Marketing Strategies of Louis Vuitton - Research Paper Example

Marketing Strategies of Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton is a French fashion house operating in many countries and serving thousands of people every day. Although it is one of the biggest and most popular companies of its kind in the world, it has some of the best-managed and highly motivated teams of employees. Louis Vuitton motivates its employees through what can be considered as social drivers, namely: recognition, opportunities for advancement, and the fostering of the feeling of belonging to a family. The company puts a lot of emphasis on awards and celebrations and, if one were to walk into any Louis Vuitton store in the world, one would be able to notice that its employees are highly motivated in their work and that they serve the customers to their satisfaction. In addition, the motivation of its employees can be considered a marketing strategy of this company because of the fact that these employees provide such great services to the customers that the latter are encouraged to return to the Vuitton stores (Christensen et al 38). The management at Louis Vuitton has created a relaxed environment and it is a fact that most of the time, the managers are indistinguishable from the other employees because they do not simply give orders to their subordinates, but they also accept feedback from them and are ready to get alternatives to their decisions. This helps to show that although they have managers, the employee teams at Louis Vuitton are obviously in their later stages of development and are very comfortable outside their predefined roles, displaying high levels of motivation. The management has come to the realization that any attempt to put any verbal barriers between themselves and their employees ensures that employees have the freedom to interact with the customers so that they can efficiently serve them. The marketing of the Louis Vuitton products is not only being done at a local level, its marketing campaigns are also conducted at a regional, national, and international level. This has been found to be the best way to ensure that these products reach a wider audience than they would normally have if marketing were done at only the local level. The professionalism of the marketing staff at Louis Vuitton has enabled it to compete against other organizations effectively attempting to market similar products and in fact, it has developed an edge over them in the market. Louis Vuitton always aims at being the best in the marketing of its products so that the relatively low level of its competitors in the marketing business has worked towards showing that this company has the top quality of work that is done within it. The marketing of the Louis Vuitton products tends to be done using all the media available, both visual and print, to ensure that a much wider audience is reached than anticipated (Wang and Lin 401). This has worked towards guaranteeing the success of this company’s product within the market for a long time since the marketing strategy adopted has been one that retains the attention of its audience. One of the best means through which the Louis Vuitton products are marketed is online since there are billions of users of the internet who are often a ready audience. Because the internet is a leading tool in marketing, this is where most companies and other institutions go to when they need to acquire products for the use of their clients, and Louis Vuitton has not been left out of this marketing strategy. Marketing online has ensured that the clients of this company stay up to date with the current product so that they are able to get the best out of it. One of the marketing strategies that have been adopted by Louis Vuitton has been the use of customer relationship marketing. Important components involved in the customer relationship marketing strategy at Louis Vuitton are the development and maintenance of long-term and mutual beneficial relationship with the company’s customers. Customer relationship marketing has included various aspects but the main theme is for the company has been to be customer centric by the use of internet-based tools because of the widespread use of the internet. The effectiveness of this strategy has come to depend highly on the focus given to customer’s satisfaction and it has come to be viewed as an application of both relationship marketing and one-on-one marketing and being able to respond to an individual customer basing on what the customer says, and the information known regarding the customer. This strategy has enabled Louis Vuitton to attract, and retain customers by managing the relationship they have by the use of information present regarding the customer and hence improve customer service and profitability of the company. Louis Vuitton does its best to bridge information technology together with the marketing strategies in order to build a long-term relationship with the customers using information intensive strategies (Powell and Ralls 233). These marketing strategies by the fashion house aim at developing of an understanding and influencing the customers’ behaviors through the use of meaningful communication hence improving acquisition by customers, their retention, as well as enabling customer loyalty and profitability. The real essence of Louis Vuitton’s participating in customer relationship marketing is for it to be able to understand specific customer needs and be able to leverage that into their products and services and improve on its profitability on a long-term basis. This type of marketing has had dramatic effects on the performance of a company since it has been implemented in a successful manner. Because it has an integrated management strategy rather than marketing, the use of customer relationship marketing at Louis Vuitton has been able to achieve a sustainable relationship with the customer. This company has bee able to gain a deep understanding of the balance between the needs of a customer and the benefits it can achieve by looking at the scenario from both sides. Understanding the decision making process of a customer has made it clear to Louis Vuitton that 80% of all decisions made by its customers are influenced by their emotions (Dion and Arnould 504). The information processing capability of Louis Vuitton has been vital in the marketing of its products because it has assisted in the integration of information from various sources hence enabling the company to increase its sales. Louis Vuitton has seen the need for it to turn to the collection of big data in order to reach more customers in the process of marketing their products. This company was among the first to move from the old mode of collecting data and relying heavily on new sources such as social networks. Instead of the impersonal data collection modes of the past, this company has now realized that it is better to deal with potential customers on a more personal basis so that more reliable data on their needs can be collected. Because of the availability of a lot of data that is brought about by social networks and consumer websites, so much information and feedback has been received by Louis Vuitton, but this has been easy for it to handle. Some of the reasons why many companies find it so difficult to handle this big data is because they are not using multiple approaches in handling it, and in addition, the best practices for handling big data are not put in place in many companies because involving business leaders in big data implementations is still an ongoing challenge. Louis Vuitton, on the other hand, has come to the realization that managing big data requires that there is a change in existing information strategies and that a focus should be made on integrating unstructured and semi structured data as a key requirement in these companies’ attempt to improve their engagement with their customers (Pike 622). While structured data remains vital in the decision-making procedure of the company, unstructured data helps in the drive towards the process of engaging the consumer. This company has come to institute data exploration processes to identify case scenarios and technologies where big data can be used to ensure better marketing practices are adopted. Louis Vuitton has created a website where its customers are able to find the different brands that attract them and where they can make purchases online. This site has over the year, since its founding become one of the most popular websites among the fashion conscious people online. Because it is a leading site in the fashion industry, this is where most of the potential customers of Louis Vuitton go to when they need to acquire whichever of the brands that have caught their fancy. The Louis Vuitton website ensures that its clients stay up to date with the current marketing knowledge, training, and tools, which not only enable them to make successful purchases, but also helps them obtain more information of value and worthwhile advantages of the products on offer (Grossberg 6). This site continuously innovates and develops according to the changes in the marketing scene in the world and it does this for assisting its clients keep up to speed of things so that they do not lose any opportunities if there are any unexpected changes in the market. This site provides the means through which people. It provides people with the necessary online experience of Louis Vuitton products and this provides them with a platform for making suggestions and opinions concerning them and how they can be improved. This site has therefore become one of the best marketing tools for the company and this has ensured that it has a huge online market for its products. The marketing strategy of Louis Vuitton has created a wide variety of opportunities for it to reach people using influential individuals who have the ability to a huge audience and be able to get their attention. This company works very hard to ensure that the interests of its clients are safeguarded in the market and it concentrates mainly on marketing its products and it does this in a large variety of ways which ensures that these products receive a wide audience and that this audience is impressed enough to want to get the products. This company also provides services at an advisory level to help their clients to make good decisions concerning the products that they can purchase. It has made available enough resources that are used for the study of the market to see how the trends are changing and what consumers want most and after learning all these, it uses this information to improve on its marketing strategies and in the process, it always provides good results (Wood, Pitta and Franzak 419). Over the years customers of this company have had very little to complain about because its major objective has always been to look after their best interests through using whatever strategy is at its disposal to make the best products for its customers. Because of its reputation for providing only the best standards of products, this company has come to have very many customers and even though the cost of its goods may seem very high to some, it has always proven to be worth it because Louis Vuitton has never failed in providing only the best quality of goods for its customers. The success of Louis Vuitton can be attributed to its magnificent marketing strategies and the quality of its products because it is these that have continuously ensured that it has a stable customer base. This has ensured that it has also been able to catch the attention of better workers as well as increasing the current workers’ inspiration, morale, dedication and loyalty to the company. The various marketing strategies that have been put in place by Louis Vuitton in all of its stores globally have worked towards the promotion of the image of this company. Not only have these marketing strategies done so, but they have also been able to create an environment that is conducive within which the company has been able to and will continue to operate on a global level. Works Cited Christensen, Clayton M., et al. "Finding the Right Job for Your Product." MIT Sloan Management Review 48.3 (2007): 38. Dion, Delphine, and Eric Arnould. "Retail Luxury Strategy: Assembling Charisma through Art and Magic." Journal of Retailing 87.4 (2011): 502-20. Grossberg, Kenneth Alan. "Marketing in the Great Recession: An Executive Guide." Strategy & Leadership 37.3 (2009): 4-8. Pike, Andy. "Geographies of Brands and Branding." Progress in Human Geography 33.5 (2009): 619-45. Powell, Judith A., and Lauren Sullins Ralls. "Best Practices for Internet Marketing and Advertising." Franchise Law Journal29.4 (2010): 231-8.  Wang, Cheng Lu, and Xiaohua Lin. "Migration of Chinese Consumption Values: Traditions, Modernization, and Cultural Renaissance." Journal of Business Ethics 88 (2009): 399-409. Wood, Van R., Dennis A. Pitta, and Frank J. Franzak. "Successful Marketing by Multinational Firms to the Bottom of the Pyramid: Connecting Share of Heart, Global "Umbrella Brands", and Responsible Marketing." The Journal of Consumer Marketing 25.7 (2008): 419-29. Read More