Excelsior Clothing: Marketing Planning and Control in Auckland, NZ

This report conducts a situational analysis of Excelsior Clothing, an Auckland-based organization specializing in retail and professional clothing, with a focus on their 'Great Walking' collection. It begins with an overview of the garment industry in New Zealand, followed by an external review encompassing political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. Customer and competitor analyses are also undertaken. The report summarizes the organization's opportunities, threats, strengths, and weaknesses based on its Auckland operations. Concluding with two marketing objectives derived from the situational analysis: increasing the customer base by 5% and boosting the profit margin by 10%.

Running head: MARKETING PLANNING AND CONTROL
Marketing Planning and Control
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
The report intends to highlight the prominence of the construct of situational analysis within
the business practices of an organisation in the particular context of Excelsior Clothing and
the great walking collection of clothes offered by them. The great walking collection of
clothes is primarily intended for the customers who like to travel as well as undertake
adventurous activities and also for the working class individuals. The report begins by
defining the garment industry and also the different aspects of the same in the particular
context of New Zealand. The report next undertakes an analysis of the external business
environment in which the organisation operates. An analysis of the customers as well as the
competitors of the organisation and its product had also been undertaken. The report also
offers a summary of the opportunities-threats and strengths-weaknesses that the organisation
faces on the basis of their business operations in Auckland. Lastly, the report concludes by
suggesting two marketing objectives on the basis of the situational analysis, namely, increase
in the customer base by 5% and increase in the profit margin of the organisation by 10%.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
External Review.........................................................................................................................4
Industry Review.....................................................................................................................4
External Forces.......................................................................................................................5
Customer Analysis.................................................................................................................9
Competitor Analysis.............................................................................................................11
Internal Review........................................................................................................................12
Opportunities and Threats Summary...................................................................................12
Strengths and Weaknesses Summary...................................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................17

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Introduction
Zahraie et al. (2016) are of the viewpoint that the process of globalisation had greatly
enhanced the level of rivalry or competition that the diverse business firms face in the
business markets of their operations. As opined by Payne (2016), the contemporary firms in
order to mitigate the adverse effects of the threats on the score of fierce business competition
are increasingly resorting to the usage of different kinds of marketing strategies. According to
Parker (2017), the primary aim of these marketing strategies is to promote the products or
services offered by an organisation in the best possible manner.
Excelsior Clothing, based in Auckland, is an organisation which specialises in the sale
of retail as well as professional clothes. The organisation in a bid to maintain effective
relationship with the retailors to whom the majority of the clothes manufactured by them are
sold refrains from selling the same to third parties. More importantly, in order to enhance its
profitability and also to diversify the clothes offered by it, the organisation is currently
offering new kinds of clothes like smart apparels, great walking and others to the customers
over online. The great walking range of clothes in the recent times have gained a significant
amount of popularity among the tourists and the organisation is taking into effective
consideration the needs or the requirements of the customers within these great walking
collection of clothes offered by it. These clothes are manufactured from merino and alpaca
fibre and are not only fashionable but at the same time suitable for the individuals who like to
undertake adventurous activities or like to travel around. More importantly, it is seen that the
majority of the tourists who visit the nation fail to bring with them adequate travelling
garments or the ones which will enable them to undertake adventurous activities. It is
precisely here that the prominence of the Great Walking apparels offered by the organisation
under discussion here lies. The organisation is currently following the omni-channel business
model to offer both offline and online services to the customers. The aim of this report is to

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conduct a situational analysis of the organisation Excelsior Clothing and also to formulate
two marketing objectives that the organisation can focus on in the coming six months.
External Review
Industry Review
Yeoman and McMahon-Beattie (2018) are of the viewpoint that the garment industry
had emerged as one of the most important industries of the recent times and is mainly
concerned with the manufacture as well as the sale of the garments or the clothes. More
importantly, it is seen that the garment industry offers employment to more than 1.8 million
people and contributes around 1.4% towards the global economy (Murray, 2017). The
garment industry of New Zealand for the year 2017 experienced a growth of 1.9% and the
revenue generated by it was more than $2.5 billion (Ibisworld.com.au, 2019). However, the
industry is expected to grow at a rate of 2.3% in 2019 because of the increasing desire of the
people to opt for fashionable as well as trendy garments (Ibisworld.com.au, 2019).
Furthermore, it is seen that the industry is operational at the global, national and the local
level and different kinds of organisations are there in New Zealand so as to cater to the
demands of the diverse customers of New Zealand.
There are more than 2,240 organisations related to the garment industry in New
Zealand presently and they offer employment services to more than 18,000 citizens of the
nation (Green & Kaiser, 2017). However, at the same time it is to be said that in the nation of
New Zealand the industry under discussion here is a very competitive one and there are many
organisations like Kathmandu, MacPac, Bivouac and others which offer the same kind of
products like the ones that the organisation Excelsior Clothing. Moreover, it is seen that the
nation of New Zealand follows the market structure of ‘perfect competition’ wherein
different organisations compete with each other to gain monopoly within the business market

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(Sardar & Lee, 2015). This as a matter of fact acts as an opportunity for the organisation
since it can monopolise the business market of New Zealand through the usage of effective
strategies. Lastly, the industry is being dominated by the middlemen or the retailors who
undertake the processes of distribution and sale of the garments manufactured by the different
garment manufacturing organisations like Excelsior Clothing.
External Forces
Political
Factors
 New Zealand had one of the most stable political systems of the
world and is commonly referred as one of the major “unitary
parliamentary representative democracy” of the world (Murray,
2017)
 The nation in the recent times had not faced any major political
turmoil or struggles
 The national government takes actives for the growth as well as
the development of trade and commerce
 The national government readily offers different kinds of
business loans to the organisations for the purpose of the
expansion of their business operations (McNeill & Moore,
2015).
 The labour regulations and tax charges are high in the nation of
NZ which means that the organisations had to pay a higher
amount of tax and other kinds of tariff charges (McNeill &
McKay, 2016).
Economic
Factors
 New Zealand had the 53rd largest economy of the world in terms
of GDP and the 68th largest one in terms of PPP

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(Ibisworld.com.au, 2019)
 The inflation rate of the nation is less than 1% and the economic
growth rate of the nation is more than 4.1% (Ibisworld.com.au,
2019)
 The nation also boasts of a labour force of more than 2.399
million and the unemployment rate of the nation is only 4.1%
(Ibisworld.com.au, 2019)
 Labour is expensive in the nation of New Zealand and to hire
people the organisations need to offer them more salary (Kelsey,
2015).
 The nation is also the host to some of the largest business firms
of the world like Countdown, McDonald’s, KFC, Zara and
others which have contributed towards the economic growth of
the nation in a significant manner (Li et al., 2016).
 The majority of the organisation of New Zealand in the
expansion phase of the business cycle which in turn indicates the
fact that the national economy of the nation is likely to grow at a
steady pace (Kasemsap, 2016).
Social Factors  The society of New Zealand is a very liberal one and the people
like to try out new fashionable garments
 Professional attire is a must for the working class individuals
and it as a matter of fact forms a way of life for the people of
New Zealand (Johnson et al., 2015).
 The people of New Zealand and also the tourists who visit the
nation are very fond of adventurous sports or activities and this

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is one of the major reasons why they generally like to wear the
kind of apparels which help them to undertake such activities
(Green & Kaiser, 2017).
 The majority of the tourists who arrive in the nation do not like
to bring along with them the kind of garments which are likely
to help them to undertake adventurous sports or activities or for
that matter travel comfortably in the nation (Guercini &
Runfola, 2016).
 The working class individuals and also the young people in the
age bracket of 24-44 are the ones who like to take the help of the
kind of apparels that will allow them to undertake adventurous
sports. This demographic is even perceptible among the tourists
who frequent the nation.
 As of 2017, the individual per capita GDP of the nation was
$42,940.58 which means that the people of the nation had
adequate amount of capital to invest or buy different kinds of
fashionable or travelling garments (Dalziel et al., 2018).
Technological
Factors
 New Zealand is one of most technologically advanced nations of
the world and more than 91.7% people of the nation have access
to internet (Geare & Stablein, 2017).
 E-commerce is one of the most popular forms of business
models in the nation of New Zealand because of the tech-savvy
nature of the people (Crane, 2016).
 The extensive usage of different kinds of disruptive technologies
like 3D printing, 5D printing and others have not only enabled

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the organisations related to the garment industry to reduce their
product manufacture cycle time but at the same time the
operational cost incurred by them as well (Ciasullo, Cardinali &
Cosimato, 2018).
 The tech-savvy nature of the people of the nation under
discussion had greatly facilitated the extensive usage of the
social media marketing and digital marketing by the different
organisations related to the garment industry
 The improvements in the processes of communication,
transportation and others have greatly facilitated the outsourcing
of the different processes of the organisations related to the
garment industry and this in turn had greatly lowered the
operational cost of these organisations and thereby helped them
to earn a higher amount of profit (Crane, 2016).
Legal Factors  The government of the nation changes after every three years
and new kinds of corporate or business legislations are being
passed by these governments on the basis of the present
condition of the nation
 Crime and corruption rate is very low in the nation (Craik,
2015).
 Organisations are welcomed to conduct business in the nation
yet the higher lending and tax charges makes the profit earned
by them very low
 The organisations need to abide by different corporate laws like
Fair Work Act, Equality Act, Consumer Act and others so as to

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conduct their business in the nation (Caniato et al., 2015)
 The free trade policy followed by the nation acts as a boon for
the different business enterprises of the nation
Environmental
Factors
 The nation is a signatory member of the Paris Agreement of
2017 and the organisations of the nation are required to curb the
amount of pollutants released by them by more than 2.1%
(Blaszczyk & Pouillard, 2018).
 The people of NZ are very concerned about the ecology of the
nation and this is perhaps one of the major reasons why eco-
friendly products or services are very popular in the nation
 The organisations are also required to adopt effective waste
management techniques and ensure that their business activities
are not causing any harm to the animals or the environment for
that matter.
Customer Analysis
Binotto and Payne (2017) have articulated the viewpoint that the organisational as
well as market prospects of an organisation depends greatly on the kind of customer base that
the organisation is focusing on. In this regard, it needs to be said that the organisation
Excelsior Clothing focuses on both the domestic customers and the tourists for the sale of the
great walking line of garments offered by it. For example, it is seen that among the domestic
customers there are two categories on which the organisation focuses, namely the working
class individuals related to the age bracket of 30-54 and the travellers related to the 24-44 age
bracket. In this regard, it needs to be said that the great walking collection had specific
professional garments for the working class individuals and also casual garments for the

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individuals who like to travel around in the nation and like to indulge in adventurous
activities or sports. On the other hand, for the tourists, the age bracket of customers on which
the organisation focuses on is 25-45 years of age since they are the ones who like to indulge
in adventurous sports or activities. The organisation had specifically designed the great
walking collection of garments keeping the needs or the demands of these customers into
perspective.
According to Payne (2016), the majority of the customers of the garment industry
look for the kinds of garments which are not only cost effective but at the same time good in
terms of quality as well. This is perhaps one of the major reasons why the organisation
Excelsior Clothing is currently trying to offer better quality garments to the customers at a
comparatively lower price despite the fact that they are incurring a significant amount of loss
because of the usage of this practice. More importantly, it is seen that the majority of the
customers who are opting for the travelling or the adventurous kind of garments from the
organisation under discussion here are value proposition of fashion and comfort in mind
because of the fact that these garments are being used by the customers for a very brief period
of time (Murray, 2017). The net result of this is that the organisation is currently focusing on
these two value propositions for the manufacture as well as the sale of the great walking line
of garments. Thus, it can be said that the stylish as well as the fashionable appearance of the
garments sold by the organisation under discussion here is the major gratification factor
which influences the customers to opt for their garments rather than the ones offered by the
other organisations. In contrast to this, the working class customers usually have the value
propositions of style statement, comfort, durability and others in mind and these are the
gratification factors which propel them to opt for the professional garments sold by Excelsior
Clothing.

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The tourists or the travelling individuals form the major section of the entire customer
base of the organisation Excelsior Clothing and it is seen that during each of their travel or
vacations they opt for the garments offered by the organisation. However, it is seen that these
customers usually buy the garments offered by the organisation while taking into effective
consideration the five stages of customer buying behaviour process, namely, need
recognition, information search, alternatives evaluation, purchase decision and post-purchase
evaluation. The organisation under discussion here takes the help of different kinds of
retailers for the sale of the products offered by it. More importantly, it is seen that in order to
maintain an effective relationship with the different retailers the organisation refrains from
selling the products that it offers to the retailers over its online portal. This as a matter of fact
is one of the most important need or requirement of the middlemen or the retailers that the
organisation takes the help of. The buying process used by these retailers is completely
influenced by the notion of monopoly over the garments offered by the organisation. Thus,
regardless of the nature or the kind of garments manufactured by the organisation the retailers
purchase them. Furthermore, the organisation in the recent times had evolved an intricate
network of different kinds of retailers who facilitate the sale of diverse products offered by
the organisation.
Competitor Analysis
The major competitors of the organisation Excelsior Clothing and the Great Walking
clothing offered by it are Bivouac, MacPac and Kathmandu Fashion. It is pertinent to note
that these organisations offer almost similar kinds of travel and adventure apparels to the
customers with a slight difference in quality and cost. Furthermore, it is seen that all these
organisations are operational in the city of Auckland, the city in which the organisation under
discussion here is operational. More importantly, it is seen that the majority of these
organisations are actively using the digital marketing strategies for the promotion as well as