Evaluation of current situation linked to proposed strategic options for international growth, including evaluation of market potential and identification of markets for growth.
The project reflects on Harvey Nichols a company which is known for its luxury products and offers an ultimate experience in fashion through the products they provide. The project provides an International marketing development for Harvey Nichols for their ninth international store. This includes a summary of the situation analysis for the key aspects of the environment audit for marketing in Singapore. For its 9th store the project makes a critical discussion about the international growth options for Harvey Nichols along with some suggestions for the marketing development for Harvey Nichols.
The company was first established in 1831, Knightsbridge, and since then it has led the way in sourcing the most desirable and cutting-edge designer brand. It has been recognized as one of the premiere luxury brand of UK for fashion retailer (Harveynichols.com, 2015). It is internationally popular for its limited edition of beauty and fashion merchandize, wine and premium food which are award winning. The company has seven stores in Ireland and UK. It has four major stores in Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds and three small stores in Dublin, Bristol and Birmingham. The latest store has been established in partnership with Qatari Business group in the shopping area of Dohari Business group
Clothing accessories, beauty care, food and wine, brands and gifting both for men and women. Harvey Nichols has its own form of segmentation and strategies (Ameer & Willfred Ayomi, 2014). One of the world famous brands is found in Harvey Nichols which means that the customers buying mush have the purchasing power to afford these brands. The following is certain facts about the company:
The segmentation of market is made in groups who posses certain similar pattern of buying and has a same type of interest for luxury brands (Armstrong, Adam & Kotler, 2011). In case of departmental store the target was the localites which were done according to geographic segmentation. The incomes of these customers have to be within a certain range and based on the division of the population they also sometimes take decision for distribution. The segmentation is done in the following way,
Demographic segmentation:
The key demographic variable used to segment the market seems to be age, the occupation and the income of the people (Carlsen’, Mair & Holmes, 2015). Because it promotes stylish designing brand accessories then the target audience must be people who love stylish things. According to many researchers people of the age 25-40 love to have fashionable things mostly, so it can be said that people who belongs in the age group of 25-40 is their prime target. But in that respect it could have been teenagers but the criteria of affordability is a crucial factor (Chernev, 2012). So people with an income level comparatively higher than upper middle class is the right kind of people they target. These people should be luxury loving people and must have the nature of easily accepting changes in fashion (Dakic & Fabian, 2010). Harvey Nichols more than being retail is a symbol for social status. The occupational ties are directly involved with the idea of affluent and image conscious individuals. It also attracts customers who have aspiration for fashion (Ernst, Hoyer & Rübsaamen, 2010).
Geographic Segmentation: geographically they have been able to target people from most of the European countries and the countries form the middle-east where the trade and commerce has been an integral part and has a good ranking in the economic section. Choosing Singapore will be a big decision for Harvey Nichols but there are certain advantages for the company.
There are certain reason for geographical segmentation for a company they are wealthier consumer, less competition in the foreign market and easier for cross border trade (Fletcher & Crawfor, 2010).
Psychological Segmentation:
Sometimes the Customers internal desire is considered by the company; according to Harley Nichols they gave special attention to customers who have a preference on buying luxurious items (Glowik & Smyczek, 2011). For example in place like Milan famous for Fashion would be preferable for Harvey Nichols, similarly in places like Brazil where people takes a good care of their skin would prefer the beauty products of Harvey Nichols (Harveynichols.com, 2015).
Extensive research needs to be done to select potential market for any business. It is a costly exercise for the international marketers as well to confront with diverse market availability. Mainly the company should mainly focus and target to the emerging and growing markets in the food and beverage sector so that the market dynamism can be measured along with the present status as well. Various assessment tools needs to be utilized in this process.
For Harvey Nichols there are certain strength, threats weaknesses and opportunities through which we can analyze the existing potential of Harvey Nichols in the market.
Swot analysis:
|
Strength |
Weakness |
|
· Pricing power · Good management · Culture that is innovative · The asset leverage · The economies of scale |
· The work inefficiencies · High burden of debt · Technology is quite outdated · High labor turnover · Supply chain is weak · Bad acquisition |
|
Opportunities |
Threats |
|
· The market is fragmented · They have online market facility · Encourages innovation · Application of new technologies and services. |
· Existing competition · The market is mature · The currencies are volatile · Change in preference of the people · The revenue generation is volatile. |
Through the analysis certain things acts as advantage for Singapore and certain things acts as disadvantage. For Singapore the people have quite a high standard of living and there is an existing competition for Harvey Nichols for establishing their store. It can be better understood with the help of competitor analysis (Harveynichols.com, 2015).
The Harvey Nichols brand is synonymous with sumptuous food stall and its windows display. There were various growth challenges that were faced by the company. One of those challenges were E commerce activities. The company wanted new e commerce site to be a part of their broader multichannel strategy. They went for launching a new website with Ampersand commerce so that the online offering could be improved. This new website integrates various blog posts into product pages, social media streams, videos etc so that it could attract more customers largely in UK market. Also style advisers were introduced that enabled customers with personalized touch of the online services as well.
In Singapore there are almost 10 shopping malls situated in the Marina Bay, one of the advantage of Singapore is that various sectors had their own region. Like the commercial section is situated far from the entertaining section, the industrial section is far from the commercial section (Kang & Leong, 2012). The majority shopping malls are situated in the Orchard at Marina Bay. There are plenty of places to eat, multiplex for watching movies . That place would also be suitable for the company Harvey Nichols. The main competition of Harvey Nichols is with the online websites which helps people to have their accessories and apparels in their home. These brands are the main competitors of Harvey Nichols but their restaurant and wine chain will be able to make a good impression in the market.
In order to provide a market for the company Harvey Nichols it is also important to understand the main P’s of luxury commodities that the company sells. They are stated as follows:
Political: in the late 1980’s Singapore was a state of Single Party. The present Prime Minister is Lee Hsian and the President is Tony Tan and the current ruling party is People’s action party. Singapore has a democratic rule and the political system is to some extent strict. Singapore is a amiable country and it has extended its hands for trading of any foreign company. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has its aim of making Singapore a global city consisting many talents and its mission is promoting growth of economy. The key task of the ministry is development of industry and expansion of Trade.
An agency of MTI is SPRING Singapore where they provide a matching dollar for investment in new companies of Singapore and encourages youths for innovative business. This is quite advantageous for Harvey Nichols because the political system will accept franchisee of the company.
Social:
Singapore also has the notion of Kia Su followed by the Japanese people which means the fear of losing and hence encourages competition. In order to fulfill their materialistic desire they have the mentality to work hard. Though the population has a majority of Chinese population followed by Malays and then Indian yet they have the freedom to practice their own religion. They have a compulsory primary education system and they have a good number of educated people. They also have a good number of female populations following a good number of branded products for beauty care and accessories. The people are pretty brand conscious.
Economical:
Singapore has a GDP of US$ 297.941 billion and a per capita income of US$ 55,182 Singapore stands amongst the category of leading Developed countries. Though the country lacks primary products and minerals and gas for exporting their major economical function is processing of goods in nearby lands and transshipping (Kang & Leong, 2012). The deep-water harbors are the most important resource of the country. Here the labor is costly and the availability of machinery is high. Singapore seldom had inflationary problems and they maintain a good trading partnership. They have a labor shortage and the government plays a major part in the economic growth of the country. Singapore maintains liberal trading regimes in the world and is one of the least corrupt country in the world (Paliwoda, Andrews & Chen, 2012).
Technological:
The government invested in creative business during 1980’s for media, publishing art, textile, design and fashion sector and films. The globalization strategy has made Singapore a production driven economy with the help of technological advancement. Singapore is one of the developed countries that have Wi-Fi networking throughout the country (Perreault, Cannon & McCarthy, 2010). Almost every technological and IT sector has made Singapore their preferable destination for technological product launching. The Formula 1 racing is also conducted in the streets of Singapore in Suntech City. The advantage of Singapore being a high technology driven country is that their labors have advanced technological skills (Rayner, 2011). Not only that even the new talents are also advanced with the technological skills. Hence for Harvey Nichols it is easy to access the technological benefits.
Legal:
The Singapore Government encourages the growth of E-Commerce through legislation and regulations of transparent marketing in specific areas (Mfa.gov.sg, 2015). The business environment needs to support the development and growth of Industry and the economy. The technical infrastructure encourages reliable service of E-commerce since 1988 with the establishment of act of Electronic transactions, the rights of Intellectual property, and the tax issues (Richter, 2012). Singapore is committed to its legal issues and they have different channels for cooperating with the foreign jurisdictions guided by the global norms and standards.
Environmental:
Singapore is very much environment conscious, the country is one of the cleanest countries in the world and they encourage people to keep their city clean (Rubera, Chandrasekaran & Ordanini, 2015). Around the 1960’s the country faced a problem of water pollution and since now also they have a major water crisis for which they get their water supplies from Malaysia (Sethna, Jones & Harrigan, 2013). They encourage in green marketing and they also emphasize on corporate responsibility for the society.
The main challenges of opening the ninth store in Singapore are as follows:
For expanding business in Singapore what Harvey Nichols can do is invest on Advertisement and promotion. The people of Singapore are very Brand conscious and they are well aware of the International brands (Shaw & Koumbis, 2011). In fact there is a place in Singapore which is like a replica of London so people must be well aware of Harvey Nichols. At this situation what Harvey Nichols can do is making people aware of the location of their store (Tesar & Kuada, 2012).
If their selected location is the Marina Bay then they will be able to attract a number of luxury item buyers who mostly visit there for spending leisure time (Tradingeconomics.com, 2015). Though their prime competitors also situated in those locations yet with a good number of tourist they will be able to make an impact on the customers.
Initially they could make offers for their products not necessarily making their product cheap but by
Performance:
Performance refers to the deliverance of advanced familiarity of a luxury brand at two different levels – first, at a level of experience and, second, at product level.
At product level, basically it must suit the functional and serviceable characteristic and also deliver on its realistic physical features – a recipe of superiority or design brilliant ingredients such as materials, craftsmanship, high quality, precision, unique design, technology, innovation, and extraordinary product capabilities (Zou & Fu, 2011).
Pedigree:
Many Pedigree products have extraordinary history and a prosperous lineage that turn into an indivisible part of the brands inscrutability. This mystique is usually built around the outstanding legendary originator character of the precedent, making up an essential part of the product story and personality of the brand.
For instance when customers buy a Chanel product, it is not only due to the product presentation issue, but subconsciously they are also prejudiced by the rich lineage of the brand, the time of mastery and heritage.
Paucity:
Distribution and over-exposure of luxury brands can cause strength of a luxurious feature. Therefore many brands try t uphold the insight that the goods are limited. One of the example is Burberry which diluted its image of the brand in Britain during 2000 by over-licensing its image as a brand thus dropping its image as a brand whose goods were consumed by the rich. Natural Paucity is activated scarce elements such as the special series or the limited editions to produce false demand and desire. Another divergence within this is the luxury product customization.
Persona:
The persona of a luxury commodity is largely a consequence of first its idiosyncratic projecting in addition with coherence of its purpose across consumer touch points secondly the brand message through the advertisement. The brand identity in view captures the Products personality emotional values and mystique in a nutshell. The consistent orchestration and the distinct of the identity is a medium for creating the frequent exclusive imagery of the brand, the familiarity and visibility.
Public Figures:
Traditionally, celebrities or Public figures have been employed as one of the marketing mix in luxury product advertising and they continue to acquire impact, credibility and attention. Public figures like music personalities to film stars from the royal families to ports personalities and even designers.
Placement:
In branding Luxury commodities the retail is totally about heightening the experience of the consumer’s brand experience and intensifying the aura of the brand. Therefore the movement of the brand and the branded environment must live the products by arranging clear detailing that involves all attention of the audience. The choice of the location of the store the touch points of the chain that is interacted by the consumers with the sales representative and the impression of the touch points is quite critical in making a unique experience for indulging.
Public Relations:
The Public relations in luxury products plays a critical role for making the image of the brand by subtly influencing the opinion of the public. In order to do such things a PR is engaged so that they could disseminate the information and the various features of the brand that could not be captured through advertisement. These information are as important as the advertisements states so that they could create emotional value for the brand and a brand personality. That could be with the help of the other P’s involved with luxury brands.
Pricing:
For every luxury product their pricing is quite significant because it helps to build a perception for the buyers. Generally a customer of luxury brands tends to generate their stature of luxury or their image, by pricing range of the operating brand. Hence it is significant for luxury products to make an appropriate pricing of the operating brand. Hence it is significant for luxury products for pricing the correct charge and will that price should be likely for the consumers to pay and it should also be considered that the value of the brand should not be harmed. There should be enough justification for the customers to go for buying the product.
Summary:
Through the analysis it can be stated that Singapore will have a good compatibility for Harvey Nichols and the strategy that the Company should use is mainly the market development because the market is new and the segmentation is the elite people with a good income level.
References
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