Shoes | Marketing plan

IMC Plan of SHOES

Introduction to the product

Shoes is a part offootwear that is use to first protect the humanfootand later, additionally, as an item of decoration in itself. The foot contains morebonesthan any other single part of thebody. Thedesignof shoes has varied enormously through time, and fromcultureto culture, with appearance originally being tied to function. Shoes have traditionally been made fromleather,woodorcanvas, but now a days it is increasingly made fromrubber,plastics, and other petrochemical-derived materials.

Types of Shoes:-
Dress and casual Shoes:-

Dress shoesare categorized by smooth and supple leather uppers, leather soles, and narrow sleek . Casual shoes are characterized by sturdy leather uppers, non-leather outsoles, and wide profile.

Men’s Shoes:-

Men’s shoes can be categorized by how they are closed:

Ø Plain-toes: have a sleek appearance and no extra decorations on the vamp.

Ø Cap-toes: has an extra layer of leather that “caps” the toe. This is possibly the most popular decoration.

Women’s Shoes:-

There is a large variety of shoes available for women, in addition to most of the men’s styles being more accepted as unisex. Some broad categories are:

High-heeled footwearmay be shoes with heels 2 inches (5cm) or higher. They are often seen as having more sex appeal than low heels (see article for discussion) and are thus commonly worn by women for formal occasions or social outings. Kitten heelsare low high heels from about 1.5 to 2 inches high, set in from the back of the shoe.

Ø Sneaker bootand sneaker pump: a shoe that looks like an athletic shoe, but is equipped with a heel, making it a kind of novelty dress shoe.

Ø Wedge Sandals are sandals but have the ankles higher as if wearing a high heels shoe.

Ø Mulesare shoes or slippers with no fitting around the heel.

Ø Sling backsare shoes which are secured by a strap behind the heel, rather than over the top of the foot.

Ø Espadrillesare casual flat or high-heeled fashion sandals of a style which originated in the Pyrenees. They usually have cotton or canvas upper and a flexible sole of rope or rubber.

Sports shoes:-

Men’s and women’ssports shoesand special function shoes often have less difference between the sexes than in dress shoes. In many cases these shoes can be worn by either sex. Emphasis tends to be more on function than style.

Ø Runningshoes: very similar to above, with additional emphasis on cushioning.

Ø Track spikes: lightweight; often with plastic or metalcleats

Ø Cleat (shoe): a type of shoe featuring molded or removable studs. Usually worn while playing sports such asrugby,football,American football, or base ball.

Ø Golfshoes: with “spikes” for better grip in grass and wet ground. Originally the spikes or “cleats” were made of metal but replaceable “soft spikes” made of synthetic plastic-like materials with prongs distributed radically around the edge of each spike are much more common today (and are required on many golf courses since they cause less damage to the greens).

Ø Bowlingshoes: intermediate style between ordinary dress shoes and athletic shoes. They have harder rubber soles/heels so as not to damagebowlingalley floors. They are often rented or loaned at bowling alleys.

Ø Climbing shoes: a shoe designed forrock climbing. They typically have a close fit, little if any padding, and a smooth sticky rubber sole with an extended rubber rand.

Ø Hikingshoes or boots: usually have a high somewhat stiff upper with many lace eyelets, to provide ankle support on uneven terrain, with extra large traction on the sole.

Ø Walkingshoes: have a more flexible sole than the running shoe, lighter in weight than the hiking boot, may have air holes, may not be water proof.

Ø Cycling shoesare equipped with a metal or plastic cleat to interface withclipless pedals, as well as a stiff sole to maximize power transfer and support the foot.

Ø Snowshoesare special shoes for walking in thick snow. In temperate climates, snowshoes are used for mostly recreational purposes in winter.

Ø Wrestling shoesare light, flexible shoes that mimic bare feet while providing additional traction and protection.

Work Shoes:-

Work shoes are designed to stand heavy wear, to protect the wearer, and provide high traction. They are generally made from sturdy leather uppers and non-leather outsoles. Sometimes they are used foruniformsor comfort bynurses,waitresses,police,militarypersonnel, etc. They are commonly used for protection in industrial settings,construction,mining, and other workplaces. Protective features may includesteel-tipped toesand soles orankleguards.

(Source: – http: //www. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/shoe)

Industry overview

Indian Footwear Industry

Leather industry of India is the core strength of the Indian footwear industry. It is the engine of growth for the entire Indian leather industry and India is the second largest global producer of footwear after China. Reputed global brands like Florsheim, Nunn Bush, Stacy Adams, Gabor, Clarks, Nike, Reebok, Ecco, Deichmann, Elefanten, St Michaels, Hasley, Salamander and Colehaan are manufactured under license in India. Besides, many global retail chains seeking quality products at competitive prices are actively sourcing footwear from India. While leather shoes and uppers are produced in medium to large-scale units, the sandals and chappals are produced in the household and cottage sector. The industry is poised for adopting the modern and state-of-the-art technology to suit the exacting international requirements and standards. India produces more of gent’s footwear while the world’s major production is in ladies footwear. In the case of chapels and sandals, use of non-leather material is prevalent in the domestic market. Leather footwear exported from India are dress shoes, casuals, moccasins, sport shoes, horrachies, sandals, ballerinas, boots. Non-leather footwear exported from India are Shoes, Sandals and Chappals made of rubber, plastic, P.V.C. and other materials. With changing lifestyles and increasing affluence, domestic demand for footwear is projected to grow at a faster rate than has been seen. There are already many new domestic brands of footwear and many foreign brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Florsheim, Rockport, etc. have also been able to enter the market. The footwear sector has matured from the level of manual footwear manufacturing methods to automated footwear manufacturing systems. The Indian Footwear Industry is gearing up to leverage its strengths towards maximizing benefits. Strength of India in the footwear sector originates from its command on reliable supply of resources in the form of raw hides and skins, quality finished leather, large installed capacities for production of finished leather & footwear, large human capital with expertise and technology base, skilled manpower and relatively low cost labor, proven strength to produce footwear for global brand leaders and acquired technology competence, particularly for mid and high priced footwear segments. Resource strength of India in the form of materials and skilled manpower is a comparative advantage for the country.

Market size of Indian Footwear industry:-

Ø The Indian footwear retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% for the period spanning from 2008 to 2011.

Ø Footwear is expected to comprise about 60% of the total leather exports by 2011 from over 38% in 2006-07.

Ø Presently, the Indian footwear market is dominated by Men’s footwear market that accounts for nearly 58% of the total Indian footwear retail market.

Ø By products, the Indian footwear market is dominated by casual footwear market that makes up for nearly two-third of the total footwear retail market.

Ø As footwear retailing in India remain focused on men’s shoes, there exists a plethora of opportunities in the exclusive ladies’ and kids’ footwear segment with no organized retailing chain having a national presence in either of these categories.

Ø The Indian footwear market scores over other footwear markets as it gives benefits like low cost of production, abundant raw material, and has huge consumption market.

Ø The footwear component industry also has enormous opportunity for growth to cater to increasing production of footwear of various types, both for export and domestic market.

(Source:-http://www.sfootwearsinfoline.tripod.com/ind_footwr_industry_overview.htm)

Executive Summary

Although common objective of all IMC program is increase brand awareness, sale and design a unique image of the product in customers mind. To communicate among public and customers, we will advertise our product campaign on TV, magazine, online. Through the advertisement we want to design the brand image of our product into the customer mind. Besides advertisement, we will also carry out promotional activity such as public relation, direct marketing etc. Various shoes company also organizes various events in order to communicate properly with customers, for example Reebok Brand had planned to launch an event called “Reebok Junnon” for their client “The Reebok hub” a multi brand outlet for apparel of shoes. The Main purpose of this event was to increase the sale of Reebok shoes. Before designing IMC program the Reebok Company carried out market research in order to judge customers behaviors toward their shoes. For research they design the strategy for “Reebok junnon” event. During the event they decided to get feedback from customer who visits “The Reebok hub” so that appropriate primary data can be collected for designing IMC strategy for “The Reebok hub”. Before designing integrated marketing communication program it is necessary to judge consumer’s behavior toward the product. It is necessary to known customers liking and disliking, these data provide various support during designing of IMC program. Although there are various media available for communicating but Printads in magazine and news paper is seen most effective medium in the case of shoes planning strategy. After Research survey done by various shoes company, it has been founded that male respondents were more brand conscious than female. There is no particular design trend in shoes among female, but males are more conscious towards their fashion trends. “Fitting” and “style” are the major attributes considered by customer while buying shoes.Our Shoes Company HUNKY which makes sports shoes has come up with a new IMC plan for the new sport shoes product for the new region Bihar where the target market in the segment Bihar will be Patna, Hajipur and muzaffarpur. In this report, we will further introduce ourselves and how we got started, internal and external situational analysis of our company, and why a new IMC plan is needed. HUNKY is a strong competitor in the SHOES industry and it is focusing on increasing the brand equity and profitability of companies focused on increasing their share in the footwear market. Our mission is to make sure that our clients have the tools and information that they need to become successful in the footwear market. HUNKY Company is basically made sport shoes so, we have segmented the market as a sport shoes among all shoes types. HUNKY Company is basically made sport shoes that are for all level of people. The HUNKY company target market for the sport shoes that will be kid’s to up to 15 years, young people and old people above 50 years. On the basis of this target market we will make positioning strategy and we will make IMC plan that will help us to increase market share and established the HUNKY brand in the market with respect to all competitors. We have looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the Hunky Company as well as the opportunities and threats and have included them in this IMC plan. HUNKY Company will use all IMC tools which will be best suited for flowing the message among the targeted people. We feel that Hunky would profit from making an innovative and customer oriented product that will use by mostly all level of people. Not many companies are focusing towards the older generation of shoes, so we want Hunky to be one of the first companies to have an all level of customer oriented sport shoes that will use by all level of people and this strategically message, we will introduce throughout in our IMC plan.

Marketing plan

Situational analysis

Every organization is facing a lot of problem at present time in market analysis, so it became very necessary for every organization that before setting any objective the organization must be carried out situation analysis in order to recognize strength, weakness, opportunities and threat present in the organization. “According to Sally and John, marketing plans are “the written document or blueprint for implementing and controlling an organization’s marketing activities related to a particular marketing strategy”. A successful marketing plan is able to improve organizations’ profits and growth, uses in objective setting and monitors results.

So to gain a successful market plan it is necessary to understand the current situation comprehensively and trends affecting the future of the organization.Situation analysis plays a vital role in developing marketing plan.First of all, it’s help our company to lead the dynamic marketing environment in the shoes market that will help to lead the uncertainty, threats and opportunities for marketers. Marketing managers who success to know changes in environment through situation analysis can lead their companies to capitalize on opportunities and cope with threats created by changes.

Then, systematically analyzing situational environments in order to identify our customers and understand their needs. There are certain opportunities for Shoes Company, such as increase more and more men and women design and innovative collection, increase market and market share through integrated PR, advertisement and promotional campaign. Besides opportunities there is a lot of threat that create barrier for Shoes Company.

These threats are as follow:

Ø Increasing competition in ethical design.

Ø Ethical brand is not taken seriously by public.

Ø High price and loyalty decrease loyalty towards brand.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis will help me to identify our company strength, weaknesses, opportunity and threats internally and externally both. Through this, we can easily identified our HUNKY competitors in the market and once we know the company weakness and what kind of oppournity we have for the present and future prospect then we can easily make cost effective IMC plan and strategic IMC plan for the company. In SWOT analysis of the company, we have find the following that will help to make more strategical and cost effective IMC plan:

STRENGTHS: –

Ø Easy availability of low cost for all level of people.

Ø Massive institutional support for technical services, designing, manpower development and marketing.

Ø Exporter-friendly government policies for shoes industry.

Ø Well-established linkages with buyers in all parts of India.

WEAKNESSES: –

Ø Lack of modern finishing facilities for leather.

Ø Highly unhygienic environment.

Ø Difficulties in accessing to testing, designing and technical services.

Ø Environmental problems.

Ø Non availability of quality footwear components in the market.

Ø Lack of fresh investment in the sector.

Ø Uneconomical size of manufacturing units.

Ø Weak support infra- structure for exports.

OPPORTUNITIES: –

Ø The Indian footwear retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% for the period spanning from 2008 to 2011.

Ø Footwear is expected to comprise about 60% of the total leather exports by 2011 from over 38% in 2006-07.

Ø Presently, the Indian footwear market is dominated by Men’s footwear market that accounts for nearly 58% of the total Indian footwear retail market.

Ø Abundant scope to supply finished leather to multinationals setting up shop in India.

Ø Growing fashion consciousness globally.

Ø Use of information technology and decision support software to help eliminate the length of the production cycle for different products

Ø Product diversification – There is lot of scope for diversification into other products, namely, leather garments, goods etc.

Ø Growing international and domestic markets.

Ø Retain customers through quality supplies and timely deliveries

Ø Aim to present the customer with new designs, infrastructure, and country & company profiles.

Ø Use of modern technology

Ø De-reservation of the footwear sector.

THREATS: –

Ø Entry of multinationals in domestic market.

Ø Stiff competition from other company.

Ø Non- tariff barriers – Developing countries are resorting to more and more non – tariff barriers indirectly.

Ø Fast changing fashion trends are difficult to adapt for every time for our company.

Market and Consumer behavior analysis

In Market analysis we must consider about the market size of the shoes industry in India. It is necessary to identify that who is the major competitor of our shoes company HUNKY. On the basis of market analysis we can easily identify our competitors in this field and after that we can easily target our segmented market which is beneficial for our new product and what kind of positioning message should be for them and how IMC will be affected for those target market can be easily identified. First of all we will see the market size of shoes industry:-

Ø The Indian footwear retail market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 20% for the period spanning from 2008 to 2011.

Ø Footwear is expected to comprise about 60% of the total leather exports by 2011 from over 38% in 2006-07.

Ø Presently, the Indian footwear market is dominated by Men’s footwear market that accounts for nearly 58% of the total Indian footwear retail market.

Ø Abundant scope to supply finished leather to multinationals setting up shop in India.

On the basis of that finding we will do all market activities regarding our IMC plan. Our discussion on market and consumer behavior will be strated to the following discussion of IMC plan of shoes:-

The major competitors in sport shoes in Indian context of the HUNKY Company are Nike, Reebok, Action shoes, Puma and Bata shoes. Apart from this some local seller of sport shoes in today’s scenario gives more competition because even they are not branded shoes but they are providing low price shoes. So, to face giant challenges from all these we are creating our core value of the company that is the sport shoes for all level of people that most of the major competitors do not have. They all (competitors) mostly targeted the younger generation but HUNKY Company will target all level of people in the sport shoes segment with affordable price.

Consumer Behavior analysis

In consumer behavior analysis we have find from company marketing research department that the consumer wants branded shoes but cheap price. Consumer also wants that the buying shoes can run in every environment and their social ego personality also influenced to buy a particular branded shoes. The consumer buying behavior basically influenced by various types of printing ad in business magazine and TV advertisement of sport shoes through different different types of celebrity. They also influenced by Newspaper ad because the newspaper is read by most of the people today’s. So, on the basis of this finding we emphasized our IMC planning according to customer choice. We will use those types of IMC tools for communicating the message to the people that will best for the need market.

Competitive analysis

The major competitors in sport shoes in Indian context of the HUNKY Company are Nike, Reebok, Action shoes, Puma and Bata shoes. They are the giant brand in the sport shoes segment and they are the well established brand. So to take a challenge in this segment from these all we will create our company brand value in the market through strong positioning message and with differentiate a unique sell property that is shoes for all level of people and this core value of the HUNKY Company will be shown throughout in IMC plan. Pricing factor will be also a major factor to differentiate to all competitors from our company HUNKY. Apart from this some local seller of sport shoes in today’s scenario giving more competition because they are not branded shoes and they are providing low price shoes. So, to face giant challenges from all we are creating our core value of the company that is the sport shoes for all level of people that most of the major competitors do not have. They mostly targeted the younger generation but HUNKY Company will target all level of people in the sport shoes segment with affordable price.

Marketing objective

After situation analysis we now able to know our organization strength, weakness, opportunities and threat present in environment. It provides a lot of support in setting of marketing objective. It’s provides a sense of direction to the company that what has to done in further marketing plan.

Ø Increase market share up to 20%.

Ø Increase sale by 50% in 6 month from thelaunch of public campaign.

Ø Create awareness among target audience. Use excessive advertising especially using media preferred by the target market.

Ø Create product belonging and position among buyer’s mind

Marketing Strategy

Toachieve this objective we implement various strategies.

Target market:

* Sport shoes for :-

Kids to up to 15 years

Young people

Older people above 50 years

Gender:male and female both

Marketing Mix Strategies:-

Product:-The Main aim of the Hunky Company is to produce high quality sport shoes in various qualities for all level of people. It is only possible to capture the attention of the target market. The name of our sport shoes is Hunky. The company is providing 2 years free servicing on sport shoes for the customer for customer satisfaction point of view.

Price: – The price range of the product range will be from Rs. 200 to 1500 hundred. The price will be depended upon the customer age and size of the product. The company will also provide discount offer and allowance for the channel members.

Place: – Thedistributionchannels for Hunky Company are as follows:-

Your browser may not support display of this image. MANUFACTURER (COMPANY)

Your browser may not support display of this image. WHOLESELLER

Your browser may not support display of this image. SHOES SEND TO RETAILER

CUSTOMER

Promotion:-In a promotion part of the product we are going to launch IMC plan for the target market.

Implementation Tactics

* Launch a blind ad campaign on billboards and magazines in all A class areas of major cities and magazine with respect to target market.

* Heavy advertising on TV, newspapers and magazines

* Set displays of shoes in showrooms and major dealer outlets in all cities.

* Continue Advertising.

Evaluate Performance

The Goal of our marketing plan is to achieve market objective that are established before implementation of marketing plan. We evaluate and control our strategic tactics by comparing our result with standard established before setting of plan, by measuring customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. If result is less than our standard than it means there is any default in implementation and monitoring in the program. The people who are responsible for the monitoring and control of the marketing plan will be the Marketing Executives, Sales Managers, Media Managers, Market Research Departments, and the Production Managers.Some activities will be carried out for evaluating the overall performance that will be precisely and closely evaluating the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics for example the gathering and structuring of data regarding market, product, consumers and the pricing trends, then the generation of daily sales report should be maintained and then in the end continuous reconfirming of the marketing budget and activities by the managers of different divisions.

IMC objective and strategy

Integrated Marketing Communications is a term used to describe a holistic approach to marketing communication. It aims to ensure consistency of message and the complementary use of media. The concept includes online and offline marketing channels. Online marketing channels include any e-marketing campaigns or programs, pay-per-click, affiliate, email, banner to latest web related channels for webinar, blog, micro-blogging, RSS, pod cast, and Internet TV. Offline marketing channels are traditional print (newspaper, magazine), mail order, public relations, industry relations, billboard, radio, and television. Hunky Company is developing its integrated marketing communication programmes using all the elements of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion So Integrated marketing communication is integration of all marketing tools, approaches, and resources within a company which maximizes impact on consumer mind and which results into maximum profit at minimum cost. Promotional activities include Advertising, sales promotion, and personal selling activities. It also includes internet marketing, sponsorship marketing, direct marketing, database marketing and public relations and integration of all these promotional tools along with other components of marketing mix to gain edge over competitor is called Integrated Marketing Communication.

Situational analysis

First of all we carried out situation analysis in order to understand the problem. In this we identify our competitors and their strategy for example Reebok junnon event strategy for Reebok hub client.Then, systematically analyzing situational environments in order to identify our customers and understand their needs. There are certain opportunities for Shoes Company, such as increase more and more men and women design. In IMC situational analysis we analyze innovative collection, increase market and market share through integrated PR, advertisement and promotional campaign. Besides opportunities there is a lot of threat that create barrier for Shoes Company. Under situation analysis, we also analyze financial position of company.

IMC objective

The IMC objective of the HUNKY company is following:-

* To Increase sale by 50% in next six month.

* To Increase brand awareness.

* To Increase customer loyalty.

* To Increase desire of customer.

* To Increase repeat purchase.

* To measure customer satisfaction.

* To create relationship with customer on personal level.

* To control and observe public opinion.

* To receive feedback from customer on regular basis.

Problem and opportunity

After situational analysis we must find the problem regarding IMC communication related to the current market environment. In situational analysis we find that there is a lack of awareness regarding the knowledge of quality of sport shoes. Most of the people prefer only branded sport shoes whatever the quality belongs to that particular branded product. The problem also belongs to the people attitude towards the new launching product that is my company HUNKY. Our company Hunky when going to be launch new shoes product into the market then the attitude of people towards our product may not be trusty because several shoes company successful established in to the market and among them we have to create Hunky brand positioning into the market. So we must consider all these things before launching IMC tools towards our product. We will have to also care about the distribution channel of Hunky Company and also about the marketing mix communication. Opportunity in the terms of the availability of product into the market and differentiating nature of product regarding competitors. In Hunky we are creating the core value of our product that is shoes for all level of people with affordable price that most of our competitors do not have. We will also persuate regarding new adding feature with latest technology among people in to the market.

Communication objective

The Hunky communication objective is to achieve all marketing objective which are prescribed in marketing plan through strong positioning message. As a Hunky company IMC planner our communication objective is to create awareness among the people regarding our product. Our communication objective is to give the technical knowledge and competitive benefit about our product to the target market. For this by the help of

IMC plan we create the brand image of our product and differentiate feature of our product into the mind of customer.

Our positioning message for our product will be the following:-

Be One Step Ahead in Fashion and quality with HUNKY

By the help of this strategic positioning message we will create our brand value among all competitors.

Budget

The companies IMC budget will be depend upon the total objective which is to be achieved in a total financial year. In Hunky Company, IMC budget is 80 crore for the financial year 2009-10. In this amount we will capture our target market through various types of IMC tools through the strong positioning message.

IMC strategy

Target audience: – The Hunky company target market for the shoes product is kids to up to 15 years, young people and old people above 50 years. Now for this through IMC tools we target the audience who will be responsible to buy Hunky product for their families. For kids segment our target audience will be the mother, for young people our target audience will be their wives or their mutual friends, for old people our target audience will be their sons or their families. So we have to flow our strategical planning through IMC tools with respect to the target audience of our product.

IMC tools used

We will use following tools for capturing the target audience with respect to the target market:-

Ø ADVERTISEMENT (BUDGET- 30 CRORE)

Ø SALES PROMOTION (BUDGET-20 CRORE)

Ø PUBLIC RELATION (BUDGET-10 CRORE)

Ø DIRECT MARKETING (BUDGET-10 CRORE)

Ø MEDIA PLANNING (BUDGET- 10 CRORE)

The operational strategy of above all applying IMC tools for the HUNKY shoes company is following:-

ADVERTISEMENT

In advertisement part we will expend Rs. 30 crore. The main objective of the advertisement of the Hunky company will be the following:-

Ø To increase brand awareness.

Ø To inform to the target market about our product.

Ø To persuade about the Hunky shoes to the target market with respect to price and quality and with our positioning message.

PRICE RANGE: – Rs.200 TO 1500 ONLY

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Advertising Strategy:-

We will develop an Advertising Strategy to achi