Background of the product
The contemporary business organisation always ensure to have proper strategies for their business and product’s marketing for operating in the host nations. It is very crucial as the home nation differ from the host nations in business factors and the business environments and it is for this reason that the business organisations need to have to enhance their prevailing business strategies for conducting the business in new country, depending on their national and other components in the very nation (Prajogo 2016). It is necessary for the modern businesses to have different strategies in diverse nations where they make businesses or plan to conduct them. However, it is to note that the organisation named Dorothy Perkins is one of the leading multinational retailers present in Australia and it is planning to enter into the Chinese business market. This paper would elaborate about the strategic plans and marketing mix strategies that are to be followed by this company in order to enter into the Chinese market. With the same, this paper would also provide a strategic positioning plan for it and argue why the very strategy is the best option to sell its services in the Chinese market by means of a literature review. Lastly, this paper would end on providing few recommendation for the company in order to operate in the international market in effective manner.
Dorothy Perkins is planning to expand its fashion department in Chinese market. It would be selling several styles of clothing, bags, shoes and accessories there. It has decided to deliver the very latest high street fashion right from the tops and dresses, shoes and outerwear along with accessories of women to jeans, jackets, boots and shoes of men. It would be delivering the new season collections and is expecting to get the latest high street fashion from Australia straight to the door of Chinese households.
The proposed of strategy of marketing for the company Dorothy Perkins would be standardised in large along with the implementation procedure of the adaptive strategy to some extent. Hence, the main aim of implementation of this strategy would be to deliver standardised products by possessing an adaptive approach. It is suggested that the product portfolio is to be remained in offering in the Chinese market and here, the standardisation strategy must be initiated (Šeri?, Gil-Saura and Ruiz-Molina 2014). Notwithstanding this fact, the approach of the products could be altered like the culture of China and the designs in the clothes-line and therefore, in this case, the adaptation strategy is to be considered. However, in recent days, the company is following the premium pricing strategy in its business operation in global context. But, for doing business in Chinese market, the company should be initiating a similar pricing strategy. Hence, the standardisation strategy is suggested to be used for its product pricing. It is because of this reason that as per (Liozu and Hinterhuber 2013), China have a high number of higher end consumers who have the necessity of higher end premium brand. Furthermore, it is also to state that in present days, the company is having an extensive and a holistic set of marketing strategies, which ranges from the celebrity endorsements to the e-mail marketing. According to Gangwar, Kumar and Rao (2013) is helping the company in enhancing its market exposure among its target consumer segments. Still, it is suggested that in order to enter into the Chinese market, they should implement their international promotional strategy and along with that they should implement the localisation strategy as well. It would ensure high degree of market penetration for the market in China. Also, it is also to note that the other advantage of this strategy is that it would be helping the company in attracting more and more customers with having both the domestic as well as international preferences. Moreover, it is also to state that Dorothy Perkins is having both online as well as offline physical stores and this signifies that the company is following the strategy of Omni channel distribution. They should be implementing the same strategy in the Chines market as well.
Rationale for the Choice of the strategy
It is to note that the main advantage that Dorothy Perkins would be getting from having an adaptive approach would be of effective targeting its customers in China. Furthermore, the main benefit of using standardisation and adaptation strategy would be the maximisation or the increase or hike in the level of attractiveness of the international product line of the company. Moreover, using the international approach of premium pricing strategy would help the company in maintain its international brand value in the Chinese market and along with that, it could also target its higher end customers easily (Plakhotnik et al. 2015). Also, it is expected that it would increase the profitability of the company in operating in China. The Omni Channel distribution strategy if used in China is expected to bring in more potential customers towards the business from all the possible mediums.
It is to note that standardisation is the method of offering standardised and universal products over prevailing markets. Also, as per Mintz and Currim (2013), adaptive strategy is the strategy of offering the company’s services and products as per the preference and the taste of the consumers. The adaptive strategy includes localisation of the services and products in different business markets. However, the consumer based quality brand, which is also referred to as the Keller’s brand equity model states all the factors which are to be regarded by the brands in forming a very strong bonding with the consumers. Hence, this model would be helping Dorothy Perkins in creating a strong branding of its product. It is also to note that the first and the foremost element of this Keller’s brand equity model assists the companies in developing a strong branding of the services and products. Dorothy Perkins is regarded among its target customers as one of the premium fashion retailer providing high street fashion solution to them. Hence, having this as an identity, the identity of a premium retailer, would be helping the firm in marketing its fashion products and enhancing its brand value in the Chinese market scenario. Furthermore, the very next element in the model is that of brand meaning. It refers to the performance of a specific product regarding its potential of meeting the needs of the customers. As stated by Lim and Weaver (2014) brand meaning refers to having a total of two major factors of imagery and performance. The imagery refers to the level to which the brand meets the psychological and the social requirements of the customers and on the other hand, performance refers to the level to which the product is meeting the requirements and preferences of the consumers and to what extent they are efficient over the prevailing competitors in the market (Park, Mishra and Wozniak 2014). Hence, in order to have a powerful and a very strong brand value in China, Dorothy Perkins should positively maintain its global positioning strategy which would help it in providing both the quality and premium experience to the customers through offering them excellent products (Liu, Liu and Lin 2015). Furthermore, the next element is that of brand responses. It is the factor under which the consumers who uses the products respond to a specific brand (Buil, Martinez and De Chernatony 2013). Lastly, the last but not the least is the element of brand resonance. It is to note that brand resonance is the linkage or the connection that is built in between the brand and the customers who uses it (Jung Jung et al. 2014). This helps the companies in gaining the feedback from the customer sides. Hence, it is very necessary for the companies to have a much favourable brand resonance, especially if they are planning to expand their business to a place which is completely new to them and the place for which the company is completely new, for example, Dorothy Perkins and China. The more the brand resonance would be in the Chinese market for Dorothy Perkins, the more would be its market penetration as well as the generation of positive word of mouth marketing in the host nation.
Expected strategic performance success factors from the strategy
Figure 1: Brand equity model of Dorothy Perkins
Conclusion:
Hence, from the above discussion it is to state that Dorothy Perkins must initiate both the adaptation and the standardisation strategies in order to get high level of output from its new Chinese customers. In this paper, the recommended marketing mix strategies that would be followed for conducting business in Chinese market are also discussed. Furthermore, the strategies for marketing communication mix long with the measurement indicators have also been demonstrated in this paper. With the same, it is also to state that an effective implementation of the recommended strategies that are provided below would be helping the company to have a favourable operation in Chinese business environment.
- The company should follow Omni channel distribution strategy in China. This means that it should be available to the Chinese customers in both online and offline mode. This is because that Chinese customers is also having a high level of internet and social penetration which would be helping the company to have a favourable opportunities for marketing from online stores and applications. With the same, this would also helping in catering more and more customers from all the potential mediums.
- Dorothy Perkins should positively maintain its global positioning strategy which would help it in providing both the quality and premium experience to the customers through offering them excellent products.
- The company should primarily focus on its product superiority and quality. It is because of the reason that the customers would prefer the company over the other prevailing options in the market only for the quality and the brand identity that it is delivering them. Hence, it is to state that pricing should not be the only determining element for Dorothy Perkins in order to do its business in China.
- It is also suggested that Dorothy Perkins needs to identify a list of some performance indicators for measuring their performance while doing business in the Chinese market. The KPIs that are identified are acquired market share, and the profit margin inclusion of new clients. It is to note that the Market share is defined as the increase in the market share for Dorothy Perkins, while the profit margin is the increase in profitability for them and lastly, inclusion of the new customers is the effectiveness of marketing strategy in attracting new clients and customers for the business. Measuring market share would help Dorothy Perkins for determining their position in the market as compared to their existing competitors.
Strategy |
||||
Objectives |
Measures |
Targets |
Initiatives |
|
Financial |
To increase the market share |
Reaching out for more number of customers and covering wide range of market area. |
12 % of increase over the prevailing figure. |
Diversified use of marketing mediums |
Customer |
Increase the inclusion of potential customers |
More customer oriented strategies along with more customer engagement |
12 % increase over the prevailing customers. |
Use of mass market mediums and designing products according to the customer feedback. |
Growth |
Increasing the profit margin |
Reducing the promotion and marketing cost |
9 % of increase in the profitability. |
Use of more cost effective mediums like social media. |
References:
Buil, I., Martínez, E. and De Chernatony, L., 2013. The influence of brand equity on consumer responses. Journal of consumer marketing, 30(1), pp.62-74.
Gangwar, M., Kumar, N. and Rao, R.C., 2013. Consumer stockpiling and competitive promotional strategies. Marketing Science, 33(1), pp.94-113.
Jung Jung, H., Lee, Y., Kim, H. and Yang, H., 2014. Impacts of country images on luxury fashion brand: facilitating with the brand resonance model. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 18(2), pp.187-205.
Lim, Y. and Weaver, P.A., 2014. Customer?based brand equity for a destination: The effect of destination image on preference for products associated with a destination brand. International Journal of Tourism Research, 16(3), pp.223-231.
Liozu, S.M. and Hinterhuber, A., 2013. Pricing orientation, pricing capabilities, and firm performance. Management Decision, 51(3), pp.594-614.
Liu, C.R., Liu, H.K. and Lin, W.R., 2015. Constructing customer?based museums brand equity model: The mediating role of brand value. International Journal of Tourism Research, 17(3), pp.229-238.
Mintz, O. and Currim, I.S., 2013. What drives managerial use of marketing and financial metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal of Marketing, 77(2), pp.17-40.
Park, T., Mishra, A.K. and Wozniak, S.J., 2014. Do farm operators benefit from direct to consumer marketing strategies?. Agricultural Economics, 45(2), pp.213-224.
Plakhotnik, M.S., Rocco, T.S., Collins, J.C. and Landorf, H., 2015. Connection, value, and growth: how employees with different national identities experience a geocentric organizational culture of a global corporation. Human Resource Development International, 18(1), pp.39-57.
Prajogo, D.I., 2016. The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment in delivering business performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 171, pp.241-249.
Šeri?, M., Gil-Saura, I. and Ruiz-Molina, M.E., 2014. How can integrated marketing communications and advanced technology influence the creation of customer-based brand equity? Evidence from the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 39, pp.144-156.