Expert Interview: Japan's Fashion Industry: Talent Acquisition, Market Opps & Trends (Cecil Howell)
Guest: Cecil John Howell, CEO and Founder, Howell Creations, KK (HCKK) and Asia-Pacific Talent Net
Manager at Fashion Recruiting by Cecilio.
Host: James Santagata, Publisher, FirstPoint Japan and Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge.
Manager at Fashion Recruiting by Cecilio.
Host: James Santagata, Publisher, FirstPoint Japan and Principal Consultant, SiliconEdge.
Running Time: 47 minutes, 07 seconds
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High Quality Version (192 kbps @ 44 khz, stereo)
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Mobile Device Version (128 kbps @ 44 khz, mono)
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In this interview with spoke Cecil John Howell, CEO and Founder, Howell Creations, KK (HCKK) and Asia-Pacific Talent Net Manager at Fashion Recruiting by Cecilio.
HCKK was formed in March, 2007 and is a consulting firm that specializes in both market entry and staffing and executive recruiting solutions for the retail and fashion industry.
HCKK's clients include some of the top retailers on the planet including:
Topics Covered Include:
A. Cecil's background
Cecil has been in the HR and Staffing industry for over 11 years, first as an internal HR manager and then moving to the staffing side.
While recruiting for an agency, he discovered a recruiting niche in the fashion and retailing industry when he was asked to find a visual merchandiser (VMD) by LVMH which holds some of the most prestigious brands in the world.
In his discussions with the recruiting manager at LVMH, he found that they were not getting good recruiting support or market coverage from their recruiting agencies. Cecil figured that if such a top flight company with some prominent brands was not being serviced properly, most likely this was found in the entire industry so he focused his attention here. He also really enjoys the fashion and retailing industry.
He started is own recruiting firm in March, 2007, focusing on the fashion and retailing industry.
B. Where are the opportunities, trends, or underserved segments and holes in the market?
Until fairly recently, the recruiting industry in Japan was serviced by some very large recruiting houses that didn't have vertical industry expertise.
At the same time, it was rare to find a recruiter that actually understood the industry, market or position that they were recruiting for.
Cecil say the potential for very niche, niche, specialized recruiters and agencies. Not simply seeing consumer as an industry, but seeing niches like fashion, luxury goods or fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) as segments of the far larger and broader consumer industry.
In addition fashion has it's own peculiarities such as a sales cycle that is seasonal whereby this may not be found in other niches like toothpaste or dental hygiene products from the FMCG niche.
C.What can you tell us about the Japan Fashion industry?
Cecil sees the Japanese Fashion industry divided into 3 core segments.
1. Japanese domestics and homegrown brands like Issey Miyake, Fast Retailing / Uniqlo and so forth. These firms have
Japanese designers and are Japanese businesses.
2. Import Brands. These are the so-called Gaishikei (外資系) and includes brands such as Gucci and Prada among others. The design, production and headquarters are overseas and Japan is a sales channel or sales outlet.
3. Large Japanese Trading Companies. These firms under Japanese management, the Sougou Shousha (総合商社), are in the middle whereby they take licenses on Japanese brands or overseas brands and trade freely.
D. What change have taken place in the fashion industry and marketplace?
The Lehman Shock had a tremendous and immediate effect on the fashion industry.
Specifically, the financial crisis hit the wealthy and, in turn, the wealthy changed their purchasing habits as the financial crisis
directly hit them on their real estate holdings and other investments.
This ultimately soured consumers and investors on investing in general as well as high-end fashion "investments". That is, if you are going to drop $3,000 to $5,000 on a pair of designer shoes or footwear there is an expectation that they will give you some value over a period of time. Although it is an act of consumption, it is also "prepaying" for the use of such shoes.
But with the crash, caution and prudence became the operational words and cash was king. The affluent who had previously held their nose up to fast fashion and the middle brands (because they weren't built to last as long as the high-branded products) were now of interest to the rich folk.
When they needed some trendy shoes, they began to take a peek at Zara, H&M and other brands. This exposed them to a new world of fashion and as they experienced shopping at these brands and as they saw and used the brands first hand they began to think, "Hey this experience was not so bad -- it was actually pretty good and these brands aren't as bad as we had thought."
This then began "The Shift", whereby the wealthy started to allocate a portion of their personal spending budget towards the middle market in a "reversal of fashion" that pitted fast fashion against the traditional luxury brands.
As fast fashion became set in the wealthier sets spending allocations, the luxury brands have had to respond and adjust their sales, marketing and advertising strategies and spends without hurting or tainting their brands
E. Diffusion Brands & Other Japan Market Trends
One strategy is for parent brands like Prada to offer diffusion brands like Miu Miu which appeals to and addresses the younger, less affluent market that is willing to spend on fashion, but limited in means.
This gets them at a younger age into the system / on the conveyor belt.
We've heard news of Gap's Old Navy Store brand coming into the Japan market as well as Forever 21 moving beyond the Tokyo environs of Shibuya, Ginza and Harajuku and out into the suburbs and even rural areas. This began in response to the 2008 GFC and 2009 Downturn and accelerated with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. For instance, Forever 21 moving out to Kyushu by opening a Fukuoka store.
It's been said that throughout all of this financial and market turmoil, Forever 21 has hardly seen a hiccup which is mostly due to the products being well made and designed with an aggressive cost structure so that people can still afford to buy without thinking about it too much. Impulse purchases in a way.
F. What about where Japanese vs Western or even Japanese vs Asian tastes diverge?
An example may be Fossil watches where the trend between Japanese tastes vs West taste with regard to some style numbers diverge. But even within Asian, Japanese tastes may diverge from Korea or China.
In any event, the Japanese fashion industry is not monolithic, it is actually quite diverse with many markets and niches.
We also need to remember that watches are not so much about functions as they are a fashion statements or accessory and in Fossil's case, they are not just a house brand but they license and sell other watch brands.
HCKK was formed in March, 2007 and is a consulting firm that specializes in both market entry and staffing and executive recruiting solutions for the retail and fashion industry.
HCKK's clients include some of the top retailers on the planet including:
- LVMH
- Gap
- Gucci Group
- Amazon
- Jimmy Choo's
- Forever 21
- Zara
- Walmart
- and many other clients
Topics Covered Include:
A. Cecil's background
Cecil has been in the HR and Staffing industry for over 11 years, first as an internal HR manager and then moving to the staffing side.
While recruiting for an agency, he discovered a recruiting niche in the fashion and retailing industry when he was asked to find a visual merchandiser (VMD) by LVMH which holds some of the most prestigious brands in the world.
In his discussions with the recruiting manager at LVMH, he found that they were not getting good recruiting support or market coverage from their recruiting agencies. Cecil figured that if such a top flight company with some prominent brands was not being serviced properly, most likely this was found in the entire industry so he focused his attention here. He also really enjoys the fashion and retailing industry.
He started is own recruiting firm in March, 2007, focusing on the fashion and retailing industry.
B. Where are the opportunities, trends, or underserved segments and holes in the market?
Until fairly recently, the recruiting industry in Japan was serviced by some very large recruiting houses that didn't have vertical industry expertise.
At the same time, it was rare to find a recruiter that actually understood the industry, market or position that they were recruiting for.
Cecil say the potential for very niche, niche, specialized recruiters and agencies. Not simply seeing consumer as an industry, but seeing niches like fashion, luxury goods or fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) as segments of the far larger and broader consumer industry.
In addition fashion has it's own peculiarities such as a sales cycle that is seasonal whereby this may not be found in other niches like toothpaste or dental hygiene products from the FMCG niche.
C.What can you tell us about the Japan Fashion industry?
Cecil sees the Japanese Fashion industry divided into 3 core segments.
1. Japanese domestics and homegrown brands like Issey Miyake, Fast Retailing / Uniqlo and so forth. These firms have
Japanese designers and are Japanese businesses.
2. Import Brands. These are the so-called Gaishikei (外資系) and includes brands such as Gucci and Prada among others. The design, production and headquarters are overseas and Japan is a sales channel or sales outlet.
3. Large Japanese Trading Companies. These firms under Japanese management, the Sougou Shousha (総合商社), are in the middle whereby they take licenses on Japanese brands or overseas brands and trade freely.
D. What change have taken place in the fashion industry and marketplace?
The Lehman Shock had a tremendous and immediate effect on the fashion industry.
Specifically, the financial crisis hit the wealthy and, in turn, the wealthy changed their purchasing habits as the financial crisis
directly hit them on their real estate holdings and other investments.
This ultimately soured consumers and investors on investing in general as well as high-end fashion "investments". That is, if you are going to drop $3,000 to $5,000 on a pair of designer shoes or footwear there is an expectation that they will give you some value over a period of time. Although it is an act of consumption, it is also "prepaying" for the use of such shoes.
But with the crash, caution and prudence became the operational words and cash was king. The affluent who had previously held their nose up to fast fashion and the middle brands (because they weren't built to last as long as the high-branded products) were now of interest to the rich folk.
When they needed some trendy shoes, they began to take a peek at Zara, H&M and other brands. This exposed them to a new world of fashion and as they experienced shopping at these brands and as they saw and used the brands first hand they began to think, "Hey this experience was not so bad -- it was actually pretty good and these brands aren't as bad as we had thought."
This then began "The Shift", whereby the wealthy started to allocate a portion of their personal spending budget towards the middle market in a "reversal of fashion" that pitted fast fashion against the traditional luxury brands.
As fast fashion became set in the wealthier sets spending allocations, the luxury brands have had to respond and adjust their sales, marketing and advertising strategies and spends without hurting or tainting their brands
E. Diffusion Brands & Other Japan Market Trends
One strategy is for parent brands like Prada to offer diffusion brands like Miu Miu which appeals to and addresses the younger, less affluent market that is willing to spend on fashion, but limited in means.
This gets them at a younger age into the system / on the conveyor belt.
We've heard news of Gap's Old Navy Store brand coming into the Japan market as well as Forever 21 moving beyond the Tokyo environs of Shibuya, Ginza and Harajuku and out into the suburbs and even rural areas. This began in response to the 2008 GFC and 2009 Downturn and accelerated with the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. For instance, Forever 21 moving out to Kyushu by opening a Fukuoka store.
It's been said that throughout all of this financial and market turmoil, Forever 21 has hardly seen a hiccup which is mostly due to the products being well made and designed with an aggressive cost structure so that people can still afford to buy without thinking about it too much. Impulse purchases in a way.
F. What about where Japanese vs Western or even Japanese vs Asian tastes diverge?
An example may be Fossil watches where the trend between Japanese tastes vs West taste with regard to some style numbers diverge. But even within Asian, Japanese tastes may diverge from Korea or China.
In any event, the Japanese fashion industry is not monolithic, it is actually quite diverse with many markets and niches.
We also need to remember that watches are not so much about functions as they are a fashion statements or accessory and in Fossil's case, they are not just a house brand but they license and sell other watch brands.
G. How hard is it to find bilingual talent in the Japan fashion industry?
Specifically, what is the candidate pool and pipelines like?
It's not that hard to find bilingual candidates in the Japanese market but it really depends on what types of positions and levels of positions you are looking for.
For instance, take a sales associate. Being bilingual is a skill. this raises their (the candidate's) value in the market place to the point whereby an entry level or lower paying job would not be able to support the salary requirements of the bilingual staff.
Mean that the talent is there, but it isn't accessible at the price ranges you are looking for as the hiring company (the client); it just normally isn't cost effective, the ROH (return on the hire) just isn't there.
What about the talent pool and pipeline for Japan fashion recruiting?
As you can imagine, face to face connections are very important in Japan.
The value a recruiter often brings to the table is the personal connections, candidate assessments, etc. This is contrasted to a DIY through job board placements and hunting where you pay to advertise for the candidates and then meet and assess them.
With a recruiter, you may find they already have a relationship and that the recruiter has assessed them on their strengths,weaknesses, career goals, etc.
H. What mistakes do you find are often accidentally / inadverantly made in Japan by gaishikei when hiring?
1. The biggest mistake that foreign HR or Japanese HR at foreign companies (gaishikei) make is trying to cut costs by cutting agents.
Trying to bring all the recruiting in-house and sending out & spending on job ads to job boards, trawling the internet, etc. is very time consuming and expensive.
2. Contracting with agents who don't know the market or aren't specialized.
Who is reputable in Japan? Just being a big famous firm, just having a big database isn't enough to say, "Let's do business".
You need to understand the value, the skills and the reputation of the agent who will drive your search and interface with you.
These same mistakes have been seen in all fields, including banking, tech, medical/life sciences and so on.
3. The pool of affordable / accessible candidates is far smaller
The number of affordable / accessible candidates are far fewer in number and less motivated, often passive (not actively seeking new opportunities).
There are also the age-old issues of
- fallacy of coverage
- candidate taint
- market fatigue
- candidate's cognitive dissonance
- candidate's conflict with agencies
And so on. Great example as a candidate who was a perfect fit for a client but had already been rejected by the time Cecil got involved, as a previous agency had poorly represented and introduced the candidate to the client for consideration.
In some cases, there is just one or two good candidates in the market for the hiring company's position.
Specifically, what is the candidate pool and pipelines like?
It's not that hard to find bilingual candidates in the Japanese market but it really depends on what types of positions and levels of positions you are looking for.
For instance, take a sales associate. Being bilingual is a skill. this raises their (the candidate's) value in the market place to the point whereby an entry level or lower paying job would not be able to support the salary requirements of the bilingual staff.
Mean that the talent is there, but it isn't accessible at the price ranges you are looking for as the hiring company (the client); it just normally isn't cost effective, the ROH (return on the hire) just isn't there.
What about the talent pool and pipeline for Japan fashion recruiting?
As you can imagine, face to face connections are very important in Japan.
The value a recruiter often brings to the table is the personal connections, candidate assessments, etc. This is contrasted to a DIY through job board placements and hunting where you pay to advertise for the candidates and then meet and assess them.
With a recruiter, you may find they already have a relationship and that the recruiter has assessed them on their strengths,weaknesses, career goals, etc.
H. What mistakes do you find are often accidentally / inadverantly made in Japan by gaishikei when hiring?
1. The biggest mistake that foreign HR or Japanese HR at foreign companies (gaishikei) make is trying to cut costs by cutting agents.
Trying to bring all the recruiting in-house and sending out & spending on job ads to job boards, trawling the internet, etc. is very time consuming and expensive.
2. Contracting with agents who don't know the market or aren't specialized.
Who is reputable in Japan? Just being a big famous firm, just having a big database isn't enough to say, "Let's do business".
You need to understand the value, the skills and the reputation of the agent who will drive your search and interface with you.
These same mistakes have been seen in all fields, including banking, tech, medical/life sciences and so on.
3. The pool of affordable / accessible candidates is far smaller
The number of affordable / accessible candidates are far fewer in number and less motivated, often passive (not actively seeking new opportunities).
There are also the age-old issues of
- fallacy of coverage
- candidate taint
- market fatigue
- candidate's cognitive dissonance
- candidate's conflict with agencies
And so on. Great example as a candidate who was a perfect fit for a client but had already been rejected by the time Cecil got involved, as a previous agency had poorly represented and introduced the candidate to the client for consideration.
In some cases, there is just one or two good candidates in the market for the hiring company's position.
I. Can you speak to the trends of talent pools, pipelines and talent communities in the Japan market?
What have you done?
How long have you done it?
What are your results?
What do you think of social networks?
How do you treat candidates?
How do you handle them and work with them?
What makes me unique is perhaps my somewhat unique perspective and that is:
To give good advice, to give sound career advice, to give sound market entry advice and to give sound business development advice.
How does this or how do you translate this into communities?
Sees recruiting as a collaborative effort between the candidate and the company and sees his role is to bring more fulfillment into the candidate's life.
Didn't see the need for chasing the candidate's and saw it was a symbiotic relationship, that both candidate and recruiter could find each other.
So tapped into Mixi (the original "Facebook of Japan"). It was old and bigger than Facebook and built a place for 500 people on there, a place for Japanese in the Fashion industry to put forth ideas about jobs, trends, career advice, etc.
And on LinkedIn, put this in the context of a fashion industry group, where they could do it safely without being jumped on by money-hungry, fast-buck recruiters.
Now has a talent community of at 3,500 fashion industry member -- Fashion in Japan, in Korea, in China, in Taiwan, in India and in Pakistan (lots of growth in India and Pakistan).
Basically, to bring fashion industry people together in non-threatening events, collaborative offline events -- drinking and dinners, to discuss the industry, the markets, the trends and to create an environment where everyone is helping each other.
J. What are the new opportunites availabe for companies in the Japan fashion market?
Japan is a hugely dynamic market -- there are always new brands coming into Japan.
In fact, it's the ideal time to come into the market, you buy when the market is down.
Don't step away, move in or double down.
A few trends supporting this:
1. The demise of or the massively weakened departments stores, which is causing the rents to go down.
2. The fact that luxury brands have been squeezed and pinched hard by the fast fashion and middle brands.
3. A new market entrant can come in with a company store and bypass the department stores, can get prime real estate at discount prices (compared to post-Lehman / GFC) in Ginza, Omotesando or Harajuku.
K. Any closing words or advice for these new market entrants to the Japan fashion industry?
When either entering the market or if you are already here in the market, you need recruiting agents that are well-versed in the market.
The value proposition I offer, is a deep understanding of market entry and of marketing and the market strategy which plays directly into who you hire to make it succeed.
What have you done?
How long have you done it?
What are your results?
What do you think of social networks?
How do you treat candidates?
How do you handle them and work with them?
What makes me unique is perhaps my somewhat unique perspective and that is:
To give good advice, to give sound career advice, to give sound market entry advice and to give sound business development advice.
How does this or how do you translate this into communities?
Sees recruiting as a collaborative effort between the candidate and the company and sees his role is to bring more fulfillment into the candidate's life.
Didn't see the need for chasing the candidate's and saw it was a symbiotic relationship, that both candidate and recruiter could find each other.
So tapped into Mixi (the original "Facebook of Japan"). It was old and bigger than Facebook and built a place for 500 people on there, a place for Japanese in the Fashion industry to put forth ideas about jobs, trends, career advice, etc.
And on LinkedIn, put this in the context of a fashion industry group, where they could do it safely without being jumped on by money-hungry, fast-buck recruiters.
Now has a talent community of at 3,500 fashion industry member -- Fashion in Japan, in Korea, in China, in Taiwan, in India and in Pakistan (lots of growth in India and Pakistan).
Basically, to bring fashion industry people together in non-threatening events, collaborative offline events -- drinking and dinners, to discuss the industry, the markets, the trends and to create an environment where everyone is helping each other.
J. What are the new opportunites availabe for companies in the Japan fashion market?
Japan is a hugely dynamic market -- there are always new brands coming into Japan.
In fact, it's the ideal time to come into the market, you buy when the market is down.
Don't step away, move in or double down.
A few trends supporting this:
1. The demise of or the massively weakened departments stores, which is causing the rents to go down.
2. The fact that luxury brands have been squeezed and pinched hard by the fast fashion and middle brands.
3. A new market entrant can come in with a company store and bypass the department stores, can get prime real estate at discount prices (compared to post-Lehman / GFC) in Ginza, Omotesando or Harajuku.
K. Any closing words or advice for these new market entrants to the Japan fashion industry?
When either entering the market or if you are already here in the market, you need recruiting agents that are well-versed in the market.
The value proposition I offer, is a deep understanding of market entry and of marketing and the market strategy which plays directly into who you hire to make it succeed.
Fashion Recruiting By Cecilio
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FashionRecruitr
LinkedIn: http://jp.linkedin.com/in/cecilhowell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Japan.China.Asia.Fashion.Jobs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FashionRecruitr
LinkedIn: http://jp.linkedin.com/in/cecilhowell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Japan.China.Asia.Fashion.Jobs
