuchlikeviviis pricedrmb18,whichisalittlelowerthanworld1classfashionmagazine.however,the low1end magazine such like Shanghai style is priced RMB 6.5, which the price of world1class fashion magazines is more than three times of it. On one hand, the high price of world1class fashion magazines reflect their market positioning, while on the otherhanditindicatesthehighcostofprintingandpublishingduetotheirhighquality ofbothpaperandcontents. 27
C. Place( In Mainland China magazine s overall circulation pattern can be classified into three categories through post office, directly subscription and the third1party agent. To be specific, these distribution channels can be further subdivided. In order to deliver products to end1users efficiently and effectively, these world1class fashion magazines usetraditionaldistributionchannelssuchlikebookstores,newsagentsandsubscription aswellasnewchannels.supermarkets,trendycoffeeshopsandtheinternetarechosen asthepotentialchannelsfordistribution.distributionchannelsarechosenaccordingto theirabilitiestoreachthetargetaudiencethattheyvalue. a. Bookstores Bookstoreisthebasicandregulardistributionchannel. b. Subscription Itisthemoststabledistributionchannelwithoutanyintermediariesinvolved. c. Newsagents%and%Convenience%Stores NewsagentsandConvenienceStoresaremostcommonandconvenientplacetosell magazines.magazinescouldenjoyhighexposure. d. Supermarket Supermarketprovidesmagazinesgreatopportunitytoexposetoconsumers,which couldbuildrelationshipbetweenbuyerandproducerandcauseimpulsivepurchase. e. Trendy%Coffee%Shops This is potential distribution channels, which have similar market target as 28
world1classfashionmagazines. f. OnGline%distribution Onlinedistributionisapopularmethodofdistributioninrecentyears.Allthelisted fivefirmslaunchedtheirownmagazineappforipadandiphoneusers,whichcould beregardedassignificantattempt. D. Promotion( Promotions of these magazines are aimed at influencing target audience s feelings, briefs and behaviors rather than simplify informing, reminding or persuading consumerstobuytheproducts.inordertobuildstrongrelationshipswithcustomers,it isvitaltochooserightmediatoreachtargetmarkettosentmessageeffectivelythrough thechannels. a. Advertising% Byusingvarioustypesofadvertising,world1classfashionmagazinescoulddeliverthe messagetoitsfullextent.outdooradvertisingisusedduetothecatchingpicturesand visual stimulus. In1door and on1line advertising are essential because they could gain target audience s attention at a relatively low cost. Nowadays, covert advertising is a potentialkindofadvertisingbecausemagazinescouldgetmoreexposureandtosome extentcreatetopics.forexample,bothcosmopolitanandvoguechinahadusedcovert advertisingbycooperatingwithatvprogramincctv16called< >. b. Sales%promotion Main sales promotions of world1class fashion magazines are freebies and low price 29
subscription. Both of these methods aim at increasing the added value and product attractiveness. c. Public%Relation PublicRelationmethodispopularamongworld1classfashionmagazinesduetothatthis promotionmethodcouldinformthefashionindustryandthosewhopaycloseattention to fashion news about firm s culture, position and value in a more acceptable and effectiveway.inordertomoveintoitstargetsegmentandbuildcloserelationshipwith them, topics and news about their magazines are produced. Therefore, special events areheldsuchas, VogueworldwideFashion snightout whichlaunchedin2009within 18 countries worldwide, including China; microfilm ELLE @ Paris in 2012 which framing from Paris Fashion Week, and Harper s$ Bazaar also held annually Bazaar CharityNight. Picture3ThePosterfor2009BazaarCharityNight&ThePosterfor2010VOGUEFashionNightOutinBeijing 30
d. Direct%and%OnGline%promotion By using social media as the on1line promotion, world1class fashion magazines create two1way communication with consumers so that it could get useful feedback of the messagesdelivered.additionally,duetothebenefitsofdeepinteractionofsocialmedia, thesefirmscouldreinforcetherelationshipwithtargetaudience. 4. SWOT%Analysis% This part will highlight and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threatsofworld1classfashionmagazinestohelpthemevaluatetheinternalandexternal situation of their current performance in Chinese market and prepared for the future strategies.sincetheexternalmarketenvironmentandinternaloperationenvironment willchangeallthetime,therefore,theswotanalysisinthispartismainlybasedonthe current performance of world1class fashion magazines and the fashion magazines industryinmainlandchina. Table7SWOTAnalysisofworldQclassfashionmagazines 31
A. Strengths( a. Long%history% % Most of the world1class fashion magazines have long history, for example Harper s$ Bazaarfoundedin1867,Cosmopolitanwasestablishedin1892andVoguewassetupin 1892. During hundreds years of developments, they had already accumulated rich experience in fashion magazine publication, formed their own market positions and brandimages,whichcreatebrandawareness,recognitionandprovideemotionalvalue tothetargetaudience. b. Outstanding%brand%power%and%the%support%of%parent%company Most world1class fashion magazines are belonged to a certain corporation, which professional or historical in publish or fashion industry. Therefore, they have strong background support and brand power to face the fierce market competition. Take Cosmopolitan and Harper s Bazaar for instance, both of them are owned by Hearst CorporationthatisanAmericanmassmediagroupandisoneofthelargestdiversified communicationscompaniesintheworld. c. Excellence%product%and%professional%contents% % Comparedwithlow1endmagazines,theiconfashionmagazinesarewellproducedand provideexcellentreadingexperience.additionally,theprintingtechnologyusedinthe production enables magazines to enhancing the graphic presentation of the magazine. The increased quality of magazines has helped these high1end magazines to create customer value compare to its competitors. What s more, the professional editors, 32
photographers and designers ensure theses world1class fashion magazines to provide authoritativeinformation,commentsandsuggestionsaboutfashionandstyle. d. High%status%in%industry% Sincetheworld1classfashionmagazinesmainlyfocusedonthehigh1endfashiontrend, themainstrengthofthemistheirprestigiousandup1marketimage,whichtheirreaders aspire to. Coordinated with famous designers, photographers and models, they presentedfashionandbeautybyusinguniqueangleofviewtoreflectthelocalculture ofpublicationplace.mosticonfashionmagazineshavehighstatusinfashionindustry and own outstanding talent. For example, VOGUE is widely regarded as the Fashion Bible and its current editor1in1chief of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, is widely creditedasbeingoneofthemostinfluentialfiguresinglobalfashionindustry. B. Weaknesses( ( a. Lack%of%practicality% % Boththearticlesandadvertisingsintheworld1classfashionmagazinesarefocusedon luxuryproductsandhighqualityoflife.thoughtheyprovidethefashionandstylethat most women aspire of, the fashion information and beauty suggestions are lack of practicality.tobespecific,inchina,thecontentsofworld1classfashionmagazinesare relativelyforeigntothepublicduetoitseuropeanandamericanstyles,whicharenot suitable for Asian aesthetic, especially, when compared to Asian1based fashion magazineslikeminaandvivi.additionally,thedressingrecommendandmakeuptrend pursuemorevisualimpactandartisticenjoymentratherthandailyuse. 33
b. Long%cycle% % Fashionischangingatanytime.Sincemostworld1classfashionmagazinesaremonthly published,sosomecontentsmayhysteresisandcan tbepublishedintime. c. Low%brand%loyalty%and%high%replacement% % With the maturing of the fashion magazine industry, no one could outshine from the market.inchina,customershavealotofalternativesoffashionmagazines.therefore, high replacement and low brand loyalty are the main weakness of world1class magazines due to the consumers could be easily attracted by the price or the special contentsofacertainmagazines. C. Opportunities% % a. The%development%of%Internet%technology% ( The popularity of Internet make the electronic magazines become popular. Many magazines begin to develop mobile and online terminal. Therefore, the products and servicesofworld1classfashionmagazinescanalsoextenttointernetandmobilephone users so that the readership could be expanded. What s more, the improvement of Internet technology and increasing trust of consumers in providing personal information on the Internet could help these magazines to receive more online subscription. Consumer database can also be formed for monitoring consumer needs andcreatecustomervalue. b. Growing%popularity%of%social%media Additionally,therapidlydevelopmentofsocialmediaprovidesanotheropportunityfor 34
world1class fashion magazines. By using social media, take weibo for instance, the editorscouldcontactdirectlywiththetargetaudience,whichcouldberegardasakind of soft advertising. Therefore, the brand exposure could be increased and at the same timeattractmoreattentionfromconsumers. c. Horizontal%integration% Horizontalintegrationiswidelyusedinfashionindustrytoleveragebrandimageand broader brand awareness. With prestige reputation in fashion industry, world1class fashion magazines have already had brand awareness and recognition; therefore, horizontal integration can leverage its brand image and reputation to provide consumersmoreproductsthanjustitsmagazines. d. Increasing%potential%customers% Nowadays, more and more people, including men, tend to concern fashion trend. Additionally,theriseofthemiddleclassandtheprevalenceofEuropeanandAmerican fashionprovideexcellentopportunitytoexpandthereadershipofworld1classfashion magazines to potential customers. Besides, people s purchase power of developing countries like China and India is increasing, which produce more potential customers forworld1classfashionmagazines. D. Threats( a. The%development%of%new%media% The improvement in information technology force printed media industry undergoes majorchange.sincepeoplecouldgetfreefashioninformationfrominternet,onlyafew 35
ofpeoplehavethewillingnesstopaymoneyonworld1classfashionmagazinesdueto their high price. On the other hand, it is convenient to get information from Internet; however,magazinesareheavyandthickwhichnoteasytocarry. b. Intensive%competition% % Manynewentrantscometothefashionmagazinemarketandmainlycausetwokindsof threat to world1class fashion magazines. First, the low price and portable fashion magazines such as Femina$ dispersed part of the mid1market consumers because customersaresensitivetothepriceofmagazinesandtheminiversioniseasytocarry and read. Second, localized and Asian1styled fashion magazines are popular among youngerconsumersthatbecomethethreatsofworld1classfashionmagazine. c. Copyright% Itisaveryserioustopic.InChina,therearesomesmallmagazinesuseVogue spictures withoutnotification.thehighpricemaymakepeopledownloadillegalscanningversion online.thiskindofbehaviorincreasesthepossibilityoflosingpotentialaudience.% 5. Existing%Problem% Sincetheworld1classfashionmagazinesenteredChinesemarketinthe1980sthrough copyright cooperation, they have gone through the transition period and the prosperous period. Recent years, their market leadership is more or less shared by JapaneseandKorean1basedfashionmagazines.Throughthecompetitioninthemarket, these world1class fashion magazines show their own shortcomings and the defects of themarketcompetition. 36
A. Homogenization(of(content(and(lack(of(innovation( Similarprintingstyles,attractingcoverpage,similarfashioninformationandnearlythe samethicknessandweight.themainproblemofworld1classfashionmagazinesisthe homogenization of content and this is mainly reflected from two aspects. First, world1class fashion magazines have similar content set, such as clothing, cosmetics, celebrities, sex, and gossip. As announced by magazines themselves, each of them has differentpositioningandtarget.however,hottopicsalwaysoccupiedimportantforum in different magazines. Second, world1class fashion magazines have similar editing method.thepictures,make1uptrendsanddresscollocationsuggestionsinworld1class fashion magazines are spontaneously use T1stage style. The models appeared in the magazinesarewesternfacesandthestylesofthemaresimilar. B. Low(brand(loyalty(and(could(be(easily(replaced( The brand loyalty of world1class fashion magazines is relatively low due to their high priceandsimilarcontentsofeachissue.consumersdonotformbuyinghabitsandtheir frequencyofpurchasingisrandom.thepowerofsubstituteishigh,sothepurchaseof world1class fashion magazines may be easily replaced by free online information and electronicversion. C. Diversified(marketing(channels(but(convergence( There is no doubt that the competition of distribution channels among world1class fashionmagazinesareintensively.conveniencestore,newsagents,airport,bookstores and online subscription are the main distribution channels of world1class fashion 37
magazines. Though the distribution channels looks diversified, in fact, it is highly convergence.becausethesedistributionchannelsareeasilytoachievedandworld1class fashionmagazinesdonotgainobviousadvantagesfromthissection. D. Limited(promotion(and(lack(of(innovation( Thoughpromotionscannotenhancethebrandloyalty,itcouldbeusedtoincreasesales dramatically. Therefore, in order to add value and stimulate the desire of purchase, world1classfashionmagazinesusepromotionsfrequently.however,themostcommon methodisbundlingsalesandfreebies,whichcouldbeeasilyimitatedandreplacedby competitors. E. Declining(market(share( Asweanalyzedabove,themarketshareofworld1classfashionmagazinesaredeclining andtheyareundergoingthechallengeofjapanesefashionmagazines.% % % 38
Part%4%Questionnaire%Analysis% 1. Rationale%of%Questionnaire% To investigate the reasons of above problems existing and realize ordinary readers recognitiontowardscurrentfashionmagazine,weconducttheonlinesurveyinformsof multiplechoicesandratingscale.beforepublishingthequestionnaireonline,apretest method was done through inviting 15 mainland university students to fill the questionnaires.aftercommunicatingwiththepretestgroup,questionnairewasrevised. Thereafter,onlinesurveywaspublishedfromFeb18toMar8. Wedivideourquestionnaireinthreeparts.Thefirstpartispersonalinformationofthe respondents, including gender, age, where do they from, education level, occupation, monthly income; and how do they pay attention to fashion information and their purchase habit towards fashion magazine. The second part is mainly focus on respondents opiniontowardsfashionmagazines price,cover,design,contentandtheir favorable magazine. In third part, after respondents choose the magazine, what we wanttoinvestigateisaboutthecustomer sinvolvementandattitudetowardsparticular magazine;theyweremeasuredbycustomerproductinvolvementdegree(zaichkowsky,$ 1994) and customers brand recognition (Keller$ Kevin,$ 1993) measuring four brand elements:brandcredibility,brandpersonality,brandloyaltyandwordofmouth. Tomakequestionnairemoreconvincible,followingaresomesettingrationale.First,age classification is based on the self1identification and target customer description of currentpopularmagazines.therefore,theageintervalisclassifiedintofourcategories. 39
Then, the range of monthly income depends on National Statistic Bureau (NSB) 1 2,000isthecutoffpointfortheindividualincometaxinmainlandChina.Tomakethe classification more specific and balanced, we take 2,000 as interval. Meanwhile, since the government in Mainland China set 10,000 as the critical point of high1income strengtheningindividualtax,thisnumberischosenastheendingpoint. Third, questions about area, education level and occupation were settled to realize whetherthesefactorshaveinfluenceonrespondents preferencetowardsfashionand fashion magazine. Therefore, the questions about fashion information resource and whetherpurchasefashionmagazinearefollowed. The second and third parts are designed to the respondents who have purchased fashionmagazines.inthesecondpart,questionsaboutfashionmagazines page,price, cover and content were used to investigate respondents preference and opinion towards fashion magazines. And in third part, rating scale questions are set to study customers product enduring involvement an approach to adopt the social psychologicalperspectiveof egoinvolvement whichconsiderstheperceivedpersonal relevanceofanobjecttoanindividual,inthiscase,aparticularmagazinetoareader; and readers brand recognition towards particular magazine which can help to evaluatedifferentialeffectofbrandknowledgeoncustomers responsetothemarketing ofthebrand.therefore,wegivealistoffashionmagazinesinsecondpartthatconsistof the main popular fashion magazines in Mainland China with considerable circulation andcoverthreemaincategories domestic,japanese1koreanstyleandworld1class.% 40
2. Questionnaire%Sample% SincethewholeprojectmainlyfocusesonthefashionmagazinesoperatedinMainland China,thequestionnairesamplewasalsochosenfromthesamearea.Basedonthedata fromchinesebk.com,in2011,thetotalaveragecirculationoftop5fashionmagazines inmainlandchinaisabout100,000perissue 2 andthese5magazinesstandabout80% market share of Mainland China fashion magazine market. Therefore, the estimated number 125,000 was assumed as the average readership size of fashion magazines. Using95%confidencelevel,wecalculateandfindthatthesamplesizewillbetween380 and 470 while the confidence interval located between 4.5% and 5% 1 the margin of errorisacceptable.therefore,450waschosenassamplesizeinitially. = 1 + where$n=sample$size,$ $$$$$N=population$size$ $$$$e=confidence$interval$ To access the target respondents more easily, we designed our questionnaire on Sojump.com. Based on the calculation and estimation above, 450 questionnaires were delivered via Internet. At last, 401 out of 450 questionnaires have been effectively collectedback.inthiscase,theresponserateoftheonlinesurveyis89.1%. % 89.1%=401 450 Therefore,thequestionnairesampleis401.% 2 Taketheaverageof10maincitiesinMainlandChina. 41
3. Result%Analysis% % A Background(of(Respondents( Aspreviousanalysismentioned,fortotal450questionnairessent,401questionnaires arecollectedfinally.followingaresomebasicinformationofthese401respondents: a. Gender% Gender% Frequency% Percent% Male 150 37.41% Female 251 62.59% Total 401 100.0% Table8GenderofRespondents KnownfromTable1,the401respondentsareconsistingof150maleand251femalein whichfemalestandsalargerdistribution. b. Age% Age% Frequency% Percent% <=20% 7 1.75% 21~30% 372 92.77% 31~40% 16 3.99% >=41% 6 1.5% Total% 401 100% Table9AgeofRespondents From Table 2, 92.77% of respondents are in 20125 age groups since most questionnaires are sent to our contemporary and they are also regarded as the main target customers of current fashion magazine. That s why there is few response from youngerthan20 and olderthan41 agegroups. c. Area% For this dimension, we divide the whole China into 8 areas which are Eastern China, 42
SouthChina,CentralChina,NorthChina,NorthWest,SouthWest,EastNorth,andHK, MacauandTaiwan;andsincetheprojectisfocusonMainlandChina,therespondents formthelastareaareignored. Area% Frequency% Percent% Eastern%China% 215 53.62% Southern%China% 27 6.73% Central%China% 11 2.74% Northern%China% 83 20.7% Northwest%China% 5 1.25% Southwest%China% 26 6.48% Northeast%China% 34 8.48% HK,%Macau%and%TW% 0 0% Total% 401 100.0% Table10AreasofRespondents AstheresultshowinTable3,respondentsarefromalloverChina.Thepercentageof therespondents from Eastern China (53.62%) is highest since this area covers most provincesofmainlandchinaandincludesseveralfirsttiercities.% d. Education%Level% Table 4 illustrates that most of our respondents achieved bachelor degree (75.56%) whichmeanstheaverageeducationlevelofrespondentsisrelativelyhigh. Education%Level% Frequency% Percent% Junior%College%or%Below% 28 6.98% Bachelor%Degree% 303 75.56% Master%Degree% 67 16.71% PHD%or%Above% 3 0.75% Total% 401 100.0% Table11EducationLevelsofRespondents 43
e. Occupation% BasedoncurrentoccupationcategoryofMainlandChina,wedivideditintofourmain classificationbuynotlimitedtothesecategorieswhicharestudent,nationalauthorities, enterpriseandinstitutionsemployee,privateenterpriseemployeeandfreelancer.table 5 below shows that the largest proportion of respondents is private enterprise employee(35.66%)whilestudentsalsostandsaconsiderablepercentage(27.43%). Occupation% Frequency% Percent% Student% 110 27.43% National%Authorities,%Enterprise%and% Institutions%Employee% 88 21.95% Private%Enterprise%Employee% 143 35.66% Freelancer% 22 5.49% Others% 38 9.48% Total% 401 100.0% Table12OccupationsofRespondents f. Purchase%Habit% To carry forward the questionnaire to second part, question about whether respondents have purchased fashion magazine was set. Table 6 below illustrates that only138respondents(34.41%)havepurchasedfashionmagazinewhichmeansthatthe readershipoffashionmagazinedoesnotstandalargepartofpopulation. Ever%Purchase% Frequency% Percent% Yes 138 34.41% No 263 65.59% Total 401 100.0% Table13PurchaseHabitofRespondents However, we have some interesting findings after cross1analysis the questions among questionsinfirstpart. 44
1 Information%resource%and%purchase%habit% Compared with the low percentage of fashion magazine purchase, we find that most people (61.35%) choose to get fashion information from fashion magazine and newspaper. One possible reason is most readers regard fashion magazines as the fashion information resources but do not form purchase habit. The other reason may related to the current distribution channels of fashion magazine is not only limited to retailing,customershavealternativechanneltoaccesstofashionmagazine. Where You Get Fahion Information Fashion Magazine & Newspaper TV Programme 53.62% 61.35% Professional Blog Professional Forum 18.45% 19.45% Social Network Websites 55.61% Friends' Sharing 36.16% Others 2.24% 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 Figure5WhereYouGetFashionInformation 1 The%fashion%magazine%purchase%behavior%varies%by%gender.% % Take gender as the factor, Table 7 shows the one1way ANOVA result of comparing gender s influence on purchase behavior. In this case, the F statistic is significant (p=0.00<0.05), which means the gender has influence on purchase behavior and purchasebehaviorvariesbygender.comparedwithtable8,femalerespondentswho 45
have purchased the fashion magazine stands a larger portion than male respondents whohavethesamepurchasebehavior.itcanbeeasilyunderstoodthatfemalealways putmoreattentiononfashionandbeauty. F Sig. BetweenGroups 18.934.000 WithinGroups Total Table14One1wayANOVA Gender% Yes% No% Total% Male% 32(21.33%) 118(78.67%) 150 Female% 106(42.23%) 145(57.77%) 251 Table15Gender sinfluenceonpurchasebehavior 1 Age%has%no%significant%relationship%with%purchase%behavior. Usually, fashion magazines are regarded as the exclusive reading for young people. Therefore, the assumption of the relationship between age and purchase behavior is established.however,thecoefficientintable9illustratesthatthereisnorelationship betweenageandfashionmagazinepurchasebehavior1sincethesigis0.073(>0.05).to someextend,itcanmeanthatfashionisbecomingcommontopicamongallagegroups. Model Coefficients a Standardized Coefficients Beta Sig. 1 age 1.090.073 a.$dependent$variable:$do$you$have$the$habit$to$purchase$fashion$magazine? Table16RelationshipbetweenAgeandPurchaseBehavior 46
1 The%fashion%magazine%purchase%behavior%varies%by%area. Takeareaasfactortodotheone1wayANOCA,TheFstatisticinTable10issignificant (p=0.00<0.05) which means that the areas has effect on fashion magazine purchase behavior. This result is consistent with Table 11 the purchase behavior of people come from different areas is different peoplesinnorthwestchina,southwestchina and northern China have a relatively high percentage of fashion magazine purchase behavior. ANOVA F Sig. BetweenGroups 3.958.000 WithinGroups Total Table17One1wayANOVA Area% Yes% No% Eastern%China 30.70% 69.30% Southern%China 14.81% 85.19% Central%China 27.27% 72.73% Northern%China 43.37% 56.63% Northwest%China 60.00% 40.00% Southwest%China 69.23% 30.77% Northeast%China 23.53% 76.47% Table18Areas InfluenceonPurchaseBehavior 1 No%relationship%between%education%level%and%fashion%magazine%purchase% behavior.% Basedontheanalysis,educationlevelhasnorelationshipwithfashionmagazine purchasebehaviorsincethesig.iflargerthan0.05.thatis,forfashionmagazine 47
purchasebehavior,customers educationlevelwon tinfluencetheirpurchasebehavior. Fashionmagazineismorelikeacommontopic. Model Coefficients a Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Beta 1 educationlevel 1.005 1.107.915 a.$dependent$variable:$do$you$have$the$habit$to$purchase$fashion$magazine?$ Table19RelationshipbetweenEducationlevelandPurchaseBehavior 1 Occupation% has% no% influence% on% the% different% purchase% behavior% towards% fashion%magazine% Aftercomparingthemeansamongdifferentoccupation,thereisnotanyvariationsince Fstatisticisnotsignificant(p=0.482>0.05).Thatis,forfashionmagazinereadership, theoccupationcancoverallkindsofindustry. ANOVA F Sig. BetweenGroups.869.482 WithinGroups Total Table20One1wayANOVA 1 There% is% a% significant% negative% relationship% between% monthly% income% and% fashion%magazine%purchase%behavior.% The coefficients in Table 14 shows that there is a significant negative relationship between monthly income and fashion magazine purchase behavior since p=0.008 (<0.05) while the Beta value is negative. That is, the more the customers monthly income,thefewthefashionmagazinepurchasebehaviorhappened.it sasurpriseresult 48
sincemanyworld1classfashionmagazinesaretargetathigh1incomelevelpeople.itmay be that many fashion magazines advertise for initiate high1quality life is what high1incomelevelpeoplealreadyenjoyed.therefore,howtoaccesstothesepeopleand encourage them to purchase fashion magazine should be a questions for these magazinestoconsider.% Model Coefficients a Standardized Coefficients t Sig. Beta 1 monthlyincome 1.131 12.646.008 a.dependent$variable:$do$you$have$the$habit$to$purchase$fashion$ magazine? Table21RelationshipbetweenMonthlyIncomeandPurchaseBehavior B General(Attitude(towards(Fashion(Magazine( Insecondpart,toevaluaterespondents purchasefrequencyandtheirattitudetowards fashion magazines page number, cover preference, artistic design and content, five generalquestionsaredesignedinthequestionnaire.toobtainaconvincibleresult,only people who have ever purchased fashion magazine are required to answer these questions.asaresult,138of401respondentsanswerthesequestions. a. Purchase%Frequency% Figure 2 illustrates that most respondents (39.86%) buy fashion magazine not that frequently while 23.19% respondents purchase every issue 1 they can be regarded as loyalcustomersandfashionamateur.% 49
Purchase Frequency 45.00% 40.00% 35.00% 30.00% 25.00% 20.00% 15.00% 10.00% 5.00% 0.00% 23.19% 22.46% Every Issue 39.86% Twice per Quarter Several Times per Year Figure6PurchaseFrequencyofRespondents 14.49% It passed a long period after lasr purchase b. Preference% Other four questions in this part are related to customers preference towards some basicelementsoffashionmagazine. 1 Page%Number% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% Page Number Preference 52.17% 30.00% 20.00% 18.84% 23.19% 10.00% 0.00% 5.80% 64 Pages 80 Pages 128 Pages Never Mind Figure7PageNumberPreference As previous mentioned, nowadays, most magazines are priced at 20 with 128 pages. 50
However, this price is regarded as relatively high since customers criticized there are toomanyadvertisementsinwhichincreasethepagenumbersandmakethemagazine heavier. Therefore, to realize customers preference towards the page number of content,threefrequentlyusedpagenumbersaresetaschoices. To our surprised, as Figure 3 shows, more than half of respondents think that they won t care the page number if there is high quality content. That means, for most customers, content is still the primary factor they consider when purchasing fashion magazine. Meanwhile, it is no doubt that there is still some customers hope the 20 pricecanincludemorecontents. 1 Cover%Model% Cover Model Preference 25.36% 1.45% 8.70% 13.77% Female Celebrities Male Celebrities Famous Model 2.90% 47.83% Special Celebrities without Gender Limitation Cartoon or Still Life Never Mind Figure8CoverModelPreference Based on previous analysis, current fashion magazines usually use famous model as covermodelanditismorelikeacustomoftheindustry.buthowcustomersthinkabout thecovermodel?figure4showsthat44.85%respondentsprefersomecelebritieswith 51
significant characters rather than famous model, one interviewee s opinion may illustratesthereason nowadays,thefashionisnotonlytheclothingontherunway,it is more likely a lifestyle, a life attitude. Rather than seek for the beautiful clothing, I thinkmostpeoplebegintoseekanuniqueindividuality. (SherryWu) 1 Artistic%Design% When asked about respondents opinions towards artistic design of fashion magazine, nearly67%respondentsthinkitisveryimportantforfashionmagazinewhileonly29% respondents put content as primacy (Figure 5). It seems like there is a conflict with previous result about page number preference. Therefore, we randomly interviewed somerespondents,theysaidthattheythinkartisticdesignisaveryimportantelements ofamagazinefocusonfashionandthecontentoffashionmagazinecannotonlyinclude thearticlesandpicturesbutalsotheartisticdesignandlayout. 4.35% Artistic Design Preference Design is very important 28.99% 66.67% The most important should be content Never Mind Figure9ArtisticDesignPreference% % 52
1 Content% Content Preference Clothing Information Beauty Information F&B and Lifestyle Dressing Skills Trend Information Traveling Information Brand Story Health Information Others 2.17% 78.99% 55.80% 65.94% 68.84% 57.97% 56.52% 47.10% 37.68% 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 Figure10ContentPreference Thereisnodoubtthatcurrentfashionmagazinesarenotonlyfocusonclothing,trend and beauty but also pay attention to aspects that closely related to life. As Figure 6 shows,althoughclothinginformationisstilltheemphasisofmostrespondents(78.99%) and beauty information and trend information have a relatively high readership, dressing skills and food & beverage and lifestyle attract more than 60% attention. Besides, customers begin to put sight to travelling information (56.52%) and brand story(47.1%). C Analysis(of(World(Class(Fashion(Magazine( As previous mentioned, according to the circulation and reputation, we conduct a fashion magazine list which consist of Top 15 popular fashion magazine. To make the analysis focus on world1class fashion magazine and compare the difference between this kind of fashion magazine and other style fashion magazine based on previous 53
definition, we divide the whole market into three categories based on the content, backgroundandstyle. Category% WorldGClass% JapaneseGKorean% Domestic% 1Vogue 1MarieClaire Magazine% 1ForHimMagazine 1SmartShe 1Mina 1Elle 1Woman 1Rayli 1Cosmopolitan 1ShanghaiStyle 1Vivi 1Harper sbazaar 1Official 1Self 1GQ Table22FashionMagazineClassifications As Table 15 shows, from the perspective of the quantity, the world1class fashion magazine has a significant advantage. However, known from previous part, Rayli has thelargestcirculationandmarketshareinmainlandchina.therefore,weconductrate scale questions about customers product involvement and brand recognition; and try tofindthereasonsthroughcomparingcustomers opinionamongdifferentcategories. 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 Magazine Preference Figure11FashionMagazinePreference 54
The result of Figure 7 shows consistence with previous information about the popularity of fashion magazine Rayli has the highest percentage. Based on Figure 7, wesummarizethetotalnumberofeachcategoryastable16presents. For the option of others, after reviewing the answers, 8 of them are trend magazine which are excluded while other 4 are domestic fashion magazine. Therefore, the numberiscalculatedintodomesticfashionmagazine. Category% Total%Number% WorldGClass% 62 JapaneseGKorean% 55 Domestic% 13 Total% 130 Table23FashionMagazineNumber Tomakeushaveabetterunderstandingtowardscustomers attitudeaboutthesethree types fashion magazine, especially on world1class fashion magazine. The comparisons are done among three categories by comparing customers product involvement and brandrecognitionwhiletheanalysiswillfocusonworld1classfashionmagazines. a. Customers %Product%Involvement% Productinvolvementiscommonlydefinedasaconsumers enduringperceptionsofthe importance of the product category based on the consumers inherent needs, values, andinterests(zaichkowsky,$1985).doingproductinvolvementcanhelptounderstand consumerdecision1makingbehavior.thatis,forhigh1involvementproducts,consumers are more likely to put more effort to do research before make the purchase decision such as searching product information and compared among different brands. On the 55
otherhand,thelevelofproductinvolvementwillbelowifcustomers lackofmotivation, effortandevencapabilityinrelationtoprocessinginformation. In this case, ten aspects of fashion magazines are defined to evaluate consumers productinvolvement.therangeofeachelementisfrom1to5(1standsforcustomers attitudetendstotherelativelypositiveaspect thatis,highproductinvolvement,while 5meanscustomerstendstothinkthefashionmagazineinarelativelynegativeway in otherwords,lowproductinvolvement.besides,3istheneutralattitudetowardseach element).thatis,thehigherthescore,themorenegativetheconsumersthinkaboutthe fashionmagazine. Option% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% Mean% Appealing% 24(38.71%) 21(33.87%) 11(17.74%) 4(6.45%) 2(3.23%) 3.98 Exciting% 14(22.58%) 22(35.48%) 21(33.87%) 5(8.06%) 0(0%) 3.73 Fascinating% 16(25.81%) 22(35.48%) 20(32.26%) 3(4.84%) 1(1.61%) 3.79 Involving% 16(25.81%) 21(33.87%) 19(30.65%) 5(8.06%) 1(1.61%) 3.74 Meaningful% 17(27.42%) 19(30.65%) 19(30.65%) 5(8.06%) 2(3.23%) 3.71 Necessary% 8(12.9%) 15(24.19%) 26(41.94%) 8(12.9%) 5(8.06%) 3.21 Priceless% 6(9.68%) 16(25.81%) 27(43.55%) 9(14.52%) 4(6.45%) 3.18 Important% 7(11.29%) 19(30.65%) 24(38.71%) 7(11.29%) 5(8.06%) 3.26 Interesting% 17(27.42%) 24(38.71%) 16(25.81%) 4(6.45%) 1(1.61%) 3.84 Relevant% 9(14.52%) 21(33.87%) 20(32.26%) 9(14.52%) 3(4.84%) 3.39 Table24ProductInvolvementofWorld1classFashionMagazine Table 17 shows customers product involvement of world1class fashion magazine, the meansoftenaspectsarelocatedbetween3~4,thatis,forworld1classfashionmagazine customers, the product involvement is relatively low. The possible reason may be 56
customersseelittledifferentamongworld1classfashionmagazineanddolittleresearch beforepurchasing; the other reason may be the distinguish brand recognition help to buildtheloyaltywhichleadstothelowproductinvolvement. The three line in Figure 8 present the product involvement level of three kinds of fashion magazine. On the whole, they show a similar trend on customers perception towards the magazine especially world1class fashion magazine and Japanese1Korean fashionmagazine.specifically,thejapanese1koreanfashionmagazinegeneratesalittle higher customer perception towards total ten aspects which means the latter enjoy a higher product involvement. That is, for customers of Japanese1Korean fashion magazine, they will do more research such as asking for friends opinion when they choosetobuyfashionmagazine Theinterestingthingisthedomesticfashionmagazineproductinvolvement.Customers perceptionshowsafluctuantonthisline.tooursurprise,customerstendtothinkthe domestic fashion magazines are priceless while they regard the magazines are unappealing than other twotypes of fashion magazine; besides, they are thinking this kindoffashionmagazineislessinvolvingwhilefeelingtheyarerelevant.thismaybea sideevidenceofcurrentsituationoffashionmagazineindustry thegoodandbadare intermingledandseekforthesamepricecompetition;closetoreaders lifebutlackof viewingfromtheperspectiveofreaders. 57
Mean 5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 Comparison of Product Involvement of Fahion Magazine World-class Japanese- Korean Domestic Figure12ComparisonofFashionMagazines'ProductInvolvement% b. Customers %Brand%Recognition% FromthesecondaryresearchwhichshowninLiteratureReview,therearefourmajor aspectsforustostudyabrand,whicharebrandcredibility,brandpersonality,brand loyaltyandwordofmouth.thedetailsareasfollows: Brand%credibility:trustworthy,correctinformationandconfidence. Brand%personality:sincere,reliableandcharming Brand%loyalty:committedandlikelytobuy Word%of%mouth:talkingaboutadvantagesandrecommendation. The range of each element is from 1 to 5 (1 stands for strongly disagree and 5 represents stronglyagree while3istheneutralattitudetowardseachelement). The following tables show respondents minds towards the particular magazine they choose.basedourcategory,wesummarizedthemintothreetables.itisobviousthatfor 58
brandcredibility, the highest mean is 3.65 of world1class fashion magazine while the customers of this kind of magazine show a higher confidence towards the magazine. Thatis,theworld1classfashionmagazinedidagoodjobonbuildingbrandcredibility. On contrary, the Japanese1Korean fashion magazine generates relatively low brand credibility and it seems like the readers of this kind of magazine lack of confidence towardsthemagazine. For brand personality, it s amazing the domestic fashion magazine enjoy the highest score,especiallyfor sincere part.thereasonmaybethecontentsofdomesticfashion magazine are more close to the readers life and Chinese fashion. But the world1class fashionmagazineenjoythehighestscorein charming aspect,itcanbeevidencethat mostworld1classsuccessfullybuildthebrandimageincustomers mindsasupper1level andcharming.besides,thejapanese1koreanfashionmagazineshowsabalancedscore inallthreeparts. Forbrandloyalty,thereadersofallfashionmagazinesshowsimilarbrandloyaltylevel whilethescoreofworld1classfashionmagazineisalittlebithigher.whatneedtopay attention is that although the foreign style fashion magazine readers show higher tendencyforfuturebuying,therearemorereadersofdomesticfashionmagazinethink theyarecommittedtothemagazine. Also,themeanofwordofmouthpresentsthesimilarityagain,andalthoughworld1class fashionmagazineenjoyahigherscoreinthispart,itisthereadersofjapanese1korean fashionmagazineshowhighestwillingnesstorecommendmagazineandthedomestic 59
fashionmagazine sreadershasthehighestwillingnesstopromotemagazine. Fromtheaboveanalysis,wecansaythatpeoplehaveneutralfeelingstowardalltypes offashionmagazinewhileworld1classfashionmagazineshowsanaverageadvantagein brandcredibility,brandpersonalityandwordofmouth.thesurprisethingisalthough generating highest circulation and largest readership, it seems like customers overall perceptiontowardsjapanese1koreanfashionmagazineisneutral. Mean% Trustworthy 3.77 Brand%Credibility% BrightFuture 3.65 Confidence 3.52 Sincere 3.77 Brand%Personality% Reliable 3.77 Charming 3.79 Brand%Loyalty% Likelytobuy 3.76 Committed 3.44 Word%of%Mouth% Talkaboutitsadvantages 3.68 Recommendation 3.79 Table25BrandRecognitionofWorld1classFashionMagazine% Mean% Trustworthy 3.55 Brand%Credibility% BrightFuture 3.51 Confidence 3.20 Sincere 3.87 Brand%Personality% Reliable 3.73 Charming 3.45 Brand%Loyalty% Likelytobuy 3.75 Committed 3.42 Word%of%Mouth% Talkaboutitsadvantages 3.62 Recommendation 3.80 Table26BrandRecognitionofJapanese1KoreanFahionMagazine 3.65 3.78 3.60 3.74 3.42 3.68 3.59 3.71 60
Mean% Trustworthy 3.85 Brand%Credibility% BrightFuture 3.69 Confidence 3.31 Sincere 4.00 Brand%Personality% Reliable 3.78 Charming 3.69 Brand%Loyalty% Likelytobuy 3.62 Committed 3.54 Word%of%Mouth% Talkaboutitsadvantages 3.77 Recommendation 3.69 Table27BrandRecognitionofDomesticFashionMagazine 3.62 3.82 3.58 3.73 Combined with previous analysis on other questions, the reasons may be: first, the world1classfashionmagazine stargetcustomers highincomelevel haslessfashion magazinepurchasebehavior;then,customers purchasedecisionmaybeinfluencedby friendsandonlineopinionleaders,thehigherwillingnesstorecommendthemagazine will effect friends purchase decision; second, compared with world1class fashion magazines charmingimage,japanese1koreanfashionmagazineismoresinceresinceit focusonasianfashionwhichmakingreadersfeelmoreinvolving.% 4. Conclusion% Through synthesizing and comparing the entire questionnaire analysis above and combiningwithpreviouspartscontent,followingconclusionsareobtained: A. Female(is(still(the(main(purchase(power(of(fashion(magazine( Female reader is still main purchase power of fashion magazine since female is more willing to pay attention on fashion. However, the existing male readers especially the considerable purchase number of For Him Magazine shows the potentially of male 61
fashionmagazinemarket. B. Fashion(is(becoming(the(common(topic(among(peoples( Thereisnosignificationrelationshipbetweenage,educationlevelandoccupationwith fashion magazine purchase behavior. That is, the readers of fashion magazine are locatedateachagegroupwithdifferenteducationlevelandoccupation this means fashionisbecomingthecommontopicandattractmoreandmorepeopleattention.it illustratesthepotentialmarketofcurrentfashionmagazineindustry. C. The(fashion(magazines (distribution(could(pay(more(attention(on(area(difference( Peoplesfromdifferentareaspresentdifferentfashionmagazinepurchasebehaviordue to different environmental factors such as economic, culture, income level, etc. What fashionmagazinescanlearnistheyshouldpaymoreattentiontoareadifferencewhen theyplantoexpanddistributiontosecond1orthird1tirecities,especiallythesouthwest area which may be ignored by some magazine currently but shows relatively higher purchasingpotentially. D. Fashion(magazine(still(not(become(the(daily(reading.( Based on the analysis on the purchase frequency, most peoples still buy fashion magazine occasionally rather than regularly. That is, the loyalty degree of fashion magazineisstilllow.comparedwithbrandrecognitionscore,nofashionmagazinehas builtupaloyalreadership.therefore,whatfashionmagazinesneedtoconsiderishow tobuildloyalreadershipwhileattractnewreaders. 62
E. Various(content(with(excellent(artistic(design(is(important( Customers requirements towards fashion magazines design and content is high. In customers opinion, the fashion contents are not only limit to clothing and beauty but include various aspect of life. The content of fashion magazine cannot only focus on articleandpicturebutalsodesignandlayout. F. Cover(model(can(not(be(limited(to(fashion(model(and(stars( Consumers present the tire of the cover model of fashion magazine and express the willingnesstoseemorespecialcelebritiesonthecoverwithoutgenderlimitation. Meanwhile, the result of the high frequency purchase fashion magazine shows the consistence with the current situation of fashion magazine industry although the world1classfashionmagazinehasalargequantity,japanese Koreanfashionmagazine enjoy the highest circulation. The reason may be the large quantity and similar positioningofworld1class fashion magazines lead to the overlap of target customers. Takealookattheproductinvolvementandbrandrecognitiontogether,therearesome conclusionsofworld1classfashionmagazine: A. Less(readers(in(target(customers( World1classfashionmagazineusuallyputthesightonhigh1incomelevelpeople,orsay defineitselfasthemagazinetoteachreadershowtoenjoylife.however,basedonthe analysis,thefashionmagazinepurchasebehaviorhasanegativesignificantrelationship with monthly income, that is, the higher the monthly income, the fewer fashion magazinepurchase.inotherwords,itseemslikeworld1classfashionmagazinedonot 63
attractitstargetcustomersasitexpect. B. Brand(building(need(improve( Accordingtothescoreofbrandrecognition,althoughworld1classfashionmagazinehas ahigherscoreonbrandcredibility,brandloyaltyandwordofmouth,thescoreisstillin neutrallevel.thatis,formostfashionmagazinereaders,thebrandimageofworld1class fashionmagazinehaslittledifferencewithothertwotypesfashionmagazine. In( conclude,( world1class fashion magazine needs torethinkitspositioningandtarget marketanditstillhaspotentialmarkettodevelop.atthesametime,whattheyneedto considerishowtobuildamoreuniquebrandimageandrecognitionamongaudiences andtoreachtargetreaders. 64
Part%5%Interview%Analysis% 1. Rationale%of%Interview% Through the survey outcome, we have got a comprehensive understanding about Chinesefashionmagazinereaders thought,attitudeandbehavior.inordertocompare whethertheworld1class fashion magazines truly understand their readers, their own opinions are essential. So conducting an interview among the editors from 5 representativeworld1classfashionmagazineswillbethemostimmediateandeffective waytogaintheinformation. Accordingtothequestionnaire squestionsetting,weconfirmsomerelevantquestions in the interview outline. After communicating with the certain editors, the interviews aredoneduringfeb16andfeb22. The interview mainly contains 11 questions towards their views about magazine s positioning, target audience, content, advertising, new media application, distribution, short1term objective and some hot topics in this industry. All these questions are dividedinto2parts,oneisaboutmagazineitself,oneisaboutwholeindustry. 2. Brief%Introduction%of%Interviewees% Till now, there are 5 existing world1class fashion magazines in Mainland China, which are Elle, Marie$ Claire, Cosmopolitan, Bazaar and Vogue. In this category, we need to chooseonefromeachmagazine,thatistosay,5intervieweesintotal.theyarefromall kinds of departments in their own magazine. The reasons of choosing these intervieweesareasbelow. 65
First, in order to make the interview outcome accurate and comparable, we should ensureatleastoneintervieweefromeachworld1classmagazine. Second, interview questions are related to various categories of a magazine. Few individualsinamagazinecanbefamiliarwiththemall,exceptforthehigh1levelstaffs, but they are usually hard to be interviewed. Under this kind of circumstances, the chosenintervieweesshouldalsofromallpositionsofmagazinetomakeupdrawbacks. Third,weallknowsometimesindividualcannotstandforthewholegroup,sointerview outcomewillbecomparedwithquestionnaireoutcomeandsomeotherliteratures. Duetotimelimitation,wecannotfindanintervieweefromVogue,soweusetheirchief editor Angelica CHEUNG s interview content for Southern Metropolis Daily as a second1handliteraturetoanalyze. After repeated consideration, choosing and communicating, 4 interviewees are confirmed.theirbriefintroductionsaredescribedbelow. A Elle:(Gloria(DENG( Feature editor of Elle China, will graduate from Hong Kong Baptist University.ThoughsheisanewstaffofElle,shehad31yearspart1time internexperienceinelleduringbachelortimeinfudanuniversity. B Marie(Claire:(Sirine(SHI( Sales coordinator of Marie$ Claire s Marketing Department, her daily responsibilityissomeadvertisingissues,suchascommunicatingwith Marie$Claire sbigcustomersandsellingads. 66
C Bazaar:(Amber(ZHAO( Brand & PR assistant of Harper s$ Bazaar, Bazaar$ Men s$ Style, Bazaar$ Art$ and$ Bazaar$ Jewelry. As a member of marketing department, her dailyworkisrelatedtosomemarketsurveyandbrandactivities. D Cosmopolitan:(Luke(YU( FashioneditorofCosmopolitan,hisdailyresponsibilityisinterviewing, attending fashion shows and producing content for the magazine in fashionandclothingarea. E Vogue:(Angelica(CHEUNG((SecondIhand(Literature)( ChiefeditorofVogueChina,whosepositionintoday schinesefashion industry is irreplaceable. Before entering Vogue China, she was the editdirectorofelle,thechiefeditorofmarieclarehongkongedition. 3. Answers%Analysis% A Opinion(towards(Magazine( Thispartcontains8questions. a. Target%Audience% Except forcosmopolitan s mass female target, Most of the interviewees consider their magazines major target audience should be the professional female with high educationleverandhighincomeorsuccessfulfemale. nthiscategory,theanswerofelle sintervieweegloriadengisalittleuniquewithother 67
interviewees.shesaid, Ourmajortargetaudienceismiddle1classfemaleagedfrom20 to50,butsometimesnotthathigh1end,whichmeansallkindsofreaderscanpurchase our magazine. As many people said, fashion magazine is produced by some people earned 8,000monthly,describesakindoflifeworth 20thousandsandissoldto thepeopleonlyhave 3,000salary. Even Vogue s chief editor, Angelica CHEUNG said some of our audiences have the ability to consume immediately after reading our magazine, while the others are just attractedbythiskindoflifestyleandcultivatetheirownfashiontastes,theymaybegin tobuysomegoodsgraduallyaftertheyhavetheconsumingability. From the answer, it is not difficult to know that some of the world1class magazines begin to accept the reality that in China market, even fashion magazine s content is aboutthehigh1endlife,themajortargetaudiencearemiddle1classorevenlower. b. USP%on%Content% USP,standsforUniqueSellingProposition,whichisusuallyusedinadvertisingarea.It requirestheadvertisementtomakeauniquepropositionfoundfromproductitselfto thecustomers.(rosserreeves,1961)inthiscategory,weapplyitoncontentproducing. Manybelieve,theworld1classfashionmagazineshaveatrendofhomogenizationonthe contents.sothiscategoryisaskedtofindoutwhetherthetrendisrealityandwhether theworld1classfashionmagazinesinchinahavetheirownusp,whichcanbeusedto distinguishonemagazinefromothers. Alloftheintervieweesadmitthatthere sahomogenizationtrendonthecontents,but 68
when it comes to their own magazines USP, the answers from 4 interviewees are incompatible. Elle sinterviewee,gloriadengsaid, Infashionandclothingpart,Voguedoesabetter jobthanelle,butelle sfeatureisbetter.fashionmagazineisnotallaboutmakeupand clothing, attitude is also very important. I think Elle pay more attention on female s innergrowth. At the same time, Marie$ Claire s interviewee, Sirine SHI said, There are indeed some differencesamongthesemagazines.forexample,ellewillmorefocusonofferinglatest female fashion information, and tell them how to dress themselves up and keep pace with the fashion trend. Marie$ Claire s content always follows the guideline of its Vision1ThinkSmartandLookAmazing.SoMarie$Clairecaremoreaboutfemale sinner worldandbelieveonlyinnerbeautycouldlastforever.moreover,marie$claire sfeature isunique. LukeYUfromCosmopolitanalsoexpressthattheirmagazinecaresaboutfemale sinner worldandlifestyle. Through% the% contrast, wediscoveredthatononehandtheintervieweesthinktheir magazines USPs are paying attention to female inner world and their features, which meansthere snouspatall.ontheotherhand,itreflectsthattheyarenotonlyconfused abouttheirownpositioning,butalsotheircompetitors. c. Cover%Model% Inthiscategory,differentmagazine seditorialpolicyisdistinguishedfromeachothers. 69
Everymagazinehasitsdistinctivecharacteristic. Elle has a balanced cover policy that foreigners and Chinese are half and half, and an equalsplitisalsoensuredbetweenmodelsandcelebrities.thechoicestandardshould refertowhetherthepersonhasnewspretextandnewsvalue. Picture4CoversofElleandMarie-Claire Marie$Claire sintervieweesaidtheypreferusingforeigncelebritiesontheircoverpage more,becausetheythinkforeigncelebritiesaremoreattractiveandeyescatching.and their choice standard is very simple that it should be a wise female who is beautiful insideandout,andissuccessfulinherownfield.butfromtheir2011covers,wecould seethatmostcovermodelsarealsochineseandmalesalsoappearedfortwice. Picture5CoversofHarper'sBazaarandCosmopolitan 70
BazaarandCosmopolitan scoverpageshaveaquitesimilarsituationwithmarie$claire. Chinesecelebrities,especiallyChinesefemalemoviestars,occupynearlyallyearround covers. As Bazaar s interviewee Amber ZHAO said, they seldom use model on their coverpages.therearealsosomeissuesthatafemalecelebritywillappearonthecover withthecompanyofamalecelebrity. Picture6CoversofVogueChina Among the 5 world1class fashion magazines, Vogue used most foreigners as cover modelandtheintervieweesaidtheyprefermodeltocelebrity,whichisbecausesuper models can present their pursuit of beauty and art better. This special taste can be provedvividlywiththepictureabove. In% short,% even though there re some diversity among the magazines, most of the world1class fashion magazines in China have already realize the importance of localizationandkeeptryingtoreachafavorableoutcome.butitisconfirmedthatmost covermodelsarestillfemaleandmustbecelebrities. d. Topic%Selection% Whenitcomestothecategoryoftopicselection,allofthe4interviewees opinionsare 71
consistent. They said, Chinese local editors finish the majority of the contents, only a few percentages contents are pick1up from other nation s version, due to some copyrightproblemandcontentimportproblem. Ontheselectionprocess,itcanbedividedinto2kinds.Oneistop1downmodel,likeElle. Thebigtopicsareoftenselectedbytheboss.Theotherisbottomupmodel,likeMarie$ Claire and Cosmopolitan. Topics are come up by the editors, then reported to their superiors,anddecidedfinallybythechiefeditor. Ofcourse,duringthetopicselectionprocess,thecommunicationbetweeneditorsanda varietyoftopbrandsisnecessary.amberzhaotoldusthat,everybrandhasitsmain new products in every season; editors just pick what they want among brands recommendations e. Advertising% Asweallknown,theworld1classfashionmagazinesaremainlyrunwiththeadvertising income. In a word, advertising is fashion magazine s lifeline. The advertising policy of themagazinesisalsoanimportantaspectwhichcanreflectmagazine spersonality. AccordingtoSirineSHI swords,marie$claireusuallychoosessomeinternationalbrands, and the larger the brand is, the more previous page the advertising will be post. Cosmopolitan,BazaarandVoguehaveasimilarsituation. Elle will be more flexible in this category. Every issue we will communicate with the advertisers, once the brand reaches certain level, there s no certain tendency on choosingtheproductsanditdoesnothavetobefemalebrand. (GloriaDENG) 72
To%sum%up,Chineseworld1classfashionmagazinesstilltendtoposttopluxurybrands advertising. f. Distribution% There sanextremesayingthat,sometimeswhetheramagazinecouldbesuccessful,itis decidedbyitsdistributionratherthanthecontent,butthat strueinsomeway.without the distribution, the magazine cannot reach their audiences effectively, which will totally influence their advertising sales. Recent years in China, the development gap betweeneasternandwesternisgrowingsignificantly.throughthiscategory,we dlike to find out whether the distribution of world1class fashion magazines is balanced betweeneasternandwesternarea. All of the interviewees are confident about their publish covering in mainland China, they said, not only big cities can find their magazines, but also some second1tier and third1tiercities Fromtheanswers,wecouldknowthattheworld1classfashionmagazinesinChinaare quite satisfied with the current situation of their distribution and publish covering. ExceptBazaargoingtodeveloptheirsecond1tierandthird1tiercitiesmarketthisyear, othermagazinesdon thaveafurtherplanondevelopingthemarkets. g. New%Media%Application% Theriseofnewmediahasbeenyears,withnewmediareader,likeiPad,Kindleandso on,nowithasbeenappliedtothefashionmagazineindustrywhichisbecomingmore andmorepopular. 73
Picture7EQFashionMagazine Thiscategoryisgoingtoexplorewhethertheworld1classfashionmagazinesinChina markethaverealizedthenewmediaageiscomingandmadefulluseofthisnewtypeof mediaplatform. Accordingtotheanswers,aconclusioncanbeacknowledgedthatallintervieweesagree aboutthenewmediatrendinfashionmagazineindustry,thenewmediawillmakethe content presented in a more vivid way and they believe it is a convenient channel for thereaderstoachievethecontentfrommagazine. Of course, the editors also show their worries towards this platform, because new mediaversionmaytakesomereadersawayfromtheirtraditionalversion.what smore, customers may prefer free electronic magazine to one1charge fees. Once it begins to charge, the customers will be lost. For this, Gloria DENG s words make us feel interested, MostpeopleinChinapreferfreeversion,ifyouwanttogetthempay,you have to come up with something more attractive, such as some special features or picturesdifferentfromthemagazineonreallivepaper. To%conclude,theworld1classfashionmagazinesinChinamarketcanseebothsidesof thecoin,towardsthenewmediaplatform,buttendtobeconservative. 74
h. ShortGterm%Objective% Accordingtotheinterviewees answersoftheir2012wishes,theshort1termobjectives ofeachmagazinecanbereflected. 1 Elle:% Increase the market share and advertising income with the semi1monthly strategy.% 1 Marie(Claire:%Tocelebratethe10yearsanniversaryofChineseversion.% 1 Cosmopolitan:% Increasethecontentqualityofdoubleissueandtheartisticquality. InnovateonthebasisofCosmoSprit.% 1 Vogue:%ReachabalancebetweenGlobalizationandLocalization.% 1 Harper s( Bazaar:% This year s main objective is to develop the second1tier and third1tiercities marketandcontinuetocontributetochinesefashionindustrythat cultivatemorelocaldesigner,modelandphotographer.% B Opinion(towards(Whole(Industry( Thispartcontains3questions. a. Attitude%towards%Other%Type%of%Magazine% AswementionedintheQuestionnaireAnalysispart,basedonthecontent,background andstyle,wedividethewholechinesefashionmagazinemarketintothreecategories, includingworld1class,japanese1koreananddomestic. In this category, we d like to know what the interviewees attitude are, towards its competitors, other two types of magazine, especially the domestic fashion magazine whichtakeacheaproute,suchas Femina and Shanghai$ Style.Towards this problem, 75
intervieweeshavedifferentviewpoints. Elle sintervieweethinksthistypeofmagazinecouldhaveagreatreadership.without toomuchadvertising,itcontainsalotofinformation.butitcannotplanthefeatureslike Elle;mostofthecontentsarenotthatbeneficialandhelpful,likesomegossips. SirineSHIfromMarie$Claireholdstheviewthatthosefashionmagazineswithlowprice often have a limited publish covering, they only distributed among certainarea.the informationitcontainedwillbeless,duetothelesspagesineveryissue.shesaid, Itis agoodchoiceforpeopletoreadontheirjourney. Thissentencemeansshethinksthe low1pricefashionmagazinehaslimitedreadingvaluethatit sakindofone1offreading. Except for some small disaccord, nearly all interviewees do not think the low1price fashion magazine will be a great threat for the world1class fashion magazines in MainlandChina. Moreover, Vogue s chief editor Angelica CHEUNG comments from fashion aspect in SouthernMetropolisDailyinterview, TheJapanese1Koreanfashionmagazinesareonly entrylevel. In% short, allof theworld1class magazines think themselves cannot be replaced by Japanese1Koreanfashionmagazines. b. SemiGmonthly%Issue% During2012ParisFashionWeekonMarch6,aChinaFashionNighttookplaceinParis, onwhichabigdecisionofellechinawasdeclared.ellechinahadjustbecomeellefirst semi1monthlypublicationallovertheworld. 76
Picture8ElleSemimonthlyIssue For this issue, Elle s editor Gloria DENG gave us the explanation that it is in considerationofmarketsharegainingandsellingmoreadvertising. Shesaid, Beforethis,in2009,Ellehastrieddoubleissueforonce.AissueandBissue had different positioning and different content. A issue was the former Elle, while B issue had a younger positioning. Unfortunately, this trial was not successful that even celebrities prefer to be photographed for an A issue cover, rather than a B issue one. Moreover,theadvertisingpriceofBissuewasmuchcheaperthantheAissue. Thus, now with the same positioning, the content volume is doubled, the total price monthly is still the same. Elle use this strategy to attract more audiences and more advertising.butthepricetheyhavetopayisincreasinglaborcostthat Wearehiring moreeditorstohandleincreasedworkload. (GloriaDENG) Of course, it may also have some disadvantage. According to the viewpoint of Cosmopolitan seditorlukeyu,althoughitmeetspeople sneedinhighpacelifeandthis 77
TMIage(BertramGross,1964),itisdifficultforElletokeephighcontentquality. Picture9DoubleIssueofCosmopolitanandHarper's-Bazaar Other 4 world1class fashion magazines have different responds to this action. Cosmopolitan,BazaarandVogueapplythedoubleissuestrategyorsupplementaryissue strategy, which enriches the content, to compete with Elle, while Marie$ Claire had no responsethattheythinktheirstrategyshouldbeindependent,assirineshisaid Every magazinehasitsownmarketingstrategy,there snoneedformarie$clairetochangefor others. Thus it can be seen that Elle s semi1monthly strategy has a great influence on its competitors.andthecompetitionofchinesefashionmagazineindustry,ofthismarket segment,getsmoreandmoreintense. c. Male%Fashion%Magazine%Market% Noonedenythatthemalefashionmagazinemarketisabigcake,andtheinterviewees haveanumberofopinionstowardsthisissue. Marie$Claire ssirineshibelievesit sanunstoppabletrend.elle sgloriadengconsiders it seasierformalefashionmagazinetocomeupcreativeandspecialfeatures,anditis getting more and more mature after a series of failures. Cosmopolitan s Luke YU and Bazaar s Amber ZHAO hold a rational view that, both of them think a development 78
modelformalefashionmagazine,whichissuitableforchinesenationalconditions,still needtobeexplored. To% sum% up, Chinese male fashion magazine market begins to launch, and it still have plentyofpotentialwaitingtobedeveloped. C Inference( Accordingtotheanalysisabove,wecouldsummarizethebusinesslevelstrategyofeach magazineasitshowsinthetable28. Magazine% Elle% Marie%Claire% Cosmopolitan% Vogue% Bazaar% Business%Level%Strategy% CostLeadershipFocusStrategy CostLeadershipFocusStrategy CostLeadershipStrategy DifferentiationFocusStrategy FocusStrategy Table28BusinessLevelStrategyofWorld1classFashionMagazinesinChina 4. Comparison%with%Questionnaire%Result% Compared with the questionnaire result, we discover that there exists a great divaricationbetweenmagazineeditors opinionandordinaryaudiences.letustakea lookatwhatexistingproblemsare. A. Fashion(does(not(belong(to(the(minority( As it mentioned in the questionnaire result, there is no signification relationship betweenage,educationlevelandoccupationwithfashionmagazinepurchasebehavior. 79
Fashionisbecomingacommontopicandattractsmoreandmorepeople sattention. Differfromtheresult,theinterviewoutcometellusthatmosteditors fashionvalueis still traditional and out of date. They confine the world1class fashion magazine s positioning and target audience group within certain thinking pattern, which makes themignorethepotentialmarkets. B. High(income(does(not(mean(high(purchase(frequency( Based on Table 14, it is so clear that the fashion magazine purchase behavior has a negative significant relationship with monthly income. On one hand, the surprise discovery reflects world1class fashion magazines misunderstanding towards their targetaudiences,ontheotherhand,itcouldbeabadnewsfortheiradvertisingselling. C. Area(differences(exist(on(fashion(magazine(distribution,(but(often(be(ignored( It can be learned from the questionnaire result that fashion magazine purchase behaviorsarequitedifferentbetweendifferentareas. Fromtheinterview,littleinformationinthiscategorywasgot.Intervieweesthemselves donothaveaclearideaaboutthemagazine sarea1imbalanceddistribution. D. Cover(model(can(not(be(limited(to(fashion(model(and(stars( When it refers to cover model, interviewees answers are nothing more than female models and celebrities, especially movie stars. This just illustrate that editors of world1class fashion magazines haven t know audiences taste well. Special celebrities andsomemalesarealsowelcomedbythemassonfashionmagazine scoverpage. Meanwhile, the result of the high frequency purchase fashion magazine shows the 80
consistence with the current situation of fashion magazine industry although the world1classfashionmagazinehasalargequantity,japanese Koreanfashionmagazine enjoy the highest circulation. The reason may be the large quantity and similar positioningofworld1classfashionmagazinesleadtotheoverlapoftargetcustomers. Takealookattheproductinvolvementandbrandrecognitiontogether,therearesome conclusionofworld1classfashionmagazine. D. Brand(building(need(improve( Eventhougheveryworld1classfashionmagazineclaimsthattheyareuniquefromother magazines, their audiences feel difficult to distinguish its brand image from Japanese1Korean fashion magazine and Domestic fashion magazine. Even within themselves,thedistinctivenessoftheirbrandimagesislittle. On% the% contrary,therecertainlyhavesomeuniformpartsbetweenthequestionnaire result and the interview result. The interviewees also agree on the importance of artisticdesign,thepotentiallyofmalefashionmagazinemarketandthemainpurchase poweroffashionmagazineisstillthefemale. 5. Possible%Reasons%of%Existing%Problem% Thepossiblereasonsofexistingproblemmaybeconcludedinonesentence. Advertising(is(the(root(of(evil( Why almost every world1class magazines claim that their target audience group is high1income,high1educationgroup?whytheycannotgetaclearviewabouttheirtarget audience sfeatures?aretheyreallynotfamiliarwiththecurrentsituation? 81
Asfarasweareconcerned,themainreasonisformoreandhigherquality sadvertising. Themagazinehastoselladvertisingtosomehigh1endbrandswhosetargetcustomers have a high income and are well educated, so if the magazine s readership and the brand stargetcustomergroupareoverlap,itcouldmakethebrandadvertiserbelieve theadsareeffective,sothatsellmoreadvertisings. Becausetheworld1classfashionmagazine smainincomeisfromadvertisingwhichhas alreadybeenmentionedinthepart3.theworld1classfashionmagazinesalwaysfollow aprinciplethatadverting% always% comes% first,% and% then% come% the% audiences.% Just duetothismisunderstanding,theypaylittleattentiontoaudiences favorandfeature. Thustheywon tdothefollowingthings. a. Lack%of%Market%Research% Sincetheignoranceofaudience,themagazinewillnotdomarketresearchinorderto adjust their style, policy and strategy. Even they did, the outcome is not favorable. Editors select the topics out of their own preference, without objective and scientific evidence.itcouldbeapossiblereasonoftheexistingproblem. b. Lack%of%USP% Similar brand image is a problem for the world1class fashion magazines. The result of questionnaireandinterviewprovethatthemagazines differentiationisnotsuccessful. Theyhaven tfoundtheirtrueusp,andtheydon tknowandevendonotwanttoknow theircompetitor sstrategyandlatestchange.thatiswhyallintervieweetoldustheir magazine suspisexploringtheinnerworldoffemale.sohowcanaudiencesholdclear 82
viewstowardsdifferentfashionmagazines,whentheeditors impressionisfuzzy. c. Lack%of%Effective%Brand%Loyalty%Building% Insteadofbrandloyaltybuilding,theworld1classfashionmagazinesaremorewillingto havesocialactivitieswiththecelebrities,starsandsupermodels. Oncethemagazinedoesnotcareaboutaudience,onlystriveforadvertising;thecontent of magazine will be unimpressive and ordinary. In other words, they lose the competitiveness for customers brand loyalty. Maybe that is the reason why their purchasefrequencyperformsworsethanjapanese1koreanfashionmagazinesandwhy theircovermodelselectioncannotsuitthepublictaste.% % 83
Part%6%Conclusion% 1. Special%Findings% Through the whole analysis process, we have some interesting and special finding towardsfashionmagazineindustry.wethinkthesefindingsmaybehelpfultoanswer ourquestionsaboutcurrentsituationofworld1classfashionmagazine. A. Sales(may(not(be(the(main(income(resource( Withahighprintingcostoncolor1pageandlargemountsofpages,theprofitoffashion magazine is relatively low. Usually, for most world1class fashion magazine, pricing at 20cannotcoverthecosts.However,itseemslikethehighcostanddiminishingtrend onsalesvolumedidn tworrytheseworld1classfashionmagazines. Opening any fashion magazine, luxury brands advertisements usually the first jump into sight such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Gucci, Hermes, etc. These brands advertisements stand the most expensive position in magazine. As previous analysis, the advertisement income is mainly come from these luxury brands indeed, most of worldwideluxurybrandsbelongstothesefourenterprise:lvgroup,gucci,hermesand Richmond.EspeciallyLV,with58luxurybrandsunderthegroup,ithandlestheluxury industry, and also, it stands a considerable proportion of the advertisement page in fashionmagazines.theyareconstantcooperatorswithfashionmagazines theyneeda famous and authorized third party to promote their products. Since most luxury products are related to fashion such as handbags, skin care, make up, etc. Fashion magazine become the first choice to launch advertisement. Actually, before the 84
disappearance of printing media, fashion magazine will live depends on the stable relationshipwithluxurybrandswithlessconcernaboutsalesvolume.inotherwords, luxurybrandsarerealcustomersforfashionmagazine oncetheseluxurybrandsare alive, they will advertise on these magazines. The continuous advertising income becomesthemainsourcetosupportfashionmagazine. B. Circulation(may(not(be(the(primary(consideration.( Thehigherscoreinbrandrecognitionprovethatworld1classfashionmagazineshavea good brand reputation. Currently, it seems like world1class fashion magazine spends moreeffortsonimagebuildingratherthancirculation.thatmaybethereasonsthatthe contents of these fashion magazines are regarded as low sincere since they pay more attention on luxury brands/fashion introduction and accept luxury brands advertisementsthatmaymakecurrentreadershavethesenseofdistance. 2. Conclusion% Basedonalloftheanalysisabove,wedrawaconclusion. Ithasbeenmorethan20yearssincethefirstworld1classfashionmagazineElleentered Chinese market in 1988. The world1class fashion magazines are highly recognized by Chinese audiences now, but audiences think they are less friendly. And since they are run mainly depends on the advertising, especially high1end luxury brand, they do not carethecirculationswhichperformworsethanthejapanese1koreafashionmagazines ones.what smoreembarrassing,thepurchasefrequencyofhigh1incomefemale,which isworld1classfashionmagazine smajortargetaudience,isquitelimited.thereisabig 85
gapbetweeneditor sviewandaudience stasteandfeature% 3. Suggestion%for%Future%Operation% Afterreachingaconclusionofanalysisparts,inordertomakeprojectmoremeaningful andconstructive,we dlike to give some suggestions to current existing world1class fashionmagazinesinchinamarket,whichcouldbeusefulfortheirfutureoperation. A. Topic(Selection(Based(on(Market(Research( With the market research, the editors can have a clear view about what their target audienceisinterestedin,whichwilldirectthemtoselecttopics. B. Make(the(Content(More(Practical( Add more contents which are practical, like how to finish a make1up,ortheclothing matching. What s more, most of world1class fashion magazine s photographs are too artisticandhavedistancewithaudiences dailylife.sowhentakingphotos,somedaily lifescenescanbechosen.( C. Brand(Loyalty(Building( Toincreaseaudiences purchasefrequency,brandloyaltysystembebuiltup.thatis,try tobuildcompetitiveadvantagetomakereadersfeelthedifferenceofthemagazine.( D. Adjust(the(Income(Structure( Although advertisement income is the main income source of magazine, theclutter advertisingmaybringnegativeinfluenceonmagazine.thus,themagazinemayneedto adjusttheincomestructureandreconsiderthepercentagesofadvertisingincomeand theincomeofcirculation.( 86
E. Make(the(Distribution(Cover(More(SecondItier(&(ThirdItier(Cities.( Recruit more distribute agency in more second1tier and third1tier cities. Moreover, sellingelectronicmagazinesthroughtheinternetisalsoagoodchoice,notonlysavethe transportation expense and labor cost, but also save the papers and protect the environment,andthearealimitationcanbeignoredthroughthismethod. F. Open(an(Online(Store( Actually, opening an online store can solve some distribution problems, and it can createanewwaytogainincomethattheonlinestorenotonlyselltheirownmagazines, butalsosomeotherrelatedfashiongoods,withtheircurrentresources. For( the( suggestions( above, we found there were similar opinions held by some scholarsinpastjournalswhenreviewingthereference. LaurenR.BaileyandYoo1KyoungSeockalsothinkthatcontentsshouldbethecenterof fashion magazine and magazines should pay more attention on how to increase the attractionofcontentintheir2010journal. Asearlyas1997,HaLouisaandLitmanBarryR.hadalreadydonerelativeresearchon the relationship between magazines and advertisement and conclude that advertising cluttershavediminishingreturn. Besides, for the popularity of Japanese1Korean fashion magazine, Li Dong Xin, Lee Yong1Ki and Griffin Mitch(2011) have similar opinion with us that is the world1class fashionmagazinesshouldmaintaintheirowncharacteristics.andlaughlinjohndand MacDonald Jason B give similar suggestion to fashion magazines for the use of social 87
mediaande1magazineintheir2010journal. 4. Recommendations%of%Future%Entrants% World1classfashionmagazinesaremorethan5intheworldthattherearestillalotof fashion magazines may enter China market in the future. With the following recommendations,theycouldhaveabetterperformance. A. Positioning(is(the(first(pace(of(your(success.( UsetheBlueSeaStrategytofindasuitableanduniquepositioningcouldbeagoodstart foryourmagazine. ( B. Localization(is(essential.( Thinkglobal,actlocal. isavitalprincipleofthenewentrantswho dliketoenterthe Chinesefashionmagazineindustry.Thecurrentplayersdidagoodjobinthispart,soif youcannotlocalizewell,youwillfallbehindthem.( C. Distribution(innovation(could(help(you(build(up(more(general(covering.( Find some more convenient way of magazine purchasing, like vending machine or onlineplatform. D. Strong(practical(applicability(is(welcomed(by(Chinese(audiences( This is most suitable pattern for current Chinese situation. And strong practical applicabilitydoesnotmeantoloseyourownstyleandbecomeanotherjapanese1korea fashionmagazine.forexample,youcankeepyourwesternstyleandhavesomemore contentwhichtellpeoplehowtodressupinthewesternstyle. For% the% recommendation% above,% the coincidence is,lidongxin,leeyong1kiand 88
Griffin Mitch(2011) held similar opinion with us again that is, new entrants should paymoreattentiononmarketpositioningandlocalization% 5. Limitation% Honestlyspeaking,therearesomelimitationexistforthisproject.Especiallyinprimary researchpart. First, due to time limitation, we can only choose the most efficient method online surveytoconductthequestionnaireresearch.thatis,wedon thavemuchopportunity to communicate with our respondents directly to realize their opinions towards particular questions. Meanwhile, this form of questionnaire excludes the people who arenotuseinternetfrequently.besides,since most respondents are come from our interpersonal network and at the same age with us. This may lead to the result of questionnairelackrepresentativenessforthewholereadershipoffashionmagazine. Second, due to the lime limitation, only four editors from the five world1class fashion magazinewereinterviewedandmostofthemreceivetheinterviewviae1mail.lackof directcommunicationmaymakeuscannotrealizetheiropinionexactly. Third,% theperishabilityofswotanalysis;sincetheexternalmarketenvironmentand internal operation environment will change all the time, SWOT analysis can only base oncurrentperformanceandmaynotsuitableforfutureconsultant. 89
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Appendix% A. Questionnaire% 1 Online%questionnaire%link:%http://www.sojump.com/jq/1271985.aspx% % 1 Printed%questionnaire:% % % Fashion Magazine % % % % % % % % " 1 /Gender: A. /Male B. /Female ( ) HelloWearemasterstudentmajorinMediaManagementfromHong Kong Baptist University; we are presently doing a research about fashion magazines. We sincerely invite you to accomplish this questionnaire. All data collected will remain confidential and just for academicpurposesonly. 2 /Howoldareyou? A.20 /Under20 B.21 130 /21~30yearsold C.31 140 /31~40yearsold D.41 /Above41 94
3 /Whereareyoucomefrom A. EasternChina(Shandong,Jiangsu,Anhui,Zhejiang,Jiangxi,Fujian,Shanghai) B. SouthernChina(Guangdong,Guangxi,Hainan) C. CentralChina(Hubei,Hunan,Henan) D. NorthernChina(Beijing,Tianjin,Hebei,Shanxi,Neimenggu) E. NorthwestChina(Ningxia,Xinjiang,Qinghai,Gansu,Shaanxi) F. SouthwestChina(Yunnan,Sichuan,Guizhou,Tibet,Chongqing) G. NortheastChina(Liaoning,Jilin,Heilongjiang) H. HongKong,Macau&Taiwan 4 /Howaboutyoureducationlevel? A. /JuniorCollegeorBelow B. /BachelorDegree C. /MasterDegree D. /PHDorAbove 5 /Youroccupation: A. /Student B. Nationalauthorities,enterpriseandinstitutionsemployee C. /Privateenterpriseemployee D. /Freelancer E. Others 6 /Howaboutyourmonthlyincome? A.2,000 /Below2,000 B.2,00114,000 C.4,00116,000 D.6,00118,000 E.8001110000 F. 10000/Above10,000 95
7 : Usually,yougetfashioninformationfrom(MultipleChoice): A. /Fashion Magazine, newspaper B. /TV programme C. /Professionalblog D. /Professionalforum E. /Socialnetworkwebsites F. /Friendssharing G. /Others 8 /Haveyoueverpurchasefashionmagazine? A. /Yes B. /No ( /Endofquestionnaire,thankyouforyouranswering) " 9 20 Ifthepriceis 20,howmanypagesyouexpectforthecontent A.64 /64pages B.80 /80pages C.128 /128pages D. /Ifcontentsarehighquality,Idon'tcarepagenumber 10?/Whatisyourpurchasefrequencyoffashionmagazine: A. /EveryIssue B. /Twiceperquarter C. /Severaltimesperyear D. /Ican tevenrememberwheniboughtlastissue 11 :/Whatisyourpreferencetowardscovermodel? A. /Femalecelebrities B. /Malecelebrities C. /Domesticorforeignfamousmodels D. /Specialglobalcelebritieswithoutgenderlimitation E. /Cartoonorstilllife F. /Idon tcare 96
12 Whatisyouropiniontowardstheartisticdesignoffashionmagazine? A. /Designisveryimportant B. /Themostimportantshouldbecontent C. /Idon tcare 13 Whichpartoffashionmagazineyouwillpaymoreattention(MultipleChoice) A. Clothinginformation D. Dressingskills G. Brandstory B. Beauty Information E. Trendinformation H. Healthinformation 14 C. F&Bandlifestyle F. Travellinginformation I. Others Followingmagazines,whichoneisthemagazineyouusuallybuy? A. SmartShe C. MarieClaire E. ForHimMagazine G. Rayli / I. Elle K. Harper s Bazaar / M. Vivi O. GQ B. VOGUE D. Mina F. Woman H. ShanghaiStyle J. Cosmopolitan / L. Officiel N. Self P. /Others 97
" Please read following statements carefully, and evaluate these statements towards the magazine you choose. 15. /Customers %Product%Involvement%(Zaichkowsky,%1994)... /For you, this magazine is /Appealing /Unappealing /Exciting /Unexciting /Fantastic /Ordinary /Involving /Uninvolving /Meaningful /Meaningless /Necessary /Unnecessary /Priceless /Worthless /Important /Unimportant /Interesting /Boring /Relevant /Irrelevant /Customers %Brand%Recognition(Keller%Kevin,%1993)% 16a. /Ithinkthismagazineistrustworthy. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 16b. Ibelievefashioninformationthismagazineprovidesisall1accurate. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 16c. /Thismagazinehadnevermakemedisappointed. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 98
17a. /Ithinkthismagazineissincere. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 17b. /Ithinkthismagazineisreliable. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 17c. Ibelievethismagazineischarmingandupper class. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 18a. /IthinkI mcommittedtothismagazine. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 18b. Iammostlikelytobuythismagazineinthefuture. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 19a. Iwillspreadpositivecommentsofthismagazinetootherpeople. 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyDisagree /StronglyAgree 19b. Iwillrecommendthismagazinetosomeonewhoseeksmyadvice. /StronglyDisagree 1 2 3 4 5 /StronglyAgree /Thankyouforyouranswering 99
B. Interview%questions% % 1. Inrecentyears,didyoupayattentiontofashionmagazinesinMainlandtotakethe cheaproute,suchasfemina,shanghaibstyle?whatdoyouthinkofthesemagazines? 2. In your perspective, what is your magazine's target audience? Whether editors determinethetopicsofmagazinebasedonthepreferencesofthetargetaudienceor not?ifso,doesiteffective? 3. ThereisawiderangeoffashionmagazinesinMainland,butthecontenthasbecome increasingly homogeneous, what is your view about this phenomenon? Compared with the same type of magazines, what is your magazine's prominent personality? Whetherthereisfurtherroomforimprovement?Pleasegiveexamples. 4. Atpresent,foreigncelebritiesstilloccupythecoveroffashionmagazines,whatdo youthinkaboutthisphenomenon?doesyourmagazinehaveastandardinselecting thecoverperson? 5. Howtopicsandcontentsofeachissueareproduced?Whatistheproportionofthe topic that is produced independently by domestic editors? How about that of the topicschosenbytheheadquarters?whatisthereasonforsuchaproportion? 100
6. Doesyourmagazinehasastandardtochoseaninsidepagesofad?Whetherthereis atendencytochoseadvertisingbasedonitsbrandbackgroundandbrandimage? 7. ipad,kindle Newmediareader(suchasiPad,Kindle)iswidelyusedandpopularamongyoung readings.doesthisphenomenonaffectreadinghabitsofyoungreaders?whatkind ofimpact?howdoesyourmagazinedealwiththistrend?didyougetanyeffects? 8. ELLE Recently,ELLE(China)changedfrommonthlytosemimonthly;doyouthinkthisisa beneficial change for Chinese market? What is your own opinion of this move? WhetheryourmagazineplanstotakeappropriateactionstowardELLE'schanges? ELLE ELLE ForELLE :Whatkindsofreasonsleadstothechangeofsemimonthlyissue?What kindofexpectationyouhavetowardsthischange? 9. What about resent publishing situation? How about the distribution channel coverage in Mainland? For the second1tier and third1tier cities, what are the plans andexpectanceinthefuture? 10. What s your opinion about the market prospects of the domestic male fashion magazine? In 2012, what are the plans and objectives of your magazine? What are your expectationsoffashionmagazineindustry,especiallyofyourmagazine? 101
C. Transmittal%Letter% 102
# # # 86-14714605116/852-54242116( ) nizhang@yahoo.com.hk( ) 2012-3-13 103
# # # 86-14714605116/852-54242116( ) nizhang@yahoo.com.hk( ) 2012-3-13 104