Evaluating Vans Marketing Strategy

QUESTION

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapters 11 and 12
Lesson
Minimum of 1 scholarly source

Instructions

In this assignment, you will evaluate the marketing mix of a company of your choice.

Choose any company that operates in your local area. Do some research on the marketing strategy of that company. Evaluate the company’s marketing mix.

Your paper should begin by discussing the target market and competitive advantage of the chosen company. Then, your paper should have both a description AND an evaluation of the marketing strategy in each of four areas:

Product strategy
Pricing strategy
Place (distribution) strategy
Promotion strategy

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 2 – 3 pages (not including title page or references page)
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title page
References page (minimum of 1 scholarly source)

ANSWER

Evaluating Vans Marketing Strategy and Marketing Mix (4Ps)

Van is a VF corporation subsidiary founded in 1966 by co-founders Asiah Brewster, Paul Van Doren, Serge D’Elia, James Van Doren, and Gordon C Lee (Bhasin, 2020). The company has branches all over the country and worldwide, offering lifestyle and retail in apparel and accessories. Through these, Van has created its niche in sports as a desirable and reputable brand.

Vans’ marketing strategy begins with targeting, where it has created a space for young people and sports. Moreover, Vans has targeted city people from the upper to upper-middle class in making products that would satisfy their needs. Among other strategies, Vans collaborates with other companies to increase publicity and push the brand name into a wider audience (Abernethy and Gray, 2000). For instance, Vans collaborated with Disney during the 90^th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. Vans also display its special edition merchandise in its famous Vans Vault online. At the same time, Vans provides sponsorships to various clubs in snowboarding and related sports. This sponsorship also extends to artists and musicians, and individual athletes like Kyle Walker, Metallica, Spitfire, and many other athletes. All of its marketing strategies are included in the promotion aspect of the market mix.

a) Product in Vans’ Marketing Mix

Vans designs and makes skateboarding footwear and related apparel. Initially, Vans was aligned with skating but eventually entwined with snowboarding and surfing as a way of increasing its product portfolio. They manufacture men’s products in apparel (jackets, shorts, hoodies, tanks, shirts), footwear (laces, lightweight shoes, skate shoes), and accessories (Laces, belts, key chains, socks), etc. At the same time, Vans makes products for women, including apparel (bottoms, dresses, jackets, shirts) and accessories (laces, wallets, socks). And footwear (laces, surf shoes, skate shoes, slip-on shoes, low-top shoes), etc. They also make shoes for small children like suede old skool and suede slip-on bunny shoes.

b) Place in Vans’ Marketing Mix

Vans operates in several countries, rendering it a global corporation. Its headquarters are based in Costa Messa, California. Vans started in a single store in Anaheim, California, where it directly sold its footwear products to its customers. Eventually, Vans expanded to the global market, where it opened three hundred and fifty chain stores across Asia, North America, and Asia continents (Melewar and Saunders, 2000). These stores led to one hundred and fifty partnerships worldwide.

Vans enjoys departmental strategies like in Shanghai and Beijing, China, where there are several departmental in-store outlets. At the same time, Vans has a solid local and international distribution channel that contributes to maximum and effective customer reach. Specialty stores in surfing and skates serve as outlets where Vans products are sold. However, Vans’ official site serves as one of the major outlets as it has contributed to the expansion process via e-commerce.

c) Price in Vans’ Marketing Mix

Considering Vans’ standing in the market as an established brand, it has targeted upper and upper-middle-class urban people as its prospective customers. The company strives to provide products of premium quality to its customers to increase satisfaction and create loyalty. The coolness associated with wearing a Vans product in the skateboarding, surfing, and skating world justify Vans’ pricing. The youths’ culture of trends and fashion has contributed to the pricing strategy of Vans. The equity in this culture has contributed to the company’s popularity and profitability with constantly growing sales.

People wearing this brand would immediately be associated with a cool and happening image from the snowboarding, surfing, and skating world. Vans is equal to the culture of youth and has become a synonym for trendy and fashionable products. It is one of its parent company’s most popular and profitable brands, with ever-growing sales figures due to a surge in both domestic and international markets.

Unlike the usual perception, Vans has a reasonable pricing strategy that partially contributes to its steady high sales, which keeps the product prices affordable to most urban city people. Moreover, Vans’ customer base comprises young people, sports enthusiasts, and participants. Therefore, the company has adopted a mid-level pricing policy not to scare away part of its customer base. Otherwise, Vans believes profits are sourced from selling larger quantities, thus their pricing strategy. In that regard, Vans has earned significant revenue domestically and internationally.

d) Promotion Mix of Vans

Vans, as a company name itself, is a brand known for its footwear products. Locally and internationally, people are likely to recognize Vans. The company has participated in various events and sponsorship deals that have helped it leverage its promotion efforts. Its sponsorship in snowboarding, surf, and motocross sports is part of its promotional strategies. In 2014, Vans was Duct Tape Invitation and US Open of Surfing’s title sponsor, both of which took place at Huntington Beach, CA.

At the same time, Vans associates itself with youth sports and is working to create a deep-rooted and secure its position in the consumer market following its various promotion policies. Other than opening a slate park at Orange in 1998 and adding other facilities within in 2009, Vans has partnered with and sponsored artists and other talents to maintain its position in the market (Fournier and Lee, 2009).

In summary, Vans participates in promotional activities because it is part of its marketing, which in turn generates profits for the thriving of the business. Therefore, the company has to determine promotional costs and forecast and track the revenues generated for each marketing strategy.

References

Abernethy, A. M., & Gray, J. I. (2000). Integrating Marketing And Financial Decision Making: Experiential Spreadsheet Applications. Marketing Education Review, 10(1), 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/10528008.2000.11488693

Bhasin, H. (2020). Marketing Mix of Vans Retail. Marketing91. https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-of-vans-retail/

Fournier, S., & Lee, L. (2009). Getting Brand Communities Right. Harvard business review, 87(4), 105-111. https://www.academia.edu/36292607/Getting_Brand_Communities_Right?bulk

Melewar, T. C., & Saunders, J. (2000). Global Corporate Visual Identity Systems: Using An Extended Marketing Mix. European Journal Of Marketing, 34(5/6), 538-550. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560010321910