SWOT Analysis Zara Clark

Overview • Founded: In London in 1900• Brand Type: Multi-channel Retailer• USP: British Tailoring• Owns: Viyella and CC• Founder: Austin Leonard Reed• Chief Executive: Nicholas Hollingworth• Flagship: Regent Street• Number of Stores: 166, which increases

to 1,000 stores when you include franchises

• Locations: They sell in over 100 countries globally

• Ethical Responsibility: Member of Sedex since 2012

• Interesting Fact: The brand was commissioned to make ‘siren suits’ for Winston Churchill during WWII.

Consumer Profile Name: Tom

Age: 28

Occupation: Architect

ACORN Classification: AB - Affluent Professional

Reads: The Observer, the Independent and GQ. His favourite book is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.

Listens to: Bon Iver, Imagine Dragons and The Beatles

Likes: Running. going to the cinema, throwing dinner parties for friends and date-night with his fiancée.

Style: Quality clothes that fit well and reflect his smart yet quirky personality.

Shops at: TM Lewin, Hawes and Curtis and Charles Tyrwhitt

Strengths • Austin Reed has extended their range to include more pieces in

their women’s collection. They offer Purses and Handbags which is something that TM Lewin, Hawes and Curtis and Charles Tyrwhitt does not offer. And of course they have Viyella as a stand alone women’s brand. (Austin Reed, 2015)

• Another USP the brand has is their collaborations. They are currently sell the fashionable AR.RED collection with Saville Row tailor, Nick Hart. This is something that Charles Tyrwhitt, Hawes and Curtis, and TM Lewin do not offer, therefore it is an excellent way for the brand to steal market share from rivals. (Austin Reed, 2015)

• They have received a £3m cash injection from shareholders to invest into the business. This will lead to the overall strengthening of the company, by revamping their multi-channel strategy and updating their website. (Verdict 2015) (Mintel, 2015)

• Austin Reed is very notable for it’s Men’s clothing and Mintel forecasts the Men’s fashion market to grow by 27% from 2013 to 2018. (see next slide) This is a major strength for the brand, as it should expect a positive ROI in this sector, making it more profitable. (Mintel, 2014)

• They are innovative as a brand, they are among the first to launch an international cross-border e-commerce platform which hits the UK in May. (Drapers, March 2015)

• They beat their competitors in terms of exemplary service and international product delivery. Not only is the brand just as quick if not quicker than the competition, offering ‘no more than 10 working days’ for International Delivery, it also offer free International shipping for orders over £150, something that no one else is currently offering. (Austin Reed, 2015)

UK Sales Forecast Men’s Fashion (Mintel, 2014)

Weaknesses• The business made a £1.29m loss in the

year to January 31st 2014. However by appointing Deloitte to perform a strategic review of the company, they have already began to put in the required actions in motion to resolve this issue.

• The brand’s creditors have recently approved the closure of 31 underperforming stores. While closures can be seen as a weakness, being aware of what is not working can be viewed as a strength. Then the brand can re-invest elsewhere in the business, perhaps in stores that bring about higher profits.

• Austin Reed has similar offers to their competitors. For example, they offer ‘2 for £50’ on their women’s shirts and TM Lewin offers ‘3 for £75’. This makes it hard for consumers to differentiate between brands, however this could be easily resolved by offering consumers something better to undercut the competition.

Opportunities • They could move from a multi-channel strategy to an omni-channel

one. The brand already offers click and collect, but they could also merge with ‘Doddle’, a company that offers customers the opportunity to pick up their items at dedicated train stations across the UK. TM Lewin already offer this service, but Austin Reed could use their £3m investment to match them.

• They could expand by including a smart sportswear collection into their range. They already sell polo and rugby shirts so sportswear could fit in nicely. None of their competitors such as TM Lewin, Charles Tyrwhitt or Hawes and Curtis currently offer this.

• They could expand their women’s clothing range by adding more to their accessories collection, for example, adding in a shoe range. This would then allow the women’s section the opportunity to be as fleshed out as the men’s side of the business. This would also increase opportunities for add on sales.

• As previously discussed, the Men’s wear market has many opportunities in the future, with Mintel forecasting UK sales to reach £16.4 billion. Therefore, Austin Reed has a strong opportunity to become market leader of men’s high street tailoring and they could achieve this by investing more into their campaigns. E.g. by marketing their blog more strongly as ‘the place to go’ for style advice and inspiration, it could produce a positive reaction from male consumers. Similarly, they should not ignore their USP of having exclusive ranges with tailors like Nick Hart, so they should expand by having more unique collaborations like that, and promoting them more.

• Despite closing some underperforming stores, Austin Reed could invest into the international expansion of their stores via a franchising strategy, which they already endorse. By opening more bases overseas in this way it would increase sales with less financial risk for the company.

Threats• An internal threat to consider is the availability of the company’s blog. Both TM Lewin

and Hawes and Curtis have their own respective blogs available on their website, but Austin Reed’s is currently under repair. (Attempted on Tues.) They could potentially lose sales, publicity and even customer trust because of this.

• Austin Reed currently offers free returns for it’s UK stores online and off. This could lead to an increase in the amount of returns the company will have to deal with, particularly as it is a multi-channel retailer. This could end up internally threatening Austin Reed’s profit performance, therefore they may have to invest more into their reverse logistics systems. (see chart)

• Unpredictable British weather can be considered an external threat, as unexpected warm Septembers can cause havoc for merchandising teams when trying to forecast sales.