A Comparative Analysis Of Gucci And Its Competitive Position

Competitive Analysis of Gucci and Its Competitive Position

Gucci is a leading brand of fashion as well as leather goods house that was founded in 1921 in Florence. In 2008, Gucci generated about €4.2 billion revenue from worldwide sales of fashion (Gucci.com 2018). Gucci is also the highest selling Italian brand. The operation of Gucci spreads over 278 directly operated stores all around the world (Gucci.com 2018). Wholesalers and franchises is one of the manner in which Gucci sells its products on an upscale department store. Gucci received its highest rank and recognition in 2013, after it was valued at US $12.1 billion (Gucci.com 2018). The target market of Gucci has been mostly the high class society people (Gucci.com 2018).

According to Jin, Ji and Gu (2016), the interesting part is to explore Gucci and the manner in which it has become one of the most successful companies in the world. It poses a strong heritage with emphasis on superior product quality and latest fashion brand. The company uses the soul as an effective tool to capture the interest of the target audience. Gucci has developed an interesting response to the development of digitalization, which has helped it to enhance its positioning in the market as well as retain the congruence related to the experience and expectations (Gucci.com 2018). However, as stated by Chen and Miller (2015) despite its vast efforts, Gucci has been marred with various controversies most notably winning lawsuits against its rivals Guess. The company has also won lawsuit on cyber squatting against various online companies.

In order to gain an understanding of the continuous success that Gucci has encountered steadily for the last 97 years, it is important to analyse the competitive advantage that it usually gains in the market (Gucci.com 2018). Competitive advantage that the company gains through the analysis of the competitive environment is highlighted along with the strategies that exist in the adoption of the resources for success. According to Fan, Lau and Zhao (2015), competitive advantage helps a company to understand the competitors as well as understand the factors that may pose a threat for its success. In the case of Gucci, it is important to analyse the competitive forces across the world so that its position in the market can be determined.

The assignment highlights the comparative analysis of Gucci and understands the manner in which it remains competitive in the market by figuring out its competitive position. The aim of the assignment is to demonstrate the extent to which Gucci has been performing in an intense competitive worldwide market. At the same time, the assignment focuses on the discussion and takes into consideration the activities that the company adopts in gaining the competitive advantage. The social activities that are taken into consideration by Gucci are highlighted to justify the social responsibility. It also discusses the need for Gucci to enhance the business by understanding the future prospects that exists for formulating strategies for the growth of the business. The investigation process undertaken by Gucci is also highlighted in the assignment.

Activities of the Company in Gaining Competitive Advantage

Gucci is known to design, develop and market fashion products based on the identity of the brand name it posses. According to Peng and Liang (2016), four major themes underpin the strategies adopted by Gucci. These include:

1. Brand name of the company
2. Customer-centric approach
3. Well known product based on its productivity and quality
4. Corporate social responsibility

As observed by Dinnie (2015) the devotion of the company has been directed at the creation of authentic as well as unique fashionable products based on the latest trend in the market. At the same time, commitment is made to the research and development that works on innovative design for the development of its fashionable wear constantly.

According to Grant (2016), in order to gain success, it is important for Gucci to identify its competitors in the market. The necessity for Gucci to identify its competitors is for the adoption of different strategies. These strategies can be either defensive or offensive strategies so that competitive advantage can be gained or retained. As observed by Madureira (2014) with the application of the analysis of the competitors, Gucci can understand its major competitors while create a brand name for the company itself. An evaluation of the strength along with the weakness of the company can help in predicting any future strategies that can be adopted. The competitors can be identified based on a perceptual mapping of Gucci.

Figure 1: Perceptual mapping of Gucci

(Source: Gucci.com 2018)

The perceptual mapping presents the competitors of Gucci so that comparison of it can be made. The basis of comparison is based on four dimensions. These include loud and quite brand, modern as well as elegance. It can be seen from the comparison that the major threats that are faced by Gucci are from Armani and Prada (Gucci.com 2018). At the same time Chen (2014) is of the perception that the perceptual matrix displays that competitor analysis provides a context that can be used for the exploration of opportunities as well as threats. In an offensive manner, the competitor analysis helps in enabling organisations with an opportunity of leverage that includes understanding the strengths of the company. Along with these Cox Pahnke et al. (2016) opines that in a defensive manner, competitor analysis helps in addressing the threats and mitigates the weakness that exists within the capabilities of the companies.

As stated by Yu, Wang and Brouthers (2015) the core capabilities of Gucci are strong and motivated by the heritage and innovation process it possess. It can be demonstrated with the help of iconic products that take fashion to a new level of awareness among the customers. At stated by Pacheco and Dean (2015) in the quest of gaining more core competences in the market, the position of Gucci can be made changed from Italian to English into a more quirky as well as fashionable luxury fashion brand. Kenny and Dyson (2016) stated that it helps in maintaining the authenticity of the customers and provides a foreign charm in every country in which it operates. This helps the target customers to enable a proper differentiation from its competitors.

A distinct position in the manifestation of the iconic trend along with the glamorous fragrance can help Gucci to gain a competitive advantage. According to Levine, Bernard and Nagel (2017), the advantage is also reflected in the attempt made by Gucci to reinterpret the luxurious and modern fashion concept. Gucci follows a more hierarchical structure within its company and this helps in ensuring that the execution of its strategies remains effective as well as efficient during most of its attempt to achieve more space and time for the company to expand in remote areas of the world (Gucci.com 2018).

In order to understand the competitors as well as the strengths and weakness of Gucci, a comparison table can be made that summerises the unique points that develop the factors of the company and its competitors (Gucci.com 2018). The comparison can be done in a tabular form

Brands	Gucci	Prada	Armani
Unique selling point	Strong market recognition not only in the local market but global presence	Well preserved heritage and excellent interaction with customers	Graced with modern brand and provides a quite brand competitor
Target market	High class people of the society that includes celebrities	Upper class customers willing to pay heavily for fashion	Premium segmentation in the upper class of the society
Positioning	Focuses on modern fashion trend but is quite loud in its positioning	Defined by elegance and classic tradition	Placed between modern fashion trend a quite brand

Table 1: Competitor analysis of Gucci

(Source: Gucci.com 2018)

The analysis show that the difference between the three luxury brands are closely associated with the focus ranging between modern and elegant approach towards attaining a competitor advantage in the market.

Analysis of Gucci and its competitors indicate that the luxury fashion market is highly competitive. According to Wu and Olk (2014), this can be seen mainly in the constant changing environment that features fast advancement in the field of technology coupled with intensified globalization along with the need for constant changes in order to show case better competitive nature. Taking these scenarios in consideration, the activities undertaken by Gucci can be analysed that may result in the company gaining a competitive advantage in the local as well as international market.

Analysis have shown that Gucci may experience certain controversies all over the world, but the overall performance of the company is one that can be eye catching for the customers.. Analysis has shown that the sales of Gucci between 2012 to 2017 in several countries have been effective (Gucci.com 2018). The maximum sales percentage has been in the Asia Pacific region that highlights that despite being an Italian brand, Gucci is highly popular in countries that have less number of people in the upper class society region (Gucci.com 2018). This can be considered as a positive sign for the company as the target market size of the company can increase and provide itself with an advantage over the rival companies along with that of the local companies in the regions.

Figure 2: Global sales of Gucci

(Source: Gucci.com 2018)

Gucci is constantly in the fray of being the leading multinational fashion designing in the luxury fashion industry (Gucci.com 2018). Ever since its inception in 1921, the company managed to climb to the top based on its productivity as well as the quality of the product. Forbes considered it as the Most Valuable Global Brand in 2015 (Gucci.com 2018).

However, as observed by Fleisher and Bensoussan (2015) despite the customer satisfactory performances in terms of branding, Gucci faced problems in the sales department. Analysis has shown that Gucci tends to operate in global environment that are pose high threat and challenges. According to Burns, Bush and Sinha (2014), most of this is the result of the economy of the country being on a break down, or a growing concern in terms of geopolitical situation in the Middle East and Russia. At the same time, pricing of the company have also seen major challenges being faced with customers that are not of high stature.

The negative factors such as the political and economical factors have considerable influence on the performance of Gucci along with other companies in the luxury fashion market. At the same time, Fan, Lau and Zhao (2015) stated that with changes in the global climate and the rapid change in weather create dissatisfaction among customers on various products as the demand remains to maintain high quality variety of products at all time. Social responsibility is another main factor that needs to be considered by Gucci to survive in the market. Hence, as stated by Dietrich, Rundle-Thiele and Kubacki (2017) the social stature of the company can be taken into consideration while trying to understand the factors that are involved with the market.

The amount of inflation as well as economic instability has influenced various purchasing powers in a continuous manner. These situations compel Gucci to adjust its strategy about the markets that needs to be focused on. It has been seen from the revenue analysis that the major sources of revenue come from the Asia Pacific market that has an average generation of 35% (Gucci.com 2018). Overall, in the world Gucci has about 550 stores (Gucci.com 2018). After comparison with the Asia Pacific market, it can be seen that the revenue of the company is about 27% in Western Europe hence comparatively this can be considered as a huge loss for the company in terms of reaching the target market (Gucci.com 2018).

The performance of Gucci can be explained from a perspective of resource-based view (RBV). The analysis of the RBV, suggest that Gucci can successfully leverage the strategic resources and capabilities that are likely to help in the better performance of the company than failing to do so in the world. The application of the model can help in understanding the competitive advantage that Gucci can gain with the proper application of the resources and capabilities.

Resource and capabilities for competitive advantage
	Rarity	Relevance
High Quality	High	Low
Craftsmanship	High	High
Heritage	High	Low

Table 2: Resource and capabilities for competitive advantage

(Source: Gucci.com 2018)

Resource and capabilities for sustainability
	Durability	Transferability	Replicability
Brand equity and brand recognition	High	High	Low
Global network	High	High	Low
Social media for customer engagement	High	Low	High
Strong marketing capacity	Low	High	High

Table 3: Resource and capabilities for sustainability

(Source: Gucci.com 2018)

In order to gain a refined strategy it is necessary to adopt sustainable development as one of the most strategies of a business. According to Brewster, Chung and Sparrow (2016), the concept of sustainable development has become important as it concerns with the rapid growth of businesses in the 21st century. Sustainable development can be explained as per the necessity that takes into account three dimensions environment, society and economy. Marchington et al. (2016) is of the opinion that one of the criticisms faced by fashion brands is that of being unsustainable throughout the development of its product life cycle that originates from the use of raw materials. With the introduction of the fast fashion concept replacement of raw materials have grown which leads to higher level of environmental impact.

The positivity of Gucci is that it managed to integrate the sustainable development policy into the business profile (Gucci.com 2018). This can help Gucci in addressing the most significant issues that the company possesses. It can help in gaining a more differentiated capacity. The focus of Gucci has been to reduce the carbon footprint so that the company can be a social pillar (Gucci.com 2018). Therefore, as stated by Brewster, Mayrhofer and Morley (2016) it can be worthy to understand and fulfill the social responsibility of the business. Product life cycle can help in the fashion statement of Gucci so that it can continue to develop in the society and ensure that the idea of fashion can be incorporated as a social impact of the company.

The business practices adopted by Gucci can intersect with the social impact with the development of global outsourcing. Albrecht et al. (2015) defined global outsourcing as a strategy that provides involvement along the international division of labor so that activities related to manufacturing can be carried out in other countries that provide a cheap rate of labour. Hence, it can be concluded that Gucci even adopts global outsourcing as a means of strategy. In this regard the controversies of Gucci can be taken into account that is mainly based on the cyber crimes that the company had been accused of. Brewster et al. (2016) stated that most of the times the company has ended up on the winning side by filling legal complaints against the involved companies.

Apart from this, consideration of the social impact can fit with the needs as mentioned by the stakeholders. According to Jackson, Schuler and Jiang (2014), the needs of the consumers are that of green products by taking into account the cost incurred from quality along with fashion. The expectations of the employees particularly from the employers can be related to the social responsibility that starts with the sharing of common goals and objectives. Similarly as stated, by Wilton (2016) in the case of governments expectations based on the business can improve based on the welfare of the community in which the company operates. Along with these, the shareholders also require stable reputation in the corporate world so that retention of talents can be made with increase sales.

One of the considerations that Gucci needs to make is that it should not ignore its management of the social impact so that legitimacy can be obtained. The stakeholder theory has managed to justify the business of Gucci that have obligations while trying to address the issues related to social and environmental (Gucci.com 2018). Gucci has managed to integrate social responsibilities so that business strategies can be involved. The company has managed to communicate commitments so that improvement of society as well as the organization can be obtained. Considering this, it can be said that Gucci has remained as the best fashion-designing store in the world since its major development in 2013 (Gucci.com 2018).

Another important consideration that can be made is that Gucci can gain respect in terms of improvement in reputation, retention of the customers as well as attraction of talent. Tyson (2014) stated that this is mainly because managing a company with social impact is quite complicated. The essential part of Gucci is to take into account various considerations that include the importance of triple bottom line approach. According to Carnall (2018), the importance of this is that scope of social impact along with potential challenges can help in creating social impact. Hayes (2018) stated that triple bottom line approach is considered as a model for measuring the performance of business at an economic, social and environmental level. It can be considered as an expansion to the environmental initiative that includes economic as well as social impact of the business.

The passion for Gucci is to exert the social impact so that there may be a risk about the passion that distracts the company from maintaining its overall health. Therefore, as observed by Cameron and Green (2015) it is essential for Gucci to acknowledge the importance of the fundamentals that are based on the activities within the business carried out by the company. As suggested by Kuipers et al. (2014) the prerequisites for maintaining a stability on the financial sustainability that help in developing the desirable social impact of the company.

As stated by Goetsch and Davis (2014) in order to gain success, Gucci needs to understand the application of the triple bottom line approach to that the company can exert the importance of social impact on a long term basis. It can also be said that, without the viability of business risk at financial level can exist, as experience of success in the international market cannot occur without accomplishing the social impact on a large-scale basis. Cummings, Bridgman and Brown (2016) observed that the improving performance of Gucci could help with the related challenges that exist in the external environment of the business. The company experiences high performances in its native continent Europe with particular emphasis in its host country Italy and the most fashionable country France.

Gucci may consider the areas that focus on exerting social impact in the community. Various social oriented businesses have failed to bridge the scope that may have a negative impact on an environment. As stated by Altamony et al. (2016) the application of the social pyramid suggested by Carroll can help in managing the social responsibilities that business should maintain so that an obligation can be made that can develop profits as well as abide by the legislation. This can help in engaging the ethical conducts that exist in business (Gucci.com 2018).

Figure 3: Social responsible pyramid

(Source: Bratton and Gold 2017)

According to Matos Marques Simoes and Esposito (2014), the relation to the social impact is based on legal responsibility, as most companies need to remain in line so that it can act with the laws that do not violate the rights of the employees and employers. Ryan (2016) stated that it can be related to the ethical responsibility by taking into consideration the behaviors that does not regulate any type of legislation that provide training along with fair living wage and others. For Gucci the social impact can be exerted based on the philanthropy that helps the business to act in a way that can promote the welfare of communities. Chen and Miller (2015) observed that an opportunity may arise that can allow Gucci to address the essential social impacts so that the best approaches related social status can be achieved.

In the modern world, Gucci has been working on three major respects so that it can create a sustainable supply chain by ensuring that the human rights are protected  (Gucci.com 2018). This includes taking care of the needs for every employee in the organisations. At the same time, investment into community improvement can be considered as a major improvement for Gucci. Gucci has made rapid progress in the last few years in terms of gaining the support of the customers and at the same time have ensured that a fair working condition prevails within the limits of the company. Thus, enhancement in terms of social progress has been a recent development for Gucci (Gucci.com 2018).

However, challenges exist while trying to maintain a good social impact. An example can be given that provides evidence on the impact of social consideration on the supply chain. Baker (2016) as provided evidences that it can be difficult to maintain the entire supply chain in a clean, clear and transparent manner mainly due to the specific requirements that fashion supply chain possess. As observed by Peng and Liang (2016) despite the challenges, Gucci has managed to introduce auditing so that it can concentrate in the first tier supply chain. Hence, overall conclusion can be made that integrating supply chain management with social considerations can be difficult.

Therefore, it can be said that for Gucci it can be difficult to identify the position that it needs to be in. It has been seen that Gucci is one of the most reputed companies in the world and the value chain of the company provides for an understanding of the social impact it may create within the challenging environment. Dinnie (2015) stated that in order to be transparent, companies have to pay a high cost. A fair trade between the organisation and the people is needed so that the social impact can be high.  For Gucci, profit-making as well as social responsibilities are required for the development of the organisation and addressing of the interest of the shareholders is needed for gaining proper investments. At the same time, Chen (2014) stated that Gucci could determine benchmarks for its progress as a socially benefiting company.

The business environment of Gucci has to face with constant challenges that need special emphasis on the market concepts that take place. However, Wiederhold et al. (2014) the future prospects of Gucci can be considered as one safe mainly because of the global reputation in the market and the manner in which it can enhance its engagement within the customers of the world. As stated by Lovelock and Patterson (2015) the changing landscape of the company and the fashion industry can be attributed with the limitations that describe aspects of the company. These aspects can be considered as the needs for maintaining the company and its prospect in business.

According to Hair Jr and Lukas (2014), one of the probabilities that can be made is the fact that signs on political and economical struggle in most countries have been mixed. This provides hint at certain interesting probabilities. Countries like The United States, Europe and Japan have managed to experience a certain recovery in the economy. This may lead to an improvement in the purchasing power of most high competitive market in the economy. At the same time, De Mooij (2018) observed that in countries like India negative economic growth have caused a stall in the activities of Gucci.  As a recommendation, Gucci has targeted the emerging markets like China and India as major sources of gaining revenue. This is an indication that uncertainties may lead to greater threats for the market.

Therefore, prevention of risks and improvement of efficiency is required while selecting the target market while conducting market segmentation. According to Armstrong et al. (2015), the strategies related to this need to be considered in an intellectual manner while trying to manage the annual or short-term strategy. The main strategy that is adopted by Gucci is brand extension. The company also adopts a multi-channel distribution strategy that has become a major trend in the fashion retail industry. This is mainly because development of internet has been a major step in the modern world. As stated by Malhotra and Peterson (2014) the retail spaces that can be adopted by the company needs to be made physical so that use of internet can be limited in the fashion business.

According to Babin and Zikmund (2015), technology is one of the important elements for most companies in the modern world. It can help in conveying information and interact with customers. In the case of Gucci, the company can manage customer relationship so that its sales can improve. Gucci has managed to recognise the importance of maintaining a contemporary relevance by the combination of heritage across the world as well as innovation (Gucci.com 2018). Gucci has identified opportunities of sales as well as production so that leverage over the digital channels can be made. Therefore, as stated by McDonald and Wilson (2016) it can be difficult to overestimate the profits that may be gained by the application of innovative strategies as well as adopt technical competence.

The application of multi-channel strategy can pose a thorough requirement on the experience of the customers. In the case of Gucci, the offline stores of the company can have many fashion businesses that need to focus on the development of flagship stores. According to Baker (2016), this can help in attracting and retaining the target audience and pursue the distinct customer experience that Gucci may have. In the modern online setting, fashion businesses like Gucci find opportunities that exist in social media, which can be helpful for enhancing the interaction as well as the connectivity for maximizing the customer engagement. Hence, as stated by Bamossy and Solomon (2016) brand recognition can be one of the major needs for Gucci so that it can have an overall benefit in terms of sale volume and customer satisfaction.

According to Ryan (2016), in the modern world fast fashion concept has been unsustainable as the link can be made with fast responses related to the changes in fashion trends and high disposability rate. This can help Gucci to maintain a tendency of exploiting the common workers along the supply chain. At the same time, Bratton and Gold (2017) stated that an alternate solution could be made that can provide the concept of eco-fashion within the fashion industry. In the case of Gucci in Europe, assembling of the implementation of eco-fashion has been grown in a prominent.

For Gucci, the need depends upon the sustainability along with the supply chain. It is necessary that Gucci emphasize the attributes that include the fashionable as well as stylish disposal so that customers can encourage in keeping the products for a long time. Additionally, Bailey et al. (2018) stated that it is significant for Gucci to enhance the sustainable supply chain management so that it can reduce the social impact.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that Gucci is one of the most competitive brands in the fashion market. The assignment addressed the major factors that can be related to the competitive advantage of Gucci. The competitive positions of the company as well as the social impact that can have future prospects for other luxury fashion brands in the industry are highlighted. The comparative analysis of the manner in which Gucci can gain a competitive advantage is mainly based on two dimensions, which include the price as well as the quality of the products. The competitive advantage against the competitors has presented distinct strengths and weaknesses of the company.

The unique selling points that the company has in the luxurious brands have been provided in an explicit manner. Gucci’s resources and capabilities make it one of the top brands in the world and it helps in the categorization of the resources as well as identifies the target market of the company. The performance that uses helps in gaining a competitive advantage is displayed in the assignment with special emphasis on the budget and revenue of the company. It has been concluded that Gucci has adjusted its strategies by shifting the focus on the emerging markets mainly due to the declining performance in the developed markets. The major issues and controversies encountered by Gucci plays a significant role in adopting a brand differentiation strategy.

The adoption of the triple bottom line theory along with product life cycle theory and the supply chain management helps to demonstrate the necessity and importance of considering social impact. The considerations that need to make while developing and implementing strategies is based on the efforts taken by Gucci to continue its growth in the world market. It can be concluded that the adoption of a global outsourcing strategy by Gucci helped the company in a significant manner while reducing its control over the working conditions of the labour class particularly in the developed countries. The fat that social impact can be generated at various levels provides for an advantage for a company like Gucci.

At the same time, the future opportunities for the development of Gucci can be linked with the customer satisfaction level that the company possesses. The global status of Gucci provides the company with an understanding of the prospects that exist in the competitive environment. Sustainability strategies also play a major role in providing the company with an effort to continue its business prowess. One of the strategies adopted by Gucci can be concluded as identifying new technology platform that can be used for promotion or customer awareness.

Transformation of business strategy to obtain a core competency can help in identifying ways that can be suitable for the sustainable development of the company. Integration of customer research can be done to identify the valuable products and quality that is needed by the company. The performance and prospect of luxurious brands can be made by adopting continuous changing process for its growing trend of customer demands.

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