International Market Expansion: Herschel Supply Co. in India

This report focuses on the international market expansion of Herschel Supply Company into India. It begins with an executive summary outlining the report's objectives, which include developing an international marketing plan and conducting a SWOT analysis. The report provides an overview of Herschel Supply Company, a Canadian-based manufacturer of backpacks and accessories, and its current global presence. A detailed SWOT analysis is presented, evaluating the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats within the Indian market. The strengths include social media promotion, a highly engaged community, stylish products, affordable resources, and cooperative temperament. Weaknesses include poverty, lack of effective marketing, poor infrastructure, and lack of transparency. Opportunities are identified such as production of international brands, outsourcing, customization, promoting through other mediums, and overseas investment. Threats include competitive global brands and the potential for the brand to go out of style. The report then segments the Indian market geographically, demographically, behaviorally, and psychographically to match customer needs. The report concludes by referencing relevant sources to support the analysis.

Running head: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The main aim of this report will be to discuss about the market expansion of the company of
Herschel Supply Company, into the market place of India. International marketing plan need
to be developed for the company in order to target the untapped market of India. A SWOT
analysis will be done in order to judge about the overall benefits and dangers that the
company can face, along with the market segmentation of the region of India.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
About the Organization..............................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Strengths.................................................................................................................................4
Weaknesses............................................................................................................................4
Opportunities..........................................................................................................................5
Threats....................................................................................................................................5
Segmentation..............................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The main aim of this report will be to discuss about the market expansion of the
company of Herschel Supply Company, into the market place of India, due to its population
and diverse culture. International marketing plan need to be developed for the company in
order to target the untapped market of India. A SWOT analysis will be done in order to judge
about the overall benefits and dangers that the company can face, along with the market
segmentation of the region of India.
About the Organization
Herschel Supply Company is a Canadian based company that manufactures hipster
retro backpacks and other accessories. Lyndon and Jamie Cormack were the founders of this
company. It was founded in the year 2009 with headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia.
This company manufactures a wide range of products like duffel bags, backpacks, hats, other
luggage and accessories. The target customers are aged between 18-35 years by evoking an
American nostalgic sense through the straps made of leather and old logos. Even the name of
the brand is derived from the name of a small frontier village of Canada. Around the world, it
has about 44 retail shops ranging from Paris to Dubai to Hong Kong. They have chosen the
country of India due to its high population and massive advancement of number of tech-
savvy people in the country. Both the nations possess long-lasting bilateral relations, apart
from multilateral cooperation and partnerships between them. Canada, like many other
nations, targeted India as one of the fastest GDP growing nation in the world and fast
increasing economy. But the Foreign Direct Investment or FDI is hampering the trade
relations between the nations, as it is creating a barrier in the entry of this organization in the
market place of India (Ge et al. 2016).

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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
1. Promotion through social media – The huge population of India where the
maximum people are tech-savvy ensures larger utilization of social media for
advertising.
2. Highly engaged community - India facilitates communication, involvement and
exchange between various organizations.
3. Stylish – India’s youth are becoming trendier and developing global styles and
fashion.
4. Affordable – Highly educated, skilled and dynamic human resources are available in
lesser costs.
5. Cooperative temperament – Indians can blend easily with westernized cultures in
terms of attitude and temperament.
Weaknesses
1. Poverty – Many places in India are still stricken by poverty. Therefore, the
promotions can be done in big cosmopolitan cities only.
2. Lack of effective marketing – Market powers are misused by the firms and the
regulatory systems are also nascent.
3. Poor infrastructure costs – Inadequacy and poor quality of the infrastructure costs
are serious threats as well as time delays.
4. Lack of transparency – There are black sheep everywhere, and many in India, who
are unsuitable for handling trustworthy work and responsibilities.

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Opportunities
1. Production of international brands – This is vital due to the growing likeliness for
foreign brands in Indian markets.
2. Outsourcing – There is huge scope of growth with the outsourcing opportunities.
3. Customization – According to the demands of the customers their customization
facilities in India.
4. Promoting through other mediums – In addition to the social media, there are
several other mediums that are popular in India to advertise a global brand and can be
easily reached out to maximum number of people.
5. Overseas investment – Indian companies are working on more overseas and
international investments.
Threats
1. Competitive global brands – Due to the huge demand for the vast population of
India, competition has increased in the market between all foreign brands.
2. Traditional is out of style – As this company primarily manufactures bag of the
traditional “hipster” style, it may run out of fashion and no longer attract customers
(Gürel and Merba 2017).
Segmentation
The market size of the luxury market is pretty good in India, where revenue is
expected to be in the region of US$680 Million in the year 0f 2019. And the number of users
would be around 419.1 Million by the year 2023 (Jain, Khan and Sita 2017). The market
place of India wold be segmented in order to match the customer needs in a proper way and
possess the opportunities for growth and can enhance profits for them. Following these, the
market can be segmented in the following four factors:

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Geographic – The urban areas or the major cities of India would be targeted first
based on the values, interests and preferences of the people towards the bags of Herschel
Supply Company.
Demographic – The high income group of people would be targeted by the
organization, as the product sold by Herschel Supply Company falls under the luxury items.
Behavioural – The decision making and buying processes would make the way for
the customers towards the brand in the region of India, so the elite society people would be
targeted, who would take less time to take decisions.
Psychographic – The people having a healthy lifestyle would be targeted, who would
be more interested towards the products of Herschel Supply Company (Alt and Torben 2017).
1.

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References
Alt, James, and Torben Iversen. "Inequality, labor market segmentation, and
preferences for redistribution." American Journal of Political Science 61.1 (2017): 21-36.
Ge, Jianping, et al. "World rare earths trade network: Patterns, relations and role
characteristics." Resources Policy 50 (2016): 119-130.
Gürel, Emet, and Merba Tat. "SWOT analysis: A theoretical review." Journal of
International Social Research 10.51 (2017).
Jain, Sheetal, Mohammed Naved Khan, and Sita Mishra. "Understanding consumer
behavior regarding luxury fashion goods in India based on the theory of planned
behavior." Journal of Asia Business Studies 11.1 (2017): 4-21.
Phadermrod, Boonyarat, Richard M. Crowder, and Gary B. Wills. "Importance-
performance analysis based SWOT analysis." International Journal of Information
Management 44 (2019): 194-203.
Venter, Peet, Alex Wright, and Sally Dibb. "Performing market segmentation: a
performative perspective." Journal of Marketing Management 31.1-2 (2015): 62-83.