Strategic marketing plan: Case of Caroll

Résumé du document

Moving to China is always a big challenge. The growing economy of this vast country, which counts more than 1.3 billion of people, represents an "Eldorado" for western companies. A lot of potential customers and an emerging middle-class population makes this country very attractive with respect to business. One might think you just need to put a product on the market, like in India, and the probability of people buying your product will be so high that you don't even need to use marketing to sell more efficiently. Maybe it's true for certain products, certain periods or certain markets.

Regarding the Caroll case, it's a little more complex than just selling clothes, bags or shoes. The market and target segment where Caroll is focused on is very particular. It requires a marketing strategy plan because many factors influence the success or failure of implementing its brand in China. The first part of this marketing plan will be dedicated to the presentation of the Caroll company, analyzing what are its strengths and weaknesses through matrices such as the Value Chain or the SWOT analysis. Then, we will focus on entering the Chinese market considering the fashion players and what are opportunities for Caroll to choose this country with respect to marketing and other matrices.

Carroll's story begins in the sixties and is now a success story, one of the largest in the world of ready-to-wear. Raphael Levy and Joseph Bigio created the brand in 1963 under the name "Les tricots Carroll" to provide fluid, pleasant and easygoing clothes. The 1970s saw the company grow in its market share in 1980 to launch a new line of ready-to-wear. This was the time that the first franchised shops were springing up in the hexagon.

Extraits

[...] The market and target segment where Caroll is focused on is very particular. It requires a strategy marketing plan because many factors influence the success or failure of implementing its brand in China The first part of this marketing plan will be dedicated to the presentation of the Caroll company, analyzing what are its strengths and weaknesses through matrices such as the Value Chain or the SWOT Analysis. Then, we will focus on entering the Chinese market considering the fashion actors and what are opportunities for Caroll to choose this country with the marketing and other matrices. [...]

[...] Industry Competitors ( 9 / 10 As said before, the competition level is high, with fashion brands already present on the market for several years (Zara, Alain Manoukian). On the other side, local companies offer clothes and accessories for cheap prices. A strong image is essential to gain market shares. B - Marketing Plan a. Marketing Mix The classic marketing mix concerns four elements, known as the “Four P's”. The Product is the good produced or manufactured with a volume of units. The Price is the amount that the customer pays for the product. Promotion is the communications (advertising, sales promotion, etc.) used by marketers. [...]

[...] This matches with Caroll's business too. We used in this strategic marketing plan several tools like the Boston matrix, Ansoff matrix or the marketing mix in order to illustrate the Caroll's position on the luxury market. Bibliography "Histoire De Caroll." Mode Actu Mode, Tendance Et Haute Couture Puretrend.com. Web . "Caroll : Histoire De La Marque : CarolineDaily, Tout Sur Caroll : Histoire De La Marque." CarolineDaily : Magazine Mode, Tendances, Beauté, Accessoires De Mode, Icones De Mode, Styles Oct Web . [...]

[...] According to the elements we have seen so far in this strategic marketing plan, we can plan objectives for Caroll for the Chinese market. There are three objectives: Increase their notoriety worldwide extending the store network Develop and adapt their image in China for women and middle-class Increase turnover thanks to the high potential customer Caroll will tap on Chinese market focusing on the women middle-class market segment. The competition is already present and Caroll will have to adapt its strategy on long-term in order gain market shares. [...]

[...] They represent the main and constant source of revenue. Recommendations There are some recommendations to make for Caroll in order to penetrate the Chinese market. The first one is obvious; it deals with cultural differences between China and western countries and barriers that may exist due to the government of China which is sometimes opposed to a foreign company. If Caroll wants to launch an advertising campaign, it's necessary to take into consideration the aspects of the Chinese market. The “creative spirit” of marketers has to be adapted to reach the customers, that is to say they cannot do whatever they want! [...]