Francesca’s is a growing company that possesses a lot of potential for future growth. The company started in 1999 and was founded in Houston, Texas by three siblings Chong Yi, Kyong Gill and Insuk Koo and one other partner John De Meritt. Originally the company was dedicated to offering accessories, home décor, and jewelry but later came to include apparel because of their growth across the country. Francesca’s became a publicly held company in July on 2011 under the name FRAN and since then the company has gained 11%. Francesca’s brand identity can be characterized as a one of a kind, specialty boutique that builds emphasis on the customer shopping experience. Each boutique carries unique merchandise that varies from store to store so …show more content…
Francesca’s collections attracts many different demographics, but their target market include fashion conscious females between the ages of 18-35. They are mainly college educated and have a moderate to large disposable income. Their customer has a taste for classic items mixed with ethnic inspirations and seek exclusivity and disassociation from others. In a geographic perspective Francesca’s is widely available nationwide in a variety of formats such as free standing and shopping malls. They possess 283 locations in 41 states and continue to grow rapidly.
Because of this rapid growth several challenges can present themselves. A primary challenge that can present itself is the lost of the boutique feel because of the hundreds of locations. Even though each boutique is different and personalized, opening too many locations may cause the retailer to lose its niche in the market. Another challenge is the many changes the company has gone through in upper level management. Because of the changes investors have been discouraged, as mentioned before, and shares were down 16% after the changes.
Some opportunities that Francesca’s can take advantage of are global expansion, and adding a men’s collection to their company. Global expansion into flourishing European countries, such as France, Germany, or Sweden; can take the company into new markets in which they could be well received.
During the 1930’s the public began to feel the effects of the Great Depression, many designers were restricted in experimenting with new fashions due to the fall in the economy and the rise in employment. However, this difficult time period did not stop women from flocking to the shops to enjoy the new fashion craze that was arising. Women were expected to wear clothing that was sombre and modest, it reflecting the difficult social and economical situation of the decade. In Italy, women’s fashions moved away from the seductive and daring style of the 1920s towards more romantic, feminine silhouette inspired fashion. Fashion was more significant during this time period in Italy because
At River Island, their aim is to provide stylish, affordable fashion, where their customers are able to pick up everything they need for a brand new head-to-toe look. They provide everything from going-out looks and occasion wear to bags and shoes to match at a reasonable price. By offering stylish, affordable fashion, they will gain a much larger market share than some of their more expensive rivals. Also, if the customer can use them as a ‘one stop shop’, it will mean that River Island benefits by having less competition and therefore, a higher turnover.
Unlike Starbucks, Macy’s is not doing very well, as evidenced by the fact they announced last month the impeding closure of 68 stores (Peterson, 2017). The company has been struggling for a few years with the growth of the internet and online businesses such as Amazon making their brick and mortar stores impractical in modern times. While the number of stores may not seem like as much of a problem as it is, as other companies have had to close down more in recent years or go out of business in general, this is a symptom of larger problems in both the company and the industry.
As two separate companies, they have established a different approach towards the market, however with the right research and evaluation, Rousteing and The Bay have beautifully managed to make both sides collide with success. They have managed to design ready-to-wear for different target groups, for example, women’s outerwear shoes, men’s business attire, jewellery, as well as the latest Balmain Army collection inspired by Rousteing himself. They have made the price range of the products in the listed categories reasonable and affordable for premium quality clothing, accessories and footwear for both genders that are quality and price conscious. Also, in Toronto and Vancouver, The Bay has launched a showroom called “The Room” that features some of Balmain’s hottest but not-so-retail-friendly designer clothing from Rousteing’s runway collection. With the stratospheric prices, these items are obviously in display for the more sophisticated young female adults that completely disregard the price tag when they see something they genuinely adore. However, this was also an intelligent way for Rousteing and The Bay to promote their collection by giving the people of middle-class families to feel and take a closer glimpse of some high-quality handiwork. This makes the women of the demographic target market want to know what else Balmain has in store at The Bay, that is of similar quality, but with a more affordable
Francesca’s is a very unique store that that is quickly growing and expanding from where it originated in Texas and is now in 48 states across the country. They have been able to open up over six-hundred stores nation-wide and they show no signs of slowing down. We feel like because of their uniqueness, they have a great opportunity to expand across the world into more countries other than the United States of America. We chose China as a great place to expand overseas due to the fact of the high population and it becoming a great up and coming country.
Her products made for both men and women She also has a separate kid’s collection. Her psychographic segmentation is that she is interested in the customer’s personal appearance, for example she wants her customers to look elegant and sophisticated, with an edge. She makes her products high class with the best materials. She makes mostly all her sales in Asia. Customers that buy her products are the ones that “receive high income, they like to buy fashionable, durable, and easy to wear items” (Lumley, 2014). The geographic segmentation is Worldwide, which also includes the Austin location which “open market with prime city and economic growth” (Lumley, 2014). Miuccia’s line gives a trusted label and a good quality product. The spending rate in Austin is 23% between the Generation Y and the Millennium. Matt Carmichael explain in his article called “Where the Millennials are” that, “They spend about fifty dollars per capita more on alcoholic beverages, four-hundred dollars more on personal services, and nearly one-hundred more on furniture” (Carmichael,
As specified in the weaknesses, Macy’s Department Stores Inc. has very little geographic presence in the countries where the growth ratio is much higher. Among the possible list of opportunities available to the company, the company can expand its business operations and portfolio in the emerging markets of Asia like China, India etc. these markets represents the great potential of success and profitability to the large numbers of companies. Business expansion can also be done by having strategic alliance in the form of mergers with
All retailers face growing pains. Many issues are natural for companies who experience rapid growth, and with rapid growth comes certain business pressures that modern organizations encounter in today’s age of information. Lululemon has had its fair share of problems since their inception in 1998, from the infamous see-through yoga pant to a former vocal and eccentric CEO, Chip
Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isidore, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. This performance is primarily due to the core functions and operations of the business. Planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Macy's excels at these forms of management, which has allowed the company to perform at a higher level relative to its peers in the industry.
In a recent interview in the Globe and Mail, Larry did suggest that the company might enter the women’s wear luxury market in the future. There is hesitation in expanding their target market to women because during the 1980s they
They are struggling to keep up with online retailers who are able to offer more competitive pricing as a result of reduced overheads; they are also able to reach a wide range of customer (including
The company had ambitious objectives with their own retail units, having as an objective to open three hundred stores, but the company realized that retail stores were a distraction to management making harder to focus in their core business and damaging the relationship with their main retailers, making clear that the company was struggling on creating profits in products that were not part of their core business, the strategies and objectives needed to be adjusted in order to turnaround the decrease in sales and profits of the
Macy's is one of the premier retailer franchises within the United States. To begin, Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isadora, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. Macy's, with its ride array of assortments and products continues to grow as it attempts to capture market share from failing competitors. Macy's is also unique as it operates in a unique market demographic. It is upscale, but not to the extent of Saks Fifth Avenue or a Nordstrom. It is also not as low scale as a JC Penny
One of the industries main weaknesses is the fact that they have a low industry ratio. Furthermore, one of their issues in past years was being geographically impotent in their retail locations, but as mentioned before, this issue is declining due to the fact that more locations are being opened worldwide.
Benetton’s Philosophy : To bring the network of the Benetton image- a global brand with a distinctly Italian personality- to the most prestigious shopping zones in major world capitals. Benetton believes that in this saturated market the customers already have everything they need and they have to be tempted by design, atmosphere, and by the quality of in-store customer services. A group that strongly believes that customers should have an inspiration for their purchase.