Marketing Concepts and Strategies for Ralph Lauren Corporation

This individual report provides a comprehensive analysis of the marketing strategies employed by the Ralph Lauren Corporation. The report begins with an introduction to marketing concepts and their application within the company, highlighting Ralph Lauren's position as a globally recognized luxury brand. Task 1 delves into the specific marketing concepts utilized, including product strategy, promotional strategy, and branding, and examines how these strategies have contributed to the company's success. The report then explores the marketing mix, analyzing product, price, place, and promotion elements, as well as STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning) and Porter's Generic Strategy. Furthermore, the report discusses the marketing concepts and principles that underpin Ralph Lauren's operations, including the role of the sales team and the importance of promotional activities. The analysis covers the company's approach to product development, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional efforts, providing a detailed overview of Ralph Lauren's marketing practices. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for the company's continued success in the competitive luxury market.

INDIVIDUAL REPORT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1.......................................................................................................................................................1
Marketing concept applicable to the Ralph Lauren Corporation .........................................................1
Marketing strategies helped Ralph Lauren Corporation achieve its objective.....................................2
The concept and principles used in the Ralph Lauren corporation.......................................................5
Marketing relations with other departments :........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION .........................................................................................................................................8
RECOMMENDATION ............................................................................................................................8
..........................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a technique uses by the company to promote and advertise their product in
the best possible way to attract more and more customers. Marketing is also used by the
company to reach out to the customers. It is among the most import factors of the business which
promote the growth and development. Effectively marketing is key to the success of business.
Present study is based on the company named Ralph Lauren, which is a globally recognised
brand with a huge range of luxuries apparel and premium accessories. Their major revenue
generation is from America and Europe. The company have more than 1000 outlets world till the
end of 2018. Current Study will discuss about Marketing concepts, marketing strategies,
principle of marketing and the marketing relationship with other functional departments in Ralph
Lauren(Bauer, 2018.)
TASK 1
Marketing concept applicable to the Ralph Lauren Corporation
Product Strategy
Ralph Lauren is globally one of the leading brands dealing in marketing and distribution
of apparels, home appliances, accessories and fragrances. The company focuses on delivering the
premium section of the society. In 1960 Ralph Lauren started from making apparels which
include T-shirts, formal wears, denims, jackets, winter wears, swimwear etc. In mid 1970's
company thought that they only have a limited number (Bhatt, and Gupta,2018.)of product line
and so introduced some other variety products. By 1980 company introduced product varying in
fragrances, clothing for new born babies, home care appliances like blankets, comforters,
lightnings and frames other accessories like leather bags, eye makeup, jewelry, hats. With the
increasing number of products, expanding sales the company's name become more secure and
identifiable. The company portrayed their products to be complete change for people's lifestyle.
Ralph Lauren started from making menswear, the product varied from t-shirts to trousers and
then eventually started capturing kids market. Their main focus from the very start was on
menswear only but after analyzing they come up with the product for women's also. Now its just
not clothing but so much other things also like shoes, bags etc. This wide range of products
helped Ralph Lauren capture a bigger section of market and now they can reach people at all
levels(Blythe, and Martin,2019. ).
Promotional Strategy
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Ralph Lauren spend a lot on marketing the company's products. Their promotion strategy
has been different and was able capture a large size of market through different mediums. Polo
Ralph Lauren, has increased their market in every corner of the world by using different means
to promotion like online advertisements, TV ads and hoardings. The company has influenced the
younger generation by carrying out activities(Campbell, Martin and Fabos, 2018) that attract
youth. Ralph Lauren used discounts, contests and Rugby Radio to tempt the customers.
Companies strategies were so interesting that generated customers interest in buying their
products and adding an advantage the discount coupon make them more effective. The
company's in-house creative team look after the advertising programs for the company. They
majorly use print media to advertise their products. Adding to above every thing, Ralph Lauren
gave the exposure to the company by engaging in top fashion shows like Milan Fashion Week
etc through which they can reach to a large extend of customers of premium class.
Branding
Polo Ralph Lauren is one of the leading and successful brand across the world known for
their design and lifestyle industry. The company products, range from high price to low price
brands in clothing(men's, women's and children), accessories, home appliances and perfumes.
The company is offering quality products that fit the customers need and have gain a unique
image of the product that helped the company by adding value to its business. And above all
company is dealing in variety products (Chatterjee,and Chatterjee,2019.)like home appliances
and accessories make it more easy for customers to choose the brand above all. The company has
always gave importance to uniqueness and differentiation in their products that influence or
attract large scale customers and help retain them. The customers can even personalize their
clothing both online and offline and this feature increased company's sale.
Marketing strategies helped Ralph Lauren Corporation achieve its objective
Marketing Mix
Product element of marketing strategy is the answer to customers' needs. The company's
product have this unique identity, product design and features that make them out of the box and
make them leaders of competition. The company consider factors like quality product, variety of
product, products with different features, unique packaging, their(Grimmer,2018. ) brand name
and after sale services to develop the product. Customers always want change be it in clothing,
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accessories or appliances that are fashionable but comfortable and if any company is offering all
of these they would be the happiest customers. Ralph Lauren Corporation provided customers
with everything they need and fulfilling their objectives to produce in large bulk that generates
more sales. The company uses new technological techniques to lower operations cost and that
lowers the affect on environment also. Price element of marketing strategy made the company's
product more acceptable and more challenging in the market. The company use skimming
pricing as their products has differentiation that justify the extra price charged for the products.
Differentiation in the product is the only criteria on the basis of which company can enjoy extra
price and even customers are willing to give(Gurtner,Spanjol,and Griffin,2018. ). As customer
wants some new thing and different with best quality and comfort, so if the company is giving
these benefits the customers will surely move to them and same is followed by Ralph Lauren
Corporation. The company has achieved its objective by using this skimming pricing strategy.
Place element of marketing strategy helped the company in maximizing their sale as the
company's products were available across the world as their were middlemen in the distribution
chain of the company. As Ralph Lauren wants their product to be available all over the world. By
the help of middlemen, the company grow largely in different parts of world. Making the product
world wide popular and demanding as a thing Ralph Lauren wanted and for this he analyzed the
market of various0 parts of world and designed the products according to them. The company
also developed its online website to increase sales. As customers prefer easy availability and
convenience in getting product. By following this strategy and giving customers to get there
personalized products the company has increased their sales and easy availability of
products(online shopping) has made it even more easy. Company has invested a larger amount in
promotion of their product. Online advertising and TV ads has made the company's product more
popular across the world. Company also took part in Milan Fashion Week to make show case the
product design to the world.
STP(Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning)
Segmentation means making small section of the market on the basis of Age, Gender, Income,
Lifestyle etc. Ralph Lauren Corporation has already made use of this strategy as they introduced
products varying from infants to grown ups, from costly products to normal range product, and
products for the ease of lifestyle of people. And by making the product available across the world
to different cities, countries and (Hanlon,2019.)regions the company has grown at a fast pace.
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The company should target that segment whose needs match with the company's resources. The
company choose that segment that will benefit them in sales and give profit. The company
focuses on upper class and middle class section of the society that can afford their products, are
willing to pay that amount and want their lifestyle to be modern and different. Now comes the
positioning strategy it answers about what your brand stands for, what your target market needs,
is your brand able to serve them, what different your competitor is providing. Ralph Lauren
Corporation follows the positioning strategy to know answer to above all question, they have
targeted that section of the society that can afford those prices and want these new changes and
are willing to pay for that. And the company serve the purpose of customers as they want
comfortable, easy use, different, variety, quality product(Henríquez,2018.)
Porter's Generic Strategy
The company use cost leadership model when the company has advanced technology that help in
cost reduction, so that company can charge high price and enjoy competition or when company
has effective distribution channel can help taking advantage of this strategy. Ralph Lauren
Corporation has used this model for having advantage over other firms. As a leading company
they can invest in new technology without thinking and as a brand name has developed
immensely. Cost Focus strategy means only focusing on the price, Ralph Lauren Corporation had
never used this strategy. Differentiation focus, this strategy was used by the company as they
believe in serving best to their customers and deliver something different. As in this current
market everything is changing, and so do people's need. The company has always analyzed
people's need and produce what they demand. The company has got strong recognition due to
this strategy(Hugos,2018. ).
Ralph Lauren Corporation was done every activity keeping the ethical factors in mind, no
fake promotion, no discrimination on the basis of age, gender and color. The company has used
such technological techniques in production that will minimize the production cost and will at
least effect environment.
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The concept and principles used in the Ralph Lauren corporation
Marketing mix is a set tactics used by companies to promote its products and brand name in the
market to increase sales of the company and enhance the brand recognition among the customers
in the market. Proper implementation of marketing mix is among the key element for the
company, this helps Ralph Lauren to meet their business objectives. These are the strategies used
by Ralph Lauren(Sitkin,2019. ).
 Product : Ralph Lauren is among the leading company which deals in luxuries apparel
and premium accessories. The company deals in four types of products which are
apparels, fragrances, home product and accessories. The company have a huge range of
products for men and women, from suits to gloves and shoes is range of product line of
Ralph Lauren. The huge range of products helps Ralph Lauren to increase the market-
share of the people
 Price : Ralph Lauren is globally recognised brand. The main focus of Ralph Lauren is on
premium and luxuries products. The company deals with the rich people and the price of
products are high, this ensure an successful earning good profit, as the profit margin is
very high. The firm follows a preservative pricing policy in their pricing strategies this is
the main reason of maintaining the high prices of Ralph Lauren for their products.
 Place : The global recognition of Ralph Lauren is extremely strong. Headquarters of the
company is in new york, USA. The branches of Ralph Lauren is in all the major cities in
the world. The major operation of company is America and Europe. The company's
products are available in more than 9000 locations world wide. With more 370 Ralph
Lauren own stores.
 Promotion : Ralph Lauren is company which spends a lot on their promotional
activities. The is The company company do their promotion activities through various
models like TV advertisement, newspapers and magazines, online advertisement
hoarding . They try to reach customers in every possible way. The company spend around
15 to 20 millions per year. Ralph Lauren also increase the promotion of the products by
taking part in top level fashion shows, this helps the company to reach a lot of customers
 People : Sales team of Ralph Lauren plays an important role in marketing of the
company. Ralph Lauren employees work in department like Sales, Customer care ,
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production. Ralph Lauren provide Proper training to their employees and pay them well
to retain them. Incentives programs are also their in Ralph Lauren.
 Process : The company actively do research in market to identify the customers need.
The company always take care that their products are always available to the customers.
Ralph Lauren also provide stock to the retailer and makes sure that the stocks of the
company is always available in their shops(Zahay,and et.al., 2018.)
 Physical Evidence : The packaging of the products are in distinct colour which are easily
identifiable on the stores. The products of the company are places on a unique shelves in
retain stores. This helps the customer to easily identify the products of Ralph Lauren.
STP( Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning) :
This approach is among the modern strategic approach of marketing. It is among the most
followed modern marketing approach in practice. This model helps the company to create market
communication plans. These are all the Parts of STP
 Segmentation : Out of all segmentation strategies Ralph Lauren uses Demographic
segmentation strategy. This helps the company to target the customers based on their
gender and age group, as Ralph Lauren targets young and rich people for their business
activities.
 Targeting : The targeting strategy of Ralph Lauren is differentiated targeting strategy.
This strategy helps the company to focus and target on selected group customers, the
target of Ralph Lauren are people from high income group because of their luxuries
products
 Positioning : Positioning strategy used by Ralph Lauren is the Positioning by product
price/quality in this Ralph Lauren target people by showing their quality and their prices.
Marketing relations with other departments :
Marketing department and production department : If the company want to fulfill the needs
of their customers and increase their satisfaction level then their must be a coordinate between
marketing and production department of the company. The strong relationship between both the
department helps the company increase their performance in the market. It is important for every
company to listen to the customers need and design their product accordingly. Ralph Lauren
analysis the need of customers and design their product accordingly. Furthermore the production
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department of Ralph Lauren design good quality productions which is helpful for the marketing
department to promote products of the company . Marketing department of Ralph Lauren is
responsible giving the customers reviews, the informations about he competitors product and the
market trends this is helpful for the production department to introduce new products with less
changes of failures .
Marketing department and HR department : The HR department to coordinate with
Marketing department to ensure that they are hiring the appropriate skilled employees. This helps
the company to grow faster in the market as the hiring with complete information. Marketing
department of Ralph Lauren is responsible for provide the proper information about the
requirement of employees with their skill types whereas the HR Department of Ralph Lauren is
responsible for provide the best candidates according to the information of marketing department
Ralph Lauren and the need of Ralph Lauren. HR department will also demand of the existing
employees of the company according to the need of market.
Marketing Department and finance department : The marketing department and finance
department of the company need to work closely together because the finance department have
the complete information about the organisation and all the operation in the organisation is
within the financial budget. The finance department of Ralph Lauren want all the department of
the company to work in the provided budget. The marketing department of Ralph Lauren's main
focus is on enhancing the sales of the company, increasing the market share and goodwill of the
company whereas the financing department of Ralph Lauren main focus is on cash flow of the
company, paying back the investment and covering the cost as soon as possible.
Marketing department and Researcher and development department : The work and results
of research and developing department directly depends on the work of marketing department.
Marketing department of Ralph Lauren plays an important and necessary role as front runner.
Marketing department of Ralph Lauren helps the researcher and development department to
analysis new ideas that might help the company to increase the profitability and enhance
customers satisfaction level. People are always looking for something new, more fashionable and
comfortable in the market. It is among the responsibilities of research and development
department to come up with new and innovated ideas for the products of the company whereas
the responsibility of marketing department is to sale those products.
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CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summaries that marketing plays the most important role
in the growth and development of the clothing and accessories business. There are various
marketing factors that help Ralph Lauren in becoming such a huge and successful brand. The
various strategies used to increase the productive and performance of the company and their
employees. Ralph Lauren company increase their promotion and marketing activities as well as
the performance of the company and employees. Company used various models for marketing to
achieve the ultimate goal of the company. Further report include the marketing strategies used
and the marketing relationship with other functional department of Ralph Lauren
RECOMMENDATION
Ralph Lauren should focus more on collecting data from customers about their needs and
experience through SMS email etc, and try to improve from the bad feedback this will increase
the goodwill of the company, Ralph Lauren should increase there range of product that will help
to reach out new customers and it will also increase the market share of the company. The firm
should enhance their additional services like free home delivery warranties, after sale services,
they should also improve their packaging and introduce new less expensive product this will help
to attract more customers and the customers from different income scale this will increase
revenue generation of the company . Ralph Lauren is mostly depended on the European and
American market, the company should try to shift their focus on Asian markets as the Asian
market in growing very fast, this will help in expansion of the business, Ralph Lauren should
also hire some global celebrities like actors, sportsperson, singers etc and they should adopt
modern promotion techniques as they lack in digital marketing and promotions. The company
should also introduce more incentives programs for the employees this will increase their
retention rate.
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