Branding, Pricing, and Distribution at Trendy Fashionista - Essay Example

? Branding, Pricing, and Distribution Branding, Pricing, and Distribution Introduction The Trendy Fashionista cannot sustain its light weight bags business successfully unless it pays particular attention to developing competitive branding, pricing and distribution strategies. This paper will design domestic and global product branding strategy, pricing strategy, and distribution strategy for the organization in order to make its new product launch successful. Domestic and Global Product Branding Strategy Since light weight bags is a new business concept, the product branding strategy can play a significant role in determining the success of the brand. As discussed in the previous paper, the company has retail stores in the United States and Australia. Considering the current position of the Trendy Fashionista, it is better for the company to develop a unique product branding strategy to market its new light weight traveler bags. According to the unique branding strategy, only one product manufactured by the company is marketed under a particular brand. When several products are marketed under a brand (corporate branding strategy), the brand image would be affected if any of those products fails to meet quality standards or performs poorly. The unique branding strategy would prevent this situation and assist the Trendy Fashionista to promote its new product lines effectively. However the company may adopt a range branding strategy, which is a mixture of unique branding strategy and corporate branding strategy while operating in a global market context. Pricing Strategy It is a great challenge for the Trendy Fashionista to design a pricing strategy for its newly planned light weight bags because this business concept is new and therefore market uncertainty is high. In this context, it is advisable for the company to practice the price skimming strategy to deal with brand positioning effectively. Under the price skimming strategy, the marketer sets relatively higher prices for his products initially and lowers the price over time. At the initial stages of the product launching, this pricing strategy would assist the Trendy Fashionista to justify its superior product quality. In addition, this optimal pricing strategy can benefit the organization to recover its sunk costs quickly before the market competition becomes intense. As Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel (2008) point out, the major objective of price skimming strategy is to capture the consumer surplus. If this pricing strategy is executed properly, then no customer will pay less than what they are actually willing to pay (p. 600). Connection between Pricing Strategy and Branding Strategy The Trendy Fashionista’s price skimming strategy really supports its branding strategy. It is clear that only one product item is marketed under a brand under the unique branding strategy. While the firm adopts this branding strategy to promote its newly planned light weight bags, the customer would obtain a feeling that the company gives specific focus to this product and therefore the product will be of superior quality. In other words, this policy can assist the organization to achieve a reputed brand image and thereby make the brand easily recognizable in the market. Customer between the age of 20 and 35 are fashion-minded and hence they would be willing to pay higher prices for top quality products. In short, the price skimming strategy can benefit the organization to take greater advantages of the unique branding and hence to promote its business interests. Distribution Channel Analysis The Trendy Fashionista’s distribution channels include wholesalers, distributors, retailers, catalogue sales, personal sales, and over the phone sales. Currently, the company has limited manufacturing capabilities and therefore the firm has to largely depend on offshore manufacturers. In order to address the issue, the organization plans to extend its manufacturing facilities through developing its own production plants. Undoubtedly, this practice would add to the efficacy of the firm’s distributional channels. In addition, recently Trendy Fashionista has also planned to enter the online marketing sector so as to benefit from the infinite scope of e-Commerce. The online sales would greatly assist customer to save considerable amount of their time and money and hence modern people are more likely to shop online due to their hectic schedules. The distribution channel analysis of the Trend Fashionista reflects that the company is likely to obtain an edge over its competitors in terms of distribution capabilities in the near future. Significance of Push/pull Strategy It is recommendable for the organization to employ a push strategy to market its light weight bags effectively and to improve its sales revenues. The push marketing communication strategy can be described as a one-way communication between the marketer and his audience. Under the push marketing strategy, the marketer typically uses print advertisements, billboards, and television commercials to communicate his/her message to the target audience. Here, the product information is just pushed towards the buyers but they are not given the opportunity to respond to the message. According to some experts, “improved control over desired branding and positioning” is one of the notable benefits of push marketing strategy (Fill & Hughes, 2008, p.133). In contrast to this, customers request and pull the products through delivery channels. Since customers are not familiar with the newly planned light weight bags, the pulls strategy is not likely to work well. Hence, the push strategy would best fit the needs of Trendy Fashionista. Distribution Strategy and Overall Marketing Strategy As noted already, the company currently markets its products through the department stores that are spread across some states in the US as well as Australia. In addition, the firm also plans to create a website so as to enter the online business sector. Hence, it is obvious that the Trendy Fashionista has a well developed distribution strategy which is potential enough to support the business expansion plans of the organization. The light weight bags would be easier to market online than through physical stores. Hence, the online distribution strategy really suits the product lines as well as the overall marketing strategy of the firm. Conclusion In total, a unique branding strategy is better for the company to position its new products effectively. In addition, the price skimming strategy and the push marketing communication strategy can contribute to the feasibility of the firm’s new business concept. References Fill, C & Hughes, G. (2008). Marketing Communications. US: Routledge. Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F & McDaniel, C. W. (2008). Marketing. US: Cengage Learning. Read More