GROUP 1:

Mongkol Ayiku – 5613532

Salman H. Nahian – 5648306

M. Ishraq Hossain – 5628303

Tia Taveepanichpan - 5626816

Theresa Wuthongcharernkun – 5625118

Duong Bich Ngoc – 5628332

1. BACKGROUND

Timberland is an American manufacturer and retailer of outdoors wear with a

focus on footwear. The company also sells clothes, watches, glasses and

leather goods. The headquarters of the company are located in Stratham,

New Hampshire. The founder of this company is Nathan Swartz. He began his

career in Boston as a stitcher. In 1952 he bought half an interest in Albighton

Shoe Company in South Boston .In 1955 he bought remaining interests in the

company and brought his sons into the company. Swartz family introduced

innovative ideas and technology in the footwear industry.

In 1969 they moved their manufacturing operations to New Hampshire and

by the time in 1973 the brand name “Timberland” was introduced for the

waterproof leather boots produced by the company. The brand became so

popular that the company name was officially changed to “The Timberland

Company”. In the 80s timberland began to expand its company

internationally firstly in Italian market and later on many other countries.

Under the leadership of Sidney Swartz one the founder’s son the company

began to become a lifestyle brand adding clothing and women shoes to its

products. In 2006 the company acquired “Howies” a welsh clothing

company. In 2011,Timberland Company signed a definitive merger

agreement with VF Corporation approximately $2 Billion. Nowadays in

addition to its USA stores it also operates stores worldwide including Thailand.

2. GROWTH STRATEGY

Product development: One of the growth strategies of Timberland company

is their product development. They continuously redesign their existing

products. They also make new line of products. In the time of its establishment

they only used to make waterproof leather shoe but nowadays its also make

casual shoe and they also expanded their product line by introducing

backpacks, watches, glasses, women clothing’s etc. They also redesign this

existing product line to be competitive in market.

Market development: Timberland used to operate only in USA. But in

nowadays they operate internationally. They expanded their market vastly.

They also made merger agreement with VF Corporation, which helped them

to become larger. Timberland Company also created new segments over

period of time such as women fashionable clothing, shoes, watches etc.

nowadays timberland have its operation divisions in Uk, France Germany,

Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Hong Kong. Most of this

Operating division supports the sale of their company through retailers and

specialty stores and factory outlet stores in their respective countries

Diversification: timberland used diversification for its growth; first they used to

make leather boots. But in 1990 they started to make backpacks, kids wear,

even women clothing and shoes. They also make fashionable clothes and

casual shoes too. This diversification helped them to become larger and

expanded the Brand name “timberland” internationally. In 2007 Timberland

was named the 78th best employer in the USA.

.

3. SWOT ANALYSIS

The Timberland Company is a manufacturer, marketer, and

distributor of footwear, apparel, and accessories throughout the

world, with a focus on boots and performance footwear. The

Timberland Company brand names include Timberland, Timberland

PRO, Timberland Boot Company, SmartWool, Mion, GoLite, Howies,

and IPATH, most of which are sold through department stores and

independent retailers, shoe stores, athletic stores, company-branded

specialty stores, factory outlet stores, and franchised retail stores, as

well as online. Timberland’s strong financial position and wide-

ranging product portfolio create exciting opportunities moving

forward, but issues exist around its brand equity and operational

performance.

Strengths

Strength Operating

Margin Company

Micro

Environment

Geographic Customer

Diversification Company

Micro

Environment

Wide Brand Portfolio Company Micro

No debt Company Micro

Effective CSR activities Company Micro

Weaknesses

Low return on equity Company Micro

High Selling, General

and Administrative

Expenses Margin

Company Micro

Declining US Sales Company Micro

Limited Oversight on

Product and

Distribution quality

Company and

Corporate Partner Micro

Opportunities

Growing e-retail

Industry Technology Macro

Strong emerging

market growth

expected within

industry

Corporate partner Micro

Recovering global

economy Economic Macro

Focus on Women’s

brands Demographics Macro

Import duties reduced

in the US Economic Macro

Threats

Increase in

counterfeit products Competition Micro

Intense Competition Competition Micro

Family Ownership /

Agency Risk Company Micro

Unfamiliar with

emerging market Company Micro

4. SEGMENTATION – TARGET - POSITION

Segmentation: The product line carters the existing target demographic. It is

appealing to Outdoor Enthusiasts because it promotes the lifestyle they lead

while providing Timberland quality. These boots embrace classic styling with a

new twist, keep in the Fashionistas interested. Workers appreciate the rugged

design and durability. This line also affords customers the satisfaction of doing

their part in caring for the environment. Timberland’s history of catering these

three demographics has been unsurpassed, and because of that, Timberland

is confident that customers will continue to purchase Timberland products.

Target: Strategy: Timberland’s marketing strategy is to implement three

different types if consumers that hobbies include being outdoors and working

long hours in rough terrain environments and fashionist enthusiasts in boots.

Their three target segmentations are: workers, outdoor enthusiasts and

fashion. Not only do they target outdoor people but also target fashion

editorials for men and women that particularly like boots.

Target Market:

Workers: construction workers are required for full safety equipment including

footwear in dangerous environments.

Outdoor Enthusiasts: People that enjoy outdoor activities such as hiking and

walking long distances in nature.

Editorial Fashion (Women and Men): Particularly people that are into the boot

fashion, they involve various styles for the customers to feel a sense of self-

actualization.

Their strategy is to focus on political, environment, social trends and

technological environments in order to remain in the top market share.

Brand Positioning: Timberland position their brand as a high fashion brand for

men and women who have a passion for adventure. Company has powerful

image that goes way beyond outdoor gear. Company has become an

entire lifestyle based on strength, perseverance, and the power of you. It’s a

brand that is deeply rooted in emotional marketing. They sell their products

to customers from the ego up, not the product features down and they never

let it flow the opposite way. The company needs to start being a part of the

emotional manufacturing business instead of the product manufacturing

business. This way help them match with how consumers feel.

5.1. Product Line

The Timberland Company designs, engineers, markets, distributes and sells

premium quality footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and

children, as well as a line of professional footwear and apparel under the

Timberland PRO® series sub-brand.

Footwear

Boots

Hiking

Shoes

Clothing

Outerwear

Tops & Dresses

Pants &Skirts

Accessories

Hats & Scarves

Gloves & Mittens

Socks & Slippers

Sunglasses

Handbags & Wallets

Backpacks &Luggage

Belts

Product Care & Laces

Umbrellas

Tech Cases

Watches

5.2. Branding Elements

There are two branding elements that Timberland is using. The first one is

Brand Name, which is the spoken component of branding. It can describe

the product or service, product characteristics, or be composed of words

invented or derived from colloquial or contemporary language.

The second branding element incorporated in this brand is Logos and

Symbols. Logos are visual branding elements that stand for corporate names

or trademarks, while Symbols are Logos without words.

5.3. Branding Strategy:

- Brand Ownership:

According to the corporate timeline on Timberland’s official website and

Encyclopedia.com, Timberland Company began a retailer/store brand, also

known as “private-label brand”. In private-label brands in some cases

develop their own products, whereas in other cases they develop the design

and specifications for their retailer/store brands. But after their Timberland

Boots became a major success in the late 1970’s, the firm discontinued

manufacturing for others and concentrated on Timberland boots. Which has

now made Timberland Company a Manufacturer Brand, this means that the

brand is owned and managed by the manufacturer.

- Naming Brands and Product Lines:

Timberland uses Family Brands. A Family Brand is when a firm uses its own

corporate name to brand all its product lines and products. This can be seen

in the way that despite the fact that the firm has different names for certain

collections in their firm, the firm name “Timberland” is inserted before each of

the collection names. For example one of their collections “Earthkeepers”, will

be displayed on their product as “Timberland Earthkeepers”. This

demonstrates that they are using their own corporate name to brand all their

product lines and products.

- Brand and Line Extensions:

Due to Timberland releasing their products as collections, this firm has mainly

used Brand Extension. Brand extension refers to the use of the same brand

name in a different product line. For example, Timberland’s original Product

Line was boots and other footwear. But now they also produce many other

accessories and apparel such as, various men’s and women’s apparel,

watches, gloves, leather care products, and handbags etc.

In conclusion for branding strategies, Timberland incorporates Brand

Ownership, Family Brands, and Brand Extensions as part of branding strategies

for its firm, but no Co-Branding or Brand Licensing has taken place as part of

this firms branding strategy and not a significant amount of Brand

Repositioning, as their firm is already widely established and they are

consistently producing new collections which target their existing wide

market.

6. Product Life Cycle

Timberland is in its growth time now. The company recorded revenues of

$1,429.5 million in the financial year ended December 2010 (FY2010), an

increase of 11.2% over FY2009. The operating profit of the company was

$134.3 million in FY2010, an increase of 73.3% over FY2009. The net profit was

$96.6 million in FY2010, an increase of 70.6% over FY2009.

“2014 will mark the most successful year in Timberland’s history – another clear

example of VF’s powerful business model that enables brands to connect

deeply with consumers, and drive growth and profitability, while preserving a

unique DNA and culture,” said Eric Wiseman, VF Corporation President,

Chairman and CEO. “Since our acquisition in 2011, our work with the

Timberland team has created an incredibly strong foundation for its next

chapter of growth. We are proud of the progress Timberland’s made, and

we’re bullish on the opportunity for this amazing brand.”

According to the figure, Timberland is still developing to maximize the profit

as well as have a competitive advantage with their competition. As the

present social trend, Timberland is not the only one fashion company care

about environment and fashion.

7. PRICING TACTICS

- Leader price: Timberland gives a big promotion to their customer. This is

like the biggest promotion event of the year of them.

- Quantity discount: Timberland gives more amount of discount when

you buy more.

- Markdown: Timberland gives a 10% discount on every product.

- Seasonal discount: In end of the year , Timberland give a sale discount up

to 50% to their customer as a midyear promotion

8. MARKETING CHANNEL

Timberland use Pull marketing strategy

A marketing channel is a set of practices or activities necessary to transfer the

ownership of goods, from the point of production to the point of

consumption. It is the way products and services get to the end-user, the

consumer; also known as a distribution channel. A marketing channel is a

useful tool for management, and is crucial to creating an effective and well-

planned marketing strategy.

Timberland operates with 28 distributor partners in 60+ countries globally.

Within these countries, 208 stores are standalone, 124 stores are corners, 24

are outlets, and eight are sub-franchises.

9. RETAIL

Distribution Intensity: Selective

Retailer type: General Merchandise Retailers

Specialty

10. Integrated Marketing Communication

- Timberland discounts their product price 60%. They use markdown in the

pricing tactic

- Timberland will free shipping cost if we buy product $100

- Timberland uses quantity discount in their pricing tactic

Timberland has a very good

relationship with social and

environment

Conducted by:

Mongkol A. --- Salman H. N. --- M. Ishraq H.

Tia T. --- Theresa W. --- Duong B.