International Marketing Strategies and Competitor Analysis: Icebreaker

This report delves into the international marketing strategies of Icebreaker, a leader in the woolen garment industry, examining its approach to economies of scale, profit earning, and market share acquisition. It analyzes Icebreaker's product importance, international advertising, brand identity creation, and e-commerce utilization. The report then identifies and analyzes both local (The Wool Company, Eco Wool) and international (IBEX, Smartwool) competitors using a perceptual map and competitive analysis table. Finally, the report extends its analysis to the marketing strategies of McDonalds, utilizing the 8 P's framework, providing a comprehensive understanding of Icebreaker's market position and competitive landscape. The report is based on a provided assignment brief from a university course, aiming to provide a thorough examination of Icebreaker's marketing practices and its competitive environment.

Running Head: International Marketing
International Marketing
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. International Marketing Strategy of Icebreaker
International Marketing is a process of applying the basic principles of the subject to meet
the necessitates and the desire of the individuals residing beyond the domestic territory of the
country in which the company currently operates. In other words, it is the accumulation of the
activities, which helps the corporation to conduct business in more than one country. It is also
called Global Marketing, which includes creation of a strategic network according to the
wants and preferences of the people residing in different countries. Whenever a company
wants to conduct its business in more than one country there exists a number of basic
objectives, which are:
a) To attain Economies of Scale: According to the concept, a company engages in
production in such a way that the production of units of the goods and services it
produces is optimized in such a way that the fixed cost invested in production is
minimized and the money is generated is through sales maximization. This will not
only help the company to generate profit through mass production but the customers
will attain the product or service at a reduced price.
b) Higher Profit Earning Opportunity: Another important reason for which a company
starts to operate in international market is to earn higher profits. The successful
companies are aware of the opportunities and advantages that their company can gain
if they offer products and services if they start their operations in the international
markets.
c) Greater Market Share: To gain a greater market share in the global market is the
ultimate aim of every MNC. Through international marketing, the companies not only
gains more profits but also a market capitalizing opportunity in various countries.
d) Expanding the Life of the Product: Every product and services has a life span in the
market. With the help of the product life cycle, it can be observed that every product

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invented has to end one day. Whenever a company restricts its business to a certain
limit or a boundary, it lowers the lifespan of the offering. This occurs due to two main
reasons. Firstly, the consumers develops a distaste for the product. Secondly, the
competitors of the company provides better products and services towards which the
customers gets inclined. Operating in international markets helps the company to
achieve a fresh set of customers and provides an opportunity to recover from failures
through international sales.
e) Unexplored Markets: International Marketing helps the companies to create a market
leading position in the new and unexplored markets. It provides to tap the growing
economies of the world helping the company to extend the sustainability in the long
run.
Icebreaker merino is the market leader in the woolen garment industry. The marketing
strategies of the company are as follows:
1. Creating an importance of the product: The product or service is the most
important part of the company. It is the offering, which the company
manufactures and markets it to the customers (Affinito, Maria Conti & Motta,
2017). Icebreaker merino manufactures all the products using merino wool.
The flagship products of the company are Jackets, socks and gloves, Short
and Long Sleeves Tops and Hoodies.
2. International Advertisement Strategy: Icebreaker uses the broadcasting media
and the social media effectively to market its products from time to time. It
helps the company to create a perception of the products in the minds of the
customer (Barnard, 2017). Through its advertisement, it can be seen that they
are sophisticated and focuses on the quality of the product and the user

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experience rather than the price of the product. Therefore, it can be
understood that the product is premium in nature and operates in a specific
and niche markets.
3. Creating Brand Identity: The Company has a unique style of creating a brand
identity in the retail industry. It does not sell its products through multi
branded stores rather it chooses to operate through its own authentic stores
selling its own brands. This helps to create a premium image of the brand in
the minds of the customer. The justification of premium price is made through
operating in single stores of the company. It is present in major cities of the
world such as New York, Paris, Milan, and London.
4. Using E-Commerce: The Company, to operate globally and economically
uses various e-commerce websites such as Amazon and Woolworth to sell
and market its products. This is a very effective way to target the customers.
Today most of the customers prefers convenience to hassles so the popularity
of e-commerce has exceeded the popularity of brick and mortar stores.
Moreover, the laws and regulations of operating through E-commerce is also
less stringent and requires less licenses compared to offline stores.
2. Select and Analyze two local and two international competitors of Icebreaker
The chosen company for the task is Icebreaker Merino. Icebreaker is a public limited
company operating in the clothing industry. It was founded in the year 1995 in Wellington,
the capital city of New Zeeland. The headquarters of the country is in Auckland. The founder
of the company is Geremy Moon and the Chief Executive Officer is Greg Smith. The main
products of the company are Clothing with superior insulation, which is one of the finest in

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the world. Other than regular apparels it provides clothing for adventure sports such as river
rafting, Mountain Biking, Snowboarding and running. It also manufactures undergarments
for both the gender. The Unique Selling Proposition of the company is the material it uses to
manufacture the products. It uses Merino Wool extracted from the sheep only found in the
mountains of New Zeeland (Vagnoni et al., 2016). The specialty of the wool is it does not
contain the furry characteristics of the wool, which causes itchiness and irritation. On the
other hand, the wool produces warmth during the winter and keeps it cool during the summer.
In other words, it is a perfect insulator. The company maintains a separate sheep station from
which the raw merino wool is extracted.
The two chosen local competitors of Icebreaker are ‘The Wool Company’ and ‘Eco Wool’.
1. The Wool Company: The founder of the company is Gordon Riach in the year 1958.
According to the founder of the Company, the vision is to provide the customers
quality products, which are made with merino wool. The wool company manufactures
knitwear, lingerie and other types of clothing. The Unique Selling Proposition of the
company is making earnings in one hand and sustainable development on the other.
The store of the company is situated in the Utiku village, which is surrounded by large
farmlands and mountains. The beauty of the area acts as a significant contributor to
the objective of the company. The eco footprint of the company is very high and are
successful is maintaining their ecological standards.
2. Eco Wool: The Company is situated in Sheep world, New Zealand that farms, which
engages in production of wool from the sheep in their farms. The company engages in
manufacturing apparels, which is made from natural merino wool and sheepskin. The
company does not use plastic and the products are hundred percent natural. The
objective of the company is to provide premium range products to its customers. It
operates mainly through online store.

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The two Global Competitors of the company are:
1. IBEX: IBEX Outdoor Clothing is a garment manufacturing company. Peter Helmetag
and John Fernsell founded the company with its headquarters in White River Junction
in Vermont, United States of America. It uses wool as the main component fabric to
manufacture the apparels. The website of the company is www.ibexwear.com
2. Smart wool: Smartwool is a private limited company founded by Peter Duke and
Patty duke in the year 1994. It was founded in the year 1994 at Springboat Spring in
Colorado, United States of America. It is a subsidiary company of VF Corporation,
which specializes in Woolen Clothing. The raw material it uses is Merino Wool the
Unique Selling Proposition of the product is that the clothes do not shrink after
washing. The product portfolio focuses on targeting customers who are sports
enthusiast. Unlike other competitors, it does not produce wool but imports merino
from New Zealand (Hong, Oxley, McCann & Le, 2016).

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Figure 1: Perceptual Map of Icebreaker and its competitors
Explanation: The above diagram is a pictorial representation of a perceptual map of
Icebreaker and its competitors. As the task in hand is related to the apparel sector, the
parameters taken into consideration is price and quality of the products ranging from high to
low. The eco wool is placed at the bottom as compared to the other brands. This is because
the price of the products are relatively cheaper and the price is less. The next brand is the
wool company. It is also placed in the first quadrant but inclined towards quality more than
the price. Ibex is placed above Eco wool because though it has a high quality the price of the
products are higher than the other two stated brands (Cahen, Lahiri & Borini, 2016). Smart
wool is placed to the left of Ibex as it has lower price and almost equivalent quality. Lastly,
Icebreaker Merino is placed at the top because it has the best quality of woolen garments in
the market. The price of the products are also premium so the position of the brand in the
map is justified.

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b) Table 1: Competitive Analysis
Company Products Target Customer USP
The Wool Company Knit Wear, Lingerie Women Premium Quality
Eco Wool Outdoor Garments Men and Women Sustainable
Development
IBEX Outdoor Garments Sports Enthusiast Premium Quality
Smart Wool Outdoor Garments Men and Women Clothes do not
Shrink
Explanation: The wool company specializes in products such as the knit wear and lingerie.
The target customer base of the brand are women. The quality of the products are premium in
nature. Eco wool specializes in outdoor garments and targets both men and women with its
offering. As stated earlier, the company focuses on increasing the ecological footprint. IBEX
is the biggest competitor of Icebreaker in the market. It also targets the sports enthusiast in
the context of psychograph and both men and women in the context of demography.
This section is going to highlight the marketing strategies of four companies, namely, Air
BNB, Red-bull, Starbucks and McDonalds using the framework of a marketing mix or 8 P’s
as it is commonly known.
1. McDonalds Burgers

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Product – The products that McDonalds is so well-known for are burgers, shakes, sandwiches
and hotdogs. The burgers and sandwiches of McDonalds are absolutely sumptuous and are
known to melt in the mouth. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian burgers are made available
by McDonalds and the company is known to be quite innovative in the way in which it
packages and presents burgers for its target audience. Apart from burgers, McDonalds is also
quite well known for its fries. McDonalds is seen to serve its food quite hot and it allows
customers to customize food sometimes as well, with customers being in a position to choose
their favorite toppings or dressings for the burgers and the sandwiches that they order. The
quality of meat and vegetables used for the McDonalds burgers is very high, as a
consequence of which customers are seldom seen to suffer from food poisoning activities.
Place – McDonalds is a store that is headquartered in America but it is seen to run branch
operations, in each and every part of the world. McDonalds has a presence in Australia,
Canada, Finland, China, India and the other countries of South Asia and in all the leading
destinations of Southeast Asia as well such as Singapore and Bali. McDonalds has a presence
in the African continent as well. Customers of McDonalds have the option of sitting at the
McDonalds food outlets and having their meals, ordering take away, that is, having their food
packaged following which they can consume it at home or in the office and they even have
the option of placing an order for their food online. There is plenty of flexibility that
customers can enjoy when they decide to make the purchase of a burger or a sandwich from
McDonalds and this is something that contributes to McDonalds being one of the most
popular fast food stores in the whole world. There are lots of options that customers can avail
to decide where they would like to consume the McDonald’s burgers and fries at
("McDonald's", 2019).

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Price – The price of the McDonald’s is something that is kept relatively low at just five to
seven dollars per burger or sandwich, depending of course on the country where the
McDonalds stores are located. By and large, the prices of the McDonald’s products are kept
as competitive as possible in order to facilitate people from all types of economic
backgrounds to purchase the food that is sold at McDonalds ("McDonald's", 2019).
Promotion – McDonald’s is a store that is seen to make use of posters quite a lot in its
marketing activities. The McDonalds posters are those that stand out in terms of appearance.
These are large and vibrant and contain pictures of the burgers, sandwiches and fries that can
be availed at the McDonald’s outlets. McDonalds is also seen to promote its products quite
extensively through digital marketing platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram apart
from advertising heavily on its own website ("McDonald's", 2019).
Positioning – In order to position its burgers and fries quite uniquely in the market,
McDonald’s makes an effort to be as innovative with its food as possible. The innovations
that are incorporated by McDonalds are those that tend to be unique to the countries where
the store runs its operations. In India for instance, the McDonalds store in New Delhi has
introduced what may be understood as Aloo Tikki Burger. In China, many of the non-
vegetarian burgers of McDonald’s contain Chinese sauces like Schezwan sauce
("McDonald's", 2019).
People – McDonald’s is seen to follow quite a people friendly policy with regard to its
employees. It hires employees in large numbers at all times of the year and trains them in the
act of serving the company well, based on the different divisions and operations that the
company deals in ("McDonald's", 2019).
Physical Evidence – Physically, the McDonald’s food chain finds manifestation in all the
different outlets of the food chain that are located in the different cities and towns where it

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runs its operations. The store also has its own website with regional variations that customers
can visit in order to know more about the McDonalds burgers and fries and place them an
order for them if they wish to ("McDonald's", 2019).
Process – McDonalds engages in the process of manufacturing fast food like burgers,
sandwiches and fries. The latest equipment and machines needed for this purpose are
procured and utilized in each and every one of the McDonald’s outlets in order to make sure
that the food that is served to the customers is of a very high standard. Every care is also
taken by this food chain to make sure that the equipment used for cooking food is eco-
friendly in nature ("McDonald's", 2019).
2. Starbucks
Product – Starbucks is world-renowned coffee chain that is famous primarily for its exotic
brews of coffee and tea, and also savories. The coffee chain takes pride in the quality of its
coffee and its food, most of which is made of natural ingredients with the coffee beans that
are used for manufacture being those that are imported from countries such as Indonesia and
South America. The foods and coffee of Starbucks are easy on the stomach, are convenient to
digest and are suitable for consumption by people of all ages ("Starbucks Coffee Company",
2019).
Place – Starbucks originates in the country of America but it today runs operations in
countries of the Global North as well as the Global South. People who are located in
countries such as India, China, and Brazil can easily enjoy a cup of Starbucks coffee because
the coffee chain has a presence in these countries, apart from being present in prominent
nations of the Western World, such as the United Kingdom, all the major countries of West
and East Europe and also in Australia. It is truly a global company, catering to customers in
each and every part of the world ("Starbucks Coffee Company", 2019).

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Price – The coffee and the food that is offered for sale at Starbucks is known to be quite
highly priced since it is mostly gourmet savories that the coffee chain is seen to specialize in.
Hence it is only customers of a middle and high income background that the Starbucks coffee
chain is seen to cater to. Starbucks does not make an effort to reduce the price of its products
because it takes pride in the high quality of coffee and food that it serves, but it does offers
rebates and discounts on its coffee at times for the benefit of consumers ("Starbucks Coffee
Company", 2019).
Promotion – Starbucks is an outlet that is seen to promote its products quite widely through
magazines and newspapers especially the lifestyle magazines and news publications. It also
makes use of digital marketing platforms such as social media networking websites to
promote its coffee and savories. People can get to know about the Starbucks food chain quite
readily through Facebook and Twitter, especially information such as new arrivals and what
new to purchase from Starbucks. Starbucks makes heavy use of social media given that most
people these days spend a lot of time on social media and Starbucks wants to reach out to as
wide a target audience as possible ("Starbucks Coffee Company", 2019)
People – Employees are recruited in large numbers by an organization like Starbucks in order
to run the operations of the food chain in the various parts of the world that it is located.
Starbucks makes it a point to hire skilled employees who are talented, well-educated and who
are capable of serving their customers well. The people who serve on the Starbucks team are
recruited on basis of their experience and their ability to look into the needs and requirements
of customers. Since Starbucks operates in many regions of the world, the recruits who are
hired to work for the Starbucks outlet are people who are recruited locally ("Starbucks Coffee
Company", 2019).