Urban-Outfitters Marketing Strategy
Introduction
Marketing is a process through which a company draws potential customers’ interest towards its goods and services. The process involves activities that include research, promotion, selling and distribution of goods and services. While in this process, the company will also try to determine the type of goods and services that interest the customers. Urban-outfitters Incorporation is an American merchandiser that runs two chains of stores that retail in specific niches of the market. These two include Urban-outfitters and the merchandiser’s subsidiary that deals in its wholesale end-Anthropologie & Mdash. The company sells house ware, casual clothing and accessories targeted for the market niche of people aged eighteen to thirty years. The company has established exclusivity and uniqueness that has enabled it to attain a market share of its own kind and achieve great sales and dominion in the niche. These are answers to questions pertaining to its sales operations in relation to other big retail operators in America.
- Explain why Sears or Wal-Mart cannot effectively create a trendy counterculture image?
A creation of a counterculture by Sears or Wal-Mart chain stores may not succeed because of various reasons that play a role in the marketing tactics used by Urban-outfitters Incorporation. Urban-Outfitters Incorporation uses niche marketing and exclusivity as its main marketing tactics. Wal-Mart and Sears are large scale American departmental stores situated all over American cities and even outside of America. Unlike Wal-Mart and Sears Urban-Outfitters is exclusively and discretely positioned and targeted on to a small niche. It uses this strategy to ensure its goods are scarce to the general population but exclusively available to certain areas that the intended niche’s population can reach. The created scarcity and resultant demand increases its popularity demand in the niche (Dalgic, 2006). Sears and Wal-Mart may never accurately target a narrow niche such as the niche held by Urban-Outfitters. This is because their stores are wide-spread and not specifically located for any niche in particular.
Thus, they cannot accurately narrow to a market niche and create exclusivity-which are the two key competencies applied by Urban-Outfitters.Another reason would be that their wide-spread nature cannot make their fashions distinctive and peculiar. This is because their scale of operation and the large networks that these companies own will make their goods available to many people. Therefore, their goods will be ubiquitous and in the end lose distinctiveness which is an element those consumers in Urban-Outfitters desire.Additionally, the creation of a counterculture to counter Urban-Outfitters market effect would actually be tantamount to duplicating Urban-outfitters work. This is because these two companies will have to narrow down the operations to the niche occupied by Urban-Outfitters. Considering the fact that tastes and preferences in this niche are almost similar due to its narrowed nature; these companies may have to produce products similar to Urban-Outfitters’ line of products. Thus their created image may never be a counterculture but a duplication of Urban-Outfitters line of products.
Could the big box stores sell merchandise identical to Urban-Outfitters? Explain your answer.
The big box stores could sale merchandise identical to Urban-Outfitters but technically they may never achieve a similar market impact and sales volumes. Thus, technically they cannot sale the same products because there efforts will be watered down by the differing kind of operations between the two. The big box stores are large-scale, stand-alone stores with a large number of market niches and usually part of a chain. ThisDescription makes them differ greatly from Urban–Outfitters. Firstly, their scale of operation cannot be narrowed to fit the market because they have a variety of niches. In order to sell this merchandise, they would need to relocate so as to target and establish in the Urban-Outfitters market. However, this would not be possible because they will compromise operations in the sales of other lines of products that do not fit in this niche. Additionally, this would not favor them because they will be offering products similar to those offered by Urban-Outfitters. This is because the market is very specific and almost uniform in tastes and preferences. If alternatively, they choose to stay put in location and sell similar products: then these products would be too common and lose the distinctiveness of fashion created by Urban-outfitters. This is because the supply to all their chains will make the goods ubiquitous. Thus, these key failures that reduce competency of big box stores render them unable to sell merchandise similar to that sold by Urban-Outfitters.
Identify at least three reasons why exclusivity is valuable.
When any product sales on a limited distribution basis, with availability limited to fewer chosen stores, and more often at a slightly higher price, then customers often attach a higher value to that product. This is the basis of the principle of exclusivity (Perren, 2006).Thus, firstly exclusivity creates a high value for a good or service even though this is based on perceptions enhanced by its exclusiveness. This creates a loyal customer base for the concerned stores because their customers know that they can only get highest value in those stores (Perren, 2006)..Subsequently, in the pursuit of exclusivity originality and distinctiveness is produced in the market niche occupied by any company. As a result the company is able to secure its market niche and customer base (Carroll, 1985). This is because the exclusivity established is not easily duplicated and thus makes it difficult for any new aspirants who may want to venture into the same market. Therefore, through exclusivity a company can protect its market niche (Ficke, 2008).Additionally, the marketing approach of exclusivity reduces the costs of marketing through mass media. The limited number of stores renders more personal attention to clients. According to Sujana and Shani (1992) this subsequently creates reliable word of mouth marketing and referrals that further market products with a clear understanding about the products.
Senk says that shopping is largely entertainment. Do you agree or disagree with him? Explain your answer.
A unique shopping experience makes customers gravitate towards a similar experience in the future. This is because often the value of the product is connected with the experience involved in the finding of the product. This desire of having the need to re-experience a shopping errand is similar to the desire of entertainment. Thus, indeed shopping can be termed an entertaining experience that if well rendered; it will make customers wish to go shopping in the same store always (McCalley, 1992).Urban-outfitters Incorporation attains this customer experience by making shopping at its stores unique. It achieves the effect by designing each store differently according to the location. The same effect is also attained by making their product lines shallow and wide.
References
Carroll, R. G. (1985). Concentration and Specialization: Dynamics of niche width in population of organizations. American Journal of Sociology, volume 90, number 6.
Dalgic, T. (2006).Handbook of Niche Marketing: Principles and practice. Madison AvenueNew York, NY: Routledge Publishers.
Ficke, G. (2008). An Exclusivity Strategy Can Be Crucial to Successful Brand Marketing. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?An-Exclusivity-Strategy-Can-Be-Crucial-to-Successful-Brand-Marketing&id=1605519.
McCalley, W. R. (1992).Marketing Channel Development and Management. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Perren, P. (2006). What are the Advantages of Niche Marketing? Retrieved May 21, 2010, from http://ezinearticles.com/?What-are-the-Advantages-of-Niche-Marketing?&id=294718.
Sujana, C. and Shani, D. (1992).Exploiting Niches Using Relationship Marketing. Journal of Services Marketing Volume 6, issue 4 pp43-52. MCB UP Publishers.
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