Exclusive Styles Ladies Boutique - Term Paper Example

? marketing plan Exclusive Styles Ladies Boutique By: here executive summary In the era of advancements, innovation and progress, the business environment has also undergone various methods and procedures. The businesses have adopted new technology, innovative ways of product creation, and newer methods of making them successful. Through they all move in different directions once they are established, yet most of the business organizations have the similar basis and beginning for the initiation of their corporate ventures. This fundamental document is known as the marketing plan. Be it a manufacturing or service industry, the marketing plan forms the basis of entry and establishment of the organizations in the industry. This paper will discuss the marketing plan for women’s clothing store, which is one of the popular and successful businesses of the present era. the challenge The business under study refers to the opening up of women’s clothing store which is one of the popular segments of the fashion and clothing industry currently. The women’s clothing store will be a boutique, named Exclusive Styles, and will offer a wide variety of casuals and fancy wears to the women and girls belonging to any demographic, psychology and geography. It is an upscale clothing boutique for women which will open next year. The special personal style selections and services will assure that it enables the customers to stay well-dressed and look nice. The business will initially be solely owned and will have one proprietor. Exclusive Style will have contemporary/casual and ready to wear apparel along with complementing accessories for women. It will be a specially designed shop of the clothes and will also feature other options by European and other American designers which may include the brands from Tosca, Weekend MaxMini and Catherine the Great. The major customers of the company will be professionals and other women who reside in United States and have a household earning beyond $120,000. The customer segment will target women who enjoy the fashion of boutiques and needs a best quality service for her clothes in order to catch up with the busy lifestyle and routine. Marketing Situation SWOT Analysis Every organization adopts SWOT analysis as the basis of its development and initial start-up. SWOT analysis (alternately SLOT analysis) refers to a method of strategic planning for the evaluation of Strengths, Weaknesses/Limitations, Opportunities, and Threats that are present in a business venture or a project (Humphrey, Albert, 2005). The SWOT analysis for the Exclusive Style Boutique is as follows: Strengths The boutique will have ‘hit-the-trend’ style clothes which will be a big attraction and will present wide variety to the trendy and contemporary style women. The clothes will be affordable and easily accessible to the women across the globe. The clothe range will be diverse with various choices and different fabrics in the product line. Moreover, additional services like salon, cafe and lounges will be available which will successfully position the boutique in the minds of consumers and will build its brand image. Weaknesses Some of the weaknesses that the boutique may face might include the difficulty to manage the product lines, big staff and the store space. It may incur high management costs and difficulties in the management of customer services. The growing popularity of the store would require the management to maintain the presentation of its interior and manage the uniqueness of product, style, and fabric. Opportunities The external environment of Exclusive Styles would provide it good opportunities to avail. For instance, it has been a trend that the young population spends more; therefore, the major target population will be young ladies or the working class who prefer to look and wear well every day. In order to create brand attachment and fame, the store will have a good opportunity to get the brands advertised and endorsed through celebrities. Furthermore, the option of choice, variety and affordability may make the store and the entire business survive the tough times of economic recession. The Exclusive Styles boutique will also have many chances to go international and expand or diversify its business and product ranges geographically. Threats The external environment also poses threats to the new store. Some already established and tough competitors and fashion icons will give a cutthroat competition to the store. The foreign brands entering the markets and fast moving local styles of fashion will be able to make the survival for the new store difficult. Besides this, the expansion and government and legal policies of the foreign countries may also hinder the growth and development of the Exclusive Styles. Target Customers The target customers of the store will be women, young girls and professionals earning over $120,000. This is because a wide range of clothes from various brands and in all trendy and contemporary looks will attract them. They will also provide a stylish, and easy to wear solutions for the busy ladies. The target market has been segmented geographically and demographically as well. The population of most prominent localities have been researched for their preferences and their age and income too. The customer segment to be targeted will be the women who enjoy the fashion of boutiques and needs a best quality service for her clothes in order to catch up with the busy lifestyle and routine. The boutique will initially market on niche level. Once its initial costs are recovered and revenues generated, it can climb the ladder up to market itself on mass levels, to all segments of customers and even globally. It may, then, include further categories of products such as kids’ clothing, and diversify itself into providing cosmetic and ornaments. The target market may remain the same, but the product line and range will grow. Positioning The boutique will be positioned in a competitive manner so as to counter the rivalry given by the competitors. The concept of positioning pertains to the means and ways in which the services and goods can be differentiated from each other and also provide the customers valid and reliable reasons to purchase them. It entails the capability and the functionality of the brand, along with the physical attributes that it bears (Hooley & Saunders, 1993). The products at the Exclusive Styles will be positioned on their quality, physical attributes (style and fabric) and the fashion trends. It will conform, to all the qualities of the styles and fabric which the customers want. Initially, the boutique can gain a differentiation through the price leadership strategy in which it can keep lower prices for its superior quality products so that it is able to find a place in the customer segment. Later, the pricing can be revised and increased when the product is established and the new business venture has established a firm footing in the consumer market. Moreover, a competitive and reasonable pricing will provide the customers a good opportunity to avail the fashion clothes at affordable prices. Moreover, the in-store services, good customer assistance, an excellent ambience and comfortable shopping experience will help position the new store and its products and services into the minds of the consumers. Market Condition Any new company entering the industry needs to analyze the market conditions of the corporate environment in which it is going to operate. Exclusive Styles will also need to take into account the exchange rates, inflation levels and the general trading climates. Since the store will deal with the international customers and will also open up its branches in the foreign countries, it requires having a good amount of knowledge of the stock exchange and currency rates. Moreover, the competition level and the extent of innovations and introduction new technology determine the market conditions for the store. In order to counter a cutthroat competition from the big rivals in the industry, Exclusive Styles will have to measure the extent of competition, the profiles of its rivals, their strategies of survival and their ways of capturing the market share. It will then, work upon creating the measures to counter the competition in order to maintain its market existence and growth. Besides this, the management of the store will need to discover the technology and innovative methods to increase its own demand in response to the popularity of its competitors. It will need to progress in terms of creativity, style, and design and work with advanced machines and equipments to provide its clients with a new and creative product. Competition One of the most important features of any industry is the competition posed to each other by the brands operating in the same industry. The competitors for the Exclusive Styles will include the other boutiques and clothing shops wherever the store will be operating. This will specially include the boutiques offering designer dresses and very fashionable trendy clothes of the present times. Moreover, any foreign brands operating in the same industry would also attract the customers and try to capture larger market share. Thus, it will be a huge responsibility of the newly opened venture to identify study and tackle the competitors in the markets. The new business will also have to adopt various strategies to expand, diversify and sustain it in the markets so that existing customers can be retained and new ones are targeted. Marketing Mix Marketing mix is an essential element to form the basis of any business plan for a new organization. It pertains to and includes the basic 4 Ps which give a business its fundamental existence. These include Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and are established according to the nature and scope of the business. The Exclusive Styles will have to analyze itself on the basis of the 4Ps which will be suitable to its nature as follows: Product The product of the new business venture will be clothes, rather stitched clothes. It will provide its customers with all types of contemporary, casual and trendy clothes which would follow the fashion symbols and preferred colors. Along with the actual products, various services, such as nail salon, cafes and lounges will also be provided to the customers to facilitate them with a comfortable and relaxing shopping. Price The customers of Exclusive Styles will be able to purchase a unique quality and modern designed product in affordable prices. Initially, the boutique will follow a penetration pricing strategy, discounts and gifts in order to get its footing in the market and industry. Later, a competitive pricing may be applied so that the inflation rates, currency variations, profit margins and competitor’s pricing can be adjusted for. Place The Exclusive Styles boutique will be located in a commercial area where the customers can have easy access to the buying place. Moreover, in posh localities too, the boutique will be at such main places or shopping malls which are easier for the customers to visit frequently. Promotion The new business will be promoted mainly through holding exhibitions and spreading word or advertising through the hoardings and social media network. Initially, the television advertisements can also be a huge assistance to make the masses aware of the new outlet of Exclusive Styles being opened up in a particular shopping mall. Besides this, brochures, word of mouth advertisements, free gifts, discount schemes and other incentives may be a part of the rigorous promotion policy. Price and Value The prices charged by the Exclusive Styles will correspond and match perfectly to the value it will provide its customers. In every business, customers want a justified value and worth of the price that they pay for the product. Similarly, the price charged by the new business will be spread over three categories: the regular or normal clothes, for the purpose of daily wearing will be charged the lowest; the trendy clothes for typically trendy customer segment will be priced a bit higher; the clothes offering contemporary look and new fashion will be priced a bit higher than the trendy ones. Exclusive Styles will still offer its customers with a superb quality fabric and unique designs, irrespective of the price charged for them. In order to retain the customers and maintain their trust, the management of the boutique will enhance their experiences by offering them after sales services, good product and great shopping experience. Thus, the price charged by the customers will be able to justify the product, services and their experiences. Research Interviews in Context A research interview was conducted with the owner of the boutique offering the similar products and competing in the same industry. According to her, the present era offers a great leverage and scope in the fashion and related industries. The clothing business has been benefitted much and is gaining heights, due to the fact that, people now have become more aware and conscious of their looks, style and presentation. Moreover, since most of the ladies work and are into professional capacities, so they get less time to manage good clothing for them. Thus, the boutiques facilitate them with easy-to-wear clothes in every category. Regarding the tough market competition, the owner of a small boutique mentioned various designers that have already captured the market and have maintained their own customer bases. They have already positioned them so much in the minds of the customers that it becomes difficult for a new business venture in the same industry to deal with the cutthroat rivalry. Besides all other factors, the market conditions, according to her, present an uncertain climate. There is recession, variations in exchange rates, laws and regulations of trading, higher expenditures, persistently growing inflation and many other factors which may hinder the progress of a business. Not only may this, but a new business struggling to expand and diversify become difficult to be managed and controlled in terms of its scope and human resource base. Thus, the general opinion given by the boutique’s owner stated that the new business ventures in the industry need to be more competitive and challenging in order to cope up with the existing and the upcoming market conditions. After interviewing the owner, one of the employees from the same boutique was enquired about the work management and the viewpoints. According to her, the customers exhibit a good behaviour when they are treated with concentration and are given extra services. For a new business venture to be successful, especially a boutique, it is essential that the employees are kept satisfied with good quality products, better after sale services, and their complaints should be noticed for the feedback and quality improvement purposes. The employee mentioned that it is important to build a long term relationships with the customers by giving them discounts, incentives and price cuts frequently. Moreover, a good shopping experience is also largely responsible for improving the profitability and increase in sales volume of the businesses. Conclusions A new business venture needs to take up a good amount of market research and customer analysis in order to formulate its market plan, SWOT, marketing mix and other relevant components. Exclusive Styles boutique will also evaluate its market conditions, environment and 4Ps so that it can build up a strong base for its customers, competitors and products and services. References Hooley, G. J., and Saunders, J. A., 1993, Competitive Positioning: The Key to Market Success, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Humphrey, Albert, 2005, SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting, SRI Alumni Newsletter, SRI International, Web, Retrieved on June 14, 2012 Read More