Net-a-Porter Handbag Swot Anaysis free essay sample

From entry price DVF bags at ? 265 to the seasons ‘must have’ bags at ? 2000 upwards, customers from all ends of the luxury spectrum are catered for. The Spring / Summer edit has a great colour mix and covers all of the main SS12 handbag trends. With Fringing covered by Dries, Balmain and Louboutin, Studs are featured in Margiela and Wang, and Lanvin, Miu Miu and The Row all feature the seasons bigest trend exocitic skins. There is a very strong representation for the Domestic UK, European and US customers. Brands such as Chloe, Lanvin, Bottega and cater well for the central European customers while Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney and McQueen are all firm favourites with domestic customers. The Arab customer is also well catered for, with brands like Pucci, Cavalli and Etro. Exocitic skins, which are very popular among Middle Eastern customers, are also well represented across a variety of brands. As the Middle Eastern customer is one of the worlds most prosperous regions where many spend up to 30% of their income on fashion it is important to keep this edit strong. We will write a custom essay sample on Net-a-Porter Handbag Swot Anaysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Another area in which Net-a-Porter excells is in online searches. Net-a-Porter is among the top five search results when you search for almost all of the top handbag brands such as Mulberry, Yves Sant Laurent, Anya Hindmarch and Bottega. The only other retailer which comes up as consistently is Harrods. Weaknesses Hermes, Dior , Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Comme de Garcon, Gucci, Burberry, Armani and Prada, are among the top most searched for luxury fashion brands in China, and are not featured in the Net-a-porter handbags selection. As China is the fastest growing luxury fashion customer base, it in imperative that they are catered for in the Net-a-Porter handbag buy. Lack of exclusivity in the handbag offering. While exclusivity is strong across Net-a-porter as a whole, the handbag edit does not have many exclusive styles. Almost all everything can be found on the Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Harrods or My Wardrobe websites. In particular the Selfridges website has over 45 exclusive handbag styles online, from a variety of brands which include Mulberry, Alexander Wang and Anya Hindmarch. To combat this Net-a porter should negotiate world exclusivity on a number of ‘it bags’ for next season, either by having early delivery to ensure a week or two of exclusivity or by commissioning an exclusive colour option in the most popular styles. At present Net-a-porter has no representation for Celine handbags, which has become the most covetable handbag brand across the high fashion world and accounts for a considerable percentage of handbag sales in London department stores. As they grow from strength to strength it would be advisable for Net-a-porter to try and include Celine in their edit. Opportunities As Net-a-Porter only operates online, it has not been possible to buy some brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel or Celine. Luxury brands like these have been wary of the digital realm due to fears that it might dilute its exclusivity, but many are now moving more and more into digital and online marketing which will eventually lead to online retailing. By negotiating with brands such as these which are not currently sold online, Net-a-porter can be the first and only retailer to sell these online which will bring a new level of exclusivity to the site. Celine, Chanel and Louis Vuitton, in particular, would be the big ones to target, Celine for the high fashion customer, and Louis Vuitton and Chanel for the growing Asian market. Pre-selling through customer events. With the success of the new Moda Operandi website, it is clear that customers want their products as soon as they appear on the catwalk . By pre-selling handbags as soon as they have appeared at fashion week Net-a-porter can target the fashion forward customer who know what they want to buy for the season, well before the product arrives on department stores shop floor, therefore building on and ensuring customer loyalty. The global luxury goods market is forecast to expand by 65% by 2015, with most of this growth coming from emerging economies, especially in Asia Pacific. China remains the key growth generator in the region, but new demand is also coming from other markets such as South Korea, Taiwan and to a lesser extent India. Net-a-Porter has a clear opportunity to target these customer groups by providing a tailored handbag edit of the top selling brands in these countries. Threats Being number one in its market, some of Net-a-porters proven strategies are being imitated, to various degrees, by other large retailers such as Selfridges and Harrods, both of which have made huge improvements to their websites, and their handbag edits, in recent months. For example Selfridges have over three times the handbag product online now as they had this time last year. Harvey Nichols also continue to add new handbag brands to their online store. As these stores continue to catch up with Net-a-porter it is really important the Net continues to hone and develop its product range to remain the best. Another threat is exclusivity in department stores. As department stores continue to catch up with Net through the development of their online stores, Net-a-Porter in turn needs to try and match what is offered by department stores. One thing is that department stores do particularly well for handbags is, exclusive product. Liberty, Harrods and Selfridges are all known for their variety of store exclusive styles in their handbag edit. In order to maintain its reputation as the worlds premier online retailer, Net-a-porter needs to match their level of exclusivity and provide more style options that are available only at Neta-Porter.