Superdry Marketing Report: Marketing Fundamentals, January-April 2019

This report provides a comprehensive marketing analysis of the fashion brand Superdry. It begins with an introduction and then delves into Superdry's internal and external environments, including its mission, vision, and a detailed SWOT analysis. The report examines the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors impacting the brand. It identifies key marketing challenges faced by Superdry, such as communication overload, limited marketing channels, and a weak value proposition. The report then analyzes Superdry's positioning strategy, marketing objectives, and marketing mix, including product, price, place/distribution, and promotion. The report offers recommendations for improvement, such as diversifying product offerings, adopting a bundle pricing strategy, expanding store presence, and increasing promotional activities. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and suggestions for Superdry to enhance its marketing effectiveness and achieve its objectives. This report is a student assignment from the Marketing Fundamentals module within the BSc Business Management program, completed in the January-April 2019 term.

Superdry Marketing Report 0
Programme: BSc Business Management
Module name: Marketing Fundamentals
Schedule Term: January - April 2019
Student Reference Number (SRN):
Report/Assignment Title: Superdry Marketing Report

Superdry Marketing Report 1
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Superdry Internal & External Analysis......................................................................................2
Internal Analysis....................................................................................................................2
Mission...................................................................................................................................2
Vision.....................................................................................................................................2
SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................................3
Strengths –..........................................................................................................................3
Weaknesses –.....................................................................................................................3
Opportunities-....................................................................................................................3
Threats-..............................................................................................................................3
External Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Political..............................................................................................................................4
Economic............................................................................................................................4
Social..................................................................................................................................4
Technological.....................................................................................................................4
Legal...................................................................................................................................4
Environmental....................................................................................................................5
Superdry Marketing Challenges.................................................................................................5
Positioning Strategy of Superdry...............................................................................................6
Marketing Objectives for Superdry............................................................................................7
Superdry Marketing Mix............................................................................................................8
a) Product............................................................................................................................8
b) Price.................................................................................................................................8
c) Place/Distribution............................................................................................................9
d) Promotions......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11

Superdry Marketing Report 2
Introduction
Superdry is an international fashion label that operates in 46 countries around the
globe with 515 outlets in different locations. The organization belongs to the fashion label
SuperGroup Plc. The organization’s United Kingdom market is very big with 139 stores in
the UK and Europe. The company was established in 1985 and has been successfully
functioning since then. The organization has witnessed a transformation from being an
oblivion brand to ubiquity brand. The organization’s marketing approaches are mostly
conducted through digital mediums and less emphasis is given on advertising. Also, though
many of the top celebrities wear their clothes, they do not believe in having a popular face as
their brand ambassador, except once in 2015. Thus, all these different aspects highlight that
though the organization is popular they have weak marketing approaches. This drawback in
the organization has also impacted its profits, which has witnessed a decline in their sales and
profits. This decline is a warning sign for the organization, as in the current times, the fashion
and clothing industry is on a rising spree.
Superdry Internal & External Analysis
Internal Analysis
Mission
The main mission of the organization is to provide the customers with sustainable and
high-quality products that have an urban style and are a mix of American and Japanese
vintage style, with a prominent British influence.
Vision
The organization’s activities are built with the same vision that the brand awareness
of Superdry increases amongst the targeted audience with the help of digital media and the
organization opens more stores all over the world.

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SWOT Analysis
Strengths –
 The organization has a huge brand image which is very powerful.
 The organization has a huge market capital.
 The organization caters to various customer segments.
 The collaboration of the organization with Timothy Everest, who is a popular British
tailor for a new range of products (Ahmed et al., 2014).
 The business of the organization through the internet is very efficient.
 They have extremely creative design and have a humongous diversification in their
products.
Weaknesses –
 The organization has very weak marketing approaches.
 The organization has weak brand awareness, especially in accordance to its business
which is scattered in 49 countries.
 The organization lacks the support of a popular image.
 The organization is known as the brand of joggers and hoodies (Barnes, 2013).
Opportunities-
 The new United Kingdom production which will be tagged as “Made in UK”.
 The customer loyalty cards offered by the organization.
 The increasing profits through internet sales.
 The continuous approach of the organization to change customers’ perspective about
fashion and new trends (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst, 2010).
Threats-
 The reduction in the sales of the organization in comparison to the competitors.

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 The aggressive marketing approaches of the competitors.
 The increase in fake products in the market by small organizations.
External Analysis
Political
According to the current circumstances in the United Kingdom, the political
environment is unstable as the country is experiencing the implications of Brexit.
Economic
Though the organization has a huge market capital, the recent decrease in the sale of
the products has created financial stress in the organization, which will impact the marketing
practices (Brown et al., 2018).
Social
The organization has an image of mainly offering sweatshirts, hoodies, t-shirt, and
windcheaters. This does not specify the current trends in the market and of the customers.
Technological
The organization has effectively utilized the technology to attract customers and to
increase their sales. Still, the competitors of the organization are leading as they have better
marketing approaches.
Legal
After the applications of Brexit, the organization is bound to follow new rules
introduced by the British government and the European Union. This has impacted the
functioning of the organization (Curwen, Park and Sarkar, 2013).

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Environmental
As a popular organization, the organization has certain corporate social
responsibilities, which means the organization has to function under specific guidelines,
which means the protection of the environment.
Superdry Marketing Challenges
The five marketing challenges identified in the organization are –
 The increasing communication overload by the competitors.
The customers of today are being bombarded with continuous information
through the mediums of social media and personal emails. Thus, there is a huge noise
which has created chaos in the minds of the customers. Thus, for an organization like
Superdry who already have weak marketing practices are unable to cut through this
noise and successfully implement a marketing strategy (D'Souza, 2015).
 The organization is using limited channels.
In the current market, the organization Superdry is majorly utilizing digital
platforms, which are not sufficient enough to develop a strong market image. Thus,
the organization needs to increase its channels for conveying the marketing messages.
 The marketing approaches of the organization do not attract diverse audiences.
In the current times, it has been beneficial for the organization to address their
marketing approaches to a wider and diverse audience. The marketing approaches of
Superdry are mainly targeted towards men who belong to the age group 15 to 30 years
and who refers to hoodies, sweatshirts, and t-shirts. This is a limited target market.
 The organization has a very weak value proposition.
The organization has a value proposition which is weak as it is not clear to the
majority of the people. This also affects the potential of their marketing message.

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 The organization has still not adapted to approaches like “Click & Collect”.
The organization is not utilizing the increasing new trends of marketing like
mobile marketing which offers the facility of “Click & Collect” (Erdil and Özdemir,
2016).
Positioning Strategy of Superdry
The positioning strategy of super dry is –
 The organization has positioned itself as an organization that offers products which
are sustainable and are of high-quality.
 The organization has also utilized a high/low pricing strategy, as they offer customers
with products which are expensive but they also offer huge discount offers on a set of
other clothing products. This has helped the organization in attracting customers and
also maintaining the quality of their product.
 But, it is also a fact that the organization has shown over-resilience to its t-shirt,
hoodies, sweatshirts, and windcheaters in its positioning approach. Thus, the
organization which offers 2000 products has automatically limited them, which
impacts the sale of their other products.
 The positioning strategy of Superdry is mainly targeted towards the male audience
and for a specified age group which is 15-30. Thus, this limited approach to a certain
audience has reduced the market share of the organization.
The competitors of Superdry which include Aspinal of London, The Dune Group,
Mulberry, All Saints, Kurt Geiger, River Island, Reiss, and many others have positioned
themselves as an organization that serves both the customers that is men and women, as they
have positioned themselves with an appropriate value proposition and an effective marketing

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message. Also, the majority of these organization have positioned themselves as an
organization that offers economically priced products (Jackson and Ahuja, 2016).
Marketing Objectives for Superdry
Thus, according to the different analysis, the positioning strategy, and the marketing
challenges, some of the marketing objectives formulated for the organization are –
 Specific
To develop a clear positioning strategy that highlights the diverse products
offered by the organization. Superdry has to position their different products towards
both men and women, also they should be positioned for age groups between 15-45
years old (Koszewska, 2018).
 Measurable
The organization aims at increasing its customers by 24%. That means for the
next 12 months the organization has to increase its customers by 2% every month.
 Attainable
The fashion industry will be witnessing a huge increase in sales. Therefore, the
organization should have the main target of increasing its sales by 20% in the next 12
months.
 Relevant
The organization has to increase their communication channels. This is crucial
for increasing their customer, sales, profits, and brand image. Thus, the organization
has to utilize the most relevant and effective mediums of communication.
 Time-bound
The organization has to achieve all these different objectives in the next 12
months. For this, it is also important that the organization, regular monitor the

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different activity and evaluate the effectiveness of different approaches on a monthly
basis, to make further improvement or changes if required (Rowley, 2009).
Superdry Marketing Mix
The marketing mix of Superdry –
a) Product
 Current Attributes-
 The organization offers diverse products, which can be categorized into 2000
different types.
 These products are for both men and women.
 They have a sporty appeal and are extremely comfortable.
 Each piece has a different design which is inspired by the vintage American
and Japanese style, with a hint of British influence.
 Some of the products of the organization include t-shirts, polo shirts, rugby
shirts, jeans, sweaters, joggers, jackets, hoodies, footwear, and many others.
But, mainly focuses on hoodies, sweatshirts, and windcheaters.
 Recommendations
 The organization has to give equal focus to all their products and thus, have to
adapt the diversification product strategy. The organization should highlight
and market their other products equally in their marketing campaigns (Vehmas
et al., 2018).
 The organization is positioned as a firm that offers sportswear, whereas it
should be positioned as a company which provides both casual and
sportswear.

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b) Price
 Current Attributes –
The organization offers products at a high/low pricing strategy. Thus, the
products offered by the organization are expensive, but to attract more customers they
offer huge discounts on other products. Thus, it can be stated that the main pricing
strategy of the organization is the economy pricing strategy.
 Recommendations
 For the organization to increase its brand awareness, it would be beneficial if
Superdry adopts bundle pricing strategy for the next 12 months.
 The other change which is requires in that the organization have to inform the
customers about the different discounts that are offered on various products
(Williams-Grut, 2013).
c) Place/Distribution
 Current Attributes
Currently, the organization is active in over 139 stores in the United Kingdom
and Europe. The organization has been serving customers from different locations.
Also, the organization has a prominent and powerful website which attract millions of
people every year.
 Recommendations
 The organization have to increase its stores in the United Kingdom, especially
after the implementation of Brexit, it is necessary for the organization to make
this move.
 The organization needs to improve its official website as they have to better
categorize their products in different sessions. This will gain the focus of the
customers on different products (Wood and Jolly, 2018).

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d) Promotions
 Current Attributes
The organization has very weak promotional activities, which are very low as they
have the main focus on preserving the cost. Thus, the main promotional activities are
conducted through the internet platform, as they require fewer expenses.
 Recommendations
 The organization has to increase their communication channels and mediums.
Thus, they have to indulge in more advertisements on television, in
newspapers, and on the internet. The organization needs to open a channel on
YouTube and can provide style tips to increase the customer’s engagement in
the organization (Zhang and Clark, 2018).
 The organization has to increase its budget of marketing approaches to match
the aggressive promotional activities of the competitors.
Conclusion
Thus, from the different approaches stated above, this can be formulated that the
Superdry in the United Kingdom will be able to attain their marketing objectives effectively.
The organization needs to attain an aggressive approach to its marketing activities and should
also adapt some of the marketing approaches of its competitors, which will help in better
management of competitors.

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References
Ahmed, J., Chowdhury, M., Uddin, M. and Ferdous, M. (2014). Sadakalo: Marketing of
Traditional Fashion in the Modern Fashion Industry. Vision: The Journal of Business
Perspective, 18(2), pp.125-135.
Barnes, L. (2013). Fashion marketing. Textile Progress, 45(2-3), pp.182-207.
Bhardwaj, V. and Fairhurst, A. (2010). Fast fashion: response to changes in the fashion
industry. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 20(1),
pp.165-173.
Brown, H., Sutherland, E., Brown, H., Brown, H., Geoghegan, J. and Whelan, G.
(2018). Superdry issues profits warning. [online] Drapers. Available at:
https://www.drapersonline.com/news/superdry-issues-profits-warning/7032592.article
[Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].
Curwen, L., Park, J. and Sarkar, A. (2013). Challenges and Solutions of Sustainable Apparel
Product Development. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 31(1), pp.32-47.
D'Souza, C. (2015). Marketing Challenges for an Eco-fashion Brand: A Case Study. Fashion
Theory, 19(1), pp.67-82.
Erdil, T. and Özdemir, O. (2016). The Determinants of Relationship between Marketing Mix
Strategy and Drivers of Export Performance in Foreign Markets: An Application on Turkish
Clothing Industry. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235(1), pp.546-556.
Jackson, G. and Ahuja, V. (2016). Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing
mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), pp.170-186.
Koszewska, M. (2018). Circular Economy — Challenges for the Textile and Clothing
Industry. Autex Research Journal, 18(4), pp.337-347.

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Rowley, J. (2009). Online branding strategies of UK fashion retailers. Internet Research,
19(3), pp.348-369.
Vehmas, K., Raudaskoski, A., Heikkilä, P., Harlin, A. and Mensonen, A. (2018). Consumer
attitudes and communication in circular fashion. Journal of Fashion Marketing and
Management: An International Journal, 22(3), pp.286-300.
Williams-Grut, O. (2013). Market Report: Superdry is back in fashion with traders. [online]
The Independent. Available at:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/sharewatch/market-report-superdry-is-back-in-
fashion-with-traders-8448829.html [Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].
Wood, Z. and Jolly, J. (2018). Superdry co-founder ramps up comeback campaign as shares
plunge. [online] the Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/dec/12/superdry-blames-warm-weather-shares-
plummet [Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].
Zhang, D. and Clark, A. (2018). Superdry Loses Its Cool as Warm Weather Hurts Sales.
[online] WSJ. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/superdry-loses-its-cool-as-
heatwave-hits-sales-1539607351 [Accessed 21 Apr. 2019].

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