Primarily, Cotton On operates as a 'design to retail' business allowing huge flexibility over the design and timing of product released to the retail outlets. Our mission Is to become the most innovative and responsive brand within our market without compromising the values that have made us what we are today. Cotton on pride themselves on making our customer feel and look fashionable without the guilt of spending excess dollars ? fashion should be fun, affordable and updated weekly. Cotton On represents huge value for money ? leading fashion at affordable prices.As a corporation Cotton On abides by the following Code of Conduct: * respect human rights and local laws do not hire underage workers or use forced labor * respect the environment * ensure the safety of all treat employees with respect and equality, free from discrimination, and award their efforts * uphold management responsible for their actions. Market analysis Market background An important factor of the Cotton On success story has been the strength and commitment from their people to maintain and improve the standard of their products and the service to their customers.
When customers visit Cotton On, they are not Just walking into a store; they are entering a brand. The Identity of Cotton On in the market Is based on the quality of the product, how fashionable and affordable casual clothes. For them to uphold this, the product team are constantly open to the elements to emerging local and overseas trends that reflect the lifestyle of their customers. Their product team travels regularly to Europe, I-J, USA, China and India, always sourcing items that reflect their customer.
They will then spent weeks working on the fit, color palettes of the products and price points to make sure that the end result of an Item will stand alone In the retail environment. This Is the reason why stores have a strong presence and vibe so as their team members. This in turns backed up with the quality of the product. It provides an ambiance that has their customer going back to the store for more. The company's corporate image is represented by a high standard of visual merchandising.Thus this creates a unique identity of Cotton On itself so that customers would not get confused with the other brands outside in the market.
Their young teams are all very diligent and take their positions very seriously. Their primary focus is to ensure that all of the customers are left satisfied positively based on their shopping experience. However, in the volume market, it is vital that our products speaks for itself - shopping is done faster errantly and decision are made instantly.The product focuses on key elements like touch, color and price point so the customer will not be confused. Cotton On invests in the future to make sure that their success continues. They consistently look into areas that they can gradually improve on like the design of the store, the product distribution, the guaranteed quality of their product, and also management and training of their staffs.
The presentation of the store is persistently monitored and an ongoing store revamp strategy will make sure that the high standard that was being set will be met and maintained.Market size ; Growth Its international growth strategy clearly has an aggressive phase under way because in November its headquarters expanded to create 500 new Jobs. It has around 20 stores in the United States, 12 in Germany, six in the United Arab Emirates and more in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Africa. Key competitors COTTON ON - Company overview: Cotton On is an Australian clothing retailer with an international presence - Recent key developments: Cotton On has launched an e-shop for Australia - Store portfolio: approximately 190 Cotton On stores are located outside of AustraliaJUST GROUP - Company overview: Just Group has six clothing retail chains in Australia - Recent key developments: Just Group is on the lookout for further acquisitions - Trading record: Just Group's financial performance deteriorated in HI 2011 - Store portfolio: Just Group has been closing down marginal stores ION B - Company overview: Ion B focuses on mature women - Recent key developments: Ion B focuses on strengthening its Liz Jordan brand - Trading record: Ion B announced a weak performance for HI 2011 - Store portfolio: after periods of contraction, Ion Bi's retail network expanded in HI 2011 WITCHERY Company overview: Witchery is an Australian success story based on Sara's - Trading record: Witchery is privately owned, meaning that available financial data are limited - Store portfolio: Witchery has a rapidly expanding retail store network SOOT Analysts * Strengths -One of the biggest strengths for this company is that they have the most recent trends - They may not be of designer quality, the trends that come out at cotton on keep its customer's trendy and it comes with affordable price -Their stores have good working/ shopping environment -They have even expanded into global market and internet market.
Weaknesses -Security wise - lack of it -Consistently changing of the prices -Poor quality of merchandise (material, faulty items) -Locations might be close to competitors -Availability of size -Unclear statement regarding memberships -Staff knowledge about products-lack of it * Opportunities -Find more global market -Collaboration with Disney, Cartoon Network - Expand product range -Expand suppliers' field -Online market * Treats -Competitors are under the same market -Material cost rising -Location (where the store is located at with other competitive stores nearby) -Needs of customers are changing Lots of online shopping malls -Global company (same market low price) PESTLE Analysts * Political -Tax policy -Employment laws -Environmental regulations -Trade restrictions -Political stability * Economic -Interest rates -Exchange rate -Inflation rate * Coloratura -Population growth rate -Age distribution -Lifestyle: Casual modern, constantly changing * Technological -Speed of technology transfer -New discovery and invention * Environmental -Environment protection laws -Energy consumption * Legislation -Changes to advertising laws -Global inconsistencies Target markets Our customer is not easily defined.We attract consumers from the surf wear & street wear markets as well as a more fashion conscious lifestyle brand consumer. Our brand is complimentary to all three markets. We are careful to provide product that can adapt to one's own use of clothing as self-expression and enhance their own image through fashion. Cotton On is primarily a youth focused brand targeting the 18 ? 30 years age bracket.
The consumer is fashion aware yet, not dictated to. They are ingeniously looking to achieve the season's look without the designer price tags. Our customer appreciates the innovative designs, graphics, use of fabrics, colors, and Rutherford enjoys this visually appealing apparel product at a value for money price.Identify and evaluate new marketing opportunity The cost of clothes is rising at its fastest rate for nearly 15 years.
So lots of Clothing company start-ups seek solutions as cotton prices climb. This could be a big threat to Cotton on as well. So we decided to take advantage of the threat and change it in to a new opportunity. These days lots of people purchase new clothes and a couple of years later they Just throw them away because they are out of trends or fashion and their size also changes too. But you still can find these clothes are okay to wear. I even saw lots of second hand shop here in Australia as well.
So Cotton on has decided to buy second hands clothes and redesign and sell. It is almost like win-win project.Because we can buy second hands clothes at a very cheap price and save lots of money to purchase new material at the same time our young trendy customer need to add or change it a little bit and it becomes trendy, fashionable and unique. By recycling clothes it is also CEO-friendly.
Because it takes less resources to reproduce and design new items. Redesigning used clothing may sound a bit anti- fashion, but even haute couture designers like Martin Marginal, who worked for Jean- Paul Guiltier before starting his own Paris-based fashion house, he reworked designs run in the thousands of dollars- a coat made from old gloves in his 2006 collection went for $15,124. Cotton on follow industry codes of practice.Such as: * Ensure business and consumers have access to the product and service information they need to make informed choices * Minimize the risk of members breaching the Trade Practices Act 1974, Privacy Act 1988 including the National Privacy Principles (Naps), Spam Act 2003 or State fair trading legislation * Promote a culture among members of conducting their businesses fairly, honestly, ethically and in accordance with best practices; and * Increase business and consumer confidence in doing business with ADAM members Breaking-even analysis For example, cotton launches a new T-shirt, how many they have to sell to make a profit? -Fixed cost; rent-$500/w, insurance-$40/w -Variable cost; material-$3, labor-$5 -New T-shirt selling price; $20 Fixed cost/ (Selling price-variable cost)= Break-even So, cotton on have to sell more than 45 T-shirts to make profit.
Identify required changes -Introduce new arrivals -Share product knowledge -Staff needs to portray positive body language -Use social media wisely -Suggest what accessories to match with outfit look, cross-selling -make more convenient online shopping -membership card -preparing global competitors -Expand product range -Merchandise Greetings -Greeting customers consistently to make them feel welcome -Smiling sincerely and proactively to give a positive vibe 1 . List ways that Dell conducts research on its customers to continually improve products and services. - Dell has gained valuable feedback through customer rivers, through their own social media efforts in general and sites like Idea Storm. To date, hundreds of ideas from the Idea Storm community have been implemented.
Since 2006 more than 100,000 customer ratings and reviews have been shared? that's an average of 150 reviews per day submitted to Dell. Com based on direct customer feedback. They've also focused on celebrating their customers who submit reviews through things like Customer Spotlights on Dell. Com. -2417 chat service in the U.
S. And other countries where chat seems more popular over traditional phone service, redesigning support. Ell. Com, revamping of extended warranties, and a redesign of the Dell.
Com online configuration experience to name a few. The scope and direction of these initiatives - and others - are shaped by what we hear from customers. 2. What are the features of Dell's research? Clarity of its approach -business value to the organization - positive impact on customer experience -innovation - potential for other companies to repeat the practice 3. What is Dell's unique selling point? - Dell's Unique Selling Point (USPS) is the facility that allows consumers to select and customize their computer.
Customers can purchase custom-built products and services. A pre-built machine may contain features the customers will not use, or not include features important for a specific customer need. Customers, whether online, via phone or in a retail outlet, can select the features they want. 4. What are the strategies Dell uses to generate revenue? Dell delivers innovative solutions that balance operational efficiency and price/ performance.
Modular and Scalable Design ? Dell helps customer add new capabilities through flexible, reconfigurable and reusable elements. This improves customer's ability to scale up, down and out as your needs change. And customers get the reliability and stability Dell is known for. -Open, Better Together Innovation ? Dell base their technologies on open standards so customer can integrate them as a whole, rather than in silos or individual instances. This helps customer optimize the purchase, deployment and maintenance of customer's infrastructure components, systems and services.
-Intelligent Orchestration ? Dell embed intelligence in their solutions so customer get intuitive and efficient experiences when applying new technology and functionality. What does return on investment mean in relation to Dell's marketing campaign Generally when anyone try to launch marketing campaign, they will have to spend a certain amount of money on the investment and the relation of The Return-on- Investment (ROI) is that it measures how effectively a business uses its funds to generate profit; the higher the ROI, the better. The ROI is about measuring the cost of investing in a product or service versus the profit it generates. Measure Return on Marketing Investment(Roll) : -Measure campaign ROI; by tracking each prospect's activities from browsing to arches so you can have a precise idea of the sales generated by each campaign. - Track Google keyword; ranking history and gain insight on what ranks well. Gain competitive insights by tracking competitors' inbound links & index pages.
Quantify content & website performance; with dynamic dashboards showing your most visited paged and most downloaded content. 6. Identify three external threats and two internal weaknesses that Dell could face. External threats - Dell has over the last one decade witnessed the highest competition ever in the international market dealing with PC's. This has come with more profitable brands ND retaliations from the competitors besides experience new entrants in the global market causing a great threat to Dell in terms of market coverage. - The Dell culture of sourcing labor from the Eastern nations where it is regarded to be cheap does not prohibit other competitors from doing the same and even sourcing for more cheap labor.
