Marketing Analysis
There are many economic forces that affect apparel retailers, especially formal occasion retailers. One
thing that is very important is customer confidence; women are not going to shop if they do not feel
good. Unemployment is another huge factor because fewer women in the workforce means less
disposable income for high-quality/high-priced clothing. Which this trickles down into the formal wear
industry because people are not willing to waste hundreds of dollars on a dress they are only going to
wear once.
Pre-Operation
Before I open the virtual doors to my company, I am going to use social media sites like Facebook,
Twitter, Tumblr, and MySpace to get the word out about the new formal dress rental company. I am
also going to spread the word to my friends and hopefully the word will travel around.
Post-Operation
After my cyber doors are open, I will continue to use social media and I also want to set up a rewards
program where if you refer ten friends you will get a free rental and then it will continue to attract more
and more customers as well as having customers coming back for more rentals. I am defiantly going to
advertise my business a lot more leading up to wedding and prom season. Starting in late April until
mid- June, will be the time period in which I am the most busy.
Competition
My competitors are all of the big name bridal stores, department stores, and even the smaller
boutiques. Many people may enjoy the fact that they will be able to see the dress in person before they
buy the gown, however they will save a lot of money by renting the dress from FOD Rental instead of
purchasing from the store. In some cases there may be an overlap of the dress in the store and we may
have either the same dress or something very similar in style and fit. Competitors for my company are
those like David’s Bridal or even Macy’s that have new dresses, and may have newer styles, however
once you purchase that dress, you are kind of stuck with it in the sense that you are going to wear it that
one night and then it will just sit in the closet. My business will appeal to people because they will save
money on the dress they only plan to wear once. My competition cannot offer people a rental; they can
only offer them the dress as is off the rack; which gives FOD Rental a leg up on the competition.
David’s Bridal is a company which has over sixty years in the fashion and bridal industry under their belt.
Some of their strengths are that they advertise the price of their gowns. They try to appeal to the brides
who are on a budget and do not want to spend $5,000 on a dress to wear once. All of their dresses are
under $1,000. A weakness of David’s Bridal is that they are a large chain and some people feel they are
going to lose the individualized attention, they desire as a bride. They are trying to work on that
impression by now advertising that people are going to be given individualized attention and making the
bride feel like a million dollars no matter what their budget is. These things are making David’s Bridal a
stronger competitor for FOD Rental; however one thing that truly lacks in David’s Bridal is the rental
component.
SWOT
Strengths:
In these hard economic times, people are trying to save as much money as they can and my business
allows people to save money, because you won’t have to pay full price for a dress you wear once. You
will also have a lot more closet space, because you send the dresses back, it will greatly reduce clutter.
My business will also help people reduce their “environmental footprint” by recycling dresses. There
will also be an option to buy the dress after they rent it, so they may keep it and use it for more than
one occasion.
Weaknesses:
My business may not appeal to all people, especially the germaphobes who do not like to wear used
clothing, however all the dresses will be dry cleaned between rentals. Also people like to try on
clothing and get a feel for what the dress is going to look like on their body and you can’t get that
experience from an online store. Also it may be hard for my company to get the latest styles and colors
of dresses. Sizing may also be a problem for some people because they may think they are one size but
it turns out to be too large or too small.
Opportunities:
Opportunities for my formal occasion dress rental company are being able to expand to up and coming
designers to get their name out and about. I could also build in a part of the site to be able to sell your
dresses to my company so that I can rent them out to other people. Another opportunity is that I can
get partnerships with other designers in order for them to sell me dresses and then when I rent the
dress, they would get some of the profit.
Threats:
Some threats are big name companies, like Macy’s and JCPenny’s as well as smaller companies like
David’s Bridal that also have formal dresses that could be worn by bridesmaids, and going even smaller
to boutiques who tend to have higher prices but better quality and more individualized attention.
However none of these companies have the rental component for people looking to save even more
money.
PEST
Political:
•
My company could benefit politically if they decide to legalize gay marriage nationally, because
more weddings means more dresses to be worn.
•
Politically my company could suffer if taxes increase and you would have to pay tax on items
purchase or sold online.
Economic:
•
The recession would help my company because everyone is looking to save money when they
have to go to a wedding or another formal event. However if the recession continues I don’t think that
the amount of events are going to dwindle.
•
If the recession does get better, my company would still profit because people are still going to
want to save money to pay off their debts and they may be afraid of a horrible recession like this one
coming back.
Socio-Cultural:
•
Style changes every day and so does what people like and don’t like in terms of what they wear.
It may be had for me to get returning customers because I may not have the latest style because it may
take me a while to get the styles in stock.
•
I think that sizing might be an issue as well because some larger or smaller people may not be
able to fit into the style that they want because of their body type. Because you can’t try on the clothes
you have to go by a picture on the internet and it may be frustrating for everyone to find exactly what
they want.
Technology:
•
With the globalization of the internet, everyone has access to my company. The internet is
everywhere and therefore so is my business. It may be a little more expensive to send the dress to
some random part of Asia, but it would be worth it.
•
With the internet people who do not live in America could be wondering what the style of the
American people are and with my business they would be able to see the style and if they really like it
they could rent dresses for their formal occasions and if they truly love it they could buy the dress from
my website.