Brand Audit of John Lewis Essay

Marks and Spencer is one of the most famous garment retail organizations based in UK. It started its journey in the year of 1894 with its first office in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. In the beginning the business was a family owned business and achieved a great success in all their stores located in various high and significant streets of UK (Campbell & Rahman, 2010). The business achieved a great popularity among the customers due to its good quality products in affordable prices. Though, after the change of the ownership of the business when the major shares of the business got occupied by its major share holders like big insurance companies and organizations the business structure and strategy were changed deeply (Davenport, 2009). Initially

A brand strategy is a formal plan used by a business to create a particular image of itself in the minds of current and potential customers. When a company has created and executed a successful brand strategy, people know without being told who the company is and what they do.

According to Holt (2004), a brand can be defined as a term, name or a design that distinguishes product or service of one manufacturer from others. Brands are normally utilized in advertising, business and marketing. In accounting terms, brand is an intangible asset which is present within every organization. It is most valuable asset that is outlined in the balance sheet of a company. Brands owners need to effectively manage their brands in order to enhance shareholder value. Brand valuation is an important technique that associates money with a brand. Effective branding often results into high sales volumes of a particular product. A customer who prefers a brand is more likely to choose other products which are offered by the same brand. Brand can be stated as a personality that facilitates identification of a company, product or service. It even encompasses relation with other constituents like customers, partners, investors, staff, etc. Individuals distinguish psychological aspect of a brand from experimental

According to Keller(1993) the effective brand positioning gives a brand a competitive advantage or “unique selling proposition” that determines a reason why consumers are buying this product or service (Keller, 1993). Similarly, Kay (2004) argues that brand’s strength depends

John Lewis is a chain of upmarket department stores operating all over Great Britain, it’s owned by the John Lewis partnership which was founded in 1864, by John Lewis and headquarters in London and with annual revenue of 4.06 billion GBP, John Lewis department stores are doing very well at the moment, with sales figures rising strongly.

The John Lewis brand was founded in 1864 by John Spedan Lewis partnered with his two brothers in Oxford Street, London (John Lewis Partnership, 2013). As being the UK’s one of the leading department store retailer, John Lewis offers customers

Have you ever wondered why most people are buying products from familiar brands? Usually, the most valuable brands becomes associated with a level of credibility, quality, and satisfaction in the consumer's mind. They provide unique design, performance, technology and durability in order to fulfill their customer's needs.

Brand strategy is of upmost importance when it comes to customer visualizing a company. Branding is critical to the company as well as the product. The company brand embodies what the company is about,including the product (Hatline, M.D. & Ferrel, O.C., 2014). Branding provides the company with leverage when it tries to enter new markets Whether that be new locations or new product offerings (Douglas, S. P., Craig, C. S., & Nijssen, E. J., 2001).

This gain value and addresses a key decisive achievement factor in the industry (Grant,2010). As position is important to offer convenience and a deep assortment, An extra unique intangible resource would be their brand representation and customer loyalty, this is vital since it can attract or attract consumers and it could be necessary to build the brand image .

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

First of all, a strong brand can be seen as the condition for organisations to expand products, offer more service, and introduce new products (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Secondly, a strong brand can lead to growth marketing communication effectiveness (Keller, 2009). ‘To build a strong brand, the right knowledge structures must exist in the minds of actual or prospective customers so that they respond positively to marketing activities and programs in these different ways.’(Keller, 2003, p. 140) Furthermore, Kay (2005) asserted that the strong brand can be seen as a resource of management, which make brand extension easier and useful to build distribution network. Companies are not treated by the intermediaries (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Moreover, companies are comparatively easier to change price if they have strong brands. As Henderson, et al (2003) said, a strong brand can allow for premium pricing even still remain loyalty customers, which help companies to survive in the intensive competitive market.

Brand Competitors: Marketing products with similar features and benefits to the same customers at similar prices.

This paper aims to discuss that organizations how to use strategic actions to enhance brand and revitalize brand equity in strong competition. In terms of innovative marketing, amounts of organizations want to be managed as brands in order to generate benefits and profits for organizations. (Kapferer, 2008) Indeed, brands are built on past marketing efforts obtained from

Brands have always served as sort of an emblem to consumers, that there would be a certain quality associated with that symbol. There are still many many popular brands today that are able to be distinguished but, brands are standing out among the rest by gaining a strong positive reputation which far exceeds the quality of there product. Brands ensure that they will provide consumers with a standard quality, and if they fail to do so their reputation is tarnished. Brands fight for our money ever day and try to stand out by focusing more on innovation to one up the competition. Brands also largely battle with price, which is a large part in the consumer decision. The brand and quality must be worth it otherwise customers will be lost to the competition. Brands protect their consumers simply because they provide an innovative product that differs from the competitions product. At the same time, they are ensuring that the quality is worth an appropriate price. This creates a strong and loyal customer base that will surely build the brand a positive reputation.

Data taken from SWOT and PESTEL analysis enables marketers to define the point-of-difference and points-of-parity associations. Points-of-difference are attributes or benefits consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate and believe they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand.