Lu Chen Susan Jackson HR STRATEGY IV March 7, 2016
Coach: Game to Win in Fashion
Introduction
Starting as a luxury retailer of handbags and accessories, having 17,200 employees, headquarter located in New York, Coach now ranks No. 63 among the world’s most valuable brands. It has an estimated market capital of $11.7 billion as of May 2015, according to Forbes. Coach’s products range from handbags, gloves, hats, wallets, jewelry to perfume and body lotion.
Coach’s vision says:
“TO BECOME
THE COMPANY
That DEFINES GLOBAL
MODERN LUXURY.”
In the recent years since 2010s, its product ranges have been especially diversified, because the company is planning on transition into a “premium lifestyle brand”, meaning instead of defining fashion in handbags, Coach now wants to define fashion in many other things.
Coach’s vision and core values mainly derives from the time of its establishment. People then value quality and authenticity very much, and they can use one handbag for many years. When the bag gets scratched or the zip is broken somehow, they’re also willing to go and fix it, just in order to use it for a longer time, because they’re emotionally connected to the brand, and the handbag. All these values of that time allows Coach to survive and flourish rapidly, developing a lot of loyal customers.
However, time changes, and Coach’s first batch of customers are not the main group of people paying for its products.
This paper mainly discusses coach’s recent challenges
As China is the fastest growing luxury fashion customer base, it in imperative that they are catered for in the Net-a-Porter handbag buy. Lack of exclusivity in the handbag offering. While exclusivity is strong across Net-a-porter as a whole, the handbag edit does not have many exclusive styles. Almost all everything can be found on the Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Harrods or My Wardrobe websites. In particular the Selfridges website has over 45 exclusive handbag styles online, from a variety of brands which include Mulberry, Alexander Wang and Anya Hindmarch. To combat this Net-a porter should negotiate world exclusivity on a number of ‘it bags’ for next season, either by having early delivery to ensure a week or two of exclusivity or by commissioning an exclusive colour option in the most popular styles. At present Net-a-porter has no representation for Celine handbags, which has become the most covetable handbag brand across the high fashion world and accounts for a considerable percentage of handbag sales in London department stores. As they grow from strength to strength it would be advisable for Net-a-porter to try and include Celine in their edit.
The mind-set of the company is to put sales and profit second to creating a special style that can change the world through fashion.
In 1980s, Gucci had lost its appeal and became a tacky brand and was also in deep financial crisis. But Tom Ford raised Gucci from dead and found out the company’s leading status and maintains
Coach was created by a New York artesian name Miles Cahn in 1941, the company is family owned and crafted it beginning work in a SoHo loft. The company started out with just 12 leather bags
Over the past twenty-five years we have had to reinvent ourselves many times. The first surge was with the Waffle Trainer and the running craze. When that slowed, we thought we ran out of market. We had another surge with basketball behind Michael Jordan, and cross-training with Bo Jackson. Then again, we Thought our growth was dead. Another surge came in 1995, when Nike became fashionable and athletic urban wear became king. But,that too ended in early 2008, as did the health of the Asian economy. There we were, with an over-extended brand. Each time we reinvented our company. In 1995, when we reached $3 billion in sales, we said $5 billion was the absolute limit. Three years later we were closing in on $10 billion. Each time we did succeed it was due, in part, to
Coach’s top competitors are Prada, Gucci, Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana, Dooney & Bourke, Inc., Kate Spade LLC, and Michael Kors, Inc. We feel that we can expand our lead in the ‘accessible luxury’ segment of the upscale
There Is a similar relation among the clothes. Several customers shop there based on the quality and prices as well as the features associated with the products. An advantage of the store is that it has a wide product mix and various offering in different categories and all these can be located at one place. This attracts a wide variety of customers. In line with their positioning of offering quality, trendy products, the brand is consistently updating its product line. The brand does not focus on innovation but rather on always leading trends. In relation to the product life cycle, clothing has a short life span from the first to last stage as tastes change easily. For this reason, it is important to constantly anticipate consumer tastes and preferences prior to launching a product so as to retain and possibly build customers loyalty. It is also necessary to develop a successful marketing strategy to display product offerings.
A marketing strategy is important for any product, and a big part of that strategy is the distribution elements and channels (Distribution, 2009; Marketing, 2011; Timberlake, 2012). Coach is very selective about how they distribute their products. They have authorized stores and outlet stores, as well as catalogs and a company website (Coach, 2012). They also allow some department stores to carry their products, as well as catalogues and specialty stores (Coach, 2012). A few duty free locations also have Coach bags (Coach, 2012). This is clearly stated on their website in an effort to dissuade people from purchasing a Coach handbag in a way that is illegal. It can also help prevent people from purchasing something they think is a Coach handbag but finding out later it is a copy or a fake. The target market for Coach is generally upscale, so Coach does not want the less expensive chain retailers carrying its product. There should be some exclusively with the Coach brand, and that can only be created and maintained by controlling what stores and locations can carry the Coach brand. Doing this allows the company better marketability when targeting specific groups or areas of a target market, such as upscale consumers.
As a clothing store which is focusing on local designed and European designed clothes, our products are going to be high-end, fashionable, green and unique.
Burberry, founded in 1856, is a leading international luxury brand. Burberry designs, manufactures and licenses apparel and accessories for distribution through its own stores and network of prestige retailers worldwide. In early 1998, the new management team at Burberry set out its strategy to reposition and revitalise the brand, which resulted in significantly improved results and strengthened the base to build the business. With continuous growth since last five years, Burberry has faced new challenges of brand sustainability and positioning in a volatile industry (fashion) where customer behaviour is unpredictable. Thus, it requires a strategy that lays foundations for long-term growth and addresses the issues
Elie Saab ,when first entered the Market with a workshop in Beirut ,were known as a haute couture brand. That is, manufacturing custom clothes ordered by a specific customer with a high quality and expensive fabric , mostly targeting celebrities. After a while due to the changing trends across the world, they launched first RTW collection in Milan focused on the idea of affordable luxury brand that did not require the customized service. Another product line, wedding dresses were classified neither Haute couture nor RTW. They were sold through Boutiques. Another step for brand’s product strategy was to expand product variety to fragrances and accessories and signed a cosmetic license contract. Aside from fashion industry, Elie Saab formed alliances to develop signature hotels. Designing super yacht which are distinctive examples of luxury was included in the Business model.
Coach has many strengths and weaknesses. Coach strengths include its wide range of accessories such as its handbags, watches, accessories, cosmetic cases, key fobs, belts, electronic accessories, gloves, hats, scarves, business cases, luggage, eyewear, fragrance, and clothing. It is the leading luxury leather goods company in the United States, with expansion in Japan, China, and Asia. Coach has developed a respected reputation by providing their customers with quality products and its 70+ years of being in business. They do a great job of advertising through press releases, catalogs, internet, and shopping centers. Coach has a larger range of pricing which attracts lower income consumers and wealthier consumers. They also allow their products to be sold at stores (department and full price stores) and online. Coach prides themselves on creating customer value. However, Coach also displays weaknesses as well. They have a limited selection for men and a poor inventory turnover rate. Coach has no direct announcements to the public about the promotion of new products. Their new products first sell at full price which keeps the lower income
Coach has a very strong brand image. They continue to gain new customers and because of devotion and loyalty they are able to keep repeat customers. Brand image can be considered everything to customers when searching for a handbag. Industries that manufacture handbags must be able to provide what is considered a “chic service”, while continuing a “thriving business” (Foster, 2006). Due to the brand image that Coach has they are able to introduce new and more risky handbags with the confidence that most current consumers will continue to purchase their
Although their branding message was changing slightly during the time, they kept core values and traditions untouched. Comfort, uniqueness, quality and emotional impact – these were always the main associations with the brand. However, other features were being emphasized as time was going by.
Burberry is uniquely positioned as a classic British apparel brand with high global brand awareness to capture the globalization of consumer demand. Its distinctive luxury brand with international recognition and broad appeal. The company’s outlook for the accessible luxury goods industry remains positive from both a geographic and product point of view. Burberry had become positively hip and popular among a younger demographic. It has a unique history and positioning as the authentic British lifestyle brand and highly successful merchandising and marketing strategy across both appeal and accessories. In 2000 Burberry’s total sales were 225.7 million and by 2003 sales had went up to 593.6 million.