MARKETING PLAN PHASE II

Marketing Plan Phase II Paper Team A

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II Marketing Plan Phase II Paper Nine West is a brand created from the Jones Group Inc. This company is a leader in the apparel and footwear industry. The Jones Group Inc. has built a time-less reputation for excellence in product quality, in value, and in operational execution. The Nine West brand was established in 1978 and has evolved to become a world-renowned fashion leader in less than thirty years. Sold in nearly 60 countries, Nine West is recognized as a total lifestyle brand offering runway looks interpreted into real life affordable fashion. Nine Wests goal is to

deliver the very latest fashions and must-have styles in apparel and footwear trends. Their finely detailed designs are tailored to meet the needs and expectations of their ever growing, diverse, and perceptive customer base (The Jones Group Inc., 2011). In todays market, there are a number of shoe providers competing for with the vast amount of information available on the Internet. The difference between Nine West and their competitors is that Nine West offers a line of footwear for women who wear sizes 10-13 in all widths online. Team As marketing plan phase II identifies the segmentation criteria that will affect Nine Wests target market selection and target market. Team A identifies Nine Wests target market as women who wear sizes 10-13. Team A describes the organizational buyers and consumers of Nine Wests line of footwear for women who wear sizes 10-13 and discusses how these factors affect the marketing strategy. Upon completion of the factors affecting the market strategy, Team A analyzes current competitors and defines the competitive landscape for women wearing sizes 10-13.

Segmentation Criteria

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II Marketing oriented managers think of segmenting as an aggregating process clustering

people with similar needs into a market segment is a relatively homogeneous group of customers who will respond to a marketing mix in a similar way ( Perrault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009, p. 97). The purpose of segmentation is to design a marketing mix that matches the needs of consumers in a selected market. The process of market segmentation and identifying targeting helps marketing managers go from a broad generic market with many potential customers to specific target segments. Identifying market segmentation criteria and the identification of target markets however, are an important element of each market strategy There are dimensions used to segment markets. Among these dimensions are the needs that people have, the benefits they seek in purchasing the product, and the rate of usage of the product. In addition, there are geographic dimensions that deal primarily with where a consumer might live (Perrault, et al). There demographic dimensions such as income, gender, age, family size, occupation, education, and ethnicity, that may impact the purchase of the product. After the marketer defines market segments, the marketer must evaluate the segments (Perrault, et. al). Good market segments need to meet four major criteria: First of all, they should be homogeneous within--that is, the customers within a market segment should be as similar as possible with respect to their segmentation dimensions and to their likely responses to the marketing mix (Perrault, et al). Second, a market segment should be heterogeneous between. In other words, the customers in different segments should be as different as possible with respect to their likely responses to the marketing mix and their segmenting dimensions (Perrault, et. al). Third, it should be operational in other words; the segmenting dimensions should be useful in identifying customers and for making decisions about marketing mix variables. And fourth, a good market segment should also be substantial, or, large enough to be profitable.

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II The criteria segmentation that will affect Nine-West new shoe line for women extended size 10-13 in a positive way is that it should rank the market segments in terms of potential sales. The best criteria to use is define a population that's large enough to generate maximum returns from Nine-West targeted campaign and homogeneous enough that one campaign should work for the entire segment. Also prioritize Nine-West marketing budget accordingly. Nine-West is targeting four population segments within the broad category of the high fashion and trendy conscious females. (1) Women who wear extended shoe sizes 10-13, this

market must be serviced they are tired of old fashion looking lady shoes. (2)Professional women that wear extended sizes will purchase shoes for the workplace as well as for the weekends and special events. (3) Housewives in this segment have disposable income, because of their husbands have household income of $60k- $150k love to shop and need high fashion shoes for extended sizes, and college students who are on a tight budget can afford the reasonable price of Nine-West shoes for extended sizes. Nine-West target market for different type of women that wear extended sizes will satisfy this specific target market needs and achieve their organizational profits and goals. Organizational Buyers and Consumers The Nine West brand is expanding their new line of larger women sized shoes, particularly sizes ranging from 10-13, to be sold exclusively online. The Nine West team is targeting the women who do not have the standard foot size and Nine West wants these women to embrace their differences and wants them to feel empowered with the ability to now wear trendy shoes at an extremely reasonable price. Nine West understands that people come in all shapes and sizes and does not want to limit their brand to a particular group. Nine West sells a variety of high-end footwear such as ankle straps, ballet flats, platforms, flat forms, French heels, kitten heels, pumps, peep-toes, sling backs, sandals, stacked

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II heels, wedge heels, and stiletto heels (Shoe-Design.com, 2006). These items are currently sold on the companys website, ninewest.com and other multi-purpose sites like QVC.com and 6pm.com as well as at upscale, yet affordable, department store websites such as Macys and Nordstrom. Nine West is focusing on expanding this new line to organizational buyers similar to those of Macys and Nordstrom. These department stores differentiate merchandise assortments, tailor them to local tastes, and deliver obvious value. Nine West wants to keep their line in these types of perceptive, reputable stores. Influencing Factors

In offering a line of footwear for women who wear sizes 10-13 in all widths online, Nine West is targeting the consumer market and behavior. Consumer buyer behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers - individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption. All of these final consumers combine to make up the consumer market (Armstrong, G., 2009). Many factors influence the consumer purchasing decisions. Some factors that can influence purchasing may include cultural, personal, social, and even psychological when analyzing a product. Nine West must research its specific buyer decision process, which includes needs recognition, information search, and evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase behavior. In this case, Nine West must be aware of the factors that influence consumers in the process of adopting a new product, which are awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption. Nine West must utilize the factors that influence its target consumer market to organize a marketing strategy that will be the difference between a successful product line, and one that will fail to provide a satisfactory need. Market segmentation involves dividing a market into smaller groups of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes (Armstrong, G., 2009). Nine West must position its

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II market offering (footwear in 10-13 size in all widths) in the minds of the target customer

(women) while differentiating the market offering to create superior customer value. Nine West like many companies in the clothing and cosmetics must analyze gender segmentation as a main factor in its marketing strategy that would be inclusive of segment size and growth, segment structural attractiveness, and company objectives and resources. Since Nine West is a very popular and recognized brand it can factor in consumer loyalty is part of its marketing strategy. Competitors and Competitive Landscape Nine West is in the fashion business and demand is driven by fashion and demographics. Some companies can survive on name alone, but profitability of most companies is realized through their capacity to design and market eye-catching shoes of all types. Economies of scale, marketing, and distribution are all attributes of large companies, but companies like Nine West can compete in the large market by providing superior shoes backed by superior marketing. Nine West top competitors are Brown Shoe Company, Inc., Collective Brands, Inc., and Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (2011 Hoovers.com). Brown Shoe Company is a global footwear company in direct competition with Nine West. Brown Shoes marketing campaign is driven by slogans like inspires people to look and feel good every day. (2011 Brownshoe.com). Brown shoes are known to the community as a company with a compelling portfolio and trusted brands (Brownshoe.com 2011). Brown has over 100 Million pairs of shoes in the market today and they supply shoes to men, women, and kids globally in partnership with department stores and other shoe store chains (2011 Brownshoe.com). According to Collective Brands, Incs Website, Collective Brands was formed in 2007 when Payless Shoe Source acquired the Collective Brands

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II

performance + Lifestyle Group (formerly the Stride Rite Corporation) and Collective Licensing International. The company was renamed to Collective Brands to showcase the unity and the idea that a group of stores together could be better than individual parts of smaller stores. Collective Brands strategy is to utilize the four key pillars: Consumer Connections, Powerful Brands, Operational Excellence and Dynamic Growth (2011 Collective Brands Website) to advance their brand in the market. Kenneth Cole has an interesting history after their marketing plan drove them to actually change the name of their company. The owner started the company 20 years ago and wanted to get a buzz going in the industry, which focused primarily on fashion and entertainment. The company officially changed its name from Kenneth Cole Inc. to Kenneth Cole Productions in order to get a film production permit to short a film about a new shoe company in Manhattan. Kenneth Cole was born and has since then been synonymous with high fashion and entertainment productions. This flip side of this story made Kenneth Cole very competitive in the shoe market and a strong competitor to Nine West. Nine Wests goal is to deliver the very latest fashions and must-have styles in apparel and footwear trends. Their finely detailed designs meet the needs and expectations of their ever growing, diverse, and perceptive customer base. The difference between Nine West and their competitors is that Nine West offers a line of footwear for women who wear sizes 10-13 in all widths online. Team A identified the segmentation criteria that will affect Nine Wests target market selection and target market. Team A identified Nine Wests target market as women who wear sizes 10-13. Team A described the organizational buyers and consumers of Nine Wests line of footwear for women who wear sizes 10-13 and discusses how these factors affect the

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II marketing strategy. Upon completion of the factors affecting the market strategy, Team A analyzed current competitors and defined the competitive landscape for women wearing sizes 10-13. Utilizing the marketing plan allowed Team A to identify, describe, discuss, and analyze various attributes that affect their target market and marketing strategy.

MARKETING PLAN PHASE II References Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing: An Introduction (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Brown Shoes, Inc. Website. About. Retrieved from http://www.brownshoes.com Collective shoes, Inc Website (2011). About Retrieved from http://www.collectiveshoes.com/about/ Hoovers Website (2011). Competitive Analysis Retrieved from http://www.Hoovers.com Jones Group Inc. (201l) Nine West. Retrieved from: http://www.jonesgroupinc.com/company Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. Website (2011). About. http://www.kennethcole.com/content/index.jsp?page=our_story&h=1150&w=898 Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2009). Defining Marketing for the for 21st Century (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc Perrault, W.D., Cannon, J.P., & McCarthy, E. J. Jr. (2009). Basic Marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (17th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill. . Shoe Design.com (2006). Retrieved July 30, 2011 from http://shoe-design.com/glossaryfootwear-definitions.html