MARKETING MIX
PRODUCT
All Products are handcrafted produced from selected Italian manufacturers to deliver ultimate quality and high comfort. The variety of the offered products ranges from flats over low heels to high heels.
Flats include: Ballerinas, boots, loafers, flat sandals, and lace-ups.
Heels include (5-12cm): Boots, mules, pumps, stilettos, sandals, and wedges.
Materials used for the products even exceed this variety. Besides a preference for rare animal skins, furs and fine fabrics like satin or silk, Manolo Blahnik also likes to use extravagant material like feathers and applications in forms of sequins, glitter and brooches. The sole is made of leather showing the brand and size.
Shoe sizes range from 35 to 42 in Italian size and the shoes come packaged in a strong white box featured the brand’s emblem. Furthermore, Manolo Blahnik pays high attention to special customer service in own boutiques as well as retail stores.
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ec/ec-730.pdf
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/533_8Ps_OF_LUXURY_BRANDING.pdf
PRICE
Manolo Blahnik’s pricing strategy is psychological and based on the perceived value of the product. Consciously or sub-consciously, consumers tend to generate a mental luxury stature based on the price. Manolo Blahnik has positioned itself at a price premium. The price is sustained by the uniqueness and exclusivity of the shoes. Manolo Blahnik’s premium pricing strategy makes the brand aspirational for consumers. Manolo Blahnik’s cannot and will not be compared to other products. The high price is partly warranted by superior quality, but also the uniqueness and exclusivity of our shoes.
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/533_8Ps_OF_LUXURY_BRANDING.pdf
http://uwmktg301.blogspot.com/2010/03/psychological-pricing.html
PROMOTION
Luxury brand awareness does not necessarily lead to growing, but rather to decreasing demand. Promotion was a key characteristic in creating mainstream demand for Manolo Blahniks. The brand and the product featured highly through product placement on the extremely popular television franchise for the target audience – “Sex and the City”. This instantly aroused the attention of the target consumer, eliciting the intended reaction and responses from the consumer. The link with “Sex and the City” created a lifestyle association between the cosmopolitan life and Manolo Blahnik shoes. The collaboration between Manolo Blahnik and “Sex and the City” is often cited as one of the most effective examples of product placement and creating a pull-strategy in recent history. The partnership was so successful because it did not impose the product on the consumer, but rather earned a positive interpretation of exclusivity, elitism and elegance through precise product positioning.
http://www.conceptofluxurybrands.com/content/4-communication-policy
http://www.headforbrand.com/the-importance-of-product-placement-in-brand-entertaiment/?lang=en
PLACE
Manolo Blahnik consumers purchase a top quality, unique and desirable shoe at high end, luxury department stores and shopping malls across the world. However, selective distribution reduces exposure to a few businesses that sell only upscale products. There is a paradox in the success of luxury brands jeopardizing future success as increasing sales volumes reduces rarity. Manolo Blahnik shoes are available to fashion conscious, upper class customers in all continents and 30 countries across the world. Customers in serviced countries can purchase the product on limited websites online as well as in specialized boutiques, shopping mall concessions and high-end boutiques such as Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Marissa Collections and Saks Fifth Avenue.
https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ec/ec-730.pdf
http://www.conceptofluxurybrands.com/content/4-communication-policy
