Assessment 1- Reducing Risk, Company: R.M Williams
Functional
RM Williams clothes and boots are steeped in history and the company has been trading since 1932 and has coined itself as “The Bush Outfitter”. Their functionality has always been core to their business.
RM Williams is unique as they manufacture, distribute and retail their products and brand. They have been Australian designed and made, with high quality materials and great cuts.
At the launch of Regional Express Airlines (or REX as it is known), the staff, Pilots, and flight attendants all wore RM Williams clothing and footwear. This moved RM Williams from just country clothing consumed by country people to clothing consumed by business people, and a business. Not only was the airlines bringing country people to the cities, it was bringing their fashion too. Perhaps RM Williams was expanding their target market from predominantly rural and country people to city people, and further segmentation to the urban young professional. The target market shift may have been due to economic forces – RM Williams looking for more stability from a city market, not just from people from the land, who had good seasons and bad. What was once a utilitarian need being met, may now be a hedonic need being met – or both.
Physical
The distribution of RM Williams clothing and boots has also changed with the times. From its humble beginnings of a mail order business, to only in a limited amount of stores and presence in Myers, the store locations have increased to some 50 stores and 900 stockists, worldwide and now on-line shopping.
RM Williams also have a mobile shop – The Longhorn Express. This mobile shop can be viewed at various agricultural shows and selected events. You can even contact RM Williams to request they attend an event.
With so many stores and stockists for their products, as well as The Longhorn Express, you can touch and feel their products before you buy them, try them on, or co-ordinate your look with several pieces. The Longhorn Express (photo from R.M Williams Facebook page)

Financial
R.M.Williams boots have long been a status symbol – and perhaps for some a goal to work towards.
R.M Williams offer their “Privilege Card” – a card obtainable after spending either $750 in one transaction or $1,500 within one year. This card offers benefits and special invitations and promotions not readily available to the general public.
The Outback Magazine also offers “special” incentives when you purchase a subscription, the current one being for Mothers Day – an exclusive jacket able to purchase only if you subscribe.
RM Williams will refund or exchange with 30 days of the date on your receipt.

Social
Perhaps it was RM Williams cleaver marketing, but somehow country clothing became “cool” or “trendy”. This social and cultural trend brought RM Williams to the city.
“Casual Fridays” was first introduced in 1950, but in 1970 a rather vigorous marketing campaign from clothing manufacturers to re-instate the dress casual on Friday was launched. This was to provide the clothing manufacturers more revenue from business people buying casual wear for work.
From RM Williams website;

Psychological
RM Williams is an iconic Australian Brand. The longhorn symbol is widely recognized and applied to all of their apparel. The company can even use its Consumers as free mobile advertising - with large stickers being available for purchase which can be placed on your vehicle – usually found on the back window of “utes”.
Some products are only available for limited time or in limited stores, therefore still seen as unique and exclusive.
One part of RM Williams marketing mix is sponsorship. RM Williams prefer to sponsor limited events and do them well, rather than a lot of small events – another signal that they are and want to remain a premium brand. Events they sponsor include; The Magic Millions, The Longreach Muster and The RM Williams Outback Spectacular on the Gold Coast.
The captive audiences of the Outback Spectacular, who see legendary stories come to life, can then purchase a piece of that legend/story/ experience from the onsite store. The excitement of the show and experience - a definite marketing strategy towards impulse buying. A wide range of people visit the Outback Spectacular, from locals, interstate, and international tourists – a large demographic.

Time
I believe RM Williams belongs to the Evoked set when considering country style clothing and now smart casual clothing. The search by many consumers may not go beyond the internal search phase, especially those repeat consumers and those with brand loyalty.
To extend to new customers via their external search, RM Williams: have many stores and stockists across the country and now international; produce their own award winning magazine “Outback”; major sponsors at selected and high profile events; bringing their apparel to the rural areas via The Longhorn Express; Facebook and Twitter presence, and now selling via the internet.
Improvement
One area of improvement to help reduce perceived risk could be to expand on their customer service.
On R.M.Williams website under their heading “customer service”, a single phone number is provided. As they are now moving to be global, a single phone number may not be adequate. They do have an email contact under their “Contacts” section. But perhaps this should be added under the dedicated customer service section. An international call number or toll free number could also be applied. Perhaps an automated section for comments via email could be here too.
Upon researching other websites, I have seen one site claim to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year! This would make you feel that should a problem occur – you can talk to someone anytime, regardless of city/state or country. I am not recommending that R.M. Williams requires this level of service, but it is an interesting strategy.

References:
• My memory as a consumer of R M Williams goods.
• www.r.m.williams.com.au
• www.sheplers.com
• Facebook
• http://mapexpo.com.au/vanessa-marven-marketing-public-relations-manager-r-m-williams-on-marketing-the-r-m-williams-brand/