MKT501 Marketing Plan - Assignment Solution

COMPANY OVERVIEW

The Ark Clothing Co is a vibrant clothing company based in Melbourne, Australia. It staffs over 70 employees and does not just focus on creating clothing for women, but help them find their personalized style. This is one the unique selling points of the company. They also have an online retail presence as well as have multiple physical outlets across Australia. 

They offer one on one personal styling sessions with The Ark Clothing’s stylist for as low as $25 where they help the women find what style suits their personality and comfort at the same time. Apart from the personalized training session, they also have a Style Room on their website that demonstrates various ways to style the same piece of clothing. The company also offers regular workshops on styling, detoxing of wardrobes etc. 

PRODUCT OVERVIEW

The Ark Clothing Co offers multiple products. The have a wide variety of products from tops, to bottoms to accessories. 

1. Shirts & Tops

These offer a range from basic to stylish tops with variety of cuts. 

1. Skirts & Bottoms

These offer a range from formal dress pants to denims and casual skirts. 

1. Dresses

The collection carries long and short casual dresses. 

1. Jackets & Knitwear

These come under there autumn and winter range where they offer multiple jackets and sweaters suitable for extreme weathers. 

1. Accessories

These include various jewelries such as earrings and necklaces. Apart from this, they also offer bags and scarves. 

THE AUSTRALIAN APPAREL INDUSTRY

Australia has a highly competitive apparel industry (Jun, 2018). A country that mainly faces two seasons, that is winters and summer, they have a market that is dominated by imports. The annual revenue of the industry is of approximately USD11.5 Billion. China is the largest and major player in the market that accounts for almost 70% of the imports in apparel. 

The local retail industry of Australia has been suffering since the past few years. International brands has dominated the market such that most of the local businesses are struggling to survive. Initially, industry protection policies made the local consumers purchase local brands (Craik, 2017). Sine the policy has been dismantled, the market has seen the entrance of global players that have established themselves such that the local competition has severely suffered. However, this is not the only reason why local chains in Australia are suffering. 

The Australian market in growing more educated on recent trends are better fashion sense. The consumers are now demanding the local brands to provide the same level of quality and style that international brands are able to provide. Where some international brands such as ZARA Australia only bring in left over seasonal stock under some categories, the consumer demands begins to fall. E-commerce is a trend that is growing among the Australian consumers. They are becoming more aware of global brands and prefer to order from anywhere around the world that provides the latest and trendiest styles. 

Table 2 demonstrated the increased traffic experience between January 2018- Marc 2018 on some of the luxurious fashion retailers globally from Australian users alone. The local industry is growing; however, the local players are struggling to meet the demands of the consumers.