Liz Claiborne’s Mission Essay, Research Paper
Liz Claiborne s Mission
The mission of Liz Claiborne is to design and manufacture comfortable
clothing for the professional working woman at reasonable prices. It is our
mission to extend our enterprise globally in order to achieve maximum
competitiveness and cost effectiveness in this increasingly complex
business environment. Furthermore, Claiborne will provide a new line of
fashion for both men and children. Fragrances will be added; along with
cosmetics and accessories. All of our products will accompany exceptional
quality and price value for our customers.
Environmental Analysis
Macroenvironmental:
Some retail competitors who sell their clothing may carry a lower priced
line of professional women s apparel. However, the quality isn t always
what a retail customer expects. Years ago, before women entered the work
force, there had never been a market for apparel specifically designed for
the professional woman. Today unfortunately, many women have to work
2 jobs to make ends meet and oftentimes, they can not afford to spend an
outrageous amount of cash to look good at work. As a result, many women
are forced to bargain shop. Today s women usually look for sales and
bargains on designer clothes, but sometimes, even the sales can be very
expensive. As retailers constantly search for new ways to sell their designer
products at reasonable prices a struggle usually occurs between both the
retailer and the customer.
For instance, some retailers will purchase women s clothing from
manufacturers that produce clothes with cheap fabric. This is not the desire
of most customers. Also, some retailers may purchase clothes that are out
of season or defective in some cases. causing them to ultimately lower the
prices on designer items that would otherwise be very expensive. This can
be a loss to most retailers, and a loss to the customer as well.
Microenvironmental:
From the corporate end of the spectrum, Claiborne s best retail market
customers can predictably end up in serious financial trouble. If this
happens, then Claiborne is in trouble. For example, Bloomingdales may
over spend in advertising and marketing; coupled with the fact that sales
may be low for that particular quarter. If this happens; in which case it
often does, bloomingdale s will inevitably cut back on purchases of
Claiborne s clothing products, and put their current merchandise on sale in
an attempt to push their backlog out the door. Huge sales will facilitate a
major financial loss although there will always be an opportunity for
recovery.
STRATEGY
To find out what kinds of clothing professional woman want and look for
competent employees who posses exceptional talents and expertise in the
area of clothing design. They will get hired at entry level with full benefits
and opportunity for growth; but they will be the best. This strategy will
save Claiborne money in designing costs.
Countries such as Mexico will usually mass produce for a lower price than
the American production industry. Claiborne will use this to our advantage.
We will purchase the finest material to produce our garments because
quality is very important. It would not be to Claiborne s advantage to
conduct business with a vendor who sell their clothing material below
market value just to save money in the area of supplies. Low cost material
will probably mean that it would lack in the quality that customers look for
when making a purchase. Claiborne will not make this sacrifice. however,
we will not spend alot of money to have our garments made. We will search
for an economically efficient way to get our clothes made. Another strategy
is to purchase quality material in bulk to receive a larger savings and stop
requiring the retail industry to purchase 50,000 dollars worth of apparel.
Once Claiborne lowers it s production cost, it could possibly offset the
monies not being made through selling our finished goods to Macy s or
Dillard s for 50,000 dollars. Instead of requiring established retailers to
make 50,000 dollars worth of purchases on our product, Claiborne can
require that established retailers buy 30,000 dollars worth of our collection.
This would appear to be more reasonable. Furthermore, Claiborne can sell
it s products to J.C penny, Mervyn s, Kohl s and Bealls. This strategy will
ensure guaranteed business on a monthly basis. Our products will definitely
sell in the lower end retail establishments because retail customers usually
look for quality. Quality clothing at affordable prices is what Claiborne will
offer.
GOALS
Claiborne s goal is to bolster our sales by 92 percent and lead the company
into new areas of growth and expansion. Claiborne will partner with other
like-minded professionals that have already established a regular business
with low-end industries such as kohl s, bealls etc. Our goal is to remain the
clothing line of choice for women. Men, girls and boys clothing will be a
result of our expanding line of merchandise. Clairbornes goal is to redefine
how we do business by adjusting our supply chain to increase profitability
and get closer to our customers. Claiborne s goal is to produce 200 million
units per year while maintaining sales volume that exceed 4.5 billion dollars
per year. We are expecting to keep 8000 employees working in facilities
located in different parts of the United States and abroad. Our goal is to
continue to provide retail customers with the same quality that they ve come
to know with Claiborne s merchandise.
POLICY
Claiborne will have an information infrastructure that is open and flexible.
Claiborne s knowledge of the industry will ensure that customer demands
are met with a 98% satisfactory rating. If however, the remaining 2% of
customers are not satisfied with his/her purchase for any reason, the
merchandise may be returned (customer must have a reciept) to any one of
Claibornes outlet centers. Claibornes outlets are scattered throughout all
major cities in the United States. It is our policy to provide exceptional
service and treat all customers with respect and understanding of their
immediate needs.
SWOT ANALYSES
Strengths: We recognize that there is a market for a professional segment
of women s clothing. Since 1976, women have been entering the work
force and few companies were producing clothes for them. With the
addition of men and children clothing; Claiborne will lead the competition
in this industry.
Weaknesses: There are stipulations on marketing clothing in today s
industry. In other words, anyone can design clothes specifically for an
untouched segment of this industry and be highly successful. If other
designers and manufacturers create clothing in the same line as Claiborne, it
could affect our future revenues; in other words, profits may start to
decline. We cannot patent ideas.
Opportunity: Claiborne can open up other lines such as men s
professional apparel; a children s line and even a sports line. Claiborne can
also appeal to big and tall and petite sizes. Claiborne has the opportunity to
communicate with retail stores all over the world with the implementation
of information technology. With IT incorporated into the way Claiborne
does business, we maximize our profits and expose our name to everyone
world wide.
Threats: Competitors who carry low-priced lines of professional clothing
for women. Retailer who make unintelligent decisions in marketing and
advertising can really be a threat to Claiborne. The fact is, if our customers
(retailers) don t make money; or misuse funds, then we don t make money.
TACTICS
To produce a low-cost line of clothing and broaden Claiborne s product
line. This needs to be done while protecting the brand name Claiborne from
public scrutiny. Claiborne can merge with Russ Togs; who already
produces these three product lines: Crazy Horse, The Villager and Red
Horse. Now, instead of unnecessarily upgrading and redesigning
Claiborne s current product line, we can form a partnership with Russ Togs
at a 60/40 split. This tactic will generate substantial revenues because
Claiborne is a household name and Togs line is known throughout the
discount merchandising industry that serves the general clothing market.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that Claiborne DOES NOT sell clothing through
established retailers such as: Macy s, Abraham and Strauss, Bloomingdales
and Dillards for 50,000 dollars worth of purchase. This seems to be
outrageous and unreasonable. Instead, Claiborne should lower this price
and implement a different strategy to accomplish the same goal.
It is recommended that Claiborne consistently create new business
relationships, one on one relationships. Marketing programs should be
created and Electronic Commerce should be embraced; That is,
Internet-based clientele. This will allow Claiborne to react quickly to
customer demands, reduce costs of supplies and build customer loyalty.
It is recommended that Claiborne understand and fulfill the needs of its
customers before competitors do. It is recommended that Claiborne invests
aggressively in technology; i.e… Data warehousing and network/systems management.