PLACE
The only Off White store in the UK is situated in London, within a concession at Selfridges. Being that they are not a well-known brand, a company that is recent and fresh brand will find it beneficial to be in a popular department store that is trusted by consumers. Besides this, it is cheaper for the brand to have a smaller concession rather than a whole flagship store as they are not well established in the UK. Another beneficial factor of their placing is that Selfridges in London have a major footfall on a daily basis, which not only contain returning customers but may expose them to a new consumer. The store is situated in between Alexander McQueen and Louis Vuitton – these other brands are not the brands typical competitors but because the Off White store makes as much as £80,000 in one week, it’s been put in between brands that make just as much money.
PRICE
The quality of the Off White’s product is reflected in entry and exit price points of the product. Prices that Off White offer range anywhere from £41 for smaller items such as socks and phone cases, but the exit price point is set at £2,500 for leather items (eg. jackets, bags). The researcher suggests that this is a price range that can accommodate all customers in some way, the customer who doesn’t have as much money can still afford the smaller items that Off White have to offer whereas the customer with a wider disposable income can buy into the higher priced product. Because of Off White’s place in the hierarchy of fashion (Posner, 2015) – middle to high end fashion, the brand doesn’t offer any promotions or discounts in terms of buying actual product, but they do offer express delivery and free returns on their products, this could be because of the expensive pricing.
OFF WHITE CONCESSION STORE, SELFRIDGES LONDON - TAKEN BY THE RESEARCHER.
PROMOTION
Being that Off White was only established three years ago, the brand typically promotes themselves digitally, through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. To appeal to their ideal consumer, Off White in the past have used young creative directors in their ads and campaigns, people such as Ian Connor and Luka Sabbat – people the brand knows will appeal to their consumer and make them want to buy into the brand. In 2016, a single campaign photo was released on the internet, it shows creative director Ian Connor on a pedestal – and it was said to be extremely controversial as it emulated a slave auction. This could have been to get people talking about the brand and ensure “word-of mouth” marketing. (Highsnobiety, 2016) As for PR, Off White have more PR appearances than marketing tools (ads, campaigns) the brands product has been worn by a plethora of celebrities and people of great influence (eg. Drake, Travis Scott, Kylie Jenner). Looking at Off White’s history of marketing and PR techniques, they tend to stay away from marketing and lean toward a bespoke and personalised method of PR – sending their clothing out to specific people of influence, knowing that it will appeal to customers and in turn, drive sales.
PEOPLE
From the researcher’s observation whilst visiting the London concession store, the people who work in there and serve customers are dressed in all Off White clothing. This may be to promote the brand whilst working there. Because of the brand being placed in the medium to high fashion bracket, the people who work there are expected to deliver a high quality service to the customer and they do this – the employees are very helpful to their customers and assist as much as possible. With Off White’s online store, they have a page on their website dedicated to customer care, and there they explain all of the frequently asked questions that they get, also they explain how they deliver all packages and how returns should be made.
OFF WHITE CONCESSION STORE, SELFRIDGES LONDON - TAKEN BY THE RESEARCHER.
PROCESS
The physical process of buying at the Off White concession is a considered to be pretty simple, being that the price of the products is quite high, they don’t have a lot of customers to serve at a time. This means that the process of the customer is almost personalized as the employees have more time to serve their customer and deliver a high quality of customer service. The packaging and wrapping of the product is a simple process, the garments are placed back into their original Off White zip lock bags and then into a premium quality paper (Selfridges) bag. From the researcher’s observation, the process of buying from Off White’s online store, the process is an easy lead 4-step process, taking through basic sign up, delivery and payment details.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
Off White’s London concession store is based within Selfridges on Oxford Street. The atmosphere of the store is very busy and has a major footfall, but with the amount of other premium competitors and brands, it still holds the atmosphere of being a premium store. The concession is based in a place which sees thousands of people each day – which gives them even more opportunity to gain customers and make profit.
PHILOSIPHY
The brand prides themselves on being artistic and out of the box. The brand message states, “OFF-WHITE c/o VIRGIL ABLOH™ is a fashion label rooted in current culture at a taste-level particular to now. With a specific opinion and not necessarily same with vision seasonal men's and women's collections are offered.” (Off White, 2013) They state that they are not a typical brand and they do not take their trends from forecasting, they are derived from other sources.
PACKAGING
The garment packaging for Off White is very high quality and is a part of purchasing the product. Swing tags are attached to the clothing using thick, red cable ties and the swing tags themselves are a thick, clear rubberized plastic with the classic diagonal stripes. From the researcher’s observation, the garments also come in clear ‘zip-it’ bags with the classic diagonal stripes on the front, indicating the brand.