BUS7B33 Customer Continuity and Growth
Introduction
This report will be discussing the case of Clarks, the shoe marketing and manufacturing company with the brief aim of creating the report to analyse the communication strategies. Clark has been a fine example for letting the analysis be based on several of the dimensions of the strategic sales of shoes, and thus it may be said that the whole report will follow up a model of customer orientation. The strategic communication system for Clarks is the use of different social media spaces, which will be described in the report further, in addition to which, the models of communication will be framed. In this report, the aims and objectives the report will be to analyse the communication strategy used by Clarks for engaging consumers, align with the marketing objectives and produce a detailed analysis of customer continuity growth.
Company background
Overview of company
Clarks has been creating customer engagement with varieties of shoes for a longer period, with the company engaging in such strategies of communication recently that have gained a strong share in the revenue. Clarks specialises in the manufacturing of shoes, and the company has made further specialisation into 3D printing, making different ratios of fitting and much more (Clarks.co.uk. 2022). Clarks has been integrating innovation in shoe manufacturing for a longer period, as is evident from the brand Trigenic Flex marketed by the company, having revenue of £1.5 billion and an employee count of around 13,000 (Clarks.co.uk. 2022). The product diversification range of Clarks arrives from the development of such shoes that are quite fit for women, having the add-on as leather coating and making quality assurance for better walking (Cardoso et al., 2019).
The strategic communication system of the company aligned with marketing objectives
The relation to a certain global summit is where Clarks wishes to stand as the primary marketing objective and select the objective of bridging the communication gap between the global consumers and the company, having a talent set of teams (Clarks.co.uk. 2022). Clarks has the marketing objective of reaching out to the consumer segment by targeting consumers of young age and selling shoes to the elite section of the society, through social media communication strategy (Refer to Appendix 1). Moreover, Clarks has been deciding on the marketing objective of making a separate premium subsidiary of the parent company. This has resulted in Clarks having a continuous system of communication with consumers through social media widely for communication, especially with children (Refer to Appendix 2).
Analysis
Application of models for Customer continuity growth
The customer continuity model has been applied to measure the exact growth rate of the customers in the business, and thus it measures the strategies that may be suitable for the retention of customers. The first step of the customer continuity growth model discusses the management style that has the capacity to psychologically influence the customers and thus have an association established with the brand and individual values (Kim and Sullivan, 2019).
Figure 1: Customer continuity growth model
(Source: Kim and Sullivan, 2019)
Clarks maintains the quality of the products in such a way that lets the first step of consumer experience excellence be amplified, and hence have a network of proactive branding (Refer to Appendix 3).
The customer growth model is another model that may be applied for Clarks to generate a useful insight into the subject of consumer engagement, where the acquisition rate and the retention rate are measured to measure the continuity in consumers. Proactive branding is the strategy that is followed in the customer continuity model, where the brand engagement of the customer is focussed briefly, with the relationship between such branding strategy and inside branding becoming useful (Iyer et al., 2020). As for the retention of the customers by the application of the customer growth model, Clarks has been the company that has laid out superior importance on customer engagement by measuring foot size through virtual technology, being specific on customer satisfaction (Refer to Appendix 4).
Initial findings and customer continuity growth gaps with opportunity for development
The initial findings include that Clarks have been maintaining the customer base proactively with a consistent system of customer engagement through social media and creating branding strategies that may facilitate the company for better performance. The gaps have been identified as Clarks having no plans for an active feedback system or not specialising in any other kinds of active communication with customers after sales, which are the issues. The procedures of customer engagement of Clarks have been actively established by collaborating with digital marketing channels and making the online order process quite a customer friendly (Refer to Appendix 4). The company has the opportunity of developing into a better brand specialising in other products as well as launching mobile applications which have been the latest industry innovation for shoes (Zakharkevich et al., 2021). The opportunity may thus be brought by research studies establishing the fact that sports brands have developed such applications which may serve as better collaboration for the company (Byun et al., 2018).
Discussions of findings
The argument in terms of Clarks has been thus presented with the relevant discussion on retaining customers and hence making customer satisfaction excellent by analysing the application of theoretical models. Furthermore, it has been found from the analysis that Clarks may have the scope of further development by creating dedicated virtual portfolios and application designing that may provide customers modules for self-analysis on shoe choosing. The customer continuity model and the customer growth model have been applied to analyse how Clarks segments the customers, and identify the gaps and issues that the company may be having in marketing strategy.
Conclusion
The marketing objectives of Clarks may be cited as the company letting the business performance be built on a series of making the brand value higher, and business expansion. Thus, the discussion in the entire report has been concerned with the different ways Clarks uses the barding strategy to actively engage in customer communication and make the entire section of shoe marketing a successful one. It may be thus concluded from the above discussion that Clarks makes use of several the innovation and social media to communicate with mostly young consumers, and the marketing strategy of retaining the customer’s needs further development.
References
Byun, H., Chiu, W. and Bae, J.S., 2018. Exploring the adoption of sports brand apps: An application of the modified technology acceptance model. International Journal of Asian Business and Information Management (IJABIM), 9(1), pp.52-65.
Cardoso Filho, C.A., Claudino, J.G., Lima, W.P., Amadio, A.C. and Serrão, J.C., 2019. Clarks Ladies Griffin Milly Black Leisure Shoes. Revista Brasileira de Medicina do Esporte, 25(3), pp.252-257.
Clarks.co.uk. 2022. Our Story | Clarks. [online] Available at: <https://www.clarks.co.uk/about-us> [Accessed 21 July 2022].
Iyer, P., Davari, A., Srivastava, S. and Paswan, A.K., 2020. Market orientation, brand management processes and brand performance. Journal of Product & Brand Management.
Kim, Y.K. and Sullivan, P., 2019. Emotional branding speaks to consumers’ heart: The case of fashion brands. Fashion and Textiles, 6(1), pp.1-16.
Zakharkevich, O., Koshevko, J., Kuleshova, S., Tkachuk, S. and Dombrovskyi, A., 2021. Development of the mobile applications for using in apparel and shoes desing. Vlakna a Textil, 28(2), pp.105-122.
Appendices
Appendix 1
https://retailasia.com/stores/more-news/clarks-pushes-new-brand-strategy
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
https://www.thecoldwire.com/are-clarks-good-shoes/
Appendix 4
