Marketing Strategies A. Product i. Helios Sunglasses- The Helios Sunglasses brand is a collection of Wayfarer sunglasses with interchangeable temples. Each “startup” package will include one set of frames, either black or white, two sets of interchangeable temples, and a small bag to store the extra sets of temples in. Additional temples will be sold separately in coordinating sets of one, two, or three. Temples will be offered in a wide variety of colors and patterns1. ii. Benefits- This product is beneficial to its customers because it solves the
problem of having too many pairs of sunglasses that clutter free space. Because each consumer will likely have at most two pairs of frames and a bag to keep all additional temples, sunglasses storage will be much more effective. In the long run, Helios Sunglasses with interchangeable lenses will also save money. Instead of spending about $25 on each pair of new sunglasses, a “startup” package only costs $40 and each additional set of temple only costs $102. This allows the customer to have more pairs of sunglasses at a lower cost to them. Finally, one of the reasons people constantly have to replace their sunglasses is because the temples easily break and are unfixable. Our sunglasses are designed to have removable temples which virtually eliminates this issue. B. Place i. Online- At the launch of our product, we will begin by strictly selling our sunglasses from our website heliossunglasses.webs.com. ii. Retail- After six months of projected high sales, we will start moving our product into retail stores. The store we will begin selling our product in our second year of production will be Pac Sun3. We hope to expand our retail presence after our third fiscal year. iii. Trade Shows- In order to become a well-known brand, we will also participate in trade shows to present our product directly to the consumer. We plan to take part in three trade shows over the summer of 2014. 1
See appendix for examples
2
Information on pricing in financial report
3
Interview with Pacific Sunwear representative in appendix
iv. Offices/Warehouse- Helios Sunglasses will be located in an office space/warehouse in Newport, Rhode Island4. All online orders will be shipped from this location and employees will work out of this office space when need be. Assembly of the products will also take place here. v. Concerts/Events- During the summer of 2014, Helios Sunglasses will set up booths at various outdoor concerts and events. We would like to use these events to gain recognition and hopefully generate a good amount of sales at each event. C. Price i. Wholesale- Online and in stores, our startup package will sell for $40.00 and an additional package of one set of temples will cost $10.00. ii. Retail- We will sell our startup package to venders for $30.00 and our temple package for $7.00 and they will sell our product on shelves for $40.00 and $10.00 respectively5. D. Promotion i. Social Media 1. Facebook- We have created a Helios Sunglasses Facebook page at facebook.com/heliossunglassesbrand where we will frequently upload pictures of new temple designs and packages as well as update the customer on special discounts, coupons, promotions, and contests. 2. Twitter- The Helios Sunglasses Twitter (@HeliosSunBrand) will serve the same functions as the Facebook page. In order to attract followers however, we will also post funny and clever pick-up lines mixed in with tweets of coupons, sales, promotions, contests, and photos of the product. 3. Instagram- This social media site will be used to post pictures of our products as well as upload pictures of the coupons or discounts we currently offer. Our Instagram name is HeliosSunglassesBrand 4
Location information on page INSERT PAGE HERE
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See pricing on PAGE NUMBER HERE
4. Email Subscriptions- Online, customers will be offered the opportunity to sign up for the Helios Sunglasses Email Club. As a member, customers will receive occasional information on new styles and designs added to the brand line and will also get special access to member only discounts and coupons. Our email address is heliossunglassesbrand@gmail.com. ii. Shark Tank 1. Shark Tank- We have emailed the Shark Tank casting directors
and are awaiting a response. We are hoping to get on the show and ultimately make a deal with a “shark� to invest in our company however we believe that just simply being featured on the show will give us a substantial amount of publicity and will increase our recognition6. iii. Contests 1. Design Contest- Around the launch of Helios Sunglasses, we will be holding a design contest. In this competition, applicants from all across the United States can design a pair of temples for the brand and submit them on our website. If their design is chosen, it will be manufactured as part of the line and the winners will receive a free pair of sunglasses with their designed temples. No set limit on the amount of winners will be specified. Not only will this contest spark interest in the product and encourage customers to go to our website to check out the competition, but it will also save costs on designing new temples to put into production. 2. Instagram Contest- This competition will be held on the Instagram app once every other month. In order to compete, each participant must post a creative, funny, or unique photo of them wearing or using Helios Sunglasses and hashtag #heliossunglasses in the description. The owners of the company will then go through all hashtagged submissions and chose one winner who will receive a $30 gift card to buy Helios Sunglasses. The benefit the company receives from this contest is that the pictures of our
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Shark Tank email in appendix
sunglasses will be posted all over Instagram allowing for more people to visualize and familiarize themselves with our brand. iv. Advertising: Mass Media 1. Magazines- The brand will run a simple magazine advertisement (as seen on attached sheet) in magazines that are appealing to our specific target market. The advertisement will include a picture of our product and information on where to purchase it, along with our contacts (Facebook page, Twitter name, Instagram hashtag, and website) in a 1/3 page full color spot 7. The magazine our ad will run in is Seventeen ($70,090). Advertisements would run in these magazines in their November issues once a year beginning in 2016. 2. Online Advertisements- These advertisements will come in the form of a small box that will run in the side bars of internet sites. We will use GoogleAdwords to make sure that our advertisements are being seen by our target market and use the cost per click method costing us $0.85 per click on our advertisement. v. Advertising: Cost Effective 1. “Pass Along Cards”- The company has created a “pass along card” to promote Helios Sunglasses8. These cards (as shown on attached sheet) will have “Hi, I find you attractive. Please recycle this card by giving it to someone you find attractive” written across the top. On the bottom will be a link to interchangeyourlook.com which will redirect to our company’s website. These cards are cost effective because they will be very cheap to print and will reach a large audience with the pass along concept. By not directly stating our company’s name or product on the card, we hope to peak the card holders interest which will encourage them to go to our website and then hopefully purchase our products. 2. School Club and Sport Promotion- To advertise our product without an initial investment on this particular scheme, we will target high school and university level clubs and sports to help 7
Advertisement example in appendix
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Examples in appendix
promote our product for us. To do this, we will approach said organizations and offer them 20% of the profit on every package of sunglasses or temples sold when a specific code is used. For example, if we were to work with the Bryant University Student Programming Board, we would tell them that we will give their club 20% of the profits made from all sunglasses and temples purchased with the code BRYANTSPB. Using this method, the club will tell all of their friends and family to go online and purchase sunglasses to help their organization and will generate more sales for the company as well as raise money for their club. Because the company is making a large profit on each item sold, a loss of only 20% will not hurt profits and advertising/consumer base will increase. vi. Sales, Coupons and Special Offers 1. Sale- Helios Sunglasses will offer one sale every year in the last week of August. This week, all startup packages will be 25% off and all temple packages will be 15% off. This sale will be used to sell off any extra inventory that was produced for the summer months and not sold. 2. Coupons- Coupons will be released sporadically throughout each fiscal year. Because we anticipate that February, April, May, June, July, August, and December will be our most profitable months, we will most likely release coupons during January, March, September, October, and November. The coupons will be sent out via email to our subscribers and also posted to our various social media sites. Each coupon can be printed out and brought into participating stores or the coupon code can be entered on our website at checkout. Coupon categories will be printed as followed: a. 20% off a startup package b. 10% off a temple package c. One free pair of temples with the purchase of a startup package
3. Special Offers- Every year beginning the first week of December and continuing until December 22nd, Helios Sunglasses will offer a BOGO deal. In this deal, when a customer purchases a package of one pair of temples either online or in stores, they will receive a second singular pair of temples free. E. Charity Promotion i. Going Green- We will release sunglasses temples that feature sayings like “Go Green,” “I heart nature,” and pictures of the environment. For every go green temple package we sell, we will donate 30% of the profits to Earth Day Network. ii. Dana Farber- Helios Sunglasses will also create a line of breast cancer awareness temples and 30% of the profits from these purchases will go to the Dana Farber Foundation.
Target Market: •
Age: 12 to 24 year olds o This age range was selected because it includes middle school, high school, and college aged students who we felt our brand would appeal to most. Survey
results also concluded that this age range would be most likely to buy our products (74%). This specific demographic is most concerned with trend and appearance and our sunglasses deal with both of those matters. Along with establishing a brand, our company would like to create a trend of having interchangeable temples that can be easily mixed and matched and traded with friends. •
Gender: Male and Female, however we anticipate more female customers than male o According to our survey results and general knowledge, both males and females wear sunglasses. However, we will make more of an effort to market to females because we feel that they are the more likely gender to be repeat consumers. In our survey, 100% of 0 to 17 year old females said that they would be interested in buying our product as opposed to the 80% of males.
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Location: New England, then rest of United States, then international o During our first year we will target New England specifically. Once we have proven our concept and accumulated a large amount of sales, we will expand to focus on the rest of the United States while being sure not to slack off on our New England promotion. We anticipate that during our second fiscal year of business, we will be able to focus our efforts on international customers. Our company will focus on New England during the first few months of our launch is because all team members live in this geographic location and we will have an easier time advertising and marketing more locally. Another reason we will focus on New England is that the region includes a lot of coastal locations where we anticipate a higher amount of sales generating from. Once our company has gained recognition, we will expand our marketing efforts to the rest of the United States and then again internationally.
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Income level: Any o Although sunglasses can be considered a luxury item, we believe that almost everyone in the United States has at least one pair of sunglasses. Our survey results confirmed this assumption with only 1 out of 121 responders not owning a pair of sunglasses and this response was from a 7 year old boy. The price of our sunglasses, $40, is a reasonable price that we are marketing towards the middle and upper class population however it is not out of reach for lower class citizens. Therefore, income level does not have much of an impact on our customer base.
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Geographic location: Any o We will begin with marketing towards populations that live closer to the ocean/beach however we believe that any geographic location is within our
target market. The sun is inescapable and is existent in every geographical location so almost everyone has a need for sunglasses.
Pricing: Costs: •
The cost of producing one set of frames: $2.56
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The cost of producing one set of temples: $1.28
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The cost of producing one package: $0.50
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The cost of producing one case: $1.40 o Total cost of production for one startup package: $7.02 o Total cost of production for additional temple package: $1.38
Startup packages will be sold online and in stores for $40.00. This leaves the company with a profit of $32.98 on each individual package sold. Additional temple packages will be sold for $10.00. Our profit on the sale of one temple package is $8.32. Helios Sunglasses startup kits will be sold to retail stores at $30.00 leaving us with a retail profit of $22.98 and the temple packages will be sold to retail stores at $7.00 resulting in a $5.32 profit per package sold. (These numbers are a rough estimate given to us by Katie Kittell, a Pacific Sunwear assistant buyer) The pricing strategies we plan on using are penetration pricing and prestige pricing. We will release our product at a price of $40.00 but because we want to establish a luxury brand, we would like to raise these prices over time. The beginning price will get customers in the door and help establish a loyal consumer base then we can eventually raise the prices at least 100%. This is when prestige pricing will come into play. Because we are attempting to create a luxury brand, we will use the prestige pricing technique because people tend to pay more for brand name items.
Survey Analysis 1. What is your gender?
Response Percent
Answer Options Female Male
60.3% 39.7% answered question skipped question
Response Count 73 48 121 0
In this survey, we had a higher percentage of female responders. In our specific target market of 12 to 24 year olds, 53 of the survey takers were female and 38 were male. 2. What is your age? Response Percent
Answer Options 0 to 17 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 to 74 75 or older
27.3% 47.9% 0.0% 4.1% 14.9% 3.3% 2.5% 0.0% answered question skipped question
Response Count 33 58 0 5 18 4 3 0 121 0
As shown, a majority of those who took the survey were in the 18 to 24 range, and the second highest percentage was the 0 to 17 range. These are good results for our survey because we wanted to reach those specific age ranges. 3. How many pairs of sunglasses do you own? Answer Options 0 1-3 3-5 5+
Response Percent 5.0% 74.4% 11.6% 9.1% answered question skipped question
Response Count 6 90 14 11 121 0
This was one of the most important questions we asked in our survey. We had to show that there was a need for sunglasses with interchangeable lenses. By seeing that 74% of people who took this survey have 1 to 3 sunglasses, it is apparent that these people might struggle with the storage and cost of having more than one pair of sunglasses. Also, it shows that a good majority of people could be willing to buy interchangeable temples for their sunglasses because they like having more than one pair. Ten of the eleven people who said they own more than 5 pairs of sunglasses are in the 12 to 24 range which is very good for our research. That means that there are people who will be frequent repeat customers which is what our company is going to strive for.
4. How often do you buy new sunglasses? Answer Options Never Once every few months Once a year When my old pair needs to be replaced On random occassions Other (please specify)
Response Percent
Response Count
7.4% 15.7% 20.7% 28.9% 24.8% 2.5% answered question skipped question
9 19 25 35 30 3 121 0
These results don’t really tell us much about how well our product will sell. We were hoping that there would be a higher percentage of people who buy sunglasses every few months because that would mean they were buying sunglasses somewhat frequently and would be frequent customers of our brand. However, because our sunglasses are more of a trend and have a different design and purpose than regular sunglasses, we can assume that people will be buying our products more frequently.
5. How much did your most expensive pair of sunglasses cost? Answer Options $0-$20 $21-$40 $41-$60 $61-$80 $81+
Response Percent 33.9% 20.7% 7.4% 4.1% 33.9% answered question skipped question
Response Count 41 25 9 5 41 121 0
This was a very positive result for our company. We were hoping that a majority of people would be buying expensive sunglasses so that we could charge high prices for ours and that was exactly the result we got. Because there was a definite range between $20 and $80+ we felt that a good half way point would be $40. In the 12 to 24 range, a higher percentage of people had spent $80+ for sunglasses so we know we are still in the right target market.
6. Would you be interested in sunglasses that have interchangeable arms? (You would be able to snap off the arms of your pair of sunglasses and change them with another set of arms) Response Response Answer Options Percent Count Yes No
66.9% 33.1%
81 40
answered question skipped question
121 0
Although the percentage of yes responders isn’t as high as we would have liked, the responses from 12 to 24 year olds proved to be higher. 75% of people in our target market said they would be interested in sunglasses with interchangeable arms. Our best survey result came from 0 to 17 year old females. An overwhelming 100% of those surveyed said they would be interested in our product. This result is also why we are going to focus a good majority of our efforts on the female population. 7. Would you wear sunglasses with arms that have your school's logo or name on them? Answer Options Yes No
Response Percent 49.6% 50.4% answered question skipped question
Response Count 60 61 121 0
This question was not as important to our company as we had originally imagined. When first brainstorming we thought a good approach would be to sell out product in colleges with school logos on the temples but once we furthered out idea we decided that we would like to stick to our own designs for the first few years then eventually move into schools. We decided this mainly because college students don’t have that much money to spend on novelty items especially ones found in their school book stores. 8. Would you be more likely to wear brand name sunglasses? Answer Options Yes No It doesn't matter
Response Percent 46.3% 7.4% 46.3% answered question skipped question
Response Count 56 9 56 121 0
Because our company would like to establish a brand, we felt it was important to find out whether or not that was important to our consumers. Only 9 people felt that brand names weren’t important at all so our company decided to go ahead and include an effort to create a brand with our business.
9. What is your favorite style of sunglasses? (You can chose more than one) Answer Options Wayfarer Aviator Cat Eye
Response Percent
Response Count
43.8% 47.1% 9.9%
53 57 12
Square Oversized
11.6% 21.5% answered question skipped question
14 26 121 0
With these results, we were hoping that wayfarers would have the highest percentage but aviators actually did. Our company is still going to produce wayfarer frames because they did come in a close second, because they are the easiest style to work with. Eventually, we would like to create a line of aviator sunglasses with detachable temples as well. 10. Do you like to color coordinate your outfits? Answer Options Yes No On occasion
Response Percent 40.5% 24.8% 34.7% answered question skipped question
Response Count 49 30 42 121 0
Our company wanted to ask this question to help with our slogan. We wanted to go with a slogan that had to do with changing your look so we wanted to make sure that our customers cared about coordinating their outfits. Because they do, we can advertise that customers can change/add to their look just by changing the temples on their sunglasses.