Giordano Company Brand and Marketing Analysis

Executive Summary

In summary, this report starts with the introduction of the Giordano Company. It includes a brief history of the company and their current operations and the positioning of the company in the apparel industry. Under the company’s profile, there is also the vision and mission statement of Giordano. Firstly, I have identified 8-core brand values of Giordano, such as value for money, excellence in service and etc.

A brand mental map is also attached to give illustration Secondly, the Point of Parity (POPs) and Point of Difference (POD) will be discussed.

In the POPs, there are current positioning of value-of-money, type of media used to create awareness and its business concepts. On the other hand, under POD, I have identified Giordano’s unique model, the company’s commitment in terms of providing quality products and services to the customer, and also its fully integrated programmes to create, communicate & deliver values for the customers etc. etailed explanations will be given to support the reason why I identify these factors repetitively.

Thirdly, are the reviews of 4 different brand element of Giordano that I have identified as trademark device that serve to identify and differentiate the brand. The 4 brand elements are Logo, Url, Slogan and Brand name. Next will be what the company does to increase its brand awareness & image. Lastly, will be the discussion on the brand challenges and brand opportunities of Giordano.

Brand Opportunities

Brand opportunities such as starting a new market segment of selling sport apparel and also setting up new business market in developing countries.

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While challenges will be the difficulties in shifting to a higher end positioning or a branded brand from low-end value-for-money positioning. Next the changing of consumers taste and preferences in Singapore seemed to be another challenge for the company as it may lead to a switch in retailer or switch in brand selection.

Company Background

Established in 1981, Giordano first retailed in Hong Kong as a shop that focused on wholesale trade of high-margin merchandise that was exclusive to male customers only. By 1985, it had already opened shops in Taiwan and Singapore. Over the years, it began changing its business strategy under a new management team and started selling unisex casual apparel. The store now sells clothes under the brands of “Giordano”, “Giordano Concepts”, “Giordano Junior” and “Giordano Ladies”.

It repositioned itself as a retailer of discounted casual unisex apparel with the goal of maximizing unit sales instead of margins, and sold value-for-money merchandise.

Brand Values

Value-for-money: filling a gap in the market for trendy, yet reasonably-priced unisex apparel, reinforcing the positioning with the appropriate marketing communications and the delivery of quality service.

Brand Advantages

Excellence in design: fast and market-driven new product development, due to flat organizational structure, excellent organizational communication and dedication to the needs of customers (e. g. , style, fabrics, etc. ) Excellence in service: continual commitment to providing excellent customer service and response. This is the result of integration of the corporate philosophy and leadership, service orientation of supporting functions like human resource policies (e. g. , selection, training and remuneration of frontline staff) and information systems, and performance monitoring (e. . , regular evaluations of service standards at store level and mystery shopping) Good site selection: Giordano’s location strategy provides a competitive advantage because of its direct impact on ability to generate high volume customer traffic while keeping low margins. Staff personnel: its sales staff is dedicated, ever-smiling, well-mannered and helpful Excellence in marketing and branding: strong positioning, brand equity for excellent service and ability to deliver “value-for-money”, consistent execution of advertising and promotion to strengthen brand image.

Stylish: in order to meet the consumer’s desire for trendier fashion , Giordano has constantly work hard to come out with design that is stylish and fashionable in order to attract the consumer and meet the demand of the market A tightly controlled menu: It mainly focuses on a few items whose demand and desirability can be closely monitored. {text:bookmark-start} POPs-Points of Parity {text:bookmark-end}

Giordano current positioning is value-for-money which sells its apparels and merchandise at low priced and affordable price, however this pricing strategies is just good enough only to attract customer there is not much of unique selling point as there a lot of competition from many other brands such as Baleno and Bossini, as well as ‘brand less’ clothes shops that operate in the retail market. These shops are able to provide similar kind of goods at relatively comparable prices and therefore, consumers may go to the other shops as well.

Giordano’s Market Situation

Hence, Giordano may not be able to attract as much consumer as they wished. However, fashion trends are always changing, hence, it would still be sustainable for the company if Giordano has constantly make effort such as hiring great designer to come out with fashionable design that changes with different season so to cater to the consumer’s demand of trendier apparel. Giordano has not forgetting putting good communication channel between the company and its consumer such as constantly updates its consumer on the latest promotions and events that the company is going to held.

In order to maintain the communicability between the parties. Giordano has made much effort on advertising and creating brand awareness through various media and channel. Giordano knows the power of Internet well as what normally companies do. Giordano also advertise its product on its corporate website so to make it easier for consumers to access its company information easily with just a click on the mouse, consumers are able to find out the information they looking for.

This helps to bring the consumer closer and save the consumer time as could have found out what is the latest promotion or product the company is offering even before they make their trip to its outlets As mention above, Giordano offered a wide range of product for different of group of customer, it operates under the brands of “Giordano”, “Giordano Concepts”, “Giordano Junior” and “Giordano Ladies”. So to cater to different group.

Giordano sell those common apparel for unisex at a affordable price, it show the feasibility of the company to sell those trendy casual apparel to attract lower class consumer yet make profit for the company. On the other hand, Giordano concepts sell more expensive apparels to those who afford to pay more, this mainly targeted at business group. Giordano kids will be targeting at small kid while the Giordano ladies is selling only the ladies wear.

However, other company such as TOPSHOP and ZARA already have this similar business concept to target at different consumer group, it show that this kind concept is easily imitate by other company and therefore facing more competition. {text:bookmark-start} PODS-Points of Difference {text:bookmark-end} The primary source of differentiation comes from Giordano’s commitment to quality, in terms of the products it sells and the service it provides to customers. This can be illustrated by its dedication to training and motivating its front-line staff as well as its no-questions asked return policy.

And to ensure that every store and individual employee provided excellent customer service, performance evaluations were conducted frequently at the store level, as well as for individual employees. The service standard of each store was evaluated twice every month, while individual employees were evaluated once every two months. Internal competitions were designed to motivate employees and store teams to do their best in serving customers. Every month, Giordano awarded the ‘Service Star’ to individual employees, based on nominations provided by shoppers.

In addition, every Giordano store was evaluated every month by mystery shoppers. Based on the combined results of these evaluations, the ‘Best Service Shop’ award was given to the top shop. This motivates employee to give their best when serving customer Giordano has a unique model in retailing across the world, as it owns and operates most of its stores and only works on the franchising route if the potential partner matches the same passion as Giordano’s vision, mission, values, brand and culture. This helps it to inculcate our values upon all employees and directly to the customer,” continues Chugani. “It also helps it to maintain standards and consistency across the stores and operations. Most international brands have appointed different distributors and franchisees in each country and at times this has led to different modes of practice and inconsistencies in service, policies, price and merchandise. ” Giordano assembles fully integrated programmes to create, communicate & deliver values for the customers.

Giordano sees itself as being more than just a retailer of casual apparel. It was able to successfully incorporate customer service as part of its product. Besides its brand name, logo, style and quality, excellent service has become part of the tangible products sold at Giordano stores. Customers have come to associate service excellence as an integral component of Giordano’s merchandise. Giordano is able to provide a high level of customer service through a concerted effort, which involved every employee of the company.

Giordano set its outlet in very accessible which make it more convenience for the consumer to shop. and it position itself as value-for-money which sell it products at a affordable price which is good in quality yet trendy, there are occasionally sales promotion to attract more market share. The company emphasizes on “Simplicity and speed of operations”. Giordano maintains a flat organizational structure and this facilitates easy communication between people within the organization, helps to make speedy decision and to manage projects efficiently.

For example, Giordano has around 17 core items and there are not more than 100 items in their shops. Focus makes Giordano’s shops more manageable that keeps the stores as simple as possible and better inventory management is possible. One of the Giordano’s key success factors is Excellence in design and service which comes from the integration of many activities in the value chain; it involves intangible elements such as organizational culture; and it does not reside in any particular individual.

Thus, it is more difficult for competitors to “poach” this source of advantage and overtake Giordano, as compared to simply acquiring superior technology or poaching good managers. Moreover, even if competitors were to obtain this source of advantage, it might be difficult for them to implement it as successfully, because many factors such as the type of organizational culture and leadership would vary from company to company. {text:bookmark-start} Brand element {text:bookmark-end} Giordano Brand name: The store now sells clothes under the brands of “Giordano”, “Giordano Concepts” and etc.

Concept Stores will feature exclusive designs and limited editions in their product offering. They will also have more dramatic window displays and in-store presentations with greater emphasis on mix-and-match to inspire customers “The new logo and store format allow us to establish a separate identity for Giordano Concepts and differentiate it from our regular stores,” remarked Peter Lau, Chairman and Chief Executive of Giordano International Limited. “With its prime location n high-traffic Mongkok and its impressive three-storey facade, the store enables Giordano Concepts to make a strong impact on consumers(refer to appendix) Giordano’s Url: as what other company does. Giordano has its own registered corporate website, for different regions and countries. It is a very meaning and representative to the consumer. As it facilitate the information of the company. Information such as company profile, investor relations and business opportunities etc and consumer even can shop online from where they are with just a click of mouse.

Therefore, it is very useful and meaningful as it very convenient as ease to access. The url also is very easy to memorise. Giordano slogan – WWS (world without stranger): it is a slogan chosen for its membership. in order to build long term relationship and public loyalty with its consumer, Giordano come up with the membership drive, the most recent one is the membership called WWS (world without stranger) which Customers must purchase $100 net in a single receipt and will be eligible to be a basic WWS member.

From there the consumer are able to enjoy various benefits and privileges such as 10% off all regular priced items (not applicable at Giordano Ladies & Giordano Concepts) 20% off all regular priced items throughout the month on members’ birthday (not applicable at Giordano Ladies & Giordano Concepts). Gain 1 Bonus point for every $1 spent in any Giordano outlets. Every 20 bonus points can be converted to $1 cash rebate.

Furthermore, it is a Lifetime membership and can be used in Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and etc Giordano’ Chinese logo {draw:frame} Giordano International is proud to unveil its new Chinese logo, created by the Chinese art master Huang Yongyu who is internationally acclaimed for his woodblock prints, ink paintings and literary works. This contemporary interpretation of the established Giordano name reinforces the brand’s undiminished vitality and continued relevance for consumers in the rapidly developing Chinese market. Refer to appendix) {text:bookmark-start} Brand Awareness & Image {text:bookmark-end} As what as mentioned earlier in the POPs, Giordano has make use of the power of internet, it has its own corporate website in different language as one of the platform to advertise and create brand awareness by uploading it latest products and promotions with just a click of mouse however I feel that is was not good enough Giordano’s competitors such as Gap and Bossini have more developed and innovative website as compared to Giordano as their website is more creative in the sense of designing of the webpage.

They also provide more useful information on its company product and promotion sales going on, it benefits the competitor greatly as it is very accessible for the consumer. Giordano should upgrade its website to be as competitive as its competitor, it will help the company to advertise its product as with just a click on the mouse, consumer are able to find out the information they looking for. This helps to bring the consumer closer and save the consumer time as could have found out what is the latest promotion or product the company is offering even before they make their trip to its outlets.

Giordano also advertises its products on newspapers and magazines such as “The Straits Times”, “Today”, “Stuffs”,”UW” and “8days” and etc… By doing this advertising scheme, Giordano is then able to reach out to many consumers out there who might just catch a copy of one of those magazines and newspapers. Consumers would then be attracted to the attractive design and special sales it has to offer. With this advertising scheme, it is very advantageous towards Giordano as newspapers and magazines have very good local coverage, broad acceptance, and people usually believe the critics found in them.

Lastly, Giordano focused not only creating revenues for its company, it also contribute to the society by taking part in the charity events. For example in conjunction with the Singapore 38thnational day parade, the sale of the National Day Parade collar pins and red “I Love Singapore” t-shirts was conducted island wide at 65 NTUC Fairprice outlets and 38 Giordano outlets respectively. And also during the period of Tsunami crisis, Giordano Ladies donated its New Year’s Day net profits from its stores in Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Singapore to the Red Cross.

I believe through all these charity programme and event, it will help to establish a good corporate image in consumer’s perception. For example when people heard about the company Giordano, they will retrieve from their memory that Giordano has do the charity event to helps the needy in disaster , this eventually give people a positive image of the company and so associate to the brand. {text:bookmark-start} Brand Opportunities {text:bookmark-end} One opportunity that Giordano can grab is the selling of sports apparel.

As Singapore advances towards an ageing society, the old tend to get more health conscious. This is because they want to stay fit so that they can lead a longer and healthier life. In addition, the government has been emphasizing about the importance of doing exercises in recent years through campaigns such as Health Week. Hence, more people should be getting into the habit of doing exercise regularly. Giordano can grab this opportunity in selling sports apparels, maybe in bulks so that groups of people can exercise together in the same outfit.

For example, usually in the morning, groups of old people would be doing their regular exercises in the parks or below their flats. Hence Giordano can target such groups of people by offering clothes that would appeal to their style of exercising. Next, the world is currently moving into a recession and Singapore has not been spared from it either. Singapore has faced technical recession for the last 2 consecutive quarters and the near future seems bleak. With an economic recession, the peoples’ income will fall.

Hence they would be more careful with the way they spend their money. Giordano can grab this opportunity to earn money by focusing on offering lower end goods which would come in the form of lower prices, thus appealing to the thrifty customers in this period. On the other hand, they can also move into other markets where economic growth is still high in this period. Potential countries could include India and China which had been facing strong growth in the recent years. Hence, with rising income, these people would buy more goods and Giordano can be there to provide these goods. text:bookmark-start} Brand challenges {text:bookmark-end} There might be a switch of retailers from Giordano to other retailers such as Bossini and Hang Ten and etc though Giordano is positioning at value-for-money as Customers have little to no collective bargaining power. However, customers seeking value-for-money can easily switch from one retailer to another, compared to customers who seek specific apparel brands. Next. Giordano current positioning is value-for-money, it might face difficulties in shifting to a higher end positioning or a branded brand from low-end value-for-money positioning.

Giordano is having different position in different market hence Customers in these markets may become confused as to what Giordano stands for, and this inconsistency makes effective service strategy implementation difficult, particularly as consumers are becoming increasingly mobile and travel more frequently between Giordano’s core markets. In addition, economies of scale in apparel purchase, design and market communications may be diluted, if different strategies are followed across markets. If this trend persisted, Giordano may dilute its brand name and possibly might weaken its competitive advantage in other areas as well.

Recommendations

I would recommend Giordano should gradually and slowly moved its positioning upwards to meet the rising affluence, and hence the resulting desire for high-end apparel, of its core target segment “Giordano’s success in the Middle East has prompted us to expand into other markets that are already familiar with the brand due to their proximity to the region. In most of our new markets, there already exist a strong awareness of the Giordano brand because of frequent travels to the Middle East and our presence in the Dubai and Qatar airport duty free stores.

So our main challenge in these markets is to find partners who believe in the brand and are committed to delivering,” said Ishwar Chugani, Executive Director for Giordano Middle East.