Reference no: EM133087859

Does it have to be Bonds? Re-launching an iconic brand

Due to the global financial crisis, the Australian retail industry as a whole is experiencing a significant downturn, with specialty clothing down by 2.7 per cent and department stores (including discount retailers) down 1.9 per cent. This is reflective of a more price-conscious Australian public-a particular Bond's target market characteristic. In difficult economic times, consumers become more price conscious than they would be in times of prosperity and price therefore becomes an essential criterion for differentiation.

As a result of the retail downturn, and following major company losses the previous year, in 2009 Bonds announced a major company restructure that would involve shifting all manufacturing from Australia to China in order to cut costs. As a brand whose image centred on its Australian identity, this decision resulted in a major backlash from consumers and media that had a significant effect on sales. The aftermath of this, coupled with the continuing retail downturn, continue to have a devastating effect on Bonds, with analysts linking its sales losses directly to consumer anger over the restructure. As a company whose key point of difference is its brand image, these reputational issues need to be considered and addressed in future marketing communications.

Question 1: Identify the segmentation variables and discuss how Bonds is using these variables to target its' market - relate your discussions with text book theories and the information from the case study.

Question 2: What kind of brand image does Bonds have in the mind of the consumers?

Question 3: What external and internal factors do you think have influenced consumers to prefer Bonds over others? Justify your answer.

Question 4: How concepts like perception and reference group can be used by Bonds to influence customer needs?