Coursework 1:
Task: Marketing Plan for a new street wear (leisure/sports wear) manufacturer who does not wish to distribute goods via traditional retail outlets.
Introduction.
The purpose of this report is to develop a clearly structured and efficiently detailed plan, regarding the creation of a business producing and distributing leisure/sports wear clothes in UK. The business plan is designed to function under a focus-differentiated strategy, via internal resources. In the sense that growth will be achieved through the resources equally provided by the two owners of the business. The differentiation point of the product, as reflected by the marketing mix, will be the one emphasizing the good quality of the product and quick service of the business.
In order to minimise the risks involved in such an attempt it was decided that the plan should be divided into sections. Meaning that at the very first steps of our effort we will focus on our immediate and friendly environment.
In order to be able to respond to either circumstance the following plan regarding the business “Fashion Mania”, a name that can be translated to obsession for fashionable clothes, was developed.
The company.
“Fashion Mania” is a clothing organisation, founded in 1997 by John Williams and Malcolm Pete, two street wear manufactures who mainly designs and distributes via mail order casual clothes to serve young professionals with little free time. The business grew in 1999 with the help of a bank loan (now paid off) and “Fashion Mania” is now selling clothes via Internet and catalogues.
Business Plan Aniya Com
1. Internal Analysis: This section looks at Aniya. com from the internal point of view. 1. 1. Background: Aniya.com began as an idea as early as 1997. Upon searching the web for online retail stores we did not come across any one store which would offer the entire line of apparel for women. In other words, although we found many online stores which offer fashionable women! |s apparel, not one was ...
Mission Statement.
Our mission statement is to provide our customers with a selective range of high quality, well-designed and attractive clothes at reasonable prices.
Market Background.
When we are referring to street wear we are mainly talking about sports clothing and sports footwear. However, nowadays we observe a distinction between those two (sports clothing, sports footwear).
The separation of sports clothing from sports footwear reflects the importance that sector has to the whole market. It is not very easy to segment that particular market because the delimitation between active sportswear and leisure sportswear is not clear. Some people usually wear many items of sports clothing on leisure or sports time.
Whereas the sports clothing market has not seen any great changes within the last three years, it has taste a steady growth and now it has 52% of total sports goods sales and approximately 7% of all clothing. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998)
Many of the trends that were obvious in 1995 have become more determined. Some of the most important between these are the increasing influence of fashion over the youth market and the heightened interest in active lifestyles. Whether they are actually participating or not, being seen to be wearing active gear is highly desirable for the 15-24 year old age group. An older market, people who are ‘staying younger longer’ and leading more active lifestyles, is also increasingly embracing outdoor sportswear. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998)
Mintel estimates sales of sports clothing to be worth some £2 billion in 1998, although much of this is dependent on the youth market. As the youth population (15-24 year olds) is forecast to increase by 3.5% by 2002, the core market will be larger and sustainable growth will be easier to achieve. The older generation is on the increase as the ‘baby boom’ population bubble ages. However, very little of the sportswear on offer from the leading manufacturers is designed for older age groups or tastes. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998)
The Essay on Clothing Market And The Dotcom Impact
The clothing retail business is always trying to keep pace with ever-changing fashion trends of the time. The industry is comprised of a fierce competitive market, which is composed of large chains (ex. the Gap), small independent retailers (ex. Pink boutique in Carytown), and of the emerging dot.com e-tailers..such as delias.com. With Generation Y now entering as a consumer segment, the fashion ...
In the sports market the leading brands are quite a lot. A big number of those leading brands still dominate the sports clothing market. However, with the increasing fashionability of sports clothing many traditional fashion labels are making inroads in the sports leisurewear market. Particularly those that have strong labels appealing to the youth market, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren Polo and Levi’s. Outdoor brands, such as Rockport, Timberland and O’Neil are more prominent also, as a consequence of their high profile appeal to a wide range of consumers. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998)
A market with potential future.
The sports clothing market was valued at £1.7 billion in 1997 and is projected to grow further to be worth £1.8 billion in 1998. The market has recovered after the damaging recession of the early 1990s, growing 22% at current prices between 1995 and 1997, equating to 25% in real terms. Clothing continues to increase its dominance of the sports goods market (sports clothing, footwear and equipment), accounting for 52% of sales in 1997, compared to 1994 shares of 49:32:19 for clothing, footwear and equipment respectively.
This is partly a result of consumers buying higher ticket items such as outerwear and branded garments. However, footwear is still much more important in sportswear than it is in general apparel (where it takes a 17% share), particularly due to the importance of its high performance positioning to the brand image of the leading sports goods manufacturers. In the future the “sport – good health” look is forecast to gradually increase its shares on consumers expenditure in clothing. (Mintel – Sports Clothing, November 1998)
Situation Analysis.
Marketing Audit: S.W.O.T & P.E.S.T Analysis.
An audit is the means by which a company can understand how it relates to the environment in which it operates. Expressed in its simplest form an audit is the company’s own strengths and weaknesses and how they relate to external opportunities and threats.
Strengths:
§ home shopping arose in the UK because it provided credit to communities. It is commonly acceptable that at least 1/3 of the UK population have access to the Internet. Because of that home shopping sectors have a potential to reach the entire UK population very soon.
The Essay on E Shopping Online Internet Consumers
E-Shopping Online shopping has impacted the economic, political and cultural development of the financial markets and the economy. Many consumers have been using the World Wide Web in order to purchase items. The computer technology has allowed consumers to use the internet to their convenience to shop. Online shopping has impacted the United States economy greatly. The impacts of online shopping ...
§ “Fashion Mania” as a home shopping service can offer an ideal solution for a lot of consumer groups like young professionals, with little or no free time, disabled people and generally consumers who find visiting a shop difficult.
§ “Fashion Mania” also allows a wider variety of choices in shopping, as Internet opens up a world of retailing to users.
§ Home shopping is also ideal for consumers with the so-called convenience lifestyle because it is “open” 24 hours a day.
Weaknesses:
§ One of the main weaknesses of home shopping is the price. Price is or can be higher than the high street shops. That is happening because catalogue prices are fixed for a particular period, usually Autumn-Winter and Spring- Summer, and high street shops often overcome those prices.
§ As it was mentioned above catalogues are issued in advance. So, by the time the consumer wishes to buy the product, stocks could be eliminated. Eventually, customers usually turn back to high street shops.
§ Another weakness is the relatively low advertising and promotions budget. If a retailer, who have recently established a home shopping service, wishes to be successful he/she must advertise his products a lot so by the time the catalogue reaches the market, consumers must be aware of the new product. Such an act needs budget and usually new retailers do not have it.
§ Finally, retailers who sell their products through catalogues are not able to follow the quick changes in fashion tastes and as a result of that they often fail to target the teenage market.
Opportunities:
§ For small or medium sized retailers, like “Fashion Mania” new methods of straightforward selling like Internet usually offers them global reach.
§ New techniques using advanced databases allow home shopping services to focus on specific niche groups perfectly. Such an act leads to better returns, more profit and the ability to expand.
§ Nowadays home shopping is an opportunity to put more pressure on existing brands. According to Key Note, “Virgin Direct, Dixons and the supermarket chains are all using their brands to develop new client bases…” (Key Note, Home Shopping, 1999)
The Research paper on Emirates Dates And How To Market The Product In (Sweden)
There are various strategies of expanding one’s business. The decision of which strategic move to choose is generally depends on internal conditions of the business in discussion. There are companies that manage to stay in their local markets and continue to harness growth from it, while others discover potential markets in foreign countries that drive them to expand. In the case of business ...
§ Another opportunity is that the general acceptability of the internet from the society is leading to market growth and to the ability to advertise new products cheaply.
Threats:
§ The increasingly big number of new entrants in the market.
§ The majority of foreign manufacturers who have lunched their home shopping services in their markets and now are being expand to other markets.
§ Nowadays consumers spend less than the amount they used to spend. That can affect home shopping negatively because people usually use such services for impulse purchases.
§ Finally, it is well known that a great percentage of the top UK companies still do not have on line presence. Eventually are in great risk of being left behind.
Although the environment consists of a big variety of factors and influences, it is possible to group them under four main groupings that are usually known by the acronym PEST.
Political & Legal factors:
§ Political uncertainty.
§ Flexible/Negotiable trade and domestic investment mechanisms, subjected to the EU regulations and standards.
§ Balance between public and private sector. Encouragement of domestic investment
The political and legal environment covers the external forces controlled by governments.
Economic – Competitive factors:
§ Healthy economy Ϋ more disposable income Ϋ More sales.
The economic and competitive environment covers both macro and micro economic conditions that affect the structure of competition in a market.
Social Factors:
§ Provide credit to communities.
§ Easy to access different cultures.
The sociocultural environment is of great importance to marketers because it helps to understand the consumer, his needs and what drives him/her.
Technological factors:
§ Technology is always improving. Internet access Ϋ Easier sales Ϋ Profit for the company.
(Brassington & Pettit, Principles of Marketing)
Marketing objectives.
The Research paper on Marketing Mix Product Consumers Company
Marketing Mix: The term marketing mix is used to describe the all the options available to the marketing manager in order to market a particular good or service. It is often referred to as the 4 P's (i. e Product, Place, Promotion, and Place) The Product Variable: This aspect of the marketing mix deals with researching consumers' product wants and designing a product with the desired ...
To be useful a marketing objective needs to have five basic components, which are:
Specific.
Measurable
What is to be achieved?
Achievable.
Realistic.
Time Based. What it is to be achieved.
Emphasis is given in achieving and maintaining a profitable performance that will gradually improve as years pass by. Such a performance will enable “Fashion Mania”, in three years time, to stabilize its position in the competitive market of home shopping services. In other words to gain a competitive advantage. From that point and on the possibilities are practically unlimited. Ideally, the best development would be to generate such profits to expand not only in the UK market but also in other markets worldwide.
The main objective is to revive a product/service that tends to extinct within modern societies where lifestyles favor quantity against quality. In other words to create a service that will allow “Fashion Mania” to combine past values with today’s reality and prove that small size companies reflect one of the best practices in doing business.
Marketing Strategies.
To meet their objectives management need a plan or a strategy. A strategy can be defined “as a set of decisions taken by management on how the business will allocate its resources and achieve sustainable competitive advantage in its chosen markets” (Peter Doyle, Marketing Management & Strategy)
The generic strategy of this company is focused on different market sectors. The marketing strategies to be followed are:
– Creation of Web page.
– Catalogues selling. Use of new distribution channels (i.e. Internet) because it provides global reach.
– Creation of EU base.
– Advertise in magazines.
– Try to promote our existing products to new markets.
– Mail order.
Winning strategic direction: High quality clothes and high priced in order to target young professionals with little free time but a lot of money. For marketing “Fashion Mania” will sell its product through catalogues and the Internet.
Market Segmentation.
In consumer markets five main categories of segmentation are defined:
The Essay on Market orientation and product orientation
This is an important distinction. Most businesses would today describe themselves as being ‘market oriented’ or ‘market led’. This approach requires market research and market analysis to indicate present and future consumer demand. The consumer is put first – the business attempts to produce what consumers want rather than try to sell them a product they may not really want to buy. It has ...
1. Geographic segmentation.
2. Demographic segmentation.
3. Geodemographic segmentation.
4. Psychographic segmentation.
5. Behaviour based segmentation.
Between them, those five categories of segmentation cover a full range of characteristics. (Brassington & Pettit, Principles of Marketing)
The target market for sports wears or street wear is mainly young people aged 15 to 20 and adults’ aged 30 to 45. Sports wear is one of the most easy type of clothing a customer can wear despite his/her social class. Sports wear can be anything from jeans and fabric Lycra to sweat suits.
According to a survey which took place in 1998 in UK and had as a sample 987 adults, Adidas is the number one leading sportswear brand preferred by the 48% of the questioned, followed by the second and third sports brands Nike and Reebok. As noted above Adidas had established a clear lead over the two US brands. From the results of the survey it is obvious that sports and designer brands have become popular “household brands”. (Key Note – UK Clothing & Footwear, 1999)
“Fashion Mania”
§ Target group: Males and Females aged 25 to 45.
§ Social class: A, B, C1
§ Target group characteristics:
– Little free time.
– Urban life.
– Want to be exclusive.
– Athletic, keep in shape.
– Jobs in Media, marketing, fashion.
§ Price: Medium to high
According to the above we can understand that “Fashion Mania” is an online shopping service with free catalogues to choose from. My company is targeting on a niche market, which is young professionals (male and female) aged 25-45 with a lot of money but without free time to go shopping and the need to be athletic and keep in shape. We can clearly understand from the positioning map below why I choose such a market segment.
Positioning map.
High Quality
Cheap Expensive.
Low Quality
From the map above we can understand that “Fashion Mania” is a company that produces high quality clothes in reasonable prices.
Marketing Mix
Product:
As previously mentioned the product will consist of premium quality leisure/sports clothes. However, the product range will be narrow in the sense that only specific types of clothes will be produced (i.e. sweat suits) and only under order. Exceptions may apply in the future as the business establishes its position in the market place.
Cancellations will be accepted only under a 48h previous notice, otherwise the full payment made in advance will not be returned. Packaging will be available for all sizes of order, including both plain and gift wrappings depending on the purpose of purchase. The warranties available will cover refund or exchange in damaged goods. However, customers’ views and perceptions will always be our primary concern and that is why any dissatisfaction will be handled accordingly (e.g. discounts, 2 for the price of 1 etc)
Price:
At the beginning where the products available will be very specific and few in number prices will be equal to £18 for footwear and £22 for clothes respectively. As far as it concerns exceptional orders, prices will be respectively adjusted
Full payments will be required in advance as a quarantee. Whereas, credit and discounts will not be accepted, as an effort to maintain the smooth running of our business where sales will be the only source of income and profit.
Place:
The company’s delivery system will be provided free of charge and will cover the north and central areas UK. Moreover, as we are in the stage of introduction with ambitions to expand, we decided to cover other distant areas around UK as well under the charge of a delivery fee. The delivery of the goods will be carried via the use of a multipurpose vehicle (van), directly to our customers work environment or to their houses.
Promotion:
By definition the resources available by a small business are restricted and our case is not an exception. That is our promotional activity will be mainly based on sales promotions and public relations, designed to promote qualitative coverage of the potential customers rather than frequency of exposure to the promotional activity.
As far as it concerns PR activities, word of mouth will be the main source of evidence about our products’ quality and reputation. For the policies of good business practice emphasise customer satisfaction, our customer service will be suitably formed to respond to such a prerequisite. Additionally, sales promotion techniques will be combined with direct marketing.
Specifically, they will acquire the form of a brief catalogue and colour leaflets distributed in the target areas (north, central UK) via the business’s van. These promotional tools will lie on an informative basis as an attempt to increase awareness as possible. That is why colour photographs representative of our distinctive style accompanied by detailed and clearly price lists will be used. The core message of our promotional activity will refer to the return to the traditional lifestyles along with ways of achieving it without being rigid and old-fashioned.
Evaluation.
Strategic statement:
Major goal: Our major goal is to grow the company in terms of sales and margins within 3 years.
Overall direction: Our target group and thus our overall direction is young professionals with no free time for shopping.
Comp. Basis: Generic strategy which will not change.
Principal Measure: Internal development of new products.
Resourcing: How we will finance this strategy?
We will spend on design, product testing and market £ 500 mil by increasing gearing to 35%.
Forecast
It is commonly acceptable that home shopping will continue to expand because of the huge response people have to the uses of the Internet. Nevertheless, as catalogues still remain the major alternative to High Street shops it will be the emergence of otherwise niche sectors that will change the overall landscape. Moreover new methods of home shopping are forecast to have an almost immediate effect on the market.
The new electronic and niche sectors are expected to become more powerful and more targeted as direct marketers use specific databases to target consumer groups.
According to Key Note by the year 2003 the market for home shopping is forecast to constitute over 6% of total retail sales. Key Note estimates that the total value of the home shopping market will be worth £20.3bn, which represents growth of 73.5% over 1999 and 99% over 1998. (Key Note Ltd, Home Shopping, 1999)
Bibliography.
Ψ Branssington, F. and Pettit, S. [2000], Principles of Marketing, London, Pitman Publishing.
Ψ Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. [1996], Principles of Marketing, London, Prentice Hall.
Ψ McDonald, M. [1984], Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to use them, London, Butterworth & Heinemann.
Ψ Thomas, Michael J. [1989], Marketing Handbook, London, Gower Publishing Company.
Ψ Adcock, D and et al. [1998], Marketing Principles and Practice, London, Pitman Publishing.
Ψ Kotler, P and et al. [1996], Principles of Marketing, London, Prentice Hall.
Ψ Key Note Ltd [1999], Home Shopping Report.
Ψ Key Note Ltd [1999], UK clothing and footwear Report.
Ψ Mintel Reports:
– Retail Advertising [April 1999]
– UK vs. US Online Shopping [June 2000]
– The Sports Market [September 1998]
– Sports Good Retailing [June 1999]
– Sports Footwear [October 1998]
– Sports Clothing [November 1998]
– Leisure Shopping Off the High street [May 1999]
– Leisure On The Internet [May 2000]
– Online Shopping [July 1999]
Ψ Web pages:
– www.nike.com
– www.adidas.com
– www.encarta.com
– www.geocities.com
Table of Contents:
Introduction. 1
The company. 1
Mission Statement. 1
Market Background. 2
A market with potential future. 3
Situation Analysis. 3
Marketing Audit: S.W.O.T & P.E.S.T Analysis. 3
Strengths: 4
Weaknesses: 4
Opportunities: 5
Threats: 5
Political & Legal factors: 6
Economic – Competitive factors: 6
Social Factors: 6
Technological factors: 6
Marketing objectives. 7
Marketing Strategies. 7
Market Segmentation. 8
Positioning map. 10
Marketing Mix 11
Product: 11
Price: 11
Place: 11
Promotion: 12
Evaluation. 13
Bibliography. 14
