the brand
Mango was founded in 1984 in Barcelona (Mango Pressroom 2020), and continues to design in house at ‘El Hangar’ design centre in Spain. They are rooted in their Mediterranean essence, shown in the ease of their designs and aesthetics of their physical and online retail spaces. Mango recently opened larger selling spaces, with the average store size increasing by 54% since 2012 (Elven, 2019) The brand is growing at a steady and sustainable rate, with online turnover increasing by 15.4% in 2018 (Elven, 2019). New technology has allowed them to process 75,000 garments in an hour, tripling what it could previously do (Chitrakorn, 2019), meaning the brand has become ‘faster’. The power of online is now integral to Mango as it accounts for 23% of turnover (Hughes, 2020). Mango has focused on fast fashion since 2016, by bringing in new stock every 2 weeks (Misiri, 2016), but this aspect might not appeal to the environmentally conscious consumers. In 2016, Mango launched their #newprices edit which was priced around 15% less than the main collections. This was to push the brand down the fast fashion route and target a younger demographic (Wightman-Stone, 2016). Now the #newprices edit does not appear on the website, instead there is a ‘essential prices’ section. By dropping the hashtag that may alienate older consumers and changing the word ‘new’ to ‘essential’, Mango distances itself from the negative views of fast fashion. The brand is rated low on Trustpilot, scoring 1.5/5 (Trustpilot, 2020). Comments refer to bad customer service, which is an important aspect of marketing and might deter potential consumers even if they like the product range. Mango does bridges a gap between high-street and luxury; also known as middle market, or more preferably, mass-luxury (Posner, 2015, p.15). Mango says it caters to “urban women interested in fashion with a young spin” (Bennie, 2011), however in reality the brand personality is more sophisticated and mature. The brand has acknowledged that they appeal to older female consumers as well; “the target age… should be between 20 and 45” (Bennie, 2011). Mango adopts a mid-premium pricing strategy; competitive pricing in the middle market, as they have customers who can spend more than average on clothing.
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