Buiness

By: Cannibal

Coursework 1: Task: Marketing Plan for a new street wear (leisure/sports wear) manufacturer who does not wish to distribute goods via traditional retail outlets. Introduction. The purpose of this report is to develop a clearly structured and efficiently detailed plan, regarding the creation of a business producing and distributing leisure/sports wear clothes in UK. The business plan is designed to function under a focus-differentiated strategy, via internal resources. In the sense that growth will be achieved through the resources equally provided by the two owners of the business. The differentiation point of the product, as reflected by the marketing mix, will be the one emphasizing the good quality of the product and quick service of the business. In order to minimise the risks involved in such an attempt it was decided that the plan should be divided into sections. Meaning that at the very first steps of our effort we will focus on our immediate and friendly environment. In order to be able to respond to either circumstance the following plan regarding the business "Fashion Mania", a name that can be translated to obsession for fashionable clothes, was developed. The company. "Fashion Mania" is a clothing organisation, founded in 1997 by John Williams and Malcolm Pete, two street wear manufactures who mainly designs and distributes via mail order casual clothes to serve young professionals with little free time. The business grew in 1999 with the help of a bank loan (now paid off) and "Fashion Mania" is now selling clothes via Internet and catalogues. Mission Statement. Our mission statement is to provide our customers with a selective range of high quality, well-designed and attractive clothes at reasonable prices. Market Background. When we are referring to street wear we are mainly talking about sports clothing and sports footwear. However, nowadays we observe a distinction between those two (sports clothing, sports footwear). The separation of sports clothing from sports footwear reflects the importance that sector has to the whole market. It is not very easy to segment that particular market because the delimitation between active sportswear and leisure sportswear is not clear. Some people usually wear many items of sports clothing on leisure or sports time. Whereas the sports clothing market has not seen any great changes within the last three years, it has taste a steady growth and now it has 52% of total sports goods sales and approximately 7% of all clothing. (Mintel - Sports Clothing, November 1998) Many of the trends that were obvious in 1995 have become more determined. Some of the most important between these are the increasing influence of fashion over the youth market and the heightened interest in active lifestyles. Whether they are actually participating or not, being seen to be wearing active gear is highly desirable for the 15-24 year old age group. An older market, people who are 'staying younger longer' and leading more active lifestyles, is also increasingly embracing outdoor sportswear. (Mintel - Sports Clothing, November 1998) Mintel estimates sales of sports clothing to be worth some Ј2 billion in 1998, although much of this is dependent on the youth market. As the youth population (15-24 year olds) is forecast to increase by 3.5% by 2002, the core market will be larger and sustainable growth will be easier to achieve. The older generation is on the increase as the 'baby boom' population bubble ages. However, very little of the sportswear on offer from the leading manufacturers is designed for older age groups or tastes. (Mintel - Sports Clothing, November 1998) In the sports market the leading brands are quite a lot. A big number of those leading brands still dominate the sports clothing market. However, with the increasing fashionability of sports clothing many traditional fashion labels are making inroads in the sports leisurewear market. Particularly those that have strong labels appealing to the youth market, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren Polo and Levi's. Outdoor brands, such as Rockport, Timberland and O'Neil are more prominent also, as a consequence of their high profile appeal to a wide range of consumers. (Mintel - Sports Clothing, November 1998) A market with potential future. The sports clothing market was valued at Ј1.7 billion in 1997 and is projected to grow further to be worth Ј1.8 billion in 1998. The market has recovered after the damaging recession of the early 1990s, growing 22% at current prices between 1995 and 1997, equating to 25% in real terms. Clothing continues to increase its dominance of the sports goods market (sports clothing, footwear and equipment), accounting for 52% of sales in 1997, compared to 1994 shares of 49:32:19 for clothing, footwear and equipment respectively. This is partly a result of consumers buying higher ticket items such as outerwear and branded garments. However, footwear is still much more important in sportswear than it is in general apparel (where it takes a 17% share), particularly due to the importance of its high performance positioning to the brand image of the leading sports goods manufacturers. In the future the "sport - good health" look is forecast to gradually increase its shares on consumers expenditure in clothing. (Mintel - Sports Clothing, November 1998) Situation Analysis. Marketing Audit: S.W.O.T & P.E.S.T Analysis. An audit is the means by which a company can understand how it relates to the environment in which it operates. Expressed in its simplest form an audit is the company's own strengths and weaknesses and how they relate to external opportunities and threats. Strengths: § Home shopping arose in the UK because it provided credit to communities. It is commonly acceptable that at least 1/3 of the UK population have access to the Internet. Because of that home shopping sectors have a potential to reach the entire UK population very soon. § "Fashion Mania" as a home shopping service can offer an ideal solution for a lot of consumer groups like young professionals, with little or no free time, disabled people and generally consumers who find visiting a shop difficult. § "Fashion Mania" also allows a wider variety of choices in shopping, as Internet opens up a world of retailing to users. § Home shopping is also ideal for consumers with the so-called convenience lifestyle because it is "open" 24 hours a day. Weaknesses: § One of the main weaknesses of home shopping is the price. Price is or can be higher than the high street shops. That is happening because catalogue prices are fixed for a particular period, usually Autumn-Winter and Spring- Summer, and high street shops often overcome those prices. § As it was mentioned above catalogues are issued in advance. So, by the time the