Background Information
Joe Fresh is a fashion brand created in Canada by the designer Joe Mimran for the Canadian group Loblaw Companies Limited. The company focuses primarily on producing apparel, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, and many other units under the general brand name Joe Fresh. The company is well-distributed all over Kanada. Joe Frash’s products are currently available in over 1450 outlets, including over 350 Loblaw stores, 1200 Shoppers Drug Mart stores, and eight freestanding stores (About Joe Fresh, n.d.). The general concept of the brand was focused on advancing the clothes in the supermarkets. Earlier, Mimran cooperated with Loblaw.
However, the collections were created specifically for children. Joe Fresh’s branding was supposed to overtake the market of adult clothes. After several months of the project realization. The production surpassed the total proposed net profit (About Joe Fresh, n.d.). Consumers found such an approach to clothes buying convenient. Later, the company focused on advancing several plated shops of brands. The supermarket sales were significant, but Mimran strived to expand. The success in the home market encouraged Mimran to open several shops in New York and other American regions. Despite the doubts of the authorities of the Law, the brand managed to become one of the most successful clothes retailers. Uniting with the J. C. Penny’s department store chain Joe Fresh opened many separate shops in the United States of America (About Joe Fresh, n.d). Thus, the Joe Fresh brand moved to the international level.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis is a method of strategic planning for assessing internal and external factors that affect the development of a company. SWOT analysis is needed to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the company and determine development prospects and external threats. SWOT analysis helps to identify and structure facts about a company or product, compare data, and reveal subtle connections (Benzaghta et al., 2021). As a result, it will be much easier to develop a product promotion strategy in the future. For the selected company, the results of this analysis are, first of all, the basis for the development of an interconnected set of strategies, competitive measures, and optimization of business processes.
Strengths
One of the significant advantages of the company’s strategy is allocating the vertical trading concept. Vertical marketing is such a marketing approach when there is a single product distribution system consisting of a manufacturer, sellers who buy goods in bulk, and retailers who sell products to the end customer. In such a system, only one participant owns all funds circulating in the system (Dong et al., 2018).
It creates a significant competitive advantage for Joe Fresh compared to traditional retailers. Brand controls all the production and distribution processes, avoiding buying wholesale with overpaying. Such an approach to production results in low prices which attracts customers and makes production affordable. These techniques perfectly corresponded with the necessity to sell the supermarkets’ products.
Another strength of the brand is the strategy to make luxury clothes more affordable. Inspired by famous brands such as Balenciaga, Mimran recreates similar clothes designs using cheaper materials (About Joe Fresh, n.d.). The clothes are not duplicates or identical. The designers only follow the fashion tendencies established by popular retailers. Product variety is one of the most effective competitive advantages of the brand.
The variety of apparel and accessories for women, men, kids, toddlers, and babies ensures a broad client base (Joe Fresh affiliate program, n.d.). Moreover, allocating such varied populations created stability for the company’s existence. Such an approach eliminates the risk of changing fashion tendencies. Moreover, the products for primarily all population ensures a particular level of income buying time for the company to follow the fashion trends established by major luxury brands.
Weaknesses
The strategy of Joe Fresh seems well-designed, establishing medium-quality products in combination with the affordable prices policy. However, one significant weakness is related not to the independent shops but to supermarket distribution collections. The major problem is the low level of the services in the supermarkets. People have almost nobody to consult with on the topic of the size or availability of goods. Such an issue can be associated with the negative experiences of customers.
Another problem can be associated with the issue of copying luxury products following general fashion tendencies. The brand’s status can be significantly damaged if people see popular brand goods’ direct references or fakes. This aspect of production should be carefully controlled. The boundary between imitation and inspiration should not be crossed. Another weakness can be associated with the inquiries of vertical sales. Entirely integrated companies are slower to adapt to new technologies due to high exit costs. Integration forces the company to focus only on its own capabilities and sources of supply. Moreover, vertical integration with component manufacturers can reduce a company’s manufacturing flexibility and increase the time it takes to develop and bring new models to market.
Opportunities
New strategies in advertising policy will bring buyers to the world of fashion. The development of the website resource is another opportunity that is related to the first one. Through efficient advertising on social networks, the company can advance the brand, which will increase the awareness of the customers about online shopping opportunities. Implementing new technologies and different platform recommendation algorithms can become one of the most efficient methods to expand the client base (Ding et al., 2019).
Regularly updating the available products and integrating with the different networking sites and advertising platforms is the potential opportunity for the rand expansion. It is even possible to find funding opportunities besides Canada and d the United States. The development of new regions will expand the customer base. The company regularly strives to upgrade sites through the affiliate program (Joe Fresh affiliate program, n.d.). However, the brand has more significant potential in the sphere of E-Commerce. The development in this sphere can help to expand new regions will expand the customer base.
Threats
The decline in the population’s standard of living may result in the decreased necessity to buy the brand’s production. However, considering the pricing policy and the avoidance of spending on wholesale, the brand has the potential to prevent such a threat. Severe disruptions in the supply chain can also become a significant threat to the company. Considering the international character of production, it is necessary to manage the supply chain accurately. The company showed the experience of the magnificent success of selling brands in the supermarket. Following Joe Fresh’s example, many companies can focus n a similar type of selling strategy. As a result, the increase of the competitive advantage of competitors can occur. Despite the enormous supportive basis in Kanada and America, the brand should consider such a threat.
References
About Joe Fresh. (n.d.). Joe Fresh. Web.
Benzaghta, M. A., Elwalda, A., Erkan, I., Mousa, M. M., & Rahman, M. (2021). SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review. Journal of Global Business Insights, 6(1), 55–73. Web.
Ding, S., Wang, J., & Yin, C. (2019). Mobile marketing recommendation method based on user location feedback. Human-centric Computing and Information Sciences, 9(14). Web.
Dong, Y., Guo, X., Yu, Y. (2018). Pricing for sales and per-use rental services with vertical differentiation. European Journal of Operational Research, 270(2), 586–598. Web.
Joe Fresh affiliate program. (n.d.). Joe Fresh. Web.
Mejía-Vasquez, P.R., Sanchez-Gómez, R., Serafim da Silva, S. and Vazquez-Suárez, L. (2022). Organisational form and performance in fashion retailing. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 26(3), 550–564. Web.