Ch.15 Marketing Communications

The promotional mix is such an important tool to utilize when trying to build and maintain a company. This mix includes things like advertising, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling and social media. As I stated in a previous post MK did lots and lots of promotion for his brand to get it to its' current status. He used advertising via newspapers, magazines and more importantly by having famous actors, actresses, singers etc wear his products and just mention the brand when doing interviews. He also was a judge on a popular television show called "Project Runway". These avenues were explored to bring awareness to his brand.

To maintain his current status MK (along with most companies) turned to social media to stay relevant. They created a Twitter page when Twitter exploded on the scene. They have 2.81 million followers. They also have a Facebook page which currently has 16.25 million followers and a Instagram page with 4.1 million followers. With social media companies can now reach out and almost "touch" consumers. It has opened an almost direct line of communication where companies can now see and hear responses and feedback from consumers about their products. With the amount of followers MK has, they receive enough information to know when a handbag isn't doing well in the market or which handbags are doing extremely well. As long as social media has a strong hold on everyone, this channel will be one that Michael Kors consistently uses to stay ahead of the game.

Ch.10 Product Concepts

The MK brand has been on the rise for several years. It has worked its way up beating out its top competitor Coach recently. This win over Coach showed that the Michael Kors brand and its brand name now held significant value with it's consumers. With their steady climb, Michael Kors is working overtime to now become a global brand. By opening stores worldwide and establishing partnerships I'm confident they will claim that victory as well.

Michael Kors products serve a personal want and to some it might be a personal need. Their product mix includes accessories(glasses, sunglasses, watches), handbags, footwear and even clothing. There are 3 product lines: Michael Kors which is the runway collection, Michael which is the "lifestyle brand" and Kors with is the high-end collection. The handbag line has about 7 different types of available handbags: cross body, clutches, shoulder bags, totes, satchels and even backpacks. In addition each type of bag has it's own variety to choose from. An example is the Tote bag, within this line you could buy the Jet Set, Marina, Dillian, Izzy, Hamilton, Bedford, Fulton, Eliza etc etc. MK offers many different styles to choose from and they are all great in my opinion! :-)

Ch. 17 Personal Selling and Sales Mgmt

Due to Michael Kors being in the fashion industry and the business of selling to consumers, it is extremely important to know what it takes to sell and how to navigate/manage the selling process to best suit their company's need/purpose. MK uses elements from the traditional personal selling strategy to succeed: selling products(in regards to this blog we will focus on handbags), their sales staff spends large amounts of time with customers giving details and advice about the product(handbags). In addition, their proposals and presentations are based on pricing and product features.

Michael Kors has also applied some of the most common Customer Relationship Management(CRM) applications to not only sell their products but to expand their customer base. They took the time to actually get to "know" their customers and what the market wanted. This allowed MK to create a great campaign management application to showcase their "lifestyle brand" line. By doing so, they were able to retain loyal customers. Being able to keep customers meant they could then introduce them to other MK products. Since this was successful, they also needed to increase their distribution changing their status to a dual distribution (direct and retail marketing channels) company. Creating and continuously maintaining great customer relationships and sales management will ensure that MK stays around for years to come.

Ch.16 Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Advertising is such a huge part of building and maintaining a successful company if the industry you are in deals with selling and customers. There are various routes that can be taken to advertise available products. Michael Kors uses things like print advertising, celebrity endorsements and more recently social media. You don't really see too many Michael Kors commercials on tv but anywhere you go you are liable to pass a billboard or ad on the side of a bus/bus stop, inside the train and especially in various magazines. The owner Michael Kors even gained national exposure for his brand by being a judge on the reality TV show Project runway. 

Advertising has changed in many ways from the old days. Yes companies still use commercials and magazines, but now with the addition of social media enabling immediate direct contact with people it is so much easier for companies to reach out to the consumers. With these new technological advances Michael Kors took total advantage of social media. They created Facebook and Instagram accounts which has over 20 million followers combined.  During February 2014 Michael Kors ran a contest on instagram and gave away products to a select numbers of followers. These advertising avenues and sales promotions allowed Michael Kors to surpass their biggest competitors Coach.

Ch. 14 Marketing Channels & Retailing

In my opinion Michael Kors operates via dual distribution. MK has both a direct and retail marketing channel for their handbags. With the direct channel MK handbags go from their specialty stores directly to the consumers. The retail channel is utilized by partnering with department stores like Macy's, Dillards, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom to sell their products.  These channels enabled Michael Kors expand their market share and increase revenue. Most recently, MK opened a megastore in Soho. This new location is their largest chain store in the world. It has 3 floors and one of those floors is strictly for handbags. The news about this megastore made headlines in newspapers and online publications. Due to the loyalty and increasing value place upon their products from consumers, this store is definitely considered a destination store.

Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

Evolving consumer behavior requires luxury brands and retailers alike to continuously adapt. Michael Kors has done this and is very good at it. MK started out targeting the upper middle class and wealthy and it worked for him. After many years MK realized they could expand their market share if they appealed to a broader audience. This was a brilliant idea, because they had created a product that many would purchase whether the customer was from the working-poor all the way up to the upper middle class and beyond. So they created different collections for different target markets and called themselves a "lifestyle brand".

MK also realized that when a customer is contemplating making a purchase there are individual, social and even cultural aspects to consider. Once you have a clear understanding of this you can market it to your advantage and pretty much convert anyone into a consumer of your product. I was one of those people. If I saved money or was given a gift, Coach was what I said I wanted. Then along came Michael Kors; their prices were competitive, it was new(at least to me anyway) and I liked it. Now whenever I buy a handbag whether it is for myself or someone else it's Michael Kors. Job well done MK!

Ch. 5 Developing a Global Vision

Michael Kors started out as a designer for someone else. He then realized that he could take his gift and make it on his own and with that move he has truly done well for himself. Michael Kors has over 350 stores and counting.  Their first international stores were opened in London and Tokyo in 2002. Since MK has opened stores across the world in France, England, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and China. Initially this expansion was slow moving. They were more focused on building a strong name brand here in North America. However, with the increased exposure via the different marketing campaigns MK has been able to flourish globally. MK is doing better than even they anticipated, as their latest revenue number's showed they have finally topped their fiercest competitor Coach. Being able to do that is quite the victory since Coach is also internationally known and has been around for such a long period of time. Being aware of such a huge feat MK is riding their wave of success into expansion. MK is expected to increase the amount of stores owned and/or licensed to over 700 locations globally. Due to their manufacturing plants being located in China, MK wants to expand their presence there.  In addition to opening more stores in China, they also have their sights set on the Middle East and Australia.  Through hard work and perseverance Michael Kors has become a major player in the handbag/accessories market. The demand for MK is steady and I don't see that declining any time soon.