Consumer Behavior Report On Prada And Gucci Handbags

Key Issues Faced by Prada and Gucci in Terms of Consumer Behavior

This study deals with developing a consumer behavior report that will be submitted to the Managing Director of a High Involvement brand and product line. In this particular assignment, proper emphasis has been given on two high-end fashion brands named as Prada and Gucci (Wyer Jr & Srull, 2014). The product lines selected are Prada handbags and Gucci handbags. The current segment actually brings out the key issues that are faced by both the above-mentioned companies in terms of consumer behavior. Luxury brands such as Gucci and Prada need to keep close watch on the pulse of customer’s perceptions as well as brand health.

Gucci, the supplier of ultra- high-end handbags reported not so-glamorous earnings results in the current year (Gucci.com, 2017). Gucci sales are flagging because trademark has become so extensively predictable as well as prolific when women are actually turning away from it as the customers feel no longer the Gucci bags to be unique or special. This high-end fashion brand actually lost its exclusivity due to rapid expansion. This situation took place when luxury brands actually went big with outlet provisions that peddled its iconic bags at cheaper prices and that is the time when luxury shoppers started to abandon the brand (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Shares of Italian fashion house like Prada have lost their value in the current year that and faces sagging demand in Asia and Europe (Prada.com, 2017). Prada suffered a 44% decline in profit as sales of high-margin handbags slumped. This high-end fashion brands actually faces intense rivalry from other reasonably priced luxury goods makers that include Michael Kors and Tory Burch who offers products at cheaper prices through conducting advertising campaigns. Prada is still strong and can success if its responds to the evolving luxury by adapting to the commerce approach. Prada product is not going out of style but suffering from consumers down trading (Vinerean et al., 2013).

Gucci is an Italian company that is founded in Florence as well as measured to be most identifiable fashion and popular brands in and across the world. This high-end fashion brand is known for its high superiority leather products as well as hand-making shoes. Gucci operates more than 450 stores in and across the world (Gucci.com, 2017).

Prada was established by Mario Prada that aims at operating exclusive, stylish stores in fine materials as well as sophisticated workmanship. This company has the ability for setting trends at the time of experimenting with new products as well as techniques where Prada products have the necessary components of design at the time of experimenting and exchanging of philosophies (Prada.com, 2017). This fashion brands has an articulate ability for combining strong fashion sense, culture as well as new ideas based upon methods and discipline that actually establishes the brand as genuine in-house design culture.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Prada and Gucci

Brand Competitive Analysis

The main goal of every marketer is to get inside the head of a consumer (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014). They need to figure out how the consumers make decisions and what are the thought processes that are involved while purchasing a product or services.

Need Recognition Styles- In this particular step, need recognition has to be performed as an personality propensity for engaging in and enjoying cognitive activities as well as predictive manner where people mainly deals with tasks and information (Stephen, 2016). As mentioned in the Likelihood Model, consumers actually think as well as internally process for their purchase decision-making in a way through evaluating certain propensities in their minds. Both the target customers of Gucci and Prada actually are ready to pay any price but they need high quality products that will add to their status and personality. This step takes place when there is imbalance between the actual situation of consumers as well as desired situation for both the high-end brands. Consumers should recognize the need of a new handbag where consumer will make the purchase in the remaining four steps (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Information Search Styles- In this step, the procedure of information collected are established based on the end user natural procedure of information use (Solomon, 2014). Target customers for both the high-end brands look for dispensation styles in the cognitive as well as emotional aspects. Individuals need to decide the perplexity and require basic invitational information for satisfying their emotional mood. Customers tend to access more detailed information where they find the logical state with their own information. The customers will be searching for all types of information through the available sources. The more the information, the more customers gets attracted with the purchase of any particular products and services (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Evaluation of alternative- Target customers of Prada and Gucci actually evaluate the selected alternatives based on price and quality. Both these customers have the option to buy from either of the brands as they compete with one other in the same segment (Seiler, 2013). There could be even discrepancy about the value awareness of alternatives on various attributes as well as customers selects other options regarding the weights of the attributes in combination of values like the best options over diversity, over safety, functional and risk-taking (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Opportunities and Threats for Prada and Gucci

Styles on Purchase- Consumers style of purchase is basically comes under the category impulse buying. Addition to that, impulsive as well as philosophical procedure of verdict making was reliant upon the differences in human being character of impulsivity (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). There had been deferred commencement of acquire was reliant on the cognitive dispensation by way of assembly information. There had been confirmed fashion customers preferences on sakes human being service styles based on types of personality. In this particular scenario, Gucci customers and Prada customers perceives strong collision on the association with other people who prefer the sale person should give professional advice rather than forcing for final purchase of that handbag brand (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Post-Purchase Evaluation Styles- In this particular step, post-purchase behavior among consumers are evaluated by fundamental values of persons that include redress-seeking performance for pursuing exact remedies directly from the seller (Lantos, 2015). Here, complaints are addressed that are made by the consumers after making the final purchase for either of the brand (Prada and Gucci).

Consumer behavior is an effort for studying and understanding the buyer tendencies of consumer for their end use. Social factors play an important role that influences the buying decisions of consumers (Karsaklian et al., 2015).

Family- It is important to consider the fact that family member plays major role in designing one’s preferences as well as behavior (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014). This help in offering an environment where individual evolves and develop personality as well as acquisition of values. Majorly, child makes the purchase after seeing their parents and lifestyle that actually evokes them purchase of the particular brand (Juster, 2015). Family can greatly influence the buying behavior of an individual by various ways such as:

Individuals can get influenced by the personality, characteristics, beliefs and attitudes

Individuals can get influenced by the decision-making of other person while purchasing a certain goods or services.

Reference Groups- Other way where individuals get influenced while making the purchase is the reference groups. Reference group is a group where an individual likes to get associated such as wants to be called as a member of that group (Hoyer, MacInnis & Pieters, 2016). Further, it is observed that all the members of the reference groups that share the common buying behavior as well as have a strong influence over one other. Initiator is the individual who initiates the buying decision. Influencer is those individual whose opinion influences the buying decision. Decision-maker is an individual who has the authority for taking the purchase. Buyer is an individual who ultimately buys the product (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Stages of Consumer Decision-making

Beliefs and Attitudes- It depends upon the consumers of what they believe about the sellers. Consumer attitudes towards a specific brand can persist even when the situations that produce them change. In case where companies are sharing their values to their customers, this may be a motivating factor for the customers that attract the business (Gruber & Schlegelmilch, 2014). Addition to that, advertising strives for positioning products so that they appear in association with positive traits as well as countering beliefs that actually interfaces with the products ability for attracting the buyers (Wrenn, Loudon & Della Bitta, 2014).

Learning and Conditioning- It is viewed that consumers gains decision-making information by using the medium of advertising. It is the profitable message that actually convinces customers for trying a product but their post-purchase experiences. It is the responsibility of an advertiser for teaching customers another message about the given product that removes previous conditioning in errand of new information (Griskevicius & Kenrick, 2013). Therefore, conditioning means how rewards, gifts with purchases prefer one product in a category over other.

Age- It is the age as well as life cycle who have a possible collision on the purchasing power of consumer. It is understood that customers change procure of goods as well as services over passage of time. Therefore, family life cycle include various stages such as married couples, unmarried couples and young singles that help marketers for developing products for each stage (Ghose, Ipeirotis & Li, 2014).

Lifestyle- One of the major personal factors that pressure the consumer performance is standard of living. This refers to the way a person lives in a society as well as express things in an surroundings. Therefore, it is resolute by the interests of the clients, opinions as well as activities that actually shape the whole pattern of acting and interaction in the world (Claiborne & Sirgy, M2015).

• It is recommended to the company to focus on meeting with employees as it is one of the major marketing strategies that should be adopted.
• Gucci should develop a business plan where positioning strategy is to be implemented. By using differentiation strategy, it can be understood that Gucci brand is sophisticated, high-class as well as gives high quality handbags that are innovative. In case of strategic orientation, they should product leadership as the company renders best quality products that has symbolic expressive value
• The high-end fashion brand should understand the taste of the people. There is high unaided awareness present among the customers but the familiarity of consumer with the brand is lower.   
• It is recommended to the company to believe what their looking for and their ambition as well as target. Gucci is strongly associated with relaxed as well as some traits like fashionable and sensible

• It is recommended to strengthen the organizational process as well as culture
• It is advisable to Prada for hiring technologists as well as retailers who innovate completely under the brand name. They should maintain exclusivity, brand uniqueness as well as desired image with limited control on the external environment.
• It is recommended to focus on product excellence that could be highly feasible
• Prada should nurture their innovation skills. Prada is associated with Fits well and timeless.  

Conclusion 

At the end of the study, it is concluded that both internal and situational factors actually influences the consumer decision making process. It is necessary for the luxury branded products such as Gucci and Prada marketers for considering all the relevant factors. Gucci and Prada are the luxury brand that attracts certain types of consumers to their stores as well as website. Customers of Gucci and Prada are loyal but they are not only ones who buy the handbags from the given brand. Gucci should manly focus on the ordinary customers who cares about the price and not on the social status that gets connection with the fashion brand. Prada, on the other hand should be identify various target groups as well as segments that gets influenced by factors at the time of decision-making process.

Social Factors That Influence Buying Decisions

Reference List

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Gucci Official Site United Kingdom. (2017). Gucci.com. Retrieved 13 April 2017, from https://www.gucci.com

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