Friday 22 February 2013
Sunday 17 February 2013
Timberland analysis continued
Timberland analysis continued
In our breakout sessions over the
past few weeks we have discussed many factors such as Timberland itself and
factors that affect the company such as competitors and external factors. We
have divided work between group members, with a list of task in mind that we
wanted or needed to complete. Up to this point we are all up to date with the
work that we wanted to complete and have enough information to continue on to
our next planned step, looking at critical success factors of Timberland.
In our last post we had planned
that we would carry out a SWOT/TOWS analysis on timberland. As a group we
performed this and we each took one area (Threat, Opportunity, weakness
and Strength) which we would research in order to compose this analysis
together as a group. We also took this approach to a PEST analysis in order to
find the external factors that affected the business. Several members of our
group have also used a marketing mix analysis, using price, place, promotion
and product, in order to analyse competitors to Timberland. Other tasks have
been in uploading information to the blog and writing posts. To this point we
have all kept to the contract and all given individual contributions to the
project. The majority of this analysis we had previously planned however as we
were working we found areas which we would like to review more and therefore
more analysis came from this.
From this point we intend to look
at the critical success factors of Timberland and we will also begin to create
an infographic of our work depicting the market audit process performed by our
group.
Saturday 16 February 2013
Sunday 3 February 2013
Caterpillar footwear
Each individual style of footwear has a name, for example in
the picture below; it is called the ‘Colorado’. This gives each shoe an
identity which can then be passed on to the customer as they can identify their
favourite style of footwear.
Price- Caterpillar footwear has similar prices to
Timberlands with men’s boots ranging from £59.00 (in the sale) to £144.00.
Women’s footwear ranges from £40.00 to £109.99.
Place – Caterpillar is located in the United Kingdom, the
US, Canada, Australia, Chile, China, France, Germany, Peru, South Africa and
Taiwan.
About Caterpillar (from About Us section on website) - Cat®
Footwear is inspired by hard work and driven by life in motion. Our licensor,
Caterpillar® Inc., is well-known for always setting the bar higher and striving
for excellence. As the global leader in heavy equipment manufacturing, they are
a brand intent on providing consumers with the tools it takes to get the job
done.
In almost two decades
of marketing shoes and boots under the Caterpillar name, our line has grown
from a handful of work boot styles to feature multiple product categories and
hundreds of diverse styles. From our proprietary technologies to a promise of
quality, durable product, we take seriously our responsibility for upholding
the values and personality of the Caterpillar brand.
Our 360 degree brand
story offers product that fits the demands of both the job site and the city
streets. Our uncompromising nature guarantees that our product, our promise and
our people are second to none. We are Earthmovers.
Analysing the Market - Competitors
Product-
Timberlands
is well known for its boots and outdoor footwear, both women and men have
similar options for boots and shoes although it seem women have more choice as
there are varied heels and hights of shoes.
The functionality of Timberlands is long lasting, reliable, weatherproof
footwear however Clarks specifies particular features such as Gore-Tex, Active
Air etc. In terms of functions Timberlands footwear offer their name as
security for customers.
 |
| Picture A |
Price-
ORDINARILY-
Timberlands offers products at various prices but they tend to be over the £100
mark where as competitors offering the same quality start their prices at
£20/30 and lead up to higher prices when they incorporate more features.
SALE-
Even on sale items there is still a significant price diferencce between
Timberlands and Clarks, their offers are sometime equal in
percentage but the price it is brought down to is the price of a new pair of
shoes offer by competitors such as Clarks. It seem that their products are for
buyers that can afford footwear at luxury prices, even in a sale.
Place –
STORES- Timberlands is a worldwide company with stores in
the UK, US, France, China, Malaysia etc. Its stores are located on city high
streets and follow the same design, usually they incorporate warm colours and
wood, to making their stores recognisable globally. Their competitors Clarks
also have stores around the world but their design is not as welcoming to
customers, making Timberlands more appealing to new customers.
 |
| Picture E |
ONLINE- The list of options on the Timberlands website is
specified only to types so it’s easy to differentiate what they offer in
comparison to other websites. However the process for finding footwear suitable
for you requires a lot of scrolling down pages and time, something that busy customers don’t have. If you compare it to the Clarks website where you can
specify size, price, features colour etc. before you even begin browsing shoes
and boots, the
timberlands website, although aesthetically pleasing, is not as simple for
customers as other websites.
 |
| Picture D |
Promotion-
ADVERTS-
Timberlands have memorable adverts sometimes laced with humor such as their
advert showing a man being chased through a forest by a bear, a boar and
wolves followed by the slogan “IF YOU’RE NOT FAST YOU’RE FOOD”. Their
advertising campaigns are designed for adults, with clever witty ideas behind
them surrounded by a outdoors theme to target their main buyers. The clarks
adverts are much more elegant for showcasing their female shoes much more than
their male shoes. Timberlands advert stands out and would be more appealing to
men rather than women and their competitors clarks, as is the case with mose
shoe retailers, tend to focuse their adverts on a female audience.
 |
| Picture F |
BANNERS-
Timberlands also features interactive banners on their website, so if they have
a new rage or an offer website visitors can click on it and be navigated to the
right page. This is helpful for first time buyers who don’t know
what footwear they want, it helps to showcase the product Timberlands is
currently excited about. Other websites have these banners too but they tend
not to as busy as the Timberlands banner and don’t have explanations making the
Timberlands banner much more helpful.
Conclusion-
It
would seem people choose Timberlands for the name and their heritage rather
than price or features. However the promotions that Timberlands use are expert
at pinpointing their audience and helpful for customers. Their global
recognition adds to the security of ther brand name, it make customes feel
secure knowing they have a brand trusted around the world. Its well known name
and clever advertising makes timberlands stand out from the crowd so if you
want secure outdoor boots or a fashion statement Timerlands is the right place
for you.
References:
Timberlands (2012) Picture A, D, F [Online
Image]. Available from: http://www.timberlandonline.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-TBLGB-Site/default/Default-Start?gclid=CP2l0vaKmrUCFSbMtAodan4AKg [Accessed 01/02/13].
Clarks (2012) Picture
A, E, F [Online Image]. Available from: http://www.clarks.co.uk/?cm_mmc=google-_-trademark-_-tm%20-%20hvk%20-%20exact-_-%5Bclarks%5D&tmcampid=8&tmad=c&tmplaceref=google_desktop&tmclickref=%5Bclarks%5D [Accessed 01/02/13].
Queensgate Shopping (2012) Picture C [Online Image]. Available from: http://www.queensgate-shopping.co.uk/shops/shoes-boots/clarks [Accessed 02/02/13].
Brent
Cross(2012) Picture B [Online Image].
Available from: http://www.brentcross.co.uk/shops/footware/timberland [Accessed 02/02/13].
Starting out
In our first few sessions of understanding the market process, as a group of four, we decided that we would pursue the area of footwear. We narrowed this market down to the brand Timberland. We discussed and research timberland via their website (http://www.timberland.com) and found that they had a large target audience which could cover the majority of the population worldwide. We also researched and discussed the reasons why people may buy Timberland footwear and established reasons such as fashion, functionality, social prestige of wearing a known brand and the uniqueness of being able to personalise your own shoe.
We have also recently started our own blog, Put your foot in it, in which we will be able as a group to discuss Timberland, the market they are in and other areas such as competitors and their behaviours. As well as the group work that has been done in break out sessions and other free time there have also been individual contributions from all the group. The tasks of creating and designing a blog, choosing a name, writing posts, researching competitors and ther actions and writing a contract, to ensure of good and sustainable group contract was achieved, were all divided between all group members. This allowed all members to contribute to the project.
In the future we intend to perform market analysis on Timberland, in ways such as competition and SWOT analysis and we will also look more in depth at Timberland itself.
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