Unique Strategies of a J Crew Leading Retailer - Essay Example

PR Analysis of J. Crew PR Analysis of J. Crew J. Crew This PR plan provides details of a range of strategies that J. Crew, a New York based leading retailer in several of products ought to engage into in order to realize its full market potential, sustain its recent pace of growth, and overcome the threat of competitors in the highly competitive local and global market. The strategies adopted revolve around the need to engage more closely with its market niche and break into new market segments. Such strategies include advertisement through social networking sites, coupons, marketing, and a closer engagement with various forms of the media. Such strategies would also entail strategic use of the inner potentials and the lessening of internal weaknesses towards the overall goal of improving the profitability, brand image, and general performance of the company. Introduction According to Spencer and Rose (2010), J. Crew is an American multi-brand and multi-channel company that is based in New York, USA. The company remains one of the most recognized retailers in apparel and accessories, which is known for stylish products, good quality, and proper customer service. The products, which it offers, range from those for women and men to children clothing. These clothing include swimwear, outwear, belts, and loungewear. Apart from the clothing, it also offers bags and even hair accessories. It was started in 1989 by opening its first retail outlet in the south street seaport in Manhattan. Today, the company has more than 330 retail stores throughout the U.S. with about 13,100 employees. Due to its diversified products, this company falls in various industries, which include the clothing stores, retail sector, shoe stores, non-store retail, internet, and mail order retail industries. However, just like any other company, J. Crew has its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The company has for example been said to be lagging behind in social media and seems to have lost focus on their target customer. This has complicated matters for a company, which has well established competitors in its overcrowded retail environment. The company can therefore not avoid the need for a well-integrated PR program that can help it in connecting with its targeted audience in a meaningful way to win back their loyalty for the brand. Situation Analysis Past and recent analyses establish the need for the improving the company’s potential through a strategic engagement of the various issues that attend to the issues of financial growth. Customer attraction and retention remain the major factors that shall determine the stability, performance, and growth of the firm. Currently, the company remains on a moderate pace of growth but has not engaged the various synergies for growth. A proper management plan would be necessary for supplying structures of proper communication with the clientele. Retention of customers and attracting of more customers form the major objective on which the PR plan anchors. The necessity of the PR strategy revolves around the need to shield the company from the unpredictable market forces. It also involves the need to achieve a competitive advantage that would keep J. Crew above its competitors on the global and local scene particularly from the perspective of client attraction and retention. Objectives and Strategies Apart from the usual need to make profit, the company must aim at creating product lines with high quality design, fabrics, and craftsmanship. Noting the ever increasing and stiff competition in the market, the company must strive to be a great competitor in the industries in which it operates in order to be able to meet this objective. This means that the company must seek to be able to take advantage of its strengths while also utilizing any available opportunity for its growth. On the other hand, the company must come up with well laid down strategies on how to combat its threats while also improving on the areas of its weaknesses (Spencer & Rose, 2010). One of the strategies that the company must embrace is conducting research into new markets. This has proved workable. As such, all the stakeholders of the company must support it. The company could embrace such tactics as advertising, coupons, giveaways or marketing tactics that are able to garner the attention of the media. For instance, the company should be able to take advantage of the media in sending catalogues via e-mails to customers in Japan and Europe. Other secondary methods that the company should consider utilizing include survey and focus group discussions with their customers (Spencer & Rose, 2010). Finally, the company must seek to continue with its expansion efforts as competition is becoming very high in the clothing industries. Expansion strategies yielded positive results in 1991. During that period the company adopted a new marketing development strategy and expanded its operations into Canada. This boosted its sales since the consumers’ response was good. The case was the same in 1992 when the company intensified the expansion to the international markets by hiring a vice president. His work was oriented on the international development. However, for these strategies to work, it is important that the company develops a detailed plan of allocating time for all the activities beginning from research to the time the objectives are realized. This can be in terms of setting timelines for the achievement of both long term and short-term goals. For instance, the company will have to set time for research and such activities as trade shows. Such research methods as survey and focus group discussion requires time right from seeking of permission from relevant authorities to pretesting of tools, training of research assistances/sales personnel, and finally, to the actual study and dissemination of results to the relevant stakeholders. Application In order to maintain closer and long-term relationships with the clientele, J. Crew will develop a special internet aided interactional application to engage the customers on issues regarding their preferences. The customers would have a real-time engagement with the company online in order for them to develop a more strategic way of dealing with their concerns. The company will also get the opportunity of determining the trends on the market, changes in opinions, and a deeper understanding of its own strengths and weaknesses. This would ensure that that the company remains alive to the concerns of the clients and makes tailor-made products that could help in the development of the most appropriate systems that would sustain meaningful relations with the clientele. Data base for Customer Engagement. Customer I.D Choice of color Preference of use Opinion on our products Your most favorable product Opinion on our products Suggestions on improvements Men Women Children Youth Elderly SWOT or Situation Analysis/Evaluation Apart from all these efforts, the company will have to carry out a continuous self-evaluation program through SWOT analysis. This will enable the company to identify specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. For example, the company has various strengths that it can take advantage of. These include the partnership relationships established with the finest global fabrics mills, craftsmen, and some of the iconic brands like Jack Purcell, Timex, and Thomas Mason. The company also has got a sufficient number of experienced employees who are working throughout its stores in order to better their brands. Additionally, it has a large number of brand’s loyal customers who cannot be easily convinced by some other competitors as well as catalogs which are distributed worldwide. This plays a major role in showing how big its international presence is. However, the company has got its weaknesses which it will have to work on to enable it improve its relation with the public and win their loyalty. First is the lack of sufficient number of stores worldwide, which can be used to tap the other markets. Moreover, the fact that most of its major stores are found in the U.S also exposes the company to various risks such as the financial ones. For instance, if the currency fluctuations are unfavorable then the company may face increased costs of shipping to other places outside America. Its presence in the social media has also not been fully utilized; it only reaches very few people compared to the entire number of the potential customers. Such weaknesses must be improved. On the other hand, the company has got opportunities which can lead to success if properly utilized. For instance, the company can expand into other global markets where most of its competitors have not established their stores. The company’s must also strategize well to take advantage of its deluxe shoes and the handbag salons, which are being added to the existing stores. This will without any doubt, present it with an opportunity to attract and invite more customers. Moreover, the company has the opportunity to increase its scale of operation because of their new venture into the new specialty shops for men, women, and children. Finally, J. Crew has a great opportunity of expanding its business worldwide because there is an ever-growing need for clothing products. This will however require the company to conduct some continuous research into the latest fashion products in the market with the overall objective of supplying the clients’ needs. Irrespective of its many strengths and opportunities, the company must identify and put all the necessary measures in places to enable it convert its weaknesses into threats. Hoskisson, Ireland, and Hitt (2009) note that J. Crew is a company that has very many competitors in the industries within which it operates. It competes primarily with specialty retailers, higher-end department stores, and catalog retailers that provide substitute goods to its products. These competitors include the Banana republic, Ann Taylor Loft, Ralph Lauren Corporation, and so on. Pride, Hughes and Kapoor (2008) identify Ralph Lauren as one of its greatest competitors as it is also located in the United States, New York. It is a lifestyle company and fashion retailer that started in 1967 and focuses on high-end clothes for men and women, accessories, footwear, bedding, towels, and also runs line restaurants. This company has also expanded its business internationally and has got about 630 stores internationally. It, therefore, poses a lot of competition threat to J. Crew since it has more branches internationally, which means that it can reach much more people than J. Crew can. It also realizes more returns from its restaurant business, which can be used to boost the clothing business, unlike J. Crew, which mainly depends on the clothing business for income. Lastly, it is already known by the consumers more than J. Crew, which was started after it, and therefore, J. Crew has to work better in order to acquire brand loyalty. This means that J. Crew has to work harder in order to acquire brand loyalty. Other threats that the company has to deal with are the rapid changes in the fashion trends and the high costs of raw materials and the services such as transportation, which are presently responsible for the general increase in the cost of production, which negatively affects its profit levels thus scaring away its customers (Hoskisson, Ireland and Hitt, 2009). Conclusion In conclusion, J. Crew is a company, which has great potential to grow since it has varied products, which target different groups of consumers. The company has maintained a consistent pattern of positive financial growth. For instance, the company reported significant improvement in its 2012 fiscal year’s second quarter. However, it has to make more efforts in order to outdo its competitors in as far as the PR is concerned. This would only be possible if the company is able to take advantage of its strengths while also utilizing any available opportunity for its growth. The company must also come up with well laid down strategies on combating its threats while also improving on its weaknesses. This must be done within a well-set timeline with clear goals. References Hoskisson, E. R., Ireland, D. R., & Hitt, A. M. (2009). Strategic management: competiveness and globalization: cases. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Pride, M.W., Hughes, J.R., & Kapoor, R.J. (2008). Business. Boston; New York: Houghton Mafflin Company, cop. Spencer, K., & Rose, S. (2010). How to shop for free: shopping secrets for smart women who love to get something for nothing. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong. Read More