Chapter 4- The Marketing Environment

    The market environment of a company is a variety of non marketing influences that have an impact on the way the marketing manager builds relationships with the target consumers.

   Today Burberry is one of the most successful clothing companies in the U.S. They area looked at as the company who always is up to date with all their products and also with any environmental concerns. Burberry realizes any concerns that can be approaching them and then shuts it down an improves it. People love Burberry because they are so simple yet so productive in everything they do. Burberry is one of the first companies in their sector to create social media accounts and use technology to their advantage. Another reason why Burberry is so successful is because they market their products through three different channels:

• wholesale
• retail
• licensing

  All of these channels created great success for Burberry. The retail aspect accounts for 64 percent of their revenue. The wholesale accounts for 29 percent of their revenue (selling to department stores, etc.) The licensing channel accounts for 7 percent of their revenue. This revenue is brought from licenses that they have in Japan. 

   An example of how burberry has always used marketing to benefit themselves is that in 1880 Burberries first product was a waterproof fabric that was used on trench coats. This shows that throughout their 100 plus year existence they have always looked out for the customers.  

Burberries Waterproof Trenchcoat 

   Burberry is always concerned and in tune with the environment. Nowadays their are many factor that make up the environment. These factors include political, economic, and social. Burberry is always concerned with the foreign trading policy of the countries they are doing business with. Burberry also has to look at inflation rates in their country where they have stores at and try to manage it as best as possible.  Burberry acknowledges all of the Demographic segmentation happening in the world today. Burberry at first was only a company selling Trench coats. They began to realize that they should target all countries and demographic so they expanded and started selling accessories and perfumes, shoes, watches, etc. They did this because not every country is as hot as the UK.  Burberry operates thousands of stores throughout the U.S, asia, Uk, india, etc. 

Burberry store in India

  Burberry realizes the competition that companies are bringing upon them and adapt to these factors. Burberry is constantly changing their products and making it relate to a broader and diverse population. Burberry has over 3 million fans on Facebook, 82,978 followers on twitter and they constantly put youtube videos up that relate to the brand. This shows that Burberry has an advantage over their competitors. Another advantage that Burberry has is that they get supported from the royal family through social media. People realize this and come to like Burberry even more as a company.

                                                                             (video on how Burberry is up to date with consumers)

Chapter 3: Ethics And Social Responsibility

To be a great company you must not only create products that the consumers adore, but also adore the consumer and tend to their every need. A way to do this is to have a social responsibility or responsibilities that the people would appreciate and look at your company in a greater way. Most companies today have a code of ethics which is a guideline for employees to make better decisions and to even create a better bond between workers.


  Burberry is always committed to engage in an environmental and societal impact that would make their consumers buy more products from them. Burberry has a few principals that they go by to help commit to their extended global community.

A few of them mentioned below:

• Burberry donates 1 percent of their group profit to the Burberry foundation.
• 8,000 hours of volunteering hours are dedicated by their associates which range in 55 cities.
• Tanneries that Burberry use are engaged in Burberries environmental management program.
• 830 audits, visits and trainings are conducted in their global supply chain.

The Burberry Foundation

 The burberry foundation was created by the company in 2008. Its goal was to help young people improve in qualities they feel is important to have in every day life. Qualities such as confidence, building connections in their communities, and opportunities to succeed. Burberry believes that kids nowadays must be educated beyond their school years. They also should be able to make important decisions on their own so that they could eventually be successful in life. Burberry also partners with charitable organizations that work with young kids so that the kids can have the ability to reach goals and also finish schooling during their important years.

 The way the Burberry foundation works is that they pick and choose which charities to invest in. Burberry invests in companies that are focused on supporting kids that live in the major cities that most Burberry stores operate in. Burberry encourages their employees to engage in volunteering and even make some small donations themselves if they'd like. Usually these donations are Burberry merchandise. 

Burberry employee working with a kid in the Burberry Foundation

      Burberry Impact Program

     
      The burberry impact program was established to be a 5 year program that is committed to make improvements that will last to employees and customers (working conditions, etc.). It was also created to reduce the companies environmental impact. Burberry is working on creating their products with less  waste and chemical inputs. They are reducing their c02 emissions from the groups buildings.  They are also working on reducing energy consumption from their supply chain.  Burberry also Embraces the Ten Un global compact principles of human rights. When people see that Burberry is trying to achieve high quality standards for their company they will appreciate this.


  All of Burberries workers are treated to fair labor laws and a fair amount of hours so they are not overworked.  The employees are also given a safe and hygienic place to work.

Burberry employee shaking Prince Charles' Hand as he visits store 

Chapter 2: Strategic Planning for competitive Advantage

Burberry is a elite fashion brand for both males and females who's products showcase premium quality. great style and elegance. They sell a huge variety of accessories and clothing such as trench coats, watches, scarves, umbrellas, and more. Burberry has a product line that has great depth and that can be suitable for many reasons. Burberry received the Contemporary Design Collection of the year award which illustrates how diverse the burberry brand is. They are constantly creating more and more products to give the people what they want. Ever since the 70s burberry became a very classic, chic, and high end brand. Before these times the company was linked with football and the customers no longer wanted to be associated with them.

Burberry operates under 4 separate brands

• Burberry Brit
• Burberry Sport
• Burberry london
• Burberry prosrum

 Burberry has many competitors that include: Gucci, Giorgio Armani, polo, Prada, etc.  Burberry has positioned themselves to be the greatest in what they do.  Burberry is also creating a new customer experience by combining traditional british fashion with cutting edge technology. Many of Burberries outlet stores now have things such as Touch screens and iPod docking stations. This is a great mix for luxury shoppers today who value tradition, but at the same time appreciate modern technology and lifestyle. Burberry didn't only embrace technology in there stores they also set out to do this on the web. They created social media accounts and sites to market there products.  Burberry began streaming live 3d broadcasts of there runway shows with ran from five cities around the world. Burberry also has an app.                                    (Video on Burberry's social story)                                  


Burberry has a 30 million dollar budget for their digital strategy. This covers all 500 plus stores they have and for creating the app. They allocated 60 percent of all marketing money for digital media. This shows how much they care about the peoples needs.

Target Audience -  Burberry was originally designed for men but despite that, the company has a female dominated market. Men from ages 26 and above with a high disposable income are the people shipping here. The brand also has a childrendswear line so this appeals to parents as well who are looking to buy clothing's for there kids. Burberrys main garments such as coats and dresses that are very expensive target celebrities around the world. The brand doesn't appeal to only the high end people, they have fragrances that are priced well which target the whole world.

Pricing strategy - Burberry uses competitive pricing as there strategy. This means that they base there price off of the competitors. If they see for example Gucci priced there shoes at 400 dollars they will try and match that or even beat it by making it lower. Burberry cannot lower there products girastically because people would start thinking that maybe they have lower quality goods and ultimately stop buying from them.

  

                       Burberrys store in London                                      
                         

 

Place Distribution- Burberry currently owns 475 stores in a total of 8 countries. All of these stores are placed in the most popular cities for it to receive customers. When opening these stores in cities that are wealthy in gives them a higher chance on making a profit and they get to appeal to the right audience. If they put a burberry store in a poor country the Company would lose its value so they try to keep it in large cities. There are 11 stores in london only.




SWOT ANALYSIS- A swot analysis is a method used to write down the strengths, weaknesses, opportunity and Threats of a company

Strengths

• well established brand
• High price point causing high desirability from people
• Celeb Endorsements
• Great brand presence and advertising in all of europe
• One of the biggest fashion houses in the UK offering what they offer.

Weaknesses 

• Not acceptable to the working class who are not as wealthy as others
• Low couture presence
• Brand has to much english appeal so they can't diversify into ever day fashion.

Opportunity

• After collaborating with other brands, they are trying to make the company more affordable and fashionable without changing a lot.
• Social media is bringing a lot of attention to them.
• They could open more stores worldwide.
• can sponsor more events.
• Could cater for a wider age range.

Threats

• Threats from competitors in terms of pricing
• Customers have a higher bargaining power and low switching costs.
• Threat of still being associated with football and violence
• Small cities don't have enough stores

                                                                    

Chapter 1: Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

Burberry mission statement- Digital Luxury positioning and the optimization across innovative mediums of the trench coat, trademark check and pros rum knight heritage icons make the brand purer, more compelling and more revenant globally, across gender and generations. 

Thomas Burberry, a 21 year old draper’s apprentice, began Burberry in 1856 with the vision of creating “innovative functional outerwear”. In 1879 he did just that by inventing gabardine a tightly woven water-resistant fabric. His new rain coats began making a name for the brand and had a reputation for being weather-resistant. This caused Burberry to be the outfitter of choice on many important expeditions, for the British army, and by many other private clients. Ronald Amundsen and his team of explorers all wore Burberry when they became the first people to reach the South Pole. Ernest Shackleton kept warm in Burberry while crossing Antarctica, and Claude Grahame White sported Burberry while becoming the first person to fly between London and Manchester in less than 24 hours. While Thomas Burberry had submitted an early trench coat prototype to the United Kingdom War Office in 1901 the trench coat’s classic design was developed between the First and Second World War. Although the trench coat was originally designed for military use every functional detail has become a part of the coat’s enduring style. Anywhere from the punks incorporation of the trench for their bold fashions of the 70’s, (or anti-fashions as they would have preferred) to now making a comeback as a sign of chic sophistication, the trench coat shows versatility and practicality. In 1901 the Equestrian logo was also created. Between the First and Second World War the final Burberry trademark, the classic check pattern, was also introduced.

After many years of success Burberry had some rough years in the eyes of the fashion industry during the 80’s and early 90’s. With the intent of appealing to a younger crowd Burberry began licensing its name, logo, and check pattern to other manufacturers. In the beginning the idea seemed to have worked as Burberry products were everywhere and on anything and everything. Many products were not top quality or in some cases poorly made and this tarnished the Burberry name and image. Sales were up but Burberry had lost its prestige as a luxury house.

In 1997 Rose Marie Bravo was externally hired as CEO from Saks Fifth Avenue and during her years at the helm she staged a turnaround. Her approach was to focus on the luxury womenswear market and only license and sell Burberry to luxury retailers such as Saks and Neiman Marcus. She also hired fresh designers Roberto Menichetti, and in 2001 when Menichetti moved on he was replaced by Christopher Bailey. Christopher Bailey had held senior design positions at Donna Karen and Gucci prior to his hiring but was not well known in the fashion industry at the time. In the last decade Bailey has received much praise for his Men’s and Women’s collections at Burberry and is now a world renowned designer. With his mix of fresh smart design and Burberry heritage he has been a crucial part to the rise and return of Burberry as a respected luxury house.