Research on Online Retailing for Modest Fashion

Research on Online

Retailing for Modest

Fashion

Part 1: Subject Research

A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Master of Enterprise (MEnt)

in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

2010

Nazihah Ab Mumin

School of Materials

2

Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 5

Declaration ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Copyright Statement .......................................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 7

Chapter 2: Modesty in Clothing ......................................................................................................... 8

2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 8

2.2 Background of Modesty in Clothing ................................................................................... 8

2.2.1 History of Modesty ..................................................................................................... 8

2.2.2 History of Fashion ....................................................................................................... 9

2.2.3 Modesty Debate ....................................................................................................... 11

2.2.4 Modesty in Islam ...................................................................................................... 13

2.2.5 Islamic Cosmopolitanism ......................................................................................... 20

2.2.6 Summary .................................................................................................................. 20

2.3 Customer Behaviour ......................................................................................................... 20

2.3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 20

2.3.2 The Theory of Dress and Adornment ....................................................................... 20

2.3.3 Why do women want to dress modestly? ................................................................ 23

2.3.4 Summary .................................................................................................................. 24

2.4 Current issues and trend .................................................................................................. 24

2.5 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................. 27

Chapter 3: Online Retailing for Modest Clothing ............................................................................. 28

3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 28

3.2 E-Retailing ......................................................................................................................... 28

3.2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 28

3.2.2 UK online market ...................................................................................................... 28

3.2.3 Online Shopping ....................................................................................................... 30

3.2.4 Summary .................................................................................................................. 31

3.3 Fashion Retailing Online ................................................................................................... 31

3.3.1 Online Fashion Market ............................................................................................. 31

3.3.2 Online Modest Fashion Market ................................................................................ 32

3.3.3 Summary .................................................................................................................. 32

3.4 Customer Behaviour ......................................................................................................... 32

3.4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 32

3

3.4.2 Online Fashion Customer Behaviour ........................................................................ 33

3.4.3 Summary .................................................................................................................. 33

3.5 Website Design Issues ...................................................................................................... 33

3.5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 33

3.5.2 Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 34

3.5.3 The Online Fashion Environment ............................................................................. 35

3.5.4 Competitors websites analysis using the Online Fashion Environment dimension . 36

3.5.5 Results and Discussion ............................................................................................. 40

3.5.6 Summary .................................................................................................................. 40

3.6 E-Marketing and E-Promotion .......................................................................................... 40

3.6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 40

3.6.2 The 7 C’s : The E-Retail Marketing Mix ..................................................................... 40

3.6.3 E-Marketing Promotional Mix .................................................................................. 42

3.6.4 E-Loyalty ................................................................................................................... 43

3.7 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 44

Chapter 4: Research Method ........................................................................................................... 45

Chapter 5: Research Results ............................................................................................................. 48

5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 48

5.2 Results of research on Modesty ....................................................................................... 48

5.3 Online Retailing for Modest Clothing Results .................................................................. 51

Chapter 6: Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................. 58

6.1 Discussion on ‘Modesty in Clothing’ ................................................................................ 58

6.2 Discussion on ‘Online Retailing for Modest Clothing’ ...................................................... 60

6.2.1 Elwarda Website Design Framework ....................................................................... 60

6.2.2 Elwarda E-Promotion Framework ............................................................................ 61

6.2.3 E-Loyalty Framework ................................................................................................ 62

6.3 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 63

Chapter 7: Conclusion and Further Research ................................................................................... 64

Works Cited ...................................................................................................................................... 65

Appendix A: Interview with Jana, Editor of Hijab Style .................................................................... 70

Word Count: 16,338

4

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Abaya .................................................................................................................................. 14

Figure 2 Papers exploring 'hijab'/veil and Islamic fashion ............................................................... 17

Figure 3 Young Indian Girl in Saree .................................................................................................. 22

Figure 4 Indian women in colourful sarees ...................................................................................... 23

Figure 5 Hana Tajima in stylish modest clothing .............................................................................. 25

Figure 6 Hana Tajima ........................................................................................................................ 26

Figure 7 E-commerce and other Home Shopping in the UK by value (£m at retail selling price)

2003-2007 ........................................................................................................................................ 29

Figure 8 bought online in the last 12 months, November 2009 Source: GMI/Mintel (Mintel Report

2010) ................................................................................................................................................ 30

Figure 9 Online Fashion Environment Dimensions, McCormick & Vazquez, 2009 .......................... 35

Figure 10 Maysaa website screenshot ............................................................................................. 37

Figure 11 Analysis of Maysaa website .............................................................................................. 37

Figure 12 Elenany website screenshot ............................................................................................. 38

Figure 13 Analysis of Elenany website ............................................................................................. 38

Figure 14 Losve website screenshot ................................................................................................ 39

Figure 15 Analysis of Losve website ................................................................................................. 39

Figure 16 The 7 C’s : The E-Retail Marketing Mix (Dennis, Fenec h, & Merrilees, 2005) ................. 42

Figure 17 E-Promotional Mix (adapted from (Chaffey & Smith, eMarketing eXcellence: Planning

and optimising your digital marketing, 2008) and (Solomon, Marshall, & Stuart, 2008) ................ 43

Figure 18 The E-loyalty Framework (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001) ............................... 43

Figure 19 What influences your personal style? .............................................................................. 50

Figure 20 How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online? ............................................ 51

Figure 21 Research findings: Design of the Website ........................................................................ 52

Figure 22 Research findings: Interactivity of the website ................................................................ 53

Figure 23 Research findings: Secure Payment ................................................................................. 54

Figure 24 Research findings: Price ................................................................................................... 54

Figure 25 Research findings: Delivery charge .................................................................................. 55

Figure 26 Important criteria when shopping online ........................................................................ 55

Figure 27 Social Media accounts of Modest Fashion Consumer ..................................................... 56

Figure 28 Online shopping motivators ............................................................................................. 56

Figure 29 Elwarda Website Design Framework ............................................................................... 60

Figure 30 Elwarda E-Promotion Framework .................................................................................... 61

Figure 31 Elwarda E-Loyalty framework........................................................................................... 62

5

Abstract

Modest Fashion industry is a relatively new industry that sprouted out of the effect of

globalisation on Muslim society, especially those who are residing in the Western world. With

market value in the millions, this is an interesting subject matter. Coupled with advancement in

technology that enables efficient online retailing – this is the subject matter that is going to be

researched as part of my business project.

Prepared by:

Nazihah Ab Mumin 20/10/2010

‘Research on Online Retailing for Modest Fashion’

MEnt Textiles and Fashion

The University of Manchester

6

Declaration

No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application

for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning.

Copyright Statement

i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis)

owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The

University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for

administrative purposes.

ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic

copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act

1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in

accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time.

This page must form part of any such copies made.

iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other

intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright

works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be

described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third

parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made

available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant

Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.

iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and

commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or

Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy

(see http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/policies/intellectual-

property.pdf), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the

University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s

policy on presentation of Theses

7

Chapter 1: Introduction

This research is part of my business idea, Elwarda, a Modest Fashion Online Retailer. This business

idea stems from my own frustration of the stereotypes of what is deemed as ‘Islamic’ fashion. The

lack of beautiful, modern and contemporary modest clothing is also another motivation for me to

explore the idea of starting the business.

The aim of this project is to find out if there is a need for modern contemporary yet modest

fashion that is linked to Islamic requirement. This question is explored in Chapter 1.

This project also aims to find out the best way to retail this modest clothing online. With the

growing number of online Islamic/Modest clothing retailer, research needs to be done to find out

what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.

Research is done via both primary and secondary research. Questionnaire has been sent out

online to see whether there is a response for Modest Fashion and to get to know the shopping

habits of the Modest fashion consumer.

Secondary research is done in 2 parts. The first is to look at the existing issues concerning the

Islamic and Modest clothing definition. What is traditionally deemed as Islamic/Modest clothing?

How did it come about? What is the congruence between fashion and faith? Is there a room for

fashion in faith-related sphere? This is tackled in Chapter 2: Modesty in Clothing.

The next secondary research is to look at the ways of how to retail modest clothing online in the

most efficient way. By looking at various papers on online retailing (e-retailing), online marketing

and online promotion (e-marketing and e-promotion) and also into online brand loyalty (e-loyalty)

– a few frameworks for Elwarda business are developed.

8

Chapter 2: Modesty in Clothing

2.1 Introduction

In exploring the idea, I step away from calling the fashion as ‘Islamic’ but rather I use a more

general and neutral term ‘modest’. The reason is twofold: first because I believe there is no one

style that is called ‘Islamic’. Second, I want to explore the possibility for the concept to be

extended outside Muslims.

In understanding the idea of modesty behind clothing and fashion, I will look at the historical

aspects of modesty and fashion from theological and societal point of view.

The theological point of view is important since modest clothing is very closely related to religion

and faith-based decision making.

The societal point of view is to give deeper insights of the evolution of clothing and modesty

throughout human’s existence.

2.2 Background of Modesty in Clothing

2.2.1 History of Modesty

In academia, according to (Thomas, 1899) there’s no satisfactory theory of the origin of modesty.

The assumption of that nakedness is associated with shameness is refuted with the large evidence

that many of natural races are naked and not ashamed of it. (Thomas, 1899). According to

(Harms, 1938) there are 3 fundamental psychological reasons for human dress. These are for

modesty, for adornment, and for protection.

In theology, the earliest depiction of modesty in clothing is revealed in the Quran and also the

Bible, when the first man and woman, Adam and Eve went looking for leaves to cover themselves.

Quranic:

He thus duped them with lies. As soon as they tasted the tree, their bodies became visible to them, and they

tried to cover themselves with the leaves of Paradise. Their Lord called upon them: "Did I not enjoin you

from that tree, and warn you that the devil is your most ardent enemy?"(Quran 7:22)

9

Bibilical:

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves

together and made themselves aprons (7: Genesis 3)

Regarding modesty, theological reference of women’s modesty is also present in the text as

below:

Quranic:

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! God is Aware of

what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their

adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their chests, and not to reveal their

adornment.” (Quran 24:30)

Bibilical:

3:1 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may

be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

3 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the

clothing you wear— 4 but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty

of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. 5 For this is how the holy women who

hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, 6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham,

calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening. (1

Peter 3:1-6)

It is interesting to note here that from there’s a definite mention of modesty in clothing in the text

of the top 2 world’s largest religion, Christianity with about 2.1 billion follower worldwide

(bbc.co.uk, Christianity) with and Islam with over 1 billion followers. (bbc.co.uk, Islam at a glance,

2009)

2.2.2 History of Fashion

In understanding modest fashion, I want to explore the position it has in the ‘fashion industry’ as

a whole. What does fashion means and how did it come into existence. In identifying these, I

looked at the history of fashion.

There are many theories that come forth to explain fashion and its evolution. These are among of

the theories:

10

Theory of the Leisure Class

Thorstein Veblen (Veblen, 1899/1953), a late nineteenth-century sociologist argues fashion is

used as a ‘tool in the battle for social status’ (Entwistle, 2000).

He also argues that women’s dresses are more influenced by this theory because the role of the

‘bourgeois lady of the house’ is to be a symbol of her master’s wealth and financial ability.

(Entwistle, 2000)

However this theory is very outdated since women nowadays mostly are in a profession

(Entwistle, 2000). This has bring forth considerable change in the way society viewed women and

their fashion style.

The theory of emulation or ‘trickle-down’

This theory argues that styles start at the top of the social class and trickle down to the classes

below who wants to emulate the style of the elites. In order to maintain their status, the elites

keep on changing their style. (Veblen, 1899/1953) and (Simmel, 1904/1971) are the main

proponent of this view.

This theory is however been opposed by (Rouse, 1989) in the occasion where the styles from

working-class or low-status groups such ‘black youth’ have become a trend.

(Partington, 1992) has stronger opinion in saying that working-class women created their own

version of the styles and it is not ‘watered down’ version of the ‘real’ thing.

The theory of Zeitgeist

This theory suggests fashion is influenced by social and political changes.

The examples of the argument that during the economic depression in 1930s the hemlines drop,

and during the economic boom in 1960, the hemlines rise. (Entwistle, 2000). The proponent of

this theory is (Ditcher, 1985)

However, this theory is argued to be over-simplistic by (Wilson, 1985) since history is much more

complex than what is represented. A quantitative study by (Richardson & Kroeber, 1973) proves

that there is no ‘conclusive evidence to suggest that social changes influenced any particular

dimension of the female silhouette’. (Entwistle, 2000)

11

The theory of ‘the shifting erogenous zone’.

One of it is the theory of ‘shifting erogenous zone’. (Laver, 1969/1995). He argues that in 1920’s

the emphasis is on the female’s leg, and in 1930’s is the female’s back. This trend keeps on

changing in order to keep up or keep enticing men’s desire.

However (Polhemus & Proctor, 1978) argued that this is not necessarily the case since the fashion

of combat trousers for women in late 1990’s does not seems to fit the erotic or revealing case.

These are theories that have been used to explain the evolution of ‘fashion’ from mainly Western

point of view. Are these theories sufficient to explain the fashion phenomenon that is more based

in faith?

In the next section I would look at what is defined as ‘modest’ clothing and how does it relate to

Islam.

2.2.3 Modesty Debate

What does it mean to dress modestly? Is more coverage means more modesty? Is it the attitude

of the wearer of the garment or is it the garment itself?

In order to get the a clearer understanding of what is deemed as modest by Muslim women in the

UK, I interviewed Jana Kossabaiti, editor of Hijab Style, an online blog for modest fashion

enthusiasts.

According to her, the traditional or cultural clothing such as abaya, sari or salwar kameez, are

clothing that is mainly worn by the first generation Muslim migrant. The second and third

generation Muslim women no longer wear them, except to go to family event or during special

celebration days. (Interview with Jana: Appendix A).

In an interview done in her paper, Emma Tarlo finds out that her interviewee, Rezia Wahid’s

mother still wears sari as her everyday garment (Tarlo, Islamic Cosmopolitanism, 2007). However,

the second generation Rezia doesn’t wear the traditional garment but rather opts for her own

personal style that is described as “fashionable, Islamic, and distinctive” (Tarlo, Islamic

Cosmopolitanism, 2007). This view is also supported by Jana, a third generation Muslim who’s

studying Medicine in London.

12

The challenge occurs when these women are trying to dress in a conventional Western fashion,

but still adhering to their own concept of modesty. This, according to Jana, that spurred the

modest fashion movement.

However, different cultures have different meanings as to what they mean as modest. In South

India, tightly bonded sari around the body means modesty, even though it bares the midriff.

(Osella & Osella, 2007). For most South Indian, all Western clothing are deemed as immodest,

although it is non-revealing. Similarly, what is modest in Islamic cultures varies from one country

and one culture to the other.

Therefore, is it fair to assume that modest means more coverage?

One of the more highlighted aspects of the modest fashion is the ‘hijab debate’. ‘Hijab’ is a term

most commonly used in Western countries to refer to the head-coverings, or head-scarves that is

worn by most Muslim Women. In academic research, a few theories have been compiled as to

why a Muslim woman wears a hijab: theories of post-colonial resistance, gender performance,

patriarchy, and the rise of global religious movements (Tarlo, Hijab in London: Metamorphosis,

Resonance and Effects, 2007).

The problem with most of these theories is that they ignore the point of view of the wearer of the

‘hijab’. While some Muslim in some countries are unfortunately unable to voice their own

opinion, most Muslim women, especially the ones living in big cities are educated middle to upper

class and they form their own decision when it comes to what they want to wear. And most of

them chose to wear the hijab and described it as empowering (Ruby, 2006)

However, in this paper (Tarlo, Hijab in London: Metamorphosis, Resonance and Effects, 2007),

Tarlo tried to move away from such theories and explored the hijab in context of ‘trans-cultural’

encounters of modern lives in big city. She suggested that that the reason Muslim women

adopted the hijab is shaped by her ‘personal biographic experience’ and is hugely impacted by her

social relationships and surroundings.

On another aspect, we can also look at modesty form gender perspective. What is modest

according to men? What is modest according to women?

When talking about modesty from different gender’s perspective, it brings to mind the view of

(Mernissi, 1987) that the custom of veiling does not stem from Islamic religion, but rather on the

social assumption that women might lead to ‘fitna’ – disorder and chaos therefore they need to

be contained.

13

While this view, according to her is in contrast of the opinion that women are weak and inferior

and need to be hidden, it doesn’t stray from the fact that both arguments centred upon man’s

opinion on what is supposed to be done to women. Either they are weak or a ‘dangerous sexual

beings’ (Kaiser, 1998) – both assumptions led to men’s desire to cloak women.

Looking at things from a different point of view, the fashion industry is also monopolised by men

designers. These men decide what looks are good for women, what is trendy, what is beautiful

and this shaped women’s attitude about what they thing as beautiful and fashionable. It is

possible that this also influences what women think as modest. Assuming that these men designs

to fit what is visually attractive to them, and assuming that men always wants women to be

minimally covered – it means that what is acceptable as modest for women is hugely distorted to

fit what men thinks as modest. And this means, very little clothing!

From these two observations, either to cover or not to cover – both decisions are largely

influenced by men’s opinion on how women should be dressing themselves.

In the next section, I would look at what modesty means from Islamic point of view.

2.2.4 Modesty in Islam

The definition of Islamic fashion is varied and dynamic. The first definition would be concerning

what is worn by Muslims. In this aspect, the Islamic Fashion varies greatly as Muslims are spread

all over the worlds and the clothing they wear is of course influenced by the culture of that

region. If we take the definition of Islamic Fashion as what is decreed in the Quran, we need to

consider the different translation and interpretation of the Quranic order. This is by no means an

easy feat as many Islamic scholars also differed in their opinion of Islamic dresscodes. These

differences in opinion among scholars and ‘hijab-wearers’ responses are documented in a

research by (Ruby, 2006) – “to what extent Muslim women need to cover is a debatable question

among scholars as well as the participants”.

Therefore, in order to decipher the scope of Modesty in Islam, I am going to look at Modestry

from two point of views: 1) The Fashion of the Followers 2) The Quranic interpretation.

First View: The fashion of followers

If we look at the first view and explore Islamic Fashion in terms of its followers, the Muslims, we

can look at these different examples of clothing style from a few different countries.

Islamic Fashion in Britain, for example,

Pakistani, India and the African continent came to the UK with their own styles o

from their culture. The ‘abaya’, and ‘salwar kameez’ is among the examples of clothi

generation Muslims immigrants in the UK.

However, the second generation British Muslims are not following the footsteps of their older

generation. According to Jana, the editor of Hijab Style, (Appendix A

British-born Muslims or the second generation Muslims are looking for ways to integrate their

faith with the Western culture in their clothing.

In the aspect of Islamic fashion, the most

Emma Tarlo wrote 2 papers about ‘hijab’ in London. The first paper, ‘Hijab in London:

Metamorphosis, Resonances and Effects’

Effects, 2007) explored the idea of ‘hijab’ being influenced and affected by ‘trans

space which exposes people to alternative ways of being and in so doing, offers them the

possibility of personal metamorpho

looks at the lives of 3 Muslim women in trying to understand why they wear the ‘hijab’.

Below are a table of various academic papers researching the different issu

Muslim women from all over the world.

Figure 1 Abaya

Islamic Fashion in Britain, for example, is shaped mainly by its immigrants.

Pakistani, India and the African continent came to the UK with their own styles o

from their culture. The ‘abaya’, and ‘salwar kameez’ is among the examples of clothi

mmigrants in the UK.


tion. According to Jana, the editor of Hijab Style, (Appendix A: Interview with Jana

born Muslims or the second generation Muslims are looking for ways to integrate their

faith with the Western culture in their clothing.

amic fashion, the most debated topic is concerning the headscarf or ‘hijab’.


Metamorphosis, Resonances and Effects’ (Tarlo, Hijab in London: Metamorphosis, Resonance and

explored the idea of ‘hijab’ being influenced and affected by ‘trans


ity of personal metamorphosis’. The second paper, (Tarlo, Islamic Cosmopolitanism, 2007)


Below are a table of various academic papers researching the different issu

Muslim women from all over the world.

14

is shaped mainly by its immigrants. Muslims from

Pakistani, India and the African continent came to the UK with their own styles of dressing, based

from their culture. The ‘abaya’, and ‘salwar kameez’ is among the examples of clothing of first


: Interview with Jana), the

born Muslims or the second generation Muslims are looking for ways to integrate their

debated topic is concerning the headscarf or ‘hijab’.


etamorphosis, Resonance and

explored the idea of ‘hijab’ being influenced and affected by ‘trans-cultural city as a


(Tarlo, Islamic Cosmopolitanism, 2007)


Below are a table of various academic papers researching the different issues and styles of

15

Paper Country Observation Image

(Kilicbay,

2002)

Turkey explored the

Islamic fashion

scene in the

Turkey and

argued that the

practice of

wearing hijab or

‘veiling’ does not

only mean one

thing for Turkish

women. From

being a religious

symbol to a

political symbol,

from a

traditional

practise to a

mark of status in

society – its

meaning and

context is varied

and changeable.

(Balasescu,

2003)

Tehran observed that

middle-and

upper class

women from

Tehran are

donning hijab

with signature

labels such as

Paloma Picasso,

Dolce &

16

Gabbana and

Yves Saint

Laurent

(Brenner,

1996) and

(Jones, 2007)

Java,

Indonesia

and Urban

Indonesia

‘busana

muslimah’

(clothing of the

Muslim women)

Long-sleeved

and floor-length

garments

Loose or fitted

head covering

(Read, 2000) Austin,

Texas

(Moors,

2007)

San’a,

Yemen

“Most San`ani

women appear

in public

completely

covered in black,

often including a

face-veil.”

(Osella &

Osella, 2007)

South India “pardah, or long

and loose salwar

kameezes

carefully teamed

with matching

mafta

(headscarves)”

17

(Abaza, 2007) Egypt “Some women

look fashionable

and sexy,

wearing bright

colors, tight

jeans, lipstick,

makeup, and

tight or short

skirts.”

“Others have a

nun-like

appearance,

dressing in long

black garments

and without

makeup whilst

yet others (the

munaqqabat)

wear face-veils.”

Figure 2 Papers exploring 'hijab'/veil and Islamic fashion

Second View: Quranic interpretation

In the Quran, the most quoted text referring to modesty for women is the 24: 30-31. Below is the

translation of the text from 4 different translators taken from a website, Quranexplorer.com.

1st

Translation

Say thou unto the believers that they shall lower their sights and guard their private parts, that is cleaner for

them; verlly Allah is Aware of that which they perform. (30) And say thou unto the believing women that

they shall lower their sights and guard their private parts and shall not disclose their adornment except that

which appeareth thereof; and they shall draw their scarves over their bosoms; and shall not disclose their

adornment except unto their husbands or their fathers or their husbands fathers or their sons or their

husbands sons or their brothers or their brothers sons or their sisters sons or their Women or those whom

their right hands own or male followers wanting in sex desire or children not acquainted with the privy parts

18

of women; and they Shall not strike their feet so that there be known that which they hide of their

adornment. And turn penitently unto Allah ye all, O ye believers, haply ye may thrive! (31)

- Translation by Abdul Daryabadi (Quranexplorer.com)

2nd

Translation

Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts

(from illegal sexual acts). That is purer for them. Verily, Allâh is All-Aware of what they do. (30) And tell the

believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their private parts (from

illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is apparent (like both eyes

for necessity to see the way or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.), and to draw their veils

all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms,) and not to reveal their adornment except to

their husbands, or their fathers, or their husband's fathers, or their sons, or their husband's sons, or their

brothers or their brother's sons, or their sister's sons, or their (Muslim) women (i.e. their sisters in Islâm), or

the (female) slaves whom their right hands possess, or old male servants who lack vigour, or small children

who have no sense of the feminine sex. And let them not stamp their feet so as to reveal what they hide of

their adornment. And all of you beg Allâh to forgive you all, O believers, that you may be successful[] (31)

- Translation by Dr. Mohsin (Quranexplorer.com)

3rd

Translation

Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! Allah is aware of what

they do. (30) And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest, and to display of their

adornment only that which is apparent, and to draw their veils over their bosoms, and not to reveal their

adornment save to their own husbands or fathers or husbands' fathers, or their sons or their husbands' sons,

or their brothers or their brothers' sons or sisters' sons, or their women, or their slaves, or male attendants

who lack vigour, or children who know naught of women's nakedness. And let them not stamp their feet so

as to reveal what they hide of their adornment. And turn unto Allah together, O believers, in order that ye

may succeed. (31)

- Translation by Pickthal (Quranexplorer.com)

4th

Translation

Say to the believing men that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for

greater purity for them: and Allah is well acquainted with all that they do. (30) And say to the believing

women that they should lower their gaze and guard their modesty; that they should not display their beauty

and ornaments except what (ordinarily) appear thereof; that they should draw their veils over their bosoms

and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their fathers, their husbands' fathers, their sons, their

19

husbands' sons, their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or the slaves

whom their right hands possess or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense

of the shame of sex; and that they should not strike their feet in order to draw attention to their hidden

ornaments. And O ye Believers! Turn ye all together towards Allah that ye may attain Bliss. (31)

- Translation by Yusuf Ali (Quranexplorer.com)

Qur'an 24:30-31

The challenge in understanding the Quranic interpretation stems from the fact that Quran was

revealed in Arabic. For most Muslims who do not understand Arabic, they relied a lot on the

translation of the text. A long and complicated debate has always surrounded the translation of

the Quran. Most of the translators of the Quran are men, as stated in the above examples, and it

is almost impossible to find a woman translator of Quran due to the male dominance in the

traditional Islamic scholar institution. Therefore the biggest challenge concerning the issue of

modesty in Islam nowadays stem from a biased interpretation of the Quran by mainly men-

dominated scholars and institution.

This bias has framed women as ‘threat’, ‘fitnah’ (Hoffman-Ladd, 1987). This allegation has also

brought upon the culture of segregation and separation between men and women.

In fact what happen is men are shunning their responsibility and putting it all upon the women.

When in fact, in the Quran, what first mentioned in the verse concerning modesty is to ask men to

lower their gaze, before ordering women to dress modestly. This shows that the responsibility of

safe-guarding modesty and public safety is upon both men and women, and perhaps more on the

men because they are mentioned first.

Without going too much into the politic of religion, it is clear that there are limited resources in

understanding the Quranic interpretation due to the limitation in translators.

One interesting debate about the Quranic order of modesty is that in one of the translations, it is

ordered for women ‘to cover their bosom’. An interesting observation is put forward by Entwistle

(2000), that professional women wear jackets to go in meeting to cover the breasts as to avoid

sexual glances.

This suggests an innate need for women to cover what is of sexual nature of them to be respected

and treated professionally by men. In this instance, it can be said that this professional women,

also do dress modestly in the context of their professional space.

20

2.2.5 Islamic Cosmopolitanism

What really interests me is the term ‘Islamic Cosmopolitanism’ that is coined by Emma Tarlo in

her paper ‘Islamic Cosmopolitanism: The Sartorial Biographies of Three Muslim Women in

London’. (Tarlo, Islamic Cosmopolitanism, 2007). In this paper, she looked at the life of 3

prominent Muslim women in Britain, and sees what influences their personal style.

What Emma is proposing is that these women are adopting an Islamic Cosmopolitanism approach

in their clothing. Cosmopolitanism linking the ideas of “hybridity, pluralistic dialogue, and

openness to the world of others”. (Tarlo, Islamic Cosmopolitanism, 2007)

Therefore the term Islamic Cosmopolitanism is as interesting ‘term’ that very aptly describes my

target market.

2.2.6 Summary

To define what is ‘modest’ is by no means an easy feat. With limited understanding and research,

this term is still very new in literature. Therefore, I will explore this term by going directly to the

sources – my target market.

2.3 Customer Behaviour

2.3.1 Introduction

In researching the target market, I want to see the main motivation behind the customer

behavior. In order to understand the need of the target market, I need to understand the

underlying motivation behind their action. What motivates them to wear modest clothing? What

are the factors that influenced their decision? In finding the answers I look at the theory of dress

from anthropological point of view. I also asked them a question in my questionnaire to uncover

the reason what influences their dressing style.

2.3.2 The Theory of Dress and Adornment

From anthropological point of view, there are a few theories why human being dress and adorn

themselves:

21

Theory of Protection

One of the most basic is theory is that human being wants to be protected by the natural

elements. (Entwistle, 2000). However, the theory is debatable because as observed in a western

and some non-western cultures, skimpy clothes are still worn in a very cold climate in name of

fashion. This view is argued by (Rouse, 1989) that people survive in extreme environment and

temperatures in limited protection from clothing. This view also seems to overlook the fact that

most styles of clothing are impractical and uncomfortable to the wearer (Polhemus & Proctor,

1978) and (Rouse, 1989).

Theory of Modesty

This theory argues that clothes are

However, this view is contested

‘relative to social context’. What is considered modest in some

cultures.

For example, Hindu women in Kerala finds sleeveless sari blouse and Western dress to be

‘immodest’, while Muslim women in Kerala finds the wearing of sari itself is immodest.

Osella, 2007). The Hindu women might find Western clothing as immodest because of the

unbounded quality of the dress. In the Hindu culture, bondage as represented by the wrapping of

the sari around women’s body is modest and decent. From Muslim point of view, the tightness i

the blouse is indecent because

is theory argues that clothes are worn to cover the sexual body parts

However, this view is contested by (Rouse, 1989) stating that the idea of modesty and shame is

‘relative to social context’. What is considered modest in some cultures


‘immodest’, while Muslim women in Kerala finds the wearing of sari itself is immodest.

Hindu women might find Western clothing as immodest because of the


the sari around women’s body is modest and decent. From Muslim point of view, the tightness i

the blouse is indecent because it reveals the body shape of the women.

Figure 3 Young Indian Girl in Saree

22

worn to cover the sexual body parts (Entwistle, 2000).

stating that the idea of modesty and shame is

cultures is not the same in other


‘immodest’, while Muslim women in Kerala finds the wearing of sari itself is immodest. (Osella &

Hindu women might find Western clothing as immodest because of the


the sari around women’s body is modest and decent. From Muslim point of view, the tightness in

it reveals the body shape of the women.

Theory of Display

(Flugel, 1930) argues that clothing as a function of decoration and

the theory of protection and modesty. The argument is that clothes are worn to make us more

sexually attractive, not less.

Theory of Communication

The last theory for clothing and adornment stems from human’s desire to communicate using

symbols (Entwistle, 2000)

This theory is both well

2000).

Again, similar to the theory of fashion that is discussed in section 2.2.2

these theories do not explore the possible influence of faith and religion.

2.3.3 Why do women want

According to (Entwistle, 2000)

why it was neglected is not very clear, however one theory is that sociology tend to ‘focus on

action and rationality’.

Western society viewed body decoration and adornment as of minimal importance and not

worthy of ‘serious analysis’

is not neutral because it includes the idealised version of the subject

Figure 4 Indian women in colourful sarees

argues that clothing as a function of decoration and display is more significant than


sexually attractive, not less.

Theory of Communication

theory for clothing and adornment stems from human’s desire to communicate using

(Entwistle, 2000).

This theory is both well-received by anthropologist on dress and fashion theorists

Again, similar to the theory of fashion that is discussed in section 2.2.2

not explore the possible influence of faith and religion.

do women want to dress modestly?

(Entwistle, 2000), sociology has largely neglected the research of fashion. The reason


action and rationality’. (Entwistle, 2000). Also, as suggested by (Polhemus & Proctor, 1978)


worthy of ‘serious analysis’. The representation of fashion and dress from

is not neutral because it includes the idealised version of the subject (Entwistle, 2000)

23

display is more significant than


theory for clothing and adornment stems from human’s desire to communicate using

received by anthropologist on dress and fashion theorists (Entwistle,

Again, similar to the theory of fashion that is discussed in section 2.2.2 (History of Fashion), all

not explore the possible influence of faith and religion.

the research of fashion. The reason


(Polhemus & Proctor, 1978)


. The representation of fashion and dress from historical point of view

(Entwistle, 2000).

24

Fashion also has always been treated with prejudice (Entwistle, 2000). Being associated with

triviality, frivolousness, wastefulness, irrationality and vanity – all these negative attributes did

not help much in the research of fashion from sociology point of view.

The argument that is prevalent when talking about clothing and fashion is that - ironically it

always exclude the ‘body’ ie. the wearer. Many academic articles talked about clothing and

fashion in respect to social culture, political influence, history and such – but rarely, do they go

and ask people on the street why they wear what they wear.

(Entwistle, 2000) covers this topic greatly in her book, the Fashioned Body.

Perhaps this is why there is minimal research done on why women dress they way they dress.

Specifically to my research - why do women dress modestly?

2.3.4 Summary

This section has uncovered that there is not enough resources and research that is done in

understanding the motivation behind how and why women wants to dress themselves in the way

that they do. Therefore, the motivation behind why women want to dress modestly is still left

unexplored in literature and academia.

2.4 Current issues and trend

Fashionability and modesty- Is this a concept that can exist together?

What is fashionable? Does fashionability has an impact on modesty? Does less skin means more

fashionable? Can one be modestly covered, and yet be fashionable?

Fashion such a fleeting concept that changes with time and season. ‘One day you are in, the next

day you are out’, is the quote from the television show ‘Project Runway’ that very aptly described

the whole nature of fashion. Therefore, it is challenging to pin down what really is fashionable?

According to (Balasescu, 2003), the idea that ‘veiling’ is not from a ‘Western’ space - and fashion,

historically belongs to the Western has brought forth the idea that veiling is not fashion. He

however argued that this observation is not accurate.

Maybe the closest concept that can be applied to

being current; being fresh and new. Therefore, if we look at this definition, being fashionable does

not mean being less modest.

The emergence of designers from the Middle East and the Islamic countries has

new dimensions in fashion. When the

exciting to see how the word ‘fashionable’ will evolve.

Maybe the closest concept that can be applied to define what is ‘fashionable

eing fresh and new. Therefore, if we look at this definition, being fashionable does

not mean being less modest.

The emergence of designers from the Middle East and the Islamic countries has

new dimensions in fashion. When the industry is now being influenced by other culture, it is

exciting to see how the word ‘fashionable’ will evolve.

Figure 5 Hana Tajima in stylish modest clothing

25

fashionable’ is the concept of

eing fresh and new. Therefore, if we look at this definition, being fashionable does

The emergence of designers from the Middle East and the Islamic countries has brought forth

industry is now being influenced by other culture, it is

But the question is, how well received will this new designers be? How much will they be able to

impact an industry?

According to an interview by BBC, Hana, a Muslim fashion

fashion wearable and relevant’ to Muslim wome

fashions. bbc.co.uk). The fact is there are many Muslim women nowadays who are not part of the

stereotypes of ‘Muslim women’

of Muslim women who are educated, worldly and

part and parcel of that world. They want

the same time maintaining what’s im

By answering these questions that

working on converging the mainstream fashion with the basic principle of modesty.

Figure 6 Hana Tajima


According to an interview by BBC, Hana, a Muslim fashion designer wishes

fashion wearable and relevant’ to Muslim women. (Muslim designers mix hijab with the latest

The fact is there are many Muslim women nowadays who are not part of the

stereotypes of ‘Muslim women’ - oppressed, cloaked in black and silent. There is a g

of Muslim women who are educated, worldly and living in the modern world where fashion is a

art and parcel of that world. They want to participate in that mainstr

the same time maintaining what’s important for them – their identity and their

y answering these questions that the value and design philosophy of Elwarda is shaped. By


26


designer wishes to ‘make mainstream

(Muslim designers mix hijab with the latest

The fact is there are many Muslim women nowadays who are not part of the

ppressed, cloaked in black and silent. There is a growing group

living in the modern world where fashion is a

ream fashion idea while at

their identity and their modesty.

the value and design philosophy of Elwarda is shaped. By


27

2.5 Chapter Summary

Modest Fashion is a new and interesting subject matter. Not quite certain of its position in the

traditional/conventional fashion environment, much research still needs to be done in the area of

Modest Fashion.

Academic theories explaining fashion, dress and adornment largely ignores the function of faith –

these left many questions unanswered as a big aspect of my idea of modest clothing is based in

faith.

However, even with the lack of resources and understanding, the modest fashion industry is

growing and these will be explored in the next chapter.

28

Chapter 3: Online Retailing for Modest Clothing

3.1 Introduction

This chapter will explore the concept of E-Retailing, online Market in the UK and online retailing

for fashion in general and online retailing for modest fashion in specific.

By looking at existing competitor’s websites and referring to literature, it is hoped that a

framework could be established as the end result.

3.2 E-Retailing

3.2.1 Introduction

E-Retailing is a short-form for internet retailing; described as the retailing process of goods and

services that is done via the internet.

One of the earliest definitions of e-retailing is:

“a form of shopping in which some form of electronic communications technology is used at the

offering, ordering and/or payment stage” (McGoldrick, 1990)

E-retailing is an activity undertaken by consumers to access retailers’ websites and this may or

may not lead to the final purchase of the products or services (Smith and Chaffey, 2008) In

dissecting this definition, it is clear that the company’s website not only be purely transactional.

3.2.2 UK online market

According to (Mintel Report, E-Commerce, 2010) total e-commerce sales were £17.8 billion (excl

VAT) in 2009, which accounts for 6.6% of all retail sales. It is predicted that the growth from

online sales will outperformed all retail sales, reaching £27 billion (excl VAT) by 2014, by which it

will account for 9.1% of all retail sales.

Sector growth is also very promising with 13% in 2009, a huge difference between the rest of the

retailing sector which stands at 4%.

According to (Mintel Report, E-Commerce, 2010) 90% of those with Internet connections say they

have bought something in the last year. Despite the recession, people were buying more online

29

with 42% saying they have bought more last year compared to 16% who said they have bought

less. (Mintel Report, E-Commerce, 2010).

As it shows from the table, the online purchase of Clothes (in Clothes or Sports Goods) are

increasing every year.

In terms of non-retail values, e-commerce keeps on increasing with a significant growth every

year.

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

E-commerce (Internet) 14500 19000 25000 33300 48500

Direct response/Direct sale 5050 5150 5262 5379 5502

Mail-order catalogue 8466 7907 7207 5657 4342

Total 28016 32057 37469 44336 58344

Figure 7 E-commerce and other Home Shopping in the UK by value (£m at retail selling price) 2003-2007

According to IMRG Capgemini Index, Internet shopping ‘come of age’ in 2007 with nearly £1 in

every £7 is spent online. (Keynote, 2009)

On the industry forefront, it is reported by (drapersonline.com) that My-Wardrobe has received a

$9m (£6m) investment by venture capital group Balderton Capital. This shows an enormous trust

on the profitability of fashion e-retailing.

30

3.2.3 Online Shopping

Figure 8 bought online in the last 12 months, November 2009 Source: GMI/Mintel (Mintel Report 2010)

This survey is done on 1,822 internet users aged 16+ who browsed online and bought goods

online (Mintel Report, E-Commerce, 2010)

From this graph, it is shown that Women’s clothing ranked 3rd after CD/DVDs and Books for the

most products purchased online in the last 12 months.

According to (Phau & Poon, 2000) products that have ‘low outlay, are frequently purchased, have

intangible value proposition and are relatively high on differentiation’ are more popular to be

31

purchased online. This research is supported by the graphs above, where CD/DVDs and Books

being the items that fits the description.

However, this graph contradicts with the research that online shoppers prefer to purchase items

that doesn’t have sizing requirement (Phau and Poon 2000). This might due to the fact that this

research is done in 2000, where there’s limited technology to make purchasing clothing online

viable. With recent software and internet development, fashion retailers has managed to make

shopping for clothes online popular.

3.2.4 Summary

Online commerce or e-commerce is a booming market and is still growing despite the recession.

In the next section, I will look at the online fashion retail industry.

3.3 Fashion Retailing Online

3.3.1 Online Fashion Market

Fashion retailing online has shown a significant growth over the last few years. New online

fashion retailers that keep cropping up is a sign that apparel is significant contributor (Murphy,

1999). According to (Krantz, 1998) in the US and several other countries, apparel has shown to

one of the largest online merchandise categories. The online sales growth in Europe is driven by

multi-channel retailing (Cox, 2002).

Pure-play retailers (clothing retailers that operates purely online without physical store), such as

ASOS and Net-a- Porter has been showing strong growth. The number of online shoppers who

shopped in ASOS for the last 6 months has gone up to 32% from the previous year at the end of

October 2009 (Mintel Report, Fashion Online , 2010). While Net-a-Porter’s sales rose by 20% to

£53.2 million in the half year to August 1, 2009. (Mintel Report, Fashion Online , 2010)

For 2010, Mintel is predicting a growth of 8.2%, bringing the market to a total of £4.27 billion.

(Mintel Report, Fashion Online , 2010)

32

3.3.2 Online Modest Fashion Market

The online modest fashion market is increasing at a rapid speed. Mainly led by Islamic clothing

companies, these online retailers have found a way to tap the opportunity in online retailing.

With the advancement of technology boosted by social media, the modest fashion online retailers

are finding new ways and new markets every day.

From a market research done by JWT (Life and Times of Modern Muslims: Understanding the

Islamic Consumers, 2008), the market for female Islamic clothing is valued at $250 million.

According to Kamarul Aznam, a Malaysian-based managing editor of the bimonthly The Halal

Journal, the global market for modest clothing, assuming that 50% of the worlds’s 1.6 billion

Muslims are dressing modestly – the market is worth at least $96 billion a year. (Young, 2007)

According to him again, as the European countries such as UK and France have higher purchasing

power parity, with estimation of clothing spending $600 per year – the figure could be around $90

million to $450 million a year. (Young, 2007)

Based on that calculation, the 16 million Muslims in the EU Muslim clothing market is estimated

to be worth US$960 million a year to $4.8 billion a year. (Young, 2007)

3.3.3 Summary

Based on the market research above, modest fashion market, geared in the Muslim market seems

to have high potential. This shows that there is a definite interest and gaining awareness of the

modest fashion in the world today.

3.4 Customer Behaviour

3.4.1 Introduction

In developing an effective brand strategy for Elwarda I need to identify the customer behavior of

online modest fashion consumer. Through literature review I managed to characterise the

behaviour of online apparel shoppers. And through my questionnaire I have sharpened the

findings to fit specifically the modest fashion consumers.

33

3.4.2 Online Fashion Customer Behaviour

Research from (Goldsmith & Goldsmith, Buying apparel over the internet, 2002) found out that

online apparel buyers associate positively with buying apparel over the internet. They are also

purchasing more on the internet compared to non-apparel buyers. They were characterized as

being more innovative, knowledgeable and confident in their ability to purchase online.

According to (Phau & Lo, 2004) online apparel shoppers exhibit strong characteristic of

impulsiveness. Supporting this research (Cowart & Goldsmith, 2007) that finds out that it’s the

impulsive shoppers that spend more for apparel online on monthly basis. Although it has to be

note that the result of (Cowart & Goldsmith, 2007) research might not be representative of the

whole online shoppers demographics as the survey is done specifically on college students.

Another bias that might be present is the fact that half of the survey done is on male students.

Another important finding of (Cowart & Goldsmith, 2007) study is that value-conscious consumers

are the most reluctant to shop for apparel online.

3.4.3 Summary

The findings above shone an interesting insight into the online fashion customer behaviour. But I

need to apply the findings with caution to my business ideas since the target market of Elwarda

might behave differently from the behaviour of conventional fashion consumer. The next I will

explore the website design aspects of the e- business.

3.5 Website Design Issues

3.5.1 Introduction

Website is one of the main factors for online retailers. Especially for pure-play retailers (retailers

that only operates online without physical shop), website is the only reference customers can

have about the companies. Multi-channel retailers have better advantage as the physical business

is the starting point of customers, while the online website is deemed as the extension of their

operation.

Therefore, it is imperative for pure-play retailers to get it right when it comes to website design.

This is what I will be researching for my Elwarda business website.

34

I have compiled a list of modest clothing online retailers as part of my research. However, I

focused on a few companies that is closest to my company in terms of their clothing design and

business philosophy.

3.5.2 Literature Review

A research has been done by (Kim & Stoel, 2004) to determine what websites quality actually

contributes to customer satisfaction. Three factors came as the most significant: ‘informational

fit-to-task’, ‘transaction capability’, and ‘response time’.

‘Informational fit-to-task’ are the items that provides information in assisting customer’s task.

While ‘transaction capability’ involves those functions that demonstrate the ability of the website

to deliver its business function and ‘response time’ relates to the load time of the website. (Kim &

Stoel, 2004)

(Yang, Peterson, & Huang, 2001) found that satisfied customers do not really think that the

aesthetic aspect of websites is important.

According to another study, website that is informative and well-organised garners positive

responses from users. However, the website need not be ‘imaginative, exciting and entertaining’.

(Chen, Clifford, & Wells, 2002).

(McCormick & Vazquez, 2009) has analysed the aspects of online fashion retailers websites and

produced a framework called ‘The Online Fashion Environment’. For the purpose of this research,

I will be using this framework to analyse competitor’s websites.

35

3.5.3 The Online Fashion Environment

Website issues Online atmospherics Interactivity

Navigability

• Sitemaps

• Search by:-

• By item

• By

brand/sub-

brand

• Search

engines

• By

style/look/oc

casion

Image

atmospheric

s

• Graphics

• Colour

• Intro-

page/home

page

Value-

added

features

• Suggestions

• Email updates

• Add

on/recommen

dations

• Promotional

offers

Interactive

viewing

• Enlarge

images

• Zoom

• Front, back

and side

views

• 2D and 3D

view

• Product

information

details

Lifestyle

media

• Multi-

media

demos

• Colour

views

• Music

• Catwalk

• Display

models

Fashion

inspiration

• Fashion

photography

• Journalist

text

• Trend

information –

look

books/fashio

n forecasts

• New product

information

• Fashion

advise/blogs

Figure 9 Online Fashion Environment Dimensions, McCormick & Vazquez, 2009

According to the paper by (McCormick & Vazquez, 2009) above are the elements of website that

is existing in online fashion retailers. Website issues, Online Atmospherics and Interactivity are

the three broad categories that are identified.

From further research and readings, it seems that the Website issues have become something of

a standard. This is not the case some 5 years ago, but as e-commerce has grown and more people

are used to visiting websites and purchasing online, a minor lack in any of these factors can easily

make the online retailers look less credible.

Online retailers are expected to have good website designs such as ease of navigability, good

sitemap, and adequate information.

36

Due to the nature of the fashion industry, Online Atmospherics is a relatively more important

than any other industry. Due to the visual nature of clothing and fashion, it is only normal for the

websites to also display such aesthetic and quality on the website. For pure-play fashion retailers,

these are even more important as customers can only judge the clothing as how it is displayed in

the website. Since they are unable to use their sense of touch to judge the clothing, online

shoppers rely heavily on their other sense, visual and audio to make the purchase decision.

3.5.4 Competitors websites analysis using the Online Fashion Environment

dimension

According to (Chaffey, E-Business and E-Commerce Management: strategy, management, and

application, 2002), competitor analysis is especially important in e-commerce due to the ‘dynamic

nature of Internet medium’.

One of the methods to do that is to benchmark. Benchmarking is used to ‘compare e-commerce

services within a market’. (Chaffey, E-Business and E-Commerce Management: strategy,

management, and application, 2002). According to (Chase, 1998) companies should look at

competitor’s sites best practices, worst practices and next practices.

Below is an analysis of Elwarda’s main competitors.

37

Maysaa: www.maysaa.com

Figure 10 Maysaa website screenshot

Website Issues Online Atmospherics Interactivity

Navigability:

The website is easy to

navigate with good

organization of information.

Interactive viewing:

Good zoom-in and sufficient

product information

Image atmospherics:

The website is very graphic

with lots of editorial styled

models.

Lifestyle media:

There is no multi-media demo.

Display models are quite

interesting featuring women

of all colours and styles of

dressing.

Value added features:

There is recommendation.

‘Tell a friend’ e-mail option,

and also ‘bookmark and share’

button.

Fashion inspiration:

There is Maysaa magazine with

behind the screen stories and

style tips.

Figure 11 Analysis of Maysaa website

38

Elenany: http://www.elenany.co.uk/

Figure 12 Elenany website screenshot


Navigability: It’s easy to

navigate but too image heavy.

Interactive viewing: The zoom

in function is a bit outdated

compared to the more

instinctive recent zoom in

function. Sufficient product

information.

Image atmospherics:

Very attractive graphics, bright

colours.

Lifestyle media: Sliding images

in home-page. No moving

image of models.

Value added features:

No recommendation.

Fashion inspiration:

No fashion inspiration

Figure 13 Analysis of Elenany website

39

Losve:

http://www.losve.com/store/

Figure 14 Losve website screenshot


Navigability: Website easy to

navigate

Interactive viewing: Good

zoom function. Product

information is sufficient.

Image atmospherics:

Clean and simple graphics. Not

the most eye-catching

Lifestyle media: No multi-

media.

Value added features: No

value-added features

Fashion inspiration: No fashion

inspiration.

Figure 15 Analysis of Losve website

40

3.5.5 Results and Discussion

Among the three, the best website is Maysaa, with its clean design and eye-catching graphics. To

have a competitive edge, Elwarda could introduce a multi-media element that is missing in

Maysaa’s website.

3.5.6 Summary

From literature it seems that website design does not rank very highly as important to online

fashion consumers. Factors such as information and the overall ability for the business to transact

online are more important.

3.6 E-Marketing and E-Promotion

3.6.1 Introduction

In operating an online fashion retail company, one of the most important aspects is the

marketing. E-marketing is the term used to explain the marketing activities of an online business.

According to (Chaffey, E-Business and E-Commerce Management: strategy, management, and

application, 2002) E-marketing is defined as

‘Achieving marketing objectives through use of electronic communications technology’.

While marketing is defined by the UK’s Chartered Institute of Marketing as:

‘Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying

customer requirements profitability’

Based from these two explanations, it can be derived that e-marketing is a process of marketing

using the internet and other electronic communications technology in order to meet customer’s

demands in a profitable way.

3.6.2 The 7 C’s : The E-Retail Marketing Mix

The traditional marketing mix 4P’s proposed by (McCarthy, 1960); price, place, product, and

promotion has been the base for all marketing mix used by business organisations. The original

4P’s has been extended and updated to include various elements and to respond to time and

technological change.

41

The development of e-commerce has called upon the need to look at a new marketing mix to

cater for the change. (Dennis, Fenec h, & Merrilees, 2005) has proposed the 7C’s: The E-Retail

Marketing Mix for this purpose.

Convenience (place) • Multi-channel- Web (buy instore,

return online, instore

• Virtual Locations (search engines,

location in e-mails, and links from

associates)

• Website design (ease to shop,

navigate)

Customer value and benefits (product) • Offering service and satisfactions (the

solution to what they are looking for,

product information, entertainment,

interactivity)

• Selection of the range of products

offered for sale (wide and deep range)

• Offer information advise and help

(product details, description, images)

Communication and customer relationships

(promotion)

• Not just advertising, communication

allows for feedback (marketing

research, PR, direct mail, e-nail, loyalty

schemes)

• Advertisements (magazines, banner

ads, pop ups)

• Data mining (to build profiles, look at

history of purchase and offer

suggestions, Amazon)

• Atmospherics and web atmospherics

(creating an environment the consumer

wants to visit)

Cost to the customer (price)

• The real cost the customer pays

(transport, delivery costs, taxes, VAT)

• Customer expectation of cheaper costs

online

Computing and category management issues

• Supplying the products the customer

want (right size, quantities, right time

and place)

• Efficient supply chain with computer

network (links between suppliers and

retailers, out of stocks)

• Efficient customer response and

efficient logistics systems

42

Customer franchise

• Value of image, trust and branding as

the retailers customer franchise (well

known brand trust)

• Safe guards including fraud protection

and dispute resolution

• Safe shopping icons (paypal,

webtrader)

Customer care and service

• Offering products at competitive prices

in an accessible format

• Fast and reliable deliveries at times

convenient to the shopper

• Availability of help; refund policies

• Telephone help, chat rooms, frequently

asked question

• Addressing customer concerns (credit

security etc)

Figure 16 The 7 C’s : The E-Retail Marketing Mix (Dennis, Fenec h, & Merrilees, 2005)

The 7C’s are an important framework that could help Elwarda in designing our e-retail strategy.

3.6.3 E-Marketing Promotional Mix

Promotional mix are the various ways of promotion that can be used by companies for their

promotion strategies. It is very rare for companies to just use one method of promotion but

rather they will use a combination that is tailored to their target audience.

Below is the Promotional Mix table that shows the e-promotional mix equivalence of the

traditional promotional mix.

Traditional E-Promotion

Advertising Pay per click advertising, Banner

ads/interactive display ads

Sales Promotion Incentives, Rewards, Online loyalty schemes

Personal Selling Virtual Sales Staff, Chat and Affiliate

Marketing

Direct Marketing Opt in e-mail using e-newsletters and e-blasts

plus web-responses

Word of Mouth Viral marketing, e-mail a friend, links

Public Relations Social media, blogs and feeds

43

Figure 17 E-Promotional Mix (adapted from (Chaffey & Smith, eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimising your

digital marketing, 2008) and (Solomon, Marshall, & Stuart, 2008)

3.6.4 E-Loyalty

It is important for online retailers to build e-loyalty. The activity of brand building is the key in

gaining sustainable competitive advantage (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001). However, for

online retailers to be successful the concept of brand loyalty needs also be translated into e-

loyalty. According to (Reicheld & Schefter, 2000), ‘price does not rule the web; trust does’. This

view is supported by the research of (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003), where both trust and

perceived value is an important determinant in e-satisfaction on e-loyalty.

In looking to build Elwarda’s E-loyalty strategy, I will look at the E-Loyalty Framework by

(Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001) below:

Figure 18 The E-loyalty Framework (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001)

According to this framework, there are 5 factors that will drive e-loyalty:

1. Customer Service

According to (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001), the activity of fulfilling order and fast

delivery systems is absolutely essential element to e-loyalty development.

2. Trust and Security

Customer service

Trust & Security

Brand building

Value Proposition

Website and

Technology

Attitude(Affective)

(Cognitive)

Behavioural Intent

(Conative)

Behaviour

44

According to (Hoffman, Novak, & Peralta, 1999), trust, especially in the context of transactional

security and privacy is key in building e-loyalty. Due to the nature of e-retailing that limits the

sensory experience, the need for trust and security is heightened.

3. Website and Technology

First impression and ease of use of the website is the unique e-loyalty contributor, according to

(Smith, 2000). A well-designed website targeted to its customer segment will provide contents

and preface that matched the preference of the said segment. (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold,

2001)

4. Value Proposition

2 important factors in the value proposition for e-retailers are; 1) product customization and 2)

interactivity. (Gommans, Krishnan, & Scheffold, 2001).

5. Brand Building

According to a study by (Nemes, 2000), it is important that the domain names is treated as the

brand extension.

By referring to these researches, Elwarda E-Loyalty Framework will be developed.

3.7 Summary

By looking at the various literatures from website design, e-retailing strategies, e-marketing and

e-promotion, and e-loyalty framework – Elwarda are able to combine the best of academic

research with the market research in order to come up with its own business framework.

45

Chapter 4: Research Method

In researching this project I used a few methods to gather information.

1. Secondary Research

2. Observation

3. Interview

4. Primary Research

Above are the steps that I have taken in that order.

Secondary Research

Secondary research is a research done by reading and gathering readily available materials on the

subject matter. This type of information is available as a result of prior research by a third party.

Materials that I look into are:

1. Market Reports – Mintel and Keynote

These are important market reports for me to look through to get the general feel and

understanding of the fashion market and online market as a whole. Trends of the market, market

size and competitors analysis are a few very important information that will help me get started

on the project. Market reports gave me insight on the commercial aspects of the project.

2. Academic Journals

By reading academic journals, I gained another point of view on the subject. Reading of the

existing research and prior works give me understanding of what has already been researched,

the trend forward and what is the missing gap in the research. Academic journals gave me greater

and deeper understanding on my project research.

3. Newspapers, blogs, newsletters

These materials gave me the most up-dated news on the industry. These help me to chart the

direction and sharpen the area of my research.

Observation

By observing the consumer in the market, I am able to formulate the basis of my target market.

Observation is a good method of research as it is able to capture information that is otherwise

missed from secondary research due to limitation is sensorial transfer.

46

I spent 5-8 hours per week for 3 months to observe the shopping habit of Elwarda’s potential

target market. Either via observation in actual purchase in high-street stores or discussion in

forum and blogs, these activities has provided me enormous amount of resources.

Interview

I have also interviewed Jana Kossabaiti, editor of (Hijab Style), a UK hijab fashion/modest fashion

blog. The reason for the interview is to gain insight from industry expert on the subject. Having

been writing and interacting with retailers, customers and modest fashion enthusiasts since 2007,

Jana has provided me with great information about the modest fashion market.

The interview with Jana is attached as Appendix A.

Primary Research: Questionnaire

Online Questionnaire

A primary research has been done by sending out an online questionnaire using Google

documents. The questionnaire is posted at modest fashion blogs which have a rather interested

and captive audience. The questionnaire is aimed at finding out about the customer for Modest

Fashion. Since Modest Fashion as an industry is a relatively new and very niche industry, there is a

lot of information that is not yet available. The best way to find out all the information is to

directly ask the potential customers.

The questionnaire is divided into 3 sections:

1. Personal Background

In this section the questions asked are about the demographics of the customer. Age, nationality,

religion, occupation, income and location are determined. All questions are the tick the boxes

question.

2. Shopping Habit of Modest Fashion Consumer

This section of questions is aimed at finding out their shopping habit and behaviour. The findings

of this section will be useful in determining what I products should be selling in Elwarda.

This section comprises of mixture of tick boxes and description question.

47

3. Online Shopping Motivation and Preference

This section aims to find out whether the Modest fashion customer are shopping online. Why

they do and why they don’t. This section also aims to look at the impact of familiarity with the

brand and whether that influences their buying decision.

This section is mainly tick boxes, ranking questions, with one description question.

4. Personal Style

Personal style section attempts to find out what exactly influences their decision making when it

comes to their choice of clothing.

This section comprises of one description box and tick boxes questions.

48

Chapter 5: Research Results

5.1 Introduction

In this chapter I will detail the results that I achieved from my questionnaire. The section 5.2 will

corresponds to the results of my questions in Chapter 2: Modesty in Clothing and section 5.3 is for

the results for Online Retailing for Modest Clothing in Chapter 3.

The questionnaire is attached as Appendix B in Part 2: Business Research.

5.2 Results of research on Modesty

In the quest for understanding what is ‘modest’, I asked the respondents what they understand

modesty to be.

This is the question:

These are some of the answers that I received:

‘Beautiful, presentable and within the shari'ah requirement.’

‘Covered yet well worn. Not skin tight clothing. Adapting styles to match Islamic teaching’

‘Fashion that goes in harmony with the religion as well as time’.

‘When i see this it make me think of clothes that are more covering than whats genrally out there at the

moment especialy in the 'teens and young adult' type of clothing which is practicly showing as much flesh as

posible so Modest Fashion come accros to me as some thing which anyone can wear weather someone is

looking for modest clothing to come in with religious standards or if someone just doesnt want to show

fleshy parts, i see it as some thing diverse’

‘Clothing that covers the body and its shape, according to Islamic rulings but that also uses colour. pattern

and accessories to be pleasing to the eye and make the wearer feel confident and empowered.’

In your opinion, what do you think the term 'Modest

Fashion' means? Please write the first thing that

came to your mind

49

‘That mean,culture regularly changing and fashion was efected for all peoples around the world. Depends

on what situations thair can affort’

‘clothing that is not flamboyant or flashy’

‘Loose clothing that conceals the body, yet still looks nice’

‘something that is fashionable but doesnt have to be sexy, or showing all the curves of my body. i still like to

be in the latest fashion but done my way.’

‘In my opinion, you can have whatever fashion you like, as long as it still follow Islamic rules. That's the most

important thing. Second most important thing is, you must comfortable of what you wear. We are what we

wear. Some like bright and colorful, some like dull. Some like fashionable, while the others might like

ordinary. As for me, I am an ordinary person who just like to wear something that I used to, with soft colors.

I'm okay with a little bit adjustment, but I am not fashion victim.’

‘Simplicity’

‘items that cover bum, bust, arms, hair and loose fitted so shape cannot be seen but at the same time on

trend and stylish’

‘It doesn't scream look at me! The wearer looks super comfortable with what she puts on.’

‘loose, covering, comfortable yet stylish’

‘a style of the entire female character (not just the clothes) which makes the other person think good about

that character in a completely clean manner.’

‘Modest Fashion means pleasant colours, good material and clothes you can wear to every occasion.’

All 60 of the participants gave a very thorough and insightful answer to these questions which

really strikes me as a surprise. I initially planned to develop a focus group for the subjective

questions like these but due to the very satisfactory results that I get from the questionnaires – I

did not go ahead with the plan to do focus group.

50

In order to determine the personal style of the modest fashion consumer, I asked this question in

the questionnaire:

Options were given and participants were asked to tick as many boxes as possible. Below are the

summary of the results:

Figure 19 What influences your personal style?

From this research, it is shown that the highest factor influencing the respondent’s Personal Style

is ‘Faith/Religion’ with 78% followed by 67% of ‘Body Type’.

The least popular factors are ‘Celebrity Style’ with 10% and ‘High-fashion/Catwalk/Couture’ factor

of 18%.

These findings are really important in determining what are the things that is deemed important

by women who wants to dress in a Modest way.

By asking these two questions, I am able to uncover the question I had whether there is actually a

need for Modest fashion, and also what is the contributing factors that influences women to dress

in a modest way.

32%

18%23%

45%

35%

47%

33%

20%27%

23%

10%

78%

67%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

What influences your personal style?

What influences your personal

style?

5.3 Online Retailing for Modest Clothing

In order to understand better the online shopping needs and preference of the target customer, I

asked a few questions regarding their online shopping habit.

The first question is

The results are presented as below:

Figure

From 60 respondents, 1/3

the respondents buy Modest Clothing online 1

number. Meanwhile 23% of the respondents shop for clothing online up 1

When asked what deters them from shopping online, a few trends of reactions were found out:

1. Sizing

‘I prefer to be able to try on clothes myself without the hassle of ord

returning it.’

‘sizing is always the issue with me. So I need to try on before I buy.’

1

0

5

10

15

20

25

1-4 times a week

How many times do you shop for

Online Retailing for Modest Clothing Results


asked a few questions regarding their online shopping habit.

presented as below:

Figure 20 How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online?

From 60 respondents, 1/3 said that they have never purchased modest

the respondents buy Modest Clothing online 1-4 times a year, which is not a very encouraging

hile 23% of the respondents shop for clothing online up 1


‘I prefer to be able to try on clothes myself without the hassle of ord


1

14

21

4 times a week 1-4 times a month 1-4 times a year


Modest Clothing online?


Modest Online Clothing?

51


How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online?

modest clothing online. Most of

4 times a year, which is not a very encouraging

hile 23% of the respondents shop for clothing online up 1-4 times a month.


‘I prefer to be able to try on clothes myself without the hassle of ordering the wrong size and

20

Never


52

‘Because then I can try them on and get a size that I know fits well, I can see the colour and

detailing for myself (computer screen resolution sometimes changes these). and i dont have to

wait for it to arrive in the mail! i can have it as soon as ive paid for it’

‘I prefer to shop in store because I have a better idea of how it will fit’

2. Price

‘Most Hijab stores sell their clothes for a high price even you cannot wear them often.’

3. Need to touch and see the garments

‘i always feel more comfortable spending money on items i can see, feel and try’

‘Because , its tangible , you get touch it, feel the textile , try it on and that's how u make your

decision to purchase. I'll still buy online if i could try that product’

‘I prefer shopping store to store because you see the garment up close and you see what kind of

fabric is used and you can try it on right away.’

In order to formulate the best method for retailing online, I asked a series of question regarding

what the respondents think as the most important criteria when online shopping. The answer is

rated as 5 being the most important as 1 as the least important.

Figure 21 Research findings: Design of the Website

The most important criteria when

online shopping: Design of the

website10%

12%

25%40%

13%

1

2

3

4

5

53

Out of 60 people, only 13 % thinks that design of the website is the most important criteria when

shopping online.

Figure 22 Research findings: Interactivity of the website

Similarly, only 15% thinks that the interactivity of the website is the most important criteria when

online shopping for apparel.

These research findings confirmed the findings of (Kim & Stoel, 2004) and (Yang, Peterson, &

Huang, 2001) that the design of the websites if not deemed as very important by online modest

fashion consumers.

The top 3 important criteria are Secure Payment (62%), Price (52%), and Delivery charge (50%).

The results are shown as below:


online shopping: Interactivity of the

website8%

12%

28%37%

15%

1

2

3

4

5

54

Figure 23 Research findings: Secure Payment

Figure 24 Research findings: Price


online shopping: Secure payment8%

5%

7%

18%62%

1

2

3

4

5

The most important criteria when online

shopping: Price3%

8%

17%

20%

52%

1

2

3

4

5

55

Figure 25 Research findings: Delivery charge

A summary of all the questions in this section is as below:

Figure 26 Important criteria when shopping online

Secure payment is regarded as the most important criteria with 62% while Brand is regarded as

the least important with only 10%.

From my questionnaire it is found out that 59 out of 60 respondents have a social media account.

These are the breakdowns of the Accounts:


online shopping: Delivery Charge

8%

10%

15%

17%

50%

1

2

3

4

5

52%48%

50%

62%

13%15%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Price Selection of

Clothes

Delivery

charge

Secure

payment

Website

design

Interactivity

of website

Brand

Important criteria when shopping online

Almost half of respondents

focus on Facebook marketing as one of its marketing strategy.

I also asked the question: ‘What motivates you t

of the answers:

15%

Social Media accounts of Modest

52%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Discount Free delivery

Online shopping motivation factors

Figure 27 Social Media accounts of Modest Fashion Consumer

Almost half of respondents have a Facebook account therefore – it made

focus on Facebook marketing as one of its marketing strategy.

I also asked the question: ‘What motivates you the most to shop online?’ and thi

Figure 28 Online shopping motivators

46%

20%

15%

7%

2%8%

1% 1%


Fashion Consumer

60%

38%35%

7%

Free delivery Convenience Design of

Clothing

Review in

magazine


56

Social Media accounts of Modest Fashion Consumer

it made sense for Elwarda to

he most to shop online?’ and this is the summary


Facebook

Twitter

Blogs

MySpace

Bebo

Friendster

LinkedIn

Tumblr

9%

37%

Review in Review in

fashion blogs

Wider choice

of selection


57

(Goldsmith & Bridges, E-tailing versus retailing: using attitudes to predict online buying behaviour,

2000) suggested that low price is a factor that encourages online buying. This suggestion is

supported by the findings of my research with 60% saying Free Delivery is their most motivating

factor to shop online followed by 52% saying Discounts.

The finding shows a high degree of value-consciousness among the Online Modest Fashion

consumer. It is clear that they are very attractive and responsive to the ‘low price’ factor.

Based from the results of the questionnaire, in terms of their online shopping behaviour - the

target market of Elwarda can be characterised as below:

1. Value Conscious

2. Internet savvy

58

Chapter 6: Discussion and Conclusion

6.1 Discussion on ‘Modesty in Clothing’

Based from the results of the questionnaire, it seems that women who are interested in Modest

clothing put very significant emphasis on their faith and religion when choosing their clothes. This

is interesting to note since none of the theories includes Faith/Religion in the consideration.

Therefore in this sense, none of the theories can really be applied to Modest Fashion consumer.

According to a research by Duke University, there more religious a person is, the lower their

appreciation and association to a brand. (Carr 2010). This also seems to be true for my target

market since only 10% of them regards ‘brand’ as important criteria when shopping online (Figure

24: Important criteria when online shopping)

The respondents are also not very influenced by ‘Celebrity Style’ or ‘High-

fashion/Catwalk/Couture’. This is a contrast in what seems as the main motivator of the

conventional fashion wisdom. Therefore, if these Modest Fashion consumer are not looking at

those factors as motivations, what do they mean by ‘fashionable’? Considering that many of the

respondents wanted something that is ‘fashionable’.

What struck me as really interesting is that when ‘phrased’ as ‘Modest Fashion’ the respondents

seems to come up with a coherent idea of what they think Modest Fashion is. From the

responses, the theme that I picked up is:

1. Non-revealing and non-fitting clothing

2. Beautiful

3. Adaptive fashion

4. In accordance to Islamic teaching

While they have a coherent idea of what is ‘modest’, not many of them goes into details as to

what body parts do they think as ‘inappropriate’ and need to be covered. None of them also

describes in details how they prefer to be covered.

This is contrasted with the translation of Dr. Mohsin’s of the Quran.

‘And tell the believing women to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things), and protect their

private parts (from illegal sexual acts) and not to show off their adornment except only that which is

apparent (like both eyes for necessity to see the way or outer dress like veil, gloves, head-cover, apron, etc.),

and to draw their veils all over Juyubihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms,)…’

59

However, most of them agree that the clothes must be non-revealing and non-fitting. Refering to

Figure 2: Papers exploring ‘hijab’/veil and Islamic fashion, this view is also what is generally

agreed to by Muslim women from all around the world. These two basic principles are then

adapted to fit their own culture, and level of aesthetic when it comes to clothing and fashion.

Most of the respondents mentioned that they want ‘beautiful’ clothes. It is an innate need of a

woman to be dressed in something beautiful, and specifically to Muslims, beauty is something

that is highly appreciated as reflected in the Islamic art and architecture.

However, most of them also mention that they would like clothing with a sense of style and

fashion , but that is adapted according to Islamic requirements, hence I give the term ‘adaptive

fashion’. These shows that these women wanted to look beautiful in clothing that is current and

new. Since most if the clothing that is labelled as ‘Islamic’ are traditional and cultural – their need

is not met.

The respondents also frequently refer to Islamic requirements and guidance in explaining Modest

Fashion. This might due to the fact that the term modesty is a very familiar concept in Islam.

Modesty in Islam is all-encompassing quality that is applicable from clothes to mannerism.

Another interesting observation that I found out from the research is that how willing are these

respondents in sharing their answers. It is normal to expect that the ‘opinion’ or ‘fill in the blank’

questions in a questionnaire will garner the least response in a questionnaire. Therefore, it really

struck me as a surprise that all of these respondents were very generous in sharing their opinion

in their answers. Due to the extensive answers that I get from my questionnaires, I decided to not

go ahead with the focus group.

Is this a reflection of how much these women are deprived when it comes to voicing out their

opinion about their clothing? That any chance they have to voice out their opinion will be taken in

gladly? This is a real question that already has been uncovered by (Entwistle, 2000) in her book,

where not enough emphasis is given to the body of the wearer.

In the context of Modest Fashion and Muslim women, these questions seem to be even more

relevant now. With the recent ‘niqab’ ban by the French government (French niqab ban: Beneath

the veil, 2010) and the whole controversies surrounding it – where is the room for women,

Muslims and non-Muslims alike to voice out what they want? How the prefer to be clothed?

60

6.2 Discussion on ‘Online Retailing for Modest Clothing’

Based on the questionnaire, a few important points have been captured in contributing towards

the building of the business. These findings then will be shaped into frameworks that are going to

be used as part of Elwarda’s business strategy.

6.2.1 Elwarda Website Design Framework

Figure 29 Elwarda Website Design Framework

Based on the research findings and the secondary research, an Elwarda Website Design

Framework is developed.

Navigability is as the top of the pyramid because it is the most important aspects from prior

researches. Since the website will be the first impression for most customers, it needs to have an

excellent navigability.

Interactivity ranked more with 15% respondents thinking it is more important than 13% of

website design. Therefore, it is more important for Elwarda to focus on building the interactivity

features in the website. Elwarda has already created a Facebook page and a Twitter account, and

by linking the website with these social media accounts, it will definitely enhance the interactivity

factor.

Navigability

Interactivity

Online atmospherics

61

From business point of view, this framework works very well because as a start-up the initial

financial resources that Elwarda has is limited. By prioritising on Navigability features and

leveraging on the existing no-cost Social Media, for interactivity, Elwarda will be able to optimise

the resources that we have.

6.2.2 Elwarda E-Promotion Framework

According to (Marketingweek.com, Young, Connected and Muslims), Muslim communities tend to

give high scores on Hofstede’s collectivism score. This means that they highly value word-of-

mouth and in-group recommendations. This piece of information is paramount in shaping

Elwarda’s e-promotional strategy.

Based on the finding, a framework is developed for Elwarda E-Promotion Framework

Figure 30 Elwarda E-Promotion Framework

Public Relations is at the top of the pyramid because it is important for Elwarda to keep engaging

and communicating with the target customers using their preferred method of Social Media, ie;

Facebook. Besides, from financial point of view, promotional activity on Social Media accounts are

the most cost-saving and hence is the most important tool for start-up especially.

Public

Relations

Word of Mouth

Sales Promotion

62

Word-of-Mouth is the second effective method due to the close-tie with social media. Viral

messages, links, and e-mails are much faster to be passed around among people who have social

media accounts.

Due to the fact that most of the respondents scored highly on Price as the most important factor,

sales promotions using incentives, rewards and online loyalty schemes could also be a very good

promotional method for the target market.

6.2.3 E-Loyalty Framework

Figure 31 Elwarda E-Loyalty framework

Based on the findings of the questionnaire, this is the framework that is most efficient for

Elwarda’s target market in developing their e-loyalty.

Since 62% of the respondents regard ‘Secure payment’ as the most important criteria when online

shopping, it is imperative that Elwarda puts the highest priority on this. By providing a highly

secure online transaction system, the business will be able to provide them with ease of mind.

Trust and Security

Customer Service

Value Proposition

63

Customer service is also of high importance. By offering a fast and reliable delivery service with

excellent return policies, Elwarda customers will feel valued and this will also enhance their

loyalty to the business.

Elwarda also needs to keep updating its value proposition, according to the needs and wants of

modest fashion consumer. Since the market is still new and changing, Elwarda need to keep itself

updated so that it always remains relevant to the modest fashion enthusiast.

6.3 Summary

All these frameworks that are developed based on the primary and secondary research results will

be able to help Elwarda in developing a comprehensive e-commerce system that could efficiently

serve the needs and wants of our target market. These frameworks not only serve as the building

block for Elwarda’s business systems, but can also be the guide for the company.

64

Chapter 7: Conclusion and Further Research

I believe that we have only seen the start of modest fashion industry. With the advancement in

technology and shifting consciousness and the understanding of faith in the world today – more

and more women will be open to explore the beauty that is Modest fashion.

The academic research has largely ignored the function of faith in fashion. Therefore, there is a

huge gap that needed to be filled with relevant and accurate research of this subject. Due to the

time limitation of the research, I can only look into the matters with regard to my own target

market.

There is potential research in looking at the function of faith in fashion. Are there any faith-based

groups of people that dress themselves in accordance to their own faith and religion? What are

their challenges? What are the similarities and differences between them?

In term of the business aspects, there is potential in researching how well are the modest

companies are doing? Are they able to compete with the Western fashion retailers? What sort of

impact do they have on the fashion landscape, if any?

Also, are there any growing interests from non-Muslims women on the idea of modest fashion? I

started the research with this question in mind, but based from my findings, so far it seems that

the idea of Modest fashion only resonate with Muslim women.

Muslim women, especially those living in Western countries and big urban cities have always been

facing this dilemma in reconciling their faith with fashion. Therefore, through this research it is

hoped that Elwarda could be part of their solution.

65

Works Cited

Abaza, M. (2007). Shifting Landscapes of Fashion in Contemporary Egypt. Fashion Theory , 11

(2/3), 281-298.

Afshar, H. (2008). Cain I see your hair? Choice, agency and attitudes: the dilemma of faith and

feminism for Muslim women who cover. Ethnic and Racial Studies , 31 (2), 411-427.

Akou, H. M. (2007). Building a New "World Fashion": Islamic Dress in the TWenty-first Century.

Fashion Theory , 11 (4), 403-422.

Balasescu, A. (2003). Tehran Chic: Islamic Headscarves, Fashion Designers, and New Geographies

of Modernity. Fashion Theory, Volume 7 , 39-56.

Bliss, S. H. (1916). The Siginificance of Clothes. The American Journal of Psychology , 27 (2), 217-

226.

Brenner, S. (1996). Reconstructing Self and Society: Javanese Muslim Women and "The Veil".

American Ethnologist , 23 (3), 673-697.

Chaffey, D. (2002). E-Business and E-Commerce Management: strategy, management, and

application (1st edition ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Limited.

Chaffey, D., & Smith, P. (2008). eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimising your digital

marketing (3rd Edition ed.). A Butterworth-Heinemann.

Chase, L. (1998). Essential Business Tactics for the Net. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Chen, Q., Clifford, S., & Wells, W. (2002). Attitude toward the site 2: new information. Journal of

Advertising Research , 42 (2), 33-45.

Christianity. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 22, 2010, from bbc.co.uk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/

Cowart, K. O., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2007). The influence of consumer decision-making styles on

online apparel consumption by college students. International Journal of Consumer Studies , 31,

639-847.

66

Cox, B. (2002, 10 28). E-gifting: The 'E' Stands for Europe. Retrieved 7 30, 2010, from

internetnews.com: http://www.internetnews.com/ec-

news/article.php/1489041/Egifting+The+E+Stands+for+Europe.htm

Dennis, C., Fenec h, T., & Merrilees, B. (2005). Sale the 7 Cs: teaching/training aid for the (e-)retail

mix. International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management , 33 (3), 179-193.

Ditcher, E. (1985). Why We Dress The Way We Do, in M.R Soloman (ed.), The Psychology of

Fashion. New York: Lexington Books.

drapersonline.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 05, 2010, from

http://www.drapersonline.com/5014806.article

Entwistle, J. (2000). The Fashioned Body. Polity Press in association with Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Flugel, J. C. (1930). The Psychology of Clothes. London: Hogarth Press.

Franks, M. (2000). Crossing the borders of whiteness? White Muslim women who wear the hijab

in Britain today. Ethnic and Racial Studies , 23 (5), 917-929.

French niqab ban: Beneath the veil. (2010, July 15). Retrieved Oct 15, 2010, from guardian.co.uk:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/15/france-niqab-veil-ban-law

Goldsmith, R., & Bridges, E. (2000). E-tailing versus retailing: using attitudes to predict online

buying behaviour. Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce , 1, 245-253.

Goldsmith, R., & Goldsmith, E. (2002). Buying apparel over the internet. Journal of Product and

Brand Management , 11, 89-100.

Gommans, M., Krishnan, K., & Scheffold, K. (2001). From Brand Loyalty to E-Loyalty: A Conceptual

Framework. Journal of Economic and Social Research , 3 (1), 43-58.

Harms, E. (1938). The Psychology of Clothes. The American Journal of Sociology , 44 (2), 239-250.

Hijab Style. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 4, 2010, from Hijab Style: http://www.hijabstyle.co.uk/

Hoffman-Ladd, V. J. (1987). Polemics on the Modesty and Segregation of Women in

Contemporary Egypt. International Journal of Middle East Studies , 19 (1), 23-50.

Islam at a glance. (2009, 06 30). Retrieved 07 22, 2010, from bbc.co.uk:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/ataglance/glance.shtml

67

Jones, C. (2007). Fashion and Faith in Urban Indonesia. Fashion Theory , 11 (2/3), 211-232.

Kaiser. (1998). The Social Psychology of Clothing: Symbolic Appearance in Context (2nd Edition

ed.). Fairchild Publications.

Kaiser, B. S. (2001). Identity, Postmodernity, and the Global Apparel Marketplace. In The

Meanings of Dress. New York: Fairchild Publications.

Keynote. (2009). UK Internet Market. Middlesex: Key Note Ltd.

Kilicbay, B. a. (2002). Consumer Culture, Islam and the Politics of Lifestyle: Fashion for Veiling in

Contemporary Turkey. European Journal of Communication , 17, 495.

Kim, S., & Stoel, L. (2004). Apparel retailers: website quality dimensions and satisfaction. Journal

of Retailing and Consumer Services , 11, 109-117.

Krantz, M. (1998). Click till you drop. Time Magazine , 152 (3), 34-7.

Laver, J. (1969/1995). A Concise History of Costume. London: Thames and Hudson.

(2008). Life and Times of Modern Muslims: Understanding the Islamic Consumers. JWT and AMRB.

McCarthy, J. (1960). Basic marketing: a Managerial Approach. Homewood, IL: Irwin.

McCormick, & Vazquez. (2009). Analysing and conceptualising the online fashion shopping

environment. Published PhD Thesis .

McGoldrick, P. J. (1990). Retail Marketing. McGraw-Hill Publishing Co.

Mernissi, F. (1987). Beyond the veil: Male-Female dynamics in Modern Muslim Society (2nd

Edition ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

(2010). Mintel Report, E-Commerce. London: Mintel Publications.

(2010). Mintel Report, Fashion Online. London: Mintel Publications.

Moors, A. (2007). Fashionable Muslims: Notions of Self, Religion, and Society in San'a. Fashion

Theory , 11 (2/3), 319-346.

Murphy, R. (1999). Download: Internet news 2. The Journal of Fashion Marketing and

Management , 3 (4), 376-7.

68

Muslim designers mix hijab with the latest fashions. bbc.co.uk. (n.d.). Retrieved 05 18, 2010, from

bbc.co.uk: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10105062.stm

Muslim fashion designers moving beyond the traditional . (n.d.). Retrieved 05 08, 2010, from

nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/style/18iht-rmuslim.4.7550105.html?_r=1

Osella, C., & Osella, F. (2007). Muslim Style in South India. Fashion Theory , 11 (2/3), 233-252.

P, M. (2002). Retail Marketing (2nd Edition ed.). McGraw Hill Higher Education .

Partington, A. (1992). Popular Fashion and Working-Class Affluence. In J. Ash, & E. Wilson, Chic

Trills: A Fashion Reader. London: Pandora.

Phau, I., & Lo, C. (2004). Profiling fashion innovators: a study of self-concept, impulse buying and

Internet purchase. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management , 8, 399-411.

Phau, I., & Poon, S. M. (2000). Factors infuencing the types of products and services purchased

over the internet. Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy , 10 (2), 102-

113.

Polhemus, T. (1988). Bodystyles. Luton: Lennard.

Polhemus, T., & Proctor, L. (1978). Fashion and Anti-fashion: An Anthology of Clothing and

Adornment. London: Cox and Wyman.

R, P. (1996). Electronic commerce and the internet. Commun ACM , 22-24.

Read, J. a. (2000). To Veil or Not to Veil? A Case Study of Identity Negotiation among Muslim

Women in Texas. Gender and Society , 14 (3), 395-417.

Report, M. (2010). E-Commerce. London: Mintel Publications.

Richardson, J., & Kroeber, A. (1973). Three Centuries of Women's Dress: A quantitative Analysis. In

G. Willis, & D. Midgley, Fashion Marketing. London: Allen and Unwin.

Rouse, E. (1989). Understanding Fashion. London: BSP Professional Books.

Ruby, T. F. (2006). Listening to the voices of hijab. Women Studies International Forum , 29, 54-66.

Simmel, G. (1904/1971). 'Fashion' in D. Levine, (ed.), On Individuality and Social Forms. London:

University of Chicago Press.

69

Solomon, M. R., Marshall, G., & Stuart, E. (2008). Marketing: Real People, Real Choices (5th

edition ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Tarlo, E. (2007). Hijab in London: Metamorphosis, Resonance and Effects. Journal of Material

Culture , 12 (2), 131-156.

Tarlo, E. (2007). Islamic Cosmopolitanism. Fashion Theory , 11 (2/3), 143-172.

Thomas, W. I. (1899). The Psychology of Modesty and Clothing. The American Journal of Sociology

, 5 (2).

Veblen, T. (1899/1953). The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. New

York: Mentor.

Wilson, E. (1985). Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity. London: Virago.

Yang, Z., Peterson, R., & Huang, L. (2001). Taking the pulse of Internet pharmacies. Marketing

Health Services , 21 (2), 5-10.

Young, Connected and Muslims, marketingweek.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 06 29, 2010, from

marketingweek.com: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/in-depth-analysis/cover-stories/young-

connected-and-muslim/3014934.article

Young, R. (2007, 09 18). nytimes.com; Muslim fashion designers moving beyond the traditional.

Retrieved 07 31, 2010, from nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/style/18iht-

rmuslim.4.7550105.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Muslim%20fashion%20designers%20moving%20beyon

d%20the%20traditional&st=cse

70

Appendix A: Interview with Jana, Editor of Hijab Style

N: Basically I would like to know, well there’s 2 or 3 section here, that I want to ask. The first is

customer specific, basically I would like to know about the target customer. And more of the

market specific, as in the market in general, and the third is future trend.

Based on your experience, do you think there is such a thing as modest fashion market? Modest

fashion is defined as modern clothing, like what you are wearing and what I am wearing, do you

think there is a customer for that?

J : Definitely. Most hijabis my age, tend to not wear abayas and stuff. They tend to do layering on

clothes they got on high street.

N: People your age, meaning early 20’s?

J: Even younger. 16 upwards.

N: 16 to late 20’s?

J: Yeah. No. Also professionals. Like my mom.

N: What made them want to buy modest fashion, you think? Why don’t the go down the

traditional abaya route?

71

J: For people my age personally, it is hard enough to fit in. Especially with medic. Segregation.

They tend to keep to themselves. You wear them in family gathering and stuff. Also, older women

tend to wear ethnic clothing.

N: blanla. So that’s why the don’t go down the abaya route.

J: Also, it’s not practical. I don’t find it practical.

N: So who do you think influence their buying decision. When they are buying modest fashion. Is

there a particular figure, or blog or place, that influence their style.

J: I don’t think I can pinpoint to any particular figure. It’s more like a community thing. It started in

your community. Starting trend from inside the community. That where the similar style. It is sort

of self-generating, rather than looking outside. I know in Malaysia you have celebrities style scarf

and everybody is buying them.

N: Yes.

J: We don’t have that in here. Obviously they still pick up high-street trends.

N: What is their occupation?

J: Student. Young professionals. Housewife and mothers tend to wear abayas. And I don’t know

why. While working women tend not to.

N: That’s what I thought as well. Maybe because of it’s community. They are in a more cultural

environment. While working women interact more with other people. How much is religion

72

affecting their choice? Do you know anybody who wear modest clothing, and then wear western

clothing, or vice versa. Do they stick to one or do they go back and forth.

J: I know people who go back and forth. The go to Islamic school, and wear the hijab. And a lot of

those people when they grow older and decided religion is not for them and started wearing like

everybody else. And there are some people when they come to university they become more

conservative. And go into Islamic society. And they always, always thought that abaya is the more

acceptable. And some people go back and forth, sometime they wear the abaya to the mosque

but not to other place.

N: But for yourself, from your blog, why do you think they are motivated to buy modest clothing?

J: For people my age, you grow up post 9/11 era and that made you more aware that you are

Muslim. That you are representing Islam, its not that you want to, but that;s what happened to

you. And one day you wake up and everybody is talking about you. It made you want to be more

in touch with your identity.

N: So external event that made you more aware.

J: Yes, I know a lot of girls who their mother don’t wear hijab. But they do.

N: More on shopping habits, do you know whether they shop online or offline.

J: Me personally I shop offline. I think most people shop offline. You don’t have to pay for

delivery.

73

N: Offline you mean high-street

J: Yes.

N: How many of them actually go and buy stuff from specialty shop.

J: Online specialty of offline?

N: Offline

J: The thing is in London the specialty shop only sells abaya. So if you do not wear abaya, you

don’t shop there. I have never seen any offline specialty shop that sells anything else but abaya.

N: Online specialty shop. Do you know anybody shopping there? Losve?

J: I do but I don’t know if anyone else does. They don’t get much exposure. They don’t put

themselves out there enough. I think people are not aware of it. Like yesterday there’s his fashion

show at UCL, the Islamic Society. Bellissima scarf, Sara Elenany. in a way that’s how they

advertise. So people wearing clothes on the catwalk. And only when they are on catwalk I can see

the beautiful material. You can’t really see the quality of material.

N: Do you know any non-Muslims interested in modest clothing. They are,

J: They are but very specific type. Sarah Elenany. There are many non-Muslims interested. When I

went to their launch, there are all non-Muslims. Stuff like SHukr very ethnic looking. Also they way

ther market it, they market is as Islamic.

74

N: DO you have any idea at what is the market size for Modest clothing

J: There are more than 1 million Muslims in the UK

N: Do you think the market is growing or shrinking?

J: It is growing. When I first started the blog they are only a few, now there’s more.

N: Why do you think it is growing?

J: With our generation coming out and entering the workforce. While their mothers wear the

traditional clothing, we are not like that. We came from British upbringing.

N: So the market is driven by British born generation, second generation

J: I think so. The mothers wear the traditional clothing,

N: What do these shops sells the most.

J: Abaya. The easiest to sell.

N: What are the things most people want?

75

J: Long tops. Wide trousers. Even if they do it, it’s ugly. Covered by paisley designs. They are not

getting it right.

N: Where is the origin of the products? Middle East, Turkey?

J: Abaya from Dubai. Turkey not so much.

N: What is the most popular online store that you think. Most people go to?

J: SHUKR is quite popular. But they have been around longer than everybody else. They market

themselves the most. You tube, Emel magazine always put their advertisement. Up and coming,

Sarah Elenany.

N: What is the most popular high-street strore for Muslims

J: HnM. In London you can’t walk in HnM without seeing hijabis.

N: Why do you think is that?

J: They have good stuff. They have long tunics, cardigan.

N: Anywhere else

J: Primark. I feel bad. But they are so cheap!

76

N: For special occasion?

J: For special occasion I normally wear cultural clothing. Abaya or shalwar khameez.

N: What is the growing trend, fashion specific. Specif hijab style?

J: Everyone wants to know the khaleeji style. The Arab style. Layering. Trends tend to follow high-

street trend. Last summer when the popular trend is maxi dress, everybody wears maxi. There’s

checquered shirts, people are wearing them.

N: So it is still high-stree influenced?

J: Yes definitely.

N: Decreasing trend?

J: I am trying to think. Nobody wears the square scarf anymore.

N: Why do you think is that?

J: Harder to find. They just don’t sell them anymore. Long shawls are everywhere.

N: So if it’s up to you. If you can envision a perfect modest store. What sorts of things you would

like to be sold.

77

J: Tops. I prefer minimalist thing. Minimalist. If they are colourful, they cant have heavy detailings.

Not both. None of these paisley, sequins. Multi purpose, that you can wear smart and casual as

well. Work appropriate stuff. Smart skirt. Dresses which are full length, not like traditional abaya.

Deisgned like anu ordinary dresses, they are western, but appropriate. Like Malaysian designer,

Zyra.

N: She’s my friend.

J: That sorts of idea. Something like a cuff. Something different.

N: What do you mean for smart looking skirts.

J: Not denim. Something that is appropriate to be worn to work. Also long jackets. You always see

them tight and short.

N: Anything else you would like?

J: Accessories, bracelet. I can’t wear them. Belts I am not particularly fond of.

N: Any hijab accessories?

J: You can find it everywhere.

N: What about wedding dress? If you are married, what sort of dress would you be wearing?

78

J: I have not a clue. I am from Lebanon, and we wear white dress. Somehow they always made it

modest. But there’s none here. I always love Malaysia, they coordinate bride and groom. We

don’t have our own culture. We all wear white and groom wear suits.

*******

Research on Online

Retailing for Modest

Fashion

Part 2: Business Research

A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Master of Enterprise (MEnt)

in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences.

2010

Nazihah Ab Mumin

School of Materials

2

Table of Contents Table of Figures .................................................................................................................................. 5

Abstract .............................................................................................................................................. 7

Declaration ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Copyright Statement .......................................................................................................................... 8

Chapter 1: Project Concept and USP .................................................................................................. 9

1.1 Project Introduction ........................................................................................................... 9

1.2 Commercialisation context ................................................................................................ 9

1.2.1 Muslims in English-speaking countries..................................................................... 10

1.2.2 Womenswear in the UK............................................................................................ 10

1.3 Company Concept and USP .............................................................................................. 11

1.3.1 The company: Elwarda ............................................................................................. 11

1.3.2 USP ........................................................................................................................... 12

Chapter 2: Market Issues ................................................................................................................. 14

2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 14

2.2 Market Analysis ............................................................................................................... 14

2.2.1 Potential Market Size ............................................................................................... 14

2.2.2 Key Drivers and Trends in Market ............................................................................ 21

2.2.3 Primary Market Research ......................................................................................... 21

2.2.4 Primary Market Research Finding Analysis and Discussions ................................... 22

2.2.5 Summary of Research Analysis ................................................................................. 44

2.2.6 Customer Profile/End User Profile ........................................................................... 45

2.3 Macro Environment Analysis............................................................................................ 47

2.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 47

2.3.2 PESTEL Analysis......................................................................................................... 47

2.3.3 Porter’s 5 Forces (Barriers to entry) ......................................................................... 52

2.4 Micro Environment Analysis............................................................................................. 54

2.4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 54

2.4.2 SWOT Analysis .......................................................................................................... 54

2.5 Competition Analysis ........................................................................................................ 55

2.5.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 55

2.5.2 Competitor Analysis ................................................................................................. 55

2.5.3 Market Segmentation .............................................................................................. 57

2.6 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 57

Chapter 3: Service Development...................................................................................................... 58

3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 58

3.2 Key Features ..................................................................................................................... 58

3.3 Services list ....................................................................................................................... 58

3

3.3.1 Event Organising....................................................................................................... 58

3.3.2 Website .................................................................................................................... 59

3.3.3 Fashion Consultancy ................................................................................................. 60

3.3.4 Clothing line .............................................................................................................. 60

3.3.5 Development to date ............................................................................................... 62

3.4 Intellectual Property Strategy ......................................................................................... 63

Chapter 4: Commercialisation – Business Models ........................................................................... 64

4.1 Business Model ................................................................................................................ 64

4.1.1 Overview of Business Model Theory ....................................................................... 64

4.1.2 Elwarda’s Business Model ........................................................................................ 65

4.2 Elwarda’s Business Model Explained ............................................................................... 66

4.3 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 69

Chapter 5: Commercialisation – Business Strategy .......................................................................... 70

5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 70

5.2 Key Mile Stones ................................................................................................................ 72

5.2.1 Year 1 Mile Stones and Strategy .............................................................................. 72

5.2.2 Year 2 Miles Stone and Strategy .............................................................................. 72

5.2.3 Year 3 Mile Stone and Strategy ................................................................................ 72

5.3 Adapting Business Strategy to Risk .................................................................................. 73

5.3.1 Identification of Risk and Response to Changing Market Conditions ...................... 73

5.4 Marketing Strategy ........................................................................................................... 74

5.4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 74

5.4.2 Social Media ............................................................................................................. 75

5.4.3 Marketing activties ................................................................................................... 75

5.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 76

Chapter 6: Financial Analysis ............................................................................................................ 77

6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 77

6.2 Financial Assumptions and their Impact .......................................................................... 77

6.3 Identification of Cost ........................................................................................................ 77

6.3.1 Marketing costs ........................................................................................................ 77

6.3.2 Website costs ........................................................................................................... 78

6.3.3 Event management costs ......................................................................................... 78

6.3.4 Affiliate Cost ............................................................................................................. 79

6.3.5 Elwarda Line stock ................................................................................................... 79

6.4 Identification of Revenue ................................................................................................. 80

6.4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 80

6.4.2 Revenue from Garment Sales ................................................................................... 81

6.4.3 Revenue from Event (forecast) ................................................................................ 82

4

6.4.4 Revenue from Membership (forecast) ..................................................................... 82

6.4.5 Revenue from Consultation .......................................................................................... 83

6.5 Start up Capital ................................................................................................................. 83

6.6 Cashflow Forecasts ........................................................................................................... 84

6.6.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 84

6.6.2 Cashflow forecasts Year 1 ........................................................................................ 84

6.6.3 Cashflow forecasts Year 2 ........................................................................................ 85

6.7 Profit and Loss .................................................................................................................. 86

6.7.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 86

6.7.2 Profit and Loss Year 1 ............................................................................................... 86

6.7.3 Profit and Loss Year 2 ............................................................................................... 87

6.8 Balance Sheet .................................................................................................................. 89

6.8.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 89

6.8.2 Balance Sheet Year 1 ................................................................................................ 89

6.8.3 Balance Sheet Year 2 ................................................................................................ 90

6.9 Sensitivity Analysis ........................................................................................................... 91

6.10 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 92

Chapter 7: Summary ......................................................................................................................... 93

Works Cited ...................................................................................................................................... 94

Appendix A: E-mail from El-Fatatry .................................................................................................. 97

Appendix B: Questionnaire .............................................................................................................. 98

Appendix C: Facebook Ad ............................................................................................................... 105

Appendix D: Webhosting ................................................................................................................ 106

Appendix E: Correspondence with Website Designer, Zul ............................................................. 107

Appendix F: Correspondence with Joanne. .................................................................................... 108

Word Count: 19,266

5

Table of Figures

Figure 1 Elwarda Logo ...................................................................................................................... 11

Figure 2 The Long Tail Theory .......................................................................................................... 12

Figure 3 Religious affiliation, 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey ........................................................... 16

Figure 4 : Percentage of Practising and Non-Practising Muslims in 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey 16

Figure 5 Percentage of Practising and Non-Practising Muslims in 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey .. 17

Figure 6 Womenswear market from 2003-2008 Mintel Report 2008 ............................................. 18

Figure 7 Clothing spending breakdown, 2004 vs 2008 (Mintel Report 2009, Clothing Retailing) ... 19

Figure 8 Womenswear market in relation to Childrenswear and Menswear 2009 ......................... 19

Figure 9 Online sales of clothing and footwear as % of total clothing and footwear sales at current

prices (inc VAT), 2004-15 (MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010) ................................................... 20

Figure 10 Respondents age .............................................................................................................. 23

Figure 11 Respondents Nationality .................................................................................................. 24

Figure 12 Respondents Location ...................................................................................................... 24

Figure 13 Respondents Occupation ................................................................................................. 25

Figure 14 Respondents Income ........................................................................................................ 26

Figure 15 Where do you shop for Modest Clothes? ........................................................................ 27

Figure 16 Items respondents shop most frequently for .................................................................. 28

Figure 17 Items respondents will likely to spend most money on................................................... 29

Figure 18 How much would you spend on Special Occasion Clothing ............................................. 30

Figure 19 How much would you spend on modestly-styled Workwear per month ........................ 31

Figure 20 Respondents spending on Modest Clothing in last 2 weeks ............................................ 32

Figure 21 Where do you prefer to shop for Modest Clothes? ......................................................... 33

Figure 22 How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online? ............................................ 34

Figure 23 The most important criteria when shopping online: Price .............................................. 35

Figure 24 The most important criteria when shopping online: Secure Payment ............................ 35

Figure 25 The most important criteria when online shopping: Delivery Charge ............................. 36

Figure 26 Important criterias when shopping online ....................................................................... 36

Figure 27 Social Media account of Modest Fashion Consumer ....................................................... 37

Figure 28 What motivates you the most to shop online?: Free Delivery ........................................ 38

Figure 29 What motivates you the most to shop online?: Discount ............................................... 38

Figure 30 Online shopping motivation factors ................................................................................. 39

Figure 31 Comparison between brand familiarity and purchase ..................................................... 40

Figure 32 Ratio of Purchase to Familiarity ....................................................................................... 40

Figure 33 What influences your personal style? .............................................................................. 43

Figure 34 Customer Profile 1: Working Women .............................................................................. 45

Figure 35 Customer Profile 2: Modest Chic...................................................................................... 46

Figure 36 Gypsy Chic ........................................................................................................................ 46

Figure 37 Aquila Magazine Cover Figure 38 Women in Burqa on the street ............................ 50

Figure 39 H&M Garden Collection 1 ............................................................................................... 51

Figure 40 H&M Garden Collection 2 ................................................................................................ 51

Figure 41 SWOT analysis of Elwarda ................................................................................................ 54

Figure 42 Red Ocean Versus Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 2005) .............................. 55

Figure 43 Specialist competitor for Elwarda .................................................................................... 55

6

Figure 44 High-Street competitor of Elwarda .................................................................................. 56

Figure 45 Pure-Play competitor of Elwarda ..................................................................................... 56

Figure 46 Brand Map for Elwarda .................................................................................................... 57

Figure 47 Donna Karan’s draped clothes ......................................................................................... 61

Figure 48 Draped dresses by designers. ........................................................................................... 61

Figure 49 Stages of e-commerce service development (Rowley 2002) ........................................... 62

Figure 50 Elwarda logo ..................................................................................................................... 63

Figure 51 Business Model Canvas for Elwarda ................................................................................. 65

Figure 52 The Four Action Framework (Kim and Mauborgne 2005)................................................ 70

Figure 53 The Profit Model of Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 2005) (Citizenship Survey,

Race, Religion and Equalities 2007-2008) ........................................................................................ 80

Figure 54 Cashflow Forecast Year 1 ................................................................................................. 84

Figure 55 Cashflow Forecast year 2 ................................................................................................. 85

Figure 56 Profit and Loss Year 1 ....................................................................................................... 87

Figure 57 Profit and Loss Year 2 ....................................................................................................... 88

Figure 58 Balance Sheet Year 1 ........................................................................................................ 90

Figure 59 Balance Sheet Year 2 ........................................................................................................ 91

7

Abstract

Modest fashion is a new and emerging industry that arises out of the gap in the market for

fashionable and stylish modest clothing. My business idea is to develop an online retail business

for modest clothing. In this research, I will be looking at the market size, target market, and the

business environment of this new industry to determine the viability of my business idea. I will

also explore the online retailing method for the business by developing a business model. The

financial factors are analysed by preparing the casfhlow accounts, profit and loss and the balance

sheet.

Prepared by:

Nazihah Ab Mumin 20/10/2010

‘Research on Online Retailing for Modest Fashion’

MEnt Textiles and Fashion

The University of Manchester

8

Declaration

No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application

for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning.

Copyright Statement

i. The author of this thesis (including any appendices and/or schedules to this thesis)

owns certain copyright or related rights in it (the “Copyright”) and s/he has given The

University of Manchester certain rights to use such Copyright, including for

administrative purposes.

ii. Copies of this thesis, either in full or in extracts and whether in hard or electronic

copy, may be made only in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act

1988 (as amended) and regulations issued under it or, where appropriate, in

accordance with licensing agreements which the University has from time to time.

This page must form part of any such copies made.

iii. The ownership of certain Copyright, patents, designs, trade marks and other

intellectual property (the “Intellectual Property”) and any reproductions of copyright

works in the thesis, for example graphs and tables (“Reproductions”), which may be

described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third

parties. Such Intellectual Property and Reproductions cannot and must not be made

available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant

Intellectual Property and/or Reproductions.

iv. Further information on the conditions under which disclosure, publication and

commercialisation of this thesis, the Copyright and any Intellectual Property and/or

Reproductions described in it may take place is available in the University IP Policy

(see http://www.campus.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/policies/intellectual-

property.pdf), in any relevant Thesis restriction declarations deposited in the

University Library, The University Library’s regulations (see

http://www.manchester.ac.uk/library/aboutus/regulations) and in The University’s

policy on presentation of Theses

9

Chapter 1: Project Concept and USP

1.1 Project Introduction

This project aims to look at the possibility to start a Modest Clothing company that is operating as

online retailer.

Modest clothing is clothing for women who want to dress themselves in clothing that covers most

part of their body.

This project will aim at the English speaking market; hence the website will be in English.

The idea stems from my own frustration at the inability to find fashionable yet modest clothing.

Clothing that both fulfil my wish for modern beautiful clothes but yet modest as according to my

faith, Islamic principle. Currently the modern fashionable clothes that are offered in the

conventional fashion market do not fulfil the modesty standard of the Islamic guidelines.

Therefore, most of the Muslim women who shops in the high-street or at the Western designer’s

label need to modify the design by adding ‘layering’ clothes for extra coverage. Although there

are other companies offering modest clothes, these are mainly traditional or cultural clothes that

is not suitable to the taste and lifestyles of modern Muslim women who lived in the Western

world and most urban cities in the world.

Therefore, I am going to explore is there such a market as Modest Fashion/Clothing Market?

Where are they? What do they need? And whether is it feasible to serve such market. I also would

like to see whether there is also interest for fashionable modest clothing from women of other

religious groups who observed similar level of modesty.

I am also going to look at the possibility of retailing those clothes online. In doing so, I need to

look at the online market as a whole, the online fashion industry, the modest clothing companies

that are retailing their clothes online, what is the best practices of online retailers and what do

customers wants from a modest fashion online retailer.

1.2 Commercialisation context

The initial idea of Modest clothing is to cater to Muslim women who wants to balance fashion and

their faith. However, I am also interested to explore the possibility that this idea might be of

interest to women fashion consumer in general. Therefore, I will be looking at 2 types of industry;

10

the Muslim Market in English speaking countries, with focus on the British Muslim Market and the

womenswear industry in the UK.

1.2.1 Muslims in English-speaking countries

According to market research done by JWT (Life and Times of Modern Muslims: Understanding

the Islamic Consumers 2008), the market for female Islamic clothing is valued at $250 million

worldwide. While (Young 2007) estimates that the market might be valued at $90 million to $450

million a year in European countries.

With such an encouraging numbers, this is a market worth exploring. The topic will be discussed

in greater depth in Chapter 2: Market Analysis.

1.2.2 Womenswear in the UK

The market for all womenswear in the UK is estimated to be worth £21.2 billion in 2008. (Mintel

Report: Womenswear Retailing 2008)

From a survey that is done of on 1,822 internet users aged 16+ who browsed online and bought

goods online Women’s clothing ranked 3rd after CD/DVDs and Books for the most products

purchased online in the last 12 months (Mintel Report: Childrenswear 2010)

The market for womenswear online is looking promising and this subject will be researched in

greater detail in Chapter 2: Market Analysis.

11

1.3 Company Concept and USP

1.3.1 The company: Elwarda

Elwarda is the brand that is going to be developed to retail the clothes and website.

Figure 1 Elwarda Logo

Above is the logo for Elwarda.

The project is to set up an online retail clothing company offering fashionable and modern

Modest Clothing to women who’s looking for fashionable clothing without compromising

personal modesty.

The proposed business will be branded as Elwarda.

Company’s Mission:

To be the ultimate platform for modest clothing customers and designers.

Company’s Vision:

To operate a profitable and sustainable business that is also ethical and socially-conscious.

This business is in its very early stage, where a lot of researches need to be done to determine the

viability of the project. After the research stage, the first step before taking the company forward

is to create an e-commerce website for Elwarda.

Elwarda is going to be operating like a pure-play online retailer (retailers that is operating purely

online without physical store) taking a model from ASOS (www.asos.com) and Net-a-Porter

(www.net-a-porter.com). Elwarda will have an in-house designer and also retail other designers’

clothes as affiliates. With this business model, Elwarda aims to become a one-stop portal for

women looking for modest yet fashionable clothing. The main retail method is online retailing.

12

However, Elwarda will also maintain its offline presence via its women-only events (be explained

further in Chapter 3, 3.3.1 Event Organising)

Elwarda’s core principle and strategy relies on the Theory of Long Tail. (Anderson 2006). This

theory sits of the premise that our society is ‘shifting away from a focus on relatively small

number of ‘hits’ (mainstream products and markets)’. With the advancement of technology and

widespread of internet customer have access to much wider options that previously. The internet

has lowered the barrier that used to deter small businesses and individuals to offer their products

and services. The internet also means that small new and niche markets are created every day.

Figure 2 The Long Tail Theory

This theory is supported in a Guardian article (Michaels 2009) stating that in 2008 digital music

retailers has sold 75% of its 5 million tracks as opposed to the conventional wisdom that only 20%

of songs on the internet is sold.

1.3.2 USP

USP is ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ is a concept that differentiates the offerings of one business

from the other. USP is important in ensuring competitive advantage and the sustainability of the

business.

Elwarda’s USP divided into 2 categories:

13

USP in Product Offering:

Elwarda offers a modern and stylish Modest clothing to women who wants to strike a balance

between modernity and modesty in clothing.

USP in Customer Service:

Elwarda will be organising women’s events, private trying-on parties and workshops in engaging

with its online shoppers.

At the moment, most of the women who shops for modest clothes online were not being offered

a very comprehensive customer service. The relationship between retailers and customers are

mainly transactional. These resulted in a lot of trust issues since customers do not know where to

go when there’s problems with the garments. Also, the buying risk is always higher when buying

garments online as customers cannot touch and feel the garments, and there were no effort from

the online retailers to mitigate this risk for the customers.

A solution offered by Elwarda is to create a women’s only event that also function as the meeting

point of online retailers and customers.

14

Chapter 2: Market Issues

2.1 Introduction

The market of Modest Fashion is a relatively new industry. It stems from the need of Muslim

women who find that there is no suitable clothing for them in the main fashion market. These

suitable clothing is defined as clothing that is modest – covering most part of their body as

decreed by their faith, but at the same time, current and relevant to their daily active life.

Therefore, this research is aimed to look at the possibility of such market exists.

2.2 Market Analysis

2.2.1 Potential Market Size

In analysing the potential market size for Elwarda, there are 2 markets that have been chosen:

1. Muslim women in English-speaking countries

2. Womenswear

According to JWT (Life and Times of Modern Muslims: Understanding the Islamic Consumers

2008), the market for female Islamic clothing is valued at $250 million.

On the same note, according to Kamarul Aznam, a Malaysian-based managing editor of the

bimonthly The Halal Journal, the global market for modest clothing, assuming that 50% of the

worlds’s 1.6 billion Muslims are dressing modestly – the market is worth at least $96 billion a

year. (Young 2007)

According to him again, as the European countries such as UK and France have higher purchasing

power parity, with estimation of clothing spending $600 per year – the figure could be around $90

million to $450 million a year. (Young 2007)

Based on that calculation, the 16 million Muslims in the EU Muslim clothing market is estimated

to be worth US$960 million a year to $4.8 billion a year. (Young 2007)

15

Primary Market: Muslim women in English-Speaking countries.

The primary target market for Elwarda would be Muslim women in English-speaking countries.

Definition of English-speaking countries is where English language would be the first or second

languages spoken.

According to Mohamed El-Fatatry, Founder and CEO of Muxlim Inc, an English-based Social Media

platform for Muslims, the top 15 countries of Muslim women membership are: (Appendix A: E-

mail from El-Fatatry)

1. United States

2. United Kingdom

3. Indonesia

4. India

5. Canada

6. Pakistan

7. Egypt

8. Malaysia

9. Turkey

10. Saudi Arabia

11. United Arab Emirates

12. Germany

13. France

14. Australia

15. Morocco

Muxlim.com has 200,000 registered members from all over the world, and 51% of them are

women. The estimate for English-speaking Muslim women members of Muxlim would then be

102,000 women. (Appendix B).

Muslims in Britain

According to the (Citizenship Survey, Race, Religion and Equalities 2007-2008) Muslims is the

second largest religion in Britain with 4% of the population identified themselves as Muslims. This

is a 1% increase from the 2001 Census where the number stands at 3%.

* 2001 Census figures exclude

those found in the 2007-08 Citizenship Survey, the Citizenship Survey does show a higher proportion of people in the ‘other

religion’ category (3% compared with 1%)

Census.

Practising Muslims

Among the Muslim, 76% claimed to be practicing while 24% were not pr

Figure 4 : Percentage of Practising and

3

1

0

0

1

4

1

1

0

3

0

Christian

Muslim

Hindu

Sikh

Buddhist

Other Religion

No Religion

Figure 3 Religious affiliation, 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey

* 2001 Census figures exclude the 7.7% of people that did not state their religion. While figures were broadly similar to

08 Citizenship Survey, the Citizenship Survey does show a higher proportion of people in the ‘other

(3% compared with 1%). The proportions of Muslims and Sikhs are slightly lower in the survey than in the

Among the Muslim, 76% claimed to be practicing while 24% were not pr

: Percentage of Practising and Non-Practising Muslims in 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey

78

16

74

16

20 40 60 80 100

2007

Survey (percentage)

2001 Census

(percentage)

76%

24%

16

2008 Citizenship Survey

the 7.7% of people that did not state their religion. While figures were broadly similar to

08 Citizenship Survey, the Citizenship Survey does show a higher proportion of people in the ‘other

. The proportions of Muslims and Sikhs are slightly lower in the survey than in the

Among the Muslim, 76% claimed to be practicing while 24% were not practicing


2007-2008 Citizenship

Survey (percentage)

2001 Census

(percentage)

Practising

Non-Practising

According to the report to,

compared with 70% of Muslim men.

Figure 5 Percentage of Practising and Non

It is important for the purpose of this market research to determine the number of practicing

Muslims because this is the target segment that is most likely to buy modest clothing to adhere to

the Islamic religious guide.

From the numbers, it shows a promising and sizeable market for modest clothing in the Britain

Muslims market.

In 2001, there were 1.6 m

Office for National Statistics.

76% of Practising Muslims from 1.6 million Muslims is 1,216,

practising Muslims are 1,009,280 people.

Therefore, the estimate figure of Practising Muslim Women in the UK is 1,009,280 people.

However, there is limitation in using the term ‘Practising’ to define Elwarda’s target market as this

might mean different thing to different people. For example, Muslim women who are not wearing

the traditional headscarves/hijab might consider themselves ‘not pract

might be looking for more modest clothing and should be included in Elwarda’s target market.

Another limitation of using the ‘practising’ estimates is that it might include the Muslim women

who wore traditional cultural clothes and

70%

According to the report to, 83% of Muslim women claimed that they were practicing Muslim

compared with 70% of Muslim men.

Percentage of Practising and Non-Practising Muslims in 2007-2008 Citizenship Survey



guide.


In 2001, there were 1.6 millions of Muslims living in Britain, according to

istics.

76% of Practising Muslims from 1.6 million Muslims is 1,216,000 people and 83% of 1,216,000

practising Muslims are 1,009,280 people.


here is limitation in using the term ‘Practising’ to define Elwarda’s target market as this


the traditional headscarves/hijab might consider themselves ‘not pract



who wore traditional cultural clothes and that is obviously not the target market of Elwarda .

83% Practising Muslim Women

Practising Musim Men

17

83% of Muslim women claimed that they were practicing Muslim





illions of Muslims living in Britain, according to (Census April 2001),

00 people and 83% of 1,216,000


here is limitation in using the term ‘Practising’ to define Elwarda’s target market as this


the traditional headscarves/hijab might consider themselves ‘not practising’ when it fact they



that is obviously not the target market of Elwarda .

Practising Muslim Women

Practising Musim Men

18

Secondary Market: Womenswear Market

The secondary market for Elwarda would be the womenswear market. This is due to the fact that

Elwarda does not position itself as Islamic-clothing, but rather modest clothing that might appeal

to non-Muslim women too. Another reason why Womenswear market is chosen is because

majority Elwarda’s target market (Urban Muslim Women) shops in conventional Western fashion

retailers such as Next and H&M.

Figure 6 Womenswear market from 2003-2008 Mintel Report 2008

The growth of womenswear market in the UK is steadily increasing from year to year. (Mintel

Report: Womenswear Retailing 2008).

Even through the recession the market for womenswear continues to grow, albeit in a lower

percentage.

16500

17000

17500

18000

18500

19000

19500

20000

20500

21000

21500

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Figure 7 Clothing spending breakdown, 2004 vs 2008 (Mintel Report 2009, Clothing Retailing)

This chart shows how the womenswear, menswear and childrenswear

recession. As it shows, men do cut back on clothing while women and children are less affected by

it by a growth of

Womenswear market in relations to other market

The market for all womenswear in the UK is estimated to be worth


According to (Mintel Report: Childrenswear 2010)

Figure 8 Womenswear market in relation to Childrenswear and Menswear 2009

Clothing spending breakdown, 2004 vs 2008 (Mintel Report 2009, Clothing Retailing)

This chart shows how the womenswear, menswear and childrenswear


Womenswear market in relations to other market

The market for all womenswear in the UK is estimated to be worth £21.2 billion in 2008.


(Mintel Report: Childrenswear 2010) below is the percentages of the market in 2009.

Womenswear market in relation to Childrenswear and Menswear 2009

14%

59%

27%

Children's Clothing

Women's Outerwear

Men's Outerwear

19

Clothing spending breakdown, 2004 vs 2008 (Mintel Report 2009, Clothing Retailing)

This chart shows how the womenswear, menswear and childrenswear market is affected by the


£21.2 billion in 2008. (Mintel

below is the percentages of the market in 2009.

Womenswear market in relation to Childrenswear and Menswear 2009

Children's Clothing

Women's Outerwear

Men's Outerwear

20

Womenswear online

Fashion online is one of the fastest growing industry in the UK. In the US and a few European

countries, apparel online is one of the biggest categories of online merchandise (Krantz 1998).

Figure 9 Online sales of clothing and footwear as % of total clothing and footwear sales at current prices (inc VAT),

2004-15 (MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010)

The growth of online sales has also been steadily growing from year to year and is projected to

keep growing. It is forecasted that online fashion market will achieve £6 billion in 2014. (MIntel

Report: Fashion Online 2010).

According to (Cox 2002) growth in Europe is driven by multi-channel retailing. While pure-play

retailers such as ASOS and Net-a-Porter has also been showing strong growth. Net-a-Porter’s sales

rose by 20% to £53.2 million in the half year to August 1, 2009. (Mintel Report, Fashion Online

2010). While according to news in Mintel Report, (Asos sales surge 54% 2010), the pure-play

internet retailer ASOS recorded a 54% surge in sales to £61.7 million in the 3 months to 30 June

2010.

However, the challenge in using the figures from Womenswear market is that it might

overestimate the actual target market for Elwarda. Since the nature of Elwarda’s offering sits

between the 2 markets – Muslims women and Womenswear market – it is rather challenging to

arrive at the most correct figure.

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

(est)

2011

(proj)

2012

(proj)

2013

(proj)

2014

(proj)

2015

(proj)

£m

Online sales of clothing and footwear as %

of total clothing and footwear sales, at

current prices (inc VAT), 2004-15

Series2

21

2.2.2 Key Drivers and Trends in Market

According to (Akou 2007), many of the stores are aimed at Muslims living outside of the Islamic

world; in Europe, Australia and North America. From her research, she found out that more than

half of these online stores are based in the United States.

There is also a growing trend in the UK to merge the mainstream fashion with modesty. According

to Hana Tajima, the designer for Maysaa, her designs make mainstream fashion wearable and

relevant to Muslim women’ (Muslim designers mix hijab with the latest fashions. bbc.co.uk n.d.).

Therefore, the proposal for Elwarda seems to be timely.

2.2.3 Primary Market Research

Online Questionnaire

A primary research has been done by sending out an online questionnaire using Google

documents. The questionnaire is posted at modest fashion blogs which have a rather interested

and captive audience. The questionnaire is aimed at finding out about the customer for Modest

Fashion. Since Modest Fashion as an industry is a relatively new and very niche industry, there are

a lot of information that are not yet available. The best way to find out all the information is to

directly ask the potential customers.

The questionnaire is divided into 3 sections:


In this section the questions asked are about the demographics of the customer. Age, nationality,

religion, occupation, income and location are determined. All questions are the tick the boxes

question.


This section of questions is aimed at finding out their shopping habit and behaviour. The findings

of this section will be useful in determining what I products should be selling in Elwarda.

This section comprises of mixture of tick boxes and description question.

22


This section aims to find out whether the Modest fashion customer are shopping online. Why

they do and why they don’t. This section also aims to look at the impact of familiarity with the

brand and whether that influences their buying decision.

This section is mainly tick boxes, ranking questions, with one description question. A copy of the

questionnaire is attached as Appendix B: Questionnaire.

4. Personal Style

Personal style section attempts to find out what exactly influences their decision making when it

comes to their choice of clothing.

This section comprises of one description box and tick boxes questions.

Interview

An interview was conducted by me with the editor of Hijab Style, an online fashion magazines

catering to Muslim fashion. A transcribe of the interview is attached in Appendix 1. (Interview

with Jana)

2.2.4 Primary Market Research Finding Analysis and Discussions

Questionnaire analysis

This section will analyse the findings of the questionnaire.


All of the respondents who answered the question chose Islam as their religion. Therefore

100% of the respondents in the research are Muslim women.

Analysis

Out of 60 respondents, 67% percent are among the age of 20

that women in this age group are the most interested in fashion.

The women between 30

50 age group. This whole group together comprised on 25% of the whole respondents. Teenage

respondents comprised of 7% of the group.

Discussion

One interesting observation is that teenage girls comprise only 7% of the respondents. I was

expecting to have more teenager respondents since it’s the teenager are among the most

targeted by the conventional fas

modest fashion blog, it is assumed that the respondents would already be the sort of person who

have interests in modest fashion. Therefore, the lack of responses from teenagers might mean

they are less concerned about modesty in their choice of clothing. If this is the case, their clothing

need is better served by the conventional fashion retailers.

This question also shows that the most interested in modest fashion are women in between 20

30. This might be because these are the age that they started to get into workforce and society

and looking for ways to better assimilate with their society, yet balancing their faith and religious

code of clothing.

Figure 10 Respondents age

Out of 60 respondents, 67% percent are among the age of 20-30. This might responds to the fac

that women in this age group are the most interested in fashion.

The women between 30-40 years old made up 22% of the respondents while 3% comes from 40


ts comprised of 7% of the group.



targeted by the conventional fashion retailers. Since the questionnaire is already posted at the



ey are less concerned about modesty in their choice of clothing. If this is the case, their clothing

need is better served by the conventional fashion retailers.

This question also shows that the most interested in modest fashion are women in between 20



7%

67%

22%

3% 0% 1%

Respondents according to age

23

30. This might responds to the fact

40 years old made up 22% of the respondents while 3% comes from 40-




hion retailers. Since the questionnaire is already posted at the



ey are less concerned about modesty in their choice of clothing. If this is the case, their clothing

This question also shows that the most interested in modest fashion are women in between 20-



Respondents according to age

10 to 20

20 to 30

30 to 40

40 to 50

50 to 60

60 to 70

Analysis

From the responses, most of the respondents are British, American and Malaysian.

are also now located in the UK, America and Malaysia.

Discussion

The larger number of respondents from the UK and America is expected since these are the

countries where Muslim women have most difficulty when shopping for clothes that balances

modernity with modesty.

13

6

17

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Bri

tish

Am

eri

can

Ma

lays

ian

14

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Figure 11 Respondents Nationality

Figure 12 Respondents Location

From the responses, most of the respondents are British, American and Malaysian.

are also now located in the UK, America and Malaysia.

er number of respondents from the UK and America is expected since these are the


modernity with modesty. This might also because that these are the

17

4

21 1 1 1

21

21 1 1

Ma

lays

ian

Pa

kist

an

i

Fre

nch

Eg

ypti

an

Afg

ha

n

Gu

yan

ese

Po

rtu

gu

ese

Ind

on

esi

a

Ne

w Z

ea

lan

d

Ca

na

dia

n

Mo

rocc

an

Swe

dis

h

Sin

ga

po

rea

n

Bru

ne

i

17

2 21 1 1 1

2 2 2

24

From the responses, most of the respondents are British, American and Malaysian. Most of them

er number of respondents from the UK and America is expected since these are the


This might also because that these are the countries that have the

1 1 1 12

Bru

ne

i

Nig

eri

an

Tu

rkis

h

Bla

ck

Sou

th A

fric

an

1 12

1

highest internet access. This insight is supported by the information by Mohamed El

Founder and CEO of Muxlim Inc, (Appendix B) which shows that UK and America are among the

top 15 countries in the Muxlim membership.

developed a very strong interest

from Malaysia might be caused by the bias that I am a Malaysian. But it also means that most

Malaysian Muslim women are inherently int

organised in Malaysia by a Malay businessman,

(www.islamicfashionfestival.com.my n.d.)

Analysis

The biggest group of respondents are from Working Full

at-home Mom and Working Part

Discussion

It is expected that the women who’s most interested in Modest Fashion

women because these are the women who has to integrate and assimilate in the society the

most. Students are also showing the same interest because they will be the next group that is

going to go into workforce.

The higher interest among the working full

they are earning their own income.

Working

Part-Time

10%

Others

highest internet access. This insight is supported by the information by Mohamed El


top 15 countries in the Muxlim membership. Being in a Western count

eveloped a very strong interest in the alternatives of conventional fashion. The large responds


Malaysian Muslim women are inherently interested in fashion. The first Islamic Fashion Festival

in Malaysia by a Malay businessman, Dato Raja Rezza Shah.

(www.islamicfashionfestival.com.my n.d.).

Figure 13 Respondents Occupation

The biggest group of respondents are from Working Full-Time 38% and Student 33%. While Stay

home Mom and Working Part-Time comprises of 17% and 10% respectively.

It is expected that the women who’s most interested in Modest Fashion



going to go into workforce.

among the working full-time women might also be caused by the fact that

they are earning their own income.

Student

33%

Stay-at-home

Mom

17%

Working Full-

Time

38%

Working

Time

10%

Others

2% Occupation

25

highest internet access. This insight is supported by the information by Mohamed El-Fatatry,


Being in a Western country, the respondents have

in the alternatives of conventional fashion. The large responds


The first Islamic Fashion Festival is

Dato Raja Rezza Shah.

Time 38% and Student 33%. While Stay-

Time comprises of 17% and 10% respectively.

It is expected that the women who’s most interested in Modest Fashion are the working Muslim



time women might also be caused by the fact that

Analysis

The most income is below £10

year with 11 people. The income group with the least respondents is the Between £10 000

000 income group.

Discussion

There’s a bit of challenge in analysing the income

are not earning income in U

country converted their income into UK currency, hence the highest response in the Below £10

000 per year category.

different countries with and earning incomes in various currencies. If I were to do this question

again, I will set up a different question for different currencies.

Below £10 000 per year

Between £10 000-£15 000

Between £15 000-£20 000

Between £20 000-£30 000

Between £30 000-£50 000

Above £50 000

Others

Figure 14 Respondents Income

The most income is below £10 000 per year with 21 people and Between

with 11 people. The income group with the least respondents is the Between £10 000

There’s a bit of challenge in analysing the income section of the questionnaire

are not earning income in UK GBP. There is also a possibility that the income earners from other


000 per year category. This is a very difficult question to word as the respondents come from


again, I will set up a different question for different currencies.

0 5 10 15

Below £10 000 per year

£15 000

£20 000

£30 000

£50 000

Above £50 000

Others

Income

26

Between £30 000 - £50 000 per

with 11 people. The income group with the least respondents is the Between £10 000-£15

section of the questionnaire because 12 persons

There is also a possibility that the income earners from other


This is a very difficult question to word as the respondents come from


20 25


Analysis

28% of respondents shop for their clothes in Departmental Stores and 25% shop in High

Store. Only 10% of respondents shop at Online Specialty Shop and at the Market.

Discussion

It is not surprising that most

store because these are the most conventional clothing way of shopping for clothes. The caveat

here might be that some women have different interpretation of departmental store as to what

common in the Western world. However, due to the high responses from women in the UK, US

and Malaysia, where the concept of departmental stores are almost the same

negligible.

This response also indicates that these women prefer to sh

try their clothes before buying them. Departmental stores and High

comfortable changing room where the women can come and try their clothes with ease.

Online High

Street Shop

12%

Online Specialty

Shop

10%

Shopping Habit of Modest Fashion Consumer

Figure 15 Where do you shop for Modest Clothes?

28% of respondents shop for their clothes in Departmental Stores and 25% shop in High


It is not surprising that most of the respondents shop at either Departmental Store or


here might be that some women have different interpretation of departmental store as to what


and Malaysia, where the concept of departmental stores are almost the same

This response also indicates that these women prefer to shop for clothes at places that they can

try their clothes before buying them. Departmental stores and High-Street Shops normally have


High

Departmental

Store

28%

Online High-

Street Shop

12%

Specialty Shop

15%

Online Specialty

Shop

10%

Market

10%

Where do you shop for Modest

Clothes?

27

28% of respondents shop for their clothes in Departmental Stores and 25% shop in High-Street


either Departmental Store or High-Street


here might be that some women have different interpretation of departmental store as to what is


and Malaysia, where the concept of departmental stores are almost the same – this concern is

op for clothes at places that they can

Street Shops normally have


High-Street

Store

25%

Where do you shop for Modest

Analysis

The most frequently shopped item

1. Long sleeved Top/Blo

2. Headscarves/Hijab

3. Cardigan/Outerwear

Discussion

The items that are most frequently shopped are Long

Cardigan/Outerwear. This is interesting because on the next question, I asked a written question

‘What is the item that they find most difficult to shop for?’ and most of the respondents gave Top

as their answer. Is it possible

are not the most suitable for their modesty level? This also corresponds with the frequent

purchase of Cardigan/Outerwear that is worn on top of the top to give more coverage for the

wearer.

These are a few of the responses I received:

‘hard to find smart shirts/tops for work that aren't too short or too tight.’

‘most long sleeved blouse nowadays only cover until waist line, so to cover bottom part (i do not like to show

my bottom part body line) i will need a skirt, but with my activity it is not comfortable.

i prefer using long pants, but it is hard to find long sleeve blouse that cover body lower part. even if i found

one, it will be short sleeved or 3/4 sleeved.’

Accessori

es

Series1 19

0102030405060

Nu

mb

er

of

resp

on

de

nts

Items respondents shop most frequently for

Figure 16 Items respondents shop most frequently for

The most frequently shopped items according to the research are:

Long sleeved Top/Blouses/Shirts

Headscarves/Hijab

Cardigan/Outerwear

most frequently shopped are Long-Sleeved Top/Blouses/Shirts and also



as their answer. Is it possible that these respondents have to keep purchasing Tops because they



These are a few of the responses I received:

‘hard to find smart shirts/tops for work that aren't too short or too tight.’


y line) i will need a skirt, but with my activity it is not comfortable.


one, it will be short sleeved or 3/4 sleeved.’

Accessori Headscar

ves/Hijab

Abaya/Jil

bab/Rob

e

Long

Sleeved

Top/Blou

ses/Shirts

Long

Skirts

Long

Trousers/

Pants/Jea

ns

37 12 49 18 28


28


Top/Blouses/Shirts and also



to keep purchasing Tops because they




y line) i will need a skirt, but with my activity it is not comfortable.


Long

Trousers/

Pants/Jea

Maxi

Dress/Lo

ng Dress

Cardigan

/Outerwe

ar

26 29


‘yes i can find many muslimah blouse in shop, the fashion is too lame. I will find the same style of blouse in

every shop I go.’

The 3 responses above reflected the feeling of most Muslim women who’s shopping for Tops. The

conventional fashion items are

wearing them. While the ones offered by Specialty shops are just too plain and below the standard of

design that they are used to in the Western world. This conflict is also shared by Jana in her interview w

me (Appendix 1: Interview with Jana).

Since headscarves/hijab is the lightest and almost always the cheapest item to buy, it is not surprised that it

is among the most frequently bought items of clothing.

also an item that is compulsory to be worn

Figure

Analysis

The 3 items respondents will likely spend most money on are:

1. Long-sleeved Top/Blouses/Shirts

2. Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans

3. Cardigan/Outerwear

Discussion

Carried forward from the argument before, since it is most difficult for them to buy the perfect

top and cardigan, these respondents are also most willing to pay the mo

Accessori

es

Series1 5

05

10152025303540

Nu

mb

er

of

resp

on

de

nts

Items respondents will spend most money on

muslimah blouse in shop, the fashion is too lame. I will find the same style of blouse in


conventional fashion items are either too form-fitting or too short that made the women uncomfortable


design that they are used to in the Western world. This conflict is also shared by Jana in her interview w

me (Appendix 1: Interview with Jana).


is among the most frequently bought items of clothing. For Muslim women who covered their hair, this

also an item that is compulsory to be worn every day, hence the frequency of buying them.

Figure 17 Items respondents will likely to spend most money on

The 3 items respondents will likely spend most money on are:

sleeved Top/Blouses/Shirts

Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans

Cardigan/Outerwear


top and cardigan, these respondents are also most willing to pay the mo

Accessori Headscar

ves/Hijab

Abaya/Jil

bab/Rob

e

Long

Sleeved

Top/Blou

ses/Shirts

Long

Skirts

Long

Trousers/

Pants/Jea

ns

18 12 34 15 25


29

muslimah blouse in shop, the fashion is too lame. I will find the same style of blouse in


too short that made the women uncomfortable


design that they are used to in the Western world. This conflict is also shared by Jana in her interview with


For Muslim women who covered their hair, this is

, hence the frequency of buying them.

spend most money on


top and cardigan, these respondents are also most willing to pay the most for them. The next

Long

Trousers/

Pants/Jea

Maxi

Dress/Lo

ng Dress

Cardigan/

Outerwe

ar

25 21 22


items that they are willing to spend most money on are Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans because these

are basic durable item of clothing.

Figure

Analysis

61% of respondents are willing to spend above £50 for their Special Occasion Clothing. While 28%

are willing to spend between £30

Discussion

This results show that 61% of respondents regards £50 as the minimum price item that they are

willing to pay for a Special Occasion Clothing.

Elwarda business:

1) Pricing point

Elwarda would do well pricing a Special Occasion item at minimum £50. This also reflects that

is Elwarda charged above £50 for basic everyday it

the customers.

2) Marketing

For items that have high

Occasion Clothing and charged a higher price.

More than £200

How much would you spend on Special

that they are willing to spend most money on are Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans because these

are basic durable item of clothing.

Figure 18 How much would you spend on Special Occasion Clothing

% of respondents are willing to spend above £50 for their Special Occasion Clothing. While 28%

are willing to spend between £30-£50.


r a Special Occasion Clothing. This finding can be used in different areas for


is Elwarda charged above £50 for basic everyday items, it might not be very well received by

For items that have high-cost or low-profit margin items, Elwarda can classify them as Special

Occasion Clothing and charged a higher price.

Less than £10

2%

Between £30-

£50

28%

Between £50-

£100

23%

Between £100-

£200

23%

More than £200

15%


Occasion Clothing

30

that they are willing to spend most money on are Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans because these

How much would you spend on Special Occasion Clothing

% of respondents are willing to spend above £50 for their Special Occasion Clothing. While 28%


can be used in different areas for


ems, it might not be very well received by

profit margin items, Elwarda can classify them as Special

Between

£10-£30

9%


Figure 19

Analysis

61% of the respondents would pay more than £30 for a modestly

willing to pay between £50

Similar with the currenc

own currency.

Discussion

The finding shows that most of the

styled Workwear. This price could be used as the average price p

future we would like to introduce a Workwear line.

More than

£200

4%

How much would you spend on

modestly

19 How much would you spend on modestly-styled Workwear per month

61% of the respondents would pay more than £30 for a modestly-styled Workwear, with 23% are

willing to pay between £50-£100 and 19% willing to pay between £100-

Similar with the currency problem in the income section, 23% (Others) gave an answer in their

ng shows that most of the respondents are willing to pay at least £30

styled Workwear. This price could be used as the average price point for Elwarda, should in the

future we would like to introduce a Workwear line.

Less than £10

4%

Between £50-

£100

23%

Between £100-

£200

19%

Others

23%


modestly-styled Workwear in a month?

31

styled Workwear per month

styled Workwear, with 23% are

-£200.

y problem in the income section, 23% (Others) gave an answer in their

at least £30 for the modestly-

oint for Elwarda, should in the

Between £10-

£30

12%

Between £30-

£50

15%


styled Workwear in a month?

Figure

Analysis

53% respondents spend less than £50 in 2 weeks on Modest Clothing item

spend more than £50 in the last 2 weeks. 13 respondents gave an answer in their own currency.

Discussion

With 23% of the respondents spending less than £10 in last 2 weeks, it seems that the average

weekly spending for Modest Clothi

specified, this might lead to a bias in average price. Headscarves/Hijabs are the cheapest item and

also one of the most frequently purchased, as determined in the analysis of Figure 17 above.

14

0

5

10

15

Less than

£10

Between

£10

Respondents spending on Modest Clothing in

Figure 20 Respondents spending on Modest Clothing in last 2 weeks

53% respondents spend less than £50 in 2 weeks on Modest Clothing item



weekly spending for Modest Clothing is low. However, since what items of clothing is not



6

12

67

2

Between

£10-£30

Between

£30-£50

Between

£50-£100

Between

£100-£200

More than

£200


the last 2 weeks

32

Respondents spending on Modest Clothing in last 2 weeks

53% respondents spend less than £50 in 2 weeks on Modest Clothing item while 25% respondents



ng is low. However, since what items of clothing is not



13

More than Others



Analysis

68% of respondents prefer to shop In

Online. 23% have no preference be

Discussion

Majority of respondents prefer to buy In

traditional form of shopping. However, 23% respondents which have no preference between

online and in-store shopping

When asked of the reasons of their preferences, these are some of the answer:

‘I prefer to be able to try on clothes myself without the hassle of ordering the wrong size and returning it.’

‘i always feel more comfortabl

‘I prefer to be able to try on the clothes before buying them, however if the only place I could find offering

the clothes that I need is online, I would definitely considering purchasing them.’

However, there are a few responses that

online:

‘easy with lil kids and baby’

Online

9%

Where do you prefer to shop for

ne Shopping Motivation and Preference

Figure 21 Where do you prefer to shop for Modest Clothes?

68% of respondents prefer to shop In-Store for Modest Clothes while only 9% prefer to shop

Online. 23% have no preference between In-Store and Online.

Majority of respondents prefer to buy In-Store and this is expected since buying In


store shopping are showing an interesting feedback.






there are a few responses that provide good insight as to why some women prefer to shop

‘easy with lil kids and baby’

In-Store

68%Online

9%

No Preference

23%


Modest Clothes?

33

Where do you prefer to shop for Modest Clothes?

Store for Modest Clothes while only 9% prefer to shop

Store and this is expected since buying In-Store is the




e spending money on items i can see, feel and try’



good insight as to why some women prefer to shop


‘Online stores are better than other stores, because they actually have clothes that I like to wear.’

These two responses gi

probably prefer to shop online as it is more convenient for them.

Also, if the product that is sold is something that they would really like to wear, how it is retailed

make little differences.

Figure

Analysis

1/3 of the respondents never shop for Modest Clothing online. While 35% shop for Modest

Clothing online 1-4 times a year. 23% people shop onlin

4 times a week.

Discussion

This mixed response shows an encouraging feedback for my research. Although 1/3 of the

respondents have never shopped for Modest Clothing online, 35% shop for Modest Clothing 1

times a year and 23% shop online up to 1

buying Modest Clothing online.

Respondents are asked what is the most important criteria when shopping online

rating, 1 being least important and 5 bei

1

0

5

10

15

20

25

1-4 times a week



give a feedback that women with small children and are home

probably prefer to shop online as it is more convenient for them.


ferences.

Figure 22 How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online?


4 times a year. 23% people shop online 1-4 times a month and 1 person up to 1


respondents have never shopped for Modest Clothing online, 35% shop for Modest Clothing 1

ear and 23% shop online up to 1-4 times a month. This shows that women are definitely

buying Modest Clothing online.

Respondents are asked what is the most important criteria when shopping online

, 1 being least important and 5 being the most important. 52% answered Price, 62% Secure

1

14

21

4 times a week 1-4 times a month 1-4 times a year


Modest Clothing online?

34


a feedback that women with small children and are home-bound would


How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online?


4 times a month and 1 person up to 1-


respondents have never shopped for Modest Clothing online, 35% shop for Modest Clothing 1-4

4 times a month. This shows that women are definitely

Respondents are asked what is the most important criteria when shopping online by giving a 1 – 5

. 52% answered Price, 62% Secure

20

Never


Payment and 50% Delivery Charge as the most important criteria when shopping online.

below)

Figure

Figure 24



yment and 50% Delivery Charge as the most important criteria when shopping online.

Figure 23 The most important criteria when shopping online: Price

24 The most important criteria when shopping online: Secure Payment

3%

8%

17%

20%

52%


shopping: Price

8%

5%7%

18%62%


shopping: Secure payment

35

yment and 50% Delivery Charge as the most important criteria when shopping online. (Figures

The most important criteria when shopping online: Price

The most important criteria when shopping online: Secure Payment


1

2

3

4

5


1

2

3

4

5

Figure 25

Discussion

Since the top 3 of most important criteria when shopping online are; secure payment, price and

delivery charge – it can be concluded that respondents are portraying a risk

also a price-sensitiveness.

These finding are important for Elwarda is determining the correct price point and in devising its

customer service strategy.


52%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Price Selection of


25 The most important criteria when online shopping: Delivery Charge

Figure 26 Important criterias when shopping online


it can be concluded that respondents are portraying a risk

sensitiveness.

finding are important for Elwarda is determining the correct price point and in devising its

customer service strategy.

8%10%

15%

17%

50%


shopping: Delivery Charge

48%50%

62%

13%

Selection of

Clothes

Delivery

charge

Secure

payment

Website

design

Interactivity


36

The most important criteria when online shopping: Delivery Charge


it can be concluded that respondents are portraying a risk-averse quality and

finding are important for Elwarda is determining the correct price point and in devising its


1

2

3

4

5

15%

10%

Interactivity

of website

Brand


It is also observed that r

shopping online. According to

an inverse relation between religiosity and brand expression. And since most of the respondents

regard Faith/Religion (Figure 33

aspect influencing their personal style, these studies are proven to be true.

Elwarda might face challenges in the initial stage as the lack of capital might means Elwarda could

not subsidise on delivery nor offer a very competitive

Another criteria worth noting is that 48% regards the Selection of Clothes to be most important.

Elwarda then need to think of increasing and selecting quality and suitable selection of clothes to

be retailed at the website.

When asked about Soci

the breakdown being shown in the pie chart below:

Analysis

Facebook arose as the Social Media cha

20%. 15% of respondents also said that they have blogs.


It is also observed that respondents do not regard brands of the products as very important when

According to (Carr 2010), based on a study done by the Duke University, there is


Faith/Religion (Figure 33: What influences your personal style?



not subsidise on delivery nor offer a very competitive price.



be retailed at the website.

When asked about Social Media account, all but 1 respondent have a Social Media account with

the breakdown being shown in the pie chart below:

Figure 27 Social Media account of Modest Fashion Consumer

Facebook arose as the Social Media champion among respondents with 46% followed by Twitter

20%. 15% of respondents also said that they have blogs.

46%

20%

15%

7%2%

8%

1% 1%


Fashion Consumer

37

brands of the products as very important when

, based on a study done by the Duke University, there is


: What influences your personal style?) as the most important





have a Social Media account with

Social Media account of Modest Fashion Consumer

mpion among respondents with 46% followed by Twitter


Facebook

Twitter

Blogs

MySpace

Bebo

Friendster

LinkedIn

Tumblr

Discussion

This finding is crucial as it provides a feedback of where Elwarda should focus its marketing

activities. With almost half of the resp

concentrate more effort of advertising in Facebook. Twitter is the second avenue where Elwarda

should focus its effort.

The next question is regarding their motivation behind shopping online.

is the main motivation while 50% states Discount as their most motivating factor.

Figure

Figure

What motivates you the most to shop



activities. With almost half of the respondents being on Facebook, it made sense for Elwarda to


The next question is regarding their motivation behind shopping online.


Figure 28 What motivates you the most to shop online?: Free Delivery

Figure 29 What motivates you the most to shop online?: Discount

13%5%

5%

17%60%


online? : Free delivery

10%8%

10%

20%

52%


online?: Discount

38


ondents being on Facebook, it made sense for Elwarda to


The next question is regarding their motivation behind shopping online. 60% states Free Delivery


What motivates you the most to shop online?: Free Delivery

e most to shop online?: Discount


1

2

3

4

5


1

2

3

4

5

39

Figure 30 Online shopping motivation factors

Analysis

The most motivating factor for respondents to shop online is Free Delivery (60%) and Discount

(52%). While 38% said Convenience is the most motivating factor followed by Wider choice of

selection (37%) and Design of Clothing (35%).

Discussion

The findings of this question has similar theme as to the ‘most important criteria’ question.

Respondents are motivated by Discount and Delivery. This agreed with the price-sensitiveness

quality of respondents.

However, it is worth noting that respondents are also motivated by the convenience provided by

online shopping. While the design and selection of clothes are also deemed as a motivating factor.

The next question looks at their familiarity with brand and how that influences their purchase

decision.

52%

60%

38%35%

7% 9%

37%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Discount Free delivery Convenience Design of

Clothing

Review in

magazine

Review in

fashion blogs

Wider choice

of selection


40

Figure 31 Comparison between brand familiarity and purchase

Figure 32 Ratio of Purchase to Familiarity

Analysis

Respondents are most familiar with Amazon, E-Bay and H&M as a brand. The most familiar

Specialty shops are SHUKR and Bellissima Scarves.

617 17

516

7 5 8 7

20 23

313

210

40 42

19 158

29 3342

0 2 1 1 3 1 1 2 1 4 81 1 0 2

716

6 3 0

15 1521

Comparison between brand familiarity and

purchase

Familiar Purchase

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

Ele

na

ny

Ma

ysa

a

Ra

bia

Z

Zyr

a C

olle

ctio

n

Silk

Ro

ute

Losv

e

Ge

t G

org

eo

us

Art

iza

ra

Aa

b

Be

lliss

ima

Sca

rve

s

SHU

KR

Ba

raka

Ima

an

Co

llect

ion

s

Ta

akh

i

Za

pp

os

Am

azo

n

E-B

ay

TK

Ma

xx

ASO

S

Ne

t-a

-Po

rte

r

Ne

xt

Do

roth

y P

erk

ins

H&

M

Ratio Purchase to Familiarity

41

In order to analyse whether their familiarity with brand affected their purchase decision, a

purchase to familiarity ratio is done with the results.

It shows that although Amazon and E-Bay are the top 2 brands that respondents are familiar with,

relatively few of them purchase from these brands.

The 3 brands that have the highest purchase to familiarity brands are Next, Dorothy Perkins and

H&M. The Specialty stores that ranked well on the purchase to familiarity brands are SHUKR and

BARAKA.

Discussion

These findings provide interesting insights to how respondents perceive the brands. It seems that

multi-channel retailers Next and H&M are making their marketing budget worth their money. On

the Specialty Shop sides, SHUKR is leading the category.

This finding supports the information that I picked up from my interview with Jana, when she

mentioned that the most well-known brand of Specialty Shop are SHUKR. According to her,

SHUKR advertise heavily in magazines and also modest fashion websites. Another fact worth

noting is that SHUKR has a website presence in UK, US and Canada. (SHUKR UK n.d.)

4. Personal Style

I asked a descriptive question in the first section of the questionnaire:

Please describe what is your personal style

Below are a few of the answers I received:

‘Casual chic, mostly jeans with tunics’

‘quirky cute. modest version of kim kardashian/olsen twins/megan fox’

‘comfortable, flattering without being fitted, fashionable trendy mum’

‘that classy, sophisticated, respectful, mature but not old look.’

‘I prefer to wear julbab and abayas the most’

42

‘I love colour and enjoy using complementing or contrasting colours depending on my mood. I use

accessories-especially necklaces and shoes-to add interest and accent colours. My hijabs tend to

be either plain or striped-again the stripes bring in accent colours’

‘i am an active and sporty person. I usually not wearing more that 3 colors. I love small flowers in

my clothes, and my favorite colors is lilac, black and white. I also love soft color’.

‘Modest, eclectic, neutral colours but with detail like pleats, contrasting fabrics (primarily for work).

Sometimes bright and fun, particularly around my hijabs.’

‘smart/casual look’

‘tunics, long shirts, blues, reds, creams with dark wide leg jeans and hijab’

Discussion

From the responses, it is shown that the respondents have a varied sense of personal style. Most

still wearing Western clothing such as jeans, tunics, and tops.

One respondent made a style-reference to celebrities, but referring it as ‘modest version’. It

shows that at least one of them are influenced by celebrity style but with an adaptation to suits

their modesty level.

Most of them used the words that normally conventional fashion stylist would use: smart/casual,

classy, sophisticated, comfortable, quirky, cute, casual chic. These are the fashion vocabularies

that are commonly used by fashion-savvy people.

However, the one word that none of them use is: sexy.

This shows that there are many common grounds between modest fashion and conventional

fashion and the exception is only one word – sexy.

43

Figure 33 What influences your personal style?

Analysis

78% of the respondents chose Faith/Religion as the factor that influences their personal style.

67% chose Body Type. Culture influences 47% of the respondents while Weather influences 45%

of them. The least number of respondents chose Celebrity Style with 10% responds.

Discussion

The majority of respondents chose Faith/Religion is the influence in their personal style. This

indicates the close relationship between their faith and their decision to opt for modest clothing.

For Elwarda, this finding is important in communicating with the target audience. Message that is

based of faith will likely to be more relevant and accepted by these target market. Also, this

finding will help in choosing what sort of clothing should be retailed on the website.

A considerable number of the respondents, (67%) regard Body Type as the factor that influences

their personal style. This is interesting to note as some of the respondents also mentioned body-

type concerns when clothes-shopping.

‘Inappropriate small ill-fitting clothes for big sized ladies’

‘most of the long skirt & dress are well design for commoner, not petite size especially for asian’

32%

18%23%

45%

35%

47%

33%

20%27%

23%

10%

78%

67%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

What influences your personal style?

44

‘mosf of the available tops out there are either tight or too baggy for asian petite size’

‘ hard to find smart shirts/tops for work that aren't too short or too tight.’

All these references to body-type concerns shows that respondents are most struggling when it comes to

choosing clothes that suits their body-type, based on their personal level of modesty.

It seems that the respondents are least influenced by celebrity. This is interesting to note since most fashion

stylists/magazines tends to feature celebrities a lot when showcasing a particular style or trend. Considering

that most of the respondents seem to be savvy of their own personal style, does this means that they are

ignoring these celebrity-styles or are they not realising the impact these celebrities have on their own

personal style?

2.2.5 Summary of Research Analysis

From the analysis of the questionnaire, it is found while the interest in modest fashion is high, the

acceptance of online shopping is relatively low with 1/3 of the respondents have never shopped

online (Figure 22).

This posed as a caution to me as to whether the online retailing method is the most suitable

method to retail modest clothing. However, with the rapid growth of online market as shown in

the market research – I believe there is potential in developing an online retail company.

45

2.2.6 Customer Profile/End User Profile

Based on the respondents’ answers above, and assuming that the respondents are representative

of the Modest Fashion consumer, a few Customer Profiles for Elwarda are created:

Customer Profile 1: Working Women

Figure 34 Customer Profile 1: Working Women

‘Working Women’, as the name suggests works full-time or part-time in professional line.

Between the age of 20-40. College-educated and speaks English either as first or second language.

Mostly lived in the urban area closer to where they work. Relatively active and engaged in the

community. Hobbies includes reading and going to the theatre. Takes holidays to foreign

countries to widen knowledge and exposure of other people’s culture and lifestyles.

46

Customer Profile 2: Modest Chic

Figure 35 Customer Profile 2: Modest Chic

‘Modest Chic’ is the women between 20-30 of age. Mainly student doing either their

undergraduate of postgraduate study. Eclectic personal style, infusing various influences from

popular culture, to traditional culture. Enjoy mix-matching colours and high-attention to details

when it comes to clothing. Wear the scarf in a more traditional way of covering the hair and the

neck, but open to experimenting different hijab-styles.

Customer Profile 3: Gypsy Chic

Figure 36 Gypsy Chic

‘Gypsy Chic’ are women between 20-40 years of age. Characterised by relative newness to faith-

based clothing (a new convert to Islam) or having a more flexible level of modesty. Adventurous

47

and free-spirited, ‘Gypsy Chic’ are looking for ways to integrate their active lifestyle with their

faith. They either do not wear the headscarf or wear it ‘gypsy-style’, covering only the hair.

2.3 Macro Environment Analysis

2.3.1 Introduction

In researching the industry, I am going to analyse the macro-environment of the industry using a

business analysis framework, PESTEL Analysis.

The industry will be analysed from Political, Economical, Sociological, Technological,

Environmental and Legislation factors.

Porter’s 5 Forces is used to analyse the attractiveness of the industry. By analysing the 5

determinants, or forces; threat of new entrants, supplier power, buyer power, threat of

substitution, and rivalry with existing competitors – a company can better identify the

competitiveness of their respective industry.

2.3.2 PESTEL Analysis

1 Political

• France

The European political influence is not favourable for the Islamic fashion industry. The ban on

‘niqab’ in France has caused a lot of controversies (French niqab ban: Beneath the veil 2010).

Although the ban is on the ‘niqab’ (face veiling) – the impact also felt by hijab-wearing Muslim

women. This might cause Muslim women to reconsider wearing the hijab due to their safety and

this will affect the market for hijab.

• Pro-Hijab Movement

However, on the other hand, due to this effect, there is a significant increase in the Pro-Hijab

Movement and this raise awareness and education towards what is ‘hijab’ really is. All these

controversies and increased awareness might also be a good thing. People who are not aware of

what hijab is before might now pay more attention to it and hence this could trickle into the

increase of demand for hijab and modest clothing. .

48

• Post 9/11, 7/7

The political environment towards the Muslims world is becoming more hostile post 9/11 and

post 7/7. This phenomenon creates a lot of misunderstanding among non-Muslims who are not

aware that the action of some violent and aggressive Muslims in not a reflection of all Muslims

and are certainly not the reflection of the true teaching of Islam. According to a survey by

YouGov, 58% of Britons associate Islam with extremism. (Britons link Islam with extremism, says

survey, bbc.co.uk 2010) These misunderstandings might lead to negative influence. Since the 2

unfortunate incidents happened in Western countries, the hostility towards Muslims are much

more pronounced in these countries.

Since Elwarda do not position itself as Islamic clothing, but rather a Modest clothing company

catering to a more wholesome definition of modesty or the covering of the body, it might not

directly impact the company. However, caution need to be exercised in forecasting demands and

in communicating marketing messages as to not be perceived as too controversial

2 Economy

• Recession in the US

The world recession is felt by most businesses, and modest fashion industry is one of it. Since

fashion and clothing is a luxury item, this might cause people to cut back and stay with the basic.

Therefore, companies cannot expect returning customers as often as it is when the economy is

good. According to (Mintel Report: Market Re-forecasts - Fashion High Street, UK 2009), 2

customer trends are emerging, the one that trade up: buy better quality and more expensive

clothing versus trade down: buying value clothing. However, on the industry front, the prospect

seems to be encouraging with My-Wardrobe receiving $9m (£6m) investment led by venture

capital group Balderton (drapersonline.com n.d.).

• Weakening Pound

Weakening pound has its advantage and disadvantage. On one hand, it will make it more

attractive to international customer to purchase a product from the UK. On the other hand, it is

now making it more expensive to source for products. Increasing cost of raw materials might

mean lead to an increase in retail price and will make the products less competitive. This issue is

especially important for Elwarda because as a small online retailer, it will not be able to compete

49

with high-street retailers that can leverage their increase in cost with the scale of their

productions. Economies of scale are not something that small retailer like Elwarda can benefit

from.

Therefore, Elwarda must develop a business model that will enable itself to compete with the

high-street retailer.

• Increasing cost of raw material

The increase in oil prices led into increase in the raw materials. These will make it harder for small

traders like Elwarda to compete with big fashion houses and high-street retailers who can benefit

from economies of scale.

3 Social/Cultural

• Freedom of Choice

There is distinct challenge in marketing to Islamic community due to the many interpretation of

modesty that is rooted in the culture, not so much in the religion itself. In some culture, a ‘burqa’

(a full body veil), a ‘niqab ‘ (face-veil) and and ‘hijab’ (the head veil) is considered as compulsory.

These cultural interpretations are sometimes confused by the religious order that in its actuality is

much more relaxed and flexible.

However, looking at the target market, they were less affected by this cultural tradition. Being

born in a Western country, they are looking for ways to integrate their Western upbringing and

their religious obligation. They are no longer tied to the cultural definition that perhaps influenced

their mothers and their great-grandmothers.

This is where the gap of the market is identified. British-born Muslims are facing dilemmas when

shopping in high-street because most of the clothes are not suitable to the religious requirement.

However, they are reluctant to be shopping at the specialist shop selling ‘traditional cultural’

garment because they are not able to relate with those kind of garment anymore. Furthermore,

traditional clothing can also be barrier to socially integrate with local and international people.

• Changing definition of modesty

Since the term ‘modesty’ itself is very fluid and subjected to social, cultural and geographical

location, it is possible for what is considered now may not be considered modest in a few years

time. Rapid globalisation and changing taste will have an impact on the definition of modesty.

50

There are 2 possibilities that might happen. The first is women decided to relax the definition of

modesty to fit into the ever changing demand of lifestyle and culture. This is done by them

covering less. Integration of Muslims in the Western lifestyle is the biggest influence of this

possibility. Another possibility is that women becoming more strict with the term, adopting the

more traditional/cultural definition of modesty by covering more. The increase in visibility of the

traditional Middle East Fashion is the contributor of these factors.

Figure 37 Aquila Magazine Cover Figure 38 Women in Burqa on the street

4 Technology

• Online Retailing

Technology is changing the way Muslim women dress more than ever. If before, their clothing is

determined and shaped by what their mothers and the women family members wear, now the

influences has come from media and internet. In a globalised world like today, they can get

inspiration from all parts of the world. With Islamic/Modest fashion websites sprouting from

every country in the world, their taste in fashion is no longer influenced by the local magazine and

publication. This has produced a dynamic fashion landscape.

More and more companies are also starting to retail online. By putting their merchandises on the

website their products are now made accessible to millions of internet users in the world. Due to

the low start up cost, online retailing is one of the easier ways to start retailing. According to

(Akou 2007), most of these online stores are aimed for Muslims living outside the Islamic world, in

Europe, Australia and North America.

51

• Social Media

The advancement of Social Media like Facebook and Twitter has how people communicate and

share ideas. The main media is losing its influence as more and more people are turning to the

internet and peer-reviewed articles and contents for information. This in a way has changed the

‘conventional wisdom’ that is shaped and moulded by the conventional media.

5 Environment

• Ethical issues

Environmental issue is gaining awareness in the textile industry,

and this might impact the Islamic/Modest fashion industry. The

increase in awareness might mean consumers will become much

pickier as to what materials are used to make the clothes.

However, the movement is still in its early stage.

Figure 39 H&M Garden Collection 1

However, since some of the high-street companies are starting to

show concern for the environment through their CSR measures,

(Marks and Spencer and H&M – examples), this might also brought

upon greater awareness on the issues. For example, H&M Garden

collection is made using all recyclable and organic materials and when

customers are made aware of this incentive, it might made them

much more inclined to buy products that are more environmentally-

friendly.

Elwarda, according to its value (refer Chapter 1, 1.3.1 The Company, Elwarda), will strive to

operate within the ethical boundary by incorporating this value in our operation. This will be

further discussed in Chapter 5: 5.2 Key Mile Stones

Figure 40 H&M Garden

Collection 2

52

6 Legislation

• Niqab ban

The ‘Niqab ban’ in France is affecting Muslim women who wear ‘hijab’ or headscarf. Although

‘niqab and ‘hijab’ are not the same thing, most people who are not aware of the difference

developed a prejudice attitude towards ‘hijab-wearing’ Muslim women. The restriction on

‘religious symbol’ clothing in schools and workplace are also affecting the Muslim women.

• E-business regulations

Online business or E-business is still in its growing phase and regulations will keep on changing to

accommodate with the change in the industry. Therefore, Elwarda might need to always keep up

to date with the changing regulations in the industry.

• E-business security issues

According to (MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010), e-security is still a number one issue

concerning online shopping. Various news recorded such as the credit card fraud and identity

theft is impacting how people might view online retailers. Furthermore, as a new and small

business, it might take a while for people to have trust in small online retailers like Elwarda,

2.3.3 Porter’s 5 Forces (Barriers to entry)

Porter’s 5 Forces are the framework that is developed by Michael E. Porter (Porter 1980). This

framework is used to analyse the attractiveness and competitiveness of an industry according to

these 5 factors.

1. Threat of New Entrants

It is very easy for new entrants to come in and become an online retailer due to the low cost

of entry. However, what might be a bit difficult is the fact that it is a Muslim market and some

retailers might not have enough knowledge about the market to compete effectively.

In this respect, Elwarda might have an edge because the founders are Muslims and is also one

of the target markets.

53

It is also possible that Muslim community might have higher trust on Muslim retailers.

However, this might not mean that they will not buy from a non-Muslim retailer, especially if

the price is much cheaper.

The way to protect oneself is by building a strong recognisable brand. Elwarda then need to

apply for an IP protection for its trademark. However, due to the result finding that the

respondents are least sensitive to brands when online shopping, these aspects are still subject

to research.

2. Supplier Power

There might be low supplier power because there are many substitutes for clothing

supplier. They are mainly from India and the Middle East. However, Elwarda is not looking

to source products from these producers because of the different quality that we are

looking for.

Due to this fact, we might be engaging with a more reputable producer and this might

mean they are not many of them, and might mean that they will have a higher bargaining

power.

Due to this fact, Elwarda also might need to look for ethical producers. At this point of

time, I have yet to be able to locate potential producers.

3. Buyer Power

The buyer power might be quite low since there not that many modest clothing retailers

in the industry. This is because the modest industry itself is still in its infancy. However, as

the market grows the buyer power might increase.

4. Threat of Substitution

The threat of substitution for modest clothing is the existing high-street clothing. If the

customer could not see the distinct advantage of buying modestly-styled modern

clothing, they might just keep on buying high-street clothing and continue to style and

modify it on their own to suit their modest level. On the other hand, the customers could

also wear traditional or ethnic clothing. With the higher level of tolerance and

54

acceptance, ethnic clothing is becoming more acceptable and common in the present

market. Another threat of substitution is women making their own clothes. There is a

definite trend of DIY in clothes-making where women who are discouraged by the choices

or unethical production of clothes turning into making their own clothes. For example, the

growth of Etsy, (www.estsy.com), a marketplace for all things handmade is an evidence of

this trend.

5. Rivalry with Existing Competitors

Due to the relative newness of the modest fashion industry, there are limited existing

competitors. Aside from Maysaa (www.maysaa.com) and Elenany (www.elenany.co.uk)

most of the small companies are included within the ‘Traditional/Ethnic’ clothing

company which is not a direct competitor of Elwarda.

Maysaa.com is a new company that is aggressively promoting its brand online and in

mainstream medias. Elenany on the other hand is relatively less aggressive in promoting

its brand.

2.4 Micro Environment Analysis

2.4.1 Introduction

The next step is to analyse the micro-environment by using SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for

Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threat. SWOT analysis is a very popular tool that is used

to uncover these key factors and shaping the appropriate strategy for business.

2.4.2 SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis will be done to look on Elwarda.

Strength

Value proposition

Weaknesses

Lack of Capital

Opportunity

Partnerships for modest clothing designers

Strength

Event organizing (refer 3.3.1 Event Organising)

Figure 41 SWOT analysis of Elwarda

55

2.5 Competition Analysis

2.5.1 Introduction

In view of competition, Elwarda adopted a framework called ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’ by (Kim and

Mauborgne 2005)

Red Ocean Strategy Blue Ocean Strategy

Compete in existing market space Create uncontested market space

Beat the competition Make the competition irrelevant

Exploit existing demand Create and capture new demand

Make the value-cost trade-off Break the value-cost trade-off

Align the whole system of a firm’s activities

with its strategic choice of differentiation or

low cost

Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in

pursuit of differentiation and low cost

Figure 42 Red Ocean Versus Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 2005)

The idea behind this strategy is to make the competition irrelevant. By focusing on delivering our

niche products in a niche system, it will make the company be able to focus on doing the best that

they can without always being concerned and bothered by the competitor. Too much focus on

competition has produce much waste and unnecessary spending that can be better used to

provide outstanding products and services.

However, it is also important to identify who our competitors are to make sure that we are not far

off the track. Below will be the competitor analysis for Elwarda.

2.5.2 Competitor Analysis

Specialist

Imaan

Collections

http://www.imaancollections.com/

Elenany http://www.elenany.co.uk/

The Islamic

Design

House

http://www.islamicdesignhouse.com/app/

SHUKR UK http://www.shukr.co.uk/Merchant2/merchant.mvc

Losve http://www.losve.com/store/

Maysaa http://www.maysaa.com/

Artizara http://www.artizara.com/ Figure 43 Specialist competitor for Elwarda

56

High-Street Fashion Website

Next

(Womens

wear)

http://www.next.co.uk/shopping/women/casual/12#LID=05_01

Dorothy

Perkins

http://www.dorothyperkins.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay

?storeId=12552&catalogId=20552

H&M http://www.hm.com/gb/#/startns/ (there is no transactional website but a lot of

fashion information here)

TKMaxx

(Women)

http://www.tkmaxx.com/Dresses/icat/30

Marks and

Spencer

(Women)

http://www.marksandspencer.com/

ZARA http://www.zara.com/ (non-transactional)

Figure 44 High-Street competitor of Elwarda

Pure-Play

ASOS http://www.asos.com/

Net-a-Porter http://www.net-a-porter.com/

Figure 45 Pure-Play competitor of Elwarda

57

2.5.3 Market Segmentation

In determining the market segment for Elwarda, a Brand Map is plotted with all the existing

players in the Fashion industry.

Specialist

SHUKR Artizara

Losve

Elenany

Maysaa

Value

Elwarda

Luxury

H&M

ZARA

Primark

High Street

Figure 46 Brand Map for Elwarda

From the Brand map, it is shown that Elwarda is included in the Middle-to-Upper market with

positioned in between Specialist and High-Street fashion. Since Elwarda doesn’t brand itself as

‘Islamic’ wear, the positioning is in between Specialist and High-Street.

2.6 Summary

The modest fashion industry is a very niche but growing industry. Fuelled by educated and aware

Muslim women who want the best of both worlds – there is a large potential for the industry to

grow.

58

Chapter 3: Service Development

3.1 Introduction

This chapter will look at the key features of Elwarda business, its service offering and also the

necessary intellectual property strategies considered.

3.2 Key Features

A key feature of Elwarda is that it will combine the offline and online element in a business model.

By operating online, Elwarda aims to capitalise on the lower cost and also on the faster reach of

customers.

By also incorporating an offline or physical element into the service offering, Elwarda aims to

create a niche that also solves the problem that arises from retailing garment online.

By merging the best of both worlds, in terms of retailing, it is hoped that Elwarda will be able to

offer a superior offering to the Modest Fashion consumer.

3.3 Services list

3.3.1 Event Organising

According to (Fiore and Jin 2003) consumers are looking for sensory information about a garment

and how it will fit to the body. From my questionnaire, several respondents are also voicing out

their hesitation regarding the inability to touch and feel the material. Below are a few of the

responses:



‘Because then I can try them on and get a size that I know fits well, I can see the colour and

detailing for myself (computer screen resolution sometimes changes these). and i dont have to

wait for it to arrive in the mail! i can have it as soon as ive paid for it’

This is supported with the finding from (MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010), which states that

46% of women surveyed prefer to see and feel the item before purchasing. As a solution to this,

Elwarda will introduce an all-women’s event specifically to bring the online retailers and online

shoppers together for a ‘try-it-before-you-buy-it’ session. This suggestion is also reported in

59

(MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010) , which refers to the wisdom and tradition of ‘Avon ladies’

and ‘Tupperware parties’.

Elwarda will organize a quarterly women’s only event that will showcase the latest collection of

Elwarda line and its affiliate brands. This will be an exclusive event that includes entertainment,

shopping and pampering services all in one place. Elwarda will also invite other women’s service

providers to participate and sponsor the event. There will be fashion show, makeover session,

free gifts, and lucky draws to attract attendants. There will be an entrance fee for this event.

The event aspect of Elwarda business I believe is a great niche. It solved the problem of trust for

people who want to buy online but need to look at the garment. By having the offline aspects,

without having to pay the cost for a brick and mortar existence, Elwarda could save money. This

will definitely lower overhead, as the event can be calculated as variable cost, and is much easier

to cover than fixed cost.

Besides, it will also create the perception of exclusivity and scarcity. According to (springwise.com,

High-end clothing brand only sells on tour dates 2010), the strategy of ‘planned scarcity’ enabled

Clemens ens August to maintain its profit margin in tough times. By only selling their clothing on

selected cities and selected times, the new ‘pop-up retail model’ is something Elwarda is aiming

to adopt in its business model.

These women only events shared a similar concept with women-only gym and women-only pool.

In the realms of leisure and lifestyle, these sorts of concepts are extremely appealing to Muslim

women where the personal modesty is of a high concern. Bearing in mind, these are also the

companies that can be a great marketing partner for Elwarda.

3.3.2 Website

The website will be the main aspect of the business. It will be designed according to the Elwarda’s

Website Framework.

The research for Elwarda’s Website Framework is done in my Subject Research (Chapter 2.5:

Website Design Issues).

60

3.3.3 Fashion Consultancy

The fashion consultancy is another value-added service that will be provided by Elwarda for

women who wants to achieve and elegant modest look for their personal style. This service arose

out of the dire need for Modest Fashion Consultant to feel the gap in the market.

Existing Fashion Consultant based their advice on what is accepted in the conventional Western

fashion scene. However, based on the responses of the target market of Elwarda, where faith and

religion being the biggest influence – a new concept of styling need to be developed.

By providing a fashion consultancy that is able to combine the important element of faith with a

sense of style – Elwarda will be able to provide a very important value-added element in the

business.

3.3.4 Clothing line

Elwarda wishes to introduce the concept of multi-purpose wearing in the creation of its clothing

line. Multi-purpose means that the garment serves more than 1 purpose. For example, a dress

that serves as maternity dress but can also be worn after the maternity period as casual clothes.

A rough idea for Elwarda Clothing Line is to introduce more draping design as opposed to fitted

design. Draped design is much more suitable for modest fashion as the emphasis is on the

structure, the design, and the material rather than how it will fit and formed to the body. This is

also in accordance to Elwarda’s concept of multi-purpose wearing as the draped materials allows

room for the belly to grow and after the maternity period is over, it will become a beautiful drape

design.

One of the major concern for women who is looking for modest clothes is to avoid clothes that

‘hugs’ the body too much. For most Muslim women, this does not fits into the definition of

‘modest’. For women’s market in general, as women become older and their body shape

changed, there is less desire to show the shape of the body. However, the mainstream fitted

clothing put a lot of emphasis on body shape and these causes lack of suitable designs for mature

women (over 40). This is also the USP of Elwarda.

According to (Phau and Poon 2000) online shoppers prefer to purchase items that have no sizing

requirements. (MIntel Report: Fashion Online 2010) stated that women are more concerned with

buying clothes online because the different sizing between brands might mean that the clothes

doesn’t fit. Therefore, by offering a draped-style clothes might be the solution to this problem.

61

Below are the examples of draped-style dresses:

Figure 47 Donna Karan’s draped clothes

Figure 48 Draped dresses by designers.

From the research, items that respondents shop most frequently for (Figure 16) and items that

respondents would spend most on (Figure 17) are ‘Long sleeved Top/Blouses/Shirts’. Also, 67% of

respondents regard body type as a concern when shopping for clothes (Figure 33).

62

Draping style not only exudes a sense of fashion, but it also one of the style that ‘hides’ body

figures in a flattering way. For the target market of Elwarda, this is a perfect combination.

Moreover, this style also perfect for the design of tops.

With this knowledge, it makes both economic and marketing sense to do draped-style tops as the

first of Elwarda line collection.

3.3.5 Development to date

The research is in a very early stage due to the nature of the market that is relatively niche and

new. The important aspect of the business is the e-commerce website. According to (Rowley

2002), there are 4 stages in e-commerce service development. These are the frameworks that are

going to be adopted by Elwarda in the website development process.

Stage Characteristics Website functionality

1

Contact

• Promote corporate

image

• Publish corporate

information

• Offer contact

information

Content

2

Interact

• Embed information

exchange

• Targeted marketing

effort

Communication

3

Transact

• Online transactions

• Catalogue

order/fulfillment

• Interaction with

trading partners

Commerce

4

Relate

• Two-way customer

relationships

• Full integration of

internet capability into

the business

• Service interface

integrated with

delivery and other

business operations

Community

Figure 49 Stages of e-commerce service development (Rowley 2002)

It is expected that the development of Elwarda’s e-commerce system is expected to take 1 year.

63

3.4 Intellectual Property Strategy

Figure 50 Elwarda logo

Elwarda brand and logo

Elwarda logo needs to be registered with the Intellectual Property Office. The fee to register is

£200 with £50 for every additional classes (Trademark forms and fees, ipo.gov.uk 2010).

The trademark then needs to be renewed every 10 years.

Elwarda Website

Elwarda website has been registered with Google sites with the domain http://elwardainc.com

Elwarda Clothing Design

There are currently no IP tools to protect clothing design. This has been a long standing argument

and debates in the fashion and design world. According to Johanna Blakley, in her talk at TED

titled (ted.com, Lesson's from fashion's free culture n.d.), the absence of IP in the fashion industry

has lead to innovation and profits.

64

Chapter 4: Commercialisation – Business Models

4.1 Business Model

4.1.1 Overview of Business Model Theory

Business Models have been ignored for quite some time in business literature (Mansfield 2004)

however; it is garnering more attention in the academic research. What used to be the ‘buzz-

word’ in the .com boom, this concept has been given serious thought and research.

(Hamel 2000), (Mitchell, The Ultimate Competitive Advantage of Continuing Business Model

Innovation 2003) (Mitchell, Establishing a continuing business model innovation process 2004)

and (Yip 2004) are among the few researches who has been doing the work in describing the

Business Models (Ammar 2006).

According to (Hamel 2000), Business Models is the point of interaction between 4 factors:

1. The Strategic Axis

2. The Resources and Competencies Axis

3. The Clients Interface Axis

4. The Value Network Axis

While Mitchell and Coles (2003; 2004) points out 7 key elements in composing the Business

Models. The 5 key elements are:

1. Who

2. What

3. When

4. Where

5. Why

6. How

7. How much

While (Yip 2004) aggregates 9 elements:

1. Nature of inputs

2. Value Proposition

3. Scope of activity

4. How to transform inputs?

5. Differentiation

65

6. Organisation

7. Nature of Outputs

8. Channels

9. Nature of customers

The Business Model that has been chosen as blueprint for Elwarda is the Business Model Canvas

(Osterwalder 2009).

4.1.2 Elwarda’s Business Model

Urban Muslim

Women

(Urban MW) &

Modesty-

conscious

Non-Muslim

Women

(NMW)

Modest Clothing

Designers

•Member ship

•Special Event

•Fashion event

•Marketing

•Sales

•Event fee

•Exclusive Design for

Elwarda

•Commission

•Affiliate fee

•Event fee

To provide a one-

stop portal for

Modest fashion

consumer and

lifestyle

To build a

loner-term

profitable

partnership

•Website

designer

•IT Support

Team

•Modest

Clothing

Designers

•Event organising

• Customer Service

•Drive traffic to

website

•Affiliate

management

•Marketing

•Event organising

•Website

•IT support system

•Event management

team

•Website maintenance

•IT Support

•Marketing

•Event Management

•Designer fee

•Storage

•Delivery

•Affiliate

management

•Affiliate

management team

•Marketing team

•Event management

team

•Website

•Event

•Social Media

•Event

•Affiliate

management

Figure 51 Business Model Canvas for Elwarda

The Business Model for Elwarda is designed to achieve 2 guiding principles:

1. Profitability

Elwarda will ensure that its operation is profitable to sustain the business in the long run.

Operating with low start-up costs and with various revenue generating arms – it is hoped that

Elwarda will be able to prove that you don’t need huge loans as to run a profitable business.

66

2. Sustainability

The important thing that needs to be addressed here is the trade off between profitability

and sustainability. And sustainability means that the business can sustains itself for a very

long time, while at the same time sustaining eco-system and social-structure.

In order to do this, I think it is important to establish a very low cost start-up capital, hence

the decision to retail online. By adopting an agile manufacturing, made-to-order we also

minimise storage cost and holding cost. The challenge in this to ensure that we develop a very

smooth production line that enables to produce a good quality product and also to manage

demand. This requires a very tight and comprehensive supply chain management system.

4.2 Elwarda’s Business Model Explained

There are 9 aspects of Elwarda’s Business Models. These will be explained below:

Customer Segments (CS)

UMW + MNMW MCD

The first customer segment would be the

Urban Muslim Women (UMW) or the Modesty-

conscious Non-Muslim Women (MNMW)

These are the target market of Elwarda

The second customer segment for Elwarda

would be the Modesty-clothing designers who

would like to partner with Elwarda.

Channels of Distribution (CD)

UMW + MNMW MCD

The first customer segment will be served by

means of website, events and the social media

activities.

Website is the main place of transactions.

Events will be the offline marketing channel

Social media are the main communication tool

Events would be the main channel to serve the

second customer segments. Their designs and

collections would be showcased to members

and potential customers during these events.

Affiliate management system is the system

used to manage our affiliates.

For the customers, Elwarda will serve them both online and offline. The online would be via

website and the offline would be through events that is organised for the member of Elwarda.

Elwarda will also be using Social Media a lot in connecting with its customers.

67

E-commerce’s greatest advantage is the far-reaching approach of it. Globalisation or

‘international trading in a single global marketplace’ (Chaffey 2002).

For the designers, Elwarda will also serve them through organising events to showcase and

promote their products offline, hence bridging the gap of pure-play and multi-channel retailers.

By having an offline platform, pure-play retailers could connect with their customers in a way that

is impossible before.

Customer Relationship (CR)

UMW + MNMW MCD

Membership of Elwarda will ensure they will

receive the latest information and discounts

Members of Elwarda will also be entitled to

Special Events.

CR is fostered by organising an event for them

to showcase and market their designs.

Affiliates will also be given marketing tips and

guidance from Elwarda.

Customer relationship is going to be nurtured by loyalty scheme. Returning customers will be

rewarded accordingly to encourage repeat spending.

Value Proposition (VP)

UMW + MNMW MCD

The VP for this groups is to offer them beautiful

and elegant clothing that is modern yet

modest.

Elwarda aims to incorporate multi-

purpose/multi-function ideas in the clothing

line as USP.

The VP for MCD is to provide a retail platform

that enabled them to run profitable and

sustainable designer lines.

Another VP is also to build a long-lasting

working relationship with affiliates.

Elwarda’s Value Proposition is to serve women by offering them beautiful and elegant clothing

that is modern yet modest. Its specialty would be customisation and multi-purpose/multi-function

garment. Elwarda also aims to be a trend setter in the market by having a strong and distinct

design and aesthetic value.

68

Key Activities (KA)

UMW + MNMW MCD

KA for this group would be the event

organising, customer service and to drive traffic

to the website and increase membership.

Customer service should be at the no.1 KA

KA for this group would be event organising,

affiliate management and marketing.

Affiliate management system need to be

emphasise in order to develop a system that

can foster long-term relationship. Besides, a

good system will also attract more designers to

join.

Elwarda will work together in the marketing

process of MCDs.

Key Resources (KR)

UMW + MNMW MCD

KR would be the website management, IT

Support system, and event management team.

Human resources should be the KR here.

KR would be the affiliate management team,

the event management team, and the

marketing team.

Similarly, human resources should be the KR.

Key Partners (KP)

UMW + MNMW MCD

Event space provider, website host, IT support

Event space provider

After initial research I realise that it is important to develop and strong relationship with event

space providers because the venue hire is very expensive. Therefore, it is hope in the longer run

Elwarda would be able to get a favourable fee.

Cost Structure (CS)

UMW + MNMW MCD

Website host, IT support fees, event organising

fee, storage, delivery, marketing

Affiliate management fee, marketing.

69

Revenue Streams (RS)

UMW + MNMW MCD

Event tickets, sale of Elwarda line, commission

from sales of affiliates, customisation fee.

Event fee, marketing fee,

4.3 Summary

Elwarda should operate the business according to the Business Model Canvas to ensure that all

aspects of the business correlate and in harmony with each other. However, it is also imperative

for Elwarda to keep updating the Business Model Canvas as the business evolves and changes.

The Business Model Canvas should be a guide but not a hard and fast rule. It should almost be like

a flexi-budget of a company. It must be flexible and allows rooms for changes and amendments.

70

Chapter 5: Commercialisation – Business Strategy

5.1 Introduction

Elwarda will devise its strategy guided by the Four Action Framework from Blue Ocean Strategy.

(Kim and Mauborgne 2005). Blue Ocean Strategy is a perfect strategy for Elwarda as it perfectly

aligns with Elwarda’s guiding principle (Refer Chapter 1. 1.3.1 Company Mission)

Figure 52 The Four Action Framework (Kim and Mauborgne 2005)

1. Reduce

‘Which factors should be reduced well below the industry's standard?’

Stocks

Since Elwarda is a small company, it is impossible for it to hold big stocks. Therefore, we will

aim to reduce stock by operating an agile manufacturing and made-to-order system. We will

only produce as per demand to reduce stock holdings. On the other hand, this could also

minimise wastage of over-stocking.

A New Value Curve

Reduce

Which factors should be reduced

well below the industry's standard?

Create

Which factors should be created that the industry

has never offered?

Raise

Which factors should be raised well above the

industry's standard?

Eliminate

Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted

should be eliminated?

71

Since Elwarda is in its very early stage of idea development, I am yet to research the reliable

supplier for Elwarda.

2. Eliminate

‘Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated?’

Trend & Styles

The industry standard is to create as many styles as possible and hope to see which one will

take off. This leads to wastage when styles that are not popular be discarded and this is

something that is against the principle of Elwarda.

Therefore, Elwarda will aim to really listen to its target customers and what they want. But

more than that, Elwarda also wishes to educate customers of the importance of value-buying

and sustainability. This is where Elwarda’s profit model will hugely differs from the

conventional business.

According to the Primary Market research that is done, the most influencing factor of

Personal Style for Modest-Fashion Consumer is their Faith and Religion (78%) (Figure 31:

What influences your Personal Style?). And this is something constant. Therefore, in a way,

Elwarda has a perfect anchor to its products creation and design compared to the rest of the

clothing designers and retailers. This enables Elwarda to eliminate unnecessary designs and

styles.

3. Raise

‘Which factors should be raised well above the industry's standard?’

Social responsibility and sustainability principle

Elwarda hope to raise the awareness of social responsibility and the concept of sustainable

business above industry’s standard. By taking into account overall impact of business, from

customers, to the environment, to the designers – Elwarda aims to create a business that is

profitable and sustainable in the long run.

By focusing on the long-run and long-term relationship, Elwarda wishes to create an

environment where business is done with more soul and heart.

4. Create

72

‘Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered?’

Multi-purpose wearing

Elwarda really hope to start a trend of multi-purpose clothing. The idea is to create a clothing

item that can be taken from day to night, from formal to casual and can last a long time.

By challenging fashion’s conventional wisdom, Elwarda hopes to make fashion inventiveness

and creativity inline and supporting the concept of sustainability.

5.2 Key Mile Stones

5.2.1 Year 1 Mile Stones and Strategy

Mission Milestone: Gain customer base of 5000 membership

Elwarda need to really focus its energy on marketing itself on the social media front to garner as

much awareness and interest as possible.

Financial Milestone: Profitable during the first year of operation

By boot-strapping and being very diligent with cash management system it is aimed that Elwarda

will be profitable on the first year of trading.

5.2.2 Year 2 Miles Stone and Strategy

Mission Milestone: Gain loyal returning customer of 1000 customers and start sourcing ethically

Returning customer is very important for small businesses. Therefore, Elwarda needs to really

sharpen its customer retaining and customer loyalty scheme.

Financial Milestone: Double the profit of first year

This is done by trimming down costs and introducing more products and services.

5.2.3 Year 3 Mile Stone and Strategy

Mission Milestone: Social entrepreneurship

Elwarda will work on integrating the social entrepreneurship concept within its business

operation. Elwarda will still be a commercial venture and thus does not need to formally or legally

change its structure, but its the essence of social entrepreneurship is something that Elwarda

aspire to embody. One Elwarda’s aim is to create a sustainable home business for single mothers

73

in Malaysia and Indonesia. This is done by contracting them to do some of the sewing of the

garments.

Financial Milestone

A certain tax deductible amount due to social responsibility projects.

5.3 Adapting Business Strategy to Risk

It is important for companies to foresee risk in order to enable it to responds to it in timely and

efficient manner. In this section, I will identify the business risks facing Elwarda according to the

Risk Managements Standard. (Risk Management Standard n.d.)

5.3.1 Identification of Risk and Response to Changing Market Conditions

(Risk Management Standard n.d.)

74

The framework above detailed the drivers of risk to a business. Business risks can be categorized

into 4 categories:

1. Financial Risks

2. Strategic Risks

3. Operational Risks

4. Hazard Risks

All these risks can be 1) externally driven, 2) internally driven and 3) a combination of internal

and external.

For Elwarda, the most relevant risks have been identified as below:

1. Internally Driven Financial Risks: Liquidity and Cashflow

As a small start up with limited capital, this is an immediate risk. Elwarda need to work on

generating as many revenue sources as possible to maintain a healthy cashflow.

Having said that, Elwarda needs also be prepared with a plan B such as looking for partners

and investors that can inject capital into the business.

2. Externally Driven Strategic Risks : Competition, Customer Changes, Industry changes,

Customer demands

Due to the nature of the industry that is very new and small, there are many uncertainties

regarding the above factors. Elwarda need to always be prepared for any changes and

respond efficiently.

Especially since Elwarda focus heavily on marketing in the social media, and social media is a

highly dynamic and ever-changing landscape, Elwarda needs to keep updating itself on the

changes and improvement in social media.

5.4 Marketing Strategy

5.4.1 Introduction

Marketing strategy is one of the most important aspects for small business start-ups. Due to the

limitation of capital, Elwarda need to be focusing on its marketing activities. Based on the results

75

of my Primary research, a few avenues have been identified that would be most beneficial as

marketing tools.

5.4.2 Social Media

It seems that most of the respondents are familiar and are users of social media. Therefore, it

made perfect sense for Elwarda to market its products using these medium.

According to (Subramani and Rajagopalan 2003) online social networks are becoming a significant

influencer in purchasing decision of products and services.

Elwarda is going to focus its online marketing activities in Facebook. Elwarda already created a

page for the business. Besides Elwarda also created a twitter account (elwardainc) and a blog

(elwardablog.wordpress.com) to connect with the public.

5.4.3 Marketing activties

Among marketing activities that is planned are:

Contest

Contests are a great way to attract attention and also to create a connection between company

and customer. Contest engages customers and increases their anticipation. A lot of high-street

retailers like Next and ASOS are actively organising contests for the Facebook members. One of

the contest organised by Next this year is: ‘Make me the Next Model 2010’.

(www.facebook.com/nextonline 2010)

Events

This is discussed in greater depth in Chapter 3: 3.3.1 Event Organising

Celebrity endorsements

Elwarda will look at suitable celebrity or role model to endorse the products. This is important as

it gives greater credibility for the company.

Media

Elwarda will also continuously to work very closely with all sorts of online and offline media to

increase and sustain the visibility of the brand, Elwarda.

76

Besides marketing to customers, Elwarda also needs to market itself to the designers. By creating

high volume of traffic and huge customer base – simultaneously, Elwarda will also make itself

more attractive to the designers.

5.5 Summary

These are some marketing ideas that Elwarda need to focus on especially in the early years to

bring in awareness to Elwarda. Marketing activities are continuous business activities that need to

be evaluated and improved from time to time.

77

Chapter 6: Financial Analysis

6.1 Introduction

This section will look at the financial aspects of the business. Starting with identifying the costs

and revenues, a cashflow, profit and loss and balance sheet accounts will be prepared for the 2

years of the start Elwarda’s operation.

6.2 Financial Assumptions and their Impact

The financial assumptions taken here is that:

1. The exchange rate remains constant

2. The inflation rate remains constant

Since Elwarda is expecting to transact internationally as well, exchange rates will definitely affect

the business. However, due to the smallness of the business, it is assumed that the change would

be negligible. This aspect need to be given more emphasis once Elwarda started to think of

growing its international presence bigger.

The inflation rate would affect the raw materials, rent of convention halls and delivery service

charge. All of this could significantly impact the cost structure of Elwarda.

6.3 Identification of Cost

6.3.1 Marketing costs

Facebook ads

Budget £2.00 per day = £62 per month

Pay for impression (CPM) = 6100 per day

Pay for clicks (CPC) = 3 clicks per day

(refer Appendix C: Facebook Ad)

78

6.3.2 Website costs

Hosting Cost

Elwarda will host the website with Sky.uk.net: https://www.sky.uk.net/ecommerce/?TopHosts

With the ecommerce3 package of £19.99 per month, these are the services provided:

1. Unlimited products

2. Unlimited categories

3. Unlimited sub-categories

4. Multiple payment options

5. Online shopping basket

6. Unlimited space and bandwidth

7. Free Merchant Account.

8. Unlimited Mail Boxes

The reason this package is chosen over other packages because this package provided a Merchant

Account which is hugely important for e-commerce retailers. (Refer Appendix D: Webhosting)

Website Design Cost

The website will be designed by a free-lance website designer based in Malaysia for RM800, ie:

£162 (Appendix E: Correspondence with Website Designer, Zul)

6.3.3 Event management costs

Event room hire = £500

Tea, coffee and snacks = £2.95 per person

Administration = £100

(Appendix F: Correspondence with Joanne)

79

6.3.4 Affiliate Cost

Elwarda will aim for a 50% mark up on its products. Therefore, based on the Average Selling Price

of £30 per garment the affiliate cost for Elwarda would be:

=30/1.5

= £20

Based on estimate of sales of 15 people per month (6.4.2 Revenue from Garment Sales):

=15 x £20

=£300

6.3.5 Elwarda Line stock

Aside from selling other designer/retailers garments as affiliates, Elwarda will also sell its own

line. Below is the calculation of the Elwarda Line stock.

Based from 18 projected sales per month (6.4.2 Revenue from Garment Sales), 3 is from Elwarda

line:

Based on the same Average Sales price of £30, Elwarda aims for a 100% mark up. Therefore the

average cost per garment is:

=£30/2

=£15

With estimation of 3 garments sold per month, average stock per month:

=£15 x 3

=£45

Elwarda aims to hold 50% stock at any given time, with these figures the initial stock calculation

is:

=3/50%

=6 garments

=6 x £15

80

=£90

6.4 Identification of Revenue

6.4.1 Introduction

In looking at the pricing for Elwarda product and services, I look at ‘The Profit Model of Blue

Ocean Strategy’ (Kim and Mauborgne 2005).

The Strategic price for Elwarda is determined to fit the profile of the target market. By subtracting

the target profit margin, we will arrive at its Target Cost. Elwarda then have two ways to achieve

this:

1. Streamlining and Cost Innovations

2. Partnering

If all efforts to achieve the target cost failed, Elwarda then should look at the third step that is

Pricing Innovation to get back at the Strategic price.

Figure 53 The Profit Model of Blue Ocean Strategy (Kim and Mauborgne 2005) (Citizenship Survey, Race, Religion and

Equalities 2007-2008)

The Strategic Price

The Target Profit

The Target Cost

Streamlining and Cost Innovations

Partnering

Price Innovation

81

Although the model probably is tailored for big companies and corporation, the guiding principle

is something that can be adopted and applied for Elwarda.

In order to think along the line of this Profit Model, the next section will look at various ways how

Revenue can be generated.

6.4.2 Revenue from Garment Sales

Since Elwarda will be focusing its marketing effort on online marketing, mainly through Facebook,

below is the estimate of Revenue generated from it.

Facebook customers

Based on 3 clicks per day for 31 days, the prospects from Facebook campaign is 93 per month

(refer Appendix C: Facebook Ad)

3 click per day x 31 days = 93 prospects

With a conversion rate of 20%, the forecasted sales number is

=20% x 93

=18 sales

Sales from Affiliates

Out of 18 projected sales, 15 are from Affiliates and 3 are from Elwarda line.

With an Average Selling Price of £30 (this figure is taken from the average selling price of

Elwarda’s closest competitor, Maysaa)

=15 x £30

= £450 per month

Sales from Elwarda line

= 3 x £30

=£90

82

6.4.3 Revenue from Event (forecast)

Elwarda will conduct an all-woman event every quarter. This event will be an exclusive event for

the women who would like to ‘touch and feel’ the garments of Elwarda line and affiliates. There is

going to be a fashion show to showcase the garments and various other activities for women. The

event also will be attended by sponsors of other women’s products and services. Attendants of

the events will also have a chance to win prizes and lucky draws.

Aiming for a 30% mark up on cost, the ticket for the event is estimated to be £20.

With estimated attendance of 30 people:

=£20 x 30 people

=£600

6.4.4 Revenue from Membership (forecast)

Elwarda will also offer an Exclusive Elwarda membership option with a fee of £5 per year. This

membership offers them priorities in terms of customization of the garment, updates of discounts

and latest offering of Elwarda and affiliates, it will also give them discounts to attend events.

Based on Facebook ads calculation:

3 click per day x 31 days = 93 prospects

With 5% conversion rate:

=5% x 93

= 5 members per month

Per year:

=5 x 12 months

=60 members per year

=60 x 60 X £5 membership fee

= £300

83

6.4.5 Revenue from Consultation

Elwarda Image Consultation is another service provided by Elwarda to its customers. The fee is

£15 per session and can be done online and offline.

With the same estimation as the Exclusive Elwarda membership:

=5 consultation per month x £15

=£75

6.5 Start up Capital

The start-up capital for Elwarda would be £5000, taken from savings and families.

84

6.6 Cashflow Forecasts

6.6.1 Introduction

Cashflow is a tool to track net cash flow in a trading year. Net cashflow is the amount of revenue

minus costs.

6.6.2 Cashflow forecasts Year 1

Receipts, £ Jan-12 Feb-12 Mar-12 Apr-12 May-12 Jun-12 Jul-12 Aug-12 Sep-12 Oct-12 Nov-12 Dec-12

Affiliate sales 450 450 450 450 450 450 540 540 540 540 540 540

Elwarda line sales 90 90 90 90 90 90 108 108 108 108 108 108

Membership £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25 £25

Events 600 600 600 600

Elwarda Consultation £75 £75 £75 £75 £75 £75 £90 £90 £90 £90 £90 £90

Sponsorship £250 £250 £250 £250

Total Cash In £640 £640 £1,240 £640 £640 £1,240 £763 £763 £1,363 £763 £763 £1,363

Payments, £

Web hosting 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99

Room hire 500 500 500 500

Event administration

cost 100 100 100 100

Elwarda line cost £45 £45 £45 £45 £45 £45 £54 £54 £54 £54 £54 £54

Affiliates cost £300 £300 £300 £300 £300 £300 £360 £360 £360 £360 £360 £360

Facebook ads £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62

Elwarda line initial stock £90

Website Design £162

Salary

Total Cash Out £679 £427 £1,027 £427 £427 £1,027 £496 £496 £1,096 £496 £496 £1,096

Cash Flows, £

Opening Balance £5,000 £4,961 £5,174 £5,387 £5,174 £5,387 £5,600 £5,867 £6,134 £6,401 £6,668 £6,935

Net Cash Flow -£39 £213 £213 £213 £213 £213 £267 £267 £267 £267 £267 £267

Closing Balance £4,961 £5,174 £5,387 £5,174 £5,387 £5,600 £5,867 £6,134 £6,401 £6,668 £6,935 £7,202

Figure 54 Cashflow Forecast Year 1

Sales from affiliates, sales of Elwarda line and sales of Elwarda consultation are projected to

increase 20% on the second half of the year.

85

6.6.3 Cashflow forecasts Year 2

Receipts, £ Jan-13 Feb-13 Mar-13 Apr-13 May-13 Jun-13 Jul-13 Aug-13 Sep-13 Oct-13 Nov-13 Dec-13

Affiliate sales 648 648 648 648 648 648 777.6 777.6 777.6 777.6 777.6 777.6

Elwarda line sales 129.6 129.6 129.6 129.6 129.6 129.6 155.52 155.52 155.52 155.52 155.52 155.52

Membership £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30 £30

Events 600 600 600 600

Elwarda Consultation £108 £108 £108 £108 £108 £108 £130 £130 £130 £130 £130 £130

Sponsorship £350 £350 £350 £350

Total Cash In £916 £916 £1,866 £916 £916 £1,866 £1,093 £1,093 £2,043 £1,093 £1,093 £2,043

Payments, £

Web hosting 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99 19.99

Room hire 500 500 500 500

Event administration 100 100 100 100

Elwarda line cost £65 £65 £65 £65 £65 £65 £78 £78 £78 £78 £78 £78

Affiliates £432 £432 £432 £432 £432 £432 £518 £518 £518 £518 £518 £518

Facebook ads £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62 £62

Salary

Total Cash Out £579 £579 £1,179 £579 £579 £1,179 £678 £678 £1,278 £678 £678 £1,278

Cash Flows, £

Opening Balance £6,328 £6,665 £7,002 £7,689 £8,025 £8,362 £9,049 £9,464 £9,878 £10,643 £11,057 £11,472

Net Cash Flow £337 £337 £687 £337 £337 £687 £415 £415 £765 £415 £415 £765

Closing Balance £6,665 £7,002 £7,689 £8,025 £8,362 £9,049 £9,464 £9,878 £10,643 £11,057 £11,472 £12,236

Figure 55 Cashflow Forecast year 2

The sales will increase 20% for every half year onwards.

The revenue from event will increase 40% due to increment in sponsorship.

The membership increase 20% every month.

86

6.7 Profit and Loss

6.7.1 Introduction

Profit and Loss account is the document that shows a company’s profitability in a trading year.

6.7.2 Profit and Loss Year 1

Jan 12-Dec 12

Sales Revenue

Elwarda Line 1188

Affiliates Garments 5,940

Elwarda Consultation 990

Event 2,400

Membership 300

Sponsorship 1,000

Total Sales Revenue [J] 11,818

Cost of Sales

Elwarda Line Stock 594

Affiliates Cost 3,960

Event administration cost 400

Room hire 2,000

Total Cost of Sales [K] 6,954

Gross Profit [L=J-K] 4,864

Operating Expenses

Sales and Marketing

Facebook ads 744

Direct marketing

Other expenses (specify)


Total Sales and Marketing Expenses [M] 744

Research and Development

Technology licenses

Patents

Logo Trademark 200


Total Research and Development Expenses [N] 200

General and Adminstrative

Wages and salaries

Web hosting 240

Website Design 162


87

Total General and Adminstrative Expenses [O] 402

Total Operating Expenses [P=M+N+O] 1,346

Income from Operations [Q=L-P] 3,518

Other Income [R]

Taxes

Income taxes

Payroll taxes

Real estate taxes

Other taxes (specify)


Total Taxes [S] 0

Net Profit [T=Q+R-S] 3,518

Figure 56 Profit and Loss Year 1

6.7.3 Profit and Loss Year 2

Jan 13 - Dec 13

Sales Revenue

Elwarda Line 1710.72

Affiliates Garments 8,554

Elwarda Consultation 1,426

Event 2,400

Membership 360

Sponsorship 1,400

Total Sales Revenue [J] 15,850

Cost of Sales

Elwarda Line Stock 855

Affiliates Cost 5,702

Event administration cost 400

Room hire 2,000

Total Cost of Sales [K] 8,958

Gross Profit [L=J-K] 6,892

Operating Expenses

Sales and Marketing

Facebook ads 744

Direct marketing


88


Total Sales and Marketing Expenses [M] 744

Research and Development

Technology licenses

Patents

Logo Trademark


Total Research and Development Expenses [N] 0

General and Adminstrative

Wages and salaries

Web hosting 240

Website Design


Total General and Adminstrative Expenses [O] 240

Total Operating Expenses [P=M+N+O] 984

Income from Operations [Q=L-P] 5,908

Other Income [R]

Taxes

Income taxes

Payroll taxes

Real estate taxes



Total Taxes [S] 0

Net Profit [T=Q+R-S] 5,908

Figure 57 Profit and Loss Year 2

89

6.8 Balance Sheet

6.8.1 Introduction

Balance Sheet is a financial document that shows the snapshots of a company’s financial state at

any point of time.

6.8.2 Balance Sheet Year 1

2012

Assets

Current assets:

Cash 7,202.00

Investments

Stock 54.00

Accounts receivable

Pre-paid expenses

Other

Total current assets £ 7,256.00

Fixed assets:

Property and equipment

Leasehold improvements

Equity and other investments

Less accumulated depreciation

Net fixed assets £ -

Other assets:

Goodwill

Total other assets £ -

Total assets £ 7,256.00

Liabilities and owner's equity

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

Accrued wages

Accrued compensation

Income taxes payable

Unearned revenue

Other

Total current liabilities £ -

Long-term liabilities:

Mortgage payable

Total long-term liabilities £ -

90

Owner's equity:

Investment capital 5,000.00

Accumulated retained earnings

Total owner's equity £ 5,000.00

Total liabilities and owner's equity £ 5,000.00

Assets higher

Difference: (£2,256.0)

Figure 58 Balance Sheet Year 1

6.8.3 Balance Sheet Year 2

2013

Assets

Current assets:

Cash 12,236.00

Investments

Stock 78.00

Accounts receivable

Pre-paid expenses

Other

Total current assets £ 12,314.00

Fixed assets:

Property and equipment

Leasehold improvements

Equity and other investments

Less accumulated depreciation

Net fixed assets £ -

Other assets:

Goodwill

Total other assets £ -

Total assets £ 12,314.00

Liabilities and owner's equity

Current liabilities:

Accounts payable

Accrued wages

Accrued compensation

Income taxes payable

Unearned revenue

Other

Total current liabilities £ -

Long-term liabilities:

91

Mortgage payable

Total long-term liabilities £ -

Owner's equity:

Investment capital 5,000.00

Accumulated retained earnings

Total owner's equity £ 5,000.00

Total liabilities and owner's equity £ 5,000.00

Assets higher

Difference: (£7,314.0)

Figure 59 Balance Sheet Year 2

6.9 Sensitivity Analysis

Sensitivity analysis is to see the impact to the business should these factors change:

Scenario 1: Response from Facebook ad campaign

The increase in competition can either increase or decrease the conversion rate. If the increase in

competition eats up the market for Elwarda, the conversion rate might change from 20% to 10%

or lower.

However, if due to increase in competition leads to increase in awareness of the sector, the

conversion rate might increase from 20% to 25% or higher.

The conversion rate decrease from 20% to 10%

=93 prospects x 10%

= 9 sales

The conversion rate decrease from 20% to 5%

=93 prospects x 5%

= 5 sales

92

The conversion rate increase to 25%

=93 prospects x 25%

= 23 sales

Scenario 2: Website cost

Website cost might need to significantly increase due to change and technological improvement

in competition’s website.

Since the website design cost is low, even if it goes up to 100%, the cost is still manageable.

However, Elwarda still needs to prepare itself for by allocating a considerable amount for website

enhancement technology.

Increase cost of 100%

=162 x 2

=324

6.10 Summary

The financial analysis for Elwarda is done with the most prudent assumptions in mind. Prudence is

a good accounting practice to adopt, especially for a start up. It challenges the business to keep

stretching itself beyond the prudence of the financial projections.

93

Chapter 7: Summary

After a year I found out that there is indeed a market for Modest Clothing. However, I am not able

to determine whether there is in fact an interest from other faith than Muslim women.

Therefore, as a start for Elwarda, it will work on creating an online retailing business, providing

service to Muslim women in the Western countries, specifically in the UK and US. It will sell

modest clothes designed by other modest clothing designers and also Elwarda’s in house

designers. It will also provide other value added service such as consultation.

To create a competitive edge, Elwarda will also organise quarterly women-only events as the

physical platform to its online business.

Elwarda is a concept that stems from a very big dream – by taking this small step and creating a

small start-up it is hoped that the business will grow bigger organically in the future.

94

Works Cited

Akou, H. M. “Building a New "World Fashion": Islamic DRess in the Twenty-first Century.” Fashion

Theory 11, no. 4 (2007): 403-422.

Ammar, O. “Strategy and Business Models: Between Confusion and Complementarities.” 22th

EGOS Colloquium in Bergen. 2006.

Anderson, Chris. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. New York:

Hyperion, 2006.

“Asos sales surge 54%.” mintel.com. 14 07 2010.

http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=480743

/display/id=538036 (accessed 08 16, 2010).

“Britons link Islam with extremism, says survey, bbc.co.uk.” bbc.co.uk. 7 June 2010.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10251827 (accessed Oct 22, 2010).

Carr, A. “Apple Logo Is an Agnostic's Crucifix, Star of David: Study, fastcompany.com.”

fastcompany.com. 29 Sept 2010. http://www.fastcompany.com/1692055/why-the-apple-logo-is-

like-a-crucifix-or-star-of-david-for-mac-

lovers?partner=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fastco

mpany/headlines+(Fast+Company+Headlines) (accessed Oct 1, 2010).

Census. Office for National Statistics, April 2001.

Chaffey, D. E-Business and E-Commerce Management. 1st Edition. Pearson Education Limited,

2002.

“Citizenship Survey, Race, Religion and Equalities.” 2007-2008.

Cox, Beth. “E-gifting: The 'E' Stands for Europe.” internetnews.com. 28 10 2002.

http://www.internetnews.com/ec-

news/article.php/1489041/Egifting+The+E+Stands+for+Europe.htm (accessed 7 30, 2010).

“drapersonline.com.” http://www.drapersonline.com/5014806.article (accessed 05 07, 2010).

Espinoza, J. “Primark under pressure, Forbes.com.” forbes.com. 1 12 2009.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/12/primark-jobs-uk-markets-equity-cx_je_0112markets14.html

(accessed Oct 1, 2010).

Fiore, A. M, and H.J Jin. “Influence of image interactivity on approach responses towards an online

retailer.” Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 13, no. 1 (2003): 38-48.

“French niqab ban: Beneath the veil.” Guardian.co.uk. 15 July 2010.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jul/15/france-niqab-veil-ban-law (accessed 09

21, 2010).

95

“H&M Garden Collection.” http://hmthegardencollection.com/ (accessed 05 01, 2010).

Hamel, G. Leading the revolution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000.

Keynote. Middlesex: Keynote Ltd, 2009.

Kim, W. C, and R Mauborgne. Blue Ocean Strategy. Harvard Business School Publishing

Corporation, 2005.

Krantz, M. “Click till you drop.” Time Magazine 152, no. 3 (1998): 34-7.

Life and Times of Modern Muslims: Understanding the Islamic Consumers. JWT and AMRB, 2008.

Mansfield, G. and Fourie, L. “Strategy and Business Models - Strange Bedfellows? A Case for

Convergence and its Evolution into Strategic Architecture.” South African Journal of Business

Management 35 (2004): 35-55.

Michaels, Sean. “eMusic sales data supports 'long tail' theory.” guardian.co.uk. 19 01 2009.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jan/19/emusic-supports-long-tail-theory (accessed 07

20, 2010).

Mintel Report. London: Mintel Publications, 2008.

Mintel Report. London: Mintel Publicatiosn, 2010.




Mintel Report, Fashion Online. London: Mintel Publications, 2010.

Mitchell, D. and Coles, C. “Establishing a continuing business model innovation process.” Journal

of Business Strategy 25, no. 3 (2004).

Mitchell, D. and Coles, C. “The Ultimate Competitive Advantage of Continuing Business Model

Innovation.” Journal of Business Strategy 24 (2003): 15.

“Muslim designers mix hijab with the latest fashions. bbc.co.uk.” bbc.co.uk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10105062.stm (accessed 05 18, 2010).

“My-Wardrobe receives £6m investment.” Drapersonline.com.

http://www.drapersonline.com/5014806.article (accessed 07 05, 2010).

Osterwalder, A. Business Model Generation. OSF, 2009.

Phau, I, and S. M Poon. “Factors influencing the types of products and services purchased over the

internet.” Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy 10, no. 2 (2000): 102-

113.

Porter, M. E. Competitive Strategy. Free Press, 1980.

96

Report, Mintel. E-Commerce. London: Mintel Publications, 2010.

“Risk Management Standard.” www.theirm.org.

http://www.theirm.org/publications/documents/Risk_Management_Standard_030820.pdf

(accessed 10 18, 2010).

Rowley, J. E-Business Principles and Practice. 1st Edition. Hampshire: Palgrave, 2002.

SHUKR UK. http://www.shukr.co.uk/ (accessed 08 19, 2010).

“springwise.com, High-end clothing brand only sells on tour dates.” springwise.com. 16 April

2010. http://www.springwise.com/retail/clemens/ (accessed 09 21, 2010).

Subramani, M. R, and B. Rajagopalan. “Knowledge-Sharing and Influence in Online Social

Networks via Viral Marketing.” Communications of the ACM 46, no. 12ve (2003): 300-307.

“ted.com, Lesson's from fashion's free culture.” ted.com.

http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html

(accessed 09 21, 2010).

Trademark forms and fees, ipo.gov.uk . June 2010. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-

formsfees.htm (accessed 08 18, 2010).

www.facebook.com/nextonline. Make me the Next Model 2010. 2010.

http://www.facebook.com/nextonline?v=app_23744633048&ref=search (accessed Oct 1, 2010).

www.islamicfashionfestival.com.my.

http://www.islamicfashionfestival.com.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59

&Itemid=74 (accessed 08 19, 2010).

Yip, G. S. “Using Strategy to change your business model.” Business Strategy Review 15, no. 2

(2004).

Young, R. “nytimes.com; Muslim fashion designers moving beyond the traditional.” nytimes.com.

18 09 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/18/style/18iht-

rmuslim.4.7550105.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Muslim%20fashion%20designers%20moving%20beyon

d%20the%20traditional&st=cse (accessed 07 31, 2010).

97

Appendix A: E-mail from El-Fatatry

98

Appendix B: Questionnaire

Personal Background

Your age on 1st June 2010 *

Nationality *

Religion *

• Islam

• Christianity

• Hinduism

• Buddhism

• Sikhism

• Atheism

• Other:

Occupation *

• Student

• Working Full-Time

• Working Part-Time

• Stay-at-home Mom

• Retired

• Other:

Income *For students/stay-at-home moms/retired please choose your allowances per year. For respondents outside

the UK, please answer in terms of your own country's currency (ie: do not convert to UK pound).

• Below £10 000 per year

• Between £10 000 - £15 000 per year

• Between £15 000 - £20 000 per year

• Between £20 000 - £30 000 per year

• Between £30 000 - £50 000 per year

• Above £50 000 per year

• Other:

Location *Your current residence

In your opinion, what do you think the term 'Modest Fashion' means?Please write the first thing that came to your

mind

99

Shopping Habit of Modest Clothing/Fashion Consumer For the purpose of this research, Modest Clothing/Fashion is defined as style of clothing that covers most of your body

parts, from below the neck. For headscarf/hijab wearer, the headscarf/hijab is also included as Modest Clothing item.

Where do you shop for Modest Clothes *Please tick all that is relevant

• High-Street Store (Dorothy Perkins/Next etc.)

• Departmental Store (Debenhams/BHS etc.)

• Specialty shop (shop selling mostly Islamic/Modest Clothes)

• Online High-Street Shop (Next Online, DP Online, TK Maxx etc.)

• Online Specialty-Shop (Losve, Maysaa, SHUKR, Artizara etc.)

• Market

• Other:

How often do you go shopping for Modest Clothing? *

• Everyday

• 1-4 times a week

• 1-4 times a month

• 1-4 times a year

• Never

Which of the following items are you likely to shop frequently for? *Please pick no more than 3 items

• Accessories

• Headscarves/Hijab

• Abaya/Jilbaabs/Robe

• Long-Sleeved Tops/Blouses/Shirts

• Long Skirts

• Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans

• Maxi Dress/Long Dress

• Cardigan/Outerwear

• Other:

Which of the following items are you likely to spend most money on? *Please pick no more than 3 items

• Accessories

• Headscarves/Hijab

• Abaya/Jilbaabs/Robe

• Long-Sleeved Tops/Blouses/Shirts

• Long Skirts

• Long Trousers/Pants/Jeans

• Maxi Dress/Long Dress

• Cardigan/Outerwear

• Other:

100

Are you working in a profession that requires you to wear a formal workwear? *For example: business suits, smart

jackets and pants/skirts

• Yes

• No

How much would you spend on modestly-styled Workwear in a month? *For respondents outside the UK, please

answer in terms of your own country's currency (ie: do not convert to UK pound).

• Less than £10

• Between £10-£30


• Between £50-£100

• Between £100-£200

• More than £200

• Other:

How much would you spend on a Special Occasion Clothing *Special Occasion Clothing is defined as clothing that you

would wear for formal events, celebration days and wedding parties. For respondents outside the UK, please answer in

terms of your own country's currency (ie: do not convert to UK pound).

• Less than £10



• Between £50-£100

• Between £100-£200

• More than £200

• Other:

How much have you spent on clothes in the last 2 weeks? *For respondents outside the UK, please answer in terms of

your own country's currency (ie: do not convert to UK pound).

• Less than £10



• Between £50-£100

• Between £100-£200

• More than £200

• Other:

In your experience, what item of modestly-styled clothing is most difficult to find in the shops

101

Please explain your answer

Online Shopping Motivation and Preference Where do you prefer to shop for Modest Clothes *

• Online

• In-Store

• No Preference

Please explain your answer

How many times do you shop for Modest Clothing online? *

• Everyday

• 1-4 times a week

• 1-4 times a month

• 1-4 times a year

• Never

• Other:

Rate what is the most important criteria when online shopping *1 being least important and 5 being most important.

1 2 3 4 5

Price

Selection of Clothes

Delivery Charge

Secure payment

Design of the website

Interactivity of the website

Brand

102

If the most important criteria to you is not given above please specify what it is

Do you have a Social Media/ Social Networking account? *For example: Facebook, Twitter

• Yes

• No

Please tick all accounts that you have *

• Facebook

• Twitter

• Friendster

• MySpace

• Bebo

• Blogs

• Other:

What motivates you the most to shop online? *1 being least motivating and 5 being the most motivating

1 2 3 4 5

Discount

Free delivery

Convenience

Design of the clothing

Review in magazine

Review in fashion blogs

Suggestions from friends

Wider choice of selection

Please tick any of these brands/website/designers that you are familiar with *Please tick all that is relevant

• Elenany

• Maysaa

• Rabia Z

• Zyra Collection

• Silk Route

• Losve

103

• Get Gorgeous

• Artizara

• Aab

• Bellissima Scarves

• SHUKR

• Baraka

• Imaan Collections

• Taakhi

• Zappos

• Amazon

• E-Bay

• TK Maxx

• ASOS

• Net-a-Porter

• Next

• Dorothy Perkins

• H&M

• Other:

Please tick any of these brands/website/designers that you have made your Modest Clothing purchase from *Please

tick all that is relevant

• Elenany

• Maysaa

• Rabia Z

• Zyra Collection

• Silk Route

• Losve

• Get Gorgeous

• Artizara

• Aab

• Bellissima Scarves

• SHUKR

• Baraka

• Imaan Collections

• Taakhi

• Zappos

104

• Amazon

• E-Bay

• TK Maxx

• ASOS

• Net-a-Porter

• Next

• Dorothy Perkins

• H&M

• Other:

Personal Style Please describe what is your personal style

What influences your personal style? *Please choose the 5 most influential factor

• High-street style

• High-Fashion/Catwalk/Couture

• Workplace

• Weather

• Environment

• Culture

• Friends

• Families

• Fashion magazines

• Fashion Blogs

• Celebrity Style

• Faith/Religion

• Body type

• Other:

Thank you! Your participation in this survey is deeply appreciated. Have a great day!

105

Appendix C: Facebook Ad

106

Appendix D: Webhosting

107

Appendix E: Correspondence with Website Designer, Zul

108

Appendix F: Correspondence with Joanne.

Hello Naziehah

Thank you for your enquiry, we can hire conference rooms on a room hire bases or per person basis

it would depend on what you would like.

As you haven’t specified what date you would be looking at then I can give you an outline price of

£35.00 per person, this includes room hire, unlimited servings of tea, coffee and snacks and a 2

course sit down fork buffet lunch served in the restaurant.

Or room fire would be around £500.00.

Tea, coffee and snacks £2.95 per person per serving

£17.95 per person for a 2 course hot and cold fork buffet lunch.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have some dates you would like me to have a look at

availability for.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many Thanks

Joanne Mapp

Conference Co-ordinator

Manchester Conference Centre

Weston Building

Sackville Street

Manchester

M1 3BB

Tel: 0161 955 8016

Fax: 0161 955 8050

www.manchesterconferencecentre.co.uk

Research on Online Retailing for Modest Fashion

Documents