Samenvatting

Recently, a new marketing trend has entered the market. This new software is called marketing automation. It consists of using different marketing tools put together and thereby aiming to collect and analyse all data from an input database. Marketing automation provides organizations the opportunity to attract new prospects and to hold on to satisfied customers at the same time. Additionally, the software brings revenues to the company. An interesting fact is that most marketers have underestimated this new trend. The problem is that most marketers do not know how to implement marketing automation. If the software is implemented in the wrong way, this could mean that the benefits of marketing automation get lost in the process. This study is intended to give marketers a clear description of the influences of marketing automation and how this software is used in the apparel industry. The central question, which is thereby this report’s aim to answer, is: how is marketing automation used as an online marketing strategy in the fashion industry? This will be supported with the case studies on H&M and Zara, analysed by Hub spot’s marketing automation model.
In this study, three qualitative methods were used in the process of this research report, namely: desk research, literature and one interview. Qualitative research has been carried out into which extent marketing automation has influenced the apparel industry and how the four pillars of Hub spot’s model are visible on websites from fashion companies. This research consists of a theoretical framework, the results and analysis. In the theoretical framework, the concept of marketing automation is introduced. The results are described using two comparative case studies based on desk research. These case studies are done within two different companies’ websites namely, H&M and Zara. These websites are analysed by using Hub spot’s model. Furthermore, the interview provides confirming information by Oguz Konar, who is an expert in the field of marketing automation, about this research report.
This examination has led to the conclusion that the two leading players of the apparel industry applied the marketing automation model correctly. The attract pillar is the most visible pillar on both H&M and Zara’s websites. The fashion companies are very active in blogging, the SEO of the website and social publishing and monitoring. By social monitoring, both companies create awareness of its engagement with the customer. The biggest difference between the two companies is that H&M expresses their appreciation towards the new customer in order to build a customer relationship, whereas Zara does not do anything about the customer relationship, besides the customer services with existing customers. Most fashion companies use the same pattern because it is of proved evidence that H&M and Zara are very successful.
Further research is advised to get a better insight of how marketing automation is used in the whole world of the fashion industry. Gaining more information from the customers, for example by the use of a survey, could be a possible continuation of this research. This could be conducted among Dutch customers about a certain fashion brand. Another interesting perspective is created when inside information is shared in order to see how marketing automation works from a fashion company’s perspective. Finally, small- medium businesses may not have the same amount of money to spend in the software and therefore the results will be different, so this is also a window of opportunity for further research. Unfortunately, these questions go beyond the extent of this work, so these recommendations could be used for further research.