In the plethora of similar stores and environments , selling similar merchandise at similar prices to similar customers, it is not simple for a retailer to stand out. Indeed the similarities of the four Ps in terms of product, price, place and promotion (not to mention processes) have proved that it is difficult to differentiate. Only by concentrating attention on the brand as a differentiating factor have many companies succeeded. French Connection have turned convention upside down by focusing their effort on the promotional mix, that is, the last and often least considered element of the retail fashion marketing mix has empowered the rest of the mix and re-positioned the brand in the consumer market. The paradigm of not being able to promote a poor product has been disproved. The dyslexic daring of the fcuk logo and the ironic, even iconoclastic parodies of blasphemy have had a dramatic effect on the organisation, their suppliers, the competition, the consumers and the wider public including the financial markets and regulatory bodies. This paper analyses the effect that marketing communications, in its widest sense, has had on French Connection the company, product development and pricing strategies, supply chain management, brand extension strategies and the facilitation of internationalisation.
By: Gaynor Lea-Greenwood
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Submit Date: 6/7/2010 18:00