Burberry's Upmarket Positioning: A Marketing Case Study

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments. This case study analyzes Burberry's repositioning strategy.

CASE STUDY
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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task..................................................................................................................................................4
1. The article tells us that Burberry intends to go more up-market. 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 the case of Burberry, demonstrate by means of a positioning map, how the positioning of
the brand will change as a result of this process. In presenting the map, also identify where on
the map the following brands would be located: Gucci and Primark..........................................5
3. Provide two methods which brands such as Burberry might use to achieve repositioning.....7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References:......................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
In this case study, there will be discussion regarding marketing problems faced by the luxury
clothing brands. The discussions will primarily focus on "Burberry" fashion brand. "Burberry"
fashion group is a British luxury fashion house headquartered in London, England and has been
established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
There will be discussion regarding the importance of repositioning and positioning for markets.
In addition to them, positioning map and where the positioning of Gucci, Burberry, and Primark
is located.
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Task
1. The article tells us that Burberry intends to go more up-market. 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?
Importance and implications
 To attain triumph over the interest and attention of buyers:
Product positioning provides those benefits that are useful for consumers. When
information is transferred to the users from the appropriate advertising channels then it
definitely brings the customer's attention.
 To fascinate different types of Consumers:
Some customers want unique features, some want safety, some want durability, some
want low prices and so on. A company, by advertising different types of product
advantages, can draw the attention of different types of buyers (Moon and Kamakura,
2017).
 To introduce a new product:
Product positioning, succor a company is launching a new product in the market. This is
the main importance of Product positioning.
 To communicate the advantages of product in the market:
When a company adds or changes the qualities or feature of the existing product then
product positioning helps the company to communicate this information to the buyers.
Generally, consumer considers product benefits before they buy it. So, this positioning
technique can help the customer to choose the right product (Wadavi, 2016).
 To fight competition:
This is also the fundamental use of this technique. A company can respond strongly to the
market. It also improves the competitive spirit and strength (Endress, 2013).
 To reunite the brand name among the customers:
Systematic product positing reunited the company's name, their mission, their buyers, etc.
in the market. The company can also create goodwill and can triumph customer loyalty.
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2. In the case of Burberry, demonstrate by means of a positioning map, how the
positioning of the brand will change as a result of this process. In presenting the
map, also identify where on the map the following brands would be located: Gucci
and Primark.
Positioning maps are diagrams which design to show the customer perception of the business'
offering based on quality, price, or other advantages. The primary benefits can be the
serviceability, features, and quality among other benefits (Andrew, 2012).
The purpose of positioning maps
Positioning maps help in identifying where (in the market) an organisation could position a new
brand. Marketing managers use positioning maps to compare products based on the perceptions
of buyers. This map shows the product differentiation or brand differentiation based on their
price, market mass or market holder, and quality (Moon and Kamakura, 2017).
(Source: Wadavi, 2016)
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(Source: Andrew, 2012)
There are 4 components of this positioning map:
 Mass Market – is a general people market consisting of consumers of various age group,
preferences, and lifestyles. If a company produces a product which is useful for a various
group of people then it is said to have a mass market appeal (Andrew, 2012).
 Affordability – refers to whether buyers in the potential market are psychologically and
economically able to willing to pay a product's price. In other words, if anything is
affordable then its price is reasonable and buyers have money to buy it.
 Prestige Price – It is the marketing strategy where prices for a product set higher than
normal because lower prices will reduce sales. Such as jewellery, clothing, cars, high-end
perfumes etc (Wadavi, 2016).
 Exclusivity – If something is exclusive that means it is limited to people who belong to
high-class society and has a lot of money.
In the positioning map, "Burberry" is in prestige price and exclusivity. "Gucci" has the mass
market and prestige price. “Primark” is in low quality and low price.

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3. Provide two methods which brands such as Burberry might use to achieve
repositioning.
Burberry will upsurge their price architecture:
Luxury brands like “Burberry” cannot just increase the price without any reason if they do this
that would be bad. "Burberry" needs to do research on how and when they need to raise the
prices. The act will complete transparency and tell customers why they need to raise the prices.
The benefit of this action (price increasing) is that the company is very honest with their
customers and there is no reason for customers to not believing and understanding the company’s
decision. This will increase the customer’s trust in the brand.
The disadvantage of this method is that when the company announces very honestly about
increasing the prices for their products, this might lead the customers to go to the other
competitive brands for getting low prices.
“Burberry” will launch new accessories and luxury leather goods to fascinate high-end
customers:
While launching the new product in the market, the major disadvantage can be faced by the
company is of product failure. Competitors can bring a better product in the market or they can
offer better deals with better quality in the market. People will automatically start talking for new
items available in the market, which is a great thing with the help of product launching. Also, an
increase in revenue is the primary purpose of a product launch. The company can accomplish
their objective of increasing their profit percentage if people like the new products. Introducing
new products will also bring new opportunities for business expansion.
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Conclusion
It has been concluded that product positioning helps in fascinating different types of consumers,
to introduce new products in the market it also helps in to communicate benefits of the product in
the market. When the company decided to change or add the qualities of the product then
product positioning helps them very much. In this study, it has been determined that positioning
maps are designs to show the buyer's perception. Marketers use these maps to show the brand
differentiation based on their price, market size, exclusivity, uniqueness etc. For launching new
products in the market, a company can use marketing techniques like increasing prices for their
products or launching the new addition of product in order to accomplish their objectives.
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References:
 Andrew, 2012. Andrew Golden Design. [Online]. Wordpress. Available at:
https://andrewgolden.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/ugh-a-post-about-primark/. [Acessed on
13th March 2019].
 Endres, H., 2013. Shreddz a Clothing Brand: Creating a Marketing Plan Through Social
Media and Traditional Marketing Research.
 Ko, E., Hwang, Y.K. and Kim, E.Y., 2013. Green marketing'functions in building
corporate image in the retail setting. Journal of Business Research, 66(10), pp.1709-
1715.
 Moon, S. and Kamakura, W.A., 2017. A picture is worth a thousand words: Translating
product reviews into a product positioning map. International Journal of Research in
Marketing, 34(1), pp.265-285.
 Wadavi, 2016. Positioning for Luxury. [Online]. Wordpress. Available at:
https://mpk732t12016clusterb.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/positioning-for-luxury/.
[Acessed on 13th March 2019].
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