Case Study Analysis: Burberry's Market Positioning Strategies

This case study analyzes Burberry's positioning and repositioning strategies within the competitive luxury market. It emphasizes the importance of brand positioning for marketers, highlighting how it distinguishes products and shapes customer perception. The analysis includes a positioning map comparing Burberry with competitors like Zara and Primark, illustrating their relative positions based on price and quality. The study examines the methods Burberry employs for repositioning, specifically advertising and research and development, and their respective impacts. The conclusion reinforces the significance of strategic positioning and repositioning for brand success. The assignment utilizes academic sources to support its findings and provides a comprehensive understanding of the market dynamics and strategic choices that influence Burberry's brand image and market performance.

CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Importance of positioning and repositioning for marketers and implications for the
performance of the business if such a move is successful...........................................................1
Positioning map and ways positioning of the brand will change as result of this process and
location of Gucci and Primark on map........................................................................................2
Methods used by Burberry to achieve repositioning...................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Today purchasing power of customers has increased due to which competition among
brand has also increased. Not only for top organizations but for small or medium sized
organizations also competition is increasing (Roy, 2019). For this many companies used
positioning or repositioning strategy in order to main customers' perception towards the brand or
to move up in the market. This assignment will lay emphasis on positioning or repositioning
strategies used by Burberry to move up the market.
MAIN BODY
Importance of positioning and repositioning for marketers and implications for the performance
of the business if such a move is successful
Positioning is extremely important for brands or marketers in order to make their
business successful. Positioning of a brand helps the company to distinguish their products from
their competitors products. It also helps in building a place or perception in their customer's
mind. In order to position brand's image it is important for them to adopt a strategy which will
help them to go up market but for these brands need to understand their customer's need,
understand one's competitors, strategies used by therm and mistakes they did and based on
brands need to adopt a strategy which will help them to increase their sales and go up the market.
However, many times positioning of a brand is not much effective doe to which brands slowly
start to lose their customer segment, lose their hold on the current market. So, for this, companies
many times need to reposition their brand or products by making major changes like changing
their changing understanding of their target market, shift in their environment, changing their
perception towards their products and many more. Many times repositioning helps to tighten the
grip of the current market and target customers (Koch and Gyrd-Jones, 2019). Positioning or
repositioning of a brand or its products involves major changes and if such changes are not
adopted properly then it can become one of the main reason for failure of a brand. There are
various factors that are needed to be focused on if a brand wants repositioning or positing of their
brand to be successful in order to increase their brand image and overall sales. They need to
understand their target customers, their needs and the way they spend on buying their products. It
is extremely important for brands to understand need and requirements of their customers. They
need to set price of their products as per their competitors products this will help them to gain
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some competitive advantage and release some competitive pressure as well (Blankson, 2016).
Other than this, marketing strategy adopted by the brands also plays a vital role in successful
positioning or repositioning of brands.
Positioning map and ways positioning of the brand will change as result of this process and
location of Gucci and Primark on map
Positioning map of a brand helps them to develop a market positioning strategy for their
services or products. Positioning map is mainly based on their buyers perception not on their
business and due to this it is sometimes also known as perceptual map as well. For example: a
business or a brand might feel that their product is of high quality and upmarket but if their
customers view their products as low quality products then it will influence their overall sales as
well (Klein and et.al., 2019). In case of Burberry, positioning map will help them to understand
their customer's perception towards the brand. This will help them to bring required changes
within their strategy and the process of positioning their brand up the market. Burberry can do
positioning mapping in two ways first is that either they position their products in order to fill the
market gap or they compete with the competitors, so that they can position their brand or
products with their competitors products or brand name position. This map is drawn on two axis
first is quality and second is price. Burberry comes into second segment which is most expensive
and most fashionable brand.
As per this positioning map Burberry and Zara both comes in the category of high quality
and high price whereas Primark comes under the category of low quality and low price. But
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Ill
ustration 1: Positioning map of Burberry

when Burberry and Zara are compared then Burberry is slightly higher in positioning map as
compared to Zara.
Methods used by Burberry to achieve repositioning
Repositioning focuses on what customers are associated with or sometimes which brands
they are competing with. It completely depends upon the brand that whether they want to do
repositioning to change customer's perception towards the brand or to compete and move
upwards in the market as compared to their competitors. For this, companies need to adopt a
particular method and based on it they need to develop a strategy so that they can successfully
reposition their brand and move up the market. There are various methods that can be used by
brands in order to achieve repositioning (Millington and Ntounis, 2017). But there are two
methods that can be used by Burberry. First is advertising methods this method will help them to
compete with their competitors and raise awareness among their customers for the brand.
Another method is by focusing on research and development. This will help them to bring
necessary changes among their products or services as per the needs and requirements of their
targeted customers which will eventually help them to upgrade their brand. But effect of both the
method is different i.e. repositioning through advertisement has an immediate effect but
repositioning through research and development takes quite some time or at least a period of
time to show its effect. Both of these methods will help them to achieve a successful
repositioning.
CONCLUSION
From the above assignment it has been observed that it is important for brands to adopt
correct strategies for successful positioning and repositioning of a brand. There are various
methods that can used by brands like Burberry to move up the market.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Blankson, C., 2016. Positioning a brand. The Routledge companion to contemporary brand
management, pp.164-185.
Klein, K., and et.al., 2019. Brand Positioning Based on Brand Image–Country Image
Fit. Marketing Science.
Koch, C.H. and Gyrd-Jones, R.I., 2019. Corporate brand positioning in complex industrial firms:
Introducing a dynamic, process approach to positioning. Industrial Marketing
Management.
Millington, S. and Ntounis, N., 2017. Repositioning the high street: evidence and reflection from
the UK. Journal of Place Management and Development. 10(4). pp.364-379.
Roy, A., 2019. Studying positioning and repositioning of brands using multidimensional
scaling. Journal of Education for Business, pp.1-6.
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