In general there is lot of impact of the duplicate brands in the market on the branded companies. In most of the cases, each and every brand is copied and a duplicate product is developed with same features and facilities and sold out a cheaper price than the original price and even most of the customers look forward to purchase a similar product at a lower price.
Thus there is lot of business downfall across the branded companies due to these duplicates and they are always coming up with lot of copyright and trademark laws to protect their business against the duplicates. The affect of duplicates and the branded products is high in particular with fashion industry and that too specific with clothing industry. There are many famous brands that offer wide range of varieties to their customers and they are affected with duplicate and imitation products.
In general the customer perspective towards the branding will be large and always expects high quality products at a lower price and if they cant satisfy the price, definitely they will compromise with the quality and choose the duplicate or imitation product. Even there are some customers who always look for the quality and never comprise at price.
The main focus of this research is to identify the impact of duplicates on branded clothing and textile companies and with specific to the case of Pepe Jeans. Customer behavior towards purchasing the duplicate brands and the corresponding impact on the business value of branded companies is analyzed in this research. Following are the main aim and objectives of this research
Aim: To identify and critically review the impact of duplicates on the branded companies business value and the consumer buying behavior towards duplicate brands.
Objectives:
Following are the research objectives
- To identify the impact of duplicates in the competitive market
- To analyze the impact of business value of Pepe Jeans due to the duplicates
- To identify the consumer buying behavior towards duplicate and branded clothes
- To review the customer purchasing habits against quality and price attributes.
Hypothesis
- Duplicates have positive impact on business value of branded companies
- Pepe Jeans is the most favorite brand to be duplicated inLondon
- Customers always look for price rather than quality while choosing the product.
Literature Review
In general the purchasing attitude of the customers changes based on the product they are purchasing and in most of the cases, customers always opts the price as the primary determinant than the quality while choosing a product. Quality and price are the major determinants for a customer to choose a product and many studies proved that customers are always attracted towards the branded products. Branded companies always focus on the quality and offer their products at a higher price based on the level of quality of the product they are offering to the customers.
Quality and variety is the main business objective of the clothing companies and always shows their interest towards innovate their products and attract a wide range of customer base. To meet the competition from the market, always the companies come up with wide range of varieties in their products and try to offer them at the best quality and price to the customers. Duplicates are the major threats to the branded products and the business value of branded products has reduced a lot due to these duplicate products.
In general these duplicate products look similar to the original brand and even the name of the brand is copied in most of the cases, by just replacing few letters in the brand name. In most of the retail stores, these duplicate brands make occupy ample space in terms of sales and even the customers are attracted towards the look of the clothes and tend to choose them.
When the customers feel that a particular brand is imitated at a lower price, they never consider the quality in most of the cases and purchase the same. Here the quality of the product is not given that importance and even customers feels of affording a low price towards the lower quality product and feels comfortable with the design and model of the product in most of the cases.
Duplicate products look similar to the original ones and that the primary reason in most of the cases, why a consumer chooses the duplicate on and tries to save enough money always. Business of the branded companies is affected a lot due to these duplicates from different countries and even there are some website, which take the order to make a duplicate or imitation product and sale them online. In most of the cases, duplicate brands are successful in expand their market in remote areas and even the ample number of retail stores .
Customers are deceived in few cases with the duplicate brand across the retail stores and this come to their notice while using the clothes and the quality of the duplicate product is the main factor that differentiates it from the original brand. Duplicate brands has emerged a lot in the existing market and the main source of their marketing will be in the links of chain marketing, delivery on order and most of the retail markets are occupied with the duplicate brands.
The main business impact of the duplicates on the original brands will be mainly in the rural and retail markets when compared to the stores and urban markets. If a customer is habituated to a duplicate product which exactly resembles the original product in terms of model and variety, he or she never prefers a branded product, as they are getting a similar product for a lesser price.
Quality is not considered as important factor in these cases, as the consumers are getting a similar product for a lower price and even the expectations on the durability of the product would be from the consumer’s perspective. Company retail outlets and large stores are primarily affected with these duplicates and in turn the purchase order will be low from their side to the branded companies and thus the overall business is affected not only at the company side, but also from the side of retailers and stores.
Brand image also plays a vital role in developing the ideas to create the duplicate. There is a separate customer based in the retail market, which always choose duplicates of a particular duplicate. If a particular brand is successful in creating great models and varieties to gain the competitive advantage in the market and this inturn laid the paths for the emergence of duplicate brands in the retail market.
Thus it is clear that, branded companies are facing competition not only from the core competitive brands, but also from these duplicate brands in most of the cases. Labels also play a vital role in making the duplicates of a successful brand and there are many cases, where the label of a famous brand is replicated and attached with a duplicate product. Customers are deceived in this context and they pay the same original price and at the end of the day they are with a duplicate and less quality product with a cheap quality in their hands.
Reputation of the original brand is also affected in these cases a lot and the actual business value of the brand is degraded a lot. Thus there are number of affects with these duplicates for a famous brand and there are many existing techniques to resolve these issues and in most of the cases, they are partially successful and still it is always a research area to evaluate the solutions to the problems with these duplicates.
Intended method for Data Collection
The basic research methodology implemented for this research is qualitative and both the primary and secondary source of information is used to complete this dissertation. The actual process implemented to gather required information is as given below
Primary source of information
Primary source of data required to proceed with this research is gathered from semi structured interviews conducted with the respondent’s choosen. Case study is choosen as the research design process in this research and few respondents are identified against this case study to gather the required primary source of information. A research sample size of 10 is choosen to gather the required information towards the customer buying behavior for duplicate brands and how the duplicates are emerged in the market from two retail store administrators. Opinion from the selected respondents is used as the primary source of information.
Secondary source of information
Secondary source of information is gathered from different Economic reviews and Books stating the information about customer purchasing behavior and most of the stated in the Source section. Few websites as mentioned in the Source section are used to gather the statistics regarding the impact of duplicates on the branded companies and Pepe Jeans website is referred to gather the information related to the range of products and varieties released in the market.