When Henry T Ford said: “You can have any colour you like, as long as it’s black,” he got away with it for a long time. Market leaders are in a position where they can dictate, to a certain extent, what the consumer will buy. As a smaller business, or part of a long supply chain, you need to know that people buy only what they can see and what is put before them. It is also true that, by offering too much choice, you can deter people from making a decision and they will put it off until later, or until someone else offers them a more limited choice which makes them feel more comfortable.

So why then are the catalogues getting fatter? Why do the wholesalers offer so much choice and should you be doing the same? Why are manufacturers producing so many look-alike garments and does copying this trend pay off in business? Let’s examine this, then see how, by managing choice, you can become more successful.

From an early age, you were probably told that to copy is cheating (woe betide the boy or girl who was caught sneaking a look over a neighbour’s shoulder at exam time). Big news stories about copying usually involve music or fashion, both of which involve huge potential gains for the person or company who is cheeky enough to rip off bars of familiar music or the cut of a designer label. Copyright laws are highly complex, and necessarily so, as the issues themselves are not clear cut.

And yet how many of us have ever bought a “designer” watch in the street on holiday or a DVD from a market stall with a badly printed cover? Harmless isn’t it? You know the watch won’t last long and surely Guchi isn’t spelt like that but so what, it was only a fiver and it looks the part.

On the other hand, we are also told that everything comes full circle in time. How does this issue involve those in the printwear industry? Is it safer to mimic other companies in your sector or take a risk and plough your own furrow? We are seeing companies becoming more and more similar to one another, offering the same products at the same prices in catalogues that are virtually indistinguishable. What merit can there be in presenting your business to the world as a clone of every other business out there?

Next time you go to the supermarket, have a look at the biscuit section . You will find at least 100 different types of biscuits on offer. Do you have time to read the small print on all of these and consider their relative merits before making a decision? If you are anything like me, you just grab a pack you’ve tried before because you know they are okay and you move on. Sometimes you are tempted by a new product but, unless you are in an adventurous mood, or have time to linger, you are more likely to go for an old favourite. It is the same with all buying decisions we make. That is why companies invest so much in creating and promoting brands. Customers are at least 10 times more likely to select a product they have heard of than they are to buy something that is new to them.

That’s worth repeating. Customers are at least 10 times more likely to select a product they have heard of than to buy something that is new to them. Why? Because they are limiting the risk of failure. If I buy Nouveau Harvest Crunch instead of McVities Digestives, I might not like them.

This leads to one of the most important rules of marketing. Find out what your customers want and give it to them. It’s not rocket science is it? Just give them what they want. And that doesn’t need great expenditure on market research. Leave the big boys to do that. Present your customer with a choice of tried and tested brands, along with one or two new products to tempt them, and present the choice in an appealing way, and they will breathe a sigh of relief. They don’t want to wade through pages of me-too products. They want to buy something to fulfill a purpose and they don’t want to be disappointed. Everyone is busy these days and if a supplier can make life easier for us, they quickly become trusted favourites. This isn’t to say of course that new lines never succeed. The world would be very dull if we continued to buy only well-known brands and styles. So there has to be a balance. Risks must be taken and sometimes mistakes have to be made along the way.

Having specialised in marketing for the textiles industry for 18 years, we are often asked for advice by manufacturers and wholesalers of workwear and leisurewear. They want to know what their customers, the printers and embroiderers, want. Do you want more options or fewer? How do the leading catalogues and websites compare with one another, and what changes would you like to see? How do you choose one supplier from another and how, in your opinion, could service be improved? It is only by asking questions like this that companies can improve their performance and gain ground in a competitive marketplace. In our global economy we need to use our unique advantage in the UK of being geographically closer to our customers, to forge close relationships with them and serve their real needs rather than guessing.

This process goes on down the supply chain. As garment decorators, you need to find out what your customers, the end-users, want from you. Take stock of what you are offering and perhaps rationalise your range so that you are limiting the choice. If a garment doesn’t sell, remove it from your range.

Decide what your company stands for. Are you offering the classic favourites or this year’s latest fashions? Or a limited selection of both? Offer a professionally presented, well-selected range rather than trying to be all things to all men. It is the specialists who win rather than the generalists these days. If you can make your business stand out and show you have taken the trouble to consult with your customers, you will be on the way to building longterm relationships. Your customers will then be getting far more from you than just the greatest choice or the lowest prices. You will be freeing up their valuable time and helping them to do a better job – why would they go anywhere else?

Elaine Nester is the founding md of marketing and PR company Alpha Design and Marketing, which specialises in textiles. Contact: elainenester@admgroup.co.uk, tel: 01743 236631, or web: www.adm-group.co.uk

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