...Ralph Lauren Demetria Moore Management 521 September 29, 2011 Machelle Thompson Strategic Initiatives Ralph Lauren’s commitment to originality enabled the company to satisfy customers and gain a global market share. As on of the world leading marketer, Ralph Lauren possesses one of the strongest global brand names recognized in today’s retail industry. The company strategically aspires to develop and increase globally. Ralph Lauren took control of the companies in Asia to benefit from opportunities in up-and-coming markets, for example China, South Korea, and India. Foreign companies are growing interest in luxury markets. Wealthy people in China are willing to spend money on expensive clothing and gaining a desire for luxury product. China’s retail sales have been rising as a household income inspires spending on cars, furniture, and clothing. Asia is the largest target for luxury brands, reporting more sales than any other region. Sales across the world have increased as the strength of the global economy helps consumers in Asia, and China. Consumers spending behavior may reduce because of an increase in fuel, high levels of unemployment, high debts levels may have a negative affect on their income and the company’s growth and profitability will decrease. To retain the existing market share, Ralph Lauren may have to reduce its sales prices, which could affect its margins. Some strategic changes on how to manage Ralph Laurens products is to have direct control over...
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...Elements of Brand Equity in Ralph Lauren In the case of Ralph Lauren, the company managed to come up with various brand identifies ranging from logo and symbols, Unique Selling Proposition (USP), brand ambassadors and style among others .These identifiers facilitated in mapping the consumer brain with the main target being creating awareness and brand loyalty The first achievement that the company made was to successfully associate its product with the name ‘Ralph Lauren’. This became the brand name of the company and therefore consumers were capable of distinguishing its product among others. Secondly, as Keller (2008) notes in his work, the company adopted another brand identifier in its products line -the polo logo .This logo attained an appreciable position in the company’s brand equity considering the fact that polo sport was becoming so popular the year early 1970s majority of the sport lovers were therefore lured into associating the company’s product with the sport and they formed a market niche of some kind. Another form of brand equity that the company achieved was the imaging in terms of price. Besides, the company engaged in selling ties at a high price than the prevailing market price (Keller 2008). Thus it confused and deceived customers into believing that the higher price is due to the quality subsequently, the company applied the concept of brand ambassadors in marketing its products. This improved the company’s style of marketing and advertising as well shifting...
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...Ralph Lauren Shelby Gray Group #2 BUS 440.02 11:30 0 COMPANY OVERVIEW Polo Ralph Lauren is a company specializing in the production of lifestyle products. Ralph Lauren began forty years ago with simply a collection of ties and now has grown into an entire culture that has redefined American Style. Ralph Lauren stands for providing quality products and inviting people to take part in their dream. Ralph Lauren was the innovator of lifestyle advertisements and the first fashion company to create stores to invite customers to participate in that lifestyle. HISTORY 1 RALPH LAUREN SWOT ANALYSIS Table 1 Ralph Lauren EFE Matrix Weight Rating Weighted Score OPPORTUNITIES -‐Boost internet sales 0.20 3 0.6 -‐Development of private labels within department stores -‐Development of philanthropic campaigns THREATS 0.16 3 0.48 0.13 2 0.26 -‐Fluctuating exchange rates 0.18 3 0.54 -‐Huge competition within target market -‐Dependence on licenses 0.13 2 0.26...
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...The History of Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren is one of the biggest designers in the world. Ralph Lauren formally known as Ralph Lifshitz was born in 1939 in the Bronx, New York to Jewish parents from Eastern Europe. He changed his name because growing up he was made fun of because of his last name. Ralph worked as a salesman for Brooks Brothers and at Beau Brummell, a necktie purveyor. Ralph gained his background in men's wear by working for Datrian Riser. Ralph received a $50,000 loan to start his men's tie line. The original RL cooperation was launched in 1967 as a men's tie company which he sold out of a draw in the Beau Brummell showroom in the Empire State building. In 1967 Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s started to buy his ties to sell in there department stores where he was able to make $500,000 in sales his first year. By 1969 he opens a boutique in the Bloomingdales department store. 1 In 1971 Ralph Lauren launched his first women's collection of apparel inspired by designing clothes for his wife he called this collection Polo by Ralph Lauren. Later that year he opened his first store in Beverly Hills, California. He released a women suit line where he first introduced the polo logo which he placed on the cuff of the suits. The logo consists of an outline of a polo player sitting on top of a horse which is now recognized all over the world. Shortly after he released his famous short sleeve polo shirt with the logo on the upper left in 1972 in 24 colors (some of the colors...
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...Jason Schmied Mr. T Introduction to Business 20 November 2013 Ralph Lauren Polo Ralph Lauren was born on October 14, 1939 as Ralph Lifshitz, in Bronx, New York City. He was born into a Jewish family, originally from Belarus, as one of three boys. When he turned sixteen, he and his brother Jerry changed his last name legally to Lauren, after being made fun of in school. However, his brother Lenny kept the original last name. Lauren began his study of business at Baruch College in Manhattan for two years, then served in the Army for a short time, and later became a salesman at Brooks Brothers (Ralph Lauren Bio). In 1967, finally fed up with selling other people’s neckties, Lauren began making his own neckwear. With no experience in fashion besides selling men’s clothing, Lauren was still able to convince Beau Brummel to manufacture his Polo line of neckwear, and began selling his Polo brand in large department stores, such as Bloomingdales. In 1968, he created his own company – Polo Fashion – with the help of his brother Jerry and a $50,000 loan. Along with the neckwear, Polo expanded into men suits, shirts, and sportswear. Lauren received the Coty Award for menswear in 1970, and following this achievement, designed a line of women’s tailored shirt in a classic men’s style. Within three years from the start of Polo Fashion, sales were already reaching $10 million (Polo History). In 1971, the company began offering franchises to allow the entire store to focus...
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...competitors to the Ralph Lauren, Polo company that I intend to incorporate into this research are: 1.) Lacoste- A retail clothing company that was founded in 1933 by the legendary tennis player Rene Lacoste. 2.) Abercrombie and Fitch- An All-American retail clothing company that was founded David T. Abercrombie in 1892. 3.) Calvin Klein- A retail clothing company that was founded in 1968 by Calvin Klein. All three companies are publicly traded and have been in competition with Ralph Lauren Polo for quite some time now. History: Ralph Lifshitz was born on October 14, 1939 to a middle class Jewish family living in the Bronx. Throughout some point in Ralph’s life he changed his last name to Lauren for personal reasons. His mother had always envisioned Ralph to become a rabbi when he was of age however; Ralph chose not to pursue that life. Ralph’s father also was a part of his life and was an artist and a housepainter. The company that Ralph Lauren started was titled “Polo”. This began approximately around the late 1960’s. Lauren started out as a clothing salesman selling clothes for other people’s clothing stores and clothing lines. Mainly he sold men’s gloves, suits, and ties. Ralph got tired of selling other people’s clothing and wanted to get in the business his self and begin creating his own clothes that he could sell. At the time he had no experience in fashion design, but he grew up in one of the biggest fashion capitals in the universe, New York. Ralph went to his...
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...Ralph Lauren was born by the name of Ralph Lipschitz in New York City on October 14, 1939. He grew up in Bronx, New York City. After high school, he took business classes at night school and worked in sales by day. While working for a tie company, he was inspired to begin designing his own neckwear, and in 1967 he went into business for himself, changing his last name to Lauren and marketing his unique line of ties under the name of Polo. From the inception of his brand, Lauren’s creations were characterized by a moneyed style that evoked the look of English aristocracy, as adapted by the sporty, East-Coast American elite. His first menswear line in 1968 featured classic tweed suits, and his first suits women’s wear line in 1971 continued his explorations of classic tailoring and good taste, but with a feminine twist. In 1972 Lauren debuted what would become his signature piece: the mesh sport shirt, available in a variety of colours and featuring his trademark emblem of the most aristocratic of athletes, the polo player. The Ralph Lauren style became a nationwide phenomenon after he dressed the male actors in the 1974 film adaptation of The Great Gatsby in clothing from his current line. The film's evocation of the lost, elegant era of F. Scott Fitzgerald provided a perfect vehicle for Lauren's classic, sometimes nostalgic, vision. The designer received further attention when he created the clothing for Annie Hall (1977), in which Woody Allen sported traditional oxford button-down...
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...Over the past four decades Ralph Lauren has become synonymous with sophistication, class and taste. Whether it’s RALPH by Ralph Lauren, Polo Sport, Rugby or Ralph Lauren Home, his uber-preppy style is a mainstay for the brand. Ralph Lauren has transformed himself from a designer into a global brand, developing menswear, women’s, children’s, fragrance and home collections – becoming a household name throughout the world. The consumer knows what they’re getting when shopping the brand, making it reliable, and in turn creating devoted customers. The brand is selling a whole image lifestyle, relaying the sense of snobbiness without being flashy. Ralph Lauren is constantly creating classic style with a focus on the preppy look. The lines do not focus on trends, but rather longevity and timelessness. He has no need to reinvent the brand, but to continue maintaining and establishing it further. Ralph Lauren stays true to its heritage. It is perfectly fit for the equestrian and country club world, or those who want to be apart of it. The brand is completely romanticized in the fact that it taps into the American fantasy of sophistication. However, Ralph Lauren stands on its own, as it is accessible and applicable for daily life. This is apparent by just visiting the New York City flagship store, which is the former Rhinelander mansion. The four-floor mansion has been converted into a Ralph Lauren megastore that quintessentially transports its customers into the brands fantasy...
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...Date: March 15th, 2013 To: Jackwyn L. Nemerov, Executive Vice President of Ralph Lauren Corporation From: Yousuf Masud Subject: Brand Equity Analysis and Recommendations for Ralph Lauren Corporation Ralph Lauren Corporation, formerly known as Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation, is an upscale lifestyle and clothing company whose name has been associated with maturity and class since its inception in 1967 in New York City. It has been a major leader in the economic sector of consumer goods for years and has dominated the fields of design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products. Despite the emergence of new edgy-fashion brands, Ralph Lauren still holds tremendous weight with investors and customers for its classic looks and strong brand recognition (Pasquarelli, 2012). Year after year Ralph Lauren has been able to stay competitive due to its renowned brand recognition and dedicated design team. Ralph Lauren’s brand name has been further strengthened through current partnerships and charity events. Their partnership with the Olympics, Wimbledon and USTA make the Ralph Lauren brand name recognized globally. Additionally, their charity work with underprivileged and undereducated communities has been essential in maintaining a positive image among all people, regardless of income or social status. While everything seems to be going in the right direction for Ralph Lauren Corporation, there are a few challenges that can adversely affect the well-being...
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...Ralph Lauren Case Study I) Introduction: Polo Ralph Lauren created in 1967 by Mr Ralph Lauren is considered nowadays as one of the well-known brands throughout the world. As a famous global player in the design and lifestyle marketing industry, Polo Ralph Lauren range its product lines from relatively inexpensive to expensive brand in offering men’s, women’s and children garment and accessories and also perfumes and home furnishings. Widely perceived as the number one brand that represents the American Style, Polo Ralph Lauren has adopted a whole marketing strategy leading to a strong brand equity since its setting up. Moreover, the brand sells its goods internationally (9,000 Locations worldwide) while keeping its 44 years reputation and distinctive image developed across the different products and brands markets. Due to its marketing tools and its high quality brand image, this luxury brand keeps a constant relationship with its customers. This report will first of all highlights how Ralph Lauren brand has achieved this complete resonance with its consumers through the all four steps of Keller’s CBBE model since its creation. Then, we will describe the Points of Parity (POP) and Points of Difference (POD) of the Brand to finally recommend ways through which the brand can continue to be successful in future. II) To what extent do you think the Ralph Lauren brand has achieved resonance with its customers? Since 1967, Ralph Lauren brand is a perfect example...
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...Ralph Lauren Polo Reward system This firm has adapted a reward system that will maximize employee performance alignment with Polo’s objective and promote fairness to the employees. Therefore, its reward system promotes implementation of organizational goals and compromises personal interests. It leads to motivation of active employees because they are rewarded higher than inactive employees. Clients argue that Ralph Lauren Polo employees possess customers’ relation’s skills because they are trained on selling clothes hence they are rewarded appropriately. Therefore, this system is effective and may lead to expansion of market share and retention of its employees (Spitzer, 2009). Ralph Lauren Polo Business environment The system delivers the value of performance to employees through aligning their goals to the reward system in order to center employees on organizational culture, perceptions and values. This involves positive feedback given by clients, which are compensated as bonuses or rewards. Polo’s reward system is consistent to the organizational culture to promote excellent reputation in the community because human resource is a feature of rewards system (Spitzer, 2009). This reward system equips Polo’s management with tools and strategies to reward employees according to the desired organizational culture. The organization culture of Polo is performance based to promote effectiveness of their reward system and fairness to the employees. This promotes...
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...It starts with an idea s t a g e s o f innovation Best Practices in Brand Extension: Effective Application of Brand Recognition BRAND EQUITY CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE COMPONENTS: EXPERTISE, EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENTS AND PRODUCT ATTRIBUTES Brand extensions are an effective and popular method of gaining a competitive advantage when entering a new product area. Consumers are faced with an increasingly complex and confusing marketplace. The ability of a brand to act as a mental shortcut for consumers, thereby simplifying the decision-making process, makes it one of, it not the, most important asset for a company. The ability of a brand to influence consumer behavior, and its subsequent value to companies, will increase as consumers face a growing amount of information in the marketplace. By placing a well-known brand on a new product, a company can imbue that product with all the positive associations of that brand, thereby giving it a competitive advantage. With some estimates of the failure rate for new products at 90%, the added value of being associated with a trusted brand can be critical to a new product’s survival. Given the increasing value of established brands and the difficulty in launching new products, the popularity of brand extensions is understandable. However, the brand extension process must be carefully planned in order to insure the value of the brand is successfully transferred to the extension without jeopardizing the brand’s equity. To do so, a company...
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...reacting to the shift preferences of customers. (page 4) 4. “The view that an industry is a customer satisfying process, not a goods-purchasing process”(page 19) 5. Growing population and mass production is never a guarantee to increase revenue (page 5) Although Ralph Lauren has a solid foundation and understanding of customer’s style and want at the age bracket of 35 and up, he has yet to solidify a lasting name brand for younger age bracket. Through the discontinued brands such as Polo Jeans and Rugby brand, each attempt by Ralph Lauren did not have a lasting impression. The company’s style is greatly influenced by Ralph Lauren himself. At the age of 75, he still has the last say on what is in and what goes out of lines of product. He determines what is in style with his brand and what which style seems uncharacteristic with Ralph Lauren. According to Levitt on “Without a very sophisticated eye on the customer, most of their new products might have been wrong, their sales methods useless.” (page 2). Ralph Lauren’s view of a younger generation’s style may not be inside the “The world of Ralph Lauren”. The distinct preference of someone at the age level of late teens and early twenties might be large that Ralph Lauren would need to go outside its “world” to connect with younger consumers. In the other hand, to Levitt’s point of exclusion of a product could be a better plan for the company. If the style of the company only makes sense to an older age group, the company should...
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...countries have experienced a rapid rise in Internet usage in recent history. China, in particular, has seen 40% of its population (or 500M people) connect to the Internet in the past 10 years, and continues to experience an increase in its user base. This large user base, coupled with a rise in wealthy households and per capita spending, is driving a dramatic increase in e-Commerce retail, specifically in the luxury goods space. Consumption of luxury goods in China has reached $9.4B in 2010, second only to Japan in the world. As luxury purchase rates continue to increase in China, luxury fashion brands are investing many resources to understand the customer, develop the market, establish the supply chain, and deliver the products. Polo Ralph Lauren (PRL), in order to continue its growth in China, is expanding aggressively through license reacquisitions and retail store developments. Furthermore, to provide its existing customers with additional products and enhanced services, and to capture consumers who live in cities without access to PRL's brick and mortar stores, PRL has set its vision to develop an e- Commerce business in China. This thesis provides a fundamental understanding of PRL's current business operations and of current e-Commerce fulfillment models for luxury apparel brands in China. An assessment of gaps was also conducted between current fulfillment operations of PRL and those of other luxury brands and 3PLs operating in China, specifically on delivery lead-time...
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...Overview Burberry is a fashion and luxury company which creation remounts to 1856, when Thomas Burberry opened a draper’s shop in Basingstoke, England. Burberry-lined trench coats, worn by British soldiers in WWI, became a company icon. This brand was highly dependent on licensing and distribution arrangements and had a narrow set of products. Around 1980s the company started making losses because of its old-fashioned products, so in 1997 Rose Marie Bravo assumed the leadership of the company. Bravo and her team had a main objective that was to revitalize the brand, updating the product line, expanding the brand portfolio and creating new advertisement campaigns. Question 1 - Marketing Situation Company: Burberry is a company that nowadays sells a wide range of luxury products; they sell from apparel to accessories as handbags, shoes, hats, ties, and so on, and to licensed products as fragrances or eyewear. The brand is known for its heritage, history and functionality. Burberry wanted to create the image of an accessible luxury. In the 1920s Burberry was introduced as a registered trademark, and was seen as a symbol of luxury and durability, after that by the 1990s Burberry was sold to a British company, Great Universal Stores Plc. (GUS) and by the 1970s GUS management agreed to license the brand in Japan. The product started to grow worldwide, but due to the fact that a wide range of product categories become licensed the products began to vary across markets (price, design...
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