Marketing Plan for ETRO Fashion Brand

Brand Presentation

Etro fashion brand was started by an Italian designer named Gimmo Etro. It was first launched in 1968 as a textile house (Youssef et al.,2017, p 15). The popularity of the Etro fashion brand rose by the production of fabrics that were superb in intricate prints. The brand explored other niches by expanding to cloth collections of ready-to-wear. The company is recently owned by the family and controlled by different stakeholders. Some of these stakeholders are Veronica Etro, responsible for womenswear, brothers to Gimmo, Jacopo, and Ippolito, who are in charge of running Etro’s textile, finance divisions, and accessories (Bayburtlu & Kaygusuz, 2016, p 120). Kean Etro controls the sector of menswear.

Various factors made Etro thrive in this business in Italy. Some of them are high knowledgeable in ensuring that the combinations of dazzling printed separates fabrics that were lustrous and offbeat colors were properly done. The brand itself had stakeholders and servers who were consistent in their roles and very pervasive (Scarpellini, 2019, p 150). The brand has recently gained popularity in several parts of the world, and it is being adored by several celebrities such as Fergie and Beyoncé. It has established department stores and boutiques which are high-end across the world. The amount of sales revenue recorded by the Etro fashion brand by the year 2018 was roughly $372 million annually (MIURA et al.,2020, p 3). The company had expanded its operation to various parts of the world, such as Milan, Paris, Tokyo, and even London.

Recently the company has extended to France, targeting to occupy luxury spheres. Luxury marketing involves the selling and promotion of high-end products. The luxury brand is advantageous since it draws consumers’ attention towards the product (Atwal & Williams, 2017, p 50). Over the recent years, the luxury market has been doing very well, which is why most companies are shifting their attention there. The major focus of luxury marketing is on the consumers who can afford to purchase the product or the service. Reaching the luxury consumers requires that the company or any brand has good communication and promotion strategies.

Porter’s Five Forces.

The visibility of a business is of great significance because it helps people who are not aware of the existence of a brand to be more aware. It is one of the cores of the existence of a brand and therefore should be taken into great consideration in business marketing. Several firms, including Etro, perform poorly in a competitive environment when they fail to analyze and strategize in creating awareness of their brand. From the research conducted, we see that a branch of Etro in Paris had to close down despite being in a big department store due to low sales resulting from the brand’s low visibility. Porter’s Five Forces have a great influence on the competitive advantage of a business. They can help analyze the fashion industry and come up with solutions on how to boost the performance of Etro in the luxury fashion industry (Bruijl, 2018, p n.a). Porter’s five forces consist of suppliers’ bargaining power, buyers’ bargaining power, threats of new entrants, the threat of substitute products, and rivalry among existing competitors (Amelia et al., 2019, p 170).

The bargaining power of suppliers involves the ease of suppliers to increase the costs of inputs. The cost of switching to another company, the uniqueness of inputs, and the number of key suppliers influence this force. Few suppliers in the industry make a company more dependent on a supplier, while many suppliers increase the options for a company (Yang et al.,2018, p1099). Few suppliers hold more power, and thus input costs may be higher, reducing a company’s profits. In the fashion industry, suppliers do not have much power because the industry is major in the human wants, making the inputs for goods and services readily available and in variety. The prices are therefore kept affordable, and profits are maximized.

The bargaining power of buyers is a force that involves the consumer’s ability to drive prices lower. This force is influenced by the number of consumers a business has, their significance to a company, and the cost of finding new customers. More power to negotiate better deals at lower prices lies in a small and powerful client base. Many independent customers lack this power, and the company makes a good profit from the high prices. Consumer bargaining power is high in the fashion industry because of the taste and design differences. The varieties of products for the consumers to choose from are also many. Consumer satisfaction is essential in business because it helps retain customers. The customers may also be pleased to post the products on their social media platforms and make recommendations to friends (Kautish & Sharma,2018, p n.a). Etro should focus on good customer relations and providing great services to make recommendations leading to increased sales and awareness of the brand.

The threat of new entrants is another force that affects a company’s power. Low cost and less time required for a company to enter into a market and become an effective competitor create a threat to existing companies where their position could be greatly weakened. Creating strong barriers to entry is very important for existing companies. In the fashion industry, the variety of materials makes new entrants quite easy. However, Etro, a luxury fashion brand, has a very large initial capital, which may hinder new entrants. Etro may also choose to patent their products so that no other company can produce the same goods when they see it in an advertisement. Maintaining the uniqueness of the product is a factor that makes customers go back for the product as the company makes more profits.

The existence of goods that can be used in place of a company’s products presents a significant threat, and the force of threats of substitutes explains this. Substitute goods provide consumers with options, which is likely to weaken a company. A company can hold power when the goods it produces have no close substitutes (Rauschnabel,2021, p108). There are large numbers of substitute products in the fashion industry due to the readily available raw materials. Etro is, however, a luxury brand, and it produces unique products that other companies are not able to. Aggressive marketing can be a way for people to discover this brand, especially by using endorsements. Celebrities are very influential, and they have a large following which can serve as a market for the products.

Rivalry among existing competitors is a force that needs analysis. The increase in fast-growing online businesses has created stiff competition for store businesses. The competition variability depends on the prices and uniqueness of the products (Kronemeyer et al.,2020, p1282). For instance, Etro competes with other luxury brands such as Gucci. From the survey, when consumers were asked if they would purchase from Etro, a high percentage opted for other brands, and this was major because the brand is not well known. The target market is also millennials, and this group presents a small population. Etro should, therefore, device online platforms and websites where people can learn about the product and broaden the target market.

4Ps in Marketing Mix

The brand needs to reposition itself well in Paris to attract many customers. Reposition requires proper analysis of Etro’s products, prices, promotion techniques, and where they intend to sell their goods. The product that Etro fashion is dealing with should be attractive. Based on the interview conducted, the company’s products include suits, dresses, and shirts. The products they currently deal with are those with rock’n’roll and punk elements since they are mostly preferred by the young generation (gen z). The product that the company is dealing with should be attractive to the customers since it is based on the price, promotion, and place (Mallik & Farhan, 2018, p 140). The company experienced lower sales since they had mainly focused on the millennials, who occupy the smallest percentage of the population in France. Their sales will improve by dealing with a product that gen z prefers. A major focus on the products that the younger generation prefers will raise the company’s sales revenue (Liba n.a).

Promotion is another key aspect in the marketing mix that helps boost the company’s sales. Promotion helps to offer information to the customers about the product and persuades them to purchase the product (Išoraitė, 2016, p 30). Promotion can be done in various ways to win the attention of gen z. First, to capture the customers’ attention, the store in which the products are stored should be attractive. The colors used in their products should be used in interior designs such as the chairs and the pillows. The colors on display should be changed regularly to ensure that the customers get a new taste. The way in which the products are displayed should also be considered (Thabit & Raewf, 2018, p 4). Promotion can also be achieved through proper advertisement on the social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. Most of the gen z individuals who are mostly in the luxury spheres spend most of their time on social media, and therefore they will get to know about the products the Etro fashion brand are dealing with.

Additionally, the product’s price will also determine the purchasing power of the customers. The pricing mechanism can act as a double-edged sword whereby a feeling of high quality will be exuded if the price is too high, and at the same time, product placing will face limitations to stores (Myasnikova, 2015, p n.a). The Etro products are targeted to the luxury spheres where the price of the goods is not a major issue. Lowering the product’s prices means that the brand’s value will go down. The perception which people have towards the brand’s value will change. A rude awakening will await if the brand equity is eroded. Maintaining the Etro fashion brand to the luxury market, their commodities’ price should be higher than those of other competitors (SUBRAM et al.,2016, p 11). Higher prices mean that the quality of their products is also high.

The place where the product is positioned also matters very much in creating awareness for the consumers (Thabit & Raewf, 2018, p 4). The place should be set so that access to the products being offered by the brand will be easier. It makes the product convenient for the customers. One of the examples of the place that can be used in ensuring that the product is accessible to the customers is the internet. The Etro fashion brand should use f the internet since most of the gen z in the luxury sphere use the internet. Through the use of the internet, the majority of people will be reached (Išoraitė, 2016, p 30). Through Web sites, the company can post their products which will attract most of the people in need of them, especially in the luxury spheres.

Problems faced by Etro Fashion Brand and their Solutions

As per the interview conducted, one of the major problems faced by the brand is a lack of visibility in the fashion luxury market. The brand is very famous in Italy, but it is the other way round in France. Lack of visibility in the fashion luxury market made the departments of the Etro brand in Paris close down due to low sales made. One of the major factors that may have caused a lack of visibility in fashion luxury is an overemphasis on the millennials. The percentage of millennials in Paris is very low, making the sales generated from them to be minimal. The largest portion of the population in Paris is that of gen z, and therefore failure to focus the product on them may be the greatest downfall. The other factor that may bring about a lack of visibility is poor communication strategies. Poor communication strategies mean that the product will not reach the majority of the target customers (Youssef et al.,2017, p 15). Failure to have many people know about the product means that the sales made from the product will be minimal.

The necessary solution to the lack of visibility among the Etro fashion brand should be found to make sure that many people are aware of their products. They should first shift their attention from the millennials to the gen z, who are the majority of people in Paris. Products such as crop tops which are favorable to the young generation should be produced. The production of these products will help capture the attention of the young generation. Secondly, the brand should aim at having a good communication strategy to ensure that the problem of visibility in the luxury market is done away with (Vehmas et al.,2018, p n.a). The posts which the Etro fashion brand makes on the social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram should be attractive and straight to the point. The colors of the products posted should also be able to make people have the urge to buy the products. Based on these solutions, the brand will be able to reach many people in Paris.

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