YHTOMIT

Trident University

Katrina Dowdell

Module 1 SLP1

LOG 501

Dr. Kernodle

Levi Strauss Company is the best known company for manufacturing blue jeans in America and also produces a line of casual wear under the names Levis, Dockers and slates which is sold to more than 110 countries. The specific brand of Levis Strauss Company is apparel which is recognized for their quality, originality and integrity. It epitomizes the classic American style since invention by Levi Strauss in the year 1873. The brands are enduring and include Dockers, Levis which are sometimes signed by the Levis Strauss company (Arndt, 2006).

In the beginning of this company, the size of the market of the blue jeans were largely confined to working people of the western United States such as cowboys, railroad workers and even lumberjacks. That was in the early 1920s but in the 1950s going onwards, the size of market began to increase since it became popular among subcultures, including rockers and hippies (Doorey, 2011). The unshrunk uniquely sized jeans remained the number one sales in the company. Significant growth in the size of the market was experienced in the 1970s where there was growth of business occurred due to new fashions and models.

The annual reports of Levis Strauss Company indicates that there has been a decline of sales over the past years but as it was in 2007, its total annual sales which were over $4 billion were $3 billion less than its peak performance which was in the mid-1990s. This total number of sales was at the retail level and it signifies the booming success of this incorporation. The brand of the product I am focusing on is the blue jeans while the company that makes it is the Levis Strauss Company. While looking at the market analysis for this blue jeans company, we find that it has been threatened by competition because there were minimal barriers for entry into the market (Doorey, 2011).

Some of the Blue jeans major competitors include the Calvin Klein, Gap Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger and VF Corp (Lee Wrangler). It no longer has monopoly power and opts for lower prices as the only competitive strategy due to availability of substitutes. Most of the competitors successfully got involved into the market due to heavy advertisements and also the branding system which was quite different from the Levi Strauss Company. Due to the competing market shares by their competitor, Blue Jeans Company failed to recognize and re-enter a new booming premium jeans market. However, it has been able to use various advertising and marketing strategies to healthily survive in the competitive market (Arndt, 2006).

The Levis Strauss and company are located in San Francisco, California in the United States but it also has over 2800 company-operated stores. It is driven by strong values, creativity and hard work hence using very innovative practices in making all the blue jeans and also other products. In the upstream supply chain, the key supplies and the materials needed to produce this product are cotton, zipper and also other raw materials for the production of fabrics (Epstein, 1987).

The manufacturing processes include dyeing, pre-shrinking, used look and sandblasting. On the sales trend, North America accounts for 39% of purchases of blue jeans while it is losing market to yoga pants and other active wear. The main customers of the blues jeans company are men and women from all over the United States and also all over the world. The target customers fall under all categories and it emphasizes more on the age groups of 13-24 years. It also has a product range for people above the age of 30 years (Epstein, 1987). The strategy is to have long-term relations with their customers and the consumer demand shifts form durability to fashion which is the most considered thing in the market today unlike in the past.

The competitors and segmentation approach led it to have a forced radical cost-cutting, closing dozens of factories and rendering many workers jobless. Brand loyalty has been key and the denizen brand as jeans for the new generations. Levis became a brand with staying power simply because of high share of global jeans market as well s the increased revenue all over the years of success (Bagozzi, 1975).

Blue jeans has over the years become a major brand of pant in the United States where many consumers despite the ages have surely come to like and appreciate the quality brand produced by this particular company. Customers are all over the U.S. and the global world and it is enjoying the benefits of being the jeans company which reduces quality brands worldwide. Despite the competitions with other companies, it has been able to have a larger market share and efficient supply chains which has seen to it that goods and services are delivered effectively to their clients and also in time within the affordable schedule. It is also much appreciated that the Levis Strauss Company started back in the early years of industrial revolution and has since maintained its brand creating a good loyalty within their market. The diagram below indicates the global supply chain (Vrontis & Vronti, 2004).

Reference

Arndt, H. (2006). Supply Chain Management. Optimierung logistischer Prozesse, 2.

Bagozzi, R. P. (1975). Marketing as exchange. The Journal of Marketing, 32-39.

Doorey, D. J. (2011). The transparent supply chain: From resistance to implementation at Nike and Levi-Strauss. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(4), 587-603.

Epstein, E. M. (1987). The corporate social policy process: Beyond business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and corporate social responsiveness. California management review, 29(3), 99-114.

Vrontis, D., & Vronti, P. (2004). Levi Strauss: an international marketing investigation. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 8(4), 389-398.