Abstract
The following paper is dedicated to design a marketing plan for the French ‘fashion house' Caroll in China. In the past decade this country has been going through large transformations which permits new entrants to respond to new needs, wants and demands.
First of all, several figures seem useful in order to remind us how attractive this huge market is becoming. Indeed, China is one of the fastest growing economies (10.2% in 2005 and 10.7% in 2006) in the world and number one in the global population.
Throughout this marketing plan we will analyze Caroll's environment so that we will be able to design tactics as part of our strategic plan. In this case our problem is: How to serve now the Chinese emergent middle class (which is still the poor part of the population) and keep on targeting them as they're rapidly moving up within the upper middle class?
Part of our strategy is to serve now the upper middle class, already able to buy our products while communicate massively to increase the brand awareness upon the lower middle class. Our objective in doing that is to create desire and wants upon this lower middle class.To enter the Chinese market we will use franchised stores in order to benefit from Chinese franchisees who know the market well.
The company will make small adaptations upon its products which will permit to save costs. However, considering new sizes, colors and seasonal differences will be useful. As the brand foreignness has been defined as a key success factor, the brand name will remain ‘CAROLL PARIS' and will only be bigger than it is in France. Our added values are our foreignness, our quality products (EU made) and services as well as our niche positioning (urban working women).
Chinese people are much more price sensitive than French people. However, as they are willing to pay for quality products we will adopt a premium pricing strategy keeping the same prices as in Europe. In order to fit with the market, a new pricing structure has been created and will able us to keep a high stock turnover. Indeed the price for one product will decrease with the purchase of another added quantity.
We will launch our test store in Shanghai because it is the highest income region and it is recognized as the most fashion and modern city in China. Advertising is vital. As part of this tactic, a large advertising campaign in Shanghai will be launched, using banners and partnerships with fashion shows which will appear on TV. As a priority, we are dealing with customer satisfaction and loyalty, that's why our staff will be properly trained. Our process will contribute to make them perceive our quality service and products through store cleanness, welcoming staff, French label and so on.
This strategy is based on a macro-environmental and competitive analysis, as well as a marketing research upon working women habits and consuming behaviors. In this paper, you'll find key answers to a successful CAROLL PARIS implementation, accomplishing its overall goal: growing by 15% year on year for the next five years.
