marketing strategy of harper’s bazaar in...
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Marketing Strategy of Harper’s Bazaar in China
Bu Qun
Cai Jie
He Mengxia
He Yingting
Lin RunYing
A Project Submitted
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
MSocSc in Media Management
Supervisor: Dr. David Ko
School of Communication and School of Business
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong
May 2015
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Acknowledgement
The process of writing this dissertation is long and arduous and it is certainly not
done singlehandedly. First and foremost, we would like to express the deepest
appreciation to our supervisor, Dr. David Ko, who has the attitude and the substance
of a genius. He continually and convincingly conveyed a spirit of adventure
regarding to our research. Without his incredible patience and timely wisdom
counsel, this dissertation would not have been possible.
We would certainly be remiss to not mention and sincerely thank all participants of
our survey and interviewees. All the information they provided has been valued
significantly. Last, the contributors to this dissertation are not limited to people
listed above. We acknowledge with gratitude to all the individuals who give their
help to us throughout this dissertation.
Bu Qun ___________________________
Cai Jie __________________________
He Mengxia __________________________
He Yingting __________________________
Lin Runying __________________________
MSocSc in Media Management
School of Communication
Hong Kong Baptist University
Date
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Plagiarism Declaration Form
Student Name: Bu Qun, Cai Jie, He Mengxia, He Yingting, Lin Runying
Student Number: 14404613, 14450313, 14419556, 14402564, 14402823
Title of Project: Marketing Strategy of Harper’s Bazaar in China
Submission Date: May 5th 2015
Declaration:
We have read the relevant sections on Plagiarism provided in the Handbook for
Graduation Project and observed the standards of conduct. We are fully aware of the
consequences in the event of plagiarism.
We declare that, to the best of our knowledge, this project represents our own work
and all sources have been properly acknowledged, and the Project contains no
elements of plagiarism.
We further declare that the Project has not been previously included in a thesis,
dissertation or report submitted to this University or to any other institution for a
degree, diploma or other qualification.
Students Signatures: _____________________________________________________________________
Date: _______________________________________________________________________________________
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Executive Summary
With more than a century of history, Harper’s Bazaar, owned by the biggest media
group, Hearst Corporation, is a first American fashion magazine. Firstly published in
1867, it positioned itself as a style resource for “women who are the first to buy the
best, from casual to couture” (Hearst Corporation, 2015) Basically, it aims to deliver
visionary and insightful perspectives of the world fashion to readers and to covers
every corner in the fashion world, for instance, clothing, beauty, culture and lifestyle.
Harper’s Bazaar, nowadays, is available in 43 countries around the globe. In 2005, it
officially announced the cooperation with Trends Group and gave birth to 时尚芭莎
Bazaar (Bazaar China) in China.
The first half of this project would present a unique business model of Bazaar China
and the China magazine market through general environment analysis, external
environment analysis, and internal environment analysis. With the knowledge about
fashion magazine market in China, we would elaborate on performance of Bazaar
China by introducing its value-chain activities and its different kinds of business
strategies by means of the theory of eclectic paradigm of international production,
so-called OLI-Model (Dunning, 1977) and foreign market entry strategy (Dess,
Lumpkin, Eisner & McNamara, 2012)
The latter part of this project is about the conducted survey and interviews for
further investigation about Bazaar China. Grounded on our survey and interviews,
we find out currently readers are not against advertising in Bazaar China.
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Meanwhile, the effort put on new media by Bazaar China has not worked effectively
as expected. The last part of this project would focus on in-depth analysis of
identified problems with Bazaar China and practical suggestions.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1. General Environment of Harper’s Bazaar in China......................................8
Harper’s Bazaar and Bazaar China.......................................................................................8
Trends Group..................................................................................................................................9
General Environment Analysis............................................................................................10
Chapter 2. Fashion Magazine in China......................................................................................14
The History of Women’s Fashion Magazine in China................................................14
Main Fashion Magazines in Mainland China Market.................................................17
Fashion Magazine Rivalry in China...................................................................................18
The Five-Forces Model Analysis of Fashion Magazine Market in China...........22
Chapter 3. Harper’s Bazaar in China..........................................................................................25
Leadership....................................................................................................................................25
Brand Image and Target Consumer..................................................................................25
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................26
Chapter 4. Business Model of Fashion Magazine...............................................................31
Contents........................................................................................................................................31
Readers.........................................................................................................................................32
Brand Name................................................................................................................................34
Fashion Magazine in Global Market.................................................................................34
Marketing Theories and Strategies for Fashion Magazines...................................38
OLI-Model .....................................................................................................................38
Foreign Market Entry Model ................................................................................40
Chapter 5. Central Proposition ....................................................................................................46
Chapter 6. Survey Analysis ............................................................................................................48
Questionnaire ...........................................................................................................................48
Sample and Procedure ..........................................................................................................48
Survey Analysis ........................................................................................................................49
Analysis and Suggestions .....................................................................................................65
Interview .....................................................................................................................................72
Interview Analysis ...................................................................................................................75
Chapter 7. Conclusion .......................................................................................................................78
Chapter 8. Limitation and Future Research ..........................................................................85
References ................................................................................................................................................87
Appendix ...................................................................................................................................................90
Appendix 1. Questionnaire (Chinese Version)…………………………………………...90
Appendix 2. Questionnaire (English Version)…………………………………………….94
Interview E-mail………………………………………………………………………………………98
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Chapter 1
General Environment of Harper’s Bazaar in China
Harper’s Bazaar and Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation is a world-class mass media company. Its assets cover a wide
range of communication fields, including magazines, newspapers, television and
Internet. In terms of magazines, Hearst owns a couple of magazines ranked in the
top ten fashion magazines around the world, like Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie Claire
and Harper’s Bazaar. With more than a century of history, Harper’s Bazaar, firstly
published in 1867, is a first American Fashion magazine. Harper’s Bazaar positions
itself as a style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to
couture” (Hearst Corporation, 2015) and tries to deliver visionary and insightful
perspectives of the world fashion. Nowadays, it, available in 43 countries, has won
over women’s heart globally with its style, good taste and authority.
In China, 时尚芭莎 Bazaar, at the very beginning, was distributed globally as BEST
CHINA FASHION. Trends Group renamed it as 时装·中国时装 in 2001. Just one year
after, Trends officially announced the corporation with Harper’s Bazaar and
renamed it again as 时尚芭莎 Bazaar (Bazaar China) in 2005. Bazaar China’s
contents have been divided into four categories, clothing, beauty, female-related
topic and celebrity interview. It targets its consumers at the upper-middle and
upper class women and aims to deliver up-to-date fashion information and vogue
trends (Bazaartrends, 2015). More important, it shares with readers about
aesthetics of modern life as an elegant female.
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Trends Group
Being the father of high-end consumer magazines, Trends, founded in 1993, now
owes 18 magazines covering every corner of the fashion world, including 时尚
COSMO, 时尚芭莎 Bazaar (Bazaar China), 芭莎男士. With the belief of “global
perspective, local consciousness”, Trends has collaborated with world-class
publishing groups, namely, Hearst Magazines International, National Geographic
Society and Rodale, and has achieved unbelievable charisma among consumers of
high-quality and high-value consumption.
In addition to its significant role in the magazine market, Trends has taken
advantage of multimedia to involve in a variety of cross-cutting events, like the
Charity Night of Bazaar Stars (Bazaar 明星慈善夜), Cosmopolitan Beauty Awards
(COSMO 美容大赏) and Esquire Selection (时尚先生评选). Meanwhile, Trends also
dabbles in the movie industry. Its movie, Esquire Runaway (时尚先生), represents a
successful cooperation between the magazine market and the movie market in
China. In 2013, Trends, in alliance with School of Economics and Management of
Tsinghua University, Institut Français de la Mode (法国时尚学院) and Hautes études
commerciales de Paris (巴黎 HEC 商学院), offers first-class fashion course in China-
AMP Fashion and Luxury Management. Among these cross-border activities, its
Bazaar Charity Night and Pink Ribbon event make Trends to be known as a socially
responsible media company (Trends, 2015).
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Trends, as a forerunner among the magazine market in China, has trained the first
generation of fashion photographers, cosmeticians and stylists. At the same time, it,
enlightened by international publishing corporations, combines magazines,
advertising, distribution, platemaking and printing effectively. Trends, actually, has
brought fresh concepts of modern marketing into early Chinese fashion industry.
And within these years, it, as a leader of fashion life, inventor of fashion culture and
promoter of fashion industry, has inaugurated a new era of fashion media in China.
General Environment Analysis
Within one and a half year, Bazaar China has been among the top five fashion
magazines in Chinese market. For both Hearst Corporation and Trends, Bazaar China
could be considered as an advisable step. The following parts would elaborate on
reasons why Harper’s Bazaar entering into the China market through general
environment analysis, consisting of demographic, economic, socio-cultural, political,
technological and global factors.
Demographic
China, with over 1.4 billion population, is definitely a potential market for many
kinds of products, including fashion magazines. Even though elder people (over 65)
have taken up a major part in total population, Bazaar China can still reach many
potential consumers. Generally, there are more people living in the east and middle
regions, including first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai. These urban areas offer
more opportunities for fashion industry.
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Economic
The whole world, in recent years, has witnessed economic growth of China. In 2014,
China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is about 10.4 trillion dollars and its GDP
based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) valuation has reached 17.6 trillion dollars,
even surpassing the United States (Wenweipo news, 2014). Economic prosperity
definitely improves people’s living standard and their consumption level. Chinese
people account for most luxury consumption around the globe, which is evidence of
increasing purchasing power (Sina Finance, 2014)
Socio-cultural
Along with economic development, the demand for fashion information among
Chinese consumers is also going up. In the past, people were struggling with basic
subsistence. They have more disposable income and time for entertainment
currently. Globalization makes western elements to flush into China and,
consequently, an increasing number of people are following international trends.
Moreover, the social status of female has also changed. Women, in contemporary
society, have a higher level of education than women in the past do. At the same
time, females are more financially independent, which is a good incentive for Bazaar
China since it targets on female consumers.
Political
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China has a relatively strict political policy than other countries do. However,
Chinese people have on the threshold of an open environment due to economic
progress and globalization. They can travel abroad more easily and foreigners are
able to visit China as well. These cultural encounters trigger people’s innermost
desire for new things.
Print media, compared with Television media, has a relatively loosen policy for
foreign entrants. Magazines mainly focus on fashion and beauty and would not
touch onsensitive topics.
Technological
The economic boom also benefits technology advancement. A great number of
people study overseas and bring cutting-edge technology back to their hometown.
As a result, both publishing and printing industry have developed rapidly.
Additionally, Internet could be considered as another motivator. An increasing
number of Chinese citizens have access to Internet and they could easily subscribe
Bazaar China online in such an environment-friendly way. With mobile Apps,
readers have one more choice to hit trends.
Global
As discussed above, globalization facilitates economy, politics, culture and
technology of China, which creates a promising market for Bazaar China. However,
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other fashion magazines have been also appealed to China, leading to a fierce
competition. And unfortunately, this is beyond the company’s control.
In conclusion, Bazaar China, according to the general environment analysis above,
could get benefits from entering into the China market. The prospect of fashion
magazine is optimistic considering a large population, economic growth, increasing
demand for fashion information, loosen policies and technology development.
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Chapter 2
Fashion Magazine Market in China
The History of Women’s Fashion Magazine in China
Embryonic Stage (1920s-1930s)
The earliest woman fashion magazine in China can be traced back to 1920s and
1930s. During that period, the rudiment of women’s fashion magazine appeared in
Shanghai. With accelerated urbanization, increasing entertainment demand, and
printing and photography technology development, several pictorials in Shanghai
emerged with fashion elements. Most of these pictorials covered topics including
fashion, beauty, and tourism with a large amount of pictures, in accordance with
current fashion magazines.
The Young Companion(良友), founded in 1926, and Ling long(玲瓏)founded in 1931,
were representative publications of this period. Covering fashion information and
celebrities’ lives, they usually chose large-scale photograph of celebrities as the
cover of magazines. As for contents, they also contained politics, culture and films
trends. These magazines played leading roles in early modern time when women
started following fashion and beauty information.
Stagnation Stage (The end of 1930s-China’s reform and opening up)
Due to the war and the Great Cultural Revolution, the overall political atmosphere
was very sensitive at that time. Therefore, the fashion magazine market was at
stagnation stage. Women of China(中国妇女), founded in 1939, was the only issued
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publication with photos of women in the work place and daily lives. Magazines in
this period basically were not associated with fashion.
The Rise and Prosperity Stage (China’s reform and opening up)
The Period of Initial Development
In a very real sense, women’s fashion magazines have flourished after the China’s
reform and opening up. Along with a relaxing political and cultural environment,
pop culture emerged, which provided cultural foundation for emergence and
development of fashion magazines in China market.
In 1980, Fashion (时装) was founded as a professional fashion magazine. At that
time, Fashion spared no effort to go to America to shoot photos for their magazines.
They, in cooperation with world’s top teams, aimed to provide readers with a high-
quality fashion magazine. In 1985, fashion magazines such as Shanghai Style (上海服
饰) were popular. The content varied from fashion trends to aesthetic psychology,
from star style to garment tailor. These magazines, with practical information,
attracted a great number of audiences. Fashion models from these magazines,
wearing western style or Japanese style clothing, have become fashion icons
immediately at that time. Meanwhile, their clothing and makeup styles have been
copied thousands and millions of times.
The Period of Exploration and Growth
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In the year of 1988, ELLE, the famous French fashion magazine, launched its Chinese
version (ELLE世界时装之苑) by working with Shanghai Translation Publishing
House (上海譯文出版社). This partnership can be marked as the first copyright
cooperation between Chinese and overseas fashion magazines. ELLE at that time
was always taking the leading position in the China fashion magazine market.
In 1993, COSMOPOLITAN (时尚) started issuing publications in China. Two years
later, COSMOPOLITAN achieved a dramatic development and established their initial
idea of publishing. Five years later in 1998, it cooperated with Hearst Corporation, a
well-known publishing group in America, and launched 时尚 COSMO. Such a pioneer
strategy facilitated it to grow up into a powerful media brand.
In 1995, Japanese fashion magazine Rayli marched into the China market,
representing the official collaboration with China Light Industry Press and
Shufunomoto Press. During the following two years, these three giants, ELLE,
COSMOPOLITAN, and Rayli, have monopolized the market tripartite. At the same
time, some second/third-tier brands also sprang up gradually, such as madame
Figaro and Feminine. As a result, more and more magazines have sensed the
significance of copyright cooperation with overseas brands. With the globalization
trend, a large number of world’s famous fashion magazines have entered into the
China market.
The Period of Flourishing
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From the beginning of 21st century, the competition in Chinese fashion magazine
market became fierce. Chinese fashion magazines were encountering
unprecedented opportunities and challenges. According to statistics, there were
about 180 new magazines founded during 2001, and 106 of them were fashion
magazines (Jiang, 2010). The major characteristic of this era is the collectivization of
business model, which was leaded by Rayli and COSMOPOLITAN. The market
segmentation of fashion magazines gradually became clear.
Vogue entered China in 2005. Since then, Vogue, ELLE, COSMOPOLITAN, MARIE
CLAIRE, and Harper’s Bazaar, took up the top five largest fashion magazines. They
were in intensive competitions in terms of readership, advertising and talent
resources. Nowadays, with the rapid development of Internet, all of these magazines
mentioned above begin to develop their online business in order to adapt to the
fast-growing new media industry.
Main Fashion Magazines in the China Market
Vivi (昕薇)--Vivi is issued by the China Textile & Apparel Press and Japan Kodansha
Company, targeting at young female readers. It highlights the expression of personal
characters and strong Japanese style.
Rayli (瑞丽)--Rayli group owns a series of fashion magazines like Rayli Costume and
Cosmetics, in accordance with readers’ age segmentation. It aims to provide readers
with practical fashion information.
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ELLE--Released by Hachette Filipacchi Media, ELLE is one of the most famous French
origin fashion magazines with 43 international editions over 60 countries. ELLE is
the first international high-end magazine in the China market.
Vogue-- With over one hundred years’ history, Vogue is recognized as the most
important fashion magazine in the world, so-called “fashion bible” in the fashion
industry. The Chinese edition of Vogue was issued in 2005 by Condé Nast and China
Pictorial Publishing House, and it became the sixteenth edition of Vogue.
Cosmopolitan--Issued by Hearst Magazines, Cosmopolitan releases 64 international
editions and is distributed in more than 110 countries. Its Chinese edition began in
1988 by corporation with Trends Group.
Fashion Magazine Rivalry
Based on the data of coverage rates and sales in China’s five main areas (See Figure
2.1), one could conclude that the competition is mainly among Japanese and
western style magazine. The Rayli Fashion & Beauty, Vivi and Rayli Her Style take
dominating positions in terms of coverage rates, which are all Japanese magazines.
One reason of this situation could be Japanese magazines, compared with western
magazines, share more cultural similarities with Chinese culture, which make them
well accepted by Chinese readers. What’s more, Japanese magazines offer practical
information like dressing suggestions and makeup tips to attract the white-collar
group with a huge consumption power.
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Figure 2.1. Coverage Rates and Sales of High-end Fashion Magazines in 2013
When it comes to western style magazines with great successes in oversea markets,
they still lag behind Japanese magazines in China in terms of coverage rate and sales.
In China, ELLE, Bazaar China, Vogue and Cosmopolitan are believed to be the top
four high-end fashion magazines with great influences on fashion industry,
especially for luxury brands. Since these four magazines are quite new to the China
market, there exist spaces for improvement, like sales channels and magazine
contents. Meanwhile, with the growing popularity of western culture in China, these
four magazines may surpass Japanese magazines in the future. The competition
between these four magazines is extremely fierce. From the statistics, we can know
that in north and west China, Cosmopolitan’s sales were the best among them while
in the east and central China ELLE took over the place and Bazaar China also stood
out in South China (See Figure 2.2).
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Figure 2.2. High-Priced Fashion Magazine Coverage Rate and Sales in China’s Five
Areas
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(Century Chinese International Media Consultation Inc, 2013)
The Five-Forces Model Analysis of Fashion Magazine market in China
In order to estimate the profit potential of fashion magazine market in China, we
will do the analysis based on the Porter’s five forces model, and it consists of five
aspects: the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining
power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity
of rivalry among competitors.
Threat of New Entrants: In terms of high entry barriers built by political
environment and exiting influential competitors in China fashion magazine market,
the threat of new entrants is weak. Firstly, the government controls the number of
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magazines very seriously, and any domestics or overseas fashion magazines need to
pass the audits through a series of processes. Secondly, the fashion magazine market
in China still has been dominated by those top international magazines, which
already have strong brand name and customer loyalty. The new entrants would not
catch up those giants in a short time without sufficient financial resources and
reasonable distribution channels.
Threat of Substitutes: The development of technology brings advantages as well as
threats to many industries, especially for fashion firms. With the popularity of
digital devices like iPhone and iPad, plenty of people switch to those devices
providing a convenient and cheap way. Meanwhile, for consumers who only want to
know fashion trends and focus on specific fashion brands, some famous fashion
bloggers and brand’s own official accounts are able to satisfy their needs in a faster
way.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Being suppliers to fashion magazines, the printing
industry holds less bargaining power due to keen competition among their own
firms. Especially, after China became a member of World Trade Organization (WTO),
the import tax decrease, thus, the local printing companies face more challenges
from international printing companies. Having a long contract with fashion
magazine would ensure their profits. Therefore, the printing industry could not
bargain with fashion magazines, which are indispensable consumers for their
business.
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Bargaining Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of buyers in the China market
of fashion magazine is very strong considering they have multiple choices. With the
high speed economic development of China, the percentage of independent women
with a high income increased accordingly, implying they have abilities and desires
to purchase fashion magazines, which might provide enough fashion trends and
information for them to catch. Nevertheless, it is difficult for customers to realize
differences of those famous fashion magazines like ELLE, VOGUE, Marie Claire and
Harper’s Bazaar. As a result, fashion magazines find it is hard to build brand loyalty
when the customer could change their choices very randomly without heavy
switching cost or they could buy several similar magazines at the same time.
As another important buyers, advertisers also have the strong power of bargaining
due to the important roles and positions they played in the fashion industry.
Rivalry Among Existing Competitors: The rivalry among fashion magazines in the
China market is intensive when occupied with western and Japanese style fashion
magazines. In the meantime, it pushes all of them to seize the opportunity to
improve their position. However, even those top magazines declare they have the
different target audiences; it is still hard to find their specific distribution channels.
Moreover, the price competition and advertising battle with free present will erode
the average level of profitability among the fashion industry.
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Chapter 3
Harper’s Bazaar in China
Leadership
Started with the first issued Bazaar China, Su Mang (苏芒)was invited to take
charge of the magazine as the chief editor. Su Mang, born in 1971,
graduated from China College of Music with a professional background of
Guzeng Art. When Su Mang joined Trends Group in the year of 1994, there were
seldom fashion magazines existing or publishing in China at that time. Therefore, Su
Mang with the founder of Trends Group, Liu Jiang, made great efforts on establishing
the concept of fashion to millions of Chinese people and later they brought in the
luxury fashion lifestyle when China’s economy began to boom and became more
internationalized.
Brand Image and Target Consumer
As mentioned earlier, copyright cooperation provides solid and advantageous
support for Bazaar China not only for its magazine contents but also the advertising
market. According to the regulation, Trends takes over the 75% of the copyright. The
cover of the magazine should consistent with the U.S version and the annual theme
has also to be coincident (Luo, 2013). Su Mang recalled (2013),
“Dating back to 2001, whether the editing or designing technique were half-baked in China magazine industry, applying the American style of magazine layout was a absolutely correct decision for Bazaar China to successfully enter into the Chinese market.”
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Moreover, the advertising market opens easily for Bazaar China since it has already
built up a well-recognized brand image with good reputation in foreign markets.
Simply clarified, the brand image is tied with the amount of international luxury
brands posted in the magazine. In return, advertising companies would choose
those magazines with international identities and brand names to ensure their
readership lied in middle to upper class level. Therefore, Bazaar China promotes
itself as the most authorized and professional women fashion magazine in China,
keen on providing the latest fashion guideline.
Referring to target audiences, the chief editor Su Mang targets on the ‘elite female’
group in the first issued Bazaar China. Later on, she slightly altered the position of
Bazaar China into a magazine making fashion women more successful, and making
successful women more fashionable. This distinguished core value of Bazaar China
has been repeatedly fulfilled in the cover story of monthly periodical. Bazaar China
invites different types of elite women to become their cover figure and then
interviews with them about their strivings to achieve life success. For instance, the
cover story of Li Bingbing (李冰冰) in the issue of July 2012 wrote about, “the life is
a competition, I want win, I have to win, I will try my best to be the champion”. This
particular value of “working hard to achieve personal value” is equally consistent
with the value of the Bazaar China.
SWOT Analysis
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SWOT analysis is utilized to measure the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats of a specific organization/company. Basically, SWOT analysis is a useful and
effective method to observe both internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and
external issues (opportunities and threats). This specific part would examine the
current situation of Bazaar China by the means of SWOT analysis.
Strengths
Resources & Reputation
Harper’s Bazaar, owned by Hearst Corporation is one of the historical media giant in
the world. Other than Harper’s Bazaar, Hearst Corporation also produces or partly
participates in more than 300 magazines in worldwide. Therefore, the mother
company is capable of providing sufficient resources and powerful financial backup.
Moreover, the well-known reputation of Hearst in international arena also
guarantees the superior status of Bazaar China.
Professional Work Team
The chief editor, Su Mang, as a symbolic female figure in the Chinese media industry,
is famous for her enthusiastic but rigorous working style. Her colleagues even
comment that Bazaar China is the reflection of Su Mang’s value and lifestyle. Su
Mang with her leading team makes great contributions to ensure a high standard
quality of Bazaar China.
PR Events & Media Exposure
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Bazaar China began to organize The Charity Night of Bazaar Star in 2003. Tracing
back to 2003, SARS brought a lot of tragedies in China and Bazaar China held
donation events among celebrities. The first contribution was about 170,000 RMB to
help people suffering from SARS (Ifeng, 2010). Afterwards, more and more
celebrities joined this event, making it an annual charity event. Surely, this charity
night has helped Bazaar China to gain respect from the public, thereby offering
more opportunities to them.
Weakness
Unclear Market Segment
According to the recent research on various types of fashion magazines in the China
market, indistinct brand positioning and relative convergences in brand value have
become the major problems in the China fashion magazine industry. Vogue and
ELLE have surpassed the market share of Bazaar China due to their higher
fashionable representation and customer affinity.
Content & Style
Distinguished from foreign partnership of other fashion magazines, Bazaar China
has been criticized upon its local-style of editing and content which made the
magazine become uncouth and tacky. Moreover, the primary issue is caused by
inconsonance of the style and content with Harper’s Bazaar. This so-called “Chinese
Characteristics” that Su Mang’s team eager to achieve may request more profound
consideration and careful allocation.
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Opportunities
Booming Chinese Economy
Chinese economy has boomed at a striking speed in recent decades. GDP increased
around 10% in each years and the increasing number of international business
trade has contributed to a more globalized Chinese consumption culture. Chinese
luxury online transaction scale, including C2C and B2B, has reached 107.3 billions
RMB, and fulfilled an annual grow at 68.8% (QQ tencent, 2014). As a result, a
predictable growth of luxury consumption market among Chinese people is obvious.
At the same time, luxury fashion industry would also expand in order to cater to
wealthy Chinese consumer.
New Media Engagement
Starting from Facebook upsurge, social media becomes an integral part of
individual’s daily life. Nowadays, the general public receives fashion information
from social networking sites and also shares, comments and forwards their own
thoughts with their friends and followers. In other words, social media replaces
traditional media outlets to a great extent, such as televisions and radios.
Fortunately, Bazaar China has participated in new media world. Looking at its
homepage on Sina Weibo, Bazaar China has attracted 417 millions of fans and
constantly posts the updated fashion news on their homepage.
Threats
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Culture Barriers
A large number of Chinese readers complain about difficulties to recognize foreign
fashion icons in Bazaar China, and also those luxury brands with complicated
English name. Currently, most luxury brands have been translated into their Chinese
version, namely, Louis Vuitton changes to 路易威登 and Gucci to 古驰. However,
luxury fashion ideology may not easily been integrated into Chinese culture,
considering its deep-rooted Western noble spirit is in stark contrast to traditional
Chinese culture.
Market Competition
Not only the Western style of women luxury fashion magazines has entered the
Chinese fashion industry, Japanese and Korean fashion style also emerged as new
but powerful competitors. Japanese and Korean women fashion styles are more
acceptable by Chinese readers in the sense of culture conformity. Besides, regional
differentiation of fashion taste exists in China and it adds more difficulties for
Bazaar China to locate its brand positioning. Metropolis, such as Beijing and
Shanghai, prefer western luxury fashion taste whilst second/third-tier cities may be
more willing to accept Japanese and Korean style.
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Chapter 4
Business Model of Fashion Magazine
Fashion magazine, originally, features latest trends in terms of clothing and beauty.
As times goes on, it has marched on a variety of fields, covering household, fitness,
entertainment, art and so on. Put in other words, fashion magazine has grown up
into a motivator of modern life, in addition to be a reliable source of fashion
forecasting. It aims to promote a fire-new consumption concept. The following
chapter would explore on business model of fashion magazine as a cultural product
and commodity. Fashion magazine, generally, make profits from contents, readers
and its brand name, which in accordance with circulation, advertising and related
derivatives industry.
Contents
The first selling point of fashion magazine would be its content. Traditional
magazines, largely, feed on circulation. The retail price is much higher than its cost.
For example, Reader’s Digest is among the best-selling list around the world. In
China, the annual revenue of 读者 is 226 million RMB, which took up to 30.72% of
whole revenue (The Beijing News, 2014). Harper’s Bazaar and Bazaar China, as
fashion magazines, mainly concentrate on fashion clothing, luxury commodity,
beauty and celebrity. Its introduction about seasonal products in the fashion
31
industry calls on a large number of readers, both females and males. Undoubtedly,
the copyright corporation with Harper’s Bazaar, to a great degree, facilitates Bazaar
China to consolidate its foothold at the early stage when entering into the Chinese
market. Bazaar China obviously gained benefits from Harper’s Bazaar, no matter in
magazine contents, composing and other kinds of professional skills, which can be
reflected by the number: the monthly average circulation of Bazaar China is 650,000
(admaimai, 2014). Especially in South China, Bazaar China’s sales ranked fourth
among fashion magazine in 2013. Harper’s Bazaar, now, is available in 43 countries
around the world. The average circulation for the six months (ending in June 30
2014) of Harper’s Bazaar is 754, 846 (hearstmagazine, 2014). However, their sales
volumes may not outnumber those traditional magazines in a short time.
Readers
As mentioned before, traditional magazines are mainly based on circulation benefits
while for fashion magazines, it is a very different case. Fashion magazine issues
high-quality booklet and its retail price are usually much lower than its cost. As a
result, it makes money from its second selling point-- advertising. Moeran (2006)
suggested that “fashion magazine generally provide a supportive editorial
environment that encourages brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci to place
advertising regularly”. Fashion magazines target their readers on a group of people
who has a strong purchasing power or a group of people who involve high-end
consumption frequently. Meanwhile, these groups of people are also preys of
advertising agency, which could explain the great lengths of advertising in fashion
32
magazines.
Figure 4.1 below provides an overview about fashion world value chain.
Figure 4.1 . Fashion World Value Chain (Morean, 2006)
Harper’s Bazaar provides various kinds of opportunities for advertisers, including
banner ads, pay per click ads, cheap advertising (See Figure 4.2). In 2013, the total
revenue of the Hearst Corporation was about 10,000 billion dollars (Media Data
Base, 2015). According to its company 2013 annual report, 40% of revenue came
from advertising business (Hearst Corporation, 2015).
Figure 4.2. Harper’s Bazaar’s official website
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Brand name
The third selling point is brand image. Corporation would consider taking advantage
of its earned brand name to gain more money after it has build up a favorable and
strong brand image, which is so-called halo effect in the magazine market. Financial
magazines like Fortune can make use of its brand to carry out a series of forums and
meeting to get revenue. The Reader’s Digest even gain more profit from related
books’ sales than that of magazines. As for fashion magazines, one example to this
point is the Cosmopolitan. Relying on its large-scale reader group and great
influences, it began to develop related small item products like watches, sunglasses,
swimsuits and so on. With authorized licensing company in 1997, it opened up
thousands of shops in Europe, largely increasing company revenues.
Fashion magazine in global market
At present time, most fashion magazines feed on advertising, especially of luxury
brands. Consterdine (2005) has stated that
“The intimacy between reader and magazine benefits advertiser. The magazine
environment delivers a reader in the right frame of mind to be receptive to the
advertising. In the sympathetic context of the right magazine, the strong positive
brand values of the magazine can transfer onto the advertisements.”
The reason why most luxury brands are willing to spend pretty penny can make
sense now. According to 2014 annual report of LVMH, its advertising and promotion
expenses were about € 3,484 million, accounting 11% of its total marketing and
selling expenses. For Prada, its advertising and communications cost about € 172
million, which was 4.8% of net revenues (Prada Group, 2013). Hermes also spent
34
about € 212 million in terms of advertising and marketing (Hermes International,
2013). Harper’s Bazaar, with its history and popularity, has won over a great deal of
luxury brand (See Figure 4.3).
Figure 4.3. Harper’s Bazaar, Prestige Advertisers
(http://www.harpersbazaarmediakit.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=413513&cate
gory_id=27873 )
35
In recent decades, most of the world-renowned fashion magazines choose one
similar strategy in global market: to issue different editions around the world. They
either release a certain edition in the targeted country through the mother company
or corporate with local publishing organizations to enter into an oversea market.
The main reason for this choice is that fashion magazines need to cover most of the
luxury brands’ target markets (See Figure 4.5) in order to better serve their
advertisers.
Figure 4.5 Geographic Mix of Luxury Goods
(http://www.euromonitor.com/how-global-is-the-global-luxury-goods-
market/report)
36
Figure 4.6. Harper’s Bazaar, international edition
(http://www.harpersbazaarmediakit.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=3951438 )
Taking Harper’s Bazaar as an example, it has released 31 international editions in 54
countries (See Figure 4.6), focusing on countries where people purchase more
luxury products than the others do. And China, a growing star in global luxury
37
market, has been possessed by most luxury brands. Bazaar China’s advertising price
of front gatefold 4 pages reached 1.595 million RMB /month (admaimai, 2014) and
its printed advertising almost took half of its total pages. Based on advertising
expenses of luxury brands above, one could have a general image of how much
money fashion magazine can earn through those advertising pages. And, Su Mang,
courtesy of Trends Group, has claimed advertising revenue accounts for almost 80%
of gross income of Trends (Luo, 2013).
Marketing Theories and Strategies for Fashion Magazines
The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production (OLI-Model)
The theory of eclectic paradigm of international production, also known as the OLI
model, was introduced by Dunning in 1977. Dunning further developed it in 1981 by
adding three more factors to the internalization theory. The theory is an approach to
analyze whether a company is qualified to make a foreign direct investment.
According to the theory, there are three main advantages, Ownership advantage,
Location advantage and Internalization advantage, which should be taken into
consideration when a company is seeking to make a foreign direct investment.
Ownership advantage refers to unique advantages that enable the firm to expand
abroad. The second factor, location advantage, focuses on where a Multinational
Enterprise (MNE) chose to locate and whether there is any advantages in that area.
38
Finally, internalization advantage addresses the problem that whether it would be
better for a company to engage in foreign production rather than license the right to
a local firm. A company must have a combined advantage of these three factors (See
figure 4.7) if it is seeking opportunities to make a foreign direct investment.
(Dunning & John, 2000).
Figure 4.7. The eclectic paradigm as an envelope for economic and business
theories of MNE activity
For Harper’s Bazaar, the parent company Hearst Corporation has already got a good
reputation around the world. So Harper’s Bazaar has won over women’s heart
globally with its style, good taste and authority, which makes it a qualified
competitor to all the fashion magazines. Consequently, Harper’s Bazaar wins
ownership advantage. As for the location advantage, the China market is large
enough for Bazaar China and could provide several advantages such as cheaper
39
labor costs, cheaper land space, faster transportation channels and a substantial
consumer market. By possessing the ownership and location advantage, Bazaar has
the capability to lower the operation cost through foreign operational structure
rather than remain local. As a result, it is beneficial for Harper’s Bazaar to engage in
foreign direct investment.
Foreign Market Entry Model
The emergence of globalization has created great business opportunities for
multinational corporations. At the same time, this intensive growth of global
capitalism has exerted huge impacts on development of different economic regions
From figure 4.8, the GDP growth per person in China increased dramatically from
2001 to 2011, which could explicitly implies the increasing buying power of Chinese
consumers and a larger potential profitable business market in China.
40
Figure 4.8 Growth in GDP from 2001-2011
According to Michael Porter who demonstrated a framework named the diamond of
national advantages, including factor endowments, demand conditions, related and
supporting industries, and firm strategy, structure, and rivalry (Dess, Lumpkin,
Eisner & McNamara, 2012, p. 214). In details, demand conditions means the
demands that public needs of goods and services (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner &
McNamara, 2012, p. 214). Then, related and supporting industries facilitates
companies to manage inputs more efficiently (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner & McNamara,
2012, p.215). In the case of Harper’s Bazaar, demand conditions of China market
pushed it to enter into China at the first stance, following by the acceleration of
luxury consumption among Chinese people (related and supporting industries).
Recently, Chinese consumers in middle-to-upper market started to follow foreign
41
fashion information with economic development and globalization trends.
Consequently, Bazaar China emerges as a professional guideline for them to learn
and digest novel fashion elements. At the same time, numerous foreign luxury
brands attempted to march into the China market, meaning Bazaar China could
easily get financial support from huge advertising revenues.
In fact, a series of factors motivate firms to expand internationally, mainly including
enhancing a product’s growth potential, optimizing the location of value-chain
activities, exploring reverse innovation, and reducing cost and risk. However,
besides to these benefits, there exist some risks to be considered. In general, a firm
should carefully compare two factors: lowering cost and local adaptation.
42
Figure 4.9 Multi Domestic Strategy
From the figure 4.9, a multi domestic strategy emphasizes differentiating
products/service to satisfy local markets, which is the current strategy of Bazaar
China. One of effective ways for companies to meet local market needs is to name
their products appropriately. As the earlier chapters illustrated, Bazaar China
adjusted its name several times in order to clearly express the core value and
position of the magazine. One of major risks and challenges that Bazaar China
encountered is local adaptations may go backfire. Industry delegates have criticized
43
that Bazaar China is too localized to become a high-end fashion magazine, especially
a majority of Chinese readers are looking for western-style of fashion contents.
There are basically six forms of foreign entry modes, namely, exporting, licensing,
franchising, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and wholly-owned subsidiaries
(Figure 4.10). In the case of Bazaar China, Harper’s Bazaar has established contract
arrangements with Trends to utilize their brand name and share valuable resources,
in other term, licensing. To define licensing, it refers to “a company to receive a
royalty or fee in exchange for the right to use its trademark, patent, trade secret, or
other valuable item of intellectual property”. Different from other western countries,
China presents a distinguished cultural ideology and political system that affect the
thinking and social behavior among Chinese people. Licensing would be a
convenient and rational strategy for Harper Bazaar to enter into the China market.
One of the major advantages of licensing is helping business enterprise to reduce
risks and to minimize financial investment on the way of seeking international
expansion.
44
Figure 4.10. Foreign Entry Modes
Chapter 5
45
Central Proposition
Based on previous analysis, one can find out fashion magazine issues high-quality
booklet and its retail price are usually much lower than its cost. As a result, it makes
money from its second selling point: advertising. So does Bazaar China. Hence, it
may end with a large amount of advertising within magazines. Taking Bazaar China
2014 November as an example, the English version has 150 pages of advertising
(total page: 300), and its Chinese version has 64 pages of advertising (total page:
434). Besides, luxury brands, such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton, would not put their
ads in only one particular magazine, which means that several high-end fashion
magazines share the same advertising contents. In other words, it is difficult for
Bazaar China to differentiate itself from its competitors. And more importantly,
repeated advertising contents might bring negative effects. Therefore, (1) we
assume that the a large amount of advertising is likely to cause the reader’s
antipathy and rejection, which may consequently lower the reputation and influence
among readers. Similarly, it would result in the reduction of circulation, which refers
to the first selling point of fashion magazine.
In this Internet age, the rise of new media exerts a huge impact on printed media.
Printed media is going through a hard time, including fashion magazines.
Fortunately, Trends has already sensed the significance of new media platform and
has established their media division in 2010. Moreover, they also launched their
apps for iPhone, iPad and Android versions. In terms of social media, Bazaar China
has also caught up with the current trend. For example, they have about 4000,000
46
followers in Weibo. As a result, (2) we assume that Bazaar China has been doing
well in the field of new media and their performance has been well received by
readers.
We have discussed the leadership of Bazaar China in chapter 3. Su Mang, as the CEO
and chief editor of Bazaar China, is with a strong leadership. Her personal charisma
has a great influence to Bazaar China. With her leadership, Bazaar China contains a
lot of Chinese elements and local contents. Therefore, in terms of the degree of
localization, Bazaar China is relatively higher than other versions of Harper’s Bazaar.
However, with the rapid development of globalization, there will be more and more
women in China preferring western fashion trends and cultures, instead of local
contents. Hence, (3) we assume the over-localized content is not likely to meet the
need of Chinese women.
Chapter 6
47
Survey Analysis
Questionnaire
The questionnaire contains 28 multiple-choice questions. The first part is to collect
the recipients’ personal background information, including gender, age, education,
occupation and socioeconomic status (SES) factors. The rest part of the
questionnaire is ground on the Marketing Theory of 4Ps: product, promotion, place
and price (Borden, 1953).
The focus of this questionnaire, clearly, would be the 4Ps part, through which, we
want to explore people’s consumption habits, Bazaar China’s communication with
readers, distribution and purchase channels and price factors. In general, the
questionnaire is designed to evaluate the performance of Bazaar China in eyes of
general readers and to address issues associated with first two assumptions
proposed in the chapter 5: attitudes toward advertising and promotion in new
media.
Sample and Procedure
All participants were recruited through random sampling, a form of probability
sampling. The survey was created on wenjuan.com, a popular online-survey tool.
Next, the questionnaire was distributed through social media sites, for example,
Wechat, Sina Weibo and RenRen. Through posting and reposting on these platforms,
the questionnaires have been spread out to reach as many people as possible. Upon
48
closure of this survey, we collected 380 answers, in which 284 participants are
among target audience age.
Survey Analysis
Background Information of Respondents
Gender
Female participants (75%) / Male participants (25%).
Age
25%
75%
Male
Female
49
Regarding with target audiences and potential audiences of Bazaar China, we would
mainly identify three groups: 18-24 (41%); 25-35 (22%); 35-45 (14%).
Education Background
Most of our respondents have middle-to-high education level with bachelor degree
(51%), master degree (33%) and college or blow (12%).
1%
41%
22%
14%
22%
Under 18
18-24
25-35
35-45
Above 46
12%
51%
33%
1% 3%
College or below
Bachelor
Master
Doctor
Others
50
Which city do you live in?
For geographic factors of our respondents, one can sense they almost cover some
main provinces of China.
Monthly Income
32%
9%
8% 8% 3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
4%
26%
Si Chuan
Shang Hai
Guang Dong
Jiang Su
Tian Jin
Fu Jian
Chong Qin
Shan Dong
Hu Bei
Hong Kong
Others
20%
10%
21% 20%
12%
17%
Under 1000
1000-3000
3000-5000
5000-7000
7000-9000
Above 9000
51
One can sense our participants make a respectable income with 3000-5000RMB
(21%), 5000-7000RMB (20%), 7000-9000RMB (12%) and above 9000RMB (17%).
The reason for 20% participants make money under 1000RMB could be they are all
students.
Have you ever bought Bazaar China?
The results show that 43% of participants have bought Bazaar China before, and 47%
of them did not. Nevertheless, 10% of them choose “cannot remember”, which may
imply two explanations: they did not bought actually or the awareness of magazine
is too weak for them to memorize among several of fashion magazines they have
bought.
Purchase Frequency
42%
48%
10%
Yes
No
Cannot remember
52
For purchase frequency in terms of fashion magazines, the participants who buy a
fashion magazine once a month only take a small portion (12%). In contrast, there
are more than 20% of respondents never buy fashion magazine before. It may
suggest that people have other source of fashion information, like Internet.
When you are reading a magazine, which part do you prefer?
12%
22%
21%
24%
21% Once a month
Every 2-3 month
Every half year
Once a year
Never
15% 2%
67%
16% Pictures
Words
The combination ofpictures and words
Don't read carefully
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Majority of our participants (67%) claim they prefer the combination of pictures
and words.
Which section of fashion magazine does you like best?
From the above table, we can tell that the most popular section in fashion magazines
is Fashion, which provide the fashion trend and dress collocation. The section of Life
including information about furniture and food is at the second place, considering it
relates to daily life. The result also shows that people have interest on Beauty and
Features section.
Will fashion magazines influence your consumption behavior？
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Fashion（fashion trend, dress
collocation）
Features（interviews of celebrity）
Beauty and body
Life(furnitures, food)
Advertising
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The purpose of this question is to evaluate the influence of fashion magazine on
customer’s consumption behavior, in deed, giving the clue for digging the
effectiveness of products promotion on fashion magazines. More than 60% of
people say the fashion magazines have influence on their consumption behaviors.
And for 12% of them, they do not know whether or not it has the influence, we could
assume them do not feel the directly drivers.
In which aspect will fashion magazines influence your consumption behavior?
64%
24%
12%
Yes
No
I don't know
55
Half of participants identify that the clothes, shoes, bags and accessories are major
parts (50%) would be influenced by fashion magazines. It follows by beauty product
(27%) and travel-related product (20%).
What is your attitude towards the advertising of fashion magazines?
This one is associated with our first proposition. More than 71% of respondents
show neutral attitude and 11% show positive attitude to advertising because they
50%
27%
20%
1% 2%
clothes, shoes,bagsand accessories
Make up &skincareproduct
travel-relatedproduct
Advertising
Others
71%
12%
11%
6% I don't care
Only read what I'minterested in
Read all
Dislike, don't read
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would read all of it. However, there are still 6% of participants dislike it, and do not
read it.
Do you agree with the values and consumption outlook that Bazaar advocated？
As we mentioned before, Bazaar China is a magazine with a strong personality.
Therefore we desire to know the attitude of consumer toward the value of Bazaar
China. 82% of them choose “It depends” but there are 15% of people disagree with it.
How do you get the fashion information?
82%
15%
2% 1%
It depends
Don't agree
I don't know
Agree
57
One can figure out the popular way that the general participants use when searching
for the fashion information: Internet. Then, it follows by magazine and friends
recommendations.
Internet Use Frequency
92% of participants surf the Internet everyday.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
Internet
TV
Newspaper
Magazine
Radio
Friends
Others
92%
7%
1% 0%
Everyday
At least 3 times aweek
At times
Never
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Do you follow the Weibo of Bazaar China?
Unfortunately, even Bazaar China takes a lot of efforts on new media promotion, but
it does not work well as expected. As we can see from the chart, 78% of people have
not followed Bazaar China on Sina weibo.
Which of the following one will attract you to follow the Weibo of Bazaar China?
13%
78%
9%
Yes
No
I don't know
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According to the table, it is obvious that the most attractive element is the latest
fashion information (45%). In addition, 29% of respondents also prefer sharing
practical information of the product.
Which of the following activity that Bazaar sponsored or held will attract you？
This question is to investigate the effectiveness of its promotions activities. As it is
showed from the table, fashion festival is the most attractive activity to the
respondents, which occupies 222 of the total 380 respondents.
How did you know the magazine of Bazaar China?
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37% of respondents know Bazaar China from newsstand, followed by 24% of them
knows from recommendations of family and friends, and 22% from the mass media.
How do you buy Bazaar China usually？
The result shows that there are three main approaches to buy the magazine:
28%
24%
3% 1%
44%
Newsstand
Only read the freemagazines in publicplace
Online shop
others
Subscribe from the postoffice
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subscription from post office, newsstand and reading the free newspaper in the
public place. It indicates that most of respondents purchase magazines regularly.
Where do you usually read the fashion magazines?
According to the table, 42% of the respondents prefer to read at home. 28% of
respondents usually read magazines in the places like hair salons. The workplace
also occupies a relatively high proportion (17%).
Have you ever downloaded the app of Bazaar China?
42%
28%
17%
5% 6%
2%
Home
Hair salon
Vehicles
Airport
Workplace
Others
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The result shows that only about 10% of respondents have downloaded the app of
Bazaar China, which indicates that further promotion is still needed in terms of new
media.
How much money do you spend to buy magazines per month?
According to table, 45% of the respondents spend less than 15 RMB on purchasing
magazines every month, following by 28% of them spending 16-30 RMB on
magazines. As the market price of Bazaar China is 20 RMB, the price of Bazaar China
74%
16%
10%
No
Don't remember
Yes
45%
28%
19%
5%
3%
0-15 Yuan
16-30 Yuan
31-50 Yuan
51-100 Yuan
Over 100 Yuan
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is slightly high but still acceptable.
How often do you buy Bazaar China?
As it shows in the table, 63% of our respondents buy Bazaar China occasionally. 33%
of them have never bought it before.
Do you think the price of Bazaar China is reasonable?
This table clearly shows that 67% of the respondents accept the price of Bazaar
63%
33%
3% 1%
At times
Never
Subscribe monthly
Subscribe annually
67%
19%
13%
1%
Acceptable
High
Reasonable
Low
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China while 19% of the people think it is slightly high. Therefore, it can be concluded
that the price of Bazaar China is reasonable in the mainland market.
If Bazaar China lowers its price, you will think it is…
It is clearly showed in the table that 57% of the respondents think it would make no
difference if Bazaar China lowers its price. 35% of them think that a lower price is
attractive to them.
Analysis and Suggestions
Attitudes towards Advertising
Data above rejects the first proposition: people have a negative feeling of
advertising in Bazaar China. 69% of female participants hold indifferent attitudes to
advertisements and only 6% of female participants are averse to advertising. 74.2%
of major potential audiences (aged from 25 to 45) would skim through these
magazine advertisements. Moreover, among 181 participants who never purchase
Bazaar China by themselves, only 7.73% of them show negative feelings against
57% 35%
8%
No difference
Attractive
Worry about thequality reduction
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advertising. In general, the implication here would be readers currently are not
against advertising in Bazaar China.
The future trend is unpredictable. Advertising is main product of fashion magazines
and advertising revenue, as mentioned in previous chapters, occupies a large part of
the whole company revenue. For a fashion magazine, making people to prefer inside
advertising is more vital than making people to only accept the existence of
advertising. Only under this circumstance, Bazaar China can get more and more
luxury brands’ favors and raise their page prices. One possible strategy is
differentiation to outperform rivals in the market. Innovation in contents, format,
layout, design and ways of advertising may be able to catch the public’s eyeballs.
Role in New Media
In contrary to previous expectation, other fashion magazines might outperform
Bazaar China in the filed of new media. 75.7% of female participants do not follow
Bazaar China on Sina Weibo. And accordingly 74.3% of female participants never
downloaded Bazaar China App. Same thing happened to age factor. 79% of target
audiences (aged from 25 to 45) never know this App and 85.4% of them are not
followers of Bazaar China on Sina Weibo. As a result, there exist a lot of spaces for
improvements for Bazaar China in the field of new media.
Social media platform, needless to emphasize, is of significance for numerous types
of business, including fashion magazines. Social media can be considered as place
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(distribution channels like Apps) and promotion strategy in 4Ps. 332 of 380
participants identify Internet as their major sources for fashion information.
Unfortunately, only 4.9% of participants, who claimed they purchased Bazaar China
before, indicate that they get to know it through social media. Undoubtedly,
improvements in social media marketing are of utmost urgency.
● Apps
It seems that Bazaar China group has put efforts in designing its app. The overall
structure is quite neat and the content inside is in pace with monthly publication. All
pictures and texts are in high resolution and easy to read (See Figure 6.1). They even
create 3D effects inside pages (See Figure 6.2). The tiny bug would be it costs
relatively long time to download a whole magazine. But in general, it is user-friendly.
Hence, lack in promotion may be the primary cause of pitiful download rates.
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Figure 6.1. Bazaar China App
68
Figure 6.2. Bazaar China App
69
Figure 6.3. Wechat
70
Wechat nowadays is in great popularity. Bazaar China has its own wechat official
account to delivery fashion trends (See Figure 6.3). However, like its app, wechat
account makes no difference because only few people follow it. One suggestion
would be cross-promotion. Bazaar China could promote its wechat account on weibo
and vice versa. In this way, their social media channels can get more exposure.
● Sina Weibo
Figure 6.4. Sina Weibo Fans
Based on search result, Bazaar China actually ranks the first one, in terms of
followers, among major fashion magazines on Sina Weibo (See Figure 6.4). However,
the point here is the number of active followers. There is a phenomenon called
“zombie fans” and an user is able to purchase followers as many as he/she wants.
Another issue in this case is their performance on social media sites. As mentioned
above, participants rarely get information about their magazines through Sina
Weibo, which means Bazaar China does not perform well in social community. The
key point in social media marketing is to drive word-of-mouth, making people to
promote your brand spontaneously. For example, game mechanics increases people
engagement, physically and psychologically. Most airline companies have “frequent
flyer” program to keep people continually flying with them. Another successful
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example would be Philips “我型” campaign. It introduced a new series of grooming
products through inviting publics to explore myth based on each episode released
and to finish storytelling. The secret behind these strategies is making people to be
insiders. When people feel them as insiders, they would engage more and have more
willingness to share with others. Bazaar Charity Night may be one of these examples,
but it limits insiders to celebrities. As a result, Bazaar China needs a promotion
campaign for public to increase their social presence to readers.
Interview
Interviewee 1:
Zhang Xiao, Bazaar China former assistant editor-in-chief
Interview Question
1. For Harper's Bazaar, what is the revenue percentage between advertising and
magazine circulations?
First of all, I am not quite sure about the financial ratios between circulations and
advertising. But what could be guaranteed is that the revenues from advertising are
far more than that from circulation. As I know, above 90 percent of the revenues are
generated by advertising based upon quarterly report.
2. If a luxury brand (for example: Chanel or Louis Vuitton) bought the
advertising page on Harper's Bazaar (Chinese version), could this luxury brand
also put the ads in other versions of Harper's Bazaar?
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The answer is NO for this specific question. If brands buy the advertising page on
Bazaar China, the brands could not also post their advertisements on other versions.
The luxury advertising in Harper's Bazaar runs independently in different countries,
except international cooperation. For example, Christian Dior sponsored the Charles
Throne’s cover. For the special edition of October, which is the most important
monthly publications of Harper's Bazaar annually, a large number of pages and art
design will be applied to emphasize the objects with of Chinese-style.
3. What is your opinion about the relationship between the localization of
Harper's Bazaar in terms of interview guest, articles, cover page, art design
and the international version (US version)?
To be honest, I think Bazaar China has already jumped out from the original
structure (which refers to US version here). Based upon the great effort on
localization, Bazaar China has successfully established its own ideology. In relation
to interviewing guests and contents, it mainly advocates a new ideology of "Harper's
Bazaar Women"-- women hold a perfect balance between life and work. They do not
only take care of their loved ones but also themselves to achieve a high-quality life.
4. In the aspects of publishing platforms and promotion strategy, what was the
achievement of Harper's Bazaar in new media area, and what new strategy
would be raised to meet challenge in new media market?
Personally speaking, the Chinese magazine market had been through a period of
dynamic and fast-development, and a few magazines could survive after the
intensive competitions. Definitely, survivors are those magazines that do excellent
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work on both contents and styles. However, new media would even accelerate this
survival of fittest process, each magazine would provide distinguished contents
towards audiences. The print version might disappear in the future, which may
become a representation of collection and taste.
Interviewee 2:
Aries Wong, currently working at New Media Department of Bazaar China
Interview Question
4. In the aspects of publishing platforms and promotion strategy, what was the
achievement of Harper's Bazaar in new media area, and what new strategy
would be raised to meet challenge in new media market?
In fact, Bazaar China has already developed many platforms and products in new
media area, especially in social media part. For our weibo homepage, we have
already owned 400 million fans, and we also provide products in different
categories on Wechat, like 时尚芭莎，芭莎娱乐，时尚芭莎美容. All these
public Wechat accounts have been ranked at top 3 in each category. We also
created different versions of App products on both iPad and iPhone to satisfy
readers with various reading habits. We believe a promising future and more
products will be designed to fit with future development about new media.
5. Recently, magazine Figaro just stop publications in China, at the same time
T magazine will enter the China in the coming months. What is your opinion
about Chinese magazine development in the future landscape?
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From a professional view, I do not underestimate print magazines, but I truly
believed that new media would surpass the print version one day in the future.
Interview Analysis
The interviews of these two insiders of Bazaar China are regarded as additional
information to explain the survey findings and localization of Bazaar China from
professional perspectives. These two interviewees are conducted mainly through
email contact. Firstly, we made an appointment with our interviewees, and then we
the interview questions based upon the findings of the survey. After that, we sent
the email and waited for the reply.
Based upon the interview contents, it is clearly clarified that advertising revenues
take the largest part of the total revenues that is normally 90 percent. Besides,
advertising subscription of luxury brands ran individually in each country except a
few large-scale international cooperation or significant global media events. In new
media, both interviewees hold positive attitudes towards Bazaar China future
development. One of the interviewee even predicts that the new media would
replace traditional print version in the future. Additionally, the second interviewee,
currently working in Bazaar China, has claimed their outstanding new media
performance when compared to other major rivals in the fashion magazine industry.
However, the survey findings are in contrary to the perspective held by
interviewees in relation to new media part. On one hand, survey findings suggest
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that current and potential readers are seldom receive fashion information about
Bazaar China on Sina Weibo and most of them do not follow its official Weibo
account. On the other hand, Bazaar China announced their superior number of fans
on Weibo and top rankings of their official WeChat account, which may infer some
hidden problems of promotion strategy and market feedback.
In addition, the answers from both interviewees have demonstrated once again the
most prominent characteristic of Bazaar China: localization. Localization could be
reflected not only in magazine contents but also in the ideology of “New
Independent Women” of Bazaar China. Referring to the concept of “New
Independent Women”, it talks about modern Chinese women who successfully jump
out from the traditional stereotype and become independent. Moreover, Bazaar
China also makes great efforts on constructing “localization” in terms of art design
and magazine contents. According to the Zhang Xiao (Interviewee 1), its October
edition has prominently represented how Bazaar China applies the concept of
“localization”. For example, the cover page has been attached below.
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In this specific cover page, it could be clearly observed that these sentences “百页诗
画长卷，生命的清供，中国文人精神复兴” and it could translated as “ hundred
scrolls of picture poetry, the life of the palace objects, and Chinese renaissance
humanism”. The three key words, poetry, the palace objects, and Chinese
renaissance, prominently highlight the ideology of “localization”, and re-emphasized
the integration of Bazaar China and Chinese culture.
77
Chapter 7
Conclusion
Business Model
The Experience Curve Effect
The Boston Consulting Group first introduced the experience curve effect in 1960 to
illustrate that organizations and individuals can improve efficiency by gaining
experience through repetition. Simply clarified, when workers master the
production skills, the overall cost of production goes down. This phenomenon could
be explained by this exponential curve as below (Krawiec & Thornton, 1980).
As a giant media company, Hearst Corporation has made achievements in various
fields of media. Hearst has devoted in the magazine field for over one hundred years
so now it is one of the leading magazine publishers in the world. It is reasonable to
say that Hearst adopts the experience curve model in the magazine production. By
issuing a series of magazines, Hearst Corporation could attain experiences in the
78
magazine industry and hence reduce overall cost, including content producing,
release channels, and brand building.
Transaction Cost Theory
Transaction cost theory explains the reasons why some companies expand or
outsource internal activities to other companies. Searching/information costs,
bargaining costs and enforcement costs are three kinds of transaction costs that
enterprises need to deal with during their operation. When internal cost exceeds
external cost, companies tends to outsource part of their activities to external
providers (Coase, 1937).
One could make sense Harper’s Bazaar and other fashion magazines feed on their
advertising revenue. According to the interview, the revenue from advertising,
normally 90% of the revenue in a quarterly report, is far more than that from
circulation. In other words, luxury brands usually spend a large sum of money on
fashion magazines advertising, which could be regarded as outsourcing their
promotion activities to those magazines to reduce enforcement costs.
The Eclectic Paradigm of International Production (OLI-Model)
According to the theory of eclectic paradigm of international production (OLI-
Model), there are three main factors: the ownership advantage, location advantage
and internalization advantage that determine whether a company is capable of
making a foreign direct investment.
79
Discussed in chapter 1, the parent company of Bazaar China, Hearst Corporation, is
one of the largest diversified communications companies in the world. It owns 15
daily and 36 weekly newspapers, 300 magazines worldwide and 29 television
stations, which reach about 18 percent of U.S. viewers (Hearst official website,
2015). It is obvious that Hearst has a strong competitive advantage in both financial
capital and social capital, which enables it to enter into the foreign market. Harper’s
Bazaar is available in 31 countries, of which Hearst adopts direct investment, like in
the United Kingdom and the United States. As the purchasing power of Chinese
people grows, more and more luxury brands have realized the significance of the
China market. Considering the situation of China, Hearst chooses to license the right
to a local firm (Trends) rather than engaging in foreign production directly.
Survey
The survey is designed based on the 4Ps theory to explore people’s consumption
habits and other factors related to fashion magazines. The major targeted
readership is female, aged from 18 to 45 years with high level of education. This
group of people usually aims to achieve middle-to-upper income levels, which is
corresponding with the assumption of targeted group claimed by Bazaar China.
In the product factor, more than half of participants announce they buy this
magazine frequently. In relation to magazine contents, more than two-thirds
readers favor the combination of pictures and words. Fashion information, such as
seasonal fashion trend and dress collocation, ranks as the top priority of reading
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interests among the participants. Surprisingly, more than half of the participants say
magazine contents exert influences on their consumption behavior. Moreover, the
findings of attitudes towards advertisings have pointed out that less than one-thirds
of participants hold negative attitudes against magazine advertisings, which is in
contrast to the first assumption. Nonetheless, the most prominent implication from
the survey is Bazaar China needs to make their readers not only accept advertising
but also prefer it to gain more advertising revenue from luxury brands.
For the promotion part, almost all the participants obtain fashion information
through Internet, which explicitly indicates the significant role of new media.
However, over two-thirds of participants never download any Bazaar China Apps,
implying Bazaar China has not achieved in social media platform. The previous
analysis part has already offered a few practical suggestions to enhance the role of
Bazaar China in these three popular social media platforms: Apps, Sina Weibo and
Wechat. Referring to the place, the survey findings have indicated most participants
get to know Bazaar China via newsstand, family and friend’s recommendation, and
media and news. Since most participants have owned middle-to-high income level,
the result demonstrates that more than half of participants spend over 16 RMB and
they would show indifferent opinions towards the magazine price change.
Interview
The interview part provides a more practical view about Bazaar China. It is worthy
to point out that localization theme has been regarded as the most prominent
81
feature of Bazaar China. The magazine has successfully integrated “localization” into
the magazine contents. However, the major issue about “localization” still remains
controversial like we stated in the propositions part. Bazaar China might decrease
the level of localization and add more western elements into magazines for further
development.
Suggestion
We assume that Bazaar China has been doing well in the field of new media and
their performance has been well received by readers. However, we found out that
there exist a lot of spaces for improvements for Bazaar China in this field based on
the survey findings. It seems that there exist a mismatch between promotion
activities and audiences feedbacks. In other words, what Bazaar China has done, to
some extents, turns out ineffective. The key point in social media marketing is to
drive word-of-mouth, making people to promote your brand by themselves. As a
result, to increase the public engagement, we would propose a social media-
marketing plan for Bazaar China. The whole plan includes two parts: the long-term
routine activities to sustain the attention and the short-term campaign to encourage
more engagements.
Long-term Routine Activities
The long-term strategy would be conducted in three areas: social community, social
publishing, and social commerce.
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1) Social Community
In the aspect of social community, we suggest Bazaar China to set up local
communities in several first-tier and second-tier cities and to hold member
activities in their social media platforms. Making people feel they are insiders is a
way to make them to promote the brand. Using the key opinion leader (KOL) is also
an effective way to do promotion in social media networking sites. For instance,
inviting some fashion icons to do Q&A activity with followers on Weibo once a
month.
2) Social Publishing
The content on social media and the way of expression are vital for social media
marketing. For Bazaar China, they can post related fashion information and practical
information to maintain followers. From the survey, people prefer useful
suggestions of clothing and beauty products, which could be main contents in social
publishing.
3) Social Commerce
Nowadays, e-commerce became more and more popular among the young
generations. It might be a good way to do crossover cooperation with some fashion
brands and sell related products like T-shirts and other accessories online. They can
also invite the public to attend the Charity Night to bid belongs of the celebrities.
Short-term Campaign
83
In terms of the short-term campaign, we suggest Bazaar China to launch of a series
of videos with the theme of “Those Hard Times”. The content of the video would be
young women talking about their hard time and how they make it. It is better to
invite some fashionable celebrities, like movie stars or models. Then, they could
invite the public to share their own stories on several social media platforms, like
weibo, and to @Bazaar China with the hashtags of #Bazaar Metamorphosis#. Then,
Bazaar China could run selection. The first prize owner gets the opportunity to
travel with Bazaar workers to attend some international fashion activities. The
winner of second prize will get one-year free subscription of Bazaar China. Through
the campaign, Bazaar China could raise the public awareness and encourage people
engagement.
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Chapter 8
Limitation and Future Research
The Limitation of the Survey
With the limited time, we could not reach enough participants as expected. So the
results, to some extents, are not representative of the general population.
Moreover, some participants never purchase Bazaar China before. In terms of this
situation, some specific question related to Bazaar China might be confusing for this
group of respondents. It is possible that they just chose a random answer, which
may influence the overall result.
The Limitations of Resources
For this project, we collect necessary information from both first-hand and second-
hand resources. Apart from spreading questionnaires, we also interview two staffs
of Bazaar China to get first-hand materials, but they could not release as much
information as we expected. We could not get contact with Su Mang, due to the
limited time and personal networking, who may give us a more comprehensive and
profession view of Bazaar China.
For Further Research
In terms of further research, it is of great significance to reach as more people as
possible for a representative result. And getting contact with some leading
employees of Bazaar China may result in a more comprehensive analysis. We
85
actually fail to get enough information to reach a conclusion about our third
proposition: localization. So designing some specific question about this issue in the
survey is necessary.
86
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Appendix
Appendix 1. Questionnaire of Bazaar China
(Chinese Version)
《時尚芭莎》調查問卷
您好！我們是来自香港浸會大學傳媒管理專業的學生，這份問卷調查將用於學術
研究。感謝您付出寶貴的時間天蠍這份問卷！
背景信息
1. 您的性别？ a. 男性 b.女性
2. 您的年龄？
a. 18 岁以下 b. 18-24 岁 c. 25-35 岁 d. 35-45 岁 e. 46 岁以上
3. 您的学历？
a. 专科或以下 b. 本科 c. 硕士 d. 博士 e. 其他__________
4. 您的职业___________
5. 您所在的城市______________
6. 您的月收入水平？（人民币）
a. 1000 以下 b. 1000-3000 c. 3000-5000
d. 5000-7000 e. 7000-9000 f. 9000 以上
产品
7. 您是否购买过《时尚芭莎》
a. 购买过 b. 没有购买过 c. 不记得
8. 您平时购买时尚杂志的频率？
a. 一个月一次 b. 2-3 月一次 c. 半年一次 d. 一年一次 e. 永不
9. 当您阅读时尚杂志时，您注重哪一方面？
a. 图片 b. 文字叙述 c. 图片与文字的结合 d. 大致翻阅，并不会仔细阅读
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10. 您最喜欢时尚杂志中的哪一个内容板块？（多选）
a. 时装（当季潮流、服饰搭配、时装大片）
b. 专题（国内外明星采访、两性情感）
c. 美容美体
d. 生活 （家居、美食）
e. 广告
11. 通常情况下，时尚杂志的内容为对您的消费产生影响吗？
a. 会 (请继续回答第 12 题) b. 不会 c. 不知道
12. 时尚杂志对您的消费影响主要体现在哪几个方面？
a. 服饰、鞋、包以及配饰
b. 护肤化妆用品
c. 与旅游相关的产品
d. 广告
e. 其他_______
13. 您对《时尚芭莎》中的广告态度时？
a. 厌烦，基本不看
b. 无所谓，大致翻看
c. 感兴趣的产品会看，例如______________（请写下品牌名称）
d. 基本都会看
14. 您认同《时尚芭莎》所提倡的消费观和价值观吗？
a. 认同 b. 看情况 c. 不认同 d. 不知道
15. 您会效仿《时尚芭莎》所倡导的生活方式吗？
a. 会 b. 不会 c. 有选择性的效仿
推广
16. 您获取时尚信息的主要途径？
a. 网络 b. 电视 c. 报纸 d. 杂志 e. 广播 f. 朋友交流 g. 其他_________
17. 您上网的频率是？
a. 每天 b. 每周至少 3 次 c. 偶尔，若有特殊事宜 d. 从不上网
18. 您的微博是否关注了《时尚芭莎》？
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a. 是 b. 不是 c. 不清楚
19. 以下那种方式可以吸引您关注《时尚芭莎》的微博？
a. 关注、转发即可参与抽奖送礼品
b. 获得最新的时尚资讯
c. 获得最新的时尚街拍
d. 分享产品的使用心得
e. 明星的爱用品分享
f. 其他__________
20. 《时尚芭莎》举办或赞助的那累活动最能吸引您？(可多选)
a. 芭莎慈善之夜 b. 选秀活动 c. 国内外时装节活动 d. 其他_______
分销
21. 您是如何知道《时尚芭莎》这本时尚杂志？
a. 报刊亭 b. 微博推送 c. 家人、朋友、同事推荐
d. 媒体新闻 e. 广告 f. 其他________
22. 您通常是如何购买《时尚芭莎》?
a. 报刊亭 b. 邮局订购 c. 网上书店购买
d. 不购买，只看公共场所提供的免费刊物 e. 其他_______
23. 您通常在哪里阅读时尚杂志？
a. 家里 b. 工作场所 c. 在交通工具或路途中
d. 机场 e. 美发沙龙及类似美容场所 f. 其他________
24. 您是否下载过《时尚芭莎》的 apps?
a. 是 b. 不是 c. 不记得
定价
25. 您每月会花多少钱购买时尚杂志？
a. 15 元以下 b. 16-30 元 c. 31-50 元 d. 51－100 元 e.100 元以上
26. 您购买《时尚芭莎》时尚杂志得频率：
a. 每年固定订购 b. 每月固定购买 c. 偶尔购买 d. 从不
27. 《时尚芭莎》的价格是否合理？
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a. 合理
b. 可以接受
c. 偏高
d. 偏低
28. 如果《时尚芭莎》售价降低您会？
a. 很有吸引力，愿意购买
b. 没什么差别
c. 担心杂志内容质量下降，取消购买
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Appendix 2. Questionnaire of Bazaar China (English Version)
Background information
1. What’s your gender? a. Male b. Female
2. How old are you?
a. Below 18 b. 18-24 c. 25-35 d. 35-45 e. Above 46
3. Education background?
a. Junior College b. Bachelor c. Master d. PHD e. Others____
4. What’s your occupation? ______
5. Which city do you live in? ______
6. Monthly income?
a. Below 1000 RMB b. 1000-3000 RMB c. 3001-5000 RMB d. 5000-7000 RMB
e. 7000-9000 RMB d. Above 9000 RMB
Product
7. Have you ever bought Bazaar China?
a. Yes b. Never c. Can’t remember
8. How often would you buy a fashion magazine?
a. Once a month b. 2-3 a month c. Half a year
d. Once a year e. Never
9. When you read magazine, you will mainly focus on….
a. Picture b. Content c. Combination of pictures and content
d. Simple glance through
10. What’s your favorite content of fashion magazine?
a. Fashion clothes
b. Special topics
c. Beauty
d. Life
e. Ads
11. Will the content of magazine influence your consumption decision?
a. YES b. NO c. It depends
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12. What kind of content will influence you most?
a. Clothes Shoes Bags and Accessories
b. Cosmetics
c. Travelling Products
d. Ads
e. Others
13. Attitude towards Advertisement?
a. Dislike
b. Whatever, just glances over
c. Pay more attention to what I like, for instance____
d. Read almost all of them
14. Attitude toward Bazaar China’s value?
a. Totally Agree
b. It all depends
c. Disagree
d. Totally disagree
15. Will you imitate the life style that Bazaar China initiates?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Depends
Promotion:
16. How you get the fashion information?
a. Internet b. TV c. Newspaper d. Magazine e. Radio
17. What’s your frequency of surging the Internet?
a. Everyday b. 3 times a week c. It depends on time d. Never
18. Have you focus on Bazaar China’s Weibo?
a. YES b. NO
19. Which of the following activities can attract you to focus on Bazaar China’s
Weibo?
a. Offering free gift
b. Provide latest fashion information
c. Provide latest fashion street shooting pictures
d. Share products using experience
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e. Share the celebrity’s favorite product
d. Others_______
20. Which of the following activities held by or sponsored by Bazaar China can
attract you most?
a. BAZAAR Charity Night b. Talent Show like super girl
c. World’s major fashion week d. Others
Place
21. How do you know Bazaar China?
a. News-stands
b. Weibo
c. Via family, friends and colleagues
d. Media and News
e. Advertisement
f. Others_____
22. Where do you purchase Bazaar China mostly?
a. News-stands b. Post station c. Internet d. Not buying, but reading the public
magazines e. Others_____
23. Usually where do you read the fashion magazines?
a. At home b. In the office c. On the transportations d. Airport
e. Hair salon or beauty salon f. Others____
24. Have you ever downloaded the Bazaar China apps?
a. YES b. NO c. Can’t remember
25. What are the major resources that you access to the fashion news?
A. Internet
B. TV
C. News
D. Magazines
E. Radio
F. Others_____
28. What’s your frequency of surging the Internet
A. Everyday
B. At least twice per week
C. Depends on time
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Price
25. How much will you spend on magazines monthly?
a. 0~15 RMB b. 16~30 RMB c. 31~50 RMB
d. 51~100 RMB e. Over 100 RMB
26. How often do you purchase Bazaar China?
a. Subscribe for 1 year b. Monthly c. Occasionally d. Never
27. Whether the price is reasonable?
a. Reasonable
b. Acceptable
c. A bit high
d. A bit low
28. If ELLE reduces the price, you think it is
a. Attractive b. Not attractive
c. Giving up the purchase as worry the quality of magazine decline
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Appendix 3. Interview of Business Insider 專業人士採訪原文
A. 尛皛
问题：
1.对时尚芭莎来说，广告的收入和杂志销售收入的百分比值大概是多少？
2.如果一个奢侈品牌 （Chanel, LV） 购买了芭莎的广告版面，是否可以同时在芭莎
的所有版本中投放（例如：美国版芭莎，日本版芭莎）。
3. 您怎样看待时尚芭莎内容（采访对象，文章，封面，美术设计）中本土化和国际
化（与美国版相较）的关系？
4. 今年中国版费加罗停刊，但与此同时，T Magzine 即将进入中国市场。在这样快
速变化的大背景下，您怎样看待中国时尚杂志的发展前景？
回答：
B. 王維維
问题：
1.对时尚芭莎来说，广告的收入和杂志销售收入的百分比值大概是多少？
2.如果一个奢侈品牌 （Chanel, LV） 购买了芭莎的广告版面，是否可以同时在芭莎
的所有版本中投放（例如：美国版芭莎，日本版芭莎）。
3. 您怎样看待时尚芭莎内容（采访对象，文章，封面，美术设计）中本土化和国际
化（与美国版相较）的关系？
4.从发行平台和推广策略来看，时尚芭莎在新媒体的发展上取得了哪些成果，面对
新的市场挑战又有哪些新的举措？
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5. 今年中国版费加罗停刊，但与此同时，T Magzine 即将进入中国市场。在这样快
速变化的大背景下，您怎样看待中国时尚杂志的发展前景？
回答：