International Fashion Marketing - Assignment Example

Introduction: Due to increasing globalization and free trade, many organizations are now expanding to international markets. This is done mainly to expand their existing business and also due to the high level of competition that exists in the home markets. Another trend that is now seen is that the expansion is targeted to expanding markets like India, China, South America, South Africa, Russia, China (but not Hong Kong), India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Vietnam or certain eastern European countries (Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania etc). Due to its nature these emerging markets are also witnessing a surge in new areas of business like fashion and other luxury items. There are many factors to be considered by a company in the case of international expansion. The political atmosphere, the economic growth, local work and social culture, the level of competition that exists, the legal factors, foreign trade policies of the intended market, and many other related factors are to be understood and analyzed in order to decide which market to enter. Understanding of these factors is also essential to compete and be successful in such markets. This paper is a study of the entry factors for the multinational fashion house Ralph Lauren into the Indian or Russian markets. The market and the company will be analyzed using factors like SWOT analysis, Porter's five forces model, PEST analysis, TOWS matrix, pull and push strategy etc. Culture of a country is also an important factor when entering into international markets. This is especially relevant here since the culture that exists in the home country of Ralph Lauren and India is different. Company profile: Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation is a leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories and fragrances. For more than 35 years, Polo's reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. Ralph Lauren is developing at a rapid rate than when founder Ralph Lauren first entered the arena 40 years ago. With powerful brands such as Polo by Ralph Lauren, RRL, Rugby, and Club Monaco, the company designs and markets apparel and accessories, home furnishings, and fragrances. Its collections are available at some 10,800 locations worldwide, including many upscale and mid-tier department stores. The company also operates about 315 Ralph Lauren, Club Monaco, and Rugby retail stores worldwide as well as the e-commerce sites RalphLauren.com and Polo.com. Ralph Lauren began with a collection of ties, has grown into an entire world-redefining American style. Polo is known for providing quality products and creating worlds that invite people to take part in our dream. They position themselves as the innovators of lifestyle advertisements that encourage customers to participate in that lifestyle. (Industry centre -textile- apparel clothing 2009). Emerging markets: Many companies are now looking towards emerging markets as a part of their expansion strategies. Such markets are those "Developing foreign markets, involving greater volatility and higher risk than established markets." (Basic investment terminology). The term developing is of importance since it is possible to grow in such circumstances even though emerging markets tend to be more volatile and risky than established ones. The two emerging markets that are to be studied for entry by Ralph Lauren are India and Russia. Even though both are promising market destinations, there are vast differences in policies, politics, economy, social structure, technology and other factors between these two countries. Russia is a very young political entity and was formed only after the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union. The communist system of governance that has been in existence since the revolution during the early part of this century has now been replaced with a democratic system of governance. India is a democracy since 1948 when she gained independence. Even though private participation in business existed in the country, India had very closed markets until it began to open up to globalization and foreign investments starting from the mid 1980s onwards. Russia had opened up its markets since the change of governance and encourages private participation in business and industry. According to Goldman Sachs, the two countries along with Brazil and China are the economies that will dominate the world in the future. They have been referred to as the BRIC nations, by taking the first letter from the country names. "Over the next 50 years, Brazil, Russia, India and China-the BRICs economies-could become a much larger force in the world economy." (Brics 2009). More details on these two economies will be given in the SWOT, PEST, and TOWS analysis. A journal article titled 'Standing out: how new firms in emerging markets build reputation' provides relevant ideas or steps that firms can take when entering into emerging markets. The authors say that building legitimacy and reputation is paramount for a new firm (like Ralph Lauren) to succeed in emerging markets. "Research on legitimacy and reputation share a common concern with the effect of stakeholders' perceptions of firms' performance and survival." (Rindova, Petkova, & Kotha 2007, p.3). For this firms should create awareness through media coverage, partnering, and symbolic actions. Public relations and press briefings, by Ralph Lauren should be initiated in a big way. Partnering with a reputed local firm is also a possibility and can be advantageous. Symbolic actions can be association with local celebrities, conducting fashion workshops etc. All these depend on the imagination and creativity of the marketing and publicity team of Ralph Lauren. Pest Analysis: Russia Political Factors - The Russian democratic political system is very young and its stability is yet to be assured. "Unrelenting social, political, and economic pressures are tormenting this vast Eurasian country in its endeavour to erase the legacy of seventy years of totalitarian rule" (Khashan 1999). In that sense, the democratic values of this nation is not fully stabilized. Organized crime is quite a serious issue here. But the government is fully supportive of private investments and also for foreign direct investment. Economic factors: The Russian fashion industry is still in its infancy, but shows signs of growth. "A chase after all things foreign (to the detriment of all things Russian) has left us with heaps of tasteless clothing and footgear of highly doubtful origin." (Fashion business in Russia 1999). This preference for foreign goods will be advantageous to Ralph Lauren if the trend continues into the future also. The problem is that there is a move to change this trend by fashion houses in the country. The state of the economy will be mentioned in more detail in the opportunities and threats section in the SWOT analysis. Social factors: The majority of the population is Russians with the presence of few tartars and other ethnic groups in Russia. Language is a problem in this case. Moreover, "Russians have a strong oral culture and seldom request information by letter because the recipient has no reason or motivation to respond." (Stevens 2000, p.6). Other demographic factors will be mentioned in the opportunities/threats section in SWOT analysis. Technical factors: Technically, Russia is ahead in many areas when compared to India. But they are more so in military, air, and other heavy industry manufacturing areas. But the country is nor promoting areas as free economic zones. An example is the town called Dubna. "It has recently been designated a free economic zone, in which Russian high-tech companies are exempted from customs duties and pay lower taxes. A new town, designed by British architects, is being built on the Volga's left bank." (Durbna's tale 2009). PEST analysis India: Political factors: India is the biggest democracy in the World. The government type is federal republic and the law is based on English Law. The political situation in the country is more or less stable. For most of its democratic history, the federal Government of India has been led by the Indian National Congress (INC). State politics have been dominated by several national parties including the INC, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (CPI), and various regional parties. In the 2004 elections, the INC won the largest number of Lok Sabha seats and formed a government as a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), supported by various left-leaning parties and members opposed to the BJP. Economic Factors - The economic factors in India are improving continuously. The GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is estimated at 2.965 trillion US dollars in the year 2007. The GDP- per Capita (PPP) was 2700 US dollars as estimated in 2007. The GDP- real growth rate in 2007 was 8.7%. India has the third highest GDP in terms of purchasing power parity just ahead of Japan and behind U.S. and China. Foreign direct investment rose in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 to about $16 billion from just $5.5 billion a year earlier. There is a continuous growth in per capita income; India's per capita income is expected to reach 1000 US Dollars by the end of 2007-08 from 797 US dollars in 2006-07. This will lead to higher buying power in the hands of the Indian consumers. The Indian fashion industry is on a growth pattern and offers a great opportunity for local and multinational companies. "Driven by increasing investments, the Indian fashion industry is expected to reach Rs.7.5 billion by 2012, almost double its current size of Rs.2.9 billion, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) said in a report released Friday." (Indian fashion industry to touch Rs.7.5bn by 2012 2009). This is good news for Ralph Lauren and hence should definitely look at the country as an emerging market. Serious plans to invest and market its products in the country should be done at the earliest. Social Factors - India is the second most populous nation in the world with an approximate population of over 1.1billion people. This population is divided in the following age structure: 0-14 years - 31.8%, 15-64 years - 63.1% and 65 years and above - 5.1%. There has also been a continuous increase in the consumption of fashionable products in India. But financial recession happened all over the world has reduced the purchasing power of customers. Educated Indian youths are now going behind branded products than unbranded one. All these show that fashion trend in India is changing tremendously Technological Factors - technological advancements differ from industry to industry. In the case of apparel and fashion industry the main technology needed is cheap labour. India is known for abundant cheap labour; so by utilizing these abundant resources companies can make profit. CAD (Computer Aided Design), CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) are the some of the technological developments happened in apparel industry. (Pest analysis 2008). In the apparel industry, India is better equipped in terms of technology when compared to Russia. Russia India P X OK E OK OK S X OK T OK OK In terms of political and social factors India has an advantage over Russia. Politically India is much older and stable at the present time. India has a much larger middle class population while Russia is facing large scale migration of its working class population. These factors are dealt with in more detail in later sections of this paper. Overall, India is more secure and profitable market for Ralph Lauren. The reason will be clear after the SWOT and TOWS matrix have been analyzed. SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix: SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) Analysis: The strength and weakness of Ralph Lauren, the opportunities available in India and the threats that may arise if the company is expanding its business to India are analyzed here. The SWOT analysis is done when a company wishes to introduce new project or expand its market to some other places or countries. Here the analysis is done focusing on the Indian market as the company is planning to enter into Indian market. Strengths: Ralph Lauren has retail and wholesale stores in different countries. The company is having a very good growth rate both in retail and wholesale of fashion clothing. The company is providing a good EPS (Earnings Per Share) to its shareholders which means that the company is having firm financial structure. The best strength of the company is the brand image that the company's products are having all over the world which means the brand is world famous. (Ralph Lauren 2007). This will be beneficial to the company when it enters into the Indian market. Because the difficult task of any company when it enters into a new market is that, to create acceptance of the brand in the minds of the prospective customers. The company is having a marketing plan which helps it to be one of the top among the market leaders. The marketing plan is designed in such away that, it ensures and maintains a good brand image. As Mr. Ralph Lauren is famous all over the world, the brand bearing his name will also be famous. This helps in having a competitive advantage over competitors, thereby achieving higher market share. And also the ability of the company to make changes in the products according to the trends and fashion is a good strength of the company. Weakness: Most of Ralph Lauren's products are highly expensive items. It is common that the prices of luxurious clothing are very high. But here in the case of Ralph Lauren, its products' prices are comparatively higher than the competitors. "A price that is way too high may simply make the product unaffordable. On the other hand, a low price provides little opportunity for new product development, expanded product placement, or creative promotional initiatives." (Johnston 2007). Another weakness is that the company is mainly depending on departmental stores and licensees for revenue, which means any problems or loss in the department store or in the stores carried on license basis may affect the entire business of the company. Another weakness is that, the company has to depend on manufacturers for the supply of goods. Whatever may be the demand, if the products are available, then only the company can sell. So in times of high demand the company is forced to buy or import products from new manufacturers about whom the company does not know more and also there is no guarantee of the goods supplied by them. (Ralph Lauren). Opportunities: There are plenty of opportunities in a country like India for expanding business for a company like Ralph Lauren. India is blessed with the availability of large number of skilled labourers. This is a favourable sign for the company to expand business to India. The youngsters of India are showing a positive trend towards fashion dressing. The economy of India is a growing one which is also a favourable fact. And the interest rate in India is comparatively lower than the other countries. Moreover there is a good and strong political and legal system in India which always supports the foreign investors by way of liberalised licence policies, export policies, import policiesetc. Another thing is that most of the youngsters in India are working in IT and related sectors which involves extensive working hours. So the dresses should be comfortable enough to work for long hours. Now most of the companies allow casual dresses inside the office. This is a good sign for Ralph Lauren. (Momentum- in fashion - India 2009). Moreover, India is one of the largest cotton producing countries in the world. The apparel section of Ralph Lauren can take advantage of the cheap good quality cotton that is available here. Moreover, India has the talent and the technology to produce high quality fashion accessories. The country has also an educated workforce that can be utilized even for design of new products suited for the Indian market. Ralph Lauren can also use the technology and manpower to manufacture products that can be exported to other countries. The comparatively cheap labour will enable the company to price products better or alternatively, able to obtain a better profit margin on its products if they are manufactured in India. Russia also offers similar advantages in many areas. Nearly 70% of the population are aged between 15 and 65 years and women outnumber men. (The world fact book 2009). Both these are good new for Ralph Lauren. It is a young in terms of political developments. Private business is being promoted after many years of communism. "Russia ended 2008 with GDP growth of 6.0%, following 10 straight years of growth averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998." (The world fact book 2009). This indicates the health of the economy. Per capita income is over 15,000 USD indicating that people have money to buy luxury items. Unemployment is only 6% which means the rest have own sources of income and hence a certain level of financial independence. Threats: There are so many threats associated with the plan of Ralph Lauren to expand its business to India. In India there exists a social and religious system which is against the fashion and modern dressing. Some societies and religions may protest against the expansion of the business of Ralph Lauren. This is one of the serious threats that the company is going to face in India. The cultural difference in India is another threat that the company has to face. There may be difference in the dressing style of different people. High rate of illiteracy in India is unfavourable condition for the expansion plan of Ralph Lauren. Another thing is that the return on investment during the initial years of expansion would be very less or negative. There are so many competitors in Indian clothing industry. So the company has to face a cut-throat competition. Another threat is threat of new entrants into the Indian market. So many foreign investors are aiming Indian market for their expansion plan. This is a serious threat. In spite of having a large population aged between 15 and 65, the population is aging fast. "Aging is an important problem for the Russian Federation. Since 1992 the demographic situation in Russia has been characterized by reduction of population and low life expectancy (on average - 66.7 years, for men - 60.9 and for women - 73.1)." (Economic and social commission for Asia and the Pacific 2007, p.2). Another threat is the level of crime in the country. According to the book 'Ruling Russia: Law, Crime, and Justice in a Changing Society' the country is facing several problems in this area including drug use, crime against women, human trafficking and rise in organized crime. "Wedded to their Soviet-era training and focus on state security, they have little understanding of laws and justice that protect the public interest." (Pearson, p. 79). Migration of working class population is another threat resulting in people with purchasing power going out of the country. "Eastern European workers and their families are moving by the hundreds of thousands to higher wage countries in Western Europe, spurred by the accession of ten new member States to the European Union, and the decision of several EU members to relax restrictions on migrant workers from Eastern States." (Eastern Europe/ Russia). Tows Matrix: It is a variant form of SWOT analysis. TOWS stands for threat, weakness, opportunity, and strength. Only difference is that SWOT emphasizes on the internal environment but TOWS emphasizes on the external environment. It helps to develop four types of strategies. They are SO Strategies, WO Strategies, ST Strategies, and WT Strategies SO Strategies: SO Strategies make use of internal strengths to take advantage of external opportunities. All managers will want that their organizations to reach in a position where internal strengths can be used to take advantage of external trends and events. For example, Mercedes Benz, which is known for technology and image (strength), can take advantage of the external demand for luxury cars (opportunity) by an increasingly affluent public. WO Strategies: WO Strategies aim at improving internal weaknesses by taking advantage of external opportunities. Sometimes key external opportunities exist, but a firm having internal weaknesses may prevent it from exploiting those opportunities. For example, an auto accessory company with a great demand for electronic devices (opportunity) to control the amount and timing of fuel injection in automobile engine may lack the technology required for producing these devices (weakness). One possible strategy would be to acquire this technology through cooperation with a firm having competency in this field. ST Strategies: ST Strategies use a firm's strengths to avoid or reduce the impact of external threats. For example, amazon.com an online market place for individuals. To perform a TOWS analysis first we have to conduct a SWOT analysis in order to understand the internal strengths and weakness and external opportunities and threats. The following four strategies will help to make the appropriate analysis. Maxi- Maxi Strategy: Under this strategy an organization finds the appropriate strategy which can take the advantage of its opportunities. The firm has to make a list of its strength which can help to attain the listed opportunities. Strength may lead to brand penetration, loyalty among customers, better service etc. Maxi- Mini Strategy: It identifies the strengths which a company can exploit maximum to minimize threats. Developing a marketing campaign to sustain the current market share is an example of Mini-Mini Strategy. Mini- Maxi Strategy: It makes use of external opportunities to minimize its internal weakness. For example labour cost of home country is higher than other countries so we can make use of the cheap labour by outsourcing it from another country. Mini- Mini Strategy: It attempts to minimize company's weakness and avoid external threats. It matches company's threats and weakness in order to avoid future harmful situations. (Steffens & Ventures 2009). External Opportunities (O) 1.Branch expansion in various countries. 2.Online shopping should be available to all people 3. Qualified and cheap labour 4. Changing fashion trends 5. Growing economy 6. Reasonably favourable government policies 7. Availability of raw materials (cotton) 8. Large middle class population . External Threats (T) 1. Other luxuries brands available in the market 2. Private label products. 3. Large sections of population still conservative 4. Religious attitudes may not favour certain dresses 5. Huge cultural diversity Internal Strengths (S) 1.Quality product 2. Brand image 3.competitive advantage 4. Large number of outlets 5.Access of distribution channels 6.attractive promotional campaign SO "Maxi-Maxi" Strategy S1+O1 - Can open many branches in the market S1+O3- Can use cheap labour to manufacture quality products S3+O8- Large market for competitively priced products S5+O5- Multi-distribution channels to cover the large market S6+O4- Campaign will be effective because of changing trends S2+O4- Can publicize brand image to receptive customers ST "Maxi-Mini" Strategy 1. Design an advertisement campaign which is showing their corporate responsibility towards the society as well as customers. 2. Design clothes that will appeal to local sensibilities 3. Attractive promotional campaign to compete with competitors 4. Promote the strong international brand image to compete with local private labels and brands Internal Weaknesses (W) 1. Online shopping is available to only US customers. 2 High priced products 3. Less in variety WO "Mini-Maxi" Strategy 1. Ralph Lauren can enter into various markets by providing online shopping to the customers through out the world. 2. Focus initially on upper middle class customers 3. Use cheap labour and local cotton to make competitively priced products 4. Use local creative talent to design more products WT "Mini-Mini" Strategy 1. By providing innovative products with high quality to the target customers some extent avoids all threats and weaknesses. 2. Use direct shopping channels instead of relying on online shopping. 3. manufacture products suited to cater local tastes and sensibilities (Using the towns Matrix 2009). SFA strategy: Strategies Suitability Feasibility Acceptability 1. Quality branded products Yes Yes Yes 2. Product range Yes Yes Yes 3. Wide array of promotional campaign options available with Ralph Lauren Yes Yes Yes 4. More channels available for distribution Yes Yes No 5. Public relations campaign to create trust and acceptance Yes Yes Yes 6. Enter emerging markets to counterbalance competition found in home market Yes Yes Yes 7. Highlight and activate CSR Yes Yes Yes 8. Supply chain efficiency Yes Yes Yes 9.Total quality control strategies Yes Yes Yes 10. Reduce the price to enter low price market No Yes Yes 12.Using strong brand image to compete with local and international competitors. Yes Yes Yes Push- Pull strategy: In business language, push-pull strategy refers to different ways of promoting a business model in order to reach a target market. In push marketing, you 'push' your content or product towards the audience which may or may not be aware of it. In a pull-marketing scenario, the customers 'pull' your content or product towards themselves, because they are interested in learning more about it. In other words, push-strategy involves the functioning of targeted customers through promotional methods such as advertising on relevant websites, email marketing and the practice of cold calling or emailing a prospect. On the other hand, pull-strategy involves the creation of a highly visible brand that is in terms of product features. This encourages customers to buy the particular product, because they believe that it can fulfil their needs. Commonly used methods in pull strategy are media interviews, conference speaking, syndication of content and word of mouth. Push-strategy uses short-term strategies which involves specific event or time-based campaigns (Christmas deals, new membership offers) while pull-marketing focuses on the development of trust and perceived value. Pull strategies: Some of the pull marketing strategies are as follows. 1. Syndicate Your Content/Skills. Guest blogging helps more people to read the content and know about the brand. Through developing a meaningful content marketer can even charge some fee from the visitors of the site. 2. Develop Relationships with the Media. Developing a good relation with media helps the marketers to increase their credibility and it will increase the confidence of customers. 3. Create a Blog and Write Relevant Articles. Another method is to create blog and write articles. Blog's purpose in this scenario is to produce educational content to teach users and fulfil their needs. It creates large number of resources about topics and sees that it is getting appropriate rankings in the search engines. 4. Interview Thought Leaders and Niche Experts. Interviews, discussions and experience sharing with experts in particular fields in television, forums etc is another pull strategy. 5. Volunteer your Expertise. Choose an online community (e.g. networking site/forum) that is most relevant to our website. And voluntarily find some time in helping other individuals in it. If the community is good in its service, word of mouth by the members can easily attract the potential customers or readers. 6. Create an Online Community. The reliability of other user opinions is difficult to reproduce by any other business effectively. So it is better to create a separate online forum attached to the website, it allows other users to deeply concentrate on the discussion happening in the forum about the product or brand. This improves initial interest and awareness among the customers and eventually leads to loyalty. Push strategies 1. Paid Advertising. Paid advertising means target customers have to pay something in order to see the product features or characteristics. It is more popular in case of online shopping sites. Some of the popular forms of paid advertising are Pay-per-Click Advertising, Banner Advertising etc. 2. Incentive-Based Promotions. This means that user will get an incentive for promoting the websites. It can be a public affiliate program which promises the users a commission for every referred sale, because of its intentional commercial overtones. 3. Create and maintain a relation. Maintaining and building relations with both potential buyers and existing customers is very important. This allows pushing advertisements at a very cost effective manner. Educational email newsletters can be considered a pull marketing strategy because they can often generate new prospects through word of mouth. 4. Joint Venture with other Businesses/bloggers. This means that partnering with sites in same sectors will benefit both of them by taking advantage of the strength. Both push and pull marketing strategies are suitable in long term marketing plan. And it is oriented towards specific goals which are effective way to promote business. (Push marketing V.S. pull marketing 2009). Strategy to be followed by Ralph Lauren on entry into India: The first thing that a company needs to build when entering into emerging markets is to build legitimacy and reputation. (Rindova, Petkova, & Kotha 2007, p.3). Public relations campaigns, road shows and brand association with celebrities are the best way of doing this. India has diverse culture that is part modern and part traditional. While some products may appeal to western styles, Ralph Lauren can also make products that suit traditional Indian sensibilities and tastes. It can use multiple distribution channels to cover the vast geographical area and concentrate on traditional marketing rather than on online sales. It is also better to target the upper middle class initially because the company's products are priced quite high when compared to local brands. The company can later use the cheap labour and cotton found in the country to bring down price without compromising on quality. The company can also look at partnering with reputed local brands due to their better understanding of the market. Ralph Lauren should also promote its CSR in a big way since Indian companies are not yet very concerned in this area. This will give them a good public relations image which in turn will lead to brand awareness and acceptance. Creative and attractive promotion and advertising is also quite necessary for brand awareness and acceptance. Conclusion: An analysis of the possible entry of Ralph Lauren into the Indian and Russian market has been completed here. Even though India is a complicated market with high level of cultural diversity, it is a growing market. A large percentage of youth of the country are more fashion conscious and they have the purchasing power to buy expensive fashion accessories. The major concern is the economic slowdown that is facing the world today. Maybe the company should wait for a period of six months to one year to see whether there is an improvement in the situation. But for all other factors (except for the high level of competition from domestic and international players) India is an ideal market for Ralph Lauren. Russia is also a growing market. But with regard to size of market, skilled and cheap labour, technology available, etc, India is an advantage. The high level of crime and political infancy are also areas of concern. With careful planning and proper management of financial, human, and other resources, the company can become a successful player in the Indian fashion market. 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