Communication Strategy of Cartier Jewelry Brand - Case Study Example

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY OF CARTIER JEWELRY BRAND Brand Status Introduction Cartier is a company which manufacturers, designs, sells and distributes watches and jewelry. Headquarter of the company is in Paris. Cartier was formed in 1847 and remained under family control until 1964. Cartier provides a range of product to customers in different locations of the world. The products provided by the company include wrist watches, bestiary, jewelry, diamond necklace leather goods and other accessories. In the market today there is competition because more companies have emerged producing the same brand. Cartier experiences the problem of competition from companies like Omega, Tag Heuer and Longines (Nadelhoffer 2007, 45). Currently, Cartier is operating in 125 countries with more than 2000 stores. The company has established flagship stores in five countries that include London, Paris, New York, Shanghai and Tokyo. In 2008, the company managed to open a flagship store in South Korea. The store became the first one in Korea. In Paris it has 13 stores, 175 to 177 in London, 653 in New York and 18 stores in Shanghai (Nadelhoffer 2007, 30). The graph below represents the number of retail stores in each country. Country Number of Stores Paris 13 London 177 New York 653 South Korea 5 Shanghai 18 Tokyo 11 Cartier provides the products at high price as it targets men and women from the high class or high income class. The watches range from $ 250 to $1000. The company provides the products in the stores and offers free shipping services. The company has progressed in business and expanded because it uses prominent business management tools like employing skilled managers (Cartier 2015). Email Communication Tools used by the Brand The company applies the use of different mail communication tools within the organization and outside the organization. Mail communication is applied while sending messages to employees and also when communication with the customers. For urgent information, Cartier use phone to sent short messages or making calls. Customers are alerted about the shipping process of their products through emails and phone message notifications. The company’s sells representative uses phones to communicate with the company managers in order to give sells progress report (Cartier 2015). The company uses digital platforms for communication. Email communication is widely used in the company. Communication between employees or managers and employees is done through emails. The managers give out directives through the use of email. The use of email is slow than phone communication, but it guarantees safety because an email can be retrieved easily. The managers give direction to employees using email or verbal communication. The head office in Paris manages other stores in different countries through email communications. The head of the flagship stores sends progress report to head office daily or weekly. Customers also receive email on the progress of their orders. The company also receives payment notification from the customers through emails. The company has utilized the use of email in sending and receiving messages, because it is fast and cost effective. Cartier uses email hosting providers like Yahoo, GoDaddy and Google or Gmail (Cartier 2015). Another tool used by the company in communication is Gtalk. Gtalk involves sending and receiving messages through Google platform. Gtalk is easy and faster to use and the company sends many messages to different stores at the same time. Gtalk enables sells representatives to sent message to customers and also to the managers. This method enables the users to receive short message notification in their phones. Gtalk enables managers to sent message for supervision purposes to the employees. The employees respond to the managers using the same platform (Cartier 2015). Cartier uses website platform as a tool of communication. Information about the company is edited and provided in the company’s website. The company also provides announcement and news on the website. Marketing is also contacted using the website communication platform. Marketers promote and market the products across social media. The company’s website is connected with different social media like Facebook in order to create enough traffic and reach more people. The message included at the Cartier website is useful because it communicates to the members of public about the company’s brands, operation, prices and stores. Website platform communication has enabled the company to create awareness of the products to different people across the world because the web page is visible all over the world (Cartier 2015). The company has different chains of communication used in addressing issues within and outside the company. Communication through various chains of communication is done using the above discussed mail communication tools. Communication within the company is based on employee to employee communication. Communication is also done to suppliers, customers and local authorities. Communication between employees respects the organization chart. The director receives information from general manager, then store managers and sales representatives (Cartier 2015). The chart below represents the process of communication done using different mail communication tools. Communication between external bodies and Cartier is also done using the mails discussed above. People address the message to the managers or the direct response is done accordingly. The chart below shows the process of communication between Cartier and external parties. Strategic Goals Cartier has been able to expand and prosper due to application of good strategic goals. The company uses favorable strategic goals which have enabled it to create more brands across the world. Cartier uses effective marketing strategies which include physical and internet marketing. The company does segmentation in order to reach people and sell the products at the right time (Cartier 2015). The company creates awareness of the brand through marketing. Marketing is done by professionals through social media platforms and physical presentations. Cartier has a group of marketers managed by a marketing manager who ensures that the public are aware of the products. Marketing is done through social media like Facebook. Individual who visit social media platform come across the product. Details of the products including, price, quality, size are included in the platform and individuals are able to place orders after viewing the product. The company also has a website which is linked to different social media or advertisement platforms. Individuals who come across the product website click on the link and are directed to the website where they find more details about the products. Intensive marketing done by the marketers has been successful in creating awareness of the products (Ferrell and Pride 2015, 80). In order to reach more customers the company has divided operation. It operates in different stores with headquarters in Paris. There are different stores in different location which provide the same products. The stores have been established to minimize cost of transportation and shipping fee. The stores help in expanding the company’s market because they serve more customers in different locations. The products are manufactured at the headquarters and supplied to the stores in different countries. Customers can buy or access the Cartier products at their countries instead of travelling to Paris. Creation of the stores in different places has enabled to company to attract more customers (Cartier 2015). Cartier targets high class individuals or people with high income. The prices of the products are high and can not be afforded by a common citizen. The stores are established in big cities and not in rural areas. This is because people with high income mostly live in the cities. Establishment of the stores in the cities makes it easily accessible to the targeted customers. The company also has online stores which enable the customers to purchase at home and have their products shipped. Application of those strategic goals has made the company to expand. For example, the company opened a new store in Southern Korea (Cartier 2014). Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats The company has some strength which makes it to prosper more than the competitors but also it has weakness which needs to be addressed. The company has been able to expand because it has opportunities. There are also threats facing the company (Cartier 2015). The diagram below shows the SWOT in brief. One of the opportunities is that the company provides the products at low price than other companies. The products are aimed for high class people but still low class people can afford due to low prices. Another opportunity is that the company has been able customize rings making them more appealing to the customers. The weaknesses of the company include lack of enough physical stores. Cartier provides product in different parts of the world but it has only 2000 stores (Cartier 2015). One of the opportunities enjoyed by the company is the aspect of going global. The company is currently providing services over the internet to customers in any location of the world. Currently, there is a rise in demand for jewelry and watches and people are spending much in lifestyle. In respect to threats the company is faced with high competition level from Omega, Tag Heuer and Longines companies (Cartier 2015). Conclusion In conclusion, Cartier provides jewelry and watches to high class customers. The company has been able to prosper in the competitive market. It uses good strategic goals which have facilitated the expansion and progress of the company. Cartier managers should consider on how to address the threats and weakness in order expand further. Bibliography Cartier. Cartier Watchers. January, 2015, http://ctrwatchesoutlet.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=1/index.php?route=product/category&path=1/?r=http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CDEQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdaytonaspeedway.alerteagle.com%2Fminmax.asp%3Fid%3Dcbae1479%26Country%3Den_US%26Sale%3D6509c1f3b%26Page%3DCartier-Jewelry-Swot-Analysis&ei=2oQ3VdvfNYHmywPb8oHgAg&usg=AFQjCNFDXGTHYRRv_WpzTTVhi-BK-iCB0g&sig2=ogNxHm1HBjhvrq6joHth4g&bvm=bv.91071109,d.bGQ (accessed January 15, 2014). Cartier. Shop Online. February, 2015, http://www.cartier.com/ (Accessed March 17, 2015). Cartier. SWOT Analysis for Cartier. December 2014, http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/lifestyle-and-retail/2662-cartier.html (Accessed December 10, 2014). Ferrell O. C. and Pride W. 2015. Marketing. New York: Cengage Learning. Nadelhoffer H. 2007. Cartier. New York: McGraw-Hill Press. Read More