Marketing Plan For Gymshark: Focus On UK Market

Overview of Gymshark Company

The report helps in analysis of the different external and internal environment of Gymshark in the United Kingdom market. Furthermore, the different marketing challenges have to be identified in the market of UK is required to be done. The positioning of the Gymshark company is required to be done in relation to the different competitors in the UK market.

Gymshark Company is the fitness clothing brand which was started by Ben Francis in the year 2012 and the concept of vests, hoodies and leggings went viral(Gymshark US, 2018). The company sell the different products in more than 177 countries and there is 128% of the growth as well.

PESTEL analysis helps in understanding the different kinds of external environment factors which can affect the business of Gymshark in the market of United Kingdom. In order to expand their business in UK market along with maintaining competitive position, the opportunities and threats are required to be addressed on the external environmental factors as this will shape the conditions as well (Ramaswamy and Mosher 2013).

Political Factors

• The political climate is stable in nature in major markets which is a huge opportunity for the company to work and expand their operations in United Kingdom.
• The expansion of the policies of free trade is the other opportunity for Gymsharkas this will help the company in expanding their operations effectively (Goworek, McGoldrickand McGoldrick 2015)
• The improvement in the government support for the infrastructure is the other kind of opportunity and this will increase their presence in the entire market relating to sportswear, equipment along with different apparels.

Economic Factors

• The rapid growth of the developing markets in the entire UK is both opportunity and threat for Gymshark as this will help the company in gaining knowledge on the tastes and preferences of the customers. However, on the other hand, this can be seen that the other markets which are the major competitors can cause huge competition and this will lead to loss of the different customers in the market.
• Furthermore, the slowdown of the Chinese economy is the other major threat for Gymshark in the competitive environment of UK as they depend mostly on the Chinese market for the different shoes and apparels.

Social Factors

• Improving the positive attitudes about leisure is the opportunity for Gymshark as this can be huge opportunity for them in the entire market through which the strategies for new product development to address the different needs of the customers
• Increasing the overall emphasis on the safety of the product is the other social factor which is an opportunity in which this has been seen that this is one of the essential opportunity for the company

Technological Factors

• There is rapid technological obsolescence in which this is threat for Gymshark as this will create huge pressure on the Gymshark company to improve the development of the different products
• Furthermore, the widespread usage of the mobile applications and technology is the other opportunity for Gymshark such as through different mobile applications which will be helpful in nature and this will be of advanced technologies (Kavaratzis, Warnabyand Ashworth 2014).

Legal Factors

• Expanding the health and safety regulations among the different employees as this will help in motivating the individuals in performing tasks effectively
• Improving the employment law in the different developing countries is threat along with opportunity as there can be different laws which is required to be managed by the Gymshark company

Environmental Factors

• There is change in climate which is opportunity for the company and this will help in improving the sustainability programs in an effective manner
• Increase in the sustainability strategies will be a threat for Gymshark as there are certain regions in which there is huge rules which are required to be followed

Proper SWOT analysis is required to be followed in order to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the market of UK.

Strengths

• The company has huge brand value along with long heritage in the entire market since the year 2012 and this has gained huge profitability in the market in comparison to other competitors
• There are different social media advertising which is being done by Gymshark and this has attracted more number of customers
• Gymshark has diversified portfolio of the different products ranging from the sportwear shoes, clothing and the other accessories (Andrews et al. 2017).

Weaknesses

• There are different products of Gymshark which are costly in nature and this is not affordable for the customers
• There are different other competitors in the market which are selling similar kinds of products in the market and there are different customers in the market who have brand switching which is high (Kotler 2015)

Opportunities

• The building of brand can be done by Gymshark with help of different sponsorships provided to celebrities
• Proper tie-ups are required to be done by making more stylish products to attract more customers (Kumar,Sharmaand Gupta 2017)

Threats

• There are imitations which are fake in nature and this affects the brand image of Gymshark (Eshuis, Klijnand Braun 2014)
• There are different other brands in the market who sell such and similar kind of products at lesser cost (Fan, Lauand Zhao 2015)

1. Firstly, the entire apparel industry is struggling and it has created huge impact on Gymshark as there are different customers in the market who are not preferring to spend their entire income on apparel or sports accessories (Kotabeand Helsen 2014).
2. Secondly, thereare different socio-cultural differences in the economy as the advertisements which are being portrayed by Gymshark may not be accepted by all in the economy and this can be negative on the brand image of the company
3. Thirdly, the women athleisure is getting more crowded by the day in which this has been seen that their major competitors such as Nike and Adidas along with other niche brands which focuses and pride themselves on fun rather being more competitive in nature
4. Fourthly, the other marketing challenge is relating to the niche marketing can be a problem for the developing countries as the income of the individuals in such countries are not so high and this can create huge problems for them to purchase such products (Miquel-Romero, Caplliure-Ginerand Adame-Sánchez 2014).
5. Lastly, the most popular products of Gymshark can be out of style and this can affect the different business of Gymshark which have been undertaken by them.

There are different major competitors of Gymshark in the UK market is JD Sports Company which is the biggest competitors in the entire market. This has been seen that UK market is competitive in nature as there are different competitors who have taken the competitive position in the market effectively (Lehmann and Winer 2017).

 Furthermore, this has been seen that the competitive landscape is running, sports wear and athletic wear as well. The positioning is essential in nature for Gymshark by opening offline store in UK and other parts of the world which will help them in attracting more customers in the market effectively.

The positioning of Gymshark will be done in such a manner in which this has been seen that:

• To bring innovation along with inspiration to athlete in world
• To shift their focus from product to attitude

Figure 1: Positioning Map

(Source: Armstrong et al. 2015)

There are different kinds of marketing objectives which are required to be analysed for Gymshark in order to expand their market operations in the market of UK. Furthermore, in order to support the growth of the company, this is essential in nature for Gymshark in gaining competitive advantage in the entire market which is required to be SMART in nature and this includes the following:

• To increase the marketing communication tactics in the entire market which has helped them in producing high quality products at low cost which is specific in nature
• To meet the different demands of the customers who are the target market of Gymshark who the women are along with athletes which are specific and realistic in nature and to apply continuous marketing strategies for sustainable development of the target market
• To increase the profitability to more than 3-4% in each of the product lines which will help in increasing the growth of the sales in an effective manner and this is measurable in nature

Answer to Question 1

These are the three major marketing objectives which is required to be achieved by Gymshark in the market of United Kingdom and these are SMART in nature as this helps them in managing the different kinds of marketing objectives effectively and appropriately.

Gymshark tries to offer the customers with different kinds of sportswear products such as accessories, shoes and apparels and they are mainly specialised for the sports products (Eshuis, Klijnand Braun 2014). The first product of Gymshark is stylish attire for women and men and the products which are being offered are niche in nature (Bakerand Saren 2016).

Therefore, this can be recommended that the company Gymshark needs to introduce the products which are other than the sports in such a range which will help them in attracting all the customers in the market as this will increase their profitability and the overall sales of the company in a positive manner.

The price which have been adopted by Gymshark is competitive in nature in comparison to the other companies in the market(Bagozzi et al. 2018). The Gymshark brand is for the premium customers and the pricing is premium in nature in which all the segments of the customers are not being included. This is one of the disadvantages as well for the company as the profit is being lowered as all the individuals in the market cannot afford such pricing technique (Kim et al. 2014).

Therefore, this can be recommended that Gymshark needs to introduce the value-based pricing for the different products which are being sold by them as this will help them in offering the customers with the low pricing products and this will be essential in nature to be fair in providing the customers with similar kind of products like Adidas and Nike as this will help them in achieving the profit in the next twelve months.

The place offerings which is being offered by Gymshark is done through online stores and there are no physical stores of Gymshark in any country (Eshuis, Klijnand Braun 2014). Furthermore, there is no such physical distributor of the company and this is the recent place offerings of the company.

Therefore, this can be recommended that there is different introduction of offline stores in different parts of the world as this will help Gymshark in managing the different kinds of distribution channels is required to be created in various locations and this is required to be advertised by the company as to gain more competitive advantage in the market.

Analysis of External Environment of Gymshark in UK Market

The different promotional offerings of the company areeffective as they target the individuals or the target customers through online medium. Furthermore, this has been seen that promotional offerings such as the advertisements help in attracting the niche customer segments in the market through different social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram (Bakerand Saren 2016).

However, this can be recommended that there are different other promotional offerings done through newspaper and other pop ups in the different emails for targeting the customers. The promotional campaign is required to be done in such a manner which will attract more customers in the market and there can be discounts or offers provided for the customers in the market as well.

Conclusion

Therefore, this can be concluded that the Gymshark is one of the companies like Nike and Adidas in the market and they are the major competitors. Furthermore, the marketing objectives have been done in SMART form which has helped the company in gaining the different objectives in an appropriate manner. Lastly, the marketing mix have been done and the different recommendations have been provided accordingly.

References

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