Fashion Market Segmentation in Clothing

Fashion

Market Segmentation in Clothing Advertisement: American Girls Spring Line on the Internet: "Outfits and Extras for Girl's Splash!" (http://store.americangirl.com/pls/ag/ag_gr_splash?catid=73908)

One female in the advertisement wears a fashion-forward yet still practical Chinese style sundress, while the other wears a kicky pink miniskirt and a white t-shirt. From this verbal description, you might assume the writer is describing a Gap ad targeted at teens. However, to 'guess' the company that is at the heart of a new clothing marketing campaign across the Internet, you would have to think younger, far younger. The girls in this fashion advertisement, boasting clothing costing at least as much as comparable adult wear and mid-market clothing stores such as Express, look barely past the age of ten.

The American Girl Company has cornered the market on selling historical and contemporary American dolls at a high price to girls -- or rather, girl's parents. The dolls are not threateningly adult; rather they appear to be soft-bodied, wholesome replicas of children from the annals of American history. They come with a book that teaches girls about past history, patriotism, the importance self-esteem, and the joys of being a spunky American girl. Now, the American Girl Company has expanded to selling contemporary clothing for the seven-to-twelve-year-old set, on its ever-expanding website. The clothes on the Website in this current marketing spring campaign are comfortable and functional in their design, and tend to be timeless and pretty, rather than provocative or fashion-forward, much like the American Girls dolls versus, for example, the shape and wardrobe concerns of 'Barbie.'

The advertisement strives to create an image for a girl that is feminine, age-appropriate, yet confident, as the girls in the ad wearing spring print dresses are seen playing rather than modeling the garb. "Show your true colors" is the theme, apparently directed to the ad's consumer, the eyes of an eager young girl. But when analyzing the market segment, one might ask, why would this wholesomeness be so appealing to young girls? Thus, when analyzing the segmenting, one must think again. Given the price of the American Girls Company merchandise, which far exceeds that of most generous 'tween' allowances (some of the American Girls dolls cost upwards of two hundred dollars, with their accessories) the market segment is clearly not entirely towards the American girls, in question even if the vocabulary of the ads address the consumer of the ad as 'you.'

Marketing to children is always complex, because although children do the begging, moms and dads do the buying. Thus, the ad is carefully constructed to appeal to girls and to stimulate their persuasive abilities. The presence of the beloved and popular American Girl Dolls at the bottom of the ad adds to this appeal, as well as links to the doll-selling site. But ultimately, the ad really appeals to American girl's mothers who wish to create an idealized image of girlhood for their still innocent children. This is an image of American girlhood, that may never have existed but which many mothers would like to provide for their children. They mothers are, American Girl, hopes willing to pay richly for their children's images of spring innocence.