BRAND POSITIONING IN THE CHINESE MARKET
In order to have a closer look at how Manolo Blahnik will be positioned among our major competitors in China – Christian Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Prada, and Miu Miu – we must explore points of difference and competitive points of parity.
Points of difference:
-
Design: Highly influenced by styles from the 18th century, with timeless elegance and high comfort. Each shoe promises optimal fit and balance with sleek lines and no platforms.
-
Heritage: Originally from Spain, with influences from France and the United Kingdom.
-
Price: The shoes on the lower end of the price range will start above our competitors and the most expensive shoes will be sold below the price of competitors. This makes Manolo Blahnik shoes even more exclusive for high-end customers, and it helps preserving the originality. In general the price will be set higher then in other countries in order to make use of the very high price elasticity within the luxury shoe market in China.
-
Exclusivity: Manolo Blahnik will enter China with one own brand shoe boutique and with a collection in the only luxury department store in Shanghai – Lane Crawford. Our brand has expertise in creating and image of exclusivity and demand, thus representing a pull-strategy. Manolo’s are perceived as much more inclusive than our competitors.
-
Special product placement: The mentioned pull-strategy has another component, which distinguishes Manolo shoes from other brands. The well thought-out placement in specific TV series or movies creates desired images of the shoes.
-
Services: We offer several key services to guarantee an excellent one of a kind experience, which will drastically distinguish us from the other luxury brands in China. In the Manolo Blahnik boutiques there is something new to discover every week.
Competitive points of parity:
-
Brand awareness: Manolo Blahnik does not retain the brand awareness to be able to fully compete with our major competitors in China.
-
Convenience: Because of our exclusivity policy, it is not easy to buy Manolo’s, while competitor brands are available in multiple locations throughout the country and online.
-
Product Variety: Competitors usually offer handbags or other items besides their shoe collection, which are often matching the shoes and open up very good cross-selling opportunities.
-
Social Media Buzz: Competitors like Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo have both over two million followers on Facebook and are already well established brand on influential fashion blogs in China, whereas Manolo Blahnik is mostly known by fashion “experts”
Brand Positioning Criteria
Price - We determined the level of each brand’s pricing strategy based on price ranges and median prices for their luxury women’s shoes. We considered price points in department stores worldwide, such as Saks Fifth avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Nieman Marcus, Barneys and Nordstrom, as well as our personal observations in own brand stores across Shanghai.
Exclusivity - Our criteria for exclusivity included a range of inputs including number of stores in China, number of stores worldwide, customer perception of the brand and media perception of the brand. We determined exclusivity based on how saturated were the brands selling channels, the standard and perception of third party sellers (high-end department stores) and how consumers viewed the exclusivity and luxury value of each brand.
