Coach Inc

This expansion demonstrates how the luxury industry is now run by massive corporations whose focus is only on growth, visibility, brand awareness, advertising, and most importantly, PROFITS! With growth and expansion, has come a decrease in quality and rarity. The luxury garments produced are mostly not handmade but are even outsourced to large factories in places such as China and Turkey. Also, to meet quarterly turnover projections, “designers churn(ed) out increasingly trendy collections of clothes, handbags, and shoes.” (Thomas, Pg. 246) With hundreds of new stores around the globe the surplus of designer labeled merchandise is immense hence, the proliferation of outlet malls.

Luxury brands are an innovative concept both from the perspective of a marketer and the consumer.

The luxury market is growing fast in China and India due to the rapidly increasing wealth levels and standard of living gains. Coach must keep in mind the different cultural backgrounds of each country and take that into account when designing and marketing new products and lines.

The following case analysis will assess Coach Inc. and its strategy in the accessible luxury brand goods market. The coach strategy focuses on its luxury rivals in matching key quality styles while offering it at a cheaper price. The company offers most products at a 50% off discount price less than other brands which gives them a competitive advantage pertaining to its customer base. Coach marketed its products to middle –income consumers desiring taste of luxury, but also affluent and wealthy consumers with means to spend considerably more on a handbag (Gamble, 2012. P.C-73) .The Company also has several other strategies such as to increase global distribution, improve same store sales productivity and continue its multi-channel business model which includes indirect whole sales to third party retailers but also focuses on direct consumer sales. Coach has done well in the luxury goods industry but the companies profit margin is still below the levels achieved prior to the onset of a slowing economy in 2007 ( Gamble, 2012. P.C-73.The Company had experienced a decline in sales as they are unsure if the company recent growth could remain constant and maintain their competitive advantage with other successful luxury lines Michael Kors, Salvatore Ferragamo, Prada and Dolce & Gabbana.

The author who inspired the topic of this thesis is Dana Thomas. As a fashion writer, Dana Thomas, has analyzed the changes in luxury fashion business. Thomas has been writing about fashion for the past twenty-five years in various journals such as Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, New Yorker, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Financial Times, and more. Dana Thomas’ two books, Deluxe and Gods and Kings, are the inspiration for this thesis. Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Lustre goes into great detail the secrets of the leading luxury industry brands, namely Prada, Gucci and Burberry, to showcase the “New Luxury” of today and how “luxury lost its luster” by featuring the manufacturing and logistical processes. Thomas exposes that many luxury brands use the same Asian factories that mass-market retailers employ, which raises questions concerning quality and craftsmanship for luxury brands.

They also have informational websites in twenty other countries. In the future, Coach plans to increase international distribution and target international consumers, especially in Asia. They also plan on staying one of the most popular name brand accessory companies in North America. ("Coach est. 1941," 2010)

An increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world experiences a rapid cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital. Luxury goods industry, serve as one of the most competitive industry, emerging and developing rapidly all the time. To a great extent, globalization promotes the development of luxury goods industry significantly in spite of the big shock hit by several times of economic crisis.

Coach operates in a highly competitive industry with low market-entry barriers. While it is relatively easy for new companies to enter into this market, most shy away due to the lack of staying power and proper capital, as well as the know-how in total quality management. The long-standing brand equities associated with the existing players in this industry are a strong deterrent alone for any potential new entrants. In addition, there are large amounts of costs involved with the process of creating and maintaining a new company, which would also steer most potential new entrants away. If all other things being equal, Coach, along with its competitors, has greatly benefitted from these factors shielding them against the threat of entry

In the luxury goods industry, the rapid development has brought the market more brands and the latest design products. Industry matures has caused the accelerated development of a wide range of luxury goods (Chiari, 2009). However, one thing was constant, no matter how much increased production costs, the large luxury brand of origin will not be transfer. Long cultural history is an integral part of the luxury brand, and the origin of products have also brought a certain cultural value for luxury goods (Heine, 2012).Especially for Asian consumers, it seems that in the far west, craft superb tailoring and rich cultural history of the western area are the pursue of Chinese consumers (Sombart, 2001).Louis Vuitton 's president has said that (2013), “when customers buy our products, they expect Western quality. The mystery of the origin of our brand is closely linked with our brand”. Although with the close of trade, many luxury goods in the production and sales process will cooperation with other country’s companies, the final product definitely launch in the country of origin. Gucci is a legendary brand in Florence (Italy), and it will also strictly control the production done in Tuscany (Italy), to ensure pure and high-quality products (Gucci, 2015). Therefore, a regional feature has brought an intangible value and more local cultural characteristics to the luxury goods.

Coach’s multi-channel retail network has enhanced product availability, and driven sales. The growth of the Coach Factory Store concept has been a success.

Louis Vuitton is considered under the luxury goods industry. The luxury goods industry is a high profitable industry with low outside threat. There are only few large players in the industry and they server to the wealthiest people in the world. The luxury companies have high power to control the price so they have ability to grow sustainably.

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

An article published in online Wall Street Journal on January 2014 assessed the factors behind Coach Inc 's decline in North American sales. It attempts to dig inside the management dilemma that Coach. Inc is facing with its current statistics. Coach 's sales in North America declined by 13.6% last year (Kapner & Mason, 2014). This paper focuses on the current business strategies followed by Coach Inc. via a critical perspective and in accordance statistical information on the company 's operations included in the aforementioned article.

The firm supplying luxury goods are usually going to be more susceptible to a fall in demand when there is a fall in income. This is because luxury goods are more income elastic. Consumers will be more willing to give up spending on these kinds of goods than say essentials such as toilet paper and drinks. This is an issue to the manufacturer so they will have to hope on considerations such as brand loyalty and correct marketing to push up demand. They may also need to drop their profit margin on clothing to help generate more sales.

Luxury can be defined as an indulgence rather than a necessity. It comes with a heavy price and only the up-market population can afford to enjoy it. This does not make the market any smaller or short of demand. The luxury goods market include- fashion, fragrances, watches, automobiles, drinks etc. The size of the market was US$ 175bn and grew at 7.9% in 2000 and faced its first recession in 6 yrs in 2009 where the growth went down to about 3% in 2008, due to the financial crisis worldwide. ( Bain and Company’s luxury goods worldwide market study).