Managing Brand: Whitehouse-Cox
Introduction
Whitehouse-Cox is a U.K.-based manufacturer of high quality, high-ended leather items. Some of the products which are manufactured by Whitehouse-Cox include handbags, briefcases, wallets, schoolbags, laptop bags, and leather belts among other items (Whitehouse-Cox and Co. Ltd., 2014). Whitehouse-Cox’s leather items are handmade thereby making them some of the best in the world. Currently, Whitehouse-Cox’s sells about 70% of its products to Japan. Nonetheless, China is also an upcoming market for the Whitehouse-Cox products. As such, Whitehouse-Cox plans to expand its market to China. In this case, Whitehouse-Cox should manage its brand to China and not merely the individual product. Whitehouse-Cox would apply the “6 P’s” of marketing in its marketing strategy because of the understanding that the 6ps would offer the firm a competitive advantage (Triantis, 2010). The “6 Ps” represent products, place, price (pricing strategy), promotion, people, and process (Infinite Ideas, 2012). Whitehouse-Cox should implement the “6 P’s” approach fully to enhance the customers’ loyalty to Whitehouse-Cox brand.
Products
Whitehouse-Cox’s products should be unique from those made by other companies. Products would refer all the leather accessories made by Whitehouse-Cox. These products include leather wallets, laptop bags and leather belts, among other products. Nonetheless, the company should enhance quality in three perspectives: core product elements, formal products and augmented products. According to Schoemaker (2012), a company can enhance brand competitiveness by utilizing core brand elements to its fullest. Core brand elements for Whitehouse-Cox’s products would be the basic utilities the products give to their customers. For instance, Whitehouse-Cox’s leather wallet is meant for keeping money and other valuables. As such, the wallet should satisfy its core objective.
On formal products, Whitehouse Cox’s products would be competing with wallets made from all over the world, including those made in China. Whitehouse Cox should ensure that its products have an edge by scanning for possible future scenarios that might promote or hamper the popularity of its brand (Schoemaker, 2012). For instance, China has one of the highest disregards for property rights laws in the world because of its weak anti-counterfeits framework. According to Chow (2009), Chinese law is weak which in turn offers room for counterfeits to flourish. Thus, it is evident that Chinese firms would attempt to fake Whitehouse Cox brand. As such, Whitehouse Cox should introduce marketing strategies that would limit the chance of counterfeiters to flourish in the market. For instance, Whitehouse Cox should introduce unique stores to distribute its products and accessories to deny counterfeiters a chance to sell their counterfeits. On formal product, Whitehouse Cox should adopt a complicated label, material quality and design that would make it hard to counterfeit. Additionally, Whitehouse Cox should analyze the technological competence of its rivals. For instance, the Indian-based Leather Word manufactures leather wallets, bags and other leather accessories (Leather World, 2014). Nonetheless, Leather World’s designs are machine-made thereby making them different from Whitehouse Cox’s products. Additionally, it would be necessary for Whitehouse Cox to come up with unique features that would distinguish its leather products from those of the rival brands.
On augmented product, Whitehouse Cox should come up with an elaborate after sale services for its products. This is because research indicates that brands with sound augmented products enhance customer loyalty to their brand (Shelton, 2009). This is because brand loyalty goes hand in hand with the perceived quality; quality brands have higher customer loyalty because customers love quality products (Aaker, 2009). As such, customers would associate the company’s products with good quality thereby making Whitehouse Cox synonymous with good quality.
Place
Place would refer to positioning of Whitehouse Cox’s products for ease of access by the prospective customers. The strategy should ensure that end-users help it to market its products. As such, Whitehouse Cox should ensure that its product respond to the demographic elements of the Chinese. Ideally, Chinese cities should be Whitehouse Cox’s focal point because most of the wealthy Chinese and expatriates thrive in the city. For instance, Shaghai, alone had a population of about 23.9 million in 2013 (World Population Review, 2014). Chinese cities such as Beijing and Hong Kong have massive populations running into millions. At the same time, China’s rapidly growing economy and millionaires make the cities the ideal place to concentrate Whitehouse Cox’s distribution channels. This is because most rich people prefer to stay in the cities. At the same time, China’s poor peasant farmers and nomadic groups stay in the rural areas. This implies that Chinese cities should be ideal places to launch and sell Whitehouse Cox’s products.
Whitehouse Cox should have both online and conventional retail operations in China. China has a lower internet penetration about 6% compared to Britain’s 84.1% (Guinness, 2011; Internet World Stats, 2012). This implies that it would be difficult for Whitehouse Cox to sell its products online. Nonetheless, China still has a large number of people with access to the internet because most of the people in the city have access to internet-enabled. At the same time, the 6% internet penetration is numerically large because China has about 1.5 billion people. In this case, 6% of the Chinese population is about 90 million people, which exceeds the population of England by over 10 million people.
Price
Price is one of the key elements that determine demand of a good. Naturally, customers would shy away form buying expensive goods and services. As such, Whitehouse-Cox should adopt pricing policy that would improve the economic status of the Chinese people. China is a developing economy because its per capita income is about ¥24,565 and a disposable per capita income of ¥6249.3 (Trading Economic, 2013). Nonetheless, China has one of the largest income disparities in the world. According to Wong (2013), the top 5% of the household earned 23% of the total households’ income in 2012. At the same time, the least 5% household earned 0.1% of the total household income. Average household income in Shaghai was about $4, 700 while Gansu was $2000 (Wong, 2013). On average, an urban Chinese family earned about $2600 in 2012 while in the rural households earned $1600 per year (Wong, 2013). The statistics implies that Whitehouse-Cox should introduce fair pricing policies. That is, the prices should include the cost of production and a little amount of production. This is because lower prices would not only enhance price elasticity, but also boost customers’ loyalty to Whitehouse-Cox’s products.
Promotion
Promotion would be an essential part of brand management in china. Product promotion is a major contributor towards the popularity of any brand because it helps in the dissemination of information about the product (O’guinn, Allen, & Semenik, 2011). Additionally, product promotion enables buyers to buy the product in order to experience it. Thereafter, the buyers/end-users would help market the products to the new market. As such, Whitehouse Cox should have a powerful promotional strategy. In this case, the promotion should focus on the three main aspects of the product: core product, formal product and augmented product. The goal of the promotion would be to penetrate the new market. At the same time, the promotions would aspire to enable the potential consumers know where to buy the products from, the distinct properties of the products among other attributes.
During the marketing process, Whitehouse Cox should ensure that the promotion focuses on the usefulness of the product. That is, the company should describe to the Chinese customers why they should buy and use Whitehouse Cox’s products. For instance, the advert may say, “buy Whitehouse Cox wallets, belts, bags and laptop bags and enjoy one year warrantee.” Alternatively, the advert might say, “buy Whitehouse Cox’s wallet today and save money in the long-run.”
People
The “people” refer to the people who will be working for Whitehouse Cox. Whitehouse Cox would require and empower workers to make decisions that would enhance performance. This is because research indicates that firms grow faster whenever the management empowers their staff to work unsupervised and make independent decisions (Cappelli et al., 2010). Whitehouse Cox should also treat its staff with respect to enhance their creativity and performance. This is because enhancing freedoms and treating workers with respect, Whitehouse Cox would boost staff’s self-esteem. The latter would then enhance performance. Additionally, Whitehouse Cox should offer handsome remunerations to its staff. This is because well-remunerated workers are often productive.
Process
The process would refer to the mechanisms and processes that Whitehouse Cox would use to enhance success. The process would apply to the products, price, place, promotion and people applicable in the brand management. First, the 6P’s should comply with the Chinese legal framework to enable the company to operate efficiently and effectively without being exposed to the legal issues. This is because Whitehouse Cox would risk license suspension or heavy fines if it decides to disobey the law. Secondly, all the components of the brand matrix mix should be people-centered to enable the company to address and/or meet the customers’ taste and preferences. That is, the products, the price, the place, the promotion and the people should be sensitive to the people’s needs, interests, and values. For instance, the price should be a reflection of the economic status of the customers. At the same time, the products should be comfortable to use to prevent instance where they inconvenience the customers. The other aspect about the process is the need for the stores and shops to be easily accessible, safe, and proper documentation put in place. Additionally, the promotions should be in Chinese because Chinese is the most popular language in the country. The company should also write the labels and communications in Chinese and other international languages.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Whitehouse Cox has sound reputation in the manufacturing of leather items and accessories. The company has a long history of manufacturing high quality, hand-made leather bags, wallets, belts, and other products especially those from leather. The expansion of Whitehouse Cox’s market to China should exploit economic, cultural, social and demographic dynamics of the intended country of expansion to boost Whitehouse-Cox’s brand loyalty. The company should use the 6P’s approach by exploring products, place, price (pricing strategy), promotion, people, and process.
Reference List
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Shelton, R. (2009). Integrating product and service innovation. Research-Technology Management, 52(3), pp. 38-44.
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Whitehouse-Cox & Co. Ltd., 2014. About us. [Online] Available at: <http://www.whitehouse-cox.co.uk/index2.html> (Accessed 14 January 2014).
Wong, E., 2013, Survey in China shows a wide gap in income. The New York Times.(e-Newspaper) Available at: <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/world/asia/survey-in-china-shows-wide-income-gap.htm> (Accessed 14 January 2014). l
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