About SK Jewellery Group
One of the most popular jewellers of Singapore, SK Jewellery Group has retail chain involving more than 60 stores spread across Thailand, China and Malaysia. The Jewellery Group has grown by identifying and recognizing the changing trends and preferences in the market. The company has evolved from its store of yellow gold jewellery to diamond and white gold jewellery (Skjewellerygroup.com, 2019). At present, the company involves a wide range of jewellery options suitable for almost every form of demographics and occasion. SK Jewellery Group has been efficient in recognizing various market opportunities, from expanding in international markets to planning for strategic partnership for offering a wide range of product offerings. One of the recent business ventures of SK Jewellery Group is to expand its operations and store presence in the regions of Thailand and China. The prime reasons behind the expansion plan of SK Jewellery Group were to respond to the opportunity of growing bridal market, huge population, rising disposable income and the increasing acceptance towards the customers of western culture weddings in Thailand and China (Skjewellerygroup.com, 2019). The expansion plan of the company in the new geographical locations will be addressed by the collaboration of experienced staff members and with the implementation of strategic business partners (Skjewellerygroup.com, 2019). The company approached the new markets in Thailand and China by differentiating the offerings through customization, creating brand experiences and predicting customer needs.
SK Jewellery Group has segmented the market of China and Thailand based on the variables such as geographic, demographic, behavioural and Psychographic segments.
The geographical location that was targeted by the company for expansion was Thailand and China. One of the main reasons for selecting these two geographical locations was the increasing population and the fastest-rising consumer market. The company SK Jewellery Group targeted the urban region in both areas (Dibb & Simkin, 2016).
SK Jewellery Group segmented the market of on the basis of the variables such as age, gender, social class, income and family life cycle (Dolnicar, Grün & Leisch, 2018). The attractiveness of the market of Thailand and China was evident by the enormous bridal market; thus, the family life cycle of newly married and married couples. The company targets both male and female both with two different objectives, targeting female for the jewellery collection for a wedding or daily use and approaching male for offering assistance regarding the various phases from proposal to anniversaries. Another reason for expanding the business presence in Thailand and China was the rising disposable income of the population. High and middle-income groups are another chosen segment variable for the company, SK Jewellery Group. The company planned for addressing the changing preferences and needs of the millennial couples between the age group of 23 to 38. The company also segmented the market based on the social class, as in both the countries; SK Jewellery Group established its presence in the luxury goods markets or malls with a distinctive group of clientele. In China, the stores are located in the shopping locality where consumer have high purchasing power with distinguishing preferences (luxury-shopping sites).
Evolution of SK Jewellery Group
The company, SK Jewellery Group, targeted the segment based on lifestyle choices and practices, including social and cultural activities. The social and cultural activities require the Jewellery for wedding season and Jewellery in the form of blessings from elders to the newlywed women. The motive of buying Jewellery for gifting in the form of blessing and for wearing pride and distinguishing statement pieces in the wedding by the bride or family members (Lasserre, 2017). The company targets the consumer groups with a luxurious lifestyle with the power of affording different style statement and the ability to express oneself or a life cycle stage with wide-ranged Jewellery.
The company, SK Jewelry Group, strategized the plan of dividing the market based on end-use, price sensitivity and benefit expectations (Venter, Wright & Dibb, 2015). The chosen segment of the company attracts the consumer groups who are affected by the price ranges of products they endorse in, selected consumer groups prefers high-priced Jewellery products or brands for special occasions or consider buying Jewellery, a high involvement purchasing decisions, therefore, the preference of high price for ensuring authenticity and uniqueness. The company also attracts the segment of consumer groups who prefers reflecting a style statement and depicting class or special occasion through well-crafted unique Jewellery pieces. The end-users for the company are, bride and bride-to-be, wedded women and mother or sisters of the bride.
The planned distribution and execution procedure of addressing the needs of the new market targeted by the produced service or goods offerings are known as market entry strategy (Calvelli & Cannavale, 2019). The market entry strategies adopted by the SK Jewellery Group to expand the business operation and store presence in Thailand and China demonstrate its well-strategized and efficient practice of identifying and recognizing the international market opportunities. For expanding in the market of China, SK Jewellery Group adopted the market entry strategy that reflects the ability of assured success:
The business alliance strategy of a business includes the agreement amongst different forms of businesses for creating an effective impact (Collinson, 2015). The company, SK Jewellery Group, partnered with the World Gold Council, PRC diamond market, De Beer’s International Institute and digital media company, Sarine Technologies for ensuring the successful expansion in the market of China. The reason for partnering with digital companies is to offer an Omni-channel presence of global or international expansion (Mohanty, 2017). The reasons behind this market strategy are, the purpose of improving the service and product offerings of the store, Love & Co. as it increased the product range of wedding Jewellery collection in the luxury market. Another reason can be the decision of responding directly to the consumer market demand of western-influenced and customizable wedding Jewellery.
The market entry strategies adopted by the company for entering Thailand markets are:
Licensing: This strategy involves taking permission from the authorities in a country to open stores in the consumer market (Collinson, 2015). The company acquired a license for its Love and Co. store brand.
Joint venture: The company established a strategic joint venture company for selling diamond and gold Jewellery items in the regions of Thailand under Love and Co. store brand name.
The reasons for selecting these market entry strategies of the company for entering in Thailand market are:
- For attracting the existing consumer groups of the joint venture association and enabling the promotion of offered products of the new establishment of Love and Co.
- For ensuring profitability and customer trust in Thailand with the lawful licensing and joint venture strategy
References:
Calvelli, A., & Cannavale, C. (2019). Market Entry Strategy. In Internationalizing Firms (pp. 59-110). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Collinson, S. (2015). Foreign Market Entry Analysis. Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 1-1.
Dibb, S., & Simkin, L. (2016). Market segmentation and segment strategy. Marketing theory: A student text, 251-279.
Dolnicar, S., Grün, B., & Leisch, F. (2018). Market Segmentation Analysis. In Market Segmentation Analysis (pp. 11-22). Springer, Singapore.
Lasserre, P. (2017). Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Mohanty, S. K. (2017). Globalization, Innovation, and Marketing Philosophy: A Critical Assessment of Role of Technology in Defining New Dimensions. In Business Analytics and Cyber Security Management in Organizations(pp. 48-63). IGI Global.
Skjewellerygroup.com (2019). [Online] Retrieved from https://www.skjewellerygroup.com
Venter, P., Wright, A., & Dibb, S. (2015). Performing market segmentation: a performative perspective. Journal of Marketing Management, 31(1-2), 62-83.