Marketing the Fashion Product - Essay Example

? Marketing the fashion product Introduction Marks and Spencer’s have been one of the leading brands in the United Kingdom since the time they launched themselves in the market way back in 1884. Since then there is no looking back for the retail giant which has gone from strength to strength. Since the time of the First World War, the company was able to acquire goods from the manufacturers and sell it to the customers. Since those days, they are able to retain a strong bondage between themselves and the customers. Over the years they had the ability to constantly improvise and devise marketing business models to be always close to the customers and retain their customers. M&S has an estimated 21 million customers in their stores per week. (M&S, 2011). The lingerie market has grown steadily over the past decades with the United Kingdom experiencing consistent growth. M&S have grown consistently with new designs, innovative practices to record huge volume of sales in the last 5 years. “The total UK lingerie market was worth an estimated ?2.93bn in 2010, increasing by 17.8% over the 5-year review period.” (ResearchandMarkets, 2011). M&S underwear brands consist of ‘Autograph’, ‘Per Una’ and ‘M&S Woman’ for women. For men it is ‘Autograph underwear’, ‘collezione’. (M&S, 2011) Marketing has always been the nucleus of any business. There is no other alternative to reach the customers than a proper marketing plan and execution. The companies need to reach out to the customers and offer them the best services and quality at competitive prices. It is not necessary for M&S to provide cheap products as quality is the key to the underwear market segment where comfort counts. “Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. The twofold goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction.” (Kotler,2008) This business report will focus on the marketing of underwear brand with two key areas which are a) the current marketing mix of 7Ps & the financial stability of the company and b) Suggesting improvement in the performance of M&S keeping in mind the highly competitive market. Business Report The business report will deal with the research and current marketing situation of Marks & Spencer underwear brands. A detailed research is conducted with relevant details which will help to ascertain the relative degree of the marketability of the underwear brands of M&S and the future potentiality of it. Part A: This section deals with the Investigation and Analysis of current marketing mix of 7Ps and the financial stability of M&S. The 7P marketing mix is a scientific account of taking into account the key areas of marketing which are i) Product, ii) Price, iii) place, iv) promotion, v) packaging, vi) positioning and vii) people. “”The idea of marketing mix is the same idea as mixing a cake. A baker will alter the proportions of ingredients in a cake depending on the type of cake he/she wishes to bake. The proportions in marketing mix can be altered in the same way and can differ from product to product.” (GCSE,2001) Product selling is a critical area where the customer habits and trends decide whether they want to purchase the product. Quality and innovative design are key factors where the marketers need to equip themselves with answers to critical questions as to the marketability and the acceptability of a product. Product demand and the trend of the market will decide on the sale of the product. M&S have the uniqueness in them where their innovative designers are constantly researching on the aspect of giving the customer an out of the box design. The body shape wear designed by their experts were special for the customers where they welcomed it and very soon it became the trend setter for the underwear brands. Apart from the core product selling, after sales services are also an important segment of product selling as it gives an element of trust to the company. Price is the second P of the marketing mix which is also an important component in the determination of market share of the underwear brand. The prices need to be competitive where the people can compare the quality with the worth of the product. There is intense price competition and M&S desires a competitive market price rather than a cheap price. To achieve this they need to constantly analyze the market rates, conditions, comfort of pricing which depends on the purchasing power of the people. ” Develop the habit of continually examining and reexamining the prices of the products and services you sell to make sure they're still appropriate to the realities of the current market.” (Tracy, 2004). Promotion is the next P of marketing mix. Promotional activity is the one of the key areas of marketing which will take the product to the customer’s mind. “Changes in fashion will continue to drive the market as lingerie becomes regarded as just as essential as outerwear.”( ResearchandMarkets, 2011). Marks and Spencer’s have deployed a strong marketing team across the globe where they are constantly devising strategies and innovative methods to promote their underwear brands to the mass of people. The current marketing strategy is quite bold than yesteryears where skimpily clad models are able to demonstrate the underwear brands to the people where body shape wear has become more marketable. Promotional campaigns and advertisement are done constantly to market the products. “Large and small companies in every industry continually experiment with different ways of advertising, promoting, and selling their products and services.” (Tracy, 2004) . The fourth P of marketing mix is the Place. Place is the location, city or country the company is selling its products. M&S has a huge presence across the globe where it has reached out to customers from different geographical locations which has resulted in an increase in sales for the stores. The underwear brands has benefitted from the change in places where more and more locations and stores of M&S sold their products. Methods used were through retail stores of M&S, reaching out to customers through affiliate marketing where more and more people get the message of their superior underwear brands at competitive prices. Packaging is the new P introduced in the 7Ps of marketing mix as it was regarded as a component of Promotion. Packaging is the presentation of a product to the customers where they might like the looks of it or not. Packaging is not only related to the packing of products but the entire approach of the company starting from the display of products, the services, the ease of purchase and involves the company and store at a greater extent. Similarly in the current times, the website of retail stores like M&S assumes much importance as they are the interface of the business to the entire world. In an online environment also, the packaging matters a lot as the customers virtually see the products displayed and with latest flash technology the products can be displayed in an attractive fashion. Online sales have further facilitated this packaging which results in the customers having the option to select a product online and purchase it without even going to the store. Therefore packaging assumes much importance in the presentation of the underwear brands in M&S both in the stores as well as online to boost sales. Positioning is the 6th P of marketing mix where marketers need to analyze the extent to which Marks and Spencer’s are positioned in the heart and minds of customers. In general terms it can be stated as the acceptance M&S are having with their underwear brands to the customers in large. Questions need to be asked whether a customer prefers M&S underwear brands to other retailers like La Senza or elle McPherson. If not then the reason need to be ascertained where all the other P’s of marketing mix needs to be analyzed and the correct mix with the right strategy need to be in place. The last P of the marketing mix is the most important one which is the People. People are the nucleus of any organization and it’s a good quality team which can produce results and achieve customer satisfaction. A company is known by its people and they are the representatives of the company to the outside world. Therefore hiring and training of people is important and the ability of the managers to have the right people for the right job at the right time is equally important. “To be successful in business, you must develop the habit of thinking in terms of exactly who is going to carry out each task and responsibility. In many cases, it's not possible to move forward until you can attract and put the right person into the right position.” (Tracy,2004). Hiring a person with the right attitude is a must which helps in them taking the company forward. “Attitude is composed of cognition (what we know) affect (what we feel) and conation (what we believe).” (Blythe, 2006). Part B: Factors determining the improvement of Retail Store PEST: This macro environment analysis lays stress on certain external factors which has a direct effect on the sale of the underwear brand as a product. The principal elements of PEST analysis are: Political Factors: The political environment is one of the factors which have an effect on the sale of products. Retail stores like M&S needs to assess the political stability of a government where they are doing business or planning to open a store. The factors include government regulations on tax and subsidy, political environment, economic policies and reforms, cultural and religion stand of the government or any global trade agreements like the EU, ASEAN etc. Economical Factors: Inflation, interest rates, GDP, per capita income are some of the parameters which needs to be looked at closely to ascertain the economical factors of a region where retail stores like M&S wants to do business. Socio Cultural Factors: Socio Cultural issues also govern the purchase trend of customers. The marketers of the underwear brands need to research the cultural habits of the people, gender issues of the region, openness to advertising of lingerie, perception for foreign goods and services, age group of customers who are more willing to purchase the underwear brands of M&S. Technological Factors embraces the different parameters which are the technical innovative design of underwear which makes it a superior quality product at lower costs of production. Distribution technologies like internet marketing, online sales in the form of e-commerce. The usage of technology to have direct communication with the client and help them pre-purchase, purchase process and post purchase has a huge impact on the quality of services of a company. SPICC is another factor which deals with Suppliers, Public, Intermediaries, Customers and Competition. (Wright, 2006) All the above factors contribute to the actual sale of a product where suppliers give you the raw material like cotton which is currently on a price hike for the production of underwear brands. The public or the people and the intermediaries all contribute to the process of sale. The customers are the reason for the entire process that need to be satisfied with the product and services of M&S. Competition is the key factor driving the market where retail brands selling underwear brands like La Senza and elle McPherson are giving tough competition to acquire market share in the UK. Healthy competition is good for the market as it keeps the companies on their toes to give customers the best quality products at competitive rates. La Senza and elle McPherson are tough competitors of M&S. La Senza is a Canadian retail company having more than 300 stores in Canada and another 300 stores in 30 countries across the globe.(LaSenza.com, 2009). La Senza is operation since 1990 and are specialized only in the underwear and lingerie segment. M&S have tough competition with them as they have the ability to produce quality under garments at cost effective rates. Similarly elle McPherson is also comparatively new to the business but is making a place for itself in the UK market. Customer analysis, habits and trends are also an important factor in marketing a product. There needs to be a proper marketing metrics available to the marketers where they are well informed with data analysis and market trends to have the ability to take key marketing decisions. There is a need of constant market research where the marketers need to have a detailed market analysis with logic oriented derivation of numeric figures which are essential to take marketing decisions. Five Recommendations to improve Store Performance Based on the research analysis of the Marketing Mix and the factors related to the improvement of store performance of M&S, it can be suggested that: 1. Marks and Spencer’s need to have a strong and robust marketing plan where they need to assess the difficulty levels they are facing. It has been observed in the UK market that Stores like Sainsbury and Tesco have reached a considerable percentage of people with innovative designs and products. In the underwear brands segment, La Senza and elle McPherson has been doing brisk business. With a good deal of healthy competition all around, M&S need to concentrate on innovativeness where they have the ability to come up with something new at competitive prices. Customers always want something new, attractive as gone are the days where underwear was regarded as ‘not a fashion brand’. It is equally a fashion brand like the outerwear is. Men and Women are open and conscious about the underwear brand they are wearing. With time, perception has changed where the customers want comfortable underwear brands with style and fashion associated with it. They want to feel good about their under garments which the young people feel is an important chemistry for their partners and spouses as well. 2. Online visibility in the form of website and e-commerce is also recommended as the stores will be able to generate a lot of business by attracting more customers without a single square feet utilized. People are welcome to come to the store and select their underwear brands but they do have the option to purchase it online as well. This process will streamline and push sales upward with technology helping them to display a brand in the most attractive fashion resulting in the sale of the product. The entire e-commerce process needs to be done smoothly with the least of hassles. The combination of store sales and online sales has done wonders to retail companies all over the globe. It is just a matter of doing things right to achieve customer satisfaction. For customers who do not want to purchase online can also view the brands available and go to the nearest store to purchase it but very soon they will realise that it is worthwhile to purchase online from the comfort of their homes and get the product delivered at their doorstep. 3. Brand awareness program is another recommended procedure to improve store performance. Brand awareness comes with aggressive promotional activities where the brand name is promoted to the mass of people. The uniqueness of the brand is highlighted which attracts people to know about the brand and go for the purchase. By creating an awareness regarding a brand and its special characteristics, the people are convinced about the new brand and they decide to go for the purchase. However the buck does not stop there as the brand loyalty comes to the foray where the retail stores comes up with various marketing campaigns and offers and innovative ideas to increase brand loyalty and improve store performance. The correct marketing mix comes to the forefront where the marketers need to decide the right proportion for the right revenue earning. 4. It is already highlighted that internet technology through e-commerce is a vital area of improvement in store performance. There is another area which has left a lot to be desired and that is the internet marketing campaigns. There are a number of factors which contributes to internet marketing and they are: a. Search Engine Optimization b. Campaigning through Social Networking sites like facebook and twitter. c. Internet advertisement Out of this Search Engine optimization is an important aspect of internet marketing where M&S website can be optimized so that their keywords can be found in the 1st pages of major search engines like Google, bang, yahoo etc. Social network campaigns also assume much significance as retail magnets have huge fan following in sites like facebook which is another avenue to increase brand awareness and sales. 5. The research analysis of marketing has always pinpointed an essential area which requires a lot of improvement is the customer centricity. M&S needs to connect to their customers in real time so that they can have a constant communication channel being maintained. To achieve this they need to set up 24x7 call centre services, online real time chat solutions, blogs, discussion forums and constant feedback from customers. They also need to have a customer complaint section which will give them a direct insight as to any short comings in the performance of the store. All the online forums like blog, chat and discussions gives the customers the flexibility and the belief that the company and the store are always there to cater to their needs, provide consultancy to their innerwear issues and at the same time the company will feel connected with their clientele which will increase brand loyalty and retain customers. Conclusion In this business report, it has been discussed the principal areas of marketing a fashion product like the underwear brands of Marks and Spencer’s. There had been a lot of research on the marketing theories relating it to the practical aspect of business marketing. The marketing mix of 7Ps was discussed which lay stress on the proper mix of each and every factor of the 7Ps. There were other theories discussed like the PEST analysis, SPICC and Customer analysis which were important factors in analyzing the improvement needed for the stores. Based on this research and analysis, the business report came up with 5 key areas of improvement which were mainly innovative designs for customers, online presence with website and e-commerce in place, brand awareness and loyalty, internet marketing like Search Engine Optimization and Social Networking and last of all the necessity to connect with customers in real time. All these suggestions are the need of the hour as M&S needs to up their ante if they have to compete in a market which is constantly changing with modern demands of underwear brands coming up. There is tough competition in the market and the marketers of M&S has to improvise and innovate and have an out of the box thinking to become the leaders of the underwear brands. References 1. Blythe, J. 2006, Marketing, Sage Publications Ltd. 2. Marketing Teacher website 2011, PEST Analysis, available from http://marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-pest.html 3. Wright, R. 2006, Consumer Behavior, Thomas Learning 4. GCSE 2001, Introduction to Marketing Mix - Pricing available from http://www.hoddersamplepages.co.uk/pdfs/cceabus6.pdf 5. La Senza website 2009 available from http://www.lasenza.com/eng/aboutUs/aboutLaSenza.cfm 6. Tracy, B. 2004, The 7 Ps of Marketing available from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70824 7. Research and Markets website 2011, Lingerie Market Report available from http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1545270/lingerie_market_report_2011.pdf 8. Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. 2008, Principles of Marketing, Pearson Education Inc. 9. Marks and Spencer’s website 2011, Lingerie and Underwear available from http://www.marksandspencer.com/Lingerie-Underwear-Womens/b/43233030?ie=UTF8&ie=UTF8?ie=UTF8&intid=gnav_Lingerie&pf_rd_r=1MJPXQKTYJGV2ACG137Q&pf_rd_m=A2BO0OYVBKIQJM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=53903031&pf_rd_p=257503947&pf_rd_s=global-top-8 10. Marks and Spencer’s website 2011, M&S Corporate Home available from http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/?intid=gft_company Read More