Research Paper on Significance of a Strong Brand Identity by Example of Hermes

This report analyses the significance of strong brand identity and a clear comprehension of the primary target customer in driving the profitability of a business in the International Omnichannel environment. The company in focus is Hermes International (Hermes), which is a French-based luxury goods producer. The parent company, together with its branches deal in the design, production, marketing, and retailing of luxury products that cover different sectors like leather goods and saddlers, textiles and silk, clothing and accessories, watches, and even perfumes. However, the project will focus on the companys UK retail sector or operations where the segment to be examined is that of womenswear.

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Project Aims and Objectives

The primary focus of this project is the English retail market. The report seeks to find out how strong brand identity and a clear comprehension of the primary target customer of Hermes can be essential in driving the profitability of a business in the International Omnichannel environment.

Research Design

Primary Research

The research design can be described as a general plan of the manner in which the researcher responds to the set research questions. The choice of research design is principally determined by the objectives together with research questions. This being qualitative research, interviews are employed as the method of collecting data. Those who were interviewed were the company’s clients, specifically women, for the purpose of getting more information about them and their perception of the company. The data collected was then analyzed to find the actual situation regarding the company and its customers, and then suggest the possible solution in case there was a need.

The interview aims to have both stakeholders; that is the researcher and the customers, reflect on their individual experiences and then attempt to find connections with each other in a manner such that the two parties can come to a mutual agreement about the meanings of the experience. The creation or formation of the interviews is basically in accordance with the conversations of the interviewees and their responses to the set questions. If those customers being examined want to make more or further explanations about their comprehension of the topic, which is themselves and the company, the researcher should then ask questions that request them to do so. It should be clarified by the researcher the process is a very open one and the customers, who are the respondents can think aloud, doubt, and even hesitate. The interviewer should not evaluate the responses as being correct or wrong. This is for the purpose of avoiding things such as biases. The interviewer should demonstrate that aim is to get the respondents to express themselves in a comprehensive and clear manner. The focus of the interview is on the subjects and tries to uncover their feelings or attitudes, beliefs, experiences, and values of the topic under review.

Structured interviews play a significant role in recognizing respondents’ ideas and views in detail. This aspect is called the focused type of interview. Applying this type of method to a representative sample of people in large numbers is quite taxing. Therefore, it is important to simplify the findings to the entire target population. Generally, the structured types of interviews entail many aspects, or rather they are usually detailed. In this case, the interviews might seem to take more time to conduct, especially when dealing with a large sample group. Conducting this type of interview in a large sample group will require the presence of the representatives and the researcher. Additionally, the researcher will need an extensive amount of time to plan this type of interview. This aspect can prove to be expensive for the research team.

The convenience and the quality of the information entirely depend on how effective the questions being asked are. In the structured type of interview, the researcher is not supposed to change questions. Alternatively, designing the questionnaire format might be tricky for the interviewer. The researcher might also have problems examining some of the intricate opinions and issues of the questionnaire. The researcher will have difficulties giving out depth answers in places where open-ended queries are used.

Secondary Research

This is the most commonly used method for the collection of data. The process involves the gathering of data from either the owner or a distributor of the primary research, this also means using information that has already been collected. In most instances, this implies obtaining data from sources that are considered third parties, like marketing, websites of companies, research reports, magazines, and some other sources. However, in reality, any data previously collected, whether from sources that are outside the marketer or even from within, like getting material from past market research conducted by the company of the marketer, reports of old sales, records of accounting, and several others falls under the category of secondary research.

In this regard, this research will also utilize secondary research methods in the collection of more data to add to the primary research for the purposes of making it more comprehensive. This will be in form of the review of available literature from various sources about the company and its customers. Some of these sources will include articles, journals, the website of the company, research reports, and magazines.

Hermes: Introduction

Hermes International, better known as Hermes, is a luxury goods producer headquartered in France but has subsidiaries outside the country and in the United Kingdom. The parent company, together with its branches deal in the design, production, marketing, and retailing of luxury products that cover different sectors like leather goods and saddlers, textiles and silk, clothing and accessories, watches, and even perfumes. All these products can be found all over the world via a network of over three hundred exclusive stores, whereby 180 are run as branches and about 125 as concessionaires, while the rest areas retail outlets. The company’s products such as tableware, perfumes, and watches are also available via a network of specialized stores, in the duty-free stores within the airports as well as onboard aircraft.

Hermes SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Wide coverage area Being one of the market leaders in the industry, Hermes has been able to cover a wide area in the UK through a partnership with some established companies in the region like Boden, Damart, JD Williams, Sportsshoes.com, Next Directory, and Lakeland, among others.

CRM It is apparent that the company has established a strong Customer Relationship Management through providing easiness for their clients on the delivery of their products. The following are the current CRM strategies, which the company applies:

• A website that is user-friendly. All clients to track the progress of their delivery.

• Allow clients to keep in touch with the companies through email.

• The offering of convenient collection and delivery services, implying that clients would not waste much of their time in the queue at the post office in order to collect or post their items.

Weaknesses

Limited Contact Access

There is no much or comprehensive information of the company website that can help in serving the clients better. For instance, there is no address as well as phone number, which can make it difficult to access them in case of an urgency. - Limited outside area of coverage. In comparison with other big courier firms, Hermes does not have a wide business scope since they just cover the area of UK and no cross border delivery services.

Limited Strategies of Marketing

The company’s marketing and sales departments do little promotion in the UK to reach a wider market in order to get more clients. This affects the business negatively and hampers growth since there are reduced revenues.

Opportunities

Availability of human resources

The company has the opportunity of getting the best human resources because there are more capable workers in the United Kingdom.

Technology practices implemented

The firm can further enhance its operations by utilizing latest technology like the RFID Tracking System; this provides a lot of ease for both the clients and the company.

Threats

Government Policy

The government of the United Kingdom has some strict policies for the conservation of the environment, and this means that the firm should carry out activities that have minimum pollution.

Economical Situation

There are some possible threats that the company faces on the basis of the economic situation as shown below:

• The price of fuel, which raises the cost of doing business

• Financial crises negatively affect the intensity of individuals doing business.

Hermes Pricing

Hermes has been setting its price in accordance with the perception, production, and distribution in the UK. As a consequence, its primary target customers, which is the high-end segment of the market enable it to set its prices the way it wants without fearing for competition because it is one of the leading global brands and has an established brand image. In terms of the price premiums, we find that the strength of its brand image or position enables it to command the highest pricing in the market whereas all the clients are willing to part with the set amounts for them to land the iconic products. The company does not make any discounts on its products for any events, individuals, or occasions (Frimes & Jean-Louis, 2010).

Hermes Top Selling Product

The most popular product of Hermes is the Berkin handbag and Kelly handbag. These two types of bags are on the leading list of the preferred fashionistas together with women in the UK and also worldwide. These leather bags have been portrayed by the company as luxury and unaffordable price, which has made them flourish or thrive as a very valuable asset within the social standing. Some buyers have even referred to the bags a not being an expense but an investment, because their resell value is high and also anyone who owns them is highly regarded in the social world in the country and considering this is what many women want, they would probably do anything to earn the respect they feel they deserve (Burr, 2007).

The iconic leather bag called Berkin was named after an actress known as Jane Berkin, who also played a part in its design. It is regarded as being one of the most expensive luxury items in the world as it is priced at $9000 in specific exotic skins. It takes a duration of over 48 hours to make by hand craftsmanship; this means that they are very limited in quantities. They come in various sizes that include 30 centimeters, 40 centimeters, and 45 centimeters for the purposes of creating an attractive or appeal...