Fashion Marketing

CHAPTER ONE

1.     Overview

Marc Jacobs is a massive creative force that goes further than any traditional limitation such as market or price point, synthesizing and translating design impulses into a new perspective. Just like the creative director of Louis Vuitton in France, his enormous line Marc Jacobs in New York, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs Men, Stinky Rat, Little Marc, and other sub-brands are sold internationally. The fashion house Marc Jacobs has an overpowering influence on the fashion industry in a wider range. His fame and fortune has not been well recognised, though with a number of harsh critics accusing him of styling, copying, and in general not being original. However, the fact remains that a normal unoriginal copyist could not be able to set the tone and pace for an entire season by simply pulling together mood, style impulses, color, and silhouette every time. The fashion house combines intellectual, esoteric, philosophical concepts from design, art, and culture and then translates the above in an original way into something new.

Marc Jacobs is a fashion company that was established by Marc Jacobs himself. He has received education in the sphere of designing and selling clothes. Marc Jacobs has undergone a number experiences that brought about the Marc Jacobs company. His first line involving clothes were sweaters which were generally hand knitted. Later he designed a collection of Reuben Thomas, Inc. in association with Sketchbook label. He went on to design and grew strongly in the fashion scene. He launched Robert Duffy Designs Inc. that is still thriving. The first collection of Marc Jacobs was made in 1987 and was awarded with the largest tribute. Associations and advancement with other companies like the women’s design unit, where he managed to administer the design of women clothes, he was able to move to the creation of men’s wear.

With all the crowns mentioned above, Marc Jacobs, the company will be the best company to use in establishing a charity clothes line dubbed Marc Love that will help give back to the community. The proposed line will assist the Marc Jacobs brand in maintaining a good name in the society as well as increasing sales while giving back to the community.

This paper provides a thorough investigation of the brand Marc Jacobs with consideration of principal marketing concepts. The main goal is to obtain strategic marketing audit with a SWOT and PESTEL analysis that shows previous marketing strategies so as to identify a gap in the market. The paper also discusses marketing plan where problems are identified and solutions provided.

1.      Problem Statement

There have been a number of attempts to find a solution to the problem of throwing away clothes without using them for a long time. A large number of people in the United States have the habit of throwing away clothes unused or slightly used. These clothes if recycled could save the environment in more ways than one. Apart from the usual reduction of pollution from the methods of disposal, homeless people and charitable organisations and families could benefit from a program that would resell, restyle and redistribute old clothes to enable people in the society. Therefore, an economical and social problem that affects the environment has been posed by this behaviour of throwing away too many clothes without reusing them. This is where the company Marc Jacobs comes in. The company brings out a luxury line which enables people to re-use quality clothing. The design and fashion house is well known and has a good name in the fashion industry. Therefore, this will help to encourage the customers to invest in such recycled products. This paper considers the throwaway society and the recycling statistics. The main idea is to create a brand within the Marc Jacobs Company that will have charitable duties through recycling and production of fashionable designs.

2.      Significance of the Study

Owing to the rise in activities involving environmental degradation and other social ills through throwing away of clothes, this research paper will be significant in the effort to create a brand within the Marc Jacobs Company that will have charitable duties through recycling and production of fashionable designs. This will benefit several charity homes and people as well as create income for many people while maintaining an ecological balance through recycling and better methods of disposal of old and used clothes.

3.      Objectives of the Study

The amount of clothes disposed off or thrown away without being re used in the United States today is overwhelming. However, if a program to help re-use the clothes benefit charitable organizations and maintain a good ecological relationship with the environment would be achieved, then this would be a win-win situation to both the society and the environment. The objective of this paper is to take a strategic market audit based on the fashion brand Marc Jacobs carefully examining the SWOT analysis and the market strategies. The paper will also describe the market plan for the new brand.

CHAPTER TWO

1.      STRATEGIC MARKETING AUDIT

Marketing Strategies

According to Easey (2002, pp 10) fashion is combination of a recurrent and constantly changing processes which in standard cycles give rise of new trends into almost all human activities and all circles of life from music to medicine. It is viewed as a product of time and must be seen within a wider cultural context, for example, the designers’ social and ethnic background, attitudes and social mores, innovations in technology and the political and economical conditions (English 2009, p. 6). For there to be continuity in fashion, two crucial abilities are necessary, including very innovative design skills and good marketing strategies through identification with customer preferences and tastes. Design skills might be seen as a matter of talents. However, strategic marketing in customer preference identification is an issue that can provide additional knowledge, and the required skills in ensuring that the creative constituents are used to the highest of advantage. This in turn allows a business to succeed and achieve growth. Easey (2002) states that due to the nature of the fashion industry where the most important factor is change, practices within the fashion marketing are a little bit different from other marketing areas. The above theory was further developed by Fionda and Moore (2008, p. 111) claiming that the process of marketing and branding the fashion goods. They claim that they are more complex than other several processes and sectors due to the velocity and vastness of the industry. The key task for fashion marketing is the achievement of a competitive advantage through differentiation of the brand from most of the direct competitors (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson 2009, p. 133).

Sales Performance

 Marc Jacobs Company has witnessed a number of successes on many fronts with regard to sales of its products all bent on the application of marketing strategies that work. The company is able to create a wide range of exciting things that appeal to the clients (Slideshare 2012; Marc Jacobs 2012). His cloth lines and collections have all been inspired. The company thrives by the presentation of the first line of ready-to-wear clothes which has brought about the tripling of the revenue for over $3 billion yearly. The Marc Jacobs International credits itself by having close to 100 stores around the world accumulating an approximate of $500 million annually. Similarly, it has other lines, for instance, the Marc Jacobs Menswear and the Little Marc Jacobs. To sum everything up, Marc Jacobs has acquired effective forays in fragrance and footwear. The accolades that has been acquired by Marc Jacobs is quite wide

The growth and development that Marc Jacobs has acquired has been acquired due to the style applied that has been noted in the handbag line for Vuitton as well as T-shirts for his line. The aspect of being consistently successful without being different form others, has made it sales hub for other companies to looks at and copy (Polan & Tredre 2009, 237). The contrast acquired that makes the company to be different from other companies is based on the culture that is applied. The aspect of culture and the company has made it to be successful.

The future is promising for Marc Jacobs, considering that he has been able to achieve success in the sale of his products, the recipe for this performance has been attributed to charity work, his peculiar aspect of style and culture that has been applied (Figure 2). The target profile of Marc Jacobs International is people that are aged 18-35 years old. It accords quality as well as affordable prices to the youthful and people living in the urban centers. Since these people are well aware of what they need and will go for it. Moreover, they are open minded and complex; hence, Marc Jacobs International is able to meet their needs.

The performance in sales has been attributed to style identity that is quite trendy with the youth. These products are differentiated in their prices; for the women’s ready wear the price may range from $68 to $598 for the anniversary Skull Tee and the CDC Dress respectively, the swim suits at the range of $63 and $173 for the Miss Marc Bikini and Simone Stripe respectively, Jewelry goes for $22 and $ 198 for the Bobby pins and Cork Bangle respectively (Figure 1). The Men’s wear is priced at $ 58 and $798, the swim and shoes go for $128 and $260 respectively.

Previous and Current Marketing Strategies in Marc Jacobs Fashion House

Marketing plays a crucial role in the current society. Moreover, it is a powerful tool in the fashion industry that requires careful monitoring and minimal neglect. Marketing in fashion works through the use of current trends in fashion so as to develop, analyse and implement strategies. Fashion marketing examines the connection between fashion, designs and marketing including the processes of promotion, development, advertising, and retailing within the prominent fashion industry. Good fashion marketers appreciate that being familiar with consumer trends, well-built branding, and an attractive product image are all necessary constituents to create an efficient and effective meaningful campaign.

Marc Jacobs, throughout his line of business, has built a design company with an immense image based on a smart style. Nevertheless, in 2001 the company established a secondary line called Marc by Marc. This new creation mixed funky and shabby styles, which was a new and creative marketing strategy. At the same time, the company lowered the prices of the differentiated goods quite remarkably so that designer items could be bought at very affordable prices. Such strategy is called a penetration pricing strategy, which is a very lethal and at the same time an important marketing tool. The penetration pricing strategy encompasses setting of relatively low rather than higher prices with the sole aim of achieving a large and unmistakably dominant market share. The penetration pricing strategy is at most times used by new businesses wishing to gain following as they enter a new market or even build on a comparatively small market share. However, the above market strategy is believed to be viable only when the market demand for the commodity in offer is relatively high.

The Marc Jacobs fashion house continues to implement and use new marketing strategies as trends change in the market and improvements continue to appear. The latest marketing strategy is location based marketing that uses social media to market products. Location based services strategy, i.e. Gowalla and foursquare is gaining audience at a very fast rate. This is a common trend with all internet and social media related channels in the current world. Most of the fashion brands still need to fully embrace the new developments in the entertainment scene and the social media. In the modern world, one cannot afford to wait and see results from others so that you can make a follower decision. On contrary, for a company or brand (particularly in the fashion world) to succeed, the decision makers must be willing and able to make risky decisions, for example, heavy investments in the recent social media networks. The fashion giant Marc Jacobs, for example, has fully embraced the social media and used it as a full marketing strategy right from the outset. The company opted for the cost effective digital marketing strategy over the old events and very expensive parties. The social technology has had a huge impact on how the brand Marc Jacobs delivers its messages to the target customers. Recently, the company decided to go fully digital in marketing as it digitally streamed a whole runway show through foursquare. The brand recently merged with the social media giant, foursquare to create a badge which enabled people to check in all over the world digitally. This kind of marketing is quite new and very efficient, especially when the target group is the young generation. Such partnership gave both companies an opportunity to carry out marketing at a non competitive level.

Unlike most of the top fashion brands (and even upcoming brands), the fashion house Marc Jacobs is on a mission to efficiently communicate with the target customers through the social media. The first step in the marketing strategy was the recent live streaming of its runway show. Another major marketing strategy is the collaboration with foursquare when awareness and building of the brand moved forward. The new strategy shows that the company understands the market and customers’ needs, and that the company is able to move along with the current trends. If well executed, the location based/enhanced sales experiences may result in the improved loyalty of customers, increased sales and referrals, both offline and online. Easy to utilize mobile access to worldwide fashion content and the society is very strong tool in the process of informing, inspiring, and also curate the sales experience.