Harriet Exton N0733000
boohoo
executive summary
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Introcution Aim Objectives Market Overview Competitors Consumer Overall, Year 1, 2 & 3 Conclusion
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introduction Boohoo are a globally successful brand that release new products daily for the pleasure of their consumers. They claim to be a fashion best friend, being young, inclusive, fun and social. They are recognised as being one of Britain’s leading fast-fashion e-tailers, ruling the online shopping market. Boohoo are continuing growth with their annual revenue increasing by 33% to £374.1m in 2018 (Boohoo PLC, 2018).
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aim
The aim of the report was to conduct a 3 year marketing strategy and 1 year communications plan in order to achieve a better shopping experience for their customers as well as to drive brand engagement and customer retention within the UK.
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o b j e c t i v e s
Year1 Increase brand engagement and active customers by 35% to reach a conversion rate of 4.7% by June 2020 by putting their value of diversity and inclusivity to the forefront with new social media campaigns and adverts. Primary research demonstrated that only 9% viewed them as an inclusive brand.
Year 2 Introduction of new technologies to improve consumers shopping experience, such as digital fit and visual search tools. This will be monitored by engagement KPI’s and an increase in order frequency by 6% in 2021.
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Year 3 With the increased engagement and customer retention, the third year, will allow Boohoo to start a gradual movement towards sustainability. Development of a capsule collection in 2022 with removal of polyester will be the initial aim, then a gradual movement towards using sustainable packaging and working alongside an environmentally friendly courier service. This will be measured by number of orders and a boost in sales, as well as monitoring word of mouth on social media.
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market overview Boohoo operate within 2 markets, womenswear market and the clothing retail market (online-only). In 2017, the market grew by 3.2% to make it worth £28.4 billion (Mintel, 2018); on the other hand, the clothing retail market was expected to grow by 5.3% in 2018 to be worth £60.8 billion (Mintel, 2018); as well as the online fashion market being worth £19 billion (Mintel, 2018). As Boohoo’s customer demographic is between the ages of 16-24, we discovered that 83% of this age group solely buys online. (Mintel, 2018). Boohoo have supported this evidence as they have had a 22% increase in active customers up to 6.4million. (Boohoo PLC, 2018). Although the market is growing, it is also becoming quite saturated as social media platforms are now becoming a helping hand to start up businesses.
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competitors The online-only, affordable clothing market has some big players in it. As an e-tailer, it can be quite difficult to demonstrate what is individual about your business and why a customer should shop with them. Pretty Little Thing is one of Boohoo’s top competitors, it is one of the 3 Manchester based online companies which is ruling the fast-fashion market. They define themselves as a forward-thinking fashion brand aimed at a young female audience who are interested in the latest outfits worn by the celebrities and influencers surrounding us on a daily basis. ASOS is another competitor who has been very successful in dominating the market. ASOS offer a broader range of products than PLT and Boohoo, suiting a whole range of styles rather than determined on celebrity and influencer style.
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c o n s u m e r
The primary consumer for Boohoo is 16-24 year olds, who are trend led and don’t take their life too serious. Their consumers are influencer and celebrity focused, living their lives on social media to seek approval of the next clothing trends. Although money isn’t their best-friends, they always manage to make a few online purchases each month to be leading the way with their friends.
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overall The key takeouts for Boohoo’s 3 year strategy is to improve their shopping experience and social channels.
Boohoo are surrounded with brands encompassing diversity and exploring inclusivity within their brand, however Boohoo are a little behind with poor first attempts which gave them some negative feedback. “You can’t pick and choose what aspects of diversity fit with your #Weareallgirls campaign,” (Teen Vogue, 2017) Diversifying their brand will really help them to move forward with 25% of consumers being more encouraged to purchase from a certain shop if they used representative models (Mintel, 2018) and 65% of people would feel more favourable about a brand that promotes diversity (Marketing Week, 2016). This displays that if brands aren’t taking this on board, they are missing out a huge chunk of consumers; therefore this would help Boohoo have a more loyal consumer base if they demonstrate that they are inclusive of other cultures, religions, races etc.
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Communication This will be shown via their communication plan, with the creation of 3 hashtags, encompassing being good enough, having body confidence and being a Boohoo community. These will be shown via instagram campaigns with 10 micro influencers and some offline marketing, with competitions.
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Year 2 In the second and third year, diversity is going to be running throughout, with the introduction of sustainability. The second year will see an improvement to their site to make their consumers shopping experience better and easier. They will innovate their technologies to allow consumers to be at ease when choosing a size online, and also enable them to find an item at their convenience without unnecessary scrolling using a visual searching tool. With returns in the UK costing retailers an average of ÂŁ60 billion a year (Drapers, 2018), by using a digital fit technology to create a life-like digital vision of a consumer through size measurements and 3D body-scanning (LS:N, 2018).
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Year 3 Moving to the third year, Boohoo will begin a gradual movement towards sustainability. They will develop a capsule collection in 2022 with the removal of polyester being the initial aim, as it sheds microfibres which are contributing to the rising levels of plastic in our oceans which is decreasing life within the sea (Independent, 2018). There will then be a gradual movement towards using sustainable packaging and removal of plastics and working alongside an environmentally friendly courier service. This will be measured by number of orders and a boost in sales, as well as monitoring word of mouth on social media.
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conclusion
By introducing diversity into their marketing and communications plan, this will create a stronger connection with their customers and improve sales. For the future, the brand will be able to accomodate fully and fulfil all of their customers wishes to assure they have the best possible shopping experience.
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appendix
appendix
image referecning
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