The Marketing Strategy Of Ted Baker

You are working as a marketing consultant and have been asked to undertake research into the promotional tactics of a high street clothing retailer. This clothing retailer is of your choice, but you are advised to visit Oxford Street or Covent Garden to conduct this research.

Information is required on the practical promotional mix policies undertaken by the clothing retailer.

As part of the promotional mix portfolio, you must support your practical work with a formal report. This report should apply the theoretical aspects of the promotional mix used in your chosen clothing retailer and evaluate the effectiveness of these tactics.

Oxford Street is a retail destination which generates weekly footfall of approximately 600,000 customers. Moreover, Eastern Oxford Street has been blighted for many things. Huge investments have been made into this area. There are number of retailers which are opening stores and footfall is continuously going up. The oxford street is continuously under regeneration and benefits from high quality residential spaces, offices and retail shops.  Oxford Street is the key focus of west retail market with flagship stores and departmental stores are the chief concern of footfall. Bond Street is best luxury pitch in whole London with new jewelry section. This is one of the expensive streets in whole Europe and top rents are reaching more than €11,200 per square m. The limited supply of inventories on Bond Street has driven growth throughout the past 2 years and a premium for the quality space is being paid. The shortage of well-configured units is a factor on both oxford and Regent Street. The London comprises of two tier market which has prime streets which experience rental level increase and it is a more of challenging market. Ted Baker London is performing well. It comprises of luxury retailers and fashions in village sets besides other shopping malls in London. This center has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. Ted Baker has opened in month of March 1988 and it is largest urban shopping centers of Europe. The center has revenue of 591.6 million pounds and has operating income 70 million pounds and comprises of products such as men’s clothing, women’s clothing and children clothing.

Ted Baker London is a leisure center and iconic shopping mall in London, generating the footfall of 25 million people in whole year and has created twenty thousand jobs by year 2017. The company has been able to transform the UK retail landscape and has rejuvenated the complete area through expansion and improvement. This is an expansion of transport hub and has changed the way customers do the shopping through the adaptation of new technology system. Customers who are visiting the Ted Baker London have been greeted through varied and exciting retail experience that entertains hundreds of customers every day (Slater, Hult and Olson, 2010).

The stores in Ted Baker London houses 490 luxury and high street retailers from 15 different countries. The Ted Baker London has a pride on delivering the exciting and new experiences for the customers and has brought various leading brands in UK that includes Romford Market, Cheshire Oaks and Bicester Village Retail outlet. The center supports upcoming and new retail shops hosting the different pop-up retail stores throughout the complete year. Ted Baker London has been regarded as luxury mall which has been designed specifically for catering to luxury demands of the consumer (Asad, 2012).

The retail store houses high end retail luxury brands within a boutique and beautiful style environment and houses the globe renowned retailers like Versace, Prada, Gucci and Vuitton. Customers who visit Ted Baker London also experience the luxury offers through style advice, personal shopping and valet services of parking. Entertainment at the Ted Baker Shopping stores provides world class shopping experience. This can be regarded as the leisure destination for tourists and London people (Onoren, Arar and Yurdakul, 2017). The cinema regularly becomes the host to world’s primary film releases and center events like Santa’s grotto and ice rink skating and these are some of the biggest attractions of London. Ted Baker London group provides the vast range of dining options ranging from on the go to sit down dining options. It also acts as the host to some of the latest musical artists. The Ted Baker will present the best platform that provides technical and spaces support for different artists to perform in center. Ted Baker London has been continually investing in local area and providing training and jobs, tourism, urban development and footfall. A Ted Baker has stores in United States, South Africa, Australia and Middle East and provides the new dining and retail experience to the customers and there will be transformative impact on local areas (Fung, 2014).

Promotional Mix Techniques

The center was opened in March 1988 and after the expansion plans, it has become the largest shopping center. This is an apparel store industry and other large scale projects of real estate development are in the planning stage. The Ted Baker London has been noted for its size and has a retail floor of 1.615 million feet square. After the time, it got opened this was reported as the second largest commercial center in UK. Ted Baker has been noted for its operational income of 52.6 million pounds and has become the largest in Europe and UK (Aydin, 2017).

The demonstration program and loves shows and festival experiences are simply regarded as ad on events for the Ted Baker group and becoming the center piece of strategy and bring campaigns to life. According to the Analysis, continental research done in 2009 the brand has been increased by 70 percent and has been exposed to experiential activity. The Marketing strategy of Ted Bake has positioned itself as the destination for entertainment and events and shopping (Krishnamurthy, 2010).

This is a strategic management assessment tool which analyzes industry and comprehends the profitability levers. Ted Baker Group Managers are using porter five forces model for understanding how the profitability influences and strategy development can provide the competitive edge and long term profitability in this industry (Grebenshchikova and Yakushev, 2017). These can be explained as below-

1. Threat of new entrants- This brings innovation and new strategies of doing things and Ted Baker needs to lower its pricing strategy and providing the value propositions to customers. All the challenges act as the effective barriers for safeguarding the competitive edge. The Ted Baker needs to innovate new products and services. This will bring new customers and provide a reason to old customers to purchase Ted Baker products.
2. Bargaining power of suppliers-The Ted Baker must build effective supply chain with numerous suppliers. The company can experiment with product designs and different materials can be used if prices are going high by raw materials and reduce the dependency on others(Fung, 2014).
3. Bargaining power of buyers-Buyers is very demanding. Best offerings are made available by the minimum prices possible. This will put a lot of pressure on Ted Baker on long run. Ted Baker Group needs to understand higher the bargaining power of customers and can seek offers and discounts. Bargaining power of buyers can be constructed through the large base of customers. This is helpful in many ways. This will reduce the bargaining power of buyers and provide the opportunity to streamline the production and sales process(Alrawashdeh, 2012).
4. Threat of substitute services or products- When a new service or product will meet the similar customer demands in different ways, the profitability of industry will suffer. By becoming service oriented rather than product oriented. The core needs of customer must be understood rather than what customer is buying(Barutcu, 2008).
5. Rivalry among existingcompetitors-If the rivalry is intense then it can drive down prices and decrease the profitability of industry. By building the sustainable differentiation and collaborating with competitors and increasing the market size rather than competing for smaller markets (Karagiannopoulos, Georgopoulos and Nikolopoulos, 2005).

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By analyzing the segmenting, targeting and positioning, Ted Baker Group can get the complete picture of what will impact the organizations profitability. This can identify the game changing trends and swiftly exploit emerging opportunities. Ted Baker Group is not retaining the CRM agency and continuously boosting the marketing skills by building the stronger relationship with regular visitors. Ted Baker is presently reviewing the advertising business and with the launch of pop store development is largest shopping center in East London and providing the 1.9 million square feet of leisure and retail space (Jahan, 2012).

The Ted Baker Group has a strong office market across the town centers which are driven by costs in the central London. The success and attractiveness can act as a place for doing the business and this puts pressure on growing the new businesses. Time has come to capture and support the growth and ensuring flexible and affordable workspaces. This is how the Ted Baker Group responds to existing need through scale-ups and startups. The new development policy of Ted Baker Group can deliver flexible marketing campaigns which stem from creative and digital industries (Ghandat, 2015). The company needs to provide for the informal marketing campaigns which can create new spaces for the start-ups in various developments. The emerging marketing plan is targeted at increasing the suitable workspace through the creation of co-working startups. Investment in marketing campaigns will be encouraged through local plans and creation of the co-working hubs.

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The Ted Baker Group is operating a social and economic procurement policy. These are aimed at creation of new opportunities for providing the training and jobs for local residents through the procurement of goods and services (Grundy, 2006). This involves reaching out to local audience, simplification of other requirements, splitting of contracts into lots and settlement of targets for people and reaching out to local audience. The business needs to apply different approaches to make up for promotional agreements and must plan to expand and develop local procurement and demand programs. The business needs to require the prime developers to pass the favorable promotional terms and requires how the Ted Baker Group monitors it. The business growth will foster through the entrepreneur networks. Planned mechanisms will be used for creating promotional campaigns. By 2020, Ted Baker Group needs to support the investment in social and economic value approach for procurement of new opportunities and establishment of a venture capital fund for creative and tech industry firms. The technology giant has partnership with Ted Baker UK stores. It has been two decades; there has been a slight shift in the Ted Baker’s Marketing Strategy. There has been a remarkable increase in the sales by 20 percent. The online sales has been at 16 .2 million pounds (Renko, Sustic and Butigan, 2011).

Porter’s Five Forces Model

The association between Pop stores and Ted Baker is part of marketing strategy. This will create the experiences within shopping centers. Light color Therapy techniques are the pioneering ways for sharing experiences from outfit shots as well as experiential videos can provide the delighted moments which are live through Ted Baker group. Shopping center activity have been motivated through the needs for meeting with the customer demand and offering the large diversity of retailers, the array of wider choice of leisure activities and other offerings. Considering the leisure activities are enhancing the wellbeing. Ted Baker Group is operating one hundred and ninety two retail stores in UK and continuously dedicating more space to events, dining and entertainment and leisure.

Technology has transformed the way in which the people shop and Ted Baker London shoppers can experience the latest innovation in the centers. Ted Baker London has become the first shopping mall to launch the click and collect service. The shoppers are provided with unique opportunity of picking the online purchases in a convenient way and has personalized app which will allow customers to interact with retailers and brands that the customers like and receive customized information and offers (Casey, Geradts and Nikkel, 2018).  Ted Baker Group owns more than 100 shopping malls in 4 countries and recognizes the retail future which is driven through technology enabled connectivity. The retail giant has a swerve digital marketing tactic which will be intended to provide the timely and personalized information that can help the customers shop the entire shopper journey.  Digital marketing is considered essential to the Ted Baker marketing. The company is entrusted with the development of best shopping experiences in destinations and delivering the best shopping search and advisory experiences in creating the inspiration for influencing the journey of a shopper and driving the online retail sales and its centers.

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In year 2011, Ted Baker Group has launched one stop online shopping mall and this has become the largest virtual lifestyle and fashion range. Ted Baker has signed the hundred retailers with more than 300,000 products on the virtual site of Ted Baker. With time, Ted Baker will be adding new retailers to site. The plan is providing the unbeatable availability and variety for shoppers can satisfy all the retail desires and without having to click the competitor (Faisal, 2016). The company is providing the free shipping on all the fashion and accessories purchase and providing the free returns method. Ted Baker have made online shopping the viable and alternatives for old fashioned method of going into the Ted Baker center. The virtual site is getting popular with online shoppers and filling the clear gap in market where shoppers can easily search and compare the products from variety of retailers and purchase everything in one transaction. Like any other major retailer, Ted Baker has been operating the Facebook page and YouTube channel. However, the company has introduced the twist in the typical social media pages through enlistment of relatable and friendly ambassador of sorting. There are encouraged conversations on smart buys, lifestyle and fashions and Ted Baker blog on its virtual website (Kim, 2016).

Away From Store

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Shoppers trust recommendations from different shoppers. There are virtual researching benefits and customers are more savvy about online shopping. The additional creations include the online styling additional service which will allow customers to email the stylist and receive recommendations on wardrobe dilemmas and mobile apps which will be used for locating the shopping centers through GPS. Customers can contact retailers, receive the discounts and offers and create the personalized lists of shopping and balanced gift cards.

There are digital initiatives which are introduced through Ted Baker and company has been focused on the paradigm shift in the shopper behavior and adjustment of investment and resources in past three years. Ted Baker is continuously innovating and enhancing the shopping experience (Mogilko, 2016).

The AIDA approach stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and action. In order to attract the customer, the best approach is disruption. The customer is literally paying the attention. It can be achieved through the shock factor, personalization and location of Ted Baker Group. The advertisement can be placed in unexpected situation and this is known as ambient media. As soon as the customer’s attention has been grabbed and the product or service is inherently fascinating. Maintaining the interest of consumer is a particular challenge. The information about Ted Baker Group is projected with lively and attractive illustrations. It can be assumed the Ted Baker Group has been able to grab the customer attention. The advertisement must be able to create the desire. The story must be relevant for making the product irresistible. The Ted Baker Group is coming up with infomercials; these are showing products in dozen situations. The infomercial will provide the facts about the product until viewers are amazed. Closing the sale point comes with the Action. Marketing here implies bringing the customers out of the chairs. The action can be making the call or visiting the website. This can also imply going to the showroom or to a test drive (Henderson, 2005).

Above the Line advertising activities are used for promotion of brands and reaching to target customers. These will include the conventional media, radio and television advertising, print and internet advertising. The Ted Baker corporation targets communication to a wider audience and this is not specific to the individual customer. ATL advertising is targeted to reach out to the masses.

Below the line advertising is targeted one to one and distributions of promotions, brochures, stickers are placed at point of sale through placards and banners. This involves product demos by Ted Baker and samplings in malls and different residential complexes and market places. For few markets, rural markets, where the print and television is limited, BTL marketing activities outreach programs and create brand awareness for generating more ROI (Miller and Martin, 2016).

The communication process will get a hundred percent response and consumers who will not take any action are left with positive and lasting impression. The best way of learning the communication process is to look at some of the big decisions taken by customers. The customer’s attention is grabbed through the communication process and feed with the desire to buy the product. Creation of direct marketing campaigns tends to be the massive proponents of communication process. The direct mail communication process has certain challenges and taking decision is the solution through a direct communication challenge. The subject line of email marketing campaigns must be able to grab the attention, the content will be able to raise the interest and inculcate desire. Final action is the simple click. Sales promotions done by

Ted Baker Group is handled directly through the company and outsourced to specifically agencies and this must be related with advertising campaigns. The proper communication model has been preferred on several occasions and gains the personal interaction with customers (Winter, Steinebach and Yannikos, 2014).

Conclusion 

At present, there is a remarkable increase in attention and interest from shopping centers across the UK. The Ted Baker Group can include pop-up solutions as an integral part of the retail strategy. The innovative prime concern of well-designed retail outlet must be able to tell the story which can create memorable and unexpected experiences. The Ted Baker Group that manages more than thirty retail outlets is one of the shopping centers that include pop ups in retail strategy. The retail outlet must have the story to tell and everyday a new chapter must be written. The biggest challenge for retail outlet is not becoming the boring collection. The shopping centers must be the reflection of one-stop shopping lifestyle destination. There is a wide variety of shopping centers that provides leisure activities as well as dining options. The Ted Baker Group must be able to refresh the shopping mix and inject the innovativeness into retail structure. Ted Baker Group has included the new stores in the heart of retail strategy. This complements the retail mix and ensure every time the customer visits, new experience can be provided. The retail shopping centers have awareness that they should be relevant with switched n customer. The customer must remain informed and interpret messages quickly.

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Image References-

Kutty (2018). Ted Baker: Brand Profile + Line Development. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/ShraddhaKutty1/ted-baker-brand-profile [Accessed 6 Nov. 2018].

Kutty (2018). Ted Baker: Brand Profile + Line Development. [online] Slideshare.net. Available at: https://www.slideshare.net/ShraddhaKutty1/ted-baker-brand-profile [Accessed 6 Nov. 2018].

Tedbakerplc.com. (2018). Ted Baker. [online] Available at: https://www.tedbakerplc.com/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2018].

Tedbakerplc.com. (2018). Ted Baker. [online] Available at: https://www.tedbakerplc.com/ [Accessed 6 Nov. 2018].