For over four decades, Barkers clothing has maintained a strong, positive, and unmatched reputation in New Zealand’s apparel industry due to its premium quality men’s clothes. The brand has twenty-seven physical stores across New Zealand and an online store that enables consumers to purchase apparel at the comfort of their homes (“Barkers clothing”, n.d.). Over the years, Barkers clothing has enjoyed massive sales and revenues from its carefully assorted quality clothing. However, the brand’s sales plummeted in 2020 following the Covid-19 pandemic pressures and offshore online shopping’s significant growth. These changes may have a significant threat to the firm’s survival in the industry and revenue generation if left unaddressed. Therefore, this research seeks to evaluate the current marketing strategies, identify areas for improvement, and design an innovative, low-cost, and low-risk marketing plan that the company could use to secure its business future.
Part 1: Critical Evaluation of Company’s Current Marketing Strategies
Like many successful companies, Barkers clothing relies on multiple marketing strategies that enhance its products’ visibility, build the credibility of the brand, and boost consumers’ purchase decision-making. Some of the company’s marketing strategies include digital marketing such as social media tools, interactive marketing like website-based chat-box, brand campaigns, and brand stories, all of which effectively boost the firm’s chances of profit-making. The firm’s interactive strategies are significant because they are targeted, measurable, and flexible (Csikosova, Antosova & Culkova, 2014). Notably, the direct-interactive marketing conducted through the chat box enables the firm to entice the visitors to make purchases after the latter enquires about the company’s products.
Furthermore, social media marketing enables the firm to enhance its product’s visibility and chances of making profits. Tiago and Verissimo (2013) note that the web can help firms build their brand and generate word-of-mouth communication among consumers and buzz marketing. Similarly, through Facebook and Instagram tools, digital marketing allows Barkers clothing to develop its brand and attract more consumers through buzz marketing.
The move towards brand storytelling is also an effective marketing strategy used by the clothing company. Arguably, most industry firms lack connection with their consumers, which is likely to drive down sales. However, the literature reveals that brand storytelling is a cohesive narrative that helps weave together the facts and emotions that a brand evokes (Costa, 2019). Lundqvist, Liljander, Gummerus, and Riel (2012) also add that stories fascinate people and are often more easily remembered than facts. Olenski (2015) also notes that brand storytelling is an effective way to bring a brand to the front as the lead. For example, in its brand story, Barkers posit itself as a firm for New Zealand men for their first job, ultimate promotion, and the big day. Notably, brand storytelling enables Barkers clothing to entice consumers to purchase and build on brand loyalty by sharing the brand’s story and why its products matter.
Despite its current marketing strategies being effective in promoting visibility, customer loyalty, and profitability, few areas within the firm’s marketing strategies can be improved to help Barkers clothing attain its marketing goals and gain a competitive advantage over its peers. For example, the firm could capitalize on celebrity marketing to help enhance its brand equity and boost its profitability in times when retail sales have plummeted. Furthermore, most of today’s consumers are internet subscribers, making it easy to target them through social media tools. As the literature suggests, celebrities’ advertisement is essential for high recognition and creation of strong product perception (Chaudhary & Asthana, 2015). Notably, associating celebrities with certain brands can strongly impact a consumer’s perception of the product. Therefore, Barkers Clothing could enhance its marketing strategies by adopting celebrity marketing to trigger consumers’ purchasing decisions. Besides, with offshore online shopping increasing dramatically in recent times, the firm could capitalize on celebrity marketing to publicize its products among global apparel consumers.
Part 2: Marketing Plan
Customer/Market Need
Customer Needs Analysis
Currently, Barkers clothing competes in the men apparel, footwear, and accessories markets. While these markets might have been profitable decades ago, several changes have occurred in the industry, necessitating the firm to rethink the segments it chooses to compete in. For example, market analysis reveals that the men’s footwear market is expected to grow at 2.5% to reach NZD 527.0mm by 2024 (“Men’s footwear in New Zealand”, 2020). Arguably, this growth is driven by the increase in disposable income among New Zealanders, resulting in consumer affordability for footwear. Research also reveals that the demand for shoes and boots is likely to dominate the sales, although slippers and indoor footwear are likely to grow at the fastest rate (“Men’s footwear in New Zealand”, 2020). This information suggests that the men’s footwear industry, for athletic and non-athletic wear, is a profitable market for Barkers clothing to compete.
However, the firm must avoid the athletic footwear segment because of the stiff competition from global footwear giants such as Nike. As a Statista report shows, Nike, Adidas, and Puma are the leading firms in the sportswear industry worldwide (“Nike and Adida’s share”, 2019). It is also worth noting that these companies have had a long history in the athletic footwear market. Therefore, Barkers clothing should focus primarily on the non-athletic footwear market, notably manufacturing leather shoes for causal and official wear for men.
Besides the footwear market, Barkers clothing should also continue to compete in the men’s apparel market. Fortunately, the firm likely meets the consumers’ needs in this market, making it highly competitive than its peers. Notably, New Zealand designers reveal that consumers seek quality, unique pieces that can last a lifetime and personalization on special occasions like weddings (Vara, 2019). Barkers clothing has, for years, achieved this by manufacturing quality apparel and customizing the clothes based on the consumer’s specifications. Barkers long history in the manufacturing of quality and personalized clothing enhances its competitiveness in the apparel industry.
The men’s accessory market is also a viable market for Barkers clothing to compete in. Sutcliffe notes that there is a lot of communication and influencing involved when one steer and chairs committees (Olds, 2016). Sutcliffe notes that his job requires credibility in dressing and complementing it with a watch set at the right time (Olds, 2016). Sutcliffe’s argument reflects the growing market need for accessories among fashion-conscious men who value style in both the casual and official look. The demand for men accessories presents an opportunity for Barkers clothing to compete in this market.
Market Segmentation
Currently, Barkers clothing marketing appears to be primarily segmented on a demographic, geographic, and behavioral basis. In the three segments, the firm targets quality-conscious, middle-older, New Zealand based men. Although they are profitable, the firm could expand its market segment to accommodate current industry changes. For example, the Euromonitor’s recent reports show that New Zealand consumer income is expected to increase substantially by 2040, with purchasing power being divided between current Millennials, Generations Z, and Alpha (“Income and expenditure”, 2020). This information suggests that income will be more concentrated among individuals aged between 18-38 years. Therefore, to secure its business future, Barkers clothing should focus on demographic segmentation, notably men aged 18-38 years, who have an adequate disposable income to spend on apparel, footwear, and accessories. Furthermore, research shows that millennials prefer shopping online because of growing up in an age of technological development (Moreno, Lafuente, Avila & Moreno, 2017). Therefore, Barkers Clothing should also target this consumer segment based on their online behavioral consumption.
Barkers clothing should also expand its geographical market segmentation. Currently, the firm has a relatively small consumer base because it mainly targets New Zealand customers. However, this entity has an opportunity to broaden its consumer base through the current global changes. For example, Clifford (2013) noted that international online shopping in six major markets, including the U.K., would exceed $105 billion in 2013. True to this prediction, the recent cross-border trading has increased, enhancing entrepreneurs’ opportunity to sell their products overseas through their websites. Similarly, Barkers clothing should broaden its geographical segmentation to target distant consumers from other countries, which would boost the firm’s profitability in the future.
Value Proposition
The proposed value proposition for Barkers clothing is “bringing quality, unique and custom-made apparel closer to you”. This value proposition is relevant to the firm because it is specific about its value, its improvement to customer’s life, and it is exclusive from other peers whose quality may not match that of Barkers clothing. Instantly, by looking at this value proposition, consumers can differentiate Barkers clothing from its industrial rivals. However, the firm should ensure that it meets this value proposition to entice consumers to select its product over its peers. The firm could meet these value propositions by manufacturing long-lasting and unique apparel, offering personalization services when the need arises, and ensuring that the products are available for sale online for consumers who do not wish to visit the physical stores.
Customer Profile
Part 1: Demographics
- Typical age range: 18-65 years
- Gender: Male
- Occupation: Office jobs and self-employed
- Other relevant demographic details: Internet subscribers and fashion-oriented.
Part 2: Geographic
- New Zealanders
- Global consumers
Part 3: Behavioral
- Quality conscious
- Online shoppers
Product Strategies
Product Positioning
Product positioning in Barkers clothing entails planning the manner in which consumers should perceive the company’s products. The firm should adopt a hybrid product positioning based on the attributes and the quality of its products. Notably, the firm should emphasize its products’ everyday quality and uniqueness in the marketing strategy. This product positioning could entice consumers to purchase the product, knowing it will last for a longer period than other supplementary products. Furthermore, this product positioning could make buyers feel comfortable knowing that their outfits can stand-out from others in a crowd.
Differentiation
Product differentiation in Barkers clothing should involve emphasizing the benefits of the firm’s products that make them a better choice than others. As the literature suggests, marketers could differentiate products based on cost, quality, innovation, and customer responsiveness (McGee, 2014). In this scenario, Barkers clothing should differentiate its products based on quality by emphasizing its men’s apparel’s durability relative to industrial competitors. The firm should also differentiate the products based on customer responsiveness by stressing the new distribution systems, notably online purchases and global distribution, that bring the products closer to the consumer.
Branding
Brand Positioning
Marketers should base brand positioning in Barkers clothing on the quality of its products. This proposal is based on market analysis, which reveals that despite the existence of popular brands, New Zealanders still visit domestic stores in search of quality products (Vara, 2019). Therefore, the firm should emphasize the quality benefits that target consumers could derive from purchasing its clothing. Notably, marketers should position Barkers clothing as a premium quality brand. This perspective should be reinforced using advertisements that focus on quality as the primary factor and price as a secondary element of the brand.
Branding Strategy
Barkers clothing currently utilizes an iconic branding strategy that equips consumers with a feeling of personal identity. This aspect is evidenced by the utterances of Jamie Whiting, the managing director of the company, who mentions that Barkers has always been an aspirational, iconic New Zealand brand (Hemara, 2015). While this branding strategy has, for years, enabled Barkers clothing to entice its target market to choose the brand over other industrial brands, it should be enhanced to reflect the highlighted proposals in the marketing plan.
Notably, the company should pursue an individual branding strategy. As the literature suggests, individual or personal branding is a process of establishing a unique personal identity to a specific target market (Mohammed & Steyn, 2016). In this context, Barkers clothing should pursue individual branding to ensure flexibility in marketing its product in the three markets while maintaining its premium quality perception among consumers. The personal branding strategy should also be used to engage and drive customer awareness by helping the customers understand the firm’s products’ connection and distinction. For example, the firm should brand teenage products as Barkers teens’ clothing to distinguish it from Barkers clothing for men. This individual branding could enable customers to understand the umbrella brand and its sub-brands without losing focus on all the products’ quality.
Promotion
Promotion in Barkers clothing should follow an integrated marketing communications (IMC) strategy whereby multiple communication channels will be used to disseminate consistent messages of the brand’s value to consumers. Below is an IMC of the marketing communications that should be used to promote the company’s products to prospective consumers in the three markets.
Advertising
Targeted advertising should be used to promote Barkers’ clothing products among consumers in its target markets. As revealed in prior research conducted among students, targeted advertising enhances consumers’ interest in buying a product. Notably, a targeted ad makes consumers view themselves as sophisticated buyers, increasing their interest in refined products (Reczek, Summers & Smith, 2016). Therefore, information on consumer’s behavior online should be used to create presentations and visuals targeted to young teenage boys and older men to intrigue them to purchase the company’s products.
Public Relations and Publicity
Marketers should also use the paid content promotion as the primary public relations and publicity strategies. As the literature reveals, consumer demand is evolving, deeming it necessary for firms to abandon even the most well-published publication and adopt web-based strategy (Watson, 2018). In this context, the paid content promotion should involve sponsored posts on media platforms such as YouTube to amplify the reach of Barkers’ clothing message of premium quality products to consumers in the firm’s target markets. Paid content promotion is chosen over traditional public relations and publicity such as press releases because it matches contemporary consumer trends. Notably, most consumers today are subscribed to online tools such as YouTube, thus making paid content promotion in such channels an effective promotion strategy.
Online and Social Media Marketing
The firm should also use cross-channel campaigns for online and social media marketing. Newlands (2017) notes that cross-channel campaigns are among the strategies of engaging customers across all social media channels. Notably, social media campaigns in the form of fascinating stories about the company’s value offerings should be used to promote products in the three markets. These engaging stories should be shared by some of the current consumers and a member of the executive team who has a long history in the company.
Budget
Some of the proposed marketing strategies will require substantial financing to be effectively implemented in the company. Therefore, below is a preliminary budget for the project.
| Variable | Cost |
| Advertising | · $5 per a thousand targeted ads view on YouTube
· $100 for the creators of the targeted ads · $100 for data analysts who gather information on consumer online behavior |
| Online and social media marketing | · Ten percent of the firm’s margin should be spent on online and social media marketing.
· Part of the amount should be paid to the cross-channel campaigns’ creators while the rest should be paid to developers of targeted social media tools. |
| Public Relations and publicity | · $0.20 cost-per-click for Instagram’s paid content promotion. |
References
“Barkers clothing” (n.d.). Queenstown New Zealand. https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/listing/barkers-clothing/1912/
“Income and expenditure: New Zealand” (2020, October). Euromonitor International. Retrieved from https://www.euromonitor.com/income-and-expenditure-new-zealand/report
“Men’s footwear in New Zealand- Sector overview, brand shares, market size and forecast to 2024 (adjusted for COVID-19 impact)” (2020). Market Reports Online. Retrieved from https://www.marketreportsonline.com/815353.html
“Nike and Adidas’ share of the footwear market as of 2017, by region” (2019, September 24). Statista Research Department. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/895136/footwear-market-share-of-nike-and-adidas-by-region/
Chaudhary, U., & Asthana, A. (2015). Impact of celebrity endorsements on consumer brand loyalty: Does it really matter? International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 5(12), 220-225. http://www.ijsrp.org/research-paper-1215/ijsrp-p4834.pdf
Clifford, C. (2013, July 22). International online shopping expected to almost triple in next 5 years. Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227519
Costa, C. (2019, January 31). 3 reasons why brand storytelling is the future of marketing. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/celinnedacosta/2019/01/31/3-reasons-why-brand-storytelling-is-the-future-of-marketing/?sh=73d1706255ff
Csikosova, A., Antosova, M., & Culkova, K. (2014). Strategy in direct and interactive marketing and integrated marketing communications. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 116(2014), 1615-1619. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.444
Hemara, M. (2015, March). Barkers. New Zealand Fashion Museum. Retrieved from http://www.nzfashionmuseum.org.nz/barkers/#:~:text=In%20the%20early%201990s%2C%20Barkers,%22That’s%20how%20it%20started.%22
Lundqvist, A., Liljander, V., Gummerus, J., & Riel, A. (2013). The impact of storytelling on the consumer brand experience: The case of a firm-originated story. Journal of Brand Management, 20, 283-297. doi:10.1057/bm.2012.15
McGee, J. (2014). Wiley Encyclopedia of management (3rd ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Mohammed, E., & Steyn, R. (2016). Personal branding: A systematic review of the research and design strategies used reported in journal articles relating to critical elements of personal branding. In M.Twum-Darko (ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Business and Management Dynamics 2016: Sustainable economies in the information economy, pp.27-35. doi:10.4102/aoisis. 2016.icbmd10.04.
Moreno, F.M., Lafuente, J.G., Avila, F., & Moreno, S.M. (2017). The characterization of the millennials and their buying behavior. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 9(5), 135-144. doi: 10.5539/ijms.v9n5p135
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Olds, J. (2016, May 13). Do New Zealand men have bad style? These fashionable Kiwis share their top tips. Stuff. Retrieved https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/fashion/79408059/do-new-zealand-men-have-bad-style
Olenski, S. (2015, November 30). 4 benefits of using storytelling in marketing. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2015/11/30/4-benefits-of-using-storytelling-in-marketing/?sh=5f437c584616
Reczek, R.W., Summers, c., & Smith, R. (2016, April 4). Targeted Ads don’t just make you more likely to buy- They can change how you think about yourself. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/amp/2016/04/targeted-ads-dont-just-make-you-more-likely-to-buy-they-can-change-how-you-think-about-yourself
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Vara, H. (2019, December 11). From concept to closet: New Zealand’s apparel industry in 2019. The Register. Retrieved from https://theregister.co.nz/2019/12/11/from-concept-to-closet-new-zealands-apparel-industry-in-2019/
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