Marketing Plan for Gymshark: A Comprehensive Analysis

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A MARKETING PLAN FOR GYMSHARK
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Executive Summary
This report discusses about the marketing planning of the UK based organization Gymshark.
Marketing plan is an essential component in the overall business plan. In the process of
marketing planning, a marketing strategy for business organization is developed on the basis of
detailed analysis of the marketplace. The organization operates its business by online website
and sells its products directly to its customers. In this assignment the political, economical,
social, technological and environmental factors that affect the organizational functioning has
been explained. The analysis of the porter’s five forces helps to develop idea regarding the
competitive forces against the organization. The below assignment also includes a SWOT
analysis of the organization Gymshark that helped in the development of SMART objectives for
gaining more market share and growth of the company. On the basis of the SMART objectives
marketing strategies have been generated in this study. For development of these marketing
strategies the segmentation, targeting and positioning model has been followed. A BCG matrix
of the brands of the organization helps in classifying the products based on the market growth
rate and respective market share. Thus this study recommends an unique marketing strategy for
Gymshark that can increase its growth by enhancing its competitive advantage, productivity and
profitability.
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Contents Page
1.Introduction...................................................................................................................................4
2. Environmental and Competitor Analysis.....................................................................................4
3. SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................7
3.1 SMART Marketing Objectives..................................................................................................8
4. Marketing Strategy....................................................................................................................10
5. Utilising the Marketing Mix to Improve Growth and Market Share.........................................11
6. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................14
7. List of References......................................................................................................................15
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1. Introduction
The purpose of marketing planning is to set the business organizations in a particular course of
marketing. It helps organizations to take up strategies for the growth of the organization, enables
the managers and leaders to lay out the essential resources and budget for completion of the
objectives. Gymshark, the focus organization of this assignment, is an UK based company that
deals in fitness clothings through online store. This assignment will demonstrate the macro and
micro environmental factors that impact on functioning of the organization Gymshark. The
marketing planning of the organization include a SWOT analysis, competitor analysis and based
on the current situation marketing objectives and strategies will be developed. This assignment
also highlights the marketing mix of the organization using the 4Ps model. This information will
be of value to Gymshark because the organization does not have any plan for developing any
physical stores. In the market of UK, the organization faces strong rivalry with potential
competitors like Adidas, Nike, ASOS, and Primark and similar others. Thus, the organization
needs a strong marketing plan so that more people come to know about its business.
2. Environmental and Competitor Analysis
This section identifies the environmental factors that affects the functioning of Gymshark and
also encloses the analysis of the competitors with the help of PESTLE analysis and Porter's Five
Forces analysis.
PESTLE Analysis
Political factors ● Brexit can impact over the exporting and importing of goods by
the organization Gymshark.
● The increasing interest of the government in improvement of the
health of the citizens can enhance the sales of fitness products
(Chaffey and Smith, 2017).
● International trade restrictions can negatively affect the business
operations.
Economical
factors
● In January 2019, The GDP of UK grew by 0.2%. It comprises
3.5% of World GDP. The inflation rate recorded to be 1.8%.
● The unemployment rate of UK is decreasing and recorded to be
3.9% in January 2019.
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● The growing income of people enhances the sales of the
organization (Baker, 2016).
● The proportion of educated people is also increasing which
ensures recruitment of talented people at the vacant posts of the
organization.
Social factors ● The lifestyle of the people in UK is changing in recent years and
they are becoming more conscious regarding the health which
influences the growth of organizations offering fitness products
(Šonková and Grabowska, 2015).
● The social media influencers and the athletes are becoming more
interested in the sponsorship of Fitness products which helps in
promotion of the brand name.
Technological
factors
● UK is becoming one of the most powerful technologically
advanced countries and this helps Gymshark to improve its
technological equipments for giving its customers better
shopping experience.
● Gymshark is also integrating technologies into the sportswear
which is very demanding by the consumers.
Legal factors ● Gymshark is bound to obey the law of the country regarding the
fair labour for running a hassle free business.
● The contracts with the brand ambassadors and the sponsors of
the brand must be legally approved (Milichovsky and
Simberova, 2015).
● The organization must have to protect its intellectual property
rights by following the legal structure of the country.
Environmental
factors
● To reduce its negative impact over the environment Gymshark
concentrates in environment friendly packaging of its product.
● The organization is also bound to participate in recycling
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procedures for decreasing its environmental impact.
Table.1- PESTLE analysis of Gymshark, UK
(Source- Created by learner)
Porter's Five Forces
Fig.1- Porter's Five Forces
(Source- Luo and Song, 2015)
This is a tool that helps in interpretation of competitiveness of the business environment of
business organizations. The five forces that make up the competitive environment of Gymshark
is explained below:
Threat of new entrants: For entering in to a new market or industry, any business organization
have to think about various aspects such as the potential competitors, switching cost, capital
requirement, technological advancement and economy of the country. The demand of sportswear
is high but the sportswear industry of UK is highly occupied by many competitors and thus it
would be very difficult for any new entrant to sustain in such an environment. Thus the threat of
entrants is medium to low.
Bargaining power of suppliers: The bargaining power of the supplier in case of the sportswear
industry is high. As per the case study of the organization, the fitness wears are made up of
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technical fabrics and for unique designs and the quality of the fabric the organization have to
depend on specific supplier.
Bargaining power of buyers: Gymshark sells its products directly to its individual customers
and not via the wholesale stockists. In UK the buyers of sports products have many options as
there are many reputed organizations. However Gymshark provides fitness products for men and
women in affordable range which makes the bargaining power of the buyer’s medium to low.
Threat of substitutes: In Spite of going to the gyms people can also choose other sport activities
like Yoga, aerobic lesson and meditation. As people have many options regarding the sport
activity the threat of substitute is very high.
Rivalry among existing competitors: The industry is dominated by strong rivals like Nike and
Adidas as well as some other organizations like Primark, ASOS, Ted Baker, Topshop and
several others. This strong rivalry among various organizations results in price wars and forces
Gymshark to react to the trend of the market quickly for gaining competitive advantage.
3. SWOT Analysis
This part analyses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Gymshark so that the
information can be implemented for strategic planning.
Strength
● Strong brand recognition and brand
image
● Well established business of
Gymshark helps it to take chance and
market innovative product.
● Sponsorship of the well known
athletes and social media influencers
● A greater number of followers on
social media
● The online selling process enables the
company to take brave decisions and
take risks.
Weaknesses
● Poor feedback of the consumers
lowers the sales of fitness products.
● Limited number of supplier makes
their bargaining power strong and
forces Gymshark to spend more in raw
materials.
Opportunities Threats
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● Can expand to new emerging market
● Technological advancement can be
integrated with sportswear
● ‘Athleisure’ trend is becoming part of
lifestyle of UK people
● Giant competitors like Nike and
Adidas can create a price war in the
industry
● New ideas are often subject to
generate bad reaction of consumers
(Athanasopoulou et al., 2015).
Table.2- SWOT Analysis of Gymshark, UK
(Source- Created by learner)
3.1 SMART Marketing Objectives
This section identifies particular marketing objectives that would support the long term goals of
the organization Gymshark utilising SMART objectives. 3 SMART marketing objectives for
Gymshark that are specific, measurable, achievable, and realistic and, time bound has been
explained below.
Objective 1- To expand the business
Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound
This objective
state that
Gymshark have
to increase its
supply chain for
expanding the
business which
would in turn
enhance its
market share.
Yes it can be
measures as, the
respective
objective states
that Gymshark
can expand its
business to 5
new locations.
This objective
can be achieved
as Gymshark
have to analyse
its strength and
capabilities so
that the objective
is achieved.
Yes, it is realistic
due to the review
of the resources,
budget,
manpower,
competitors and
market situation
that are essential.
This objective is
subjected to be
achieved within
12 months.
Objective 2- To mitigate the impact of poor review of the customers
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Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound
This objective is
to minimize the
negative impact of
poor review of
customers in the
websites and
social media
platforms using
social media
optimization and
website
optimization
It can be
measured as
the objective is
to reduce the
bad reviews
from 9% to
3%.
This can be
achieved through
strengthening the
company along
with its web
development
team and digital
marketing team
so that the
objective is
achievable.
It can be termed
as realistic as
before the
selection of the
time period, the
organization has
to determine that
it have efficient
employees in the
two respective
departments and
adequate funding
for
accomplishment
of the objective.
This objective
should be
achieved within
12 months.
Objective 3- To retain its customer for longer period
Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time bound
The objective is
to retain
customers for
longer period by
gaining
competitive
advantage with
the provision of
innovative
fitness products.
This objective
can be measured
because, the
respective
objective is to
increase the
customer
retention rate by
5%.
The objective
can be achieved
through
investing more
in the R&D and
marketing
department for
better market
research and
production of
This objective is
realistic as
Gymshark can
identify the trend
of the market
and increase
funding
resource.
Gymshark may
achieve this
objective within
12 months.
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trendy products.
4. Marketing Strategy
This part develops specific marketing strategy based on the current situation of the organization
Gymshark. Marketing strategy of Gymshark is discussed on the basis of Segmentation Targeting
and Positioning.
Fig.2- The segmentation, targeting and positioning model
(Source- Song et al., 2018)
Segmentation
Segmentation can be defined by the identification of the market that the business organization is
trying to segment. The process of segmentation begins with the identification of the needs of the
customers. The process of segmentation is informed by a detailed analysis of the customer data
gained from market research (Banerjee, 2017). Segmentation of the audience can be achieved on
the basis of demographics, geographic, psychographics and behaviour of customers.
Targeting
After segmentation of market business organizations are bound to target a specific segment by
analysing the demand of their products or services which is achieved by proper evaluation
(Killian and McManus, 2015). Targeting is achieved by analysis of the life cycle of the
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customers in the segments. Targeting of the segments can be undifferentiated, differentiated or
multi segment targeting, focus targeting or customized targeting.
Positioning
Positioning is the final stage in the marketing process using a STP model. In this stage, the
procedure of placing the products or services in front of the target segment is determined. This
stage is vital for presentation of the products with the help of the marketing channels (Felix et al.,
2017). There are various kinds of positioning strategy and the major ones are pricing, quality,
convenience, differentiation and customer service.
Marketing strategy for Gymshark
Depending on the objectives Gymshark is bound to enhance its market share by expanding its
business to new locations and while retaining its existing customers by reducing the negative
impact of the poor customer reviews. For this purpose the company have to choose an unique
marketing strategy that would be efficient in meeting the organizational goals within the specific
period of time.
Gymshark have to segment its audience by following a psychographic segmentation strategy,
where people are segmented on the basis of their lifestyle, personality, attitude, interests, values
and opinions. Such kind of segmentation would help the organization in differentiation among
the people who are not interested in the sports activity from those who are interested. For
targeting those people who needs the products that the company offers, Gymshark must use a
focus or concentrated targeting strategy. In this way the firm would be able to serve a specific
segment among the all segments and invest in particular innovation that would be efficient in
fulfilling the demand of that segment. Lastly Gymshark have to choose a specific positioning
strategy for outnumbering its competitors so that it can gain competitive advantage as well as can
increase its market share. For this purpose the most appropriate positioning strategy would be
pricing strategy and customer service strategy. A competitive pricing strategy would help the
organization in attracting more customers by offering products at lower price than its
competitors. A better customer service would help in reducing the negative impact of the poor
reviews (Varadarajan, 2015).
5. Utilising the Marketing Mix to Improve Growth and Market Share
The Marketing Mix is the foundation model of marketing. This is a tool of marketing which is
utilized by business organizations for pursuing its marketing objectives in the market that it has
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targeted (Kumar, 2015). The four components of marketing mix are the product, price, place and
promotion. Gymshark can use the 4Ps model of marketing mix for making improvements in its
growth as well as market share. The marketing mix for Gymshark is explained below:
Product
Gymshark offers a range of sports and gym products for both men and women including
swimwear, hoodies, jackets and many more. The company also provide products that are made
up of unique material such as technical fabric. The innovative ideas behind the unique products
come from the efficient market research and acceptance of the ongoing trend of the market
(Wensley, 2016). The sustainable packaging material of the products and a quickest delivery and
return support adds value to the products and satisfies the customers.
Price
The price of the sportswear offered by Gymshark follows a competitive pricing strategy that
helps it to offer the products at a price which is acceptable and afforded by the majority of the
customers. This pricing strategy helps Gymshark to gain competitive advantage and thereby to
enhance its market share in the existing market.
Place
The organization Gymshark have chosen a online selling process and sells its product directly to
its customers. The company sells its products in 177 countries (Gymshark UK., 2019). The
majority portion of sales it acquires is from USA. Thus it is clear that the organization chooses to
sell its products in such location where the demand of the product is very high. The export sales
of the company are £30.8M that equals to 128% growth of the company.
Promotion
For the purpose of brand promotion the organization has selected the social media influencers
and the athletes who sponsor the brand name across the social media. Such a unique strategy of
promotion has enabled the company to develop a huge fan base across the social media. It has
succeeded in generating 30m followers in blogs, Youtube and instagram.
BCG Matrix
BCG growth-share matrix is a tool for corporate planning and used by business organizations in
portraying their brand portfolio on a graph having two axes one of which stands for the relative
share of the market and another for the market growth speed (Mohajan, 2017). The brands of the
organization Gymshark can be classified into four quadrants that are explained below:
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