Giordano, International Limited is a retailer of men s, women s and children s quality apparel, accessories and supplying products to third

parties, founded at 1981 by Jimmy Lai in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Giordano has become a pioneer of customer service in the Asia-Pacific region and, as of January 2008, currently employs more than 11,400 people and operates 1800 stores worldwide in 40 countries. The company is Asia-Pacific s most successful retailer and sells its name under the brands of Giordano , Giordano Concepts , Giordano Junior and Giordano Ladies . Giordano has been publicly listed since 1991 and since then trades on the Hong Kong stock exchange under the ticker symbol. Giordano s success is measured by the company s relentless focus on its five corporate business values of quality, knowledge, innovation, simplicity and service. The company has its own apparel manufacturing division where many of its own clothing styles are produced. Giordano is also renowned for its basic and practical men s, women s, and children s T-shirts and trousers, especially denims. In comparison, Giordano is very similar to the American based popular retailer The Gap. Giordano Hong Kong uses the name of both the company and its mainstream fashion labels, and this strategy has allowed the company to pursue an integrated marketing approach directly related to the company name. There are also a variety of marketing strategies available that Giordano Hong Kong could make use of in order to control all of their promotional activities. When used appropriately, these marketing strategies will be able to help to consistently disseminate the valuable information that they want to convey to their valued consumers. However, certain points have to be taken into consideration by Giordano Hong Kong regarding marketing strategies. Since their income is relatively higher than most of their competitors, the time for implementation of their chosen marketing strategies would take longer than usual, aside from being expensive. But since the goal of Giordano Hong Kong is towards a long-term dominance and stability in the fashion industry, then the pursuit of these promotional campaigns will be beneficial for the company in the long run.

Q1 Describe and evaluate Giordano s product, business and corporate strategies? Product strategies:     Value for money product Excellent services Focused on core items Customer oriented

Business Strategies:    Differentiation Cost leadership Niche

Corporate strategies    They did vertical integration Asian currency crises Concentrated on retailing

Q-2 Describe and evaluate Gioranado s current positioning strategy. Should Gioranado reposition itself against its competitors in its current and new markets, and should it have different positioning strategies for different markets?       Current positioning. Target up-market may create confusion Measures Difficult to make different strategies for different market Costly to acquire existing brand or setup new brand. So go with old strategies

Q-3 what are Gioranado s key success factors (KSF) and sources of competitive advantage? Are its competitive advantages suitable, and how would they develop in the future?

Porter s Five Forces in Retail Industry

Risk of entry by potential competitors:

=moderate> investment in brand building and retail

Bargaining power of suppliers:

=low> suppliers can be replaced easily

Rivalry among established firms

=High>price and non price competition increasing in intensity, Slower demand growth

Bargaining power of buyers =Moderate> low switching cost but no collective

Threats of substitute products =Low> Lack of substitutes for casual cloths

Giordano s Key Success Factors (KSF)

Giordano s Key Success Factors Sustainability in Existing Country Markets (Likely) Somewhat Sustainable  Relies on effective organizational communications and other intangible sources of advantage, which are difficult for competitors to copy and implement effectively Potential Future Developments of KSF

Design Fast and Market Driven New Product Development  Systematically collects ideas from customers, frontline and experienced designers  Fast turnaround from market impulse, design, manufacturing to distribution to the shops

 Competitors could
increasingly use technology to assisting their design process  On Giordano s part, effort must continually be made to obtain and utilize feedback from target customers.  Attracting and retaining good staff in design is important.

Operation, Logistics and IT Excellent Management of systems Somewhat sustainable  Other competitors would be and integration of activities, e.g.  Giordanos efficiency in likely to try to emulate stocks obsolescence costs are logistics and operations Giordano minimized due to: may be copied or even  Needs to continually look  Daily sales exceeded with an for new ways to improve report(facilitated through acquisition of superior and build its advantage IT &system) systems. However, there inside and outside its  Limited stock in shops are not many competitors industry that are daily restocked who would be able to copy  E.g. benchmarking against  Rapid market driven the implementation and retailers like The Gap and manufacturing integration of the systems Liz Claiborne, which are on the scale that Giordano well known for their has done integration IT systems and deficient operations Branding and Marketing Giordanos Brand:  Positioning: helps instant transfer of key values Giordano offers(Value for money, good quality casual wear, excellent service)  Excellent brand recognition due to high advertising budget Somewhat sustainable  Brand Equity helps to build customer loyalty  However, Giordano faces threat of strong competitors with similar positioning and also from brand dilution (e.g.Cheap image) as the marketing general shifts upward  Biggest threat comes from reputable players like The Gap  Giordano should continue to invest in strengthening its brand equity through heavy advertising and excellent customer service It could acquire another brand to serve higher end segment

along with increasing incomes.

Customer Service:
Fantastic customer service:  Service orientation is pervasive in many of its activities  Recruitment, selection and training of staff.  Empowerment and motivation of staff Somewhat Sustainable  Other competitors have not yet attempted to follow Giordanos service strategy.

 A service culture is one

source of advantage that competitors would find difficult to copy  However, Giordano needs to ensure that this culture can be maintained as it expands rapidly in existing and new markets

Location:
Good, high traffic shopping and convenience locations

Difficult to sustain  Giordanos sites are an important source of advantage, but other competitors could also do the same

 Competitors and new entrants will successfully compete for good locations

Q-4 Could Giordano transfer its key success factors to new markets as it expanded both in Asia and other parts of the world?

Giordano Companys main competitive strengths which can be transferred to other market are: the experience of the employees, inventory controlled system, HRM practices but the policies should be different for each country and can use the established distribution, marketing and inbound channels members in order to market their product outside the home country

Q-5 How do you think Giordano had/would have to adapt its marketing and operations strategies and tactics when entering and penetrating your country? Giordano would have to take the following the marketing and operations strategies and tactics when entering and penetrating to adapt in my country:     Consistency in service and merchandise quality Two dimensions of marketing and operations need to be addressed separately Concentrate on the similarities between countries Careful to consider national and cultural differences in some aspects of its marketing mix.

Q-6 what general lessons can major clothing retailers in your country learn from Giordano for?

   

Giordano managed to deliver a high level of service Even the most sophisticated training program won t guarantee the best customer service When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. To augment their products for e.g. no question asked and no time limit exchange policy

Recommendation From the above analysis we have some recommendation for Giordano International Limited. These are:      It is essential to start promotions to increase brand awareness when starting businesses in new market. The location and site selection for establishing Giordanos outlet in different country will be critical. The company should carefully select the site to position their stores which will be convenient for the customers. Customer is the key and main factor for differentiation is customer care. The company needs to follow customized customer service strategy for each market segment. Giordano needs to find out possibility of outsourcing to maintain low costs Extensive market research is needed to investigate designs and fabrics required by the target customers