Retail Management Prject- The Big Sell Off Visual Report
Transcript of Retail Management Prject- The Big Sell Off Visual Report
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The Big Sell Off
Yellow Team
Eve Fisher
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ExecutiveSum
mary
The Big Sell O is an excing live project in which the students of
BA (Hons) Fashion Management with Markeng have competed in
four separate teams to sell the collegiate range for SouthamptonSolent University.
This project analyses the planning, development, execuon, and
results to the four day event managed by BA (Hons) Fashion
Management with
Markeng Level 6 students, The Big Sell O. The event was an
excing opportunity for students to create an innovave markengstrategy to sell the universitys collegiate range, with the products
designed by students, for students.
The project has given the students a great experience to learn
about how to combine sales and markeng to meet
markeng criteria. This crucial knowledge can be applied to the
employability skills of the
students involved in the event.
The Big Sell O was a fun experience to parcipate in. This project
will look at the business from every perspecve, for people
management, the supply chain, risk assessment, the market
overview and consumer denion.
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Introducon
Primary ResearchMethodology
Ideal Sample for the ResearchResearch Methods
Analysis of Preliminary Research
Secondary ResearchCompetor Research and The Markeng Mix- Hollister
Competor Research and The Markeng Mix- JD Sports
Competor Research and The Markeng Mix- Jack Wills
Market OverviewDenion of Pop-Up Shops
Perceptual Map
PESTLE Analysis
SWOT Analysis for Yellow Team
Consumer OverviewTarget Market
Pen Portrait
ACORN Consumer Proling: Collegiate Range
Maslows Hierarchy of Needs in Relaon to the Collegiate Range
Customer Relaonship Management Matrix: Collegiate Range
Diusions of Innovaon
Posioning StrategyMarkeng Mix
Anso Matrix
Boston Matrix
Relaonship Markeng
Kellers Brand Equity Pyramid
Posioning Strategy Conclusion
The Importance of People ManagementBelbins Team Roles
Adizes PAEI Management Roles
Contents PageThe Supply ChainTrend Moden
Producon Process
Jack Wills and The Supply Chain
Collegiate Range and The Supply Chain
PlanningMarkeng Aims and Objecves
SMART Objecves
The Markeng Strategy
The Markeng ProgrammeSales Forecast
Development and ExecuonAdversements/ Poster and Flyer Images
Sales and MarginsBreakdown of Team Yellows Sales
Prot Margins for Old Stock 2011
Prot Margins for New Stock 2012
Risk Assessment
The Four Categories of Organisaonal RiskCompeve AnalysisCompeon USPs and Strategies
Collecon of Competor Imagery
Compeve EvaluaonAppendix 1: Survey Quesons
Appendix 2: Team Roles and Responsibilies
Appendix 3: Team Yellow Rota
Appendix 4: Price List
Appendix 5: Stock Allocaon and Sales Instrucons
Appendix 6: 2011 Stock Order Documents and Cost PricesAppendix 7: 2012 Stock Order Documents and Cost Prices
Appendix 8: Yellow Team Sales Beakdown
Appendix 9: Yellow Team Budget
Appendix 10: Employability Skills
Harvard References/ Bibliography
POPAI (Point of Purchase Adversing Internaonal)Dimensions
POPAI Entry: Quesons and Answers
Visuals
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Introduction
The group will alternate locaons during the four days. These include the universitys main recepon, JM building, HC building, and the new
excing project Re:So (Retail Solent) based very central to the city of Southampton in the Marlands shopping centre.
The groups task is to devise an innovave markeng strategy in which to sell the universitys collegiate range, taking into account models
and theories learnt through the course and apply them to the praccal success of a realisc business.
The idea began with the revoluon of pop up shops, an answer to the many shops shung on the high street due to the impact of the
tough economic climate and prolonged recession.
The Big Sell O is a four day event, in which four teams of sixteen will
compete to sell Southampton Solent Universitys collegiate range,
designed by students for students. The group will be responsible for
preparing the clothing to sell in four dierent locaons, managing
takings, working as a team and accounng for stock.
The yellow team have many excing ideas to explore,
and in order to fully ulise the project, the team aims
to use this opportunity to directly help the well
established charity, Children in Need, which occurs
every November.
This project will examine every aspect of the project
and will account for the planning, development and
execuon of the event, as well as analysis of the naloutcomes and a compeve evaluaon.
In order to succeed, the group will need a thorough
understanding of retail management as a concept, and
a skill to sell to the chosen target market, and will need
to aain a compeve advantage over other teams.
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
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PrimaryResearchMethodology
The methodology aims to idenfy the opmum
methods of research in order to gain as much infor-maon into the collegiate range as possible for the
purpose of maximising the potenal of the markeng
strategy. During the recession, pop up shops have been
an eecve method of ulising space and generang
growth in the economy, so to nd out if the range has
potenal, primary research will examine whether
selling the collegiate range will be a posive idea togenerate prot for the university. In order to gain the
best quality of informaon possible, the group would
need to incorporate qualitave and quantave data to
nd out opinions of the range as well as strong, reliable
stascal facts.
Ideal Sample for the Research
The collegiate range of Southampton Solent University has
been idened by Team Yellow as having the mostpotenal within the students which aend there, with a
stronger emphasis of rst years (their high levels of
excitement and enthusiasm towards their new university
life) and third years (as their university life is drawing
closer to ending, these students will perceive the products
as a senmental reminder of their university experiences).
Therefore, the sample for the research will consist of
students from Southampton Solent University, from all
year groups and from all course subjects. This will
eecvely be the target audience for selling the collegiate
range, and these are the consumers who will be present
and most likely to purchase in the four pre-set locaons. As
students of the university provide quite a broadperspecve of the range, the quesons in the survey will
also aim to gain informaon into dierent psychographics
and demographics in order to establish what types of
consumers are most interested in purchasing the range
and what factors would help them with their buying
decision process.
PrimaryResearch 2
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PrimaryResearch
Research Methods
As the group is limited for me to plan thoroughly, the ideal methods to
use would be surveys, as they can be created and distributed very quickly
via social media networks, and addionally focus groups, as networking can
gain a reliable sample quickly and it will give the team an in depth
knowledge of what the consumers would be interested in, therefore
helping the group devise a thorough markeng strategy.
By choosing to create a survey, the group needed to plan thoroughly whatinformaon was relevant and would help generate a thriving markeng
strategy. Therefore, it was decided that there would be a mix of open
quesons to gain qualitave informaon based on the range, as well as
closed quesons to allow for quantave informaon of one specic
answer, which would be easier to analyse and therefore stascal reliable
data can be produced and cross referenced.
The survey will be structured, as the survey needs to be consistent and adding and changing quesons would be
dicult. However, to overcome this problem, and to gain more thorough qualitave research, the team will conduct
focus groups with a mixed sample of Southampton Solent University students, from all years and both genders. The
focus groups will be semi structured, with a list of quesons and the chance to increase the depth of knowledge if
needed or if a point made by the parcipants is unclear to the conductor of the focus group, and then they will be
given the chance to elaborate.
PrimaryResearch 3
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PrimaryResearchAnalysis of Preliminary Primary Research into the Collegiate Range 2012
The use of market research is important into concluding what markeng
strategy would be most eecve at selling Southampton Solent Universitys
collegiate range to the selected target market.
Analysis of the primary research will help conclude how students perceive the
range and what the team can incorporate into their markeng strategy to make
the range more successful and fullling for the consumer.
Queson 1
Queson 1 aimed to establish the gender of the consumer to disnguish how
the markeng strategy could dierenate from this, as 73% asked were
female and 27% male. This shows that informaon could be more biased
towards females.
Queson 2
This queson simply asked for the parcipants age. This was to disnguish what ages the students who
aended the university were, and if there was a dominant age group, the team could then dene this
groups wants and desires, therefore the markeng strategy could be more eecve as a result. To conclude,
the age groups 18-20 and 21-23 were the dominant groups, meaning the team could use this informaon
to idenfy likes and interests to create a thorough markeng strategy. As this group has a lower disposable
income, and the group surveyed are all students, it is clear to dene that these consumers would be
interested in freebies, and to aspire to their personal interests, the team could include freebies for fashion,
music, food, and nightlife. These items would be appropriate to this demographic.
Queson 3
This queson was simply conrming the parcipant aended the university, to ensure that during result
analysis, the team could be sure the sample was 100% students that aended Southampton Solent
University and the survey had not been completed from people outside of the idealisc sample.
Queson 4
Queson 4 was designed to establish what year group the parcipant was currently studying, tohelp the team disnguish if enthusiasm levels were higher within the proposed target market of
rst and third year students. The informaon was biased, as due to the teams networking, most
of the parcipants were third year students. Unfortunately, there was lile informaon from
rst year students, however, it seemed that the majority of the sample (third years) were sll
interested in the collegiate range, therefore conrming that the team had chosen a correct
target market. These students are most likely to fall in the majority age group of 21-23 as well,
making this groups interests the dominant focus of the markeng strategy.
PrimaryResearchPrimaryResearch 4
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PrimaryResearchQueson 5
Queson ve looked into asking what consumers wanted from a lifestyle
clothing brand, with the opon of suggesng any factors that had not been
menoned. One person chose to add that they looked for brands that were
fashion forward. The most popular answers were quality, style, comfort and
value. The collegiate range is high quality and comfortable, but nding out
whether consumers perceived the range as stylish and to have value will
dene whether the product fulls consumer desires and therefore whether it
will have potenal for generang high levels of prot.
Queson 6
In order to idenfy whether building brand
awareness was important to the teams
markeng strategy, queson six asked
students whether they were already aware
of the collegiate range. According to
research, 63% of students were aware,
whilst 37% were not. This suggests that
even though the majority of students knew
of the range, the markeng strategy would
need to account for the students that were
not, and as a small proporon of students
were rst years, it could suggest this market
are not as aware. In order to ensure thatawareness increases, the markeng strategy
will need to build brand awareness using a
variety of markeng acons to adverse.
Queson 7
This queson was open, asking parcipants opinions of the range, in order to gain qualitave informaon.
Comments included were quite basic, quite expensive, limited colours, cool styles, uncool and overpriced,its the same as every other uni, uninspiring, theyre ok, not very fashionable, sporty, its not my style of
clothing, I wouldnt wear hoodies and trackies, lacks credibility and choice, as there are not many colours to
choose from and it s not perceived as trendy as other universies, there is a good variety, but the prices are
quite high, its something I would wear around the house, but not out and I think the designs are good,
however not so keen on some of the colours for example the purple and green. It seems that some students
like aspects of the range but not others, such as price and choice, whilst the majority believe it is not stylish or
fashionable or they perceive the range quite negavely. Most students surveyed did not believe that the clothing
matched their criteria of what they want, however, due to the teams networking it is to be considered that many
students that answered could be studying fashion courses and are predominantly female, suggesng that
students from sports courses could be far more intrigued by the range or that it is far more suited for studentswho are acve and need the comfort and quality the collegiate range oers. In order to incorporate this into the
markeng strategy, the team could take on a sports theme, and aim for students who are not as fashion
conscious.
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Queson 8
This queson asked if the parcipant had already bought an item from the range,
in order to establish their thoughts on the product whilst consuming, and whether
they were happy with the purchase. It will also help to idenfy what items have
sold well and if the range is already credible from previous consumers.
The majority had not bought an item from the range, showing that the range has
not been hugely popular so far. With such a high proporon of the parcipants
already having awareness from the brand, the evidence of this queson shows that
consumers currently dont have high levels of interest in the range, and not enough
desire to drive purchasing. The markeng strategy will need to be persuasive in
order to encourage the potenal consumers to purchase. As for the consumers
that had purchased, there was one consumer unhappy with the sizing (however,
this was from a previous and dierent range with dierent specicaons) and the
other consumers were happy. The items were two t-shirts and two hoodies whichshow that these items are products that need the highest focus during selling.
PrimaryResearch Queson 9This queson asked the parcipant whether they would be
interested in purchasing from the collegiate range, with 60% claiming
they would. This implies there is sll huge market potenal, as this is
a clear majority who are willing to purchase.
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PrimaryResearchQueson 10
The survey then connued asking the
parcipant as to which items they would be
interested in. This is to establish what products
are likely to be best sellers, so that the team can
then predict which items to merchandise more
eecvely, and how to ulise the increased
potenal of some of the items within the range.
As the results suggest, the hoodies and joggers
have the highest potenal with a combined
result with 86.66% of parcipants interested
into these items. Only 20% were not interested
at all, which suggests 80% of consumers have at
least some interest in purchasing. Shorts looked
to be very unpopular with only one parcipantinterested, however t-shirts also have a strong
ability to sell during the week. The team will
need to focus their visual merchandising on the
hoodies and joggers, with consideraon into
which markeng acons can boost sales of these
items (which will lead to a higher average spend
per consumer as well as higher levels of prot
due to these products being the most
expensive).
Queson 11
Queson eleven was an open queson to
determine what consumers thought of the
pricing for the 2012 range, and whether they
would be willing to purchase with the set prices.
. Consumers felt the prices were fair, but were
not too sure whether they would purchase due
to the brand lacking credibility. Of course, this
means that the team needs to meet the
objecve of creang favourable percepons to
students within their markeng strategy.
Another key point to make is that consumers
feel that the range was far beer priced than
the 2011 range, and this would make them feel
far more inclined to spend the money if they
I think they are all at good prices
and wouldnt have a problem buying
any of them for that price
Depends how unique it is
They are quite good value, Iwould be encouraged to buy
Ty ar qi fapice, hv I dnk yr wo iu to sl
They are much better comparedto last year, I would be more
likely to purchase
The t-shirt is reasonable but the hoodies
and joggers are too highQueson 12
Queson twelve examined whether incenves with purchases, such as games and freebies, would encourage
consumers to buy products from the range. As the results are shown in this pie chart, only a small percentage of
13% answered No. The large proporon of 47% answered Yes to incenves encouraging a purchase,
addionally 40% of consumers were slightly scepcal, answering Depends how good the incenves are. This
proves that as part of the markeng strategy, team yellow need to contact companies to try to gain incenves
as well as incenves which are perceived as good by the parcipants (as discussed earlier, this could consist of
fashion, food, music and nightlife freebies).
PrimaryResearchPrimaryResearchPrimaryResearchPrimaryResearchPrimaryResearchPrimaryResearchPrimaryResearch 7
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PrimaryResearchQueson 13
Queson thirteen is an open broad
queson asking the parcipant to
state what aracts them into a store.
The brand as a package. It must fit
the style I want to achieve.
Something new and original.
Good lighting, very visually creative
and ambitious displays, colour and
well presented mannequins to display
how the garments look.
Reputation, aesthetics, andpricing
An interesting store layout, nothing toocluttered with lots of interesting visuals. Alsonot too bright fake lighting as it hurts myeyes - big windows with natural light wouldbe a major plus. Also friendly and helpfulstaff.
Attractive exterior,
clothes models, good vibe
Window Displaysand Colour
It seems that consumers are aractedto similar variables, such as music, good
visual merchandising, good
atmosphere, style, eecve window dis-
plays, mannequins and friendly sta. As
the project is based on the concept of
pop up shops, it will be
dicult to make window displays
possible, but making the products eye-
catching and visually merchandisingthem eecvely will help aract con-
sumers to browse, which could lead
onto sales, meaning that this element
of the project needs to be thoroughly
planned and executed during the Big
Sell O.
Queson 14
This queson wanted to know as to what extent customer service aects
purchasing decisions.
The comments tend to follow the concept that good customer
service aects purchasing posively, and also will determine
whether they return as a repeat buyer, therefore suggesng a link
between posive customer service and brand loyalty. Delivering
good customer service is important for the collegiate range, so
assisng browsing consumers with sizes and colours as well as
being friendly and smiling will be a tacc in order to gain sales.
Massively. It helps if itis available and friendly.
A lot. I will not return to a store
again if I receive bad or rude
service.
If the sta are
rude or
unwilling to help
then it reects
negavely on the
store, less likely
to make a pur-
chase.
I dontliketo bepushedandpesteredto buy, buta friendlyface isalwaysnice
ItdoesntreallyiIreallylikethe
item.Butitwoulddenitelyafectmy
decisiontoreturn.
NotverymuchiIreall
yliketheproducts,but
it
doesputmeofthebran
ditheassistantsareru
de
ornotpoliteenough,wh
ichihaveoundisvery
commoninSouthampt
onstores.
Itaffectsmyrepeatbuying;notmyinitialbuyingsowontbeabi
gfactor
inthecollegiaterange.
Not too much, if I
want something Illbuy it.
Queson 15: Addional Comments
The range is not attractive to people who want to look stylish.maybe more stylish as it is pretty basicThe products are good but i would be more likely to purchase oneif there was more variety of items, additional different designsand lower prices.More advertising
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SecondaryResearchSecondary Research into the Big Sell O will indicate what strategies
are successful for selling lifestyle clothing, by looking into competors
with a similar product mix.
Competor Research and the Markeng Mix
The main idened competors for the collegiate range based on the markeng mix are lifestyle retailers Hollister and Jack Wills, as well as the University of
Southampton collegiate range and potenally sports retailers such as JD Sports. By observing the main idened competors of the collegiate range, it is clear to
see how three very dierent companies with similar products manage their markeng. By absorbing this informaon, the yellow team can use this informaon to
help them develop a markeng strategy which ulises the eecveness of their competors.
Hollister Markeng MixProduct Hollister base their products on Californian fashion and lifestyle. The products are very casual and simplisc with
their famous seagull logo and the brand handwring. The physical product revolves around very versale colours,
such as greys, reds, navy blues, and denim, basic cut shapes like hoodies, t-shirts, joggers, shorts, shirts and jeans.
The funconal product revolves around comfort, high quality, versality and praccality through good ts, thick
materials and waterproof outer garments. The product is based heavily on the psychological product, which
incorporates the Californian theme which is aspiraonal to young people and students. The brand has a strong
American beach style heritage, and appeals to the sense of belonging to this interesng, cultured lifestyle. The
product mix is very similar to those oered within the collegiate range, both physically and funconally. Hollisterssister company, Abercrombie and Fitch, is marketed from the American high school culture, which is more similar
psychologically to the collegiate range.
Price The price of the product is quite expensive, due to the quality and demand for the brand. For example, the male
joggers are 44 and female joggers are 39, male and female plain t-shirts are roughly 16-20, male zip-up
hoodies are 60, and female zip up hoodies are 50, whilst female jersey shorts are 19. Of course, these products
are far more expensive than the collegiate range. Hollister use premium pricing as they are a far more established
brand, so despite their quality being beer, they can charge more for their clothing, compared to the less
established collegiate range.
Place Hollister currently have twenty nine UK stores, including one in Southampton. They are a mul channel retailer,
as they distribute goods through their stores, their online website and through a phone app. Their stores are very
unique and the brand is very much built on the Californian culture. The store from the outside resembles a beach
hut, with dark wood panelling. The customer can enter one of two sides: Dudes or Beys. This further juses
the American beach culture. The lighng within stores is very dark with occasional spot lights to highlight key
products. The Hollister perfume is blown throughout the store to heighten the senses of the consumer and to
make the store environment more aesthecally pleasing. Every product is presented very neatly, with mannequins
to display the desired Californian look. The online channel and mobile phone app are displayed similarly, with very
dark browns and vintage wood eects, which is very simplisc yet eecve.
Promoon Hollister use direct markeng as promoon to consumers who sign up to email updates, as well as having their
own online soundtrack, social media pages on Facebook and Twier as well as a mobile phone app. They also
occasionally release online codes oering discounts as well as regular in store and online sales.
Hollister is the sister company of the American brand, Abercrombie and Fitch. The brand is based around the idea of Californian lifestyle.
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SecondaryResearchJD Sports Markeng Mix
Product The products oered by JD Sports are known to be funconal, as their purpose
is predominantly on sports. The physical products vary from what sports marketthe clothing is aimed for, however, products tend to be t-shirts, hoodies, joggers
and trainers in a range of colours. They are very basic shapes. The funconal
product is comfortable, t for purpose, basic and well ng. The
psychological product varies from brand to brand, but mainly revolves around
the idea of tness, sporness, and acve lifestyles. The products resemble
those within the collegiate range, based around comfort and praccality. JD
Sports oers a wide variety of prodicts from sports brands, such as Nike,
Adidas, Lacoste, and much more. All these brands product products aimed for
praccal and comfort reasons, therefore making the product mix very similar to
those oered in the collegiate range.Price Branded hoodies range from 20-65 for women depending on the credibility
of the brand, and 20- 115 for men. Joggers for men are 20- 70, and
10- 65 for women. Brands at the higher end of the scale, such as Lacoste,
Nike and Adidas, are the more expensive labels, making them far more
expensive than the collegiate range. They order in bulk to get lower cost prices
in order to use compeve pricing against similar retailers.
Place JD Sports operates dominantly from bricks and mortar stores. However, they
also operate through their online channel and mobile phone app, making them
a mul channel distributer. Within their stores, a large area is allocated to
footwear. The stores are merchandised using their key colours, black and silver.
Their website is laid out with similar colours, but is not parcularly impressive.
It does not follow fashion or style as a dominant theme.
Promoon JD Sports use direct markeng by emailing their consumers, as well as social
media. They also adverse in newspapers and magazines, such as FHM and
NME. The company collaborated with Adidas to feature VIP ckets for an
exclusive N-Dubz event at the O2 arena, and use compeons, sales
promoons and athlete endorsement to promote the brand.
JD Sports is a retailer supplying large sporng brands,
with the idea of quality and purpose throughout
their product mix.
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SecondaryResearchJack Wills is a Brish brand aimed at university students, with the
slogan University Ouiers. The brand specialises in good quality
lifestyle clothing.
Jack Wills Markeng Mix
Product Jack Wills is a lifestyle brand aimed for Brish University students, so oers a very similar product range
to the collegiate range. The products are based around the university lifestyle, with many casual, praccal
items designed with a sense of style. The physical product is made to a high quality, with a range of colours,
cuts and shapes. Their basic clothing with the Jack Wills logo is the best sellers of the brand. The funconal
product that the items are comfortable, praccal, high quality and versale, as the product is designed to
be durable as they are aimed for student lifestyles. The psychological product is a sense of involvement,
community, status and intelligence. The clothes project the image of being young, aspiraonal, fun and
ambious.
Price The price is quite expensive, especially for a brand aimed at students, due to the value of the range and the
status the brand projects. Male joggers are priced from 49.50 to 59.50, whilst female joggers are priced
form 39.50 to 49.50. The basic t-shirts with the brands logo are around 29.50 for women and men,
whilst hoodies range from 59.50 to 98.50. The brand uses premium pricing, with the status
supporng the price. It is far more expensive than the collegiate range, but oers the same clothing withmore of choice and a stylised essence. It is a well established credible brand, which juses the high price
and makes it an aspiraonal brand.
Place Jack Wills has y ve UK stores. They have also expanded into Hong Kong and the USA. The stores are au-
thencally Brish, with large eorts placed into the visual merchandising, such as deer antlers, quirky wall-
paper, bath tubs, wooden wardrobes and cabinets, lampshades and framed Brish art. The store
environment is very luxurious and unique, spacious with beauful furnishings. Their online environment is
displayed extremely well, as products are easy to nd and style ideas for dierent ranges give excellent
inspiraon for their target consumers. Contrasng to Hollister, it is very bright with the bold font standing
out amongst the use of white. Jack Wills is aimed to the aspiraonal student demographic, similarly to the
collegiate range; however, Jack Wills as a retailer lacks a bricks and mortar store within Southampton,therefore lowering the threat of compeon to the collegiate range. However, the brand is sll accessible
with the use of an online distribuon channel.
Promoon The company uses event markeng to support the themes of community and status to the brand. They are
sponsors to the Varsity Match, hosng aer pares with the Mystery Jets DJ set. They also hold student lock
ins with free drinks and live music with a free goody bag (ckets are priced at 10 each). Consumers can
also go to their late night Christmas shopping events for 20, which is redeemable with purchases over 50
and receive a free goody bag. They also promote their brand with seasonal videos, and inspiraon pages on
how to wear the latest trends. The company also oers 15% student discount with a valid NUS extra card.11
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MarketOverviewPop Up Shops
Pop Up shops have become increasingly popular in the recession, as businesses
are suering to operate throughout the duraon of a whole year.
According to The Guardian, every day twenty shops are closing on UK high
streets with one in six properes empty, compared to just one in twenty at the
start of the recession (The Guardian, 2012). Pop up shops are a way of ulising
these spaces, beneng both the retailer and landlords. This illustrates a
fantasc opportunity for the collegiate range, regarding The Big Sell O. In
order to understand the opportunity fully, research needs to be conducted to
give a market overview, through an external analysis.
Perceptual Map
Idenfying the collegiate ranges competors can help determine the cur-
rent posioning within the market and disnguish how the range is perceived
amongst consumers. The idened competors are Hollister and Jack Wills, as
these lifestyle casual wear brands are highly popular amongst the student
demographic, as well as JD Sports and Sports Direct, as the Yellow Team are
aiming the brand towards the concept of sports. The University of
Southamptons collegiate range will also be a direct competor to the potenal
demographic outside students, as it is perceived as a more credible and
established university.
Southampton Solents collegiate range is reasonably priced, and quite good
quality (due to the thick materials, the eecy interiors and the strong colour
quality), however, primary research suggested that a percentage of consumers
thought that the range was overpriced due to the fact that it was not stylish
enough, which then lowers the value of the products. This is why the range is
perceived as being higher in price.
(Pop Up Businesses for Dummies, Dan Thompson, 2012)
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PESTLE Analysis13
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MarketOverviewPESTLE Analysis
Conducng a PESTLE analysis enables the group to gain an in depth under-
standing of the external market, which will help to forecast any potenal
opportunies and threats. This will help to form the foundaons of the
markeng strategy.
Polical Student Fees Increasing in 2012The coalion government announced in 2010 that people who applied for university for the year 2012 would pay an increased amount in tuion fees. Prior to this
change, the maximum tuion fee was capped to 3,290 per year, which has now risen to 9,000 per academic year. This has had a huge impact on the higher
educaon industry, as a report by Andrew McGegan states that higher university fees will add 100 billion to public debt over the next twenty years (BBC, 2012).
UCAS stated that by January 2012, total applicaons compared to 2011 had decreased overall by 7.4%, UK applicants had decreased by 8.7%, whilst English applicants
decreased by 9.9%, and applicants from the EU decreased by 11.2% (UCAS, 2012). The Guardian also claimed that the rise in tuion fees led to 15,000 fewer applicants
from England, whereas students applying for Scosh, Welsh and Northern Ireland Universies barely dropped (*Scotland do not charge tuion fees, Wales pay for any
fees above 3465 for Welsh students aending UK instuons, and fees from Northern Ireland are capped at 3465). The Guardian suggests that the average annual
tuion fee in England was 8,385 for 2012, which will rise in 2013 to 8,507 (The Guardian, 2012).
The Big Sell O could be threatened by these gures, as the current rst year students of the university, who are the ideal target market due to their keenness andexcitement towards university life, are the rst year of students that have to pay the increased tuion fees. As a result, these students will be more cauous of the
money they are willing to spend, as well as wary about whether the prices set by the university are fair for the products being oered. In order to overcome this
threat, the Big Sell O needs to oer more than the clothing for the price being charged, with the use of incenves, free gis, and anything which will appeal to their
lifestyle of having low disposable income (food, clothing, social occasions, ect).
Rising Transport Fares
Many students are resorng to commung from home instead of living in their university cies, due to the high prices of rented and shared accommodaon and not
enough government funding. In 2010, more than 310,000 students chose to apply to local universies and commute from their home, which is 19% of undergraduates
compared to just 8% in 1984, as eight out of ten of these students claim they chose to live at home during their studies to save money (The Guardian, 2011). This
gure was predicted to increase dramacally with the rise in tuion fees, as aspiring students who sll wanted to go to university researched ways of cung other
debts.However, stay at home students will stay have a small amount of money to live on, as staying at home will mean a smaller student loan. With the rising commung
costs, this leaves the stay at home students with very lile disposable income. By January 2013, rail fares will have raised by 6.2%, roughly twice the rate of inaon
which stands at 3.2% (BBC, 2012). Rail fares, prior to this, was perceived to be extoronately high, which has driven public outrage at the rise in rail fees. Of course, for
stay at home students, these prices will have a severe dent in their nance. This will result in either having lile disposable income, or not even coming into university
unless there is important informaon to gain. This will aect the Big Sell O, as a threat, as these students will be dicult to target and unwilling to spend the money
on the collegiate range. They also do not have a lot of spare me for browsing the range, as their only purpose is to aend lectures and then catch their train on me
to avoid repaying the fare for missed trains. As tuion fees increased this year, there will be fewer students and more stay at home students, therefore signicantly
lowering the amount of students to target the collegiate range at. Therefore prots could be lower than last year, or buying habits have shied suggesng that fewer
students are willing to pay the cost of the clothing.
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Market Overview
Economic The Recession
The Recession has been aecng the UK economy for a number of years, signicantly impacng on the economic climate. According to the BBC, the UK entered a
double dip recession in April 2012, aer the economy shrank by 0.2% in the rst quarter in 2012 (BBC, 2012). This resulted in consumers becoming increasingly
cauous over their spending, as inaon has resulted in a smaller amount of disposable income. This also applies to the student demographic, who have a very
small amount of money to live o, with cost commitments which include rent, bills, internet and food payments. NUS esmated that for 2010/11 the average cost
for an undergraduate student living outside London was 15,523 (David Malcolm, NUS 2010). A study in 2009 by the NUS also suggested that one in four students
would receive less nancial support from their parents due to the recession, and that 80% of students were concerned or very concerned by the graduate
employment levels and their likely career prospects (NUS, 2009). However, even with limited nances, students are sll willing to purchase clothing during the
recession. A report conducted by Mintel Fashion: The Impact of the Recession 2010 examines how the recession has impacted consumers during the recession.
The report states that One in ve 16-24-year-olds spent more on clothes last year than they usually would twice the average. The recession appears to havebypassed young people who connued buying clothes to keep up with the latest trends and plan to connue doing so in 2010 (Mintel, 2010). Even though this
statement is representave of young people, it does not consider the impact the recession has had on students. The report suggests that the carefree atude
could stem from young people living at home with their parents, or full me college educaon, therefore the eects of the recession have not aected them
directly. Fashion is priorised to this age group none the less, as wearing the latest trends and styles in important and being perceived by peers to look aracve is
also ranked at high importance. Therefore it is important that the Big Sell O overcomes the recession by using the opportunity to market the collegiate range from
a fashionable, stylish and trendy perspecve, and to strategically encourage impulse purchasing either by oering incenves for a purchase or by making
purchasing easy, via a variety of distribuon channels. By creang favourable percepons of the range, either by eecve use of v isual merchandising and
adversing to create the illusion of the clothes being stylish, could prove to be benecial to the protability of the collegiate clothing range.
Rising Coon Prices
The collegiate range is a casual, lifestyle brand created by students of Southampton Solent University, which means that most of the clothing designs incorporate
coon to make it as praccal to its purpose as possible. Therefore, rising coon prices are going to aect the cost price negoated to the University from theirsupplier to accommodate these changes, which could inevitably threaten The Big Sell O. With a higher cost price comes a higher selling price, in order to ensure
a substanal amount of prot is being accumulated. However, the price also needs to accommodate their student market. According to the Daily Mail, coon prices
were set to rise from February 2011 by 10% in the months aer, therefore impacng on the fashion industry quite heavily (The Daily Mail, 2011). This has brought
on social change, as consumers choose fewer items of higher quality in order to full criteria for the product to last longer. Of course, the University simply needs
to thoroughly negoate with suppliers to gain the lowest cost price possibly, so that the pricing of the clothes could accommodate the student demographic. With
such lile disposable income, the main incenve to aract students into buying the collegiate products would be a low price, so ensuring the products are not too
expensive will help to boost sales and prots. The 2012 Collegiate Range is priced far lower than the 2011 Collegiate Range, which provides an excellent
opportunity to sell this year and boost the year-on-year prots.
PESTLE Connued: Economic 14
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Market Overview
Social Rise of Social Media
Social media has revoluonised the way in which people communicate, as the creaons of websites such as Tumblr, Facebook and Twier allow people
to interact using the internet. Social media is also a recent development in markeng, as many companies, brands and businesses are using social media
as the ulmate communicaon tool to update their consumers of the latest news, compeons, videos, images and much more. Facebook, which was
founded by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, was originally created to be used amongst university students to aid in making friends and updang
them on informaon, as well as inving them to events, and displaying pictures from social occasions. The original target market for the social networking
site was students, and with 900 million acve users, it is now aimed at a huge majority of demographics which makes the site an opmum environment for
companies to adverse. According to stascs, in 2012 50% of Facebook users were aged between 18-34 (24% 18-24, 26% 25-34), as well as an average of
40 million users per day vising the site for an average of 22 minutes (Fourth Source, 2012). Twier, also a popular social networking site, has 140 million
acve users, with an average of 340 million tweets per day in March 2012 (Twier Blog, 2012). In January 2012, two thirds of Twiers users were under
the age of 34, with 40% being aged 15-24 and 28% aged between 25-34, as well as being the most mobile, with 82% owning a smart phone and 22%owning a tablet (Wall Blog, 2012). One of the Big Sell Os main markeng objecves is to build awareness, as the range has the potenal to succeed
amongst students at Southampton Solent University. By connecng and communicang to potenal consumers by targeng them via these social
networking sites will hopefully benet the Big Sell O Collegiate Range, as well as building consumer awareness and informing consumers of what
incenves are being oered. The Big Sell O needs to therefore fully embrace this opportunity and create a buzz in order to aract the aenon of
potenal student consumers.
The Rise of Fashion Blogs
Fashion blogs are growing in popularity, mainly via the internet, where innovators display their latest ouit trends, discuss what brands appeal to them,and
what look they are trying to achieve. Most fashion bloggers are very creave, and can use a variety of key items to transform a simple ouit. Fashion
bloggers are not only in growth due to their popularity but are also increasingly inuenal in the fashion world. In 2011, DigitallyLUX examined the
inuence of fashion blogs. They were categorised into connents, before then being further categorised either into personal style, editorial, street style orDIY fashion. In the UK, there were 55 signicant fashion blogs, with 41% of these being Personal Style, 31% being Editorial, 25% being DIY and 3% Street
Style, with 91% of bloggers on Twier and only 47% on Facebook (DigitallyLux, Sept 2011). Fashion blogs tended to be more popular in North America and
Europe compared to anywhere else in the world, as North America claimed 304 blogs whilst Europe claimed 102. Bryanboy, a worldwide famous fashion
blogger, has been very inuenal for the brand Marc Jacobs and then got a bag designed by Marc Jacobs devoted to him, named the BB Bag. BryanBoy
is reported to earn $100,000 per year and has also aained the posion of a judge on Americas Next Top Model (The Daily Mail, 2012). This displays the
extent of how inuenal fashion bloggers can be, and if the Big Sell O ulises this opportunity, it is possible to use viral markeng via a fashion blog to sr
interest for the range from potenal consumers. However, in the small amount of me the groups have to develop a markeng strategy, it could prove
dicult to aract a large enough quanty of followers.
PESTLE Connued: SocialMarket Overview 15
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Market Overview
Technologic Online ShoppingOnline shopping has changed the way in which consumers shop by increasing the convenience and availability of any products consumers desire. Bricks and
mortar will always be signicant in the way people shop, however, the online channel allows consumers to browse any products of interest at any me of the
day, and with improvements to logiscs, many consumers can obtain a product within hours of ordering it. Online shopping has become a phenomenon within
the fashion industry, and many retailers and brands have access to an online channel. Many new businesses are even operang only through the online channel,
making them pure play retailers, such as ASOS and Boohoo. Even if consumers do not use online shopping to actually purchase their clothes, they will use it as a
research tool to help them seek good deals, as the recession has brought wariness to how much consumers spend on luxuries such as fashion. Mintel makes the
following key points:
1.However, over half (53%) of shoppers also use the internet to compare prices and hunt out the best bargains, as cost-conscious shoppers ghten their purse
strings in the current era of austerity. As consumers become more skilled at seeking out bargains, the importance of brand or retailer loyalty is waning and
shopping around will rise.
2.Speed and convenience prevail as the main advantages of shopping online. Eight in ten consumers say that shopping online helps in avoiding crowds in shops
and three quarters say that browsing online has reduced the amount of me they spend in stores.
3.Eight in ten (81%) consumers with access to the web have purchased items online in the last 12 months, an increase of 8 percentage points since 2007.
Furthermore, internet users are buying via the web more frequently as trust in ecommerce builds.
4.Four in ten internet users make fashion purchases online, an increase of 13 percentage points since 2009, making it the most popular product category to be
bought via the internet.
5.Popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twier are powerful plaorms for fashion retailers to connect with their fans, and some brands allow
shoppers to make purchases directly from these sites.
6.Women are much keener online fashion shoppers than men, with almost half of females purchasing from online clothing and footwear sites, compared to three
in ten men (28%). This mirrors the fact that females overall have a greater interest in fashion than men.
7.Mobile internet usage peaks among under-25s and ABs and, as this demographic is also the primary driver of sales within the clothing market, the powerfulpotenal of mobile commerce (m-commerce) within the fashion arena is clear. (*Mintel, 2012, Fashion Online)
With these stascs, it is vital to see that online shopping has not taken over the tradional methods of shopping with bricks and mortar stores, but has simply
enhanced the methods in which a consumer can shop. Fashion is the largest performing industry online, which suggests that it is vital that retailers and brands
take advantage of the opportunity of expanding into online distribuon. In relaon to the Big Sell O, creang an online environment could help boost prots, as
consumers can purchase from home, oering convenience and a possible compeve advantage from the other teams. However, the website needs to be easy
to nd and accessible, which could be dicult to achieve. 40% of 16-24 and 38% of 25-34 year olds buy clothes online, but buy more clothes in store, which
displays a clear market amongst students for an online channel, as well as 22% of these age groups buying clothes dominantly online compare to in-store
(Mintel, 2012). However if the Big Sell O embraces this opportunity and clearly states to consumers where they can browse and purchase the clothing, then it
could be a successful tacc to boost prots.
PESTLE Connued: Technological 16
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Market Overview
Technologic Smart Phones and AppsSmart Phones have been a revoluonary technology in recent years. The technology uses the basic concept of a standard mobile phone, with
advanced features such as access to the internet, gaming, music, photography, video, downloads of applicaons and much more. The Smart
Phone allows the consumer to access anything anywhere, meaning that the fashion industry needs to consider this technology and how it will
impact on consumer behaviour. Many fashion brands and retailers, such as Topshop to Burberry, have explored this concept by creang
applicaons that allow their consumers to be updated by the latest news, view new collecons and key pieces online, stream live catwalk
shows as well as buying via their Smart Phone. Burberry is known for being advanced within their markeng technology, by allowing
consumers to buy pieces from their collecon as it is literally being shown. Click and Collect services are also very popular, to oer the
consumer ulmate ease and convenience to purchase a product without the hassle of waing in queue to purchase. According to research
conducted by Mintel into Digital Trends, evidence showed that 56% of the UK populaon own their own personal Smart Phone, with Apple and
Google dominang this market. It seems that young people are the strongest market for Smart Phones, as 76% of 16-24 year olds own one, aswell as 78% of 25-34 year olds. From January 2012, 14% of consumers intended to upgrade their Smart Phones in the three months following,
displaying a keen interest to have the latest products (Mintel, 2012). From this informaon, it is apparent that younger people tend to show
higher levels of interest in their Smart Phones, which then opens the opportunity to ulise this technology within the markeng strategy for
the Big Sell O. This could either be through the development of an app, showcasing the clothes, or as an addional distribuon channel. QR
(Quick Response) Codes are also a developing technology to oer the consumer ulmate convenience, by allowing the consumer to scan the
code with their Smart Phone and then be directed straight to the page of interest. By implemenng this system via the Big Sell O
adversements will enable consumers to be linked to pages on Twier, Facebook, and possibly a website which allows consumers to purchase
online within seconds. Creang an app in the short space of me without the relevant resources is unrealisc, however it would be an
interesng concept to explore as such a high number of students are Smart Phone owners.
Legal Sales of Goods Act 1979
The Sales of Goods Act was introduced to the UK in order to give consumers rights whilst purchasing products, as well as to regulate any selling
acvity. The law states that the product descripon has to be accurate and in no way misleading, as well as in a suitable state for the consumer
and not faulty in any way, and if any problems occur the consumer has the right to return the product either in exchange or for a refund. The
Big Sell O needs to ensure that all products sold are in excellent condion, meet the criteria of the product descripon, as well as to allow any
consumers to gain a full refund if they are unhappy with the products. This way, the retailers will be taking full responsibility and the
consumers will be far more willing to buy the product with the reassurance that they can return it if any problems arose.
PESTLE Connued: Legal 17
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Market Overview
Environmental The Increase in Demand for Ethical Clothing
Ethical clothing is increasing in popularity, due to intelligence and media exposure to the negave issues
surrounding a fashion business. As a result, there has been a shi in social atude towards ethical clothing, as
consumers are more conscious and compassionate as to where their clothing is sourced from. According to a
Mintel Report, 49% of 15-24 and 60% of 25-34 year olds claimed that it was important that a company act
ethically, whilst 38% of 15-24 and 43% of 25-34 year olds claimed they would refuse to buy products from a
company they disapprove of. The same report also suggests that 18% of 15-24 and 19% 25-34 year olds would
only ever buy items from a company whose ethics they agree with, showing a signicant market to young people
for ethical clothing (Mintel, Ethical Clothing, 2009). Mintel also suggests that there is a link between educaon
levels as to how compassionate a consumer is towards ethical clothing, by implying that Mintels research
conrms that level of educaon is a key predictor of atudes and behaviour in this context as in many others.
Consumers with Higher Educaon show signicantly greater familiarity with ethical clothing, including being
more likely to appreciate the potenal link between low pricing and dubious producon pracces.
As more teens and adults choose Higher Educaon, then this will be another posive driver to appreciaon of
ethical issues and the potenal benets they can bring to the producer, the environment and themselves by
choosing Fairtrade or sustainable clothing for instance. (Mintel, 2009).It has also been stated that the organic coon and texle industry is growing, as sales for this industry in 2011
rose in the UK by 2%, as well as the organic clothing industry being valued at 100million (The Guardian, 2012).
All this informaon shows an opportunity for aiming ethical clothing for students. Ensuring the supplier acts
ethically is important whilst in the process of creang the collegiate range, as any students that are concerned
with ethical pracces in the process will only purchase the clothing if it has been made well and people involved
in creang the products have been treated as ethically as possible. It is also the Universitys responsibility to
ensure that the process of obtaining the clothing is as friendly to the environment as possible.
PESTLE Connued: Environmental 18
M k O i SWOT A l i f T Y llSWOT A l i f T Y ll 9
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Market Overview SWOT Analysis for Team YellowStrengths
The Collegiate Range for 2012 has much lower
price points than the 2011 range, which works well as
low prices are a desirable trait within a lifestyle brand
aimed for students. Prices this year include 12 for
shorts, 21 for joggers, 25 for a hoodie and 9 for at-shirt.
The Collegiate Range is high quality and oers
comfort, praccality and warmth. As idened in the
PESTEL analysis, with the result of a recession
consumers are willing to spend more money on an
item which is long lasng and high quality. Primary
research shows that 66.67% priorise quality and
63.33% seek comfort from a lifestyle brand. Therefore
markeng the range on the quality of the products
should work to the teams advantage.
The design has been created by Southampton
Solent University Students, which makes it a design by
students for students. Therefore, the colours, shapes,
and detailing has been chosen to accommodate the
student market.
Hoodies and Joggers, the most expensive itemsof the range, are the most popular items according to
primary research, with 53% of parcipants interested
in hoodies and 33% interested in the joggers. Only 20%
were not interested in any of the items at all.
The University Students Union website sells the
collegiate range online, therefore opening this
distribuon channel and making it easier for
consumers to buy.
Weaknesses
The Collegiate Range is only available in two
colours for the 2012 collecon, meaning that it is quite
limited for choice. Adding more colours could increase
choice and therefore oer more to consumers
The range is not perceived as stylish, which
acts as a weakness due to this being a desired trait
amongst the target market of students. Primary
research suggested that 86.67% of students looked
for style in a lifestyle brand, whilst 26.67% looked for
trendiness, which shows that fashion has a strong
signicance. Market research suggested that it was
very basic, uninspiring, uncool, limited choice,
overpriced and not very stylish. This suggests that
students would be looking for more trend oriented
clothing with more choice, which could lead to
diculty trying to sell the products.
The 2011 Collegiate Range oers more choice,
however, the same high prices as last year apply. A
varsity jacket is priced at 45, which is simply not
aordable for the student target market. If it were
possible, placing these items in a sale of discounted
prices could boost sales for old stock.
The new prices of the range are accurate to the
target market however; this means that the clothing in
the range does not have a high prot margin per item.
In order to ensure that the range is as protable as
possible, the team will need to sell a high quanty.
SWOT Analysis for Team Yellow 19
M k O i SWOT A l i f T Y ll
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Market Overview SWOT Analysis for Team YellowOpportunies
Social Media provides a convenient and easy method to
target students by creang a Facebook and Twier page, as
well as the possibility of a blog and phone app. As one of the
groups aims is to build brand awareness for the collegiate
range within Southampton Solent University students,engaging with social media will help with both word of mouth
markeng through networking with peers and to build
knowledge of the range and what the yellow team is oering.
To create an online retail distribuon channel would be a
great opportunity to oer consumers the convenience of
buying the range anyme.
The group has an opportunity to aim the project from a
charity perspecve, as a method of meeng a markeng
objecve to create favourable consumer percepons could be
collecng money for a worthy cause.
Primary research showed that even though 87% of
students had not purchased any items from the range,
however, 60% of students would be interested in buying from
the collegiate range and 47% being more likely to do so with
oers and incenves, oering the team a perfect opportunity
to gather ideas for incenves and to obtain them.
The locaons of the Universitys main recepon, JM and
HC buildings will provide an opmum opportunity to
communicate and sell directly to the student target market.
Ulising these spaces in order to draw consumers in will need
to be considered taccally in order to overcome the threat of
compeon from the other teams.
Threats
The main threat to the Yellow Team is the direct
compeon of other teams and their markeng strategies, as
they could either aract more sales based on their locaon or
claim an increased market share due to more appealing
markeng strategies. Ensuring Team Yellow appeals to their
target market with incenves appropriate and use tacle
visual merchandising and adversing could be used to draw
the consumer in.
Compeon through high street established lifestyle
brands, such as Jack Wills and Hollister pose a threat to the
Collegiate Range. These brands are aspiraonal to students,
and oer a wide choice of colours. The items are made to
high quality, which will essenally mean consumers will be farmore willing to spend their money on an established credible
brand as opposed to the collegiate range.
Increasing student fees and rising commung costs will
result in the target student consumer having less disposable
income, which means buying the range could prove to be
challenging. This factor will threaten the potenal success of
the Big Sell O.
The Marlands Shopping Centre as a locaon for the BigSell O is a threat, purely because the Marlands does not
aract a large student demographic, and due to the Re:So
shop being upstairs, and quite hidden, it will be a challenge
to draw consumers into the shop. The group could overcome
this by adversing thoroughly, as well talking to consumers
and using suggeson as a tacc to draw consumers into the
shop.
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C O iGeographic The geographic segment of the target market is based
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Consumer OverviewAer examining the external market, the team now can idenfy their consumer and
to overcome threats and embrace opportunies in the market.
Dening the opmum consumer is signicant to any form of markeng strategy, as
targeng a consumer that has interest or aspires to a product will maximise the
potenal of the range selling, therefore gaining the maximum amount of prot
possible.
Target Market
The Yellow Team made a group decision to target students of Southampton Solent
University, with emphasis on rst year and third years. This is rstly due to the
collegiate range being specic to Southampton Solent University which implies that
the clothing would be aspiraonal to students who aend the university, as it
appeals to their psychological need for a sense of belonging to the student
community. The group agreed to dominantly aim the products towards rst year
students, due to their heightened sense of enthusiasm and excitement at theprospect of student life and their desire to parcipate within the student community.
Third years also have high potenal for the range, due to their university experience
being close to ending, and the idea of the product will serve senmental value as a
souvenir of their experience and memories of studying at the university.
In order to create a successful and eecve markeng strategy, the group needs to
thoroughly dene their target market. This will assist in delivering to consumers what
they would need and want from the collegiate range, which will eecvely draw a
higher market share and lead to higher sales and prots as a result.
To ensure the group successfully targets this market, the group will need to devise a
markeng strategy which will use a series of markeng acons to full the aims and
objecves of the project. This will mean ensuring that the event is publicised to
generate interest and awareness, by communicang to the targeted market
appropriately through selected mediums (such as social media, around the university,
networking) as well as aracng them and generang a buzz in relaon to the
collegiate range (by oering incenves which would be relevant to students, such as
food vouchers and oers, vouchers, and free gis with purchases).
Geographic The geographic segment of the target market is based
in central Southampton, as this is where the students
of Southampton Solent University are situated,
dominantly in the polygon (for second and third
years) or halls located near St Marys (for the rst
years).
Psychographic The psychographic of the target consumers tend to
revolve around a mixture of classes, but dominantly
the group is aiming for middle class students thathave nancial help from their parents, suggesng
they will have more disposable income and are
therefore more willing to purchase. The target
market will tend to lead excing lives, by geng
involved in the student lifestyle and by being a part of
their community. The target market focuses their me
on compleng university assignments and socialising
within their peer group, mainly though acvies and
sports. The consumer is ambious, driven, impulsive
and excing.
Demographic The dominant age group of the student demographic
according to market research was 18-23.
The collegiate range is designed for both men and
women. The demographic currently share
accommodaon with friends made through their
university experience, they either are unemployed or
have a casual part me job, and their occupaon is
being a full me student. There is a mixture of
ethnicies, however they are dominantly Brish.
Behavioural The target consumer, which is a student that aends
Southampton Solent University, research thoroughly
into purchases they want, however this group is easily
persuaded to impulse purchase. This group is highly
loyal to the brands they consume, especially fashion
brands. They are aspiraonal buyers. They use fashion
as a method of creang an identy, one which is
idealisc and desirable from their peers.
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C O i Pen Portrait 22
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Consumer Overview Pen PortraitHannah
Hannah is 21 years old and is in her third year at Southampton
Solent University, studying markeng. She is originally from Cardi,
and has had a middle class upbringing in a nuclear family.
She has a wide range of friends that she has met through university
networks, as Hannah oen socialises for fun. Her friends are
dominantly female, with occasional male admirers of her. Hannah
has a bubbly, youthful, warm, friendly personality, with a good wit
which has made her popular amongst her peers.
Hannah is ambious and wants to be successful in life. She works
hard and achieves good grades at university. Educaon is an
important value to her, as all her family have been to university.
Hannah lives in a student housing in the Polygon area of
Southampton.
Hannah tends to wear fashionable sports and casual wear, as she
values comfort in her clothing. Her favourite brands are Jack Wills
and Hollister. When she goes shopping, she tend to impulse buy
products that she wants, as she is fashion and image conscious and
likes to update her style. She is an innovator, which is oen admired
by friends.
Hannahs parents have their own successful business, meaning they
can support Hannahs studies and increase her disposable income,
which enables her to aord luxuries such fashion. Hannah aends
the gym to maintain her tness level, as she is concerned about her
health.
Hannah has considered buying from the collegiate range as a
souvenir of her me at the university, making her an ideal target
market for the collegiate range.
Dan
Dan is 19 years old and is in his rst year at Southampton Solent
University, studying Engineering. He is originally from Surrey,
just outside of London, so has had an urban city upbringing.
Dan is excited at being away from home for the rst me, and
is thoroughly enjoying the social scene that Southampton has
to oer to a fresher. He has made many friends but dominantly
socialises with his at mates, living at Lucia Foster Welch halls.
He has a wide mix of male and female peers, who are aracted
to him for his bright, lively, enthusiasc personality.
Dan is the rst member of his family to aend university, but
believes educaon is important to gain a good career in the
compeve job market. He wants to expand his skills and
prepare himself for working. His family cannot aord to give
him nancial help, meaning he relies on his loan and part me
job in a bar for disposable income.
Dan tends to socialise in bars, clubs and pubs, but during the
day he usually plays football with his male friends. To
accommodate his on the go lifestyle, he seeks comfort,
praccality and durability in his clothing. He tends to shop in avariety of shops and brands, such as Topman, JD Sports and
Hollister. He likes the sense of status trendy brands give to him,
as how he appears to his friends is important to him.
Dan is keen and enthusiasc about his studies and the
Southampton Solent University network, and wants to buy a
collegiate hoodie as a sign of status and pride of his current
situaon.
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C O iAcorn Consumer Proling: 23
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Consumer OverviewAcorn Consumer Proling:
Collegiate Range MarketCACI, a company that oers services based on markeng soluons, has created a
thorough method of customer proling, ACORN. The company explain ACORN
as a geodemographic segmentaon of the UKs populaon which segments small
neighbourhoods, postcodes, or consumer households into 5 categories, 17 groups
and 56 types (CACI, 2012).
Using this system can help to indenfy the target consumers. Applying it to the
project, the target market comes under the category Urban Prosperity, in the
group Aspiring Singles with type 23, Student Terraces.
ConsumerProle/Behaviour
UrbanProsperity/AspiringSinglesfor
StudentTerraces,Type23
Highpopulaononyoungerpeople,students
accountfor38%ofthepopulaonlivingintheseareas
duringtermme Peopleoenparcipateinexerciseandsport,
withfootballandrugbyamongthepopularacvies.
Longhaulholidaysarepopularbutoendoneona
budget,includingbackpacking.Leisureacvies
includevisingthecinemaandaninterestinfashion
andclothes Therecessionhadlileimpactontheirspendinganditmayevenhaveincreasedslightly.
Althoughhousing,energyandcommunicaonsform
arelavelylargepartoftheiroutgoings,clothingand
leisureareasignicantpartoftheirspending.Theyare
morelikelytobuyinshopsoronlinethanmailorder.
Theyaremorelikelytouseecofriendlyproducts Thesearepeopleveryopentotheusedofnew
technology.Theyarecondentusingtheinternetfor
homenance,buyingbooks,clothes,DVDsandCDs,
andforresearchingandbookingtravelonline
UniversitytowssuchasOxfordandCambridge
havehighconcentraonsofthistype,asdootherlarge
populaoncentressuchasLeeds,Nongham,Cardi
andSouthampton.
*(AllInformaontakenfromCACI,2012)
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Maslows Hierarchy of Needs in Relaon to the Collegiate Range
Maslow (1943) created the hierarchy of needs as a means of displaying how humans live
and what they need during their lifeme. Using this theory will help the yellow team
posion their strategy by using psychology as a means of appealing to the target market.
Consumer Overview
Warmth and Clothing: The funconal
product of the collegiate range is
based on warmth.
The collegiate range provides protecon
and shelter from harsh weather condions.
Security from the cold.
The collegiate range fulls this need
through the belongingness of a student
community and network.
The range fulls esteem needs through
recognion, status and acceptance of a
student lifestyle.
The collegiate range appeals to the ideasof being highly educated and intelligent,
which is symbolic of what a university
represents.
Self actualisaon refers to the idea of
living to an individuals full potenal. The
idea of being a student has connotaons
of status, ambion, intelligence and
determinaon, which is suggested
through the consumpon of the
collegiate range.
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Consumer OverviewCustomer Relaonship Management Matrix in Relaon to
The Collegiate Range
The customer relaonship management matrix will help disnguish brand
loyalty through target consumer to further prole the consumer.
Reinartz and Kumar (2002) disnguished four dierent categories of consumer
loyalty and relaonships to brands, true friends, barnacles, strangers and
bueries. By dening the true friends, the group can target the consumer
correctly and eciently for the markeng strategy.
Bueries
The bueries are highly protable, despite their short term loyalty. The
Big Sell O is only four days which means bueries will be one of the
most signicant consumers. This group will consist of students with an
above average personal disposable income, either from a part me job or
from generous parents. They are very easily persuaded to make impulse
purchases and spend a higher amount of money, as these consumers are
more likely to impulse purchase with the right persuasion.
True Friends
This consumer is high in terms or prot and loyalty, however, this
consumer will be dicult to target. The true friends of the collegiate
range will be the wealthier students who are keen to purchase from the
range. This will most likely be rst year students, who are more
enthusiasc and keen to buy from the range, who are in a more secure
nancial state from saving in preparaon for university. This group will be
the key target for the project.
Strangers
These consumers are people who do not connect with the range at all, so
there is lile point in targeng them. These consumers consist of anyone
outside the student demographic, as consumers outside this bracket are
neither loyal to a collegiate range nor interested in the products oered.
These consumers will be dicult to encourage despite incenves.
Barnacles
Barnacles are key consumers to the range, as they are long term
consumers, however are low in terms of protability. This will represent
the majority of the target market, as students are not highly protable
but loyal to their university network. There is potenal for this group, as
they can be easily persuaded to purchase due to their high loyalty. These
are likely to be third year consumers.
HighProftability
LowP
roftability
High LoyaltyLow Loyalty
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Consumer OverviewDiusions of Innovaon
Rogerss 1962 model, Diusions of Innovaon, helps determine and prole dierent paerns of consumers in terms of how and when they use the product and
how this has a social impact on how trends grow and adapt to the market.
In the fashion industry, this theory is highly relevant in terms of trends and fads, as the early consumers (innovators) begin to use a product, it then begins to get
used more widespread across other types of consumer.
In terms of the collegiate range, the yellow team is aiming to target innovators and early adopters. This may only be a low percentage, however, the quicker the
innovators begin to wear the clothing, the quicker the sales will begin increasing from consumers following the innovators. If a consumer who is perceived as quite
trendy and desirable by their peers begins to wear and model the collegiate clothing, consumers (such as early adopters and early majority) will therefore aspire t
be like their innovator, which will result in a desire for the clothing.
Jackson and Shaw (2009) suggest that In many cases innovators will move away from, adapt or evolve a style to suit themselves, which further indicates the
power and inuence innovators own over their fellow consumers, hence why the team believes this group is the most signicant to target.
Stascs from The Guardians University Guide for 2013 claim that over 19,000 students aend Southampton Solent University, meaning that 475 (2.5%) of these
students are innovators, demonstrang a potenal large market share.
POTENTIAL MARKET SHARE
(Jackson and Shaw., 2009)
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P iti i St t
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Positioning StrategyThe collegiate range for Southampton Solent University has been designed by students, with the
idea of them being for students. Therefore they have been designed to be comfortable, high
quality, and aordable for this target market.
The range comes in sizes small, medium and large for males and females. The colours of the 2012
range consist of a deep purple and a turquoise green.
From conducng primary research, the range was generally not parcularly credible, which made
students scepcal as to whether the range held value for money. Most students agreed the price
was fair, however, many students desired the brand to be more fashion focused and stylish. The
range did hold potenal, however, as 60% of parcipants claimed they would purchase the range,
as well as 47% of them saying incenves with a purchase would encourage them further to buy.
The products that students were most interested in purchasing were hoodies and joggers, due to
their high quality, as these products are perceived as higher value for money than a basic t-shirt or
shorts. It is clear to see from the market research that students wanted more versality and choicefrom the collegiate range, as the range was only dominantly available in two colours with very basic
designs.
By analysing the research, the current posioning of the range has been established, and from this
the yellow team can dene aims and objecves to create a markeng strategy. The strategy will be
relaonship based with dominang personal selling techniques implemented to push consumers to
buy.
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P iti i St tThe Markeng Mix (The Four Ps)
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Positioning StrategyThe Markeng Mix (The Four P s)
The markeng mix will help the group determine where the range is
currently posioned based on price, place, promoon and product, as
well as helping to dene how the group wants to posion the range
in preparaon for The Big Sell O.
Product Price
The products from the 2012 range consist of zip up hoodies, t-shirts, shorts
and joggers all available in the colours green and purple with the Southampton
Solent University logo. T-Shirts are available in cream with green and purple
logos.
The products from the 2011 range included varsity jackets, pull over
hoodies, t-shirts and joggers. The range was available in grey, navy blue and red.
The products are high quality, warm and comfortable. Primary Research
suggests that 67% of consumers looked for quality and 63% sought comfort
within a lifestyle clothing brand, which posively reinforces the products onsale.
Consumer primary research shows that out of the parcipants asked
What items appeal to you?, 53% of consumers were interested in the hoodies,
33% interested in the joggers, 23% were interested in t-shirts and 3% displayed
interest in the shorts.
This primary research implies that the best selling items would be the
joggers and hoodies, and with a higher price point, that prot will be higher as a
result.
The physical product comes in purple and green, in the form of joggers,
hoodies, shorts and t-shirts in sizes for women S-L and male S-XL.
The funconal product is high quality, warm, comfortable, praccal and
durable for a student lifestyle.
The psychological product involves a sense of community and
belongingness to the university as well as connotaons of status, intelligence,
youth, ambion and fun.
The products are a mix of basic and fad (as the product is applicable to
being a student of three years), and are currently in growth on a product
life-cycle.
The 2012 Range was priced as followed:
Joggers are 21
Shorts are 12
T-Shirts are 9
Hoodies are 25
The 2011 Range was priced as followed:
Joggers were 29.99
T-Shirts were 10.99
Varsity Jackets were 44.99Hoodies were 34.99
The products are lower in price this year compared to last. The reason
for this is to aract the target market to a greater extent, as the prices last
year were far higher than a student was willing to pay for a brand that is
not highly established.
Entry Price: 9
Mid Price: 23.62
Exit Price: 44.99
The range uses penetraon pricing, meaning the products are high
quality with a low price. Primary research, combined with secondary
research from Mintel, displays a need for quality in the clothing industry,
which means the product has lled in the criteria, however, the range is
not currently well established or credible, which is why the price is lower to
build a consumer base.
The 2012 prot margins are much lower due to the lower price.
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P iti i St teg 29
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Positioning Strategy
Place Promoon
There are four locaons in which the products are being sold, including
the main recepon area, the JM building, the HC building and The Marlands
Shopping Centre in Re:So.
Yellow Team were assigned the following locaons:
Monday 22nd October: Re:So (Marlands)
Tuesday 23rd October: Main Recepon
Wednesday 24th October: HC Building
Thursday 25th October: JM Building
The Yellow Team has not got an online retail distribuon channel, so
lacks this facility and opportunity. However, if the team did ulise this
opportunity it would be dicult to foresee how useful a resource this would
be, as many students will not have any direcon or awareness to the
website.
Due to lack of skills and me, the team have not managed to expand
into the opportunity of creang an applicaon for the clothing. However, QR
codes have been placed onto posters which will direct students to the
Twier and Facebook pages.
The predicted locaon in which the group will gain the most prot is
going to be the Main Recepon as this area has the highest fooall of
students. The place predicted for the worst prots is the Re:So shop in the
Marlands due to lile brand awareness, and small numbers of student
fooall. For this locaon, the group will need to be pushing harder for sales
and this area will