Ms70087e Global Marketing And Digital Business Assignment Sample

Introduction

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Marketing is the branch of management that deals with buying, branding and selling of products or services at an organizational level. The functional unit is to encourage and assist exchanges. After the global pandemic, global marketing and digital marketing are becoming the latest mediums to brand the product or service of a company. Going digital had already started by combining with e-commerce industry to connect a company with an international reach. The report is based on learning about the retail company, Boux Avenue based in the United Kingdom. It is going to discuss about the company’s revenues, strengths, products portfolio, external and internal factors, STP and theories and models.

Overview of the chosen company

Company Profile- Boux Avenue was founded in the year 2012 and includes about nightwear, lingerie and swimwear. The Theo Paphitis retail Group is a family of trusted brands and Boux Avenue is the active part of it. It has become one of the most innovative stores on the high street as well as online (Boux Avenue unveil new SS21 athleisure collection, 2021). It is one of the fastest brands that were awarded Global RLI awards thrice. It has also included the Rising Star in the year 2012 and it also won UK Retailer of the Year in 2013 as well as in 2014. There are more than thirty operable stores throughout the United Kingdom. The Home Market of the chosen company is both Domestic and international markets.

Industry Analysis- the Company’s name Boux Avenue was based on a French waitress who inspired it and was working at Paphitis during vacationing with his family. In 2018, the revenues counted at 47.4 million pounds and its online presence is way more prominent. A total of 61.19k of total followers at twitter and an average likes per tweet at 9.48. Initially, it opened six stores in the UK and gradually moved from one location to other and is still operating in more than 30 stores. Moreover, there are many styles for different ages and sizes that are available in A-G and 6-18.

Pestel

It stands as an acronym that means political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. The company is headquartered at London, United Kingdom.

1. 1. Political Factor-The government regulations and other policies must be abided by the company since it is important to follow them. As it is Retail Company and also deals into international orders, there are many tariffs, taxes and other policies that must be kept in check. However, the UK government has always maintained good relations with most of the other countries and leading to good remarks amongst them.
2. 2.     Economic Factor- The GDP is one of the highest of the UK and it is also amongst as one of the countries having high annual per capita income. Since the foreign direct investment has now become a great tool to enter new regions and attract the right investors by promoting tourism as well (Rastogi and Trivedi, 2016). Additionally, the inflation rate is low due to sudden lockdown because of corona virus.
3. Social Factor- The chosen company’s social status is quite good and has been in accordance to the tastes, preferences and requirements of the local women of that specific country. Their ability to respect the local flavours is very respectful since it deals in lingerie etc. there are times when people misjudge or people might get hurt by their marketing tactics. Moreover, their online presence is also fruitful and is mostly in sync with the fashion trends all across the world, giving their customers something new and unique.
4. Technological Factor- Their website is user friendly and has a very accessible interface that helps their customers in proper search and clear guidelines on tracking of orders or returns and can also use the gift wrapping (Baker and Hart, 2016). However, the online marketing game is still under some construction work and can be enhanced by using the tools that can increase their products views or average tweets on a day.
5. Environmental Factor-This is an important section that gets ignored and company must put focus to be more sustainable. The packaging must be to minimise the carbon footprint by using recyclable materials or as re-usable boxes by the clients. Using eco-friendly packaging could only leads to less pollution and promotes living with a sense of responsible behaviour.
6. Legal Factor- There is a well known fact that each country has its own legislative framework and the company’s rules or corporate policies. The UK has established some laws such as the Employment Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010. These help in generating right opportunities without creating any challenges with respect to legal elements.

Business Overview on Products-

Products-The chosen company deals in lingerie, nightwear, bridal wear, swimwear and active wear. It has also started in the accessories section and the holiday shop as well. There is a complimentary gift wrapping when checking out the cart on website or when attending any physical store also. It is well known for the bra fitting sessions that are validated by the City & Guilds-accredited training certification (Candeloro, 2019). Such diverse portfolio only attracts the right audience and can only aid in improving the number of customers associating with this brand.

Competitors- The retail clothing consumer goods is progressive and has been always competitive in nature. Schumacher is one of the oldest textile companies in New York and has a good reputation. Next is Groupe Eram is a consumer goods organization in 1927 headquartered at Montrevault-sur-Evre. There is another provider company of medical apparel and linens named Nixon Medical, which was established in 1967 and is based at New Castle, US. Lastly Bendon is retail clothing and created at 1947. The companies are private type and their online presence is fluctuating in which Group Eram and Nixon Medical are way behind and must be able to put some focus on its online presence. Furthermore, Schumacher is in the running but Boux Avenue has been gaining the momentum by having consistent followers of approximately 60k.      

Application of theory/ model/ relevant framework

The Porter’s five forces is the framework that consists of five elements to form an industrial stricture such as

• the threat of entry is high because of government restrictions and access to distribution channels

• the threat of substitutes is high due to variety of options existing in markets giving same product but with a different procedure

• the bargaining power of buyers is high since online platforms are giving equal opportunity space to both start-ups or new companies along with established companies (Yunna and Yisheng, 2014).

• the bargaining power of suppliers is low since the switching coats can be high but there is a specialist input

• the extent of rivalry between competitors is high because of aggressive marketing due to online platforms and growing competition about it amongst the rivals

The chosen company can accordingly plan its next strategic planning to expand products portfolios as well as the in newer markets.

SWOT Analysis-

The strength of this company is that it has opened with superior quality products and was accessible to every female. Such a new concept was welcomed with a bra fitting session undertaken by all staff that is City and Guilds-accredited training programme. However, its existence was somewhat controlled by the Theo retail group and the innovation was still restricted (Street, 2018). The opportunities are vast by going digital and also plan for franchising with few e-commerce companies in newer areas. The threats are rise of local companies that are following the same business model.

Marketing mix

The 7Ps of marketing mix is essential in understanding the products or USP of a company. Moreover, it helps in assessing the company’s activities and overall adherence to the policies for smooth execution.

1. Product- The chosen company deals with the women innerwear and other apparels including accessories etc. They not only design and manufacture lingerie, swimwear and nightwear but also provide in different shapes and sizes as per the suitability of the women. It ranges from t-shirt bras, chemises, bridal wear and lingerie sets. Having a wide range of options make the company more desirable to the customer and especially in an ecommerce business.
2. Price-.The pricing strategy comes within the affordable range and this is why it is mostly popular amongst their customers. It although differs from region to region but can be easily purchased as the quality is of superior type (Hashim and Hamzah, 2014). The company management has made a detailed catalogue book so that it can give all the details necessary before making a buy.
3. Place- It is a very critical element that helped the company to expand its sales by being online and updating its website with all the features. The details mentioned are making it easier for customers from other regions to make an easy purchase and leading to more accessible location. Its stores are 30 in number that has good staff having the complete knowledge of bra fitting sessions and making it popular as well in the UK markets.
4. Promotion- The company’s management is well known for its subtle and active endorsements. It has a wide range of well-known influencers and celebrities that have made it more popular among the common population. Moreover, the instagram page and twitter account is also handled by giving updates and announcing offers, discounts etc.
5. Process- The entire process is corporate and the group is known for its methodical approachability in making its working practices intact (Pistol and Bucea-Manea, 2017). The manufacturing unit, design team, sales team and marketing teams are working in a cross functional manner to convert the leads and maintain the brand value through revenues generation.
6. People- The total number of employees that are working in this company are 300 with more than 9000 followers on LinkedIn platform. Each member is a specialist and is dedicated in making the working orders dispatched on time with smooth logistics’ and distribution channels.
7. Physical Environment- The Chosen Company has steadily increased its physical store to 30 in number and has all the amenities, catalogue books, changing rooms and well-equipped stores with a good stocking of inventory.

Therefore, the company is doing good work and currently, after pandemic is trying to get back into business with its expansion plans and other projects. The support and collaboration of each member is commendable and helping in making it as one of the biggest retailers in their sector.

Review digital presence

With growing advancements in the technology field and rise of e-commerce companies, the global networking has been improved. Since its launch, the focus of the chosen company was to open its branches in various locations of UK but gradually they also worked on its website. It has been improvised and now it can be referred as one of the best websites that has everything and is very user friendly (Kingsnorth, 2019). The company is doing a good amount of business and has a good distribution and logistics networking. The exchange policy is one of the most interesting and detailed summary presented on their website. It gives an overview to the customer without worrying about connecting with the customer care. This makes them different and their expansion markets are almost in all the prime countries of the world through its website. The website is handy and has all the features such as order tracking, Saturday/ Sunday deliver restrictions, and international orders and returns. It also has a separate pop up for each product and is very useful for any new customer. Their online presence is going strong with illustrative descriptions about their products, sizes and other details.

Internationalisation theory

 Internationalisation at organizational level takes place in the manufacturing, selling, research, and other activities of doing business. This company is growing its sales in almost all the regions of the world via using ecommerce website but must focus on the operational side. For this, they must re-think about the availability of raw materials, production units and can extend their manufacturing strength. Additionally their online marketing must also need some changes and be more aggressive to meet with the demands of the markets. An important aspect that must be kept in mind is to understand the demand-supply of a particular product (Vavrus and Pekol, 2015). Currently the pandemic situation is fluctuating and many companies are re-considering their entry modes. Here the chosen company if wise enough can start putting up warehousing so that it will be easier to sell. Since it is a part of a large retail group, they can plan to join hands with another production company in another location or say targeted market location. It is called as joint venture that helps in flourishing the retail chain and meets the needs of the end users. Franchising would be a beneficial form but agency agreements can also help the chosen company to expand its operations and overall brand value. It is the best option because the company has a well established supply chain and distribution channel across the globe.

Ethical considerations

It is one of the important parts to understand where the compliance and regulatory frameworks are dealt with. However, it is also sometimes lead to making the workplace environmental more employees’ centric and do not promote any partiality or discrimination. Above all the packaging and other distribution based concepts must be evaluated to eliminate any challenges or avoid any delays (Arifin, 2018). It has been observed that many companies cross the basic human emotions or exploit the situation due to corona virus and thus, companies like Boux Avenue can come to rescue and help in proper navigation of each process until the product is dispatched and reached safely to the customers.

Strategic recommendations

            They must be able to follow a more structured pattern and establish a more diversified portfolio of products. The chosen company’s website is also user-friendly and the interface is very accessible. However, they must be able to now be able to generate more leads by online marketing and for this; a team of experts could be hired. A separate unit can be developed to understand the dynamics of online marketing through digital marketing. Use of instagram, Facebook, twitter etc, can be revamped and be more centric to the host country’s cultural taste etc. (Wan, Ni, Misra and McAuley, 2020) Remote working is the new normal and the company’s management can make use of it.     

Conclusion

It can be summarized that digital platforms is of high prominence in making any company prominent. With an already existing website, the company is putting focus on understanding the pestle factors, swot analysis to make some changes. It has also included about internationalization theory and its aspects to make it more relevant and useful as well. In addition to these, the report has also described about the company’s key findings, products’ portfolio and 7 Ps of marketing mix as well. There is also a section in which the review on its online presence is elaborated and has also described about some ethical implications for future use.

References

Arifin, S.R.M., 2018. Ethical considerations in qualitative study. International Journal of Care Scholars, 1(2), pp.30-33.

Baker, M.J. and Hart, S. eds., 2016. The marketing book. Routledge.

Boux Avenue unveil new SS21 athleisure collection, 2021. [Online]. Available through:< https://www.fashion.ie/2021/03/16/boux-avenue-unveil-new-ss21-athleisure-collection/>>

Candeloro, D., 2019, July. Sustainability in the fashion brands websites: SEO keywords density analysis and consumers’ behavior. In International Conference on Fashion communication: between tradition and future digital developments (pp. 188-197). Springer, Cham.

Hashim, N. and Hamzah, M.I., 2014. 7P's: A literature Review of Islamic marketing and Contemporary Marketing MIx. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 130, pp.155-159.

Kingsnorth, S., 2019. Digital marketing strategy: an integrated approach to online marketing. Kogan Page Publishers.

Pistol, L. and Bucea-Manea, R.?., 2017, July. The „7Ps” &” 1G” that rule in the digital world the marketing mix. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence (Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 759-769). Sciendo.

Rastogi, N.I.T.A.N.K. and Trivedi, M.K., 2016. PESTLE technique–a tool to identify external risks in construction projects. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 3(1), pp.384-388

Street, M., 2018. Lower Level. Lexington, SC, 29072.

Vavrus, F. and Pekol, A., 2015. Critical Internationalization: Moving from theory to practice. In FIRE: Forum for International Research in Education (Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 5-21). Lehigh University Library and Technology Services. 8A East Packer Avenue, Fairchild Martindale Library Room 514, Bethlehem, PA 18015.

Wan, M., Ni, J., Misra, R. and McAuley, J., 2020, January. Addressing marketing bias in product recommendations. In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (pp. 618-626).

Yunna, W. and Yisheng, Y., 2014. The competition situation analysis of shale gas industry in China: Applying Porter’s five forces and scenario model. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 40, pp.798-805.