Global Branding - House of Fraser

This assignment focuses on the need to build brand strategies for House of Fraser, a UK based department store. It analyzes the brand's equity, position, and sources, and identifies a foreign market for expansion. It also compares and contrasts the marketing environments of the UK and India, and suggests strategies to re-position the brand in India. Marketing programs supporting the brand strategy are also discussed.

Global branding- IB846K 1
Global Branding
House of Fraser
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Global branding- IB846K 2
Contents
Global Branding....................................................................................................................................1
House of Fraser.....................................................................................................................................1
Contents.................................................................................................................................................2
Overview...............................................................................................................................................3
Brand Analysis, equity, position and sources........................................................................................3
Brand Equity......................................................................................................................................4
Brand position and sources of brand equity.......................................................................................4
Sources of brand equity.....................................................................................................................4
Identification of a foreign market for House of Fraser..........................................................................5
Comparison and contrast in the marketing environment........................................................................5
Comparison.......................................................................................................................................5
Contrast.............................................................................................................................................6
Strategies to re-position the brand in India............................................................................................7
Marketing programmes supporting brand strategy................................................................................8
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................11

Global branding- IB846K 3
Overview
The following assignment identifies UK’s low sales growth company, House of Fraser. It is a
UK based departmental store offering a wide range of products, but recently undergoing
considerable low sales. This assignment focusses on the need to built brand strategies to
support company’s sales and stratifies ways to re-position the brand in a new market, which
has also been identified.
Brand Analysis, equity, position and sources
House of Fraser is a UK based department store that offers a wide range of products starting
from clothing, accessories, fashion boots, cosmetics, home products, furnishing, electricals,
and other products. It was formerly established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849. The founders
Arthur and Fraser initially named it as Fraser and Sons (Azhar, 2013).
It possesses many in-house brands like BIBA and LINEA. It has approximately 55 stores
spread across United Kingdom. In this particular assignment, we will be performing the
brand analysis of the company in its external and internal environments, thereby presenting
strategies which will explain how the company can be performed better in the years to come.
The information required for the analysis can be obtained from different sources like journals,
social websites and textbooks.
The PESTEL analysis of House of Fraser clearly reveals the performance of the company in
the market. UK is a promising market and a strong part of the European Union. Competitors
can enter the market without any terms, conditions or limitations. As a result, the government
of UK is planning to decrease the corporation tax from 30% to 28% that would help the
company to increase their profits in the coming years. Economically, the UK company is
continuously undergoing recession and there is a rapid change in the rates of interest. There is
a tough competition between companies of the same sector which forces the retailers to
deliberately put incentives to the customers (Farjam and Hongyi, 2015).
At the Socio-cultural level, there are lot of opportunities prevailing in the market which is
giving materialistic goals to the company. The company is in urgent need of presenting
attractive and fashion clothes for the customers. At the Technological front, it is a common
phenomenon of customers doing internet shopping at a massive level which gradually
decrease the offline sales of the product. The only way to exist in the market is to launch new
ways to please their customers (Florek and Kavaratzis, 2014).

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They are planning to inaugurate new stores in the same building, so that the customer avails
different products in one go. For the protection of consumer rights, the National legislation
has become rigid about its non-compromising terms in context to health and safety of the
customers. The company therefore has to incline its goals towards using more of renewable
resources, which would qualify the guidelines of the legislation (Insch and Bowden, 2016).
As far sale of the products for the company is concerned, they believe to formulate their
business model to get rid of the discounts offered on the products. The stores are coming up
with strategies that will revise the rates of the products to ensure that the sales are right – in
the very first time (Johns and English, 2016).
Brand Equity
The brand value of House of Fraser is in big trouble. In the news last week, the company
planned to close 31 out of its 59 shops, which encloses their main store- Oxford Street store,
which was a rescue plan. If this plan goes active, it would lead to a loss of approx. 6000 jobs
in UK. And this would lead to a considerable loss for the retail industry. House of Fraser
impression score has considerably fallen in 2018 by four points from 23 to 19. They are on
the verge of renovating their trade and product strategy according to which, the store will
now incorporate the most exclusive brands only. Trend-spotting will be a major investment
by the company (Jung et al., 2014).
Brand position and sources of brand equity
The position of the brand is considerably low. The analysts state that the assets of the
company were scooped by 90 m pounds. The reason behind such a downfall is the inefficient
functioning of the marketing department. Its also been surveyed that the company didn’t get
any CEO for atleast an year, and the consistent absence of the leader hampers the growth of
the brand (Lieven et al., 2014).
Sources of brand equity
Various sources of brand equity can be used to improve the sales.
1. Awareness and Recognition of the brand
2. Use of Ethnographic and Observational skills
3. Use of projective techniques

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Identification of a foreign market for House of Fraser
The House of Fraser aims to transform exponentially from a normal departmental store to
international brand platform by launching Chinese brands in the UK market. The company
tends to be more successful if it experiments its strategies in the INDIAN MARKET. The
market in India is speedily going online for an enormous variety of products. Over 70% of
the market for majority all companies existing in India, implement strategies to sell their
products online (Setiani, Antoni and Sujoko, 2018).
Frequent use of shopping apps is at a higher level. The introducing of the House of Fraser
products will prove to be a golden opportunity for enhancing their business potential. Success
stories of Amazon and Jabong are wonderful examples of promoting the products at online
level. India can turn to be the fastest country to expand its sales for House of Fraser. There
are 3 reasons for INDIA being the best market for the House of Fraser: -
1. Commitment- Indian market is highly committed which does not introduce the
company for a year or two, but a long term of 5 years to seven years from now. The
company can therefore patiently establish itself without a risk of being in losses (신신신,
2014).
2. Localisation and Adaptation- People in the Indian market easily adapt with the new
products. If the business model is strong, the company can easily make its presence.
Since India is an e-commerce industry, mostly people use debit and credit cards in
order to go cashless. Since House of Fraser is an online brand, it would gain
excellence by implementing strategies in India (신신신, 신신신 and 신신신, 2016).
3. Trusting the Country Manager- The organizational structure of the company must
be quite simple and organized. The country manager who is recruited by the company
should be sincere and trustworthy and efficient enough to promote the brand in India.
Since India has a great infrastructure and volatile policies, it will prove to be a boon
for House of Fraser.
Comparison and contrast in the marketing environment
Comparison
S.no Category UK India
1 Cultural Big consumer
market, with a
Gigantic consumer
market, and golden

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multicultural
population.
opportunity for
multinational
companies and other
industries.
2 Legal
3 Political Popular place for
FDI
Stable political
environment
4 Economical By GDP, 5th largest
economy in the
world.
One of the top
countries for many
industries and
companies
5 Technological Provides major
contribution to the
UK economy. Large
amount of
investment takes
place.
3rd Most
technologically
advanced country,
offers enormous
opportunities for
entrepreneurs
Contrast
S.no Category India UK
1 Cultural Hierarchical
business structure
Autonomic
involvement
2 Legal Business deals are
done from a point of
view that they will
last for a longer
period of time.
Hate delays
3 Political Politically unstable,
mostly occupied by
corruption
Politically stable
4 Economical Tends to attract new
business, pleasurable
and attractive
Economic culture is
mostly blunt and
accusatory

Global branding- IB846K 7
environment.
5 Technological Modern technology
used but still rely on
the traditional
methods of business
Better use of
technological
advancements
Strategies to re-position the brand in India
Brand re-positioning occurs when the company has decided to change to market place for the
company. This incorporates the marketing mix, price and promotion of the product.
Generally, repositioning is done to satisfy the customer’s needs and tastes. House of Fraser is
facing a considerable downfall in UK and its high time that the company should look for
alternatives to re-position the brand. The following strategies can be implemented for the
repositioning of the brand for House of Fraser. The company is reshaping its business, hence
it’s a transformation phase for the brand (Abimbola, 2010).
1. Bundling the products together – The best way to sell the products in Indian market
is to think categorically. When a very expensive item is joined with a low-price
product, the combo offer becomes moderately reasonable, and the customer feels easy
to purchase it. The reason being they forget that buying multiple items makes a
perception that they are paying less. This sometimes leads to a decrease in sales
growth. The alternative can be that the expensive products are sold at the same price
whereas, the less priced product can be given for free. This will attract more
customers (DÍAZ and JEREZ, 2013).
2. Product re-positioning- The change in the image of the product or a revision of the
product in terms of appearance or their cover pages can make them more acceptable
to the target market. This is because the requirements of the customer might have
changed and therefore the product needs to be changed to make it more effective
(Fazel, 2015).
3. Online selling strategy- The target market in India for House of Fraser is mostly
online. More than 70% of the people buy online starting from clothing, to groceries,
furniture and other accessories. The company can launch a shopping app with the
name of the brand, and come up with attractive and introductive offers so as to
capture the market. Majority of the people, buy on credit cards, so it gives them a

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higher margin to sell their products with good offers via purchasing on credit cards.
This is the most important target segment which the company needs to focus upon.
The current market situation of India is such that it has the ability to accommodate
any newcomer in its market and providing them the potential to prosper (Kambara,
2010).
4. Market re-positioning- In this strategy, the product shall remain unchanged, but it
will get a new market segment to explore, which we are trying to do for House of
Fraser. As it is facing considerable losses, Indian market will serve best as it is
economically strong to occupy and accommodate. In all terms, the pricing, quality of
the products shall also be re-positioned, as the products will be manufactured as per
Indian tastes. This will also help raise the profitability for the brand (Neuvonen,
2016).
Apart from implementing strategies in the new market, the company must focus on the
brands which are the most popular among the customers, and how to make them more please
able. The quality, pricing, and usage of the product according to the occasions can be clearly
demonstrated so as to attract the customers.
Marketing programmes supporting brand strategy
Brand re-positioning is often done to increase the competition for the brand in the market
which gradually increases the sales for the brand and pulling enormous market share for the
fellow competitors. Various marketing programmes can be conducted to support the brand
strategies. A marketing program is a set of marketing activities that helps the brand in
achieving its objectives. The marketing goals have a direct proportion with the strengths that
prepare the brand for any situation. Foe having effective customer relationships, it requires a
protocol to put forth all marketing tools that can help the brand achieve its desired goal.
Marketing, which is a mixture of branding, advertising, logo designs, packaging and
distribution etc possibly creates variety of choices to become more systematic towards a goal.
Various marketing activities can be conducted which facilitate thereby increasing the
awareness for the brand and presenting a clear picture of the brand in the eyes of the
consumer. The pricing of the product needs to kept economically affordable so that it binds
the customer in terms of money as well as quality (Okonkwo, 2009).
Advertisements on TV and social media can be of great help. Also, launch of the app for
House of Fraser ca prove to be turning point for the brand. Since it is a technological world,

Global branding- IB846K 9
the customers have access to almost all possibilities on internet, right from comparison of
products to designing their own products, the customer knows it all. The company must not
compromise with the quality of the product and must build a strong supply chain. The
following points to bear in mind while repositioning House of Fraser in India.
1. Introducing the brand ONLINE in India.
2. Launching the brand with attractive offers to establish itself in the market.
3. Re-positioning of the image of the product as per Indian taste [if required]
4. Promoting the brands which are popular in India by customizing the brand.
5. Stores can also be opened to check which business goes rapidly, online or offline
6. Collaboration with an emerging brand of the same field can be done to enhance
visibility in the market.
7. Launching awareness campaigns and programmes
8. India has the potential to overtake the UK market begging world’s fifth largest
economy, so it’s a trusted market with enormous potential, therefore brand can be
experimented (Srivastava, 2009).
Recommendations
House of Fraser excels in its varied disciplines. In the recent years, it is considerably facing
low sales growth. The following recommendations are laid forth when the company plans to
reposition its brand.
 Identify the fellow competitors in India.
 Need to understand how the competitors are positioning their brand.
 Comparison of positioning with other competitors to predict how unique your
positioning is.
 Identification of the target customers
 The customers must have a reason to believe that House of Fraser aims to deliver
utmost quality of products, and that it would sustain for longer.
 Company needs to make efforts to make branding unique and perfect. Also, they need
to predict what key points make them unique.

Global branding- IB846K 10
References
Abimbola, T. (2010). Brand strategy as a paradigm for marketing competitiveness. Journal of
Brand Management, 18(3), pp.177-179.
Azhar, O. (2013). Culture, Advertising & Brand Equity: The Influence of Culture on
Advertising and its Effect on Brand Equity. SSRN Electronic Journal.
Fazel, H. (2015). Brand Credibility to Mitigate Brand Boycott Preventive Strategy of Brand
Globalness and Brand Endorsement: Theoretical Perspective. Journal of Economics,
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Farjam, S. and Hongyi, X. (2015). Reviewing the Concept of Brand Equity and Evaluating
Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) Models. The International Journal of Management
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Florek, M. and Kavaratzis, M. (2014). From brand equity to place brand equity and from
there to the place brand. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 10(2), pp.103-107.
Insch, A. and Bowden, B. (2016). Possibilities and limits of brand repositioning for a second-
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Effect of Brand Gender on Brand Equity. Psychology & Marketing, 31(5), pp.371-385.

Global branding- IB846K 11
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