Analysis of Burberry's Market Positioning and Repositioning Strategies

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MINTEL FASHION ACCESSORIES REPORT
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Table of Contents
1. IMPORTANCE OF POSITIONING AND REPOSITIONING FOR THE MARKETERS AND THE
IMPACT OF POSITIONING TO THE BURBERRY................................................................................3
2. TO DEMONSTRATE THE POSITION OF BURBERRY AMONG THE COMPETITORS.....................5
3. TWO METHODS FOR RE-POSITIONING TO BE ADOPTED BY BURBERRY.................................6
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................7
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1. IMPORTANCE OF POSITIONING AND REPOSITIONING FOR THE
MARKETERS AND THE IMPACT OF POSITIONING TO THE
BURBERRY
Positioning is that stage for the companies or the marketers where all the needs of the
customers are satisfied. Nowadays, customers consume the unique products, they believe in
product differentiation, thus positioning helps in fulfilling the requirements of the customers
with introducing the new products in the market (Alden and Nariswari, 2017).
According to marketers, the positioning is divided into two forces: firstly to identify the demand
of the customers and offer the products when it seems to be more profitable. Secondly, to
identify the position of the competitors and take relevant actions to differentiate the products
from the competitors which will attract more customers (Alden and Nariswari, 2017).
The market positioning of Burberry can be done in two ways: Product attributes and Marketing
Strategies
Product Attributes: Every consumer evaluates the product before purchasing. Product
attributes are the characteristics of the products that differentiate the product of Burberry from
other companies. For Burberry product differentiation is most important as the competitors like
Gucci, Polo, etc. are the well-known brand and the customers always find the different products
and do not stick at one brand (Fripp, 2015).
Brand Marketing: Brand marketing means providing the customer the values with the help of
products and information related to the products floated through advertisement i.e. effective
channel of communication to be used. In Burberry, the most dynamic strategy of Burberry is
having the trend of signature which has enhanced the image of the brand (Armstrong et al.,
2015).
Repositioning is done to enhance the position of the brand in the competitive market and
which also increase the sales by capturing the share in the market. Repositioning of the
Burberry has not only changed the product aspects but also enhanced the image of the brand
among its competitors. Repositioning of the brand includes four types: Repositioning of image,
market, product and total repositioning (Burmann et al., 2017).
Implications of Re-positioning to the marketers:
With the help of re-positioning strategy, the marketers are able to increase the sales, enhance
the brand image and acquire the new customers as it seems that the actual sales will be going
to decline as the preference of existing customers changes regularly (Burmann et al., 2017).
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Burberry repositioned itself by introducing luxurious leather products and accessories to attract
new customers. Other brands also followed Burberry by repositioning their brand. This brand
includes LVMH’s Celine, Mulberry and so on. Due to the US market, all the brands were facing
many challenges to compete in the market. Increasing the prices of the products decreased the
number of customers of many brands (Burmann et al., 2017).
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2. TO DEMONSTRATE THE POSITION OF BURBERRY AMONG THE
COMPETITORS
The perception of consumers towards Burberry is like a functional luxury brand as it targets
different segments of the population. The products of Burberry are categorized into two parts:
fashion and continuous flow of trends. It serves mainly three types of products: apparels for
men, women and accessories. The product mix of Burberry is remarkable due to the continuing
trend and latest fashion. All this contributes to the brand positioning of Burberry. The company
has also been awarded for the collection of contemporary design and classic design of the year
(Wang, 2015).
There are many competitors of Burberry such as Gucci, Polo, Primark, Armani and so on.
Primark has expanded its business in the UK by opening five new stores and has also increased
the space of the store by 0.8 million square feet. Burberry and Primark are far from each other,
but the decision of both to expand the retail business and decrease the opportunity cost with
the help of digitalization is the best competitive strategy (Snowdon, 2015).
Gucci has a high brand image and is the most luxurious brand. It is based on two main pillars,
craftsmanship and heritage. The communication strategy of Gucci follows bold, controversial
and provocative style. The brand strategy of Gucci is defined as ‘fashion dreamers’ (Bhasin,
2015).
The Brand Positioning Map of Burberry, Gucci and Primark is given below with respect to their
quality and prices.
Figure 1 Brand Positioning Map of 3 Brands
(Source: Author, 2019)
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3. TWO METHODS FOR RE-POSITIONING TO BE ADOPTED BY
BURBERRY
The main two factors that help in achieving the re-positioning are advertisement and research
and development. Though the perspectives of the customers depend upon the physical
attributes of the brand, then also it can be influenced with the help of proper communication.
For the brands like Burberry, it is very difficult to get repositioned because the maximum
number of customers are aware of the brand and are more familiar to it so the effect of
repositioning gets limited (Chand, 2019). After a particular level, the repositioning of a brand
cannot be done only with the help of advertising the brand. There is also the requirement of
research and development along with physical attributes that get matched with the needs of
customers and then the company should move towards upgrading the brand. Advertisement
takes shorter time i.e. re-positioning is immediately affected, while Research and Development
need a specific period to finish the project (Chand, 2019).
Re-Positioning with the help of Advertisement:
Burberry should recognize the required position at the positioning map to build the awareness
of the brand and inform the customers about the physical attributes of the product. Then while
making the marketing mix decisions, such desired objectives defined should be considered. To
set the budget for the advertisement media and advertisement research which should be
around 10% to 15%, such advertisement budget should be based on the customer segments i.e.
the targeted customers (Chand, 2019).
Re-positioning with the help of Research and Development:
Burberry should also focus on R&D factor to reposition the brand i.e. while introducing the new
brands. It is also like the advertisement method. Firstly to identify the desired position on the
map and estimate the characteristics of the product that the consumers' demands, then to
develop the project based on the R&D carried out and finally introduce the new brand by
replacing the old brand (Chand, 2019).
Therefore, with the help of positioning and re-positioning, Burberry has achieved a valuable
brand image and also formed the new customer base and retained the existing customers by
meeting the competitive challenges.
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REFERENCES
 Alden, D.L. and Nariswari, A., 2017. Brand Positioning Strategies During Global
Expansion: Managerial Perspectives from Emerging Market Firms. In The Customer is
NOT Always Right? Marketing Orientations in a Dynamic Business World (pp. 527-530).
Springer, Cham.
 Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Buchwitz, L.A., Trifts, V. and Gaudet, D., 2015. Marketing: an
introduction.
 Bhasin, H., 2015. Marketing Strategy of Gucci. Online available at
(https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-gucci/).Last accessed in March
2019.
 Burmann, C., Riley, N.M., Halaszovich, T. and Schade, M., 2017. Strategic Brand
Management. In Identity-Based Brand Management (pp. 91-172). Springer Gabler,
Wiesbaden.
 Chand, S., 2019. Brand-Repositioning Decisions and Strategies of a Company. Online
available at (http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/brand-management/brand-
repositioning-decisions-and-strategies-of-a-company/22212). Last accessed in March
2019.
 Fripp, G., 2015. Product attributes decisions. Online available at
(https://www.marketingstudyguide.com/product-attribute-decisions/). Last accessed in
March 2019.
 Snowdon, H., 2015. Primark Strategic Marketing Plan. Online available at
(https://hollysnowdon.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/smp-final.pdf). Last accessed in
March 2019.
 Wang, H.J., 2015. A new approach to network analysis for brand positioning.
International Journal of Market Research, 57(5), pp.727-742.
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