Stylerunner's Strategic Business Development

The assignment discusses the strategic business development of Stylerunner, an Australian fashion startup operating globally through digital means. The company targets fashion-conscious customers who prefer luxurious shopping methods and are willing to pay for high-quality products from recognizable brands. To achieve this, Stylerunner has adopted a moderate pricing strategy, effective promotion through social media, and focuses on quality products. Additionally, the company leverages advanced technological developments to sustain its competitive position. Overall, the study highlights the importance of strategic marketing in today's digital era.

Running head: MARKETING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Marketing and Entrepreneurship
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Background......................................................................................................................................2
Product/Service Specification..........................................................................................................3
Target Market..................................................................................................................................4
Situational Analysis.........................................................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis...............................................................................................................................5
Porter’s Five Forces:........................................................................................................................8
Marketing Strategy (4P’s of Marketing)........................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Business and entrepreneurship is the distant category of business. Each of the larger
organisations was once the startup business. These businesses grew eventually by applying the
effective marketing strategies. The application of the suitable marketing strategies is necessary
for every company to sustain in a competitive scenario. It is noticed that majority of the startup
companies have been facing challenges due to the enormous competition with the giant
organisations (West, Ford and Ibrahim 2015). The limited startup budget is quite challenging to
these companies to survive in this competitive scenario. The study would describe the relevant
marketing strategies that can contribute more efficiency to the business functionalities of
Stylerunner, a startup fashion company in Australia. As a result, the business would facilitate the
profitable revenue for the future prospects. Furthermore, the study would also present the
situation analysis to understand the effects of the internal and external market. Accordingly, the
development of the theoretical background would be helpful to understand the possible
implications for the future improvements in business.
Background
Stylerunner has captured the leading position in the digital fashion retail market of
Australia. The company is the leading active wear seller that has the remarkable digital presence
as per the convenience schedule of the customers (Stylerunner.com 2017). The mission of the
company is to offer and deliver the most fashion-forward off duty and active garments to the
global audience in an innovative way (Payne and Frow 2014). The company offers garments
over more than 70 brands to the people worldwide. The online presence of the company over 100
other countries are quite demanding to the fashion devotees around the globe. The demands for

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active lifestyles are quite opportune for the company to ensure growth for the future prospects. In
order to strengthen the market position, it is now necessary for the company to adopt some of the
fruitful marketing strategies for structuring the profitable future and sustainable position. The
repeated adoption of the advanced technologies has been signified for the enormous success of
the company.
Product/Service Specification
Stylerunner undertakes the supports from the advanced technologies to offer the luxury
active wear to the customers. The major focus of the company is to provide the commendable
digital shopping experiences to the customers by offering them the fashionable active wear. The
company targets the customers who are quite fashion devotee and prefer the active style. The
company offers the fashion clothes and casual shoes that influence the fashion sense among the
current generation. The demands for the luxurious brands and convenience shopping experiences
are the considerable opportunity for the company to strengthen the sustainable position (Kim,
Shin and Min 2016). Apart from this luxurious clothes and shoes, the services offered by the
company are also much appreciable. The company has paid attention towards the impressive
package system by following the hand-wrapped packaging. The products are then dispatched
from Sydney, the global headquarter.
Apart from these clothes and shoes, the company has engaged a community of fitness and
health enthusiasts through the touch points. It takes active participation in their online
publications named TRIPLE WHITE, which is an exclusive platform for future upcoming
designers. The extensive supports from the social media are much beneficial for fulfilling their
purpose of influencing fashion segment all over the world. The company has even established a

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social media hub of content that is used by the customers and the customer service provides. This
hub is much useful for determining conversation and connection shared by the potential
customers. This proactive actions undertaken by the company is quite commendable for
competing in this competitive business world.
Target Market
Stylerunner has reached to the leading position in the digital fashion market. The major
focus of the company is to redefine the fashion segments by offering the most fashionable active
wear including casual shoes. The company is looking forward to develop the most fashionable
segments for the people who are quite inclined towards wearing casual yet trendy garments. The
company has thus focused on targeting the both the young and middle-aged males and females
who are much fashion devotees (Stylerunner.com 2017). It provides the opportunities to the
emerging fashion designers to present their works and sell their products through the fashion
hubs. This consideration is leading towards acquiring more customer base. The products are
segmented by considering the preferences of the target customers. One section of the garments
includes the active casuals for males and females. There is the section of shoes where the
customers can search for the casual shoes or snickers as per their requirements. The availability
of the filter search option is quite useful for the customers to select the products as per the
preferences and price (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). The convenient shopping through online sites
and on time delivery are quite appreciating to the target customer worldwide. Moreover, the
increasing concerns about the style segments have transformed the fashion industry due to which
the company receives the opportunities to ensure growth in upcoming future.

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Situational Analysis
The situational analysis of the chosen company will help to understand the internal and
external resources and capabilities of the organization. The situational analysis is the set of
methods that help the managers of the organization to understand and anticipate the current
situation of the competitive market and the capabilities of the organization in terms of the same
(Hollensen 2015). Accordingly, the management can design the marketing strategy for the
business of the company in the targeted market. The report focuses on the SWOT analysis and
the Porter’s Five Forces in order to analyze the situational context of the company Stylerunner.
These methods will provide a clear and precise idea of the present market of the company as well
as the internal resources of the same.
SWOT Analysis
The term SWOT stands for strength, weakness, opportunity and threat for the
organization. The SWOT analysis for Stylerunner will indentify the internal and external forces
of the company that determines the capabilities as well as the lacks of the company (Kapoor
2014). The SWOT analysis of the chosen company is done from a thorough research of the
company’s business market and the organizational and business activities (Goodrich 2015). The
analysis is as follows:
Strength:
The strengths of the company define the resources and capabilities of the company
(Govender and Govender 2017). The strengths of the company are:
i. Employee motivation is one of the major strengths of the company. The company
continuously tries to motivate and encourage the employees for the better work and

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overall business growth of the company. The management of the company uses various
processes to motivate the staffs and to keep engage them with the work for the better
outcome.
ii. 100% accountability is another strength of the company that has made employees as well
as the internal organizational system active, which leads the company to the effective
business outcome. The company strictly follows the rule that both the management and
the employees of the organization is answerable to each other for any kind of business
activates.
iii. Team building is the core strength of Stylerunner that enable the organization to and the
employee to involve in the business activities together. The engagement and effective
interaction of the employees creates inner strength among the employees as well as
within the organization, which leads the company to meet the business objectives without
any hazards.
Weakness:
The weakness of the company presents the internal incapabilities of the company. The
weaknesses of the company are:
i. The cost of the products is high according to the middle class people. Though the
company belongs to a developed country, the company has spread its business over 100
countries. This online active wear company only sells branded apparel for a specific
class, which shortens the market context for the business.
ii. Specific customer is another weakness for the company. The company only focuses on
the women sportswear, which again shortens the area of the business market. Only
women customers definitely reduce the number of customers for the company.

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iii. The potentiality of the company is lesser than other existing companies in the market.
Stylerunner is a startup company, which is why the company lacks the potentiality
compared to other companies belonging to the same industry.
Opportunities:
The opportunities of the company indicate the potentialities of the company for the
sustainable business n the competitive market. The opportunities of the company are:
i. Targeting new customers can be the major and prime opportunity to the company.
Presently the company only sells women sportswear. Focusing on the men sportswear
can broaden the market for the company.
ii. Social media is a potential opportunity to the company. Branding and advertising on the
social media can build a strong network of the company with the customers across the
globe.
iii. The Triple White magazine by the company is one of the major opportunities for the
future expansion of the company (www.stylerunner.com 2017). The magazine can
expand the number of customers for the company.
Threats:
The threats of the company define the weakness of the company, which can lead the
company to reduce the scope of sustainability in the competitive market. The threats of
Stylerunner are:
i. Specific customers of the company are the women, which is a potential threat to the
company. The demand for the men sportswear is increasing. Not grabbing this
opportunity can be a threat to the company and lead to lose the competitive advantage.

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ii. The constant high cost of the products can make the company to face serious threat in
the in the market of the developing. Not all the company is as economically developed as
Australia. Hence keeping the cost of the product constant can make the company lose
global customers.
iii. Lack of potentiality is another serious threat to the company. The inadequate potentiality
of the company decreases the competitive advantage and scope of sustainability of the
company.
Porter’s Five Forces:
Porter’s Five Forces is the comparative tool for analyzing the market competition of
within a specific industry (E. Dobbs 2014). The analyzing five forces determine the scope of
sustainability and future growth of the Stylerunner in its belonging industry (Strider 2017). The
analysis is as shown below:

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Figure 1: Porter’s five forces
(Source: Strider 2017)
Competitive Rivalry:
Competitive rivalry of the company is high. This is because it is a startup company,
therefore, there is several existing company in the market from the same industry. Therefore, the
competition for the company in the specific industry is indeed high.
Potential of New Entries:
There is definitely high potentiality of the new entries in the market. Several companies
are leaning towards the business of sportswear because of the growing demand.

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Power of Suppliers:
Power of the suppliers for Stylerunner is high as because the company only sells branded
sportswear, and these brands individually have outlets in global market. Moreover, these
suppliers supply products to other companies apart from Stylerunner.
Power of Customers:
Numerous companies in the market provide a vast range of choices for the customers.
The customers are also able to buy the same products from the brand outlet and other existing
shops in the market. Hence, the customer power is high for Stylerunner.
Threats of Substitute products:
The threats of the substitute products are low, since generally the substitute for the sports
apparel cannot be produced. Any other products cannot easily replace the sportswear.
Marketing Strategy (4P’s of Marketing)
The constant pressure from the competitive business scenario is persuading the business
brands acquiring the fruitful marketing strategies. The application of these strategies is quite
necessary for surviving in a world where being competitive is essential. Similarly, in order to
strengthen and sustain the competitive position, the company requires structuring a sequential
marketing strategy that would be beneficial enough in positioning the business (Leeflang et al.
2014). The 4P’s of marketing mix would be much preferable in such cases since it would
highlight the necessary elements of the business. The product, place, promotion, and price are the
necessary elements for establishing the marketing strategy. These components are described
further:

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Figure 2: 4P’s of Marketing
(Source: Marx and Hsu 2015)
Product
Stylerunner is extensively focusing on the fashion segments in current market.
Considering the needs of the current generation regarding the fashion approaches, the company
offers the superior digital shopping experiences of the active wear. The trendy yet casual active
wear is quite preferable and comfortable. Moreover, the trends of the exclusive fashion sense and
casual wear are much demanding to the males and females of both young and middle age group.
Stylerunner is paying the attention towards delivering high quality fashion garments to the target
market within the scheduled time. The major focus of the company is regarding the preferences
of the target customers. It is noticeable that the fashion-devotee customers are much fond of
wearing the clothes with high brand image (Marx and Hsu 2015). Therefore, the company is
including over 70 brands at their stores from where the customers can select their preferences.

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Moreover, the exclusive customer service is also much appreciable for the customers who are
much inclined towards the online shopping.
Place
Stylerunner has established the digital presence, which is the most convenient for
shopping in today’s date (Wach and Wehrman 2014). Headquarter of the company is located in
Sydney, Australia. However, the mission of the company is to reach out to the global customers
who are much fond of fashionable segments in their daily lives. On the other hand, the focus of
the company is to provide the impressive shopping experiences through the advance digital
means. Hence, the company has been operating in more than 100 countries and targeting the
fashion-devotee customers. The online presence is much convenient since the customers prefer
to the luxurious shopping method in lesser time.
Price
The competitive scenario is much higher due to which it is necessary to structure the
pricing strategy (Jokela et al. 2014). The company is mainly dealing with the active wear and the
products from demandable brands. In fact, the target customers are much fashion-conscious who
would like to pay money in return of high quality and recognizable brands. Hence, the company
has selected the moderate pricing strategy for the products. The shipping charges are also
included.
Promotion
From the initial stage of the business startup, the company received the opportunity to
promote the business through social media. Therefore, it is the most considerable promotion

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media for the company. Moreover, it is observed that people look for more fashion advices and
different options to get the best fashion segments over the internet. Hence, the social media is the
best solution for the company to gain the attention of the target market.
Conclusion
The study focuses on the strategic business development of Stylerunner, the startup
fashion company operating from Australia. the company has the global presence through the
digital means and it is focusing on the most fashion-savvy people to offer high quality fashion
garments and shoes. Stylerunner is targeting the customers who are more inclined towards the
active casuals and branded garments. The effective promotion, price, and quality of the products
are quite beneficial for the company to grow the business through the digital means. The
advanced technological development is also the most helpful way of sustaining the competitive
position.

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References
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