Burberry Business Strategy
On Burberry… The brand, the business & luxury branding #1: Brand Identity PART 1: BURBERRY’S BACKGROUND Brand Heritage Thomas Burberry was an 21 year old apprentice to the country drape when he decided to open his own store. Burberry was thus founded in 1856, in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. Business thrived and by 1870 Burberry became known for it’s outdoorwear. In 1879, Thomas Burberry invented gabardine – a breathable fabric made using an innovative process whereby the yarn was waterproofed before weaving.This fabric was not only water-resistant but also extremely durable. A patent was taken out in 1888.
Burberry was the original name, but then the company soon switched to using the name Burberrys, after many customers from around the world began calling it Burberrys of London. Burberry is now a leading luxury brand with a global business. The brand is carried in boutique stores and franchises across the globe while overseeing a fashion catalog, a fragrance and cosmetic line.The Burberry brand is defined by its authentic British heritage and is globally recognized by the iconic trench coat, trademark check and Prorsum horse logo. 257 years after its founding, Burberry still stuck by its founding principles of quality, function and modern classic style, rooted in the integrity of its outerwear. BRAND HISTORY TIMELINE 1856: Opening of First Burberry store 1866: Invention of Gabardine, the water-resistant, durable and breathable fabric 1888: Opening of emporium in the Haymarket, London, which still stands today as Burberry’s headquartersOlden day Burberry store, known as “Burberrys” 1911: Outfitters for Ronald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and Ernest Shackleton, who lead an expedition to cross Antarctic Burberry’s quality was rooted in it’s beginnings where it made outerwear fit for the extremes.
1914: Creation of the modern day “trench coat” 1920: Creation of the iconic Burberry check Business Strategy Burberry aims to maintain the integrity and vitality of its brand, while continuing to develop a business which remains relevant to ever-changing markets and consumer tastes.It uses a five-pronged approach strategy; namely “Leveraging the franchise”; “Intensifying the non-apparel development”; “Accelerating retail-led growth”; “Investing in under-penetrated markets”; and “Pursuing operational excellence”. 1. LEVERAGING THE FRANCHISE Enhance consumer responsiveness and operate more efficiently and effectively, through more coordinated use of brand assets and greater integration of its global organization. 1. 1 Marketing innovation Burberry.
com site The site, known as Burberry World, is part of the ongoing efforts to build the Burberry community around the world.It features in six languages and transactional across 45 countries. Burberry World is the ultimate expression of the Burberry brand, allowing customers globally to connect with all its aspects, from heritage, to music and video, to the full product offer. Through the use of dynamic audiovisual content Burberry World engages, entertains and interacts. An ultimate online luxury shopping experience is established through a personalized customer service application that allows customers to call and chat with sales staff in real time and in 14 languages.
Extended luxury leadership position in social media Burberry engages consumers through extensive social media platforms to connect them with the brand. Burberry continues to build its leadership position amongst luxury brands on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. It also launched the brand on Chinese social media sites Sina Weibo, Kaixin001, Douban and YouKu, after establishing country-specific Twitter accounts in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Turkey and Korea earlier in 2011.
The Group’s own social media site, artofthetrench. om, aims to inspire people around the world and across generations to share their experiences of the iconic trench coat. Continued transformation of fashion shows In order to reach a wider global audience, Burberry adopts livestream technology to broadcast key moments in previously closed-door events. ‘Retail theatre’ technology also allowed the livestreaming of shows directly to flagship stores globally. The development of instant digital commerce purchase capability, supported by supply chain innovation, allows customers for the first time to buy directly from the runway for delivery in seven weeks.
Further innovations, e. g. streaming shows in 3D to five locations around the world, and hosting shows on iconic video screens, have continued to broaden global reach and awareness. Further digitization of the brand Burberry continues to invest and focus on infrastructure development in its creation and distribution of digital assets, advocating the spirit of innovation and excellence in its world-class creative and IT teams. 1.
2 Product excellence Key apparel categories outperformance Outerwear i. e. he iconic trench and other contemporary styles, is the core and key growth driver of Burberry’s apparel business. At the top end of the pyramid, fashion outerwear drove outperformance from Prorsum, Burberry’s runway collection. Integrated menswear SS11 was Burberry’s first fully in-house global menswear collection.
Historically a licensed business, the Group exited all its licenses, enabling the relaunch and repositioning of this category. This first pure collection drove outperformance in menswear during the year, with reported growth of 31%.Further built childrenswear Childrenswear was formally integrated into the global business in 2010/11 with products aligned with core design and merchandising strategies. There is intensification of ongoing efforts to correct legacy issues that are inconsistent with the global luxury positioning of the Burberry brand. A key focus has been to upgrade the brand’s positioning with wholesale partners. Some Japanese non-apparel licenses were terminated, and the restructuring and transformation of the Spanish business were successfully completed.
