Consulting

An effective organizational structure is crucial for the productive operation of a company. To achieve this level of functionality, the modern fashion enterprise must fulfill a series of attributes: clarity, precision and transparency, the possibility of assessing the effectiveness of each workplace and process, and the willingness to smoothly embrace change. When working with our clients, Fashion Consulting Group offers leading solutions that comply with the best national and international practices in the fashion industry considering companies potential.

• The assembly of central management documentation (forms and tables);
• Analysis of current business processes and posterior adjustments;
• Optimization of personnel management: the development of functional maps for the employees of the company;
• The development of motivational strategies for managers in top-positions;
• Staff management in stores;
• Motivational systems;
• Grading and KPI;
• Staff motivation system;
• Business culture and customer service.

In Fashion Consulting Group, we help companies make the right decisions when developing products or purchasing merchandise, so these can maximize their profits, restructure their approach towards the formation of assortment, renew their trend-concept for upcoming collections, and minimize the accumulation of excess stock. We conduct an operational assessment of the effectiveness of the current assortment, in terms of both its intrinsic balance and logic, and in terms of the nature of the collection in relation to the company market positioning. We assist businesses in creating a competitable assortment. We offer applied solutions to optimize the development of assortment while considering competition and the company’s best-sellers, and concurrently helping with seasonal decisions and introducing relevant commercial trends into the developing collections. Similarly, we provide the necessary tools to digest and integrate a multichannel sales system to the existing assortment system.

Our services are:

• The examination of the assortment strategy and hands-on work with the company’s inventory;
• Applied solutions for assortment management: the elaboration of guidelines and documentation;
• Training on the assimilation of applied techniques used by customer’s specialists;
• Development of an assortment matrix and an inventory for the retail segment: regulations and applied methods;
• Identification of the most notable/distinguishable features in the company’s assortment. FCG Method®: sales-hits formula;
• Rules of assortment development. FCG Method®: style DNA formula. FCG Method®: style line formula;
• Development of classifiers for offline and online stores, accompanied by the integration of sales;
• Product development “Pod Klyuch” (Under lock and key): collection design support (for the applicable season), including such documents as the trend-book and the prototype matrix;
• Operational assistance with the planification and development of assortment groups throughout the season.

Modern marketing is viewed as the continuous and dynamical refinement of business methods amid the rapidly changing conjectures that drive the fashion industry. The transformations that take place in the market include: the economic situation of a given period, government policies regarding the light industry and trade, and the digitalization of the market – all of which influence fundamental marketing strategies. For instance, multichannel retail requires novel ways of approaching a company’s target market, accompanied by the uninterrupted adjustmen of its assortment in relation to existing sale channels, flexible pricing, and omnichannel marketing tactics. Effective marketing – on the one hand – is the proclamation of one’s place in the market within a highly competitive environment and – on the other hand – is the overarching control over all of the varied marketing strategies alternatives to accomplish well-defined objectives with an unambiguous plan of action. At Fashion Consulting Group, we help businesses, manufacturers, and retail companies determine their niche in the market, understand the set of requirements for said enterprise to become competitive within this segment, formulate an optimal marketing strategy, formalize a brand-platform, and consequently become authoritative, engaging/attractive/irresistible, and memorable for the target market.

Our services are:

• Market and competitive analysis. Bench-marketing: multinational experience;
• Study on the target market the structure of demand considering каналов сбыта;
• Development of marketing and pricing strategies;
• Development of a market positioning strategy;
• Development of a communication platform for the brand, corporate culture, and mission statement, along with the formalization of the brand identity, brand DNA, and role models;
• Creative solutions: naming, establishment of a representative corporate style, brand-book;
• Event-marketing: special events, promotions, and collaborations;
• Seasonal/Yearly marketing planning;
• B-2-B Marketing: reputation marketing for the business in the fashion industry.

The level of competition in the fashion industry is extremely high. Nevertheless, the present-day market offers excellent opportunities for those who bet on avant-garde technologies or novel, perspective niches which appear as the industry inevitably alters. The most promising paths of development include multichannel retail and digital innovations for customization options, D2C projects, and eco-initiatives and slow fashion, as well as projects oriented towards new approaches in fashion marketing. Under the current circumstances, launching a brand in the market not only requires an idea, but also competence in business management and the organization of pilot projects. At Fashion Consulting Group, we help turn a perspective idea into a tangible, real-world project.

Our services are:

• Assistance in the development of an idea into a project and the determination of the UTP, the niche, and target market;
• Determination of the relevant markets and the distribution channels. Marketing/promotion strategy;
• Market launch strategy and development of a business plan;
• Definition of the organizational structure. Assistance in the formation of a team;
• Communication with business structures and accelerators;
• Partnership search for pilot projects;
• Expert assessment of the startups’ potential.

At the heart of any successful business strategy, there is a straightforward understanding of the market, of the strategies of competition, of the features and perspectives of the demand regarding the offered service and/or product, as well as of one own’s enterprise’s perspectives and potential. In fashion business – as much as in any other industry – at the center of success, there not only is a clear and weighted plan, but also a logical perception of the necessary steps that need to be taken in order to reach different goals, reinforced by the managerial processes. A prosperous business model is one that balances a strategical vision with a methodical knowledge of the realities of the market/niche and the specificities of the business processes.

• Integrated diagnostics of the strategical position of the company;
• Examination of the environment: market assessment, competition analysis, positioning definition, and evaluation of the customer development in the target niche;
• Internal potential/capacity analysis: strategical assessment and diagnostics of the company’s internal processes;
• Design of a development/restructuration/repositioning strategy for the business; Determination of target KPIs based on relevant market practices;
• Development of a growth plan for investment projects under specified parameters;
• Development of a business plan for the specified period.

Visual merchandising – most effective methods for the visual presentation of collections for multichannel retail: in stores, showrooms, or virtual platforms.
Visual merchandising – an indispensable tool for the brand sales growth – influences buyers on two different levels: 1. Rationally: clearly informs the potential customer about the product and its characteristics. 2 Emotionally: generates interest, becomes hard to forget, and attracts, while creating a positive feeling. Modern visual merchandising and shop-window technologies help build a motivation towards purchase, both at conscious and subconscious scales. Each successful commercial VM project is erected around the brand’s assortment strategy, its market positioning, and the analysis of the current collection sales, and it is based upon the deep knowledge of present day VM tools and international trends in design, retail, and window dressing strategies.

Our services are:

• Inspection and optimization of merchandising standards;
• Development of and omnichannel merchandising concept online/offline;
• Analysis of theretail space concept based on assortment and VM;
• Development of principles for VM standards. Development of seasonal plan of action;
• Company’s merchandising book;
• VM staff training;
• Design of store-window concepts;
• Development of a remote VM system;
• Operational commercial redesign of collections;
• VM support for marketing campaigns and events in stores and shopping centers.