ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY: A CASE STUDY OF BURBERRY

INTRODUCTION
1. The necessity of the study
A glance at the data on online marketplace reveals that 61% of global Internet users
research products online. Online consumer sales are estimated to increase by 14%
(eMarketer, Inc. 2011) and it even actually expanded during the recession 20082009 ( Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol g. Traver, Ecommerce, 8the). In 2012, the
report State of Inbound Marketing by HubSpot indicated an increase by 75% of
the number of businesses that say Facebook is critical or important to their business.
It also said that 77% of B2C and 43% of B2B companies acquired customers from
Facebook. Over the past decade, it's witnessed that the online marketplace has
become increasingly dynamic. As marketing strategies using traditional marketing
channels appear to be unable to catch up with the rapid run of mobile, social, online
and interactive media, the concept of online marketing strategy has attracted
significant amount of interest of corporate world and even the academic one as well.
Philip Kotler referred online marketing strategy as the marketing logic by which
the company hopes to create customer value and achieve profitable customer
(Principle of marketing, 14e, 2012) over the Internet.
Developing an online marketing approach that increase a company's access to
consumers while retaining its differences is the real challenge that confronts any
companies intending to move to the Internet. Tougher competition, failure in
transferring off-line differences to online presence, a strategic approach to online
marketing to make advantages of online marketplace without wasting companies
sources and even tarnishing the brand and credibility - such marketing hurdles
facing any companies that want to make use of internet environment. With the
online marketplace development and difficult concerning all companies, I find it
necessary to investigate how companies respond to such evolvement and examine
how they build and develop their online marketing strategy that will not throw the
general strategy of the company into confusion but will be a critical support.

Burberry is a world-famous company for British luxury fashion brand, which has
utilized successfully online marketing due to a prudent and drastic strategy. Its
marketing strategy brought to Burberry the Digital Innovation Award at the 2010
British Fashion Awards. And in 2012, Burberry remained in its throne for the
second year in a row in the Digital IQ Index Fashion Report1. With those
achievements, I found it particularly interesting to examine how Burberry makes
use of the Internet to market products and services and build customer relationships.
The analysis of Burberry case will help us to have more insight into online
marketing strategy in practice and know how to apply it to our marketing situation.
Finally, it's more common to find researches and studies about how to apply social
media in marketing products or using internet for brand communication. There are
limited researches on an online marketing strategy as a whole. That's why it is
relevant to take a deeper look at this topic.
2. Objectives of the study
It's easy to peak an online marketing campaign of a company and see what they do.
But to understand why they do that and what their next steps are, an approach on
their strategic view is better and more gainful. Although one shirt cannot fit all
people, I take the case of Burberry for my research to find out how a company
handle aforementioned marketing challenges when going online with a clear
marketing strategy not an online gamble on their company reputation and credibility
and even their revenue.
"Burberry is no longer just a fashion company - today they are a thriving media
enterprise. It is successful not just because it makes great clothes but because it
understands the importance of sparking interest in the community and using social
media to engage and delight their consumer. When researching on Burberry' case, I
just aim at two main purposes:
- Gaining the knowledge about online marketing strategy and the understanding
about critical factors of a successful strategy.
1

In this study, 64 fashion brands were ranked beyond their digital competencies across four dimensions: site,
digital marketing, social media and mobile (L2, 2012)

- Draw out some lessons from Burberry experiences which may be especially
helpful for those companies which want to go from offline to online.
3. Research questions
Aware of the necessity of the study, this thesis was structured around the following
questions:
What is online marketing strategy?
How does Burberry use online marketing strategy to achieve the success of
marketing product and branding?
What lessons can be drawn from Burberrys experiences?
4. Scope of the Study
This study focuses on the analysis of online marketing strategy based on the
specific case study of Burberry. Building a strategy may concern a myriad of
relating terms and concepts in marketing and in business. However, any related
knowledge is just given to the extent that serves the better understanding of the
readers about the strategy of Burberry.
During my research, I realized that Burberrys online marketing strategy closely
involves digital tools so sometimes the terms online marketing strategy and digital
marketing strategy may be interchangeably used but it should be noted that digital
marketing is not the subject of this thesis.
5. Methodology
5.1.

Single case study

As having mentioned above, I choose Burberry as my case study. Thus, I am

working with a single case in order to explore the critical factors in online
marketing strategy. Accordingly, I seek to expand my theoretical knowledge of
marketing strategy with a practical expanse and thereby add new perspectives and
depth to my understanding of it.
According to Sarah Crowe et.al (2011), we employ a case study when it's necessary
to get "an in-depth appreciation of an issue, event or phenomenon of interest, in its
natural real-life context". Ghauri and Gronhaug (2010) say that approach from a

case study is suitable for descriptive or explanatory research and is particularly

useful under the following conditions: when the phenomenon under investigation is
difficult to study outside its natural setting or when the concepts and variables under
study are difficult to quantify (Ghauri and Gronhaug, 2010, pp. 109 - 111). When it
comes to answer how and why questions, when the researcher has little control over
events and when the focus is on a current phenomenon in a real - life context
(Charles Schell, 1992, p. 4), a case study approach is preferred.
My main purpose is to gain deep and detailed insight into the case, which a single
case study allows (Yin, 2003, p.13). Hence my study can characterised as narrow
explanation, because it "investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its reallife context" (ibid.). Different from other types of research, for instance, an
experiment, in which researcher try to separate a phenomenon and its context, case
study research involves contextual conditions.
5.2.

Instrumental case study

There are various typologies of case study. Yin (2003) divided into exploratory and
descriptive case studies. In my thesis, I use Robert Stake's (1995) work because it
matches the particular type of case I research. He characterised three main types of
case study: intrinsic, instrumental and multiple or collective case studies (Sarah
Crowe, et.al, 2011). An instrumental case study "uses a particular case to gain a
broader appreciation of an issue or phenomenon" (ibid.). Accordingly, my case
study is an instrumental case since I aim to study Burberry to gain knowledge of the
online marketing strategy. In his work, Stake (1995) said that an instrumental case
study "provides insight into an issue or helps to refine a theory" (Stake, 1995, in
Baxter and Jack, 2008, p. 549). Moreover, "the case is often looked at in depth,
(and) its context is scrutinised" (ibid). Thus my study is based on a single case and
analysed qualitatively.
6. Structure
This study will have three chapters. Chapter one gives an overview about online
marketing strategy. Next, chapter two will analyse case study of Burberry how
they use online marketing strategy in practice. This part will follow every step in

building and bringing a strategy into action. The content is aimed to make clear the
motives, pros and cons behind each step. A small part ending this chapter will be
some comments on the online marketing strategy of Burberry that is wished to help
readers have a quick review of their strategy. From such former analysis, the third
chapter will present some lessons that other companies can learn from Burberry.
CHAPTER 1 OVERVIEW OF ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGY
1.1. Marketing strategy and online marketing strategy definition
1.2. Different approaches to online marketing strategy development
1.3. Process of online marketing strategy development
1.3.1. Situation review
1.3.2. Strategic goal setting
1.3.3. Strategy formulation
1.3.4. Strategy implementation
CHAPTER 2 - CASESTUDY OF BURBERRY
2.1. A brief introduction to Burberry
2.2. Rationale of using online marketing
2.3- Burberry online marketing strategy
2.3.1. Internal analysis about Burberry
2.3.2. External analysis about online environment
2.3.3. Marketing targets
2.3.4. Marketing online strategy breakdown
2.3.5. Strategy execution
2.5 - General comments on online marketing strategy of Burberry
2.5.1. Achievements through online marketing campaigns
2.5.2. Drawbacks
CHAPTER 3 - LESSONS FROM BURBERRY EXPERIENCES