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2.4 Product Offering  

Apparently, American Apparel offers varied cloth products that target diversified market for both genders such as skirts, tee shirts, body suits and dresses just to name a few at an affordable pricing. Some of the best sellers are the “Nylon Tricot High Waist Leggings” and the “Cotton Spandex Unitard”. There are over 3.5 million women expecting each year therefore the introduction of a maternity clothing line is a good fit for American Apparel. It will act as a boost to the rest of the product offering since all are connected to family shopping and include clothing for pregnant women who are hip and stylish while helping them celebrate their style and still looking great as their body changes. American Apparel will make a holistic brand equity that will make customer happy.

It will create competitive advantage because it is in demand by a specific population not common in the market. As a result, American Apparel can increase pricing and have pregnant women purchase the product. Maternity line clothing creates positive feeling, beliefs and perceptions by pregnant women and their family members about the business. Pregnancy is a critical time in a woman’s life where they need specific clothing with a specific design. By providing the maternity line American Apparel can create an attachment to the lives of both pregnant and non-pregnant women. Therefore, American Apparel offers positive value to a niche market and despite increasing the product price expecting mothers would still purchase.

2.5 Keys to Success

A myriad key to success will be involved, such as a change in promotional technique, innovation for selling, and distribution of materials. The cloth industry as seen involves fashion changes and hence innovation is a must. In that case, American Apparel has to contract fashion designers for the maternity line as a way of being relevant in the market. During the launch of the maternity line, a promotional price will serve it better to bring the brand awareness and also attract and maintain clients. After this, the brand will switch to a premium pricing technique which will guarantee its clients quality products and maintain client loyalty. The use of audio-visual media will guarantee the new brand success.

The marketing strategy is to create product awareness among expectant mothers and their families by using digital marketing ads, direct mail tactics sold and generating PR. Also through creating of online platforms for instance WhatsApp and Facebook profiles for the purpose of interact with clients. These marketing platforms will act as good promotional platforms since apparently most people spend time in social media websites. Also, making a fissured workplace will be useful to increase productivity.

2.6 Critical Issues  

Based on the SWOT analysis, it will be important for the company to maximize its strengths and work on the opportunities to curb the weaknesses and eliminate the strengths. Employing designers and making use of the strong brand name will see the company evolve new brand fashions and remain relevant in the market. Before the product is introduced, the buying team needs to choose materials, styles, and colors to produce the designs. Suppliers then produce and distribute to American Apparel’s warehouse for introduction into the market.

At the start of the life cycle cost will be high while revenue is low because communications will be made to market, attract, and maintain new clients regularly. CRM analysis will also be run to maintain customer loyalty and trust. During the growth period, revenue starts to exceed cost and contribute to profitability. After the line is made available, American Apparel can do things like adding a link directly to the items from the homepage and weekly newsletter. Ensure adequate stock so not to disappoint customers. Upon getting into the growth stage of the cycle, the product is expected to commence promoting itself as customers see it on digital and print ads. At the maturity stage American Apparel need to remind people about the product online, for example by using trend features on the website and in its newsletters and order more stock to ensure supply. During the saturation stage American Apparel may do things like reduce the price to clear remaining stock while providing an opportunity to make space for new product.

During the first three years, all profit made will be pumped back to the business to increase production alongside catering other expenses. For growth, capital will be invested to do advertisements in audio-visual media such as television and the use of social media platforms. These platforms will ensure growth of the maternity apparel is constant. After the brand is well-known, a premium pricing will be used focusing on quality and innovative ideas.

3.0 MARKETING STRATEGY

3.1 Mission

The business is committed to design, produce and supply quality maternity outfits for all expectant women. It is the mission of the business to ensure that the American Apparel market is supplied with quality, flexible, and fashionable maternity outfits. No single woman irrespective of size, height, and shape to lack a comfortable and satisfactory maternity wear.

Goals:

· To design and supply quality and comfortable maternity dresses

· To effectively market the products to create the right brand awareness

· To attract a high customer base that would maintain successful operation of the new line of production

· To ensure the products are of the highest quality and services to exceed customer expectations

· To reach out to all pregnant women in the United States and make them feel appreciated and valued

· To attain market competitive edges through effective use of available strengths and opportunities while working on improving on weaknesses and eliminating threats.

 Value proposition: unique comfort and satisfaction

3.2 Marketing Objectives 

The overall marketing objective is to create brand awareness in terms of what the product is all about, the target market, and how clients can access the product. Secondly, to grow sales and acquire a sizeable market share in the American Apparel market through the application of effective marketing strategies that outsmarts competition.

To attain one of the market objectives which is to grow the business market share, in each quarter the business expects to increase its market share value by at least 4%. This is to mean that on annual basis, the business shall increase its market share by 12%.

Being a new product, market penetration is critical, in this regard the business to make use of the price method of penetration. This is where the business shall at first set its prices at a much lower price than competitors in order to attract clients and start making sales.

Different marketing strategies to be used to create the right brand awareness for instance offering promotions for instance discounted prices, prizes and road shows among other effective promotional strategies. Also, advertising through different media channels like television, social media, and publications to also be used to communicate desired message to the consumers.

With marketing being used to build awareness, consumer base would be built through supplying the market with quality and unique products at competitive prices. A single client that would make a purchase would be requested to bring another client and receive a discounted price thereby generating a long list of consumers.

Being a new business requires the business having a manageable market share that the business can supply products and meet the demand. For starters, the business should start with at least 2% of the American Apparel market and this means at least one state before expanding to other states.

3.3 Target Markets 

The identified segments falls in different categories are as follows; psychographic, behavioral, geographic, and demographic. Under psychographic, there are identified clients that share similar characteristics in terms of needs and preference (Kotler, 2005). As a matter of reality, these are the majority because pregnancy comes with specific needs and it is for this reason that a majority of expectant women tends to share similar characteristics in terms of shape and size leading to similar needs and preference. Understanding the behavior that a majority of pregnant women are likely to show goes a long way in determining the most effective designs and features to incorporate in the products. The more reason is that the product being focused on are for a specific purpose and this means there are important features that must be present for the products to be relevant to the target market.

Behavioral segment has also been identified because there are specific behaviors that have been noted and can be useful in marketing the product. For instance, some clients prefer online shopping and others physical stores; others prefer social media sites to engage the business to gather information while others are satisfied with information provided in the website. Understanding the behavioral segment is important to the business because it will help the business in making critical decisions. For instance; engaging in practices that align with the most preferred consumer behaviors; thereby creating the relevance of the product to the target market. According to Kotler (2005); a products gets appreciated in the market once clients feel that it has some connection with their wants and preferences and this is something that the business intends to attain.

Geographic segmentation shall be based on geographic location and this means the business to target different geographic locations since pregnant women are dispersed all over different states (Yıldırım, Aydın, & Ustaahmetoğlu, 2016). In the United States, there are a high number of expectant women and the good thing is that with a high rate of child bearing in different regions, the women are widely distributed across states, cities, and towns. Moreover, there is no specific geographic location that has a higher interest than the other which means the business has to target regions with much potential at first before those with lesser potential. Moreover, geographic locations are important for the business to expand in diverse states and regions in the United States and this is critical for business growth and existence.

Lastly, demographic is a segment that shall be applied depending on the number of people in different geographic locations. It is a segment that has proven to have great potential that the business can use to attain set goals and objectives. This is because the United States is a relatively wide region and people especially expectant mothers who are the main target population are in different regions. However, the number of women in a specific region differs as some regions have a higher population than others (Kotler, 2005). In this case, the business will first target regions with higher populations because these are the regions with a higher number of expectant mothers as compared to regions with a low population.

Rationale:

The four selected segments are the optimal target marketing segments because they are the segments that would help the business to reach out to all pregnant women and their families. This is important because family members can also buy maternity outfits for their pregnant members and friends. Moreover, focusing on diverse market segments is critical in making sure that no single client is left out since the target population as well differs. For instance, there are women living in cities and other in rural and other in semi-urban areas and they are also important to the business. According to Kotler, (2005); targeting only a single target market would limit and hinder the business from exploiting the market in the best way possible. Moreover, all target segments

3.4 Positioning 

The Maternity Line products have a number of features and elements that strategically positions them in the market. For starters, they are of the highest quality possible and this means they can serve the pregnant women throughout the pregnancy period and also after delivery before the woman can get back to the original shape. The quality of the products is important and would help the products to stand out from competition because women need products that are not common and products that would serve the purpose (Kotler, 2005). This is the exact thing that the company intends to do through designing and supplying the market with the highest quality products possible. This is not only in terms of material of the clothes but also high quality design and styles.

Secondly, the products targets women that normally faces challenges finding comfortable and stylish maternity clothes to put in because the product line precisely targets women ranging within XXL to XXXL. According to Kotler, (2005); it is important for a business to focus on a product that meets the need of a target market that feels neglected and left out. In the American Apparel industry, there are a lot of maternity dresses and other types of clothes but they target XXS sizes. This is to mean that women with medium to huge body sizes and shapes face challenges accessing maternity clothes that can fit them. Moreover, pregnancy is a period where women need a lot of comfort for themselves and the growing child. With the company focusing on rarely designed and manufactured maternity clothes means that the company would be handling the market from a unique and reliable direction.

Thirdly, the new products to be sold at a relatively low price which means that they would be affordable to all women and also applicable due to their adjustable setting let alone the flawless alignment with the body shape of the wearer. According to Kotler, (2005); price is one of the most important factors in a product because the more affordable a product is, the more many people are able to purchase. It is important to note that a majority of businesses selling maternity products offer them at a relatively high price and with the company coming in to offer cheaper products but of high quality means that the new product lines stands a better chance than other competing brands.

Apart from quality and other features, the company shall focus on designing products of different colors so as to make sure that different consumer tastes are met. This is an important brand positioning strategy because women are highly attracted by beautiful and appealing colors as this would also enhance their physical look. The business shall hence ensure that different colors, prints, and textures are used to create difference and uniqueness from other competing brands. Lastly, the products shall be made available and highly accessible to women in different geographical locations and these are the specific things that make the new maternity products different from competing brands (Kotler, 2005). This is important because many competing brands focuses on targeting major towns and cities but the company shall make sure that even women living in rural and semi-urban areas are also reached out to.

3.5 Marketing Mix

a. Product 

The product is unique first because of the target market it focuses on and also designed in different shapes and designs to meet the different consumer needs. The products shall also be accessible and shall come in different colours. The texture and the quality shall be consistent to make sure that the consumers will get to identify the company maternity products even from a far.

b. Price  

The company shall use pricing as a major marketing tactic. This is through setting a much lower profit margin and intends to recover by making massive sales. First, the business shall use different technologies and abilities to reduce the cost of production and only add a slight profit on top for business maintenance and gradual growth. This is to mean that consumers would not get better prices in competing businesses as the business shall offer. The fact that the prices will be much lower and products of high quality and uniquely designed means that they would be worth the selling price set.

c. Place 

The place marketing strategy shall be used to make sure that the products are highly accessible by a high number of clients. To do this, the business shall establish outlets in different strategic locations and make use of different marketing channels to make the consumer know about the selling points. The business shall also franchise other investors and make sure they specialize with the company’s new product in order to have as many outlets selling the new products as possible (Kotler, 2005). Lastly, through social media and other online strategies, the business shall also deal with clients to have sales done through online and delivery made to the client’s appointed location. This is to mean that the business will take full control of distribution internally for the purpose of ensuring that the consumers are given the best customer service possible.

d. Promotion

Creating brand awareness is important especially because the American Apparel industry is highly competitive. The new products shall make use of different promotional tools and tactics to make sure enough information is shared to the market and in a professional manner. The most applicable promotional tools shall be television adverts, social media, bill boards, and publications. For the tactics, the business to offer discounted prices and also free gifts in different selling outlets. The company will make sure that the budget used in practical in the sense that it is not exaggerated and not too rigid. To make sure that the spent budget on promotion is attained back, the business shall review sales the more different promotion tactics and tools shall be applied. It is expected the more awareness is created, the more the sales should increase.

3.6 Marketing Research 

According to Nilsson, (2020); making the right business decisions is important especially when it comes to approaching the market and applying different marketing strategies. The more reason is that wrong decisions can be disastrous. To avoid errors, the business to make use to marketing research where the most applicable methods shall be surveys, interviews and focus groups. The research shall be conducted internally to make sure that all areas of interest are critically evaluated and information properly analyzed before a decision is made. The information obtained from the selected research methods shall be verified through engaging marketing professionals in the American Apparel market and also observing the trends taking shape in the market.

References