virigin lingerie market
DESCRIPTION
Part of a brand management assignment of brand extension. The brand Virgin were chosen to be extended into the market of lingerie. This presentation looks at the market in terms of trends, competitor analysis and positioning.TRANSCRIPT
Ladies Lingerie & Underwear Product Extension
Laura Bowers and Jodie Turley
Contents Page
• Virgin Company History/Established Brands• The Lingerie Marketplace• Consumer Typologies• Cliff Bowman’s Strategy Clock
- Lingerie Competitor Marketplace- Virgin Positioning
• Other model linkages• Model Limitation• Conclusion• Recommendations
About
• Virgin is a leading branded venture capital organisation and is one of the world's most recognised and respected brands
• Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge
• The Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, travel, financial services, media, music and fitness. Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries. Global branded revenues in 2008 exceeded £11 billion (approx. US$17 billion).
Virgin Company/Brand Structure
The Lingerie Market
• Women’s underwear grew by 14.3% from 2003-2008
• Innovation viewed as important
• Consumers motivated by low prices from retailers such as Primark, Peacocks, Matalan etc.
• Rise in internet specialists e.g. Figleaves.com
• Specialists popular among young women M&S, Primark, Asda, Tesco & Matalan hold majority of market share – value retailers
• Lingerie specialists – 11.5% 2008 (Mintel)
• La Senza biggest lingerie specialist
Consumer typologies
• Target audience of ‘lingerie lovers’
• Regularly shop for underwear
• Glamorous and sexy, look for quality, forfeit comfort over style
• 15-64 year olds, ABC1C2
• Married/unmarried, employed
Marketing message: Lingerie Lovers are a dream group as they are motivated by everything – they’ll use any reason/excuse to buy! Of most note is that they are interested in colour and pattern (they’ll be interested in fashion generally) and buy for a holiday or because their size changed. They are also very into ‘retail therapy’ – four in ten of this group say they buy lingerie to cheer themselves up. (Mintel)
Cliff Bowman’s Strategic Clock
“another suitable way to analyze a company's competitive position in comparison to the offerings
of competitors. As with Porter's Generic Strategies, Bowman considers competitive advantage
in relation to cost advantage or differentiation advantage”
2
1 8
7
6
5
4
3
Hybrid
Low price
Price
Perc
eiv
ed
ad
ded
valu
e
Low
Hig
h
High
Differentiation Focused differentiation
Low price, low added value
Strategies destined for ultimate failure
2
1 87
6
54
3
Hybrid
Low price
Price
Perc
eiv
ed a
dded v
alu
eLo
w
Low
Hig
h
High
Differentiation Focused differentiation
Low price, low added value
Strategies destined for ultimate failure
Limitations of Strategy Clock
• Overly simplistic
• Constricting to each segment
• Competitors can move around the clock and enter your market
• What if the company fits into two different segments, e.g. low price and focused differentiation.
Recommendations
• Strategic clock is reflective of the over-all brand image although not representative of the product line of the brand.
• E.g. Debenhams has a vast product range which covers the market scope consequently the strategic clock needs to be adjusted to incorporate product image.
Conclusions
• We have identified a gap in the market for Virgin to position their lingerie
• The gap reflects the brand values and image of Virgin.
• Research from Mintel suggests that the ‘Lingerie Lovers’ market is profitable and would be the core target market for Virgin.
References
• Bowman, C. and Faulkner, D.; Competitive and Corporate Strategy; Irwin; 1996
• http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=256978
• http://academic.mintel.com/sinatra/oxygen_academic/search_results/show&/display/id=395655