Detailed Retail Marketing Report: The Iconic's Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of The Iconic, a leading Australian fashion retailer. It begins with an executive summary and covers various aspects of the company, including its history, mission, target market, market positioning, and competitive advantages. The report delves into th...Read More

Running Head: Retail Marketing
Retail Marketing

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Executive summary
In the report, there is a description about The Iconic retailer, the retailer deals in clothing and
shoes of men and women's. The retailer is based in Australia which is one of the leading fashion
retailers. The different aspects of the company are discussed starting from History ending with
the recommendations. The target market of the retailer gets affected with the change in the
atmosphere of the Australia. The report shows the retail marketing strategy applied by the Iconic,
to register a good position in the market. The description in context to the website, its physical
appearance, design, and layout is shared in the report.

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Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
History of the company...................................................................................................................4
Mission and vision.......................................................................................................................4
Target Market..................................................................................................................................4
Market positioning...........................................................................................................................5
Competitors and competitive advantage..........................................................................................5
Fashion e-commerce retail industry.................................................................................................6
Factors affecting the retailer........................................................................................................7
Changes in industry.....................................................................................................................7
Retail marketing strategy.................................................................................................................8
Retail format................................................................................................................................8
Location and accessibility............................................................................................................8
Retail mix.....................................................................................................................................8
Pricing strategy............................................................................................................................9
CRM or customer loyalty program............................................................................................10
Communication Mix..................................................................................................................10
Physical bricks and mortar store....................................................................................................11
Store design...............................................................................................................................12
Customer service.......................................................................................................................12

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Visual Merchandising................................................................................................................12
Website..........................................................................................................................................14
Design, layout and the Visual Merchandising...........................................................................14
Benchmark against the two main competitor’s websites...........................................................17
Mobile........................................................................................................................................18
Recommendation and conclusion..................................................................................................18
Retail strategy for retailer..........................................................................................................18
Future of retailer........................................................................................................................18
Growth opportunities.................................................................................................................19
Design and styling.....................................................................................................................19
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................20
References......................................................................................................................................21
Appendix........................................................................................................................................25
Appendix 1.1..............................................................................................................................25
Appendix 1.2..............................................................................................................................25
Appendix 1.3..............................................................................................................................25

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History of the company
The Iconic was established in 2011 and was based in Sydney, Australia. The company is one of
the largest fashion retailers that access to 700 local and international brands. The company
launches more than 200 new products on daily basis to make the customer feel that they are
getting the latest styles. The team of the company is working hard to deliver the product as soon
as possible such as 3-hour delivery in Sydney, same day delivery to the countries like Adelaide,
Brisbane, Melbourne and free overnight around the country (The Iconic, 2017). The Iconic make
use of the technology to deliver the best shopping experiences in the country.
Mission and vision
The mission of the company is to inspire the icon within every customer. The vision of the
company is to define the future of fashion retail in Australia and New Zealand. The company
achieved the personalized cross-device shopping experience (The Iconic, 2017).
Target Market
Demographic: - The Iconic delivers the stylish collection to both men and women’s. The
Products that the company offers to the men and women’s consist of the dresses to jeans, anklet
booths to sneakers and watches to wallets. The company major target market in Australia and
then New Zealand. There is different age group to whom the company target, the target age
group starts from 18-25 and ends at 65+ (Thorson, & Moore, 2013).
Psychographic- The target of the company is especially on the person who believes in wearing
the stylish and latest dresses. Though, an online mode they keeping launching new stylish
dresses which attract most of the female as females love to keep themselves up to date. The

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lifestyle of female says that they believe in keeping themselves stylish. The primary target of the
company is Females and the secondary target is male (Hollensen, 2015).
Market positioning
The company established in the year 2011 and this is the Australia’s favorite online fashion
retailer that offers the e-commerce stores in Australia. The company is now forming a new
position in the market and becoming everyone favorite but before The Iconic, SurfStitch came
into the existence in the year 2008, though the company went public in 2014. Despite it, the
company, from years the company is maintaining its position in the lifestyle-inspired fashion
stores (Slack, 2015). The Iconic is trying to establish the brand position in the market by
providing best quality products, less delivery time and the stylish dresses. The iconic is the
leader of the online retailer and gradually it is becoming the benchmark company for the online
retailers.
Competitors and competitive advantage
The strong competitor of the iconic company is SurfStitch. Iconic and SurfStitch are a strong
brand that deals in the men and women’s fashion. The brands deal through e-commerce
platforms. The Iconic is leading and becoming popular in the market which is a matter of threat
for the competitor. The company is having the competitive advantage such as the identification
of the product is easy, which is convenient for the customer who visits the iconic site. The
company also provide the live chat option that helps the customers if they are not able to find
anything on the website. The appearance and the design of the home page of the iconic are tested
which not need to be fixed and works smoothly. On the hand, this convenient to the customer is

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not provided by the competitor. The delivery time that is committed to the brand is appreciable
which is not done by the competitors (Wagner III, & Hollenbeck, 2014).
Fashion e-commerce retail industry
The consumers are more involved in the technology and they are making the use of same to
order the product online (Guercini, & Runfola, 2015). This is the reason there is a rise in the
sales done through e-commerce sites. The Apparel is one of the most important and popular
categories for the Australians.
(Source: Levashov, 2016)
 The fashion E-commerce in a country is $3.15B.
 The amount spent by the Australian is approximately $2B, this is considered as the 3rd
category after the groceries and the homeware.
 The online fashion market showed a growth of 18.8% in June 2016 (annual basis).
 The growth is more in the metro areas of the Australia such as Melbourne and Sydney as
compared to the other regional areas, the growth was 22% upward.
 The youth of the Australia spend more amounts to fashion online.

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 The key drivers for e-commerce fashion purchases are value for money, convenience, and
the variety of the latest products availability.
 It is estimated that the 38.4% of online fashion purchases are spontaneous.
Factors affecting the retailer
The retailer also faces some of the factors that can affect the working of the retailer. These
factors are the external factors that vary from company to company.
Environmental factors- The environment can affect the Apparel provided by the brands to the
customer. The change in the season leads to the changes in the dresses of the customers. At the
time of summer, people like to wear light clothes and in winter they like to wear woolen clothes,
this is the reason the retailer needs to bring the changes in the fashion stuff they are providing.
Economic factors- The economic factors might have positive as well negative impact, at the
time of boom, the sales of the clothing increases because people have more disposable income
and vice versa. In the year 2015, the buying power of the people in Australia was more and this
made a customer more confident towards the expenditure on fashionable clothes.
Consumer behavior- The consumer behavior issues might create an impact on the retailer. The
behavior of the customer might vary for the product. The Iconic deals in e-commerce site so they
are not able to understand the need of the customers because they don't have any connection with
the customers.
Changes in industry
The industry of the fashion is changing very fast, traditionally there were stores on which people
need to visits to buy the clothes or dresses. Now, more and more people visit the online sites to
buy latest fashionable and stylish dresses. The technology change is clearly visible with the

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change in the buying pattern; many brands are adopting technology to face the competition. The
retailer who deals through online platform also faces competition in terms of the use of different
software and technology for their sites.
Retail marketing strategy
Retail format
The retail format of the retailer varies from retailer to retailer; the company is following the
Electronic retailing that include e-tailing and internet retailing. Customer communication is done
through the interactive electronic network (Zhu, 2017). The iconic is using the internet retailing
format through which they provide the variety of products to the customers and they
communicate with the customers through online chat which is an electronic network
communication.
Location and accessibility
The brand is located on online platforms or e-commerce website. The physical presence of the
stores is not there, but online presence is there. It is accessible target market of the company
across the Australia, to make it conveniently accessible for the audience company selected the
online retail format. The targeted youth can easily visit the site and order for the dresses
according to the demand. Considering the today’s dynamic world the selection of the location is
properly done so that target audience can easily access the sites (Ellison, & Hawkes, 2016).
Retail mix
The retailers offer merchandise variety and assortment that consist of clothes and shoes. It is
available of the staple and the fashion merchandise products such as denim to jersey, button-up

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shirts to chino shorts along with fashionable women’s dresses, elegant cocktail dresses to
glamorous gowns, party shirts. The collection of suits and blazers for boys gives them smart
formal look. Considering the collection of boots, it provides flats or heels, ankle boots or dress
shoes. In men and women's accessories, it provides a premium leather bag or designer watch
(Melis, Campo, Breugelmans, & Lamey, 2015).
Quality of the product matters a lot for the people who are looking to buy fashionable stuff, the
quality provided by the company is meeting the expectations of the customers. This is the reason
the brand is in demand by the Australian customers.
The retailer's deals in both national as well as the private brands, the availability of both the
brands given by the retailer because the prices of the private brand are less as compared to the
prices of the national brand. National brands are in demand by the people who know the values
of the national brand. The price of the branded products is generally high as compared to the
normal brands. Similarly, the quality of the national brands is far better than the private brand.
Pricing strategy
The prices of the product matter a lot to earn the profit out of the business. The retailer iconic has
kept the prices considering the different types of customers, so the company provides both high
and low prices product. Different customers maintain a budget for purchasing the dresses and
shoes, considering that they find availability of different brands in their budget. The pricing
strategy of the retailer is set in such a way so that they can earn maximum of profit. The cost of
the merchandise varies, it may be low or high but the retailer wants to target richer people so that
they can make maximum profit out of it. The iconic provide some merchandise apparel in a sale
as well so that they will be able to attract more and more people (Nagle, Hogan, & Zale, 2016).

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CRM or customer loyalty program
Customer relationship management term refers to as the practices, strategies, and technology that
the company uses to manage the customer interaction, so that if a company is lacking somewhere
then the company can make proper strategies to form a smooth relationship with the customers
(Stathopoulou, & Balabanis, 2016). The iconic is having the live chat option which provides the
convenience to the target audience and helps in enhancing the customer relationship with the
company. The CRM is beneficial for the business to enhance the loyalty, customer satisfaction
which leads to the enhancement in the goodwill and the awareness along with the value of the
business. The CRM is beneficial for the customers as well because they get the benefit of
discounts, offers, and the problems of the customer are going to be easily resolved (Peppers, &
Rogers, 2016). The customer believes in the services provided by the brand and this relationship
enhances the trust of the customers for the brand.
The iconic follows the Customer loyalty program, through this program the company provides
the rewards to the customers who are going to make the purchase frequently with the company.
They have a membership with the Qantas airline, through which the company provides the gift
vouchers and coupons to make the purchase from the retailer (Qantas Points, 2017).
Communication Mix
The communication mix helps the company in maintaining the brand image in the market. The
use of the communication helps the company to promote the brand to create the awareness for
brand and connection with the customers (Todorova, 2015).
The Iconic uses the online or digital marketing; the company is an online e-commerce site.
Creating the integrated marketing campaign with online marketing helps the brand to form a

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connection with the brand. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter is the best way to promote the
brand in front of the target audience. The advertisement on these platforms helps the brand in
creating the awareness and equity for the brand.
Physical bricks and mortar store
The Iconic is an e-commerce retailer that provides the availability of the merchandise products
online only. Talking about the stores, there is no s such store where the company sells its
products but there is store in Sydney. At these place employees of the company perform the
activity of the packaging of the product that needs to be delivered on daily basis.
The image of the store clearly shows that this is the place where from where packaging and
delivery of the product take place. The employees are keeping the record of the products
available at the store. The store seems to be a warehouse where the products are kept by the
company. This is based in Sydney, this is the reason company promise 3 hour delivery in
Sydney, the product is directly delivered to the customer from the store.

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Store design
The store is well-managed; the first impression of the store says that it is a place where the
parcels of the customers are kept by the company. The employees of the company were packing
the products with the use of the machines and these packages are going to deliver to the
customers. The store is neat and clean, everything in the store was well organized. Organising
the store is important so that the employees don’t face the difficulties in sending the right product
to the right customer. There is the availability of different racks on which products are kept
according to the delivery location (Moriarty, et.al. 2014). (Refer Appendix 1.1)
Customer service
The customer service provided by the company is meeting the expectations of the target
audience. The customers doing online shopping believes that the services provided by the iconic
are the best comparing with others. There are many retailers that believe in selling the products,
but it matters a lot that the promises made by the retailer are fulfilled. The Australian customers
have some expectations such as delivery on the right time, delivery of the right product,
availability of the latest designer dresses and availability of the wide range of brands. These
expectations of the customers are met by the company (Jahanshani, et.al. 2014).
Visual Merchandising
The apparels and fashion clothing availability is increasing on websites. The online visual
merchandising is also done; this merchandising is divided into two categories such as high task-
relevant environment and low task-relevant environment (Cooper, 2014). The HTRE consist of
the verbal information such as terms of delivery; return policy, visual demonstration of the

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garments and the return policies. The LTRE consist of the music, colors, security options, fonts
and the other aspects which are indirectly linked to the product.
LTRE is further divided into the two categories such as atmospheric features and website
registration. Considering the atmospheric feature includes the feature of the website of the brand,
the iconic homepage shows the text, font, content and the color schemes used by the company.
For the images, the largest pixel used by the brand and the color combination used by the brand
is unique and attractive.
Website registration is another visual merchandising; this is possible when the customers are
given the special perks, privileges and price reductions. In the website registration, the company
collects the personal data from the consumers.

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Website
Design, layout and the Visual Merchandising
The website design matters allot for the retailer who deals in the e-commerce apparel. The iconic
website description is divided into different categories, below is the description of the design and
the layout of the Iconic website along with the visual merchandising.
Home Page
The Iconic does well to keep the home page simple and attractive. While visiting the site,
initially there is a presence of the two elements- shop women and shopmen. This shows that the
home page of the retailers directs the customers according to the sector that applies to them.
(Source: The Iconic, 2017)
The focus of the home page is on women considering the target audience, the women’s are
considered as the primary target for the brand.
Gender-specific
The homepage of the brand is gender-specific so that they give the visual appearance according
to the gender. Once the section of the gender is selected by the customers then the next page
shows the products gender specific.

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(Source: The Iconic, 2017)
The iconic brand is aware that the shoes are the most popular category for men’s. This is the
reason the banner focus on the various categories of the shoes. The gender-specific page is
special because this page promotes special offers, latest trends, and new arrivals.
Category page
The category page is the page which allows the customers to filters the products according to
their demand and finds the product they are looking for. Category page enhances the experience
of the customers doing online shopping (Gupta, Sodhani, Patel, & Banerjee, 2017). The category
page consists of a price range, size, brand, color, and types of clothes customer is looking for.

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(Source: The Iconic, 2017)
Product page
This is the page where the customer can actually see the apparel. The iconic believes that this
page attracts the customers the most, the appearance of the page needs to be simple and
attractive. In the product page, there is a description of the product and there is an option of add
to bag, with the help of which customer can add the products into a cart. While putting the
product on a cart, the pop-up appears to conform to the customers that he/she is willing to add a
product to a bag.
(Source: The Iconic, 2017)
The page also includes the things that are must for the customers such as the size guide, multiple
high- quality images of the product with zoom functionality, delivery cost and estimated timing
of delivery along with shipping and return policy. This page also reflects the visual
merchandising; the product look is visible through different angles which helps the customer or
visitor while buying the product.
The shopping cart

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After the selection of product and after adding it to the cart, the customer can convert it into the
sale. The iconic shopping cart provide different facilities to the customers such as the customer
can update the quantity and size directly, instead of making the purchase- the customer can put
the product on a wish list.
(Source: The Iconic, 2017)
The message that appears on the top of the page makes the customer aware that there is a
possibility to get the free shipping if a customer makes the purchase of more than $50. The
payment options are clearly visible on this page. The live chat pop-up appears that helps the
customer in case of any query that affects the purchase of a product. Below the buy button, major
benefits to the customers are stated. (Refer Appendix 1.2)
Benchmark against the two main competitor’s websites
The iconic is a benchmark because the site of the Iconic is better than its competitors; the
competitors of the company consist of SurfStitch, Princess Polly, Bardot, Showpo, Sportsgirl,
and Sky, out of these the two major competitors of the retailer consist of SurfStitch and Princess
Polly. The site of the surfstitch is giving the competition to the iconic along with Princess Polly
(Bruno, 2014). The Iconic site is better because it is convenient to browse for the customers and

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it fulfills the expectations of the customers in terms of the availability of the product. (Refer
Appendix 1.3)
Mobile
The retailer provides the availability on the mobile as well; it can be mobile website or app that
helps the users or customers to access the Iconic site on a smartphone. The mobile version of the
company is far better than the desktop version according to experiences of the customers
(Pantano, 2014). On the other hand, the competitor doesn't maintain the mobile site. In the
dynamic world, it is must for the retailer to maintain the mobile site for their target audience,
audience nowadays is involved in technology (Kang, Shin, & Tam, 2016).
Recommendation and conclusion
Retail strategy for retailer
The first and the foremost recommendation to the iconic retailer is to take the feedback of the
customers through which the brand will be able to identify the loopholes, the retailer will be able
to identify and satisfy the needs of the customers and along with that the brand will be able to
form a connection with the customers that will lead to the customer loyalty (Kumar, & Kim,
2014). The rewards or bonus points should be added to the customer card which gives the
customer discount at the time of purchase of the product with the iconic. This will lead to the
customer loyalty and brand will be able to make space in the market.
Future of retailer
The company believes that they are leading in the online fashion and sports retailer in Australia
and New Zealand. The brand should add more of local and international brands so that they can

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provide the unique and exclusive collection to their customers. The use of technology is properly
f0done by the Iconic this is the reason the company registered the Award Winning iOS app.
Growth opportunities
The retailer is more popular and in demand in Australia, for New Zealand, the brand should use
some promotional strategies that will help the company to make the space in the New Zealand
market. After developing the New Zealand market the brand should try to expand the business in
the other countries (Caro, & Martínez-de-Albéniz, 2015). This is the step towards the expansion
of the business in the global market, this is the time for the company where retailer needs to
think to earn maximum of profit and forming a strong reputation in the market. It is suggested to
the company to expand the amount on the technology advancement and on the expansion of the
business.
Design and styling
The brand should add on more things on the website page and should identify the color
combinations so that more and more customer gets attracted towards it (Pan, et.al, 2016). The
customer gets attracted towards the home page of the company. Though the company is having
attractive design and styling of the website page company needs to focus on the color
combination.

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Conclusion
The report throws light on the online retailer The Iconic, the change in the world result in the
change in the technology and the change in the way of working. The traditional way of
performing the business of a retailer is now totally changing with the use of technology, now the
retailers deal with through the online platforms.
The iconic deals through e-commerce site in Australia, which is satisfying the needs of the target
audience by providing them an easy and convenient way of buying a fashionable outfit for them.
This way of performing the business is making the retailer, a benchmark retailer for competitors.
The fashion industry is booming, though there are some factors that can create an impact on this
industry. The retail marketing strategy of the retailer is discussed in the report, which shows how
a company is maintaining pricing and promotional activity. The retailer has given tough
competition to the competitors through an attractive website. Furthermore, the report discusses
the recommendations to the company.

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References
Bruno, I. (2014). Benchmarking. In Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research
(pp. 363-368). Springer Netherlands.
Caro, F., & Martínez-de-Albéniz, V. (2015). Fast fashion: business model overview and research
opportunities. In Retail Supply Chain Management (pp. 237-264). Springer US.
Cooper, T. (2014). Digital technologies and the future of the Australian fashion industry.
Ellison, E., & Hawkes, L. (2016). Australian beachspace: The plurality of an iconic site.
Borderlands e-journal, 15(1).
Guercini, S., & Runfola, A. (2015). Internationalization through e-commerce. The case of
multibrand luxury retailers in the fashion industry. In International Marketing in the Fast
Changing World (pp. 15-31). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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Network for News Sources Recommendations. World Academy of Science, Engineering
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Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., & Khaksar, S. M. S.
(2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer satisfaction
and loyalty.

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Kang, H., Shin, W., & Tam, L. (2016). Differential responses of loyal versus habitual consumers
towards mobile site personalization on privacy management. Computers in Human
Behavior, 56, 281-288.
Kumar, A., & Kim, Y. K. (2014). The store-as-a-brand strategy: The effect of store environment
on customer responses. Journal of Retailing and Consumer services, 21(5), 685-695.
Levashov, A. (2016). Ten Fresh Facts About How Australians Shop For Fashion Online. Viewed
on 23rd October 2017, https://magenable.com.au/researches-2/ten-facts-ecommerce-
australian-fashion-online-ecommerce-2016/
Melis, K., Campo, K., Breugelmans, E., & Lamey, L. (2015). The impact of the multi-channel
retail mix on online store choice: Does online experience matter?. Journal of Retailing,
91(2), 272-288.
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N. D., Wells, W. D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L., & Spence-Stone, R.
(2014). Advertising: Principles and practice. Pearson Australia.
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Pantano, E. (2014). Innovation drivers in retail industry. International Journal of Information
Management, 34(3), 344-350.

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Peppers, D., & Rogers, M. (2016). Managing Customer Experience and Relationships: A
Strategic Framework. John Wiley & Sons.
Qantas Points. (2017). The Iconic offers. Viewed on 23rd October 2017,
https://onlinemall.qantaspoints.com/info/81336/17171/the-iconic/afsrc=1
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Appendix
Mystery shopper’s Report
Appendix 1.1
Physical bricks and mortar store
 Service Availability- The service provided by the retailer is Quick, Impressive and
exceptional considering the other competitor.
 Store design - The store is neat and clean, everything in the store was well organized.
 Visual merchandising – LTRE is used by the Iconic so well, this is able to accomplish the
mission and vision of the company.
Appendix 1.2
Website
 Customers are satisfied with the use of the attractive website.
 Visual merchandising is done in such a way that it makes the person believes that he/she
itself is wearing the dress, and the images that show the different dresses from different
angles attracts the customers.
Appendix 1.3
Benchmark
 The below are the website page of Princess Polly and the SurfStitch which shows that the
Iconic Page is far better than the competitors.

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