Digitala kläder?
En studie om traditionella klädföretags it-strategier
This paper focuses on traditional clothing enterprise IT strategies. The purpose was to investigate the correlation between traditional clothing companies IT strategies and their brand. In a market where the competition is high it has become more important that the company targets a customer segment. To reach their targeted customers the company builds their brand with different corporate strategies. This segmentation is necessary because of the high exposure to competition, and a well-established brand could be a prerequisite for profitability. In today?s market, IT has a major impact on the clothing business. This has led to the market becoming more global and made the competition tougher. Most apparel companies have chosen to implement IT in their organization, but these strategies differ. It is of importance that the IT strategy does not harm the brand, and it is also of importance that the choice of the IT strategy supports the main corporate strategy. The study was conducted using interviews with companies, analysis of websites, surveys and interviews of customers. The responses of these have been analyzed from a transaction marketing perspective. The data suggests that the strength of the brand has to be taken into account when selecting an IT strategy, the gap between identity and image ought to be small. Conveying a distinct position to the customers also has to be taken into account. When the brand is of an exclusive nature the involvement degree of the respondents tended to be high. It turned out that purchases in an exclusive shop were an experience in itself which customers are willing to pay for. This experience is something that cannot be created in an e-store. That is why one should refrain from supplementing with an online store if the corporate strategy is to position the brand as exclusive. If the brand is of low-cost nature the respondents tended to be less involved. These customers sense a lower risk in their purchases and therefore an online store can be preferable as a complement, since the corporate strategy is to position as a low-cost brand and where increased capacity is desirable.