John Lewis Marketing and Brand Management Strategies - Assignment Example

John Lewis Marketing and Brand Management Strategies Question one Since its initiation in 1864, John Lewis, a United Kingdom channel-based retailer has made recommendable achievements in terms of marketing strategies and products popularity in the United States, Europe and Asia. John Lewis has gone beyond electronics and fashion-ware that were part of its initial stock and currently embraced a wider range of stock through its outlets depending on taste and preference of customers within a particular locality. Having formed partnership with over 30 enterprises in the United Kingdom alone, the organization has a clear and vibrant branding strategy that diligently attracts customers from a wider margin who enjoy a share of satisfied products at reasonable prices. From the recent research carried out by business scholars in the United Kingdom, there is a notion that the organization has integrated branding and customer experience strategy in all its retail outlets simply to ensure that it achieves its competitive edge (Woodcock et al. 2007).. According to Lewis & Kallab (1996), using both media approach and physical branding strategy, John Lewis employs various branding strategies that aim at determining why some commodities sell while others are not preferred by customers. The main objective of Lewis diversifying its branding tactics is to encourage the customers to visit its various outlets and spend more on purchase towards the realization of better returns to the business. Some of the branding strategies that the organization employs include the following: Quality position The quality position forms an integral part in product branding and marketing globally. Every customer believes in the quality of products and services to satisfy their daily needs. Since quality position can easily integrate with other marketing strategies of the company, it makes it quite easier for john Lewis to adopt quality position especially on its physical and fashionable products because it brings more emphasis towards customers’ requirements. Besides, john Lewis can use quality as a distinguishing factor to strategically position itself amongst market rivals such as Amazon and United Kingdom booksellers thereby drawing attention of customers concerning quality products and trusted professionals (Lewis & Kallab, 1996). Average price position It is possible for the company to tackle the above strategy through two different possibilities. Firstly, some customers believe that highly priced end products relate to higher quality and are not destructed by cost regardless of the price (Lewis & Kallab, 1996). On the other hand, some organizations have successfully achieved high returns through cost-benefit analysis by simply charging discounted cost while targeting to sell more quantity within the shortest time possible. Therefore, John Lewis may adopt higher pricing on slow moving and more durable products while offering discounted pricing strategy on womans products and toys as this will bring balance to its products. Benefit factor The organization can easily employ benefits factor as one of its branding strategy since it is not a common strategy amongst retail sellers (Klein, 2013). Despite the fact that the above strategy is mostly used by manufacturers to bring emphasis on various benefits associated with purchase of a particular product, it can increase revenue to john Lewis retailer through a perception that the products on offer are of vital importance. Average income strategy In several occasions, average income strategy has suggested appropriate level of influence in the supply of products and service. For instance, almost 25 % salaried and non-salaried income earners fall within the above bracket. The technique has been used by most-financial institutions with viable returns generated from such a cluster. A similar situation is subject of success if adopted by john Lewis retail traders. Moreover, it is projected that through average income strategy, the organization is subjected to a wider market with a bigger geographical area of coverage thus improves the possibility of drawing a good number of potential customers outside the market boundaries. For instance, john Lewis products for mother are not only determined by taste preference and fashion, but also by the cost price and aspiration to a moderate pricing of the same (Klein, 2013). Competition based branding strategy Globally, marketing researchers point out that every business or organization that is not associated by stiff competitive or rivalry is likely to engage into non-satisfactory products that and may ruin market benefits. While avoiding the subject of monopoly, an organization that handles a wide range of products such as John Lewis must demonstrate the highest potentials in terms of the delivery of its products and services among the rivals who trade in a similar line. Therefore, when John Lewis Company employs the use of lower pricing especially in geographical locations where the outlets have never existed it will draw the attention of potential customers towards the best quality that already exists in the market (Klein, 2013). The proposed approach for John Lewis According to Roll (2005), marketing standard and policies, every business must adopt appropriate marketing strategy in order to remain competitive and within a particular marketing niche. As discussed in the above sections, there are several branding strategies that facilitate effective sale of products and services towards achieving the competitive edge of the product. An organization risks fewer chances of survival if it simply ventures into the market without appropriate branding strategy. With respect to the above strategy, it is proposed that john Lewis should embrace unique branding due to its nature of in varied line of products. The unique brand strategy will help the organization to sustain a positive image in all the market geographical locations where some of the organizational products don not sail. Since the majority of customers who are targeting John Lewis products get sourced globally with lots of expectations to come from Britain and the surrounding environment, it is within the mandate of the organization to build brand awareness among the foreign markets (Roll, 2005). Roll (2005) recommends that unique brand strategy is an essential tactic that would see John Lewis achieving incredible benefits through increased sale return. From the above, sales and product promotion department will get the best turnover when market for one product falls while the value for another product picks up to sustain the market deficit that has been created to avoid chances of a competitor taking up such a position. Similarly, with the adoption of unique branding strategy the organization is potentially placed to increase its sales quantity through the supermarket chain outlets. Unique branding is also recommended because it is subjected to draw high chances of partnership from other likeminded organizations. Forming such alliance with overseas businesses outside the United Kingdom is a subject of an upward trend in the annual bonus to the company. Therefore, unique branding also creates a huge indicator to the investors on how well an organization is doing thus proving chances of survival even during economic crisis periods (Roll, 2005). Moreover, the above strategy also offers a competitive advantage to small scale investors by creating competitive advantage while adding more human capital through chances of creativity thus portrays a culture of future stability. Notably, before making an expansion into anew geographical location, it is highly recommended that john Lewis must determine whether its market potentiality is supported in such geographic locations. As such, unique branding is an exclusive support for such a motive. Irrespective of other rival companies that also trade in similar products, unique branding is recommended in alienating existing customers while giving chances to understand the responsiveness within a new market geographical location thus critical for the organizational success. Ultimately, unique branding ascertains customers’ potentiality within a particular geographical location hence necessary to access capability within a particular area (Roll, 2005). Question 2 Based on the retail branding theory, John Lewis embraces the policy of Walter Landor, which dictates that despite products having come from manufacturers, brands are initiated in the minds of the consumers. From the above perspective, the organization has various branding elements for sustainable competitive advantage amongst which include the following Characters and celebrities Most customers would love to live in dreams by worshiping celebrities with whom they see as stars or image makers in the society. Characters and celebrities can easily be adopted by John Lewis marketing department by simple hooking up with celebrities to influence targeted potential customers in a new environment. While venturing into the market in Europe, an organization can best market its fashion-ware and sporting equipments by roping the football celebrities and whooping some sustainable amount of money after, which their images are uploaded on an organizational portal where it draws the attention of potential customers (Budelmann &Kim, 2010). Besides, every product draws the potentiality of a definite image. As such, consumers in the fashion industry prefer product that has maximum outfit for a specific personality image. The celebrity scenario in the case above tends to fix the image more closely to the expectation of the potential products with transferred perception onto the minds of customers thus improving the sales quantity. In essence, the organization may create numerous subscription portals for customers on integral where they can shoot individual photos and upload alongside Messi’s image a renounced footballer while on John Lewis fashion ware. The above creates an impression of totality towards competitive edge of the company. Brand name element The above type of branding strategy has always been used for decades by business enterprises to market their products and services. However, it can only be to a multinational product or in areas where the products of a particular company are perceived best in terms of quality and pricing. To John and Lewis Company, the brand name is beyond a logo and the name of the slogan. Due to a wide range in products, the organization can best employ the use of brand name element to market some of the products that cannot sell outside the umbrella of the company. For instance, Samsung electrical may not sell much in the United States due to market dominance by local electrical manufacturers. However, when such products sell under John Lewis brand name, there is high potential of such products to fetch vibrant sales because of the organizational popularity of dealing in quality and durable products. Finally, branding is a critical element in the sale of products and services. For such reasons, it is important to note that John Lewis branding element brings the organization to a competitive position of life thus making it easy to ascertain what the customers think about the goods and services (Budelmann &Kim, 2010). Logos and symbols In the current business world, most brands cannot just seek into a prime geographical location without appropriately determining the market niche and presence of market rivals. It is through an association as a subcategory of an already existing company that organization would be able to learn about the taste and preference of a particular geographical environment. Through the above element, John Lewis can decide to associate its products in a new-geographical location through a subsidiary logo of an already existing dominant company so as to gain sustainable advantage before deciding to set up on its own. For instance, some of the prominent logos in the world such as Apple when used with electronic product creates an image of quality and effectiveness. Through such an innovative system, John Lewis can engage in the sale of Apple products as part of learning a new market environment while gradually introducing its products as an alternative where Apple products have not found potential customers (Kotler et al. 2006). Possible brand elements to be maintained It cannot be dismissed that already existing brand element at John Lewis are of less importance because some of them have actually the organization to develop to its current status. Some of the branding element that still play a critical role to the realization of John Lewis competitive edge include collaboration where the organization forms alliance with likeminded partners to improve their ability and enhance sustainable position in the retail market (Leeman, 2010). Besides, the organization is engaged into internet branding as a marketing element aimed at reaching a wider coverage at a fordable cost. Ultimately, the organization has got deep value for quality supply on its products because it ensures customers satisfaction concerning tastes and preference. Reference list: Klein, H. (2013). European retail research. 2012 Volume 26, Issue II. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler. Lewis, J & Kallab, V. (1996). Development strategies reconsidered. New Brunswick, N.J., U.S.A.: Transaction Books. Woodcock, N et al. (2007). The customer management scorecard: managing CRM for profit. Roll, M. (2005). Asian Brand Strategy: How Asia Builds Strong Brands. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Budelmann, K & Kim, Y. (2010). Brand identity essentials: 100 principles for designing logos and building brands. Beverly, Mass.: Rockport Publishers. Kotler, P et al. (2006). B2B brand management. Berlin; New York: Springer. Leeman, J. (2010). Supply Chain Management: fast, flexible supply chains in manufacturing and retailing. Düsseldorf : Institute for Business Process Management, cop. Read More