01 Final Marketing Appraisal - Introduction

I. Introduction PantSaloon is a collaboration of ideas, talents and hard work of Business Administration majors from the University of the Philippines-Diliman. Disliking the idea of working for others on a fixed schedule, they are advocates of entrepreneurship who conceptualized their own business in order to become their own bosses. Spotting an opportunity in the nature of the Philippine retailing industry and conducting a series of strategic market skimming led to the idea of providing customized jeans for the young Filipino adult. Clothing, in recent times, has already become an expression of a lifestyle, while selfexpression is a need that the young Filipino experiences upon entering college and young adulthood. It is through dressing up, among a lot of others ways, that the young Filipino is relentless in his pursuit to find avenues in expressing his individuality. PantSaloon aims to capitalize on this and in the growing desire of people to look good without sacrificing comfort. The young adult’s lifestyle is not sedentary – as he traverses through his youth, he enters a world filled with new experiences and happenings. He makes new friends and acquaintances, and with this, experiences new joys and miseries. As his experiences increase and his network expands, his tastes and preferences evolve as well. With this knowledge, PantSaloon has decided to bank on ways by which the target market can express itself in limitless ways, given the assumed evolution of his tastes. Through customized and tailored-to-fit jeans branded under PantSaloon, the young Filipino adult has a new avenue by which he can convey his individuality. PantSaloon is a clothing boutique that adds a service dimension to the retailing of jeans through customization and tailor-fitting. By giving the customers a chance to design their jeans according to their every whim while assuring them of its perfect fit, PantSaloon will represent every young Filipino adult’s quest for self-expression, individuality, adventure and freedom.

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A. Executive Summary To fully assess the feasibility of the business idea of a customized jeans service shop for students and young adults, EALA Inc. has made two key environmental analyses:

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the macro- and microenvironment analysis. The macro-environment analysis takes into the account the political situation under the Philippine government; the economic environment, which mentioned pertinent economic indicators that are relevant to the analysis of the market and described the current economic situation in the country; the cultural environment, which took note of important socio-cultural demographics to better understand the target market; and the technological environment, which listed capabilities that the local garments industry has as of the moment. On the other hand, the micro-environmental analysis focused on the garments industry in which the group wishes to enter. The analysis discussed the developments and issues in the local garments industry. In addition, as part of the micro-environmental analysis, EALA Inc. considered the retail trade in the Philippines as well as possible competitors within the industry. There are several key players in the garment industry that are the closest competitors of PantSaloon. These are indirect competition whose brands offer ready-to-wear jeans. Among the competitors considered were: Jag, Folded & Hung, Levi’s, Lee, Guess, Penshoppe, Oxygen, and even tiangges and ukay-ukay. EALA Inc. came up with its target market by taking into consideration the number of students enrolled in the Katipunan-based academic institutions, UP-Diliman, Ateneo University and Miriam College. We also included the percentage of the youth, aged 15-24, in the communities within Katipunan Area. The figures projected through stated annual growth rates within 10 years would then be used to calculate the demand forecast of PantSaloon. Market demand refers to the amount that potential buyers from the target market would likely consume or buy from our products. PantSaloon's demand has been computed by adjusting an acceptability rate from the targeted market. Moreover, to get the monthly and annual demand, the consumption rates for both the top and bottom clothing lines were multiplied to their projected consumption rates respectively.

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PantSaloon's supply has been derived from the annual average production capacity of the garment industry for 2005.

However, to carve the proportion that would

represent our target market, the volume has been adjusted by getting the percentage of the target market. To be more distinct, the fraction of students and young adults who encountered dissatisfaction in buying their clothes was also multiplied so as to get the projected supply for the business. Reconciling both the Demand and Supply, a considerably high gap has been observed thereby giving an impression that there really is a need for the services of this new venture. Market share for PantSaloon has been estimated to be at 9.55% in the introductory phase of the business. Nevertheless, promotional activities and strategic expansion objectives would enable PantSaloon to gradually carve bigger part of the market throughout its operations. Segmenting, targeting, and positioning are critical factors in shaping the success of any business plan. In the Philippines, the market could be segmented in many ways – geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. PantSaloon segmented the market geographically according to communities, specifically the ones in the Quezon City. For demographic segmentation PantSaloon’s market will be grouped according to age, income and race. Psychographic segmentation further divides the market base into factors such as social class, lifestyle, and personality. PantSaloon is a clothing service shop specially designed for the jean design and fitting needs of (1) college students and young adults who are between the (2) age of 15 and 24 years old, (3) both men and women, particularly those who are (4) residents and/or located in institutions within Katipunan Area. PantSaloon will be established and positioned as a customized jeans maker for college students and the young adults, that offers flexible, unique and creative jeans with perfect fitting and comfort to the level of the customer's choice of fabric, cut and over-all design.

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EALA Inc. understands the problem that students and young adults face, hence, the reason of coming up with the idea of PantSaloon. Its clothing service is geared towards addressing the usual problems that stylish students and young adults always encounter.

Thus, the cuts, sizes and dimensions that shall make up the

apparels will accordingly be custom-made in order to give the target market the right fit, form, and comfort that match their body frames. Since, the world of fashion is relatively fast paced, PantSaloon has to constantly search for the latest trends on the web, magazines, and catalogues, and should also be keen in observing how prominent fashion figures project themselves through the clothes they wear.

Cleaner, discreet, and vibrant colors and shades shall

characterize the apparels that the store will offer. High quality materials similar to those used by established other jeans makers shall be utilized. EALA Inc. also plotted the different strategies with regard to the expansion of its product line throughout the life of the service shop – from introduction to maturity. As a store catered for the youth, PantSaloon is setting a middle-ranged premium on all its prices. It will be more or less at par with our potential competitors like Folded & Hung, Levi's and Jag in terms of price. In addition, PantSaloon will be located in one of the buildings in Katipunan, where target market is easily tapped. Eventually, during the maturity stage the business is planning to expand its product lines from jeans to customized jeans and jackets. EALA Inc. came up with short term and long-term promotional activities and goals to aggressively advertise the brand and its products. To begin with, good relationships with various media publications and broadcast networks shall be established. This will allow PantSaloon to increase customer awareness of its products. Eventually, the company will launch a campaign featuring a famous personality as the brand’s image model.

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