Burberry case study

Furthermore, it was noted that most market leaders and firms with large market capitalization have incorporated various forms of digital maturity such as; fashionistas, beginners, digerati, and conservatives (Grill, 2013). It is important to note that the application of these techniques depends on the marketing needs of a company as well as the nature of competition in a particular market. In this report, a discussion is presented about the financial performance of Burberry and Gucci in relation to the digital advantages of these firms. However, the discussion majorly explores the rise of Burberry during the tenure of Angela Ahrendts. It was observed that Burberry’s performance had been severely suppressed by its close competitors in the fashion industry. In one Fashion Digital report released in 2015, Burberry was ranked as the top brand in the annual index which compared the performance of various fashion companies.

The firm was also recognized for its rapid venture into digital microsites, positive social engagement, and global brand visibility. As a matter of fact, these reports created positive publicity for the firm and its core brand of trench coats hence leading to improvement in financial performance and market dominance (Ahrendts, 2013). Another digital technique which properly worked for Burberry was the introduction of livestream channels during runway actions. In the regular episodes of Art of the Trench, Burberry transmitted videos of its models in elegant trench coats as they walk down the runway in an exclusive summer show conducted in 2010 (Centric Digital, 2015). The CEO maintained that Burberry needed to produce highly customized trench coats which reflected the traditional British culture (Ahrendts, 2013). This decision was motivated by the fact that Burberry was globally recognized for its unique brand of trench coats but the firm had started losing this market segment to its competitors.

Having emphasized that Burberry would capitalize on the production of trench coats, the CEO also insisted that the market for these products had to be concentrated on a particular niche rather than serving the entire market. This management strategy was designed to portray Burberry as a distinguished designer and producer of luxury items (Ahrendts, 2013). As such, Burberry hired reputable designers and consultancy firms to provide professional insights about the market. Transformation leadership in Burberry also involved training, employee engagement, and promotion of ethical work culture. For any company to succeed in innovation, employees must be trained as a way of improving their skills and exposing them to new competitive strategies in the market. As such, Angela Ahrendts introduced regular in-house training to Burberry employees to acquaint them with the necessary technological skills which were being adopted by the firm (Amed, 2015).

In addition, employees were being urged to promote the corporate culture of Burberry as well as the traditional fashion of the UK. Actually, this was the first recommendation by Angela Ahrendts after she noticed that none of the executive members of Burberry had put on the company’s trench coats during her first board meeting. Strategic Digital Marketing Gucci Innovative marketing strategies for Gucci are mostly conducted by Kering, its parent company. Gucci is mainly recognized for its luxury brands of bags, shoes, and belts made of high-quality leather (Mau, 2019). In a bid to consolidate its presence in the fashion industry, the company has maintained in-house technological development with the aim of establishing disruptive technologies for dominating the market. Kering is majorly focusing on test-and-run technological approach through its partnership with Apple.

It is also believed that the firm is determined at promoting Gucci products through e-commerce. In addition, it becomes very hard to increase the prices buyers will shy away whenever there is any slight difference in the cost of the products. Another management practice that impacted the performance Gucci pertains to the design of the company’s products. It was noted that the firm did not capitalize on the emergence of new designs. Instead, Gucci was recreating old designs which had been released in the market in the preceding years (Farveen, 2018). This was a major backlash in the performance of Gucci because buyers were only looking for improved items which were being produced by the rival companies. Secondly, Burberry relies on its own digital marketing strategy named ‘Art of the Trench’ which is transmitted through videos and live runway shows while Gucci relies on e-commerce promotions hosted by Apple and YNAP.