Marketing Problems Facing Burberry: A Repositioning Strategy Analysis

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MARKETING PROBLEMS FACING A BUSINESS – BURBERRY
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
TASKS.............................................................................................................................................4
1. Explain the relevance and importance of positioning and repositioning for marketers. What are
the implications for the performance of the business if such a move is successful?.......................4
2. In case of Burberry, demonstrate through the means of positioning map, how the positioning
of the brand will change as result of this process. In presentation of the map, also identify where
on the map the following brands would be located: Gucci and Primark.........................................6
3. Provide two methods which brands such as Burberry might use to achieve repositioning.........9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11
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Introduction
According to the association of American marketing, the term marketing is defined as the set of
activities, processes for communicating, creating, exchanging and offerings which consist of
value regarding partners, customers, clients along with the society at large. The marketing
problems are referred to as the existing efficiencies, non-optimal solutions and the awkward
workflows. Hence, the present study focuses upon the problems of marketing that are faced by
the business of the Burberry organization.
Burberry Group PLC is known to be the British Luxury fashion house that is headquartered in
London, England. It is mainly focussed upon the distribution of the trench coats, outwears which
are ready for wearing along with the fashion accessories. It also consists of fragrances, cosmetics
and sunglasses. The company was introduced in 1856 by Thomas Burberry. In 2018, the
company had its total revenue of £2,732.8 million and also had the operating income of £293.6
million (Kingdom, 2019). The mission based on the respective organization is to maintain the
vitality and integrity associated with their brand along with the constant business development
that remains relevant forever for the consumer tastes and evolving markets.
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TASKS
1. Explain the relevance and importance of positioning and repositioning for marketers.
What are the implications for the performance of the business if such a move is successful?
According to the case study, the organization of Burberry is known to intend for going up to
marketing. This can be done through positioning along with repositioning of the organizational
culture. The term brand positioning is referred to as a strategy of marketing that is aimed for
making a brand occupy the distinct position that is relative for competing brands within the
customers’ mind. After a brand is considered to be positioned, it may be difficult for
repositioning it without destroying the credibility of it (Chonko and Hunt, 2018). This can also
be known as product positioning. However, brand repositioning is considered when an
organization changes the status of a brand within the marketplace. This typically involves the
changes for marketing mix like the place, product, promotion and price. Hence, repositioning is
known to be made for keeping up with the needs and wants of the customers. Therefore, the
positioning of products seems to be a significant element for the marketers and the plan of
marketing as, it is the process that is used by the marketers for determining the way of
communicating best to their product attributes. This is done for their recognized customers
regarding their needs, channels of available communication, competitive pressures and the key
messages that are crafted carefully.
For instance, as per the organization of Burberry, the accessories seem to represent up till 37%
for the total revenue of the group along with the sales within the category for increasing through
10% in the first half of the year 2017. The well performed products of the company were
considered as the small goods of leather and the handbags. Hence, the sales of full price
regarding the bags were seen to increase for 16% for the year and ended on 31st of March 2017
that is driven through new launches like Buckle and Bridle bags along with the novelty for the
styles that are more established (Lee et al., 2018). The company is also known to move for its
repositioning within the luxury sector through the extension of its architectural price as well as
scaling back the sales for the retailers of lower end and the wholesalers. There are certain
implications, when an organization or a brand undertakes a move for positioning or repositioning
their products. Hence, in case of the present organization, the strategy of Burberry for moving
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brand towards upscale echoed the similar move through the other designer brands like Mulberry,
Givenchy and similar others. Mulberry has been seen to attempt for positioning itself within the
higher end based on the luxury market. On the other hand, the organization of Coach has also
been seen to respond for the challenges of marketing that is faced by the company within the
market of US through the creation of more upscale.
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2. In case of Burberry, demonstrate through the means of positioning map how the
positioning of the brand will change as result of this process. In presentation of the map,
also identify where on the map the following brands would be located: Gucci and Primark
The BCG Matrix that is Boston Consulting group aims for the identification of higher growth
prospects through categorizing brand products based on the growth rate as well as the market
share (Pulka et al., 2018). Through the optimization of positive flow of cash within the higher
potential products, an organization can capitalize within the growth opportunities of market
share.
Figure 1: Boston Matrix for Burberry
Source: (Torquati et al., 2018)
According to the above map, the organization of Burberry has been seen to get settled within the
position somewhere within a dog and a cash cow that is related to the Boston matrix. This
denotes that, the market of fashion within the UK had been within the state of slow growth and
maturity. The brand of Burberry was known to be successful, that is a trait for cash cow but has
also grown tired, and that is a trait of dog. In the past years, the particular organization reported a
decline of 10% within the global revenue of £2.8 billion. Hence, the brand is known to begin for
moving towards repositioning of the brand that can grow better within the markets of UK. The
company decided to use both new markets and new products for growth and thus, the company
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brought innovative designs through new designers for freshening up. Therefore, the concerned
organization had a growth within the British market.
Figure 2: Brand positioning of Gucci
Source: (Doyle and Moore, 2018)
However, in case of Gucci in contrast with Burberry, it has increased the sales that have been
driven through renewed brand appeal for Alessandro Michele who seems to succeed for
attracting the younger customers related to his new styles. Hence, the company in the recent days
is known to revise the products through the offers of older styles as well within the overall
categories that are replaced with the new aesthetics.
Figure 3: Positioning map of Primark
Source: (Buzzo and Abreu, 2019)
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In case of the organization of Primark, it consists of recognized customers that are of 35 years of
age group and are fashion conscious. It is known to offer recently new products with a
competitive price with Gucci and Burberry. It also comprises of a reasonable quality. It also uses
the strategy of value for money. Hence, the company is influenced through the move of Burberry
brand s and Gucci and changed its strategy for increasing its sales.
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3. Provide two methods which brands such as Burberry might use to achieve repositioning
Regarding the positioning and repositioning of brand as per the concerned organization of
Burberry, it has already been seen to adopt a new strategy in the recent years that is to reposition
itself within the luxury sector through extending the price of architecture as well as scaling back
the sales for the lower end retailers along with the wholesalers (Plotke, 2018). Apart from these,
it can also make use of certain new strategies associated with the method of repositioning. These
strategies or methods for repositioning are mentioned below:
Consumer engagement: The customers like to feel a part of the brand and this can be done
through customizing products for fitting to the needs of the customers. Hence, the organization
can be creative for figuring out the needs and wants of the customers.
Identity: This is the most important aspect through which, a brand can be build stronger. This
can be tied together with the use of slogan, logo, marketing materials, colour scheme, employees
and similar others (Mols, 2018). Hence, the connection within all these aspects of the company
can help in providing a unified identity which can be understood by the customers.
Hence, these methods in an innovative manner can be undertaken by the respective organization
to achieve a successful repositioning.
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Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, the study has focussed upon the problems of marketing for the
respective organization of Burberry in contrast with other companies as well. This included the
positioning and repositioning aspects of the concerned organization in comparison with the other
organizations. Hence, it can be concluded that through the method of repositioning, a brand can
retain its position within the market.
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References
Buzzo, A. and Abreu, M.J., 2019. Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands & Sustainable Consumption.
In Fast Fashion, Fashion Brands and Sustainable Consumption (pp. 1-17). Springer, Singapore.
Chonko, L.B. and Hunt, S.D., 2018. Reflections on ethical issues in marketing management: An
empirical examination. Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 28(1), pp.86-95.
Doyle, S.A. and Moore, C.M., 2018. Luxury Brand Outsiders: Understanding the Success of
British and American Luxury Brands. In Global Luxury (pp. 65-86). Palgrave, Singapore.
Kingdom, B. (2019). Trench Coats for Women | Burberry®. [online] Burberry United Kingdom.
Available at: https://uk.burberry.com/womens-trench-coats/ [Accessed 26 Mar. 2019].
Lee, B.H., Struben, J. and Bingham, C.B., 2018. Collective action and market formation: An
integrative framework. Strategic Management Journal, 39(1), pp.242-266.
Mols, N.P., 2018. The internal competitor: buyer motives and marketing strategies. Journal of
Strategic Marketing, pp.1-12.
Plotke, D., 2018. The political mobilization of business. In The politics of interests (pp. 175-
198). Routledge.
Pulka, B.M., Ramli, A.B. and Bakar, M.S., 2018. Marketing capabilities, resources acquisition
capabilities, risk management capabilities, opportunity recognition capabilities and SMEs
performance: A proposed framework. Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 6(1), pp.12-22.
Torquati, B., Scarpa, R., Petrosillo, I., Ligonzo, M.G. and Paffarini, C., 2018. How can consumer
science help firms transform their dog (BCG Matrix) products into profitable products?. In Case
Studies in the Traditional Food Sector(pp. 255-279). Woodhead Publishing.
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