Marketing Management: Developing a Marketing Plan for Boden in the UK

This report presents a comprehensive marketing plan for Boden, a UK-based clothing retailer, focusing on market development strategies. It begins with an executive summary outlining the plan's objectives: analyzing the market environment and developing suitable approaches to attract shoppers. The report emphasizes the need for market expansion beyond Boden's existing markets, suggesting Birmingham and South East England as potential growth areas. The environmental analysis utilizes PEST and SWOT tools, revealing challenges like Brexit and economic volatility, while also highlighting the increasing use of smartphones as an opportunity. The target market is analyzed using demographic, geographic, and behavioral variables, leading to the development of tailored marketing mix strategies for each selected market. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of long-term planning in the dynamic clothing industry. The introduction provides context, the PESTLE analysis details the political, economic, social, and technological factors impacting Boden. SWOT analysis identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and the report provides the marketing mix strategy for each of the two target markets.

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Marketing Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
The current report includes a marketing plan consisting of market development strategies for
Boden- clothing retailer located in UK. The purpose of the plan is to analyze the market
environment and develop suitable approaches to approach the shoppers. As the existing
markets of the brand is not effective enough to stand against the competitors, Boden is
suggested to expand its markets to Birmingham and South East of England, where shoppers’
response rate is comparatively higher than other regions in UK. The environmental analysis
has been done conducted by applying the strategic tools such as PEST and SWOT. The
outcome of the analysis indicates that political and economical environment faced significant
challenges like Brexit, volatility of Chinese stock market and demonetization in India. These
barriers have intense impact on the clothing industry in UK. However, due to the
advancement of technology, the rate of Smartphone users are rapidly increasing in United
Kingdom which creates the path of running the business with an alternative mode or
practices. To learn about potential business opportunities, the target market has been analyzed
with three different variables such as demographic, geographic and behavioural. Eventually,
based on the characteristics and elements found from the variables separate marketing mix
approaches have been suggested to Boden. The proposed strategies would help Boden to
strengthen its position in the markets but to sustain in future, Boden has to consider long-term
planning because clothing industry is always dynamic in terms of customers needs, trends
and preference.

2MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Table of Content
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
Task 1:........................................................................................................................................5
Summary of an environmental appraisal analysis for Boden in UK market..............................5
Task 2: -....................................................................................................................................10
Two new Male target markets appropriate to Boden in UK market........................................10
Customer profiling...................................................................................................................10
Justifying why the target markets are appropriate for Boden, UK..........................................14
Positioning strategy..................................................................................................................15
Task 3:......................................................................................................................................17
Marketing mix strategy for the market Birmingham...............................................................17
Marketing mix strategies for South East of England:..............................................................20
Reference and Bibliography.....................................................................................................26

3MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The following report provides a marketing plan of three years for Boden in UK.
Boden in UK is a clothing retailer and it has been running its operation for almost twenty
years. With the help of internet technology, the firm has been able to provide its services to
some foreign nations. Boden provides variety of clothes for men, women and children.
However, as the market environment has become dynamic, Boden has to make plans for its
future to remain sustainable. Therefore, the marketing plan developed in the report discusses
the current economical and environmental needs and based on which suitable strategies have
been developed. The major purpose of the plan is to understand the current and future market
needs and prepare strategies to meet those needs. The plan also considers the future
sustainability of the business.
Boden will gain benefits from this marketing plan, as in the industry recent industry
report, it is found that clothing market in UK is estimated to grow by 16.6% over the next
five years to £51.2bn (Strijbos 2018). Hence, the growth rate is 3.3% stronger than the
figure recorded during 2012 to 2017. Nonetheless, Boden pays a significant attention to
women clothing; which is a problem to Boden growth because in today’s dynamic market
environment, one particular strong section is not enough to remain sustainable. The “focus”
must be extended to other areas and thereby, this plan pays attention to two significant Male
markets in UK. Here, male market is targeted because, it is estimated that menswear is going
to be the fastest growing clothing subsector with the growth rate of 21.2% by 2022
(Ons.gov.uk 2018). This figure outperforms the growth of womenswear by 5.8%.
Nevertheless, choosing two particular target markets is just the first step of the future
strategy; now Boden needs to think how the target markets would be approached. Thus, the
marketing plan categorizes significant marketing mix elements for each selected market and

4MARKETING MANAGEMENT
why and how those elements will be implemented has been discussed further in the plan
below.
Task 1:
Summary of an environmental appraisal analysis for Boden in UK market
The recent article on market analysis published by BBC news indicates that UK
clothing sector will expand with a growth rate over 16% within next five years and according
to this article the growth ascendency rate is near 4% which is certainly higher than the
previous years. However, Kozlowski, Bardecki and Searcy (2012) argued that the market
could be driven by inflation with the increasing rate of 2% until 2020, which could further
drive up import as well as manufacturing cost. Kozlowski, Bardecki and Searcy (2012) also
mentioned that the margin remains weak, as customers cut because of the squeezed disposal
earning and paying more attention to essentials food and grocery. Nonetheless, the
environmental state of UK’s clothing sector has been reported with the following strategic
tools.
PESTLE
Political- As put forward by Gardetti and Torres (2017) the year 2016 and the first
quarter of 2017 have been a difficult period for the clothing sector in UK. This is because the
terrorist attack on France is stopping the suppliers to import, Brexit creating an uncertain
stability in the relation of European suppliers with UK and recent volatility in Chinese stock
market affecting the world economy (Huang et al. 2013). However, Boden will not have to
experience this barrier in its growth, as things are expected to change because the growth will
be driven by the increasing influence of fashion. Shoppers expect themselves to be treated
with fashion and trends, which eventually drive the growth. Moreover, the large clothing

5MARKETING MANAGEMENT
retailer M&S, for example, tends to focus on recent trend in business and consequently,
M&S became the market leader (Goworek et al. 2012). Likewise, Boden develop its
strategies considering the recent trend and when it comes to trend in clothing sector, young
clothing shoppers should be prioritized because young clothing shoppers have the higher
frequency of 58.1% of buying clothes (Felgate and Fearne 2015). Therefore, it can be
ascertained that Boden could overcome above three political barriers by utilizing the current
market trends.
Figure 1: PEST analysis
(Source: Yang, Yang and Zhou 2012)
Economical- As mentioned by Yang, Yang and Zhou (2012), volatility in the
Chinese market in last year had an intense impact on clothing sector, which has damaged the
confidence of UK’s retailers. However, Dimpfl and Jank (2016) argued here and insisted on
other fundamental economies such as Russia as well as demonetization in India, where the
situation is yet to come under control. The import in these two nations did not provide any
PoliticalEconomicalSocio-culturalTechnological

6MARKETING MANAGEMENT
positive return to UK retailers in 2017 and consequently, situation slows down the growth of
sales. On the contrary, Esteve-Turrillas and de la Guardia (2017) mentioned that even though
the downturn in Chinese economy was a barrier in growth, the clothing retail sector in UK is
hopeful about 2018, because large retail giant Sainsbury observed a growth of 1.9% in
market share, which indicates that the situation is changing (Pantano et al. 2017). Thus, adapt
to the newly changing economy, Boden needs to understand the “value for money”, which is
a significant purchase motivator, especially among the mature shoppers. Thereafter, Boden
needs to consider the quality and price. Hence, Bruwer et al. (2014) also mentioned that value
for money and quality are the two top drivers.
Social- The socio-cultural factor indicates that millennial generation is the major
target of all clothing retailers. Eastman, Iyer and Thomas (2013) particularly insisted on the
fact that taste and preferences of millennial are very different from the previous generation.
Millennial do not just look for convenience, they also want quality products on low price.
Therefore, Boden needs to cater to different needs where it could push sales as well as attract
and engage customers. Boden also needs to understand the rise of fast fashion, which is the
proof of push in the sales. The strategy of producing trendy clothes at high price is no more a
suitable one; Boden should not commit the same mistake like Zara, who only paid attention
to high quality fashion (Crofton and Dopico 2012). High quality fashion does not remain as
the privilege of higher end consumers, as it has been affordable due to advancement of
technology.
Technological- Retail sector does not face technological barriers because the
globalization IT and internet increased the consumption rate of mobile devices. Thereby,
Hasanbeigi and Price (2012) mentioned that increasing availability of mobile devices and
internet technology is the driver of sales growth. This is because online shopping opportunity
developed by retail brands has direct impact on sales. Boden has the opportunity with respect

7MARKETING MANAGEMENT
to overseas expansion, as online selling is popular both in domestic and global market. The
technology has made it possible to go beyond the boarder and contact a wide customer
segment. On the other side, a market research conducted by Gardetti and Torres (2017),
indicates that online clothing market is estimated to increase by 53.2% within 2022, which
accounts for 34.2% from 13.5% in 2013. Nevertheless, to go with the trend of online
marketing, Boden needs to develop its online segments such as delivery, returns and irregular
innovation because the online retail brands like ASOS, Amazon and Very.co. uk have
become driving force; they developed their own standards with respect to services (Jary and
Wileman 2016).
SWOT analysis
Strength
 Strong control over its supply chain
network
 Increasing variety in the clothing
items
 Large loyal customer base
 stabilized economy
Weaknesses
 Low market awareness
 Lack of street presence
 Low engagement in social media
 Lack of promotional activities for
online selling segments
Opportunities
 Speedy economic recovery
 Growing responses of clothes
shoppers
 Opportunity for new market
development
 Decrease in the market share of
competitors creating room for new
Threats
 Tough competition due to online
selling in the clothe industry
 Entry of Amazon could be the reason
for poor sales growth, as the market
share of others is being squeezed.

8MARKETING MANAGEMENT
brands
Table 1: SWOT analysis
(Source: Burns 2016)
Strength: Even though Boden lags behind in terms of sales, the strong control over
its supply chain enable the firm to beat others in the market. It develops a “self-containment”
throughout the phases of its supply chain, raw material and distribution. Variety in production
is another significant strength of Boden, as it offers more design than its competitors.
Moreover, the uniqueness in the product category remains as the force to interrupt the
competitors. Rovai (2016) mentioned that compared to other retailers in the clothing sector,
Boden is a step ahead in terms of customer loyalty. Since, its inception the rate of customers’
shift did not increase much. Similarly, in external environment, growing fashion trend,
speedy-recovery of economy enables Boden to go to its next level.
Weaknesses: Although the quality of products and better adoption of trends to
business enable Boden to sustain in the market, lack of street presence, market awareness
remain as the core weakness of Boden. The competitors like Sainsbury, Sportsdirect and
M&S have high market awareness. In addition to this, Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson (2014)
argued that even though the technology is rapidly developing in UK market as well as in
global market, Boden does not have any adequate presence in digital environment. Boden
developed its online selling segment but awareness in the segment is not effective.
Opportunities- It is found above in the PEST analysis, that the economy is
recovering steadily and there is regular response of millennial to current fashion trends. This
situation certainly provides innovation opportunity to Boden. This means that Boden could
bring innovation to its existing online selling businesses such as targeting few more customer
segments with high quality service and products. Moreover, compared to its competitors,

9MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Boden lags behind in terms of market share, which means that the firm has the opportunity to
penetrate in new markets. Another significant opportunity to Boden is that, M&S has become
the biggest loser in 2017 due to dropping market share of 8.2% and this situation is followed
by Next, which is forecast to observe decline in share in 2018 with poor trading as well as
lack of customer focus (Van den Bergh and Behrer 2016). Thus, Boden could obtain their
positions by developing market-oriented standards in terms of trading and customers’ needs.
Threats: The speedy adoption of online selling has created a competitive state in
UK’s clothing sector. Gardetti and Torres (2017) insisted on the fact that entry of e-
commerce giant Amazon has squeezed the markets of others. Therefore, Boden has to deal
with a tough competition even in its online segment.
Task 2: -
Two new Male target markets appropriate to Boden in UK market
According to the recent statistic of United Kingdom, the total population of Male in
UK is 32, 377, 700 and the percentage of growth of males is 3.9% higher compared to female
(Ons.gov.uk 2018). Thus, the major focus of Boden in terms of expansion of market should
be male. Particularly, Birmingham and the South East of England have the highest male
population. Thus, Boden needs to focus on these regions as its target market for the
expansion strategy. However, the selection of these two target markets have been further
supported with following approaches.
Customer profiling
Demographic variables: It is certain that UK’s clothing industry is one of fastest
growing industries in the world. Particularly, in the south east of England and Birmingham

10MARKETING MANAGEMENT
have the highest employment rate (81% and 77.6% respectively) of males compared to
women employment rate 48.9% in Birmingham (Ons.gov.uk 2018). As the rate of education
is higher among males and employment rate is also increasing rapidly. Thus, males in these
regions have the tendency to try latest and innovative items in each category of goods. In
addition, almost 68% of total male population in these two regions fall under the age
category between 20-45 years, which indicates that people in this category has high tendency
of adopting new trends, as both young and mature shoppers falling under this category
(Ons.gov.uk 2018). The average salary of male employees with the experience between 5-9
years in Birmingham is £ 30,756. This figure also indicates that average wages of female
with same experience £ 21,098, which is certainly lesser than a male employee withdraws.
Moreover, the statistic report indicates that almost 59% of total male workers in South East
London work in IT and technology firms in UK (Ons.gov.uk 2018). Therefore, this figure
certainly implies that target customers are much aware of the technologies in retail
businesses.
Geographic Variables: As put forward by Vardoulakis et al. (2015), compared to
other regions, Birmingham remains cold for almost 7 to 8 months of the year and such
variation in weather enables people in those regions to wear warm clothes. Thus, male
shoppers tend to look for warm and trendy winter clothes. However, the temperature remains
little warmer in South East London compared to Birmingham. Thereby, the preference of
clothes differs from each other among the male shoppers in these two regions of UK. On the
other side, as the technological advancements reach the entire United Kingdom, shoppers
have the options for online shopping; consequently, the number of visits to outlet is
decreasing (Liu, Burns and Hou (2013). Particularly, clothing shops with traditional selling
practices in the remote areas of the Birmingham are not able to gain adequate amount of
customer attention. However, female shoppers have the tendency to visit the outlet and try

11MARKETING MANAGEMENT
items before buying but due to high engagement in employment, male shoppers hardly pay
visit to outlet.
Behavioural variables: As put forward by Parment (2013.) people in Birmingham
and South East of England tend to follow the current trends and rather they can be called
“Fashion Trend Pursuer”. Thus, to meet the needs of those shoppers, Boden should adopt
the recent and future trends of fashion and apply them to product development. In addition,
the male shoppers in Birmingham are more conscious about the brand, which means they
usually choose high-profile brands with the belief of receiving high quality. Ordun (2015)
mentioned that shoppers, especially the millennial mostly prefer an urban appearance in
clothes but at the most reasonable price. Thus, trends and quality are the top criteria of
acquiring shoppers’ attention in Birmingham.
Besides the trends and quality, people throughout UK are more accustomed to
technology and now they can compare the quality and price of the product with other brands.
This technological facilitation has now turned into a characteristic as National Statistic UK
2015 reveals the buying behaviour of clothes shoppers, where it is learnt that when buying
clothes, 30% of the consumers have mentioned that they tend to research products online
before buying in store (Ons.gov.uk2018). On the other side, only 11% of the shoppers
mentioned that they shop with friends. From this particular figure, it can be mentioned that
technology has high impact on male shoppers in UK.