Task 2

Where are they? - How will they find me?

What do you need to communicate and how does it match the clients need?

For my PEST analysis I chose to look at 'Music orientated t-shirt graphics in the UK’. The analysis helped me identify where my possible clients may be located. In my segmentation, I looked at a few consumer types, but for this I restricted the target client base to fans of 'alternative' music i.e. not specifically just pop or r+b, who would wear brands such as Lowlife, Atticus, Criminal Damage, Drop Dead and band t-shirts. I found that a lot of their business seems to come from online retail either through their own store or other collective online retailers, however, when taking into account where you could directly buy them, I identified that most popular stockists were in similar places to those that had popular music venues such as Leeds, Manchester, London / Camden etc. as the consumer not only buys t-shirts directly from stores, they are often on sale at the music venues when a band is playing.

In my segmentation analysis, I noted that the consumer of the product generally wants the t-shirt to reflect them as a person, be it their attitude, their humour or their passion for music and the genre of that music. Typical imagery i.e. skulls, zombies and blood used for brands such as Drop Dead and Criminal Damage would appear quite morbid to some onlookers however, to the target client base of this product it is fashion. A popular way of getting your t-shirt brand seen by the target audience, is by sponsoring bands as their fans will see what they are wearing and want to wear the same as them, a representation of their 'belonging' to that band.

Also, in my segmentation I picked up on various behaviourial reasons that people wear band / graphic t-shirts; to express what bands they already like, to show their support for new bands coming on to the scene and, to keep up with trends within this specific area of fashion therefore basic graphic tee’s are somewhat of a seasonal product and although the recession has hit the UK quite bad, there is always a need for clothing, hense there should always be a demand for this type of product. (In 2008 - 2009, there was a 10.7% increase in clothing sales.)

Technological advances have also had a positive effect on the t-shirt industry, as they can now be digitally printed, this is an alternative to the tranditional process of screen printing. Screen printing is more time consuming and expensive, therefore more suited to low volume jobs but it is still a popular way of printing t-shirts for the high quality. In contrast with this, digital printing is quick and cheaper therefore better for high demand, however, the quality is not as good as screen printing but ultimately, you can reflect this in the retail price which benefits the consumer, as they won’t necessarily have a lot of money to spend on clothes.