Marketing Planning: Chic and Unique - Case Study Example

Introduction: Chic and Unique is a well known and up market fashion clothing retailer. The company has been concentrating on the ladies segment with a strong backing of almost 25 years. The company has been able to develop a strong market for the ladies sector and now aim at targeting men as well. The company intends to introduce a men’s collection under the same brand name and hence before any step can be taken it is essential to gain a few essential aspects of the business which include both the internal as well as external aspects. This report will touch upon the marketing audits of the business, i.e. the main elements of market planning, the external analysis of the company using Porter’s Five Forces and an internal analysis of the company using SWOT. This will help build a base for the market plan and also gain a thorough understanding of the company. Following the audit, the report will touch upon the various barriers that the company might face for the marketing planning along with a set of recommendations to overcome the barriers. This will be followed by a detailed marketing plan for C&U to introduce the men’s clothing in the market. Finally the ethical considerations will be discussed. Marketing Audits Main Elements of Market Planning: Marketing planning is an essential process for every business. Every business, irrespective of its size need to undertake market planning as it provides a direction for all the marketing efforts and also provides an in depth view of the plans of the company. The elements of marketing planning have been described differently by all. The main elements of marketing planning can however be boiled down to be: the following: a) Description of the Markets: This includes the basics like demographics of the target market. Every strong marketing plan requires having a set of descriptions like age, sex, profession, income level and so on (Bellis, 2010). b) Competitors: Learning and understanding the competition of any business is a must to have a strong marketing plan. Information like the market research data, direct and indirect competition, the SWOT of the competition, the Unique selling points of the competition and factors like the similarities and dissimilarities of the products offered by them and the own product is also an important factor (Bellis, 2010). c) Products and Services: A strong marketing plan should also possess details of the product and the unique selling points of the product as well. d) Marketing Budget: Budgeting is also an essential element of all marketing budgets as it allows a controlled spending on advertising, promotions, and all factors including the advertisements and promotions (Bellis, 2010). e) Pricing Strategy: Another essential element of a marketing plan is the pricing strategy to be adopted by the company. It is important to include aspects like the price lining, material costs, overhead costs and so on to ensure correct pricing of the products or services. f) Description of Location: Lastly another essential aspect that needs to be included in every plan is the location of the business and the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen location (Bellis, 2010). The above mentioned form the most essential aspects of any marketing plan the other important aspect while planning for a company is to study both the internal as well as external environment of the company. The following section will provide the external analysis for Chic & Unique using Porter’s Five Force Model and an internal analysis using the SWOT analysis of the company. External Analysis for C&U: To learn more about Chic and Unique, it is important to discuss the external environment of the company and focus on the Porter’s Five Force Analysis. This will permit an understanding of the competition that the company faces as well as a few details of the suppliers (Porter, 1998). Figure: Porter’s Five Force Analysis a) Bargaining Power of Customers: - High: C&U is faced with a high level of pressure from the customers. The industry is one where the customers have a major say in the pricing of the goods. If the company does not keep track of the customers needs and base the prices without any information from competitors then the company will be faced with an issue of loss of customers. b) Bargaining Power of Suppliers: - Low: In the case of Chic & Unique, the level of bargaining power of the suppliers is very limited. The company does not rely completely on a single supplier. The industry is one where the number of suppliers is very high and the company is not tied down to a single supplier. Hence this makes the bargaining power of the suppliers quite low. c) Threat of new entrants: - Medium: The level of threat for the new entrants can be considered to be medium. The main reason that C&U has been able to develop a brand image for itself and has also developed a customer database for itself. d) Threat of Substitute products: - Medium: The level of substitute products is quite high for the industry. Here the company needs to be able to face the several competitors that it currently has. The industry does not have substitute products but has a number of companies that make different products in the same line. e) Competitive Rivalry within the Industry: - High: There is a high competitive rivalry within the industry. There are a number of competitors in the industry and the company has high threat from the competition. C&U requires to take this into account and to consider the competitive environment while it works on the marketing of the new products, i.e. the men’s clothing. Internal Analysis C&U – SWOT: Strengths Unique Selling Point Strong Brand Image Focused Target Markets Innovations and Creative Strong Experience Backed by a well known High street Store - Vetir Fashion House Well developed online store Weaknesses Focused for ladies only Limited target audience Limited range of only clothes Relatively new website Limited shipping coverage Opportunities Spread online shopping for other countries Sell accessories along with the clothing Branch out to children wear and men’s wear Inclusion of footwear and handbags to the store Collaboration with unique hats and bags producers Threats Number of online clothing stores Limited audiences while other stores have a more spread out coverage area The company faces high levels of competition from the various companies in the industry. Barriers to Marketing Planning C&U Marketing Barriers: Marketing Planning consists of a number of barriers. These barriers mainly pertain to the following factors: a) Culture: Over the past, there has not been a lot of belief in terms of planning or marketing. This needs a complete change and can be one of the main barriers for the companies to develop effective marketing plans. b) Behavioral: Chic and Unique currently works on only one set of clothing line, i.e. women’s clothing. This is can lead to a lack of cross functional involvement when the company moves into the men’s clothing and can create a level of confusion and chaos in terms of the marketing planning. The possibility of lack of top management support is also possible in these cases. c) Cognitive: It is essential to note that the company currently works in a complete different sector, i.e. women’s sector. This can be a major barrier in the company as there can be lack of knowledge or skills in the company and can create a level of confusion among the marketing styles and techniques. d) Systems and Procedures: As has been discussed earlier, the company focuses on the women’s clothing alone. This leads the company to have a lack of appropriate systems, suppliers and also the right knowledge for the development of the products. The company also lacks the data for the production of men’s clothing and the current trends in the market. e) Resources: Chic and Unique has the right number of resources for the current working conditions and the current demand for the products. With the introduction of the new men’s clothing line, the company will be faced with a high level of lacking in terms of the people as well as money. Overcoming the Barriers: Considering the case of Chic and Unique, it is clear that the company will be faced with a number of barriers pertaining to the marketing of the company. The introduction of the men’s clothing is a new venture for the company and it involves a number of changes to the processes within the company. To overcome these barriers the company can firstly work on changing the culture within the firm and the mission of the firm. The company needs to concentrate on the men’s section as well; hence the company needs to recruit people with knowledge in the field and also with prior experience in this field. This will help the organization develop the new clothing line and will permit the organization to cater to the needs of the market. The introduction of new staff into the organization along with an overall improvement in the systems will permit the organization to face the marketing challenges and barriers and permit a balanced effort in the new venture as well. Chic and Unique can use their strength the brand image that they have created to overcome these issues. Also the barriers can be overcome by implementing a well designed process flow within the firm. The Marketing Plan: I. Statement of the Marketing Goal: The main purpose of the marketing goal is to introduce under the same brand name a variety of products for men’s clothing. In order to do so the following marketing plan report has been devised. II. Marketing Objectives for the Project The marketing objective of the project is to develop brand awareness, where the customers are able to overcome the ‘perceived quality’ and to recognize the brand for the new products that it encompasses as well. Perceived quality is basically, ‘Consumer's opinion of a product's (or a brand's) ability to fulfil his or her expectations. It may have little or nothing to do with the actual excellence of the product, and is based on the firm's (or brand's) current public image, consumer's experience with the firm's other products, and the influence of the opinion leaders, consumer's peer group, and others’ (Business Dictionary - Perceived Quality, 2009). In the case of Chic & Unique, the perceived quality that is currently prevalent in the markets is that the company deals with women’s clothing. The main objective of this plan is to develop a strategy where people recognise the product as a store for men and women and to build the brand association, i.e. ‘Extent to which a particular brand calls to mind the attributes of a general product category’ (Business Dictionary - Brand Association, 2009). III. Target Market Segments a) Identification: The identified group for the target market in the company has been selected to be adult men living in the areas of Ireland, Northern Ireland and United Kingdom. b) Reasons for Selection: The marketing segmentation has been based on the following reasons. Firstly, the segment is profitable and it is justifiable to develop and maintain this market segment. The demand for the product is very high and the needs of the product are a never decreasing level. The segmented consumers are homogenous, i.e. adult male living in United Kingdom, Ireland and Northern Ireland. IV. Promotion Strategies: The main strategy of Chic and Unique is to develop a plan where the segment of men as described earlier. It is important to note that the company is planning on a brand extension. There are a number of different styles of brand extensions, and in the case of Chic and Unique, the company is presently following the tactic of Designer Status / Image brand extension. This is a case where designers tend to move from their current profile and work towards providing customers with a completely different product, example furniture, lifestyle items. There are several examples for this is the move from the women’s clothing into the men’s clothing. Here the strategy used is to base the product on the brand name that already exists and to expand the brand accordingly. The following will include the possible strategy that the company can adopt in the introduction of its men’s clothing of clothing. Promotional Tools: The company can adopt the following tolls for marketing. These have been explained along with reasons for the choice as well. Email Marketing: Firstly, Email marketing, is one of the most effective and latest modes of marketing. This form of marketing has proven to be successful in almost every industry (Baggot & Sales, 2007). It has however been noted that people are willing to provide their addresses and telephone numbers, but when it comes to e-mail; they are not as equally open-minded. According to a number of experts, it is said that email marketing will definitely become a part of the marketing mix for a number of industries however it is unlikely that it could replace direct marketing. The best strategy would be to buy a targeted email list from an Email list vendor (Baggot & Sales, 2007). The list can be based on age group or interests and hobbies. A personalized mail campaign can be sent to the list and the response rate can be observed. The database requires constant cleanup and updations as required (Mullen, Daniels, & Gilmour , 2008). Video Marketing: Secondly, C&U also has the option to use the option of Video marketing. This is a form of marketing which is known to be most beneficial in the case of clothing industry. The company can show off the new collection in videos and this will allow people to view the products more effectively. Pod Casting is another new strong form of marketing. This is one of latest new media marketing processes and it is a series of digital media files which normally include both audio and videos and these are normally provided for downloads (Ratcliffe & Mack, 2007). C&U can use this mode to provide new advertisements and gain subscribers through YouTube. Pay-Per-Click Campaigns: Also another very fast growing and very beneficial mode of marketing is to run a pay per click campaign. Here the company can place their advertisements in other website, on search engines, and advertising networks. These are commonly referred to as Sponsored ads by the search networks. There are a number of different providers for pay per click, like Google Ad words, Yahoo Search Marketing and many more (Mordkovich, 2006). C&U can utilise this to drive traffic to their website and gain customers and higher revenues. This will prove to be beneficial to the company as C&U would only require paying if the customers click through and come to their own website. The benefits of this mode of advertisement are very high as the cost is very low and generates immediate traffic to the site. The biggest advantage of running this campaign is the quality of visits or the targeted traffic that it can generate. C&U can run a campaign by selecting the keywords that are used for searching sports holidays and bid for those words. This will enable the website of C&U to be displayed for search results on those keywords (Mordkovich, 2006). This is a great and effective method to generate immediate quality traffic and also to create awareness. Ethical Issues: There are a few ethical issues that will need to be considered by Chic and Unique. It is necessary for Chic and Unique to realize that the ethics of marketing are mainly affected by the moral principles that are present in terms of the back end operations and the regulation of marketing. There are a number of areas that need focus and this includes things like the value oriented framework, the orientation of the shareholders, and the process oriented framework. In the case of Chic and Unique, the company will need to focus on the stakeholder oriented framework and the process oriented framework which are a major part of the change that the company is bringing into action. It is essential to understand the effects on the consumers and the competitors as well as the implications of the four P’s of marketing on the overall society. Considering the four P’s of marketing, the product aspect of the company is a little different from what the name suggests. The name is very feminine and the product that the company plans to also sell is male clothing. Hence this can be a little misleading. In terms of the pricing, the company keeps up to the promise and provides equally good clothing for men as for women at affordable rates. Considering the promotions that the company uses, there will clearly be a few issues that need to be faced. A few of the major issues that need to be considered include, the possibility of selective marketing which can reduce the demand from a few market sectors, or even the ethical issues that relate to advertising and promotion, where the company’s advertising can have an impact on the issues of taste and controversy or even negative advertising. Finally considering the place, the company does not need to be concerned about the place as the clothing for men can be sold in the same location as that for women. Recommendations: Each of the above mentioned modes and techniques of marketing have different levels of affects that they would create on the revenues and the response earned from the customers. Hence it is important to evaluate each of the methods and then create a mix of the best options which can complement each other and work together to help increase the revenues C&U (Weber, 2009). Also a combination of the techniques will also lead to an increase in the revenue instead of earning revenues from just a single technique, thus proving to be very useful and effective for the company. Bibliography Baggot , C., & Sales, A., (2007), ‘Email Marketing By the Numbers: How to Use the World's Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level’, 20 April 2007, wiley Publishers Business Dictionary - Brand Association. (2010). Brand Association. Available: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/brand-association.html. Last accessed 4 March 2010. Business Dictionary - Perceived Quality. (2010). Perceived Quality. Available: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/perceived-quality.html. Last accessed 4 March 2010. Malcolm McDonald. (2000). Advanced Marketing Planning. Available: http://www.themarketingprocessco.com/document_downloads/mcdonald_presentation_nov_08_00.pdf. Last accessed 4 March 2010. Mary Bellis. (2010). What are the Elements of a Marketing Plan?. Available: http://inventors.about.com/od/licensingmarketing/f/Marketing_eleme.htm. Last accessed 05 March 2010. Michael E. Porter (1998). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. Washington: Free Press. 15 - 34. Mordkovich, E., (2006), ‘Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies to Attracting NEW Customers Using Google, Yahoo & Other Search Engines’, 29 September 2006, MordComm, Inc. Publishers Mullen, J., Daniels, D., & Gilmour , D., (2008), ‘Email Marketing: An Hour A Day’, 24 November 2008, Sybex Publishers Ratcliffe, M., & Mack, S., (2007), ‘Podcasting Bible’, 1st Edition, 12 February 2007, Wiley Publishers Weber, L., (2009), ‘Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business’, 2nd edition, 3 March 2009, Wiley 2009 Read More