Introduction
Burberry is a UK fashion brand that under the helm of creative director Christopher Bailey has defied the recessions in both the UK and US and global spending slowdowns to become one of the top 100 most valuable brands in the world with a vast product range, and an impressive portfolio of worldwide stores. In 2012 it ranked 51st in the FTSE 100 and had a market capitalisation of over 6.5 billion.
Burberry’s main competitors are Armani, Coach, Polo and Gucci, their positioning is unique as it targets many different segments of the population such as twenty year old young professionals and 65 year old trench coat buyers with their vast and diverse product range including clothing and accessories and as well as being labeled as a fashion house they have products such as sunglasses and aftershaves that fall into the continuity category with a lifespan of many years. With the luxury appeal of their products and the functionality it would be correct to call Burberry a functional luxury brand.
Strengths
Burberry’s strengths lie in their use of Digital in their marketing and advertising under the creative direction of Christopher Bailey Burberry has managed to communicate directly to a new client base with such innovative approaches such as” Tweetwalk” which offered the consumer a chance to preview the collection before the models hit the runway at London Fashion week 2013.
Burberry’s weaknesses having such a vast product range and a huge portfolio of stores worldwide as well as a huge online presence it can be detrimental to trying to retain exclusivity in the eyes of consumers, if all of Burberry’s collections are available from shopping centres and websites it could become something that is no longer sought after and more attributed with a younger audience.
Burberry has oppurtunities to focus on accessories and leather goods by product development and marketing for instance, placing focus on products such as Burberry body the