Assignment On Order To Sustain Competitive Advantage

Marketing Plan 0
Marketing Plan
Student’s Name
9/30/2019

Marketing Plan 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Background and market Situation..............................................................................................2
Microenvironment Analysis.......................................................................................................2
Macroenvironment Analysis......................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis...........................................................................................................................3
Marketing objective...................................................................................................................4
Marketing strategy.....................................................................................................................4
Segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning:..........................................................5
Marketing Mix...........................................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

Marketing Plan 2
Introduction
In order to sustain competitive advantage it becomes for the organization to develop
appropriate marketing mix and analyse the external and the internal factors that affects the
performance of business. It includes development of appropriate strategy and develops the
position in the market. The report will cover the environmental and the SWOT analysis of
Converse Shoes and will also reflect upon the marketing mix and the segmentation, targeting
and positioning of the brand (Armstrong et al, 2018).
Background and market Situation
Converse Inc. is well recognised for designing, manufacturing and distributing casual athletic
footwear and apparel for men, women and children. The athletic footwear is further divided
into sports classics, sports performance and sports lifestyle product categories. The brand
delivers its product over 100 countries and mainly focuses on United States and Canada. The
company designs the product to fulfil the trend conscious appeal of customers. Currently, the
company is at growing stage and has the market value of 1906 million $ in the year 2019
(Converse, 2019).
Microenvironment Analysis
It includes the potential actions of the suppliers and intermediaries who are responsible for
the production and delivery of products. The sales of the company get affected from the
availability of raw material and cost involved in distribution of goods. The negative publicity
majorly affects the reputation of the brand and the actions of the collaborators also affect the
performance of the company. The competitive position also gets intensified when the rivalry

Marketing Plan 3
firms go ahead of the brand. It develops the need to undertake impulsive marketing strategies
for differentiating the product and maintain of competitive advantage (Lindholm,2015).
Macroenvironment Analysis
The macroenvironemntal factors consist of the factors that exist in the external environment.
It is analysed that the rising GDP increases the production cost due to high labour wages and
brand also faces the challenge of government pressures on production and export of products.
The customers in Australia are quality conscious and focus on trendy products. The
innovation in the technology also develops the need to apply latest techniques and enhance
the customer experience. The legal laws related to employment and minimum wage payment
affects the performance of company. The scarcity of resources and environmental pollution
restricts the production of the brand (Huxley, 2018).
SWOT analysis
It helps in analysing the strengths and the weakness of the brand and the opportunities and
threat that lies in external environment.
Strengths
 Large customer base
 Captures the international trends
and designs.
 It involves famous celebrities to
cater its mid-premium segment of
shoes and apparel.
Weakness
 Increased competition restricts
the market share growth.
 The brand can be cannibalised
from its patent organization.

Marketing Plan 4
Opportunities
 Diversification of business into
bags, t-shirts.
 More expansion opportunities
because the company is fashion
sensitive.
 Opportunity of aggressive
promotions through e-commerce
platforms.
Threats
 The consumers are highly price
and fashion sensitive.
 Threat of fake imitation products.
 The brand performance gets
affected from recession and
economic fluctuations (Dissing
Andersen and Flygenring, 2015).
Marketing objective
The marketing objective is to provide the opportunity to the consumers to design their own
shoe through self-expression. The aim of this plan is to capture the market by allowing the
customers to create their own voice. It will allow the brand to attain strong position in the
Australian market.
Marketing strategy
The brand must focus on adopting the diversification strategy and cost leadership strategy. It
must design exclusive products and must diversity its range of products into formal wear and
stylish canvas to target the high profile customers and charge premium pricing for the
product. It will help the company in differentiating its brand and attaining higher profitability
in business. It will help the company to improve its financial risk by entering into new market
segment. The company will be able to enjoy premium pricing due to strong brand loyalty
(Prince and Priporas, 2015).

Marketing Plan 5
Segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning:
Segmentation
In order to achieve the marketing objective the company must focus on niche market and
must target the working employees and rich section of the society. The age group must be 30-
60 and design formal shoes at the premium prices. The product must be designed for the
consumers who are quality and fashion conscious and can afford the premium price shoes.
The company must predict the behaviour of the high income groups and must design
accordingly (Ceballos and Bejarano, 2018).
Targeting
The company currently targets entry level workers and teenage group. To attain marketing
objective its must focus on targeting high income employees who loves to wear formal shoes
and must provide premium quality product.
Positioning
The current positioning of the brand in the minds of consumers is that the brand is for the
rebellious and rock people who are admirer and dreamer and originals. It celebrates the retro-
modern sub culture. However to improve the positioning, the company must position itself as
a sophisticated brand that provide premium quality products for high income groups and
maintain the status quo of consumers (Agnihotri and Bhattacharya, 2018).

Marketing Plan 6
Positioning Map
Differentiating
The company is differentiated form its all-star shoe unique symbol and is very popular for its
canvas shoes. It is able to differentiate by considering more than sports brand. It is well
recognised for its fashionable products. The company uses the celebrity endorsers to
differentiate its brand and develops multi-generational marketing campaigns to develop the
emotional connect with all the generations. To improvise the differentiation of the brand the
company must focus on adopting impulsive marketing strategies and developing connection
with the high income group workers. It must develop the campaigns that make the consumers
proud of what they are (Sheth, 2018).
Gym Shark
Performance
Nike
Cheap
Fashion
Reebok
Adidas
Sketchers
New Balance
Expensive
Converse

Marketing Plan 7
Marketing Mix
Product
The company currently designs lifestyle-brand footwear, skating shoes and apparel and is
very famous for its wrap-around strip, smooth rounded top, unique rubber sole and star
insignia. It also provides athletic shoes and has launched several special editions like The
Ramones, The Clash, Drew Brophy, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and Black Sabbath. The improved
version must focus on developing the stylish leather formal shoes for high class employees.
Place
The company has strong customer base and targets the consumers from 160 countries. The
company adopts indirect and direct distribution strategy. For increasing the customer vase the
company must adopt intensive distribution channel and must increase the sales through e-
commerce portals (Sharma, 2016).
Pricing
The company currently operates competitive and penetration pricing strategy to attain the
leadership position but the company must focus on adopting premium pricing strategy to
enjoy higher profitability and attract the Australian consumers by delivery premium quality
products.
Promotional
In order to achieve the marketing objective, the company must focus aggressive promotional
strategies and must develop the marketing campaigns and sponsorships to engage the
customers and deliver personalise experience. It must focus more on the digital marketing by
covering the social media platforms (Sheth, 2018).

Marketing Plan 8
Conclusion
From the above discussion it is critical to note that Converse Shoes enjoys strong brand
positioning and has large customer base. It uses competitive pricing strategy and indirect
distribution channel to deliver its products. From the above it is analysed that the company
has opportunity of growth and advancement.
However to improve the positioning and attaining of the marketing objectives the brand must
focus on adding the formal wear that are of premier quality and must target high income
group consumers to enjoy premium pricing and must adopt extensive distribution strategy. It
must focus on aggressive promotions through improved marketing campaign and core focus
on digital marketing.

Marketing Plan 9
References
Agnihotri, A. and Bhattacharya, S., (2018) Converse’s chuck taylor: Future growth of a retro
brand. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.
Armstrong, G.M., Kotler, P., Harker, M.J. and Brennan, R., (2018) Marketing: an
introduction. Pearson UK.
Ceballos, L.M. and Bejarano, M., (2018) Value segmentation of adolescents: a performance
of appearance. International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, 11(2),
pp.148-159.
Converse. (2019). About Us [Online]. Available from: https://www.converse.com.au/about-
us [Accessed 30/9/19]
Dissing Andersen, J. and Flygenring, C.J., (2015) The Sport-Relations Investment Fund.
Huxley, D.J., (2018) The Development Of Australian Olympic/World Championship Track
And Field Athletes.
Lindholm, C., (2015) Shoes: An Illustrated History, Rebecca Shawcross (2014). Clothing
Cultures, 2(3), pp.327-331.
Prince, M. and Priporas, C.V., (2015) Market Sensing Today. Business Expert Press.
Sharma, B., (2016) The high-end fashion retail perspective. Retail Design: Theoretical
Perspectives.
Sheth, J.N., (2018) How social media will impact marketing media. In Social media
marketing (pp. 3-18). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.

Marketing Plan 10
Sheth, J.N., (2018) How social media will impact marketing media. In Social media
marketing (pp. 3-18). Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore.