QR in fashion industry

Introduction

Quick response: perceptions of UK fashion retailers
Grete Birtwistle
Noreen Siddiqui and
Susan S. Fiorito

The authors
Grete Birtwistle and Noreen Siddiqui are in the
Division of Marketing, at Glasgow Caledonian University,
Glasgow, UK.
Susan S. Fiorito is in the Department of Textiles and
Consumer Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee,
Florida, USA.
Keywords
Quick response retailing, Supply chain, Fashion, Retailing,
United Kingdom

During the mid-1980s, quick response (QR) methods were developed in the USA between suppliers and fashion retailers in recognition that a new strategy had to be implemented to compete with off-shore manufacturers. Kurt
Salmon Associates (KSA) projected that inefficiencies in the supply chain meant that approximately $25 billion was lost each year.
This was as a result of the length of time it took for merchandise to move through the supply chain from the state of raw fibre to garments purchased. An initial survey identified the causes to be excess inventories throughout the supply chain, long lead times meant unwanted goods resulting in markdowns; or the opposite, quicker than forecasted sales resulting in stock-outs. An evaluation, conducted by KSA of the results of implementing QR strategies during the ten years since the first projections were made, suggests that some progress has been made in providing customers with better choice, increased availability and lower prices while at the same time retailers have benefited from improved profitability (KSA, 1997a).
QR is defined as:
. . . a consumer driven business strategy of cooperative planning by supply chain partners . . . using IT and flexible manufacturing to eliminate inefficiencies from the entire supply chain
(McMichael et al., 2000, p. 613).

Abstract
Defines and discusses the level of quick response implementation by fashion retailers, their understanding of quality response (QR) is explored and the processes for replenishments examined. This

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