Morgan ScottTerri DautcherPrinciples of Marketing December 17, 2014

Ethical Fashion Marketing Plan

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary

Situation Analysis Marketing SummarySWOT AnalysisCompetition

Marketing Strategy ObjectivePositioning Marketing Mix

ProductPromotionDistributionPricing

Financials

ControlsImplementation Organizational structure Contingency Planning

Executive Summary:

Ethical Fashion is a women and men’s shoe store in Manchester, NH Mall. Manchester badly needs an eco- upscale shoe store for women/men because the current stores have an inadequate selection. Currently, women & men that need a special pair of shoes often must shop at Macys or JcPenny! However, their shoes are nothing like ours! We offer the most ecofriendly shoes that people will be proud of purchasing.

Ethical Fashion will have an unmatched, extensive selection of different shoes. Generally, the size of Ethical Fashions selection is high-priced due to all the different sizes that must be stocked per style. Ethical Fashion has a unique business model that allows them to have an extensive selection at the cost of only stocking a few sizes per style. This is accomplished through a special relationship with the wholesaler, so Ethical Fashion can receive a customer's needed size within two days. If customers buy through our store, rather than online, we are more than happy to pay for the shipping. However overnight rush shipping is available for standard shipping and handling costs.  When it comes to trendy, fashionable, eco friendly shoes, aesthetics are prioritized just as much as fit. Ethical Fashion will leverage Nine West and Steve Madden extensive knowledge of the women's retail shoe industry to quickly gain market share. Profitability will be reached by month ten and  $7,000,000 will be generated in revenue in year three.

Situation Analysis:A Plymouth State student, Morgan Scott, founded Ethical Fashion Shoes, of December

2014. The goal of this shoe line is to produce a recycled shoe that still has the “High Fashion” look. This look appeal to everyone from the east coast to the west coast and all over the world. We offer a variety of styles and proposals. Our vision is to create a few low and high volume stores in malls and outlets scattered through out the most popular cities in the country & world. We plan to help the environment and the economy as much as we can by; taking peoples old shoes and reinforcing them into something beautiful, produce jobs and have a clear message that just because something is recycled doesn't mean its not of valuable. In our stores we included as much recycled material as we can to not contradict ourselves on our message and product.

Our competitors include, Nine West and Steve Madden and people that don't feel the need to wear high prices shoe wear. To successfully stay in the game and one day lead the race we need to employ sales people for each store that can relate to the target market. We also need to hire an addition sales person to handle chain and financial accounts. We hire the best of the best (full/part time) employees to make sure that we push our numbers of sales and to keep the company afloat. Not only do we have a great floor teams we also hire creative innovative designers to stay on top of the trends and produce a product of high quality and attraction.

Market Summary:

The United States retail sector features the largest number of large, profitable retailers in the world. A 2012 Deloitte report published in STORES magazine indicated that of the world's top 250 largest retailers by retail sales revenue in fiscal year 2010, 32% of those retailers were based in the United States, and those 32% accounted for 41% of the total retail sales revenue of the top 250. Among retailers and retails chains a lot of strengthening has appeared over the last couple of decades.

SWOT AnalysisStrengths Ethical Fashion can build on six important strengths

1. World Wide company2. Eco-Friendly 3. Quality product4. Up to date with Fashion trends5. Strong management 6. Pricing Power

Weaknesses Ethical Fashion had three main weaknesses1. Brand Recognition2. TV adverting3. Brand Identity

Opportunities Ethical shoes can take advantages of six major market opportunities:1. Online & in-store advertising 2. Sales/ Discounts3. Offers accessories/ handbags4. Sold in outlets5. Could be sold in other retail stores6. Customer Service

Threats Ethical Fashion faces five threats1. Limited Sponsors 2. Competition 3. High capital costs4. Political risks5. Substitute products

CompetitionEthical Fashion has positioned itself in the top five markets of manufacturing shoes.

Ethical Shoes targets market includes both the men and women ages 25-34. The market targets trendy, fashionable, and consumers that will spend their money for high quality recycled shoes that keep up with their empowering image. Ethical Fashion and their competitors have the same thing in common that they all sell accessories, handbags, jewelry, and socks. Our top competitors are Nine West, and Steve Madden.

Nine West sub-brand of the American clothing, accessories designer brand, Stemming

From its 30 year presence in the industry and its ‘Hot 9’ selection of ‘must-haves’ of the currentSeason, Nine West is positioned as a “trusted fashion advisor in every category”. They claim toBe recognized as a complete lifestyle brand that translates looks from the runway to “real lifeFashion,” Like Ethical Fashion Nine West has positioned itself to reach the top five markets. Nine wests are currently targeting African American only women from the ages of 25-34. Nine West is reaching consumers in the North East census region.

Steve Madden is the “American designer label by the “fashion footwear mogul” of theSame name, whose vision is to give “young, fashion forward women a unique way to express,Their individuality through style”. This brand is positioned as one that represents a lifestyle, butOne that pivots around the central idea of “embracing fashion” while retaining the “funkyIndependence” that originally defined the brand. Steve Madden along with its competitors are positioned to reach the top five-market region area. Like Ethical Fashion Steve Madden is targeting, women from the ages 18-24. Like Nine West, Steve Maddens target audience is located in the North East census region.

Marketing StrategyObjective Mission Statement; to consistently provide a total customer experience through our people, products and environment and to ensure an enjoyable and memorable shopping experience for every customer. People The Ethical Fashion family adopts a people-first approach at every level. Our team members are the glue of the company and the greatest articulators of our philosophy and core values.Products Ethical Fashion brands are always at the forefront of their market segment. Exclusivity is key: styles are designed and developed specifically for each banner to reflect their individual "personalities" and aesthetic.Environments Each Ethical Fashions store carries its own atmosphere: a look, feel and attitude that supports and enhances the products. Each brand conveys its message through store design, merchandising and style of interaction with clients.

Target MarketIn Ethical Fashion, the purchased groups are mostly female and very few male. Ethical

Fashions targeted consumers are people who are capable of sustaining a higher price range of trendy recycled products. Moreover, the ratio of space used to display female and male products in all Ethical Fashions branches is about three to two. Although the display products are updated on a biweekly basis, men’s shoes updates every quarter. Ethical Fashions targets mainly in female consumers because female consumers often do luxury shopping. In contrast, male consumers update their outfit and accessories on a more irregular basis. As well, we noticed that female and male in suite would spend longer time looking and try wearing the shoes. Since the

shoes these people choose from represent and illustrate his or her professionalism, the style and color of the shoes that they prefer are usually simple, classic and monotone. Younger people aged around eighteen to twenty-five often look for shoes that are trendy, fancy, and stylish. To the young group, shoes play a crucial part of fashion. Male consumers usually discover their need first before going out to purchase the product; whereas most female consumers purchase unneeded products due to various factors such as pricing, salesperson, and mood. Men spend much lesser time than woman in choosing and trying his desired shoes. Most man would ask for assistance for recommendations in picking up the right shoes.

PositioningEthical Fashion marketing objective is to raise brand awareness, increase total sales and

promote the holiday shopping season. Ethical Fashion will focus on reaching their current consumers while working towards expanding their target market to acquire new customers. Ethical Fashion’s goal is to increase sales and raise brand awareness through charity events and to heavily advertise to engage with their consumers on upcoming styles, fashion trends, discounts and upcoming events the company will be sponsoring.

Marketing MixProduct: Ethical Fashions has come out with a brand new seasonal line of shoes ranging

from sandals to boots. Each season has its own theme and style, for example: This year’s 2015 summer look has everything to do with pastels and lace up heels and flats. Each style comes in a variety of 4 colors. For fall we have started to hop on the trend of ankle boots. Not only will they be offered in the hottest maroon color, a variety of heel highs and optional fur will be introduced to the new line. For winter we are bundling up in work boots. No more ruining great leather shoes to the snow and slush our new microfiber boots will repeal water and salt stains. Now for our spring line it’s all about the patterns inspired from the nature that we are banding together to save. Not only will our shoes look the part of a flower but uses tightly woven hemp and recycled leather to feel and be as free as nature. We offer amazing discounts such as if you donate shoes the quality of the donated shoes will take a percentage off your purchase. We also offer free shipping in store rather than use our website for $5 shipping. (With this as an added feature it helps our stores keep their numbers up). We also stand by our products so if they get damage will send it to our personal cobbler and fix them up as best we can.

Promotion: Will increase brand awareness and plans to advertising heavily in Internet, print, cable TV, radio and direct mail. Also will launch a new ad campaign to sponsor their new line of Pink shoes that will be offered in the sprint collection that will raise proceeds for the Susan G Komen Foundation. The event will take place in October and will be aired through Cable TV on E! Entertainment network, Style, MTV, Oprah, Ellen and will use radio to broadcast the Breast Cancer shoe line event on weekly drives. Ethical Fashion will advertise during the holiday season through magazine print ads with a half page cover in Vogue, Cosmopolitan, People and Vanity Fair. A majority of the advertising budget will be spent on

online advertising through social media, banner ads, fashion blogs, and on their own site to promote online shopping. Direct mail will be spent out to announce upcoming events, discounts and birthday promos that will increase brand loyalty. The bulk of Ethical Fashion’s budget will be on expanding their target audience and raising brand awareness through their designated media channels.

Distribution: The distribution network is fast, tight and agile - a network that enables maximum and efficient flow. In order to serve our stores worldwide, we have set up offices and distribution centers around the globe. Located in Boston, our main HQ is a technological genius with a working space of 630,000 square feet and the capacity to sort up to 9,000 pairs of shoes an hour to 650 different destinations! The state-of-the-art, modern distribution center handles all distribution operations for North America including new merchandise receipts and shipments, recalls, store fixture distribution and transport. In addition to our Boston HQ, we have distribution centers in the Canada, the U.K., China and Italy.

Pricing: Ethical Fashions pricing is designed to be competitive to the other fashion Shoe retailer. The pricing is based on the foundation of premium segment as target customers. Ethical Fashion as a brand commands high premiums. The average shoe price ranges from 50-175 dollars. However Ethical fashion offers many discounts such as a gold card, which allows customers to set up a payment plan to help pay for the shoes and gives 10% off when used.

FinancialsSales growth will be aggressive the first 18 months as we sharpen our merchandise

assortment, size scales, and stock levels to better meet our customers' requirements. However, it is expected that Ethical Fashion will become profitable in the first year. This is partly due to our manufacturing of shoes, quality and overall sales price for merchandise, compared to our competitors. Once we have a solid customer base, we can increase our margins slightly without risk of losing customers.

Ethical Fashions media plan will reach consumers in October, November, December and May. Ethical Fashion plans to have a high reach and frequency for October, November and December. We plans to aim lower in reach for September and May to introduce the fall and spring line of products. For the months of September and May we plan to spend the same budget around 2 million dollars and plan to advertise heavily in Internet, radio, prime time and magazines. Ethical Fashion will spend about 4 million dollars, a majority of their budget for their Breast Cancer event in October. This event will have the highest reach and frequency and will be advertised in newspapers, news, radio, and Internet. For the holiday shopping season Ethical Fashion will be advertising heavily in Internet for cyber Monday in November. And advertise heavily in magazines, radio to promote the holiday shopping season. Both months will be spending around 3 million dollars.

ControlsThe purpose of Ethical Fashions marketing plan is to enable strong management positions

to guide and organize the company in the most profitable and ethical way. The following areas will be monitored continuously to help maintain efficiency and gauge performance.

Revenue: Yearly, Monthly and annually Expenses: Yearly, Monthly and annually Customer Satisfaction: Continuously New Product Development: Continuously

ImplementationEthical Fashion will use our interactive sales representative to track customer response to

all shoe purchases and to determine additional needs of the customer. Furthermore our company will have tight quality control measure to ensure products delivered to customers are high quality and defect free. A sales representative over see the shipment in stores to make sure there are no mixes (two different sizes) or if shoes are in the wrong boxes this is to avoid potential customer service issues. Sales numbers will be monitored weekly/monthly to ensure we are on track to reach our objective. Sales will be monitored in 4 groups: Shoes, Purses/Accessories, Shoe Care and Online Orders. These groups will be issues a percent in which they need to maintain so our sales are complete for the weeks and at end of the month. Associated will be liable for these percentages to not only monitor the store but also there selling technique and progress. Owners will meet with the sales representatives after every month to discuss any issues with sakes and the success of the marketing plan. If any issues are found, immediate action will be taken to improve the situation.

In order to have a successful product launch and to begin realizing targeted first years sales of 121 units, we have created a series of actions and programs that will be implemented in sequential, campaign order.

1. December 2015- Product literature is printed and distributed. This includes electronic distribution from our internal website and print flyers for direct mail and contact list.

2. December 2015- Sales people are given training on computers with product applications and marketing literature.

3. December 2016- Sales people are given sales routes and first product meetings are scheduled and completed with top 10 targeted customers

4. January 2016- Invite representatives from target top 3 shoe retailers to tour the new store and production facility and discuss new opportunities.

5. January 2016- Chosen company representatives attend and present at the EF (Environmental Fashion) fashion show to provide information and modeling of Ethical Fashions product line. This will cause good publicity and sponsors.

6. February 2016- Advertise in two fashion magazines- People, GQ

7. March 2016- Host internal sales conferences to provide sales people with quarter 1, 2015, statistics, solicit feedback on the level of success of the marketing plan, and make adjustments to the plan accordingly.

Organizational StructureEthical Fashion owners work as a team to manage the marketing activities of the

company. Initial plans are discussed and decisions are approved before implementation, which is the responsibility of the vice president of marketing. A catalog publication firm will be hired to provide customized catalogs for the different target segments, and a consultant will be trained to build a website for customer communication and purchasing.

Contingency PlanningDifficulties & Risks

Problems generating visibility An entry into the market that adopts similar recycled shoe products

Worst Case Risks May Include Determining that the business cannot support itself on an ongoing basis Having to liquidate equipment to cover liabilities

Work Cited:

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"Clothing Manufacturer Business Plan." Sample. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Sycamore's Nine West Footwear Group to Split Into Four Companies."Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Free Shipping on All Orders|Steve Madden Official Site." Free Shipping on All Orders|Steve Madden Official Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Steven Madden (SHOO)." Stock:. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014. "STEVEN MADDEN, LTD." |Company Profile|Vault.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.

"Economy of the United States." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.