Report On Lorna Jane Marketing Audit
Question
Task:
Assessment 2 requires students to work in groups of three on a selected company from the predetermined list below in order to prepare a comprehensive marketing audit for the company.
The aim of this assessment is to conduct a systematic, comprehensive and objective analysis
of the marketing activities undertaken by the chosen company. In addition, you are also
required to provide at least three (3) recommendations for the company. The marketing audit
report should be no more than 3000 words in length excluding the executive summary, table
of contents, tables, charts/graphs, the reference list and appendices. The written report is worth
30%. Groups are required to present only the comprehensive executive summary during tutorial
classes in weeks 10 and 11.
Your assessment should show an application of relevant marketing concepts, theories, and
analytic tools learnt in the unit. The mark for this assessment will depend primarily on
presenting appropriate and supporting evidence and on the ability to critically write and
present the marketing audit report. You are strongly encouraged to use the Academic
Learning Centre (ALC) facilities to assist you in preparing professional report.
Groups are to select one company from the list below.
Company Weblink
Lorna Jane https://www.lornajane.com.au/
Dymocks https://www.dymocks.com.au/
Stan https://www.stan.com.au/
Tyrepower https://www.tyrepower.com.au/
Answer
Executive Summary
Lorna Jane marketing audit helps in understanding the background of the organisation. This includes planning, strategies and current position of the organisation. In this report, the company selected has been Lorna Jane of Australia. It is having active-wear and accessories for women. The company encourages customers to have a positive and healthy lifestyle. PESTEL Analysis of the fashion industry in Australia done. It clearly showed that companies like Lorna Jane have always been for upper and middle-class people. The company has been environmentally friendly and spreads the message of recycling to its customers. Competitor’s analysis showed that Lorna Jane has been surrounded by many competitors like Nike, Adidas and Under Armour.
SWOT and TOWS Analysis has been done for highlighting the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the organisation. Proper segmentation has been done and in case of the target market, the company opted for behavioural and demographic segments. A perceptual map helped in showing the position of Lorna Jane. All the Lorna Jane marketing mix strategies have been highlighted properly for the company. Lastly, some recommendations have been given for the betterment of Lorna Jane.
1. Introduction
In a Lorna Jane marketing audit proper review of the Lorna Jane marketing objective, plan, strategies and current activities are done. Through a Lorna Jane marketing audit, the goal is to understand the working of an organisation and also search for the areas of improvement. For this report, the organisation taken is Lorna Jane of Australia. Proper analysis of the organisation will be done by situational analysis, segmentation, targeting and positioning and Lorna Jane marketing mix. Once the complete knowledge of the organisation is gained then recommendations based on the Lorna Jane marketing audit will be given. This Lorna Jane marketing audit report is quite important because the future strategies of Lorna Jane will be dependent on their current situation. The organisation will try to follow the recommendation in the future.
2. Situation Analysis
2.1 Company Analysis: Lorna Jane is a private retail organisation which was founded in the year 1990. The company is headquartered at Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. They are known as the manufacturer and retailer of women's active wear. The regional offices of the organisation are located in Hong Kong, the US, Singapore and Shanghai. The revenue of Lorna Jane is AUD$200 million and the net income is AUD$19.6 million. The total number of employees is 1,800.
Figure 1: The logo of Lorna Jane
(Source: Lornajane.sg, 2020)
The mission of the organisation is to empower women for living a life that they love through Active Living. Lorna Jane is having a daily practice of nourish, move and believe (Lornajane.sg, 2020). They want women to be fearless. The slogan of the organisation is NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up. This commitment is providing immense growth to Lorna Jane. They are also compassionate and are creating a positive impact on customers. The packaging of the product is done responsibly so carbon footprints can be reduced. 7% of the company sales are invested in Free Health & Wellness Education for the community. The initiatives taken by Lorna Jane marketing is for preserving the planet’s resources and reducing waste for a better future. There are small decisions made in the company which creates changes in the environment and the business growth.
2.2 PESTEL Analysis for Lorna Jane marketing audit
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PESTEL Analysis |
Description |
|
Political |
The political condition of Australia is stable and safe. The country is having close ties with the United States. But there are some criticisms on many issues and one such example is the deportation law. There are some more failures in the protection of Indigenous rights and human rights (Perry, 2017). However, the business climate of the country quite good for investment. Fashion brands are having a huge impact on this environment. There are many customers investing in the fashion industry. The demand for active-wear is increasing and so the Lorna Jane is following all the policies of the government in Australia. It is because there is proper transparency in the government and is appreciated by the citizens. |
|
Economic |
Australia is known for having the 13th largest economy (Hellwig & McAllister, 2016). There was a growth of 2.4% in the year 2017 and this was below expectations. But in future, there will be some expected growth in the economy. According to the economic climate of the country, investors are having an easy choice for investment in companies and land. People feel that the option for “pure investment” is good in Australia. Most of the foreign companies are having headquarters in Australia. The tax rate is around 30% but this is not affecting the business. Even though the country is importing many products but in the fashion industry, there are top brands. Investors are spending a large amount of money on fashion brands and hence companies like Lorna Jane is trying to meet the demands of sportswear and active-wear for women.
Figure 2: GDP of Australia |
|
Social |
As per the information considered to prepare this Lorna Jane marketing audit, countries like Australia are known for having a small population which is of 23 million. The country is multiracial and multicultural. The three main class of people in Australia are upper class, middle and working. The country is having a huge emphasis on higher education. Apart from this, the social lifestyle depends on the factor of health and well-being. Lorna Jane is an active-wear brand for women. There is a preference for the upper class and the middle class. The company is trying to look after the comfort and health of women in Australia. |
|
Technological |
Australia is one such country which is known for its technological innovation. The country adopts new technologies frequently and their purchasing power is going to reach $65 billion in a year. The best part of the technological influence is that 50% of the funds are provided by the government and 40% is contributed by the industries. In the fashion industry, technological innovation is playing a crucial role. Most of the brands are using new technologies in their manufacturing process. In this way, they are able to bring in more products in the market for the customers. |
|
Environmental |
Australia is known to be among the most beautiful countries in this world. It is having beaches, forests and mountains. The country is known for its biodiversity (May, Hobbs & Valentine, 2017). But there are some challenges faced in the environment. Most of the organisations are not following the rules for saving the environment. The factories are producing a large amount of smoke. There are quite fewer fashion brands which are following sustainable methods. One such example is of Lorna Jane. The company is having a commitment for the animals, oceans, environment and communities. The warehouses are following repurpose, reuse and recycle all the packaging. This includes cardboard and soft plastics. The company is also using recycled boxes across their business. |
|
Legal |
It is stated in the present Lorna Jane marketing audit that the government of Australia ensures that free trading is done for the consumers and the business. Hence most of the companies are trying to follow the consumer laws, competition laws and fair trading law. Lorna Jane is having a specific set of legal laws which is followed strictly. The manufacturer of the business is having WRAP (Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production) certificate. In this method, safety is promoted and all the products are manufactured ethically. They are also following the 12 common laws of the International Labour Organisation. |
2.3 Can you provide the competitive analysis for Lorna Jane marketing audit?
There are many competitors of Lorna Jane in the market. The top competitors are Adidas, Nike, Under Armour, PUMA, New Balance, Fila and many more. All these companies have together raised around 4.5 billion and as estimation, there are 277,000 employees. The competitors are producing active-wear for both men and women. Lorna Jane is having different strategies for handling the competition (Hudson, Brittin & Beck, 2017). They are focusing on sustainability and community engagement which is making them different from other organisations. The products that are produced by Lorna Jane are of good quality. The company is ensuring that all the active-wear is eco-conscious and in this way they are reducing carbon footprints.
2.4 Customer Analysis
As noted in the present Lorna Jane marketing audit, the company feels that customer loyalty is making their business sustainable. All the demands of the customers are being met especially in fashionable exercise clothes. The company is trying to drive the opinions and desires of the customers. The retail network is helping Lorna Jane to keep the customers close (Prendergast & Trencher, 2018). They also think that social media is the best way of connecting with people. All the likes and dislikes of the customers are analysed by social media sites. The main customers of the organisation are female between the ages of 14 and 65. The company is engrossed in social listening and they feel that it’s a good tool for customer relationship. They have the concept of listening to the customers and it's like a gift to them. However, Lorna Jane marketing is having the concept that ignoring the demands and voices of the customers is a huge mistake.
2.5 SWOT and TOWS Analysis basis the Lorna Jane marketing approaches
SWOT Analysis
|
Strengths · The main focus of the organisation is on the segment of a healthy lifestyle like the sports-wear. · The organisation is a private retailer and hence there is no such issue on the pricing and new product launches. · Lorna Jane markets their products quickly because they are having manufacturers. |
Weaknesses · They are mainly female-centric brand and hence is unable to attract the male segment of the country. · There are limited retail outlets and this is reducing the sales of the organisation. · If there is no proper communication then the desire for the product is low. |
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Opportunities · The company should promote their products by providing brand history. · Lorna Jane can go one step forward for different qualities of the product which is usually ignored by many competitors. |
Threats · There are many competitors of Lorna Jane who are making better improvement in the Australian market with their products and services. |
TOWS Analysis
|
Strengths (S) |
Weaknesses (W) |
|
|
Opportunities (O) |
Lorna Jane is private retailers and hence they won’t be having a problem in introducing new men’s sport-wear in the market. |
Because there is no proper communication of the organisation than providing the history of the brand will be creating issues. |
|
Threats (T) |
Competitors in the market can be handled by Lorna Jane because of the unique products and brand image (Businessresearch-lornajane.weebly.com, 2020). |
Men sports-wear is not being provided with any weightage because the company is having the weakness of focusing just on women. Hence the male segment is not being attracted. |
3. STP Analysis
3.1 Segmentation
|
Geographic Segmentation |
Demographic Segmentation |
Psychographic Segmentation |
Behavioural Segmentation |
|
Lorna Jane is having many stores in the suburban and the main cities of Australia. In these places, women are more interested in their lifestyle and fitness. They are having regional offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, the US and Shanghai. According to the geographic locations, the company is tracking a climatic check and providing products depending on this factor. |
In the case of the demographic section, the target of Lorna Jane marketing is females between the ages of 14 and 65. The company is focused on the middle class and social class people. This includes the upper class also. |
Lifestyle is one of the most essential factors for Lorna Jane (Zhou et al., 2018). The products are made for an active and healthy lifestyle. According to the personality of people the company is motivating and inspiring their sales. The motive of the organisation is to give fashionable and comfy products to the customers. |
People who are leading an active and healthy lifestyle is the main target in this segment. In terms of the benefit sought people are searching for trending, comfortable and good quality products. Lorna Jane feels that loyalty is important for the customers. If they are satisfied then word-of-mouth can help in attracting a new set of customers. |
3.2 Target Market
Target market is the subdivision of the total market. Through this method, a group of customers are targeted by the organisation for selling the products and services. Lorna Jane marketing approach is targeting behavioural segment and a demographic segment of the market. It is noted that customers want high quality and fashionable active wear. Lorna Jane is also proving fitness accessories to the customers like towels, bags and hats. The behavioural segment shows that frequent buyers are helping to increase the sales of the organisation. This also includes people who are inclined towards health and fitness. The demographic segment the company is targeting women and they are motivating them to be fit (Nash, 2018). The age group is between 14 and 65. The products are slightly on the higher side and hence only upper and middle-class people are the targets.
3.3 Positioning
The positioning of Lorna Jane marketing is dependent on good value, high quality and fashionable products. The major competitors of the company are Adidas, Nike and Under Armour.
Figure 3: Perceptual Map
(Source: Self-Developed)
4. Lorna Jane marketing Mix Audit
4.1 Product: Brands are coming with products so that the needs and wants of the customers can be fulfilled. Lorna Jane is producing women's activewear along with fitness accessories. The Lorna Jane marketing strategy of the company is its brand name. For Lorna, Jane logo plays the most important role. The three icons help the customers to identify its products and differentiate them from other brands of fitness. The company is not using disposable material for their products. There are fewer clothes going to landfill and hence the carbon footprints are also reducing. The amount of disposable fashion is reduced at manufacturing time. Customers are able to do quality clothes shopping. The products include pants, tights, sports bra, hoodies, shoes and many more. The shopping bag of Lorna Jane is different from the plastic ones (Nash, 2016). The bags can be re-used and they are environmentally friendly. The company is inspiring people through the messages written on the bag. One essential thing to be noted is the versatile designs which show that women can wear the products more than workouts. Active-wear of Lorna Jane can be worn anywhere. All the fabrics used by the company are sustainable and biodegradable. In this way, customers are being encouraged to recycle unwanted products.
Figure 4: Products of Lorna Jane
(Source: Nash, 2016)
4.2 Price
Price is one of the most important parts of the Lorna Jane marketing mix. Price of a product is the amount of cost that is given by the customer to the company. There are various pricing methods used by the brands. However, Lorna Jane is using a competitive pricing strategy. There are many brands in the Australian market who are selling sport-wears for women like Adidas and Nike. Usually, these companies set the price range from moderate to high. In comparison to these companies, Lorna Jane is using medium pricing. But for the high-end products, the price is also high. The company is trying to gain more market share by its pricing method. However, apart from this, Lorna Jane marketing is focusing on high quality (Fung & Liu, 2019). This is coming under quality and price interactions. In this way, they are trying to meet the expectations of the customers. According to price point strategy, all the products are sold at a predetermined price. So if the quality is increasing then the price is also increasing. The sellers at Lorna Jane are encouraging the customers to buy an expensive style of products. Through all these methods the company is gaining profits when compared to the competitors in the Australian market.
4.3 Place
Most of the brands are using the distribution strategy for reaching customers easily (Armstrong et al., 2018). The distribution channel of the organisation is starting from producers. It then moves to the retailers and finally reaches the customers. All the products of Lorna Jane are produced in the warehouses. After the products are ready then they are transported to different locations. After this, the products are distributed to the individual stores. In this way, the products are sold to the customers. The choice of the channel made by the company is exclusive. Customers usually visit the store for purchasing the products. Only official retail stores are selling the products of Lorna Jane. The products of the brand are also sold online.
Figure 5: Retail store of Lorna Jane
(Source: Lornajane.sg, 2020)
4.4 Promotion
Lorna Jane is using the four main elements of the promotion in the Lorna Jane marketing mix. They are personal selling and relationship Lorna Jane marketing, advertising, publicity and PR and sales promotion. Advertisements done by Lorna Jane helps in gaining flexibility so that a large audience can be reached. The company is having its own magazines which advertise the fitness and health of women. Then there are letterbox flyers through which the organisation is having a sisterhood program. Through this program, monthly flyers are sent to the customers. Lorna Jane is doing social media marketing. In Instagram, the company is having 378K followers and on Facebook, there are more than 1 million likes. They are also e-marketing the products. Through this method they are providing discounts and worldwide shipping is also done.
Lorna Jane marketing for personal selling and relationship is done through the official stores. The staffs of the store are friendly and motivating. The company is having the goal of providing the best shopping experiences for its customers. All the buyers are provided with help for finding the products which they require. Lorna Jane is also focusing on the loyalty of the customers (Craik, 2019).
Sales promotion helps the organisation is improving sales and attracting potential buyers. Lorna Jane checks the sale rack of their stores on a regular basis. The sale sign is usually highlighted by the stores so that customer attention can be attracted fast. In this way, the potential buyers are attracted and they get to save a lot of money.
Figure 6: Sales Promotion of Lorna Jane
(Source: Lornajane.sg, 2020)
PR and publicity is a form of promotion used by Lorna Jane. The company is not endorsing celebrity for product promotion. However, if the celebrities are seen wearing the products of Lorna Jane then the company is not complaining. In this way, the customers are encouraged to buying the product. It is because they feel to copy the celebrities. This method is beneficial for the organisation in long terms.
5. Recommendation
Some recommendations are provided to the company after analysing the Lorna Jane marketing techniques. It is essential for the company to follow these recommendations for a better future.
Expanding the men sport-wear products
Lorna Jane is just focusing on women and also manufacturing products according to their need. However, there is a great potential market for men sport-wears. So, Lorna Jane must plan on expanding their product ranges to the men. In this way, market growth and expansion will be possible. More number of customers will be attracted which will be beneficial for Lorna Jane in long runs.
Introducing different quality of product
There is huge competition in the market of sport-wear and active-wear in Australia. Hence, product differentiation should be done by Lorna Jane for sustaining in the market. They should produce a different quality product like ascent infused clothing.
Different Lorna Jane marketing technique
Lorna Jane can connect with their customers personally through feedback methods and other techniques. These should look like the company is partners of the customers in a positive lifestyle and active-wear.
6. Conclusion
This report is a Lorna Jane marketing audit which is one of the famous active-wear brands in Australia. Through this audit, the current market condition of the organisation was found. Lorna Jane is providing a high quality of products to the customers. SWOT analysis helped to identify operations of the organisation. There were many competitors of Lorna Jane in the market and the company was handling them through the product quality and brand image. STP analysis helped to find that behavioural and demographic are the major segment of the company. Lorna Jane marketing mix allowed finding the strategy of the company in terms of product, price, place and promotion. Finally, based on the audit some recommendations were provided to Lorna Jane.
Reference List
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Appendix
Appendix 1: Product Lifestyle of Lorna Jane
Figure 1: Product Lifestyle of Lorna Jane
