Ch. 7 - Business Marketing

Submitting Product Feeds 

Retailers that sell products online should most definitely be using product feeds to reach a broader audience. A product feed is simply a file generated from Tommy Hilfiger that lists product details such as photos, descriptions, pricing and even specials. These product feeds can be submitted to shopping comparison websites, search engines and also made available to customers using feed readers.

 

Creating Newsletters

Newsletter and email marketing is key in keeping in touch with the customers we've manage to get in Tommy Hilfiger. It takes a lot of work to gain a customer. Why let them leave without offering a way to stay in contact?

 Joining Social Networks

Social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn may or may help  sell products but if that's where our customers hang out, maybe we should too. The blogs on these sites helps us keep in touch with shoppers, make announcements or feature new merchandise and promotions.

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

The purpose of marketing is to understand the customer and then be an integral part of the organization in using this understanding to maximize the companies sale's profits and markets. Companies create market managers who are responsible for understanding certain segments. When looking for target markets good questions like

Why do customers buy from us and not our competitor? 

How often do they shop for the type of products or services we sell? 

Do they prefer to buy online or in a physical store? 

How price tolerant are they? 

Are our products “must have” or simply “nice to have"? 

The questions help determine our marketing and sales strategies. 

Market Segmentation and Targeting 

Before we seek to understand our customers, we start with knowing the overall size of the market for the products we are selling. It helps identify our real target customer if we look at the total market. 

The next step is segment the market into similar buying groups. Look at submarkets by age, income, gender, location, or any number of other approaches. It may be difficult to acquire customers in any of those market segments if we try to attract all customers with online promotion or product line. 

The goal with market segmentation is to group potential buyers into a segment that is likely to have similar buying tastes and habits. Even that can be challenging. But there is a lot of free information on the Internet. We also evaluate competitive sites already selling into those markets by analyzing their demographics, traffic, and the types of search marketing strategies that they employ. 

Once we have identified discrete market segments, we selected one or more target markets to pursue. This process includes understanding what products those consumers are seeking, how they will shop, how much they are willing to pay, and so forth. 

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

Part of developing and managing your companies products is trying to innovate the next big thing. Tommy Hilfiger is testing innovative waters using a BT videoconferencing solution to help design their new garments. These Virtual fitting rooms located in Amsterdam, New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo enable designers to communicate and collaborate as they work on new garments and apparel.

The virtual fittings rooms contain mobile cameras and recording facilities to enable the design team based in Amsterdam and New York to collaborate faster and more effectively with the manufacturing team in Hong Kong.By using the technology designers will be able to discuss the development of every single piece of the collection ‘face-to-face’ without having to take long-distance flights to meet up in person.

“We were impressed by BT's knowledge and experience in the videoconferencing area. This, combined with the creative, innovative solution which the BT-Cisco team offered, made the decision easy,” said Fred Gehring, chief executive officer, Tommy Hilfiger Group.

“The solution will bring us an immerse virtual meeting experience and save both time and money. Teams will be able to interact and collaborate as if they were in the same room, making us much more agile and competitive. We look forward to better and more regular communication between our entities across the globe,” he said. 

Ch. 18 -Social Media and Marketing

The best marketing strategy in the world fail if the company is unable to get the right message to their potential customers at the right moment. An integrated marketing communications plan is customized by the available budget of time and money to the most effective means for distributing the companies message. No matter how great the product or service, if the potential customers doesn't' know it exists, there will never be an expansion of market or increase in sales. That is why an integrated marketing communications plan has all parts of its tactics working together so that when in contact with the consumer/customer they remember the company when ready to buy. 

                                                                   Marketing Methods

Web site: web site talks about the company. It is informative, easy to use, e-commerce ready. The web site is available at all times, it is ready to speak for your company. 

Advertising: print, online and radio. Choose the advertising medium that gets the message to the target audience where they are likely to be ready to receive it. Use a consistent, repetitive approach to build awareness and recall. 

Marketing Collateral: brochures, case studies, white papers. Materials build and define our brand and provide the customer with an important look at our positioning and messages.

Online Marketing: advertising, opt-in email marketing and links from other sites. Customers are online and we use the appropriate methods to reach and retain them. 

Direct mail, personal selling, networking and many more methods allow your company to get the message to the customer.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Tommy Hilfiger is a brand which originated from a controversial billboard created by George Lois which sparked the attention of millions of Americans. The Branding of Tommy Hilfiger can be deemed successful because of its ability to distinguish it from any other product in the market. Its logo which is the most iconic part of the brand (other then its owner Tommy Hilfiger) contains white and red fields in the central part of the logo which were borrowed from the "International Code of Signals" flag "H" ("Hotel"), which when hoisted alone, means that: "I have a pilot on board." Here, of course, it is the "H" for "Hilfiger". The three major purposes of branding are product identification, repeat sales and new-product sales. When branding becomes successful enough the brand equity (value of the company begins to rise). In the case of Tommy Hilfiger the brand equity of his company allowed him to sell his company for over 3 billion dollars to clothing conglomerate Phillips-Van Heusen.  The price was nearly seven times what Phillips-Van Heusen paid for Calvin Klein in 2003 and nearly five times what LVMH paid for Donna Karan in 2001.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

The Tommy Hilfiger brand is one that can be found in department stores, wholesale stores and stores in between. Prices for their products vary on the seller, making it available to a wide segment of the market. Tommy Hilfiger does not manufacture its product and sells its product to big target markets, while selling its lifestyle. The pricing, location of products and promotion strategy are used to keep their big target market. 

Tommy Hilfiger is a brand who's Relationship selling is highly associated with Sales follow-ups in the long term. From my personal experience Tommy Hilfiger has been a reliable brand that I have been using my entire life. Tommy Hilfiger products are long lasting and have a wide price range accommodating people of different social classes. Not only has Tommy Hilfiger been able to build long term relationships with customers but also maintain long term relationships with such a big target market.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Tommy Hilfiger advertisements are commonly found in the form of print ads in magazines and billboards in major cities.When Tommy Hilfiger was just about to launch his Tommy Hilfiger brand and clothing line he approached advertising wizard George Lois. George Lois already had quite the resume before working with Tommy Hilfiger. His area of expertise in advertising stretched from creating the “I Want My MTV’ campaign for MTV, to creating winning campaigns for senators Jacob Javits and Robert F. Kennedy making him just the man for the job. George

knew that Tommy was looking for something big to launch his brand. The ad depicted a fill-in-the-blank style list with the names of the worlds most popular clothing designers Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, and Calvin Klein. George suggested to the world that Tommy Hilfiger should be added to the list. Tommy was nearly mortified by the idea of the ad. Being that those people were legends to him, and as a up and comer in the business, he didn’t feel qualified to be listed amongst the ranks. Eventually Tommy ran the ad campaign, which included a billboard in Times Square. Tommy Hilfiger became a near overnight sensation, and he booked dozens of TV appearances worth millions in free advertising. I think this story gives us a look at one of the most important lessons in business and marketing. Sometimes you need to be a little bit uncomfortable.

Tommy Hilfiger spends over 20% of annual sales on advertising. The company advertises primarily in fashion and lifestyle publications for men and women. In 1997, Tommy Hilfiger decided to sponsor “If It Makes You Happy” tour by singer Sheryl Crow. After being deemed a huge success, the following year sponsors The Rolling Stones tour. In 2012 Tommy Hilfiger announced they will be the official sponsor of the Golf Club at Chelsea Piers through 2013. Also announcing Keegan Bradley, the 2011 PGA Championship winner and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, as global ambassador for the Tommy Hilfiger Golf men’s collection and, in March, British golfer Melissa Reid was named the ambassador for the Tommy Hilfiger Golf women’s collection.

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

I visited the Tommy Hilfiger flagship  store located 681 5th Ave, New York, NY 10022.The building is currently owned by the Fortunoff family. It was designed by renowned architects McKim Mead and White in 1912, boasts 8.5-foot-tall, energy-efficient windows and 14-foot ceilings. Perks include a freight elevator and a hotel-trained, 24-hour concierge service. A previous building at that address was the original home of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which opened there in 1872. It took over 3 years to complete the renovations on the interior of the building for Tommy Hilfiger to occupy the building. Although slight renovations have been made on the exterior, the building remains luxurious still giving off a "old money " vibe upon looking at its white exterior and Gothic style engravings.

The Tommy Hilfiger 5 ave flagship store truly offers a truly unique shopping experience to its customer with its huge collections of men's, women's and children's apparel. The showcase window out front doesn't fail to catch your attention with they're well dressed manikins. The interior displays are elegantly furnished, every item seems scream for your attention.Its displayed with a manner of vintage Americana, placed together from the famously sprawling Brimfield Antique Show in Massachusetts. In the middle of every bit of Tommy you can imagine  are transfixing oddities like one of those chairs shaped like a hand, and a Marilyn Monroe decoupage dress form. Also the customers service is great, the sales associates dress casual with the tag of their name and roam around not really pushing sales,they well informed about the products and very professional. The atmosphere is without any doubt welcoming and is really hard to get out without buying anything.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

What drives consumers to buy Tommy Hilfiger is its well respected name in the fashion world and classic preppy designs. Tommy Hilfiger is one of the most recognized fashion brands in the world, grossing a billion in sales every year and containing a big presence in different market across the world. When purchasing Tommy Hilfiger products, things like social factors, cultural factors, psychological factors and individual factors are taken into account. The stimulus of the consumers comes internally and externally from a range of factors such as the continuous classic look and perception of the brand in ones mind. Tommy Hilfiger is notoriously known for not bringing new styles to the fashion world but better yet a 'lifestyle' behind the clothing attracting its customers. Upon being a 'lifestyle' brand has expanded its horizons adding, watches, bed sheets and shoes to its collections. 

Tommy Hilfiger advertises its products through every marketing channel possible whether it be, print advertising to commercials, billboards, magazines and social media. In addition to that many blogs, and review websites where people talk about the brand help market the brand. Tommy Hilfiger is found fond by middle class and high class culture between the ages of 20-40 providing it with a big target market. When purchasing Tommy Hilfiger products consumer are influenced by conscious and unconscious motives like quality of the product, friends, colleagues or acquaintances that already have Tommy Hilfiger products and represent the 'lifestyle' image they see in their head. This is why a big reason for Tommy Hilfiger success is due in part to marketing by other celebrities.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

The global expansion of Tommy Hilfiger began in 1988 when Tommy Hilfiger, Mohan Murjani and two others formed Tommy Hilfiger Co. Inc and bought out Murjani International. During this process the company found a financial backer in Silas Chou. Chou's firm, Novel Enterprises, was one of the largest sweater manufacturers in Asia, and the company was willing to invest money in Tommy Hilfiger Company to allow it to expand. With extensive contacts in the Asian garment industry, the new company not only designed but manufactured Hilfiger clothing, using Asian factories that produced low-cost, high-quality goods. Its first year the company made 25 million dollars which was a little under of what was expected. Upon entering the New York Stock Exchange in 1992 with stocks going for 15 dollars a share, the company made 70 million dollars in stock offerings that year alone. The company used this cash to expand its in-store shops and to develop new outlet stores, which would sell past-season Hilfiger garments at reduced prices. 

Hilfiger's sales continued increasing every year, from $107 million in 1992 to $138 million in 1993 and $227 million in 1994. Tommy Hilfiger had almost 500 sections in department stores alone the big 3 being Dillard's, Federated, and May. Sales and earnings kept going up dramatically. The company used its profits to expand in various ways. Between 1994 and 1995 Hilfiger Corporation added over 200 in-store men's shops. The company had introduced boys' clothes in spring 1995. The company had close to 500 in-store boys' shops. Hilfiger had a presence in Japan, with 36 shops inside Japanese department stores by 1995. Also in that year, the company launched 12 in-store shops across Central and South America.  The company had to move cautiously on its own stores in order not to appear to compete with the Hilfiger shops operated by its best customers, the large department chains.

Chapter 4 - The Marketing Environment

Tommy Hilfiger is a brand known for serving the middle and high class providing the public
with all-American preppy, relentless upbeat cable-knit sweaters, blazers, and Oxford shirts with that unexpected twist. Tommy Hilfiger overs a all-America lifestyle experience with its brand that has made it a world-wide sensation. In the summer of 2012 the company planned to open over 500 stores in India over the next 5 years.  Currently, Tommy Hilfiger operates 58 franchise outlets and over 60 shop-in-shops in other department stores. The expansion will take Tommy Hilfiger's presence to 631 points of sale by 2016-17. 

Their application to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) "Engaging in retail operations directly would enable the applicant company to set up retail stores in locations all over the country including in those which at present are found commercially unfeasible by our franchisee partners," 

Tommy Hilfiger has been one of the early movers among international lifestyle brands, having 
entered India in 2003. "It has stayed away from much discounting and created a loyal following across metro cities," Arun Sirdeshmukh, former CEO of Reliance Trends and co-founder of portal Fashionara, says. "But given their premium positioning it remains to be seen if there is a market for an additional 500 stores," he adds.

Chapter 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

Ethics are simply the ethical principles, morals and ethical problems found in the business space and the way they are approached. Ethics is very important in the business world, showing the business principles and standards of business behavior. In present day costumers are always observing business organization and ethical code. This is due to the fact that many manufacturing companies practice unfair terms of wages, and risky work environments that can easily market a bad reputation. Below are some of the compliance statuses found on PVH's website regarding Tommy Hilfiger's work policies. 

Health and Safety: 65% of non-compliance issues in this category were found to be resolved or are in the process of being resolved. We placed particular emphasis on fire safety, resolving or partially resolving 74% of the instances of non-compliance.

Wages and Benefits: 72% of instances of non-compliance in this category were resolved completely or are in process of being completed (43% and 28% respectively). We attribute the underpayment of wages to be an issue primarily with our factories in China where the minimum wages are rapidly increasing. Of the factories with outstanding wage non-compliance issues, 67% are in China. The factories are given a timeframe within which to pay the minimum wages if the business relationship is to continue.

Hours of Work: 66% of working hours findings have been addressed or are in progress. This is one of the most challenging issues given the apparel business model in which multiple companies may source product from the same factory with different delivery deadlines. We have continued to work with factories to track hours and identify and address the causes of non-compliance issues.

Harassment or Abuse: 53% of the instances of non-compliance related to harassment and abuse have been corrected or are in progress. Many of the open issues are related to an absence of management systems at the factory level, for example, insufficient training for workers and supervisors on disciplinary procedures or a failure to ensure that a non-harassment and abuse policy is effectively implemented to prevent verbal harassment. In some instances, the factories have imposed monetary fines if uniforms have been damaged; PVH has asked that monetary penalties be eliminated. If instances of non-compliance persist, the factory risks having the business relationship terminated.

Freedom of Association: 59% of the instances of non-compliance related to freedom of association have been corrected or are in progress. These are often complex issues requiring long term solutions. In many instances, the starting point is the building of more effective communication channels such as adequate grievance mechanisms for workers.

Ch.2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Tommy Hilfiger's Mission statement is: The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation is dedicated to the living spirit of the American dream. We believe the spirit of youth is our greatest inspiration. Resourcefulness is the key to value and excellence. In making quality a priority of our lives and products. By respecting one another we can reach all cultures. By being bold in our vision we continually expand our boundaries. 

SWOT Analysis 

Strength: 
1. Strong Recognition being a Global Brand
2. Strong distribution Network globally
3. Presence in more than 90 countries and more than 1,000 retail stores in North America, Europe, Central and South America and Asia Pacific.
4. Cool, American Style designs by reputed designer Tommy Hilfiger
5. Associations and promotion from popular celebrities
6. Advertising and brand visibility is very popular  

Weakness: 
1.Segment has huge competition from established brands ( exp. Ralph Lauren, Nautica, Calvin Klein, etc) 


Opportunity: 

1.Innovation in apparels
2.Expansion of product line and Services

Threats: 

1.Intense Competition from international brands
2.Economic slowdown which will cause reduction in demand for premium priced products
3. Constantly changing fashion trends means inventory issues

Competitive Advantage: 

Tommy Hilfiger is known for its cool America style design globally, the company has not failed making it's presence with over 1,000 retail stores in 90 countries. 

Strategic Direction: 

Tommy Hilfiger must be considered a cash cow if PVH (Phillips-Van Heusen) the world's largest shirt company bought the company for an estimated 3 billion dollars. Tommy has also increased sales with the addition of fragrance, bedding and watch lines. 

Target Market: 

Tommy targets middle to high income consumers of both genders. 

The Four P's 

Product: 

All Tommy Hilfiger apparel is mass produced in all different styles and contains a 30 day warranty.

Place: 

Contain over 1,000 stores in 90 countries making it a global powerhouse. Tommy Hilfiger stores are most commonly seen in malls and outlets all across the world. 

Price: 

Tommy Hilfiger price varies on the region and season, much of the product usually goes on sale in the end and beginning of seasons. 

Promotion: 

Tommy Hilfiger promotes through sales promotion and interesting billboards, Tommy Hilfiger most effective promotional tool is Celebrity endorsement specifically Hip Hop Artist such as A$AP Ferg, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z and etc.

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing (Brief History and Mission Statement)

As one of the world’s leading premium lifestyle brands, Tommy Hilfiger delivers superior styling, quality and value to consumers worldwide. The brand celebrates the essence of Classic American Cool and provides a refreshing twist to the preppy fashion genre. Since its debut in 1985, the Tommy Hilfiger Group has become a US$ 4.6 billion apparel and retail company by offering consumers a breadth of beautifully designed, high quality products including men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, sportswear, denim, and a range of licensed products such as accessories, fragrances and home furnishings. 

Tommy Hilfiger began his bussiness venture as a teenager, he began buying jeans in New York City that he remade and sold for a markup in Elmira. When he was 18, he opened a store called The People's Place in Elmira that sold hippie supplies like bell-bottoms, incense and records. Wildly successful at first-Hilfiger soon had a chain of stores and a six-figure income-a downturn in the economy hit his business hard, and he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1977. 

In 1984, Hilfiger was approached by Indian entrepreneur Mohan Murjani, who was looking for a designer to head a men's sportswear line. Murjani allowed Hilfiger to design the label under his own name, sealing the deal. The pair announced Hilfiger's arrival onto the scene with a blitz marketing campaign that included a bold billboard in New York City's Times Square announcing Hilfiger as the next big thing in American fashion. "I think I am the next great American designer," Hilfiger told a reporter in 1986. "The next Ralph Lauren or Calvin Klein."

Their tactics rankled the fashion establishment, which looked down on Hilfiger's naked self-promotion-Calvin Klein even got into a shouting match with the billboard's creator at a New York City restaurant. Though Hilfiger was embarrassed by the fallout, the bold tactics worked. Hilfiger's line of preppy clothes with his trademark red, white and blue logo soon became wildly popular. By the early 1990s, the hip-hop world embraced oversized versions of Hilfiger's clothes, and the brand assiduously courted rap stars and celebrities and has been influencing American fashion ever since. 

Tommy Hilfiger's Mission statement is: The Tommy Hilfiger Corporation is dedicated to the living spirit of the American dream. We believe the spirit of youth is our greatest inspiration. Resourcefulness is the key to value and excellence. In making quality a priority of our lives and products. By respecting one another we can reach all cultures. By being bold in our vision we continually expand our boundaries.