A Critical Analysis of Bravissimo Company
Introduction
Establishing a new niche for the business requires accurate predication and evaluation of the new markets. The approach is taken to ameliorate the chances of making wrong decisions, which in most instances consumes a lot of money and wastage of time. This report aims to look into details, the performance of Bravissimo, which is a UK based company dealing with women lingerie. The establishment of this company came along to fill the gap that existed in the market, with aim of targeting the women with big boobs. The motivation behind adoption of this kind of business was as a result of analyzing the existing outlets dealing with women dinnerware attires, and found out that not many of the enterprises specialized in one line. Mostly, the traders stocked all type of attires for women, which in most cases failed to address the tastes of huge bodied women. Started in the year 1995, the company has tenured various economic seasons, and managed to retain the market relevance to date.
It is estimated that Bravissimo operates twenty shops spread across the UK, and has employed around 850 employees who serve in various capacities. Over the twenty three years that the company has been in operation, it has managed to override the market turmoil’s and continued to restructure its operations to fit the modern demands(Kumar & Sethi, 2016). In its distribution channel, the three aspects of considerations are price, product, place and promotion. Such, it has been able to segment its customers within a given geographic region, thus facilitating management. As Bravissimo is growing at a rapid rate, the chances of venturing into a new market would help in expanding the revenue collection base. In this case, the report aims to focus on Asian market, which is growing at a rapid rate. The current market for women undergarments focuses on people who are small, hence the need to stretch the operations of Bravissimo to the new geographic region.
Internal organization of Bravissimo
According to john (2020), the success of business is entirely related to how well the internal operations are coordinated. It is through this that large businesses such as Amazon, have been able to venture into international markets, and increased the revenues. Despite the challenges that are presented in new environment, the company has managed to strike a balance between its finances and marketing, thus reaching out to different countries. Bravissimo operations are only focused on UK populace, due to factors such as ability to understand the culture of the people, high standards of living, and high purchasing power, among others. As a result, they have been able to operate 29 shops across the country.Considering the number of employees the company is able employ (850), this is sure evidence that it has been growing linearly, since its inception. John (2020) affirms that ability to retain the employees and show gradual growth is the sure way to evaluate the possibility of any business to grow in the future.
Confining the argument to the company of focus, the rate of turnover is rarely witnessed, and the priorities of the employees are taken into consideration with utmost care. Among the key areas where the company has improved the welfare of its employees is through fair remuneration, conducive working environment and favorable policies that are easy to follow and implement. Therefore, the major asset-workers- is well taken care of, which has given the company a steady growth and sustainability in the market.Furthermore, the mission statement for Bravissimo is: to inspire women with big boobs to feel amazing, to celebrate our figures and to offer a wide choice of beautiful styles to uplift big boobed women in every way(Chaklader & Gulati, 2015). The statement is clear that the focus for this kind of business is to look into the plight of the most ignored section of the women in the society, where getting the right undergarments is a challenge.
External Analysis (PESTEL)
Bravissimo, as company boasts of a good brand name, which to a greater extent is its major strength. Arguably, it can be said that this strength to some extent is what gives the company the ability to charge prices that are a little bit higher. The fact that this company has crossed over to international borders speaks it all. Most of its clients and general consumers place higher value to its products, which in a way or the other makes the firm to boast of success, hence increasing most of its product’s prices. Bravissimo sells its products world over, with its arch rival competitors being the Bare Necessities Company, Fig Leaves, La Senza, Adore Me, Thrasher, and SportsBras.Ca. The fact that the company has made use of technology advancements, crossing over to online platforms is something quite advantageous to them (Fredericks, 2005). With 799 employees, the company has an estimated revenue of $23M annually. Bravissimo is such a big company, competing well within its market, with the latest moves being to attract younger consumers. The company’s PESTLE is as highlighted below:
Political
While getting into the Asian market, there are various political consideration, which should be made as far as the business is concerned. In some Asian countries, it should be noted that there is too much corruption, most of which is perpetrated by the citizens and government officials. The pervasive corruption has also been prove to have the capacity of reducing completion and efficiency in the economy (Fredericks, 2005). Bravissimo should in one way or the other try to set standards that would reduce the rampant corruption from reaching them, and this should be done by doing proper registration of the business. There have been questions as to whether the firm really represents the interests of women with big boobs. The company comes out in defence of such claims, stating how difficult it is for model brokers to get women with big boobs as models.
Economic
Before the company steps foot in the Asian market, some of the economic factors it should be able to consider include demand forecasting, cost analysis, profit analysis, and capital management. In as much as it was deemed that the decision of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union would have had adverse effects to the company (Fredericks, 2005). However, it should be noted that in most of the Asian countries, all these factors listed are variable. With the minimum wage bill being $7 per hour, it is estimated that this is one of the countries with an affordable and cheap labour. From a critical analysis of fashion firms such as Arpora, Colaba Causeway, Janpath, and Hazratganj, one realises that there is a good market for the lingerie business in the country.
Social
It has been opined that fashion has a great capacity to bring social change in the Asian countries. Countries that have economic challenges such as Philippines should be factored in, when it comes to such processes. First, Bravissimo Company would employ most poor people, hence this would boost the poor in the society. It is also expected that the firm would be able to engage in charity works, which in one way or the other would have helped the less fortunate in the society. Through charity works, the company has been able to give back to the society. Under their foundation, there are various programs, which includes the “Bravissimo girls can, be inspired, your stories, and I knew I was a Bravissimo girl when…” out of these programs, the company intends to support the ladies in general, while also selling their products (Chaklader & Gulati, 2015).
Other initiatives started by the company with intentions of helping the society includes “a lilo for Bravissimo girls, what do you call yours, and the perks of having big boobs.” All these initiatives that have been started should cross over to the Asian market, which therefore would have assisted the people in the country. At the company’s website, they have clearly indicated that they have all intentions of even supporting others more, hence calling out for others who are interested in the same work to join in (Discover Bravissimo 2018).
Technological
Across the Asian continent, a great population if youths depend on social media to get information. They should therefore strive to set up the business from a technological angle, by for instance coming up with mobile apps and simplified websites, which would make it easy for the natives to operate from. Bravissimo has to keep up with the development by checking out how the youths use technology and in what capacity they would be able to gain much from it. For brand recalling and management, Bravissimo has to look for ways they would get a wide range of individual-s of different generations, and this is on social media alone.
Legal
Bravissimo tries to ensure that its suppliers are compliant with the required code and ethics of the country. On the other hand, they also strive to see that everything runs according to the policies and regulations that have been stipulated in the respectful country where they have set foot. Since the company is all over the world, including developing nations, they have made it a good practice to go hand in hand with the cultural practices of the places, and this would have positive effects to the citizens. Apart from engaging in charity work the firm would need to create job opportunities, hence reducing the poverty levels.
Environmental
In the contemporary society, at least every company seeks to uphold and maintain the environmental policies and standards that have been set by the United Nations. This should also be include in the codes and ethical concerns of the companies (Discover Bravissimo 2018). The Asian countries have equally maintained good policies regarding conservation of the environment. There before, factories and companies were not concerned about environmental policies, unlike today, where almost every company is interested with the policies. During the registration period, the companies are required to prepare environmental policies, which would be critical in conservation of the same. With the emergence of global warming risks, it is essential that every firm, in its process of doing business ensures that they come up with policies that would maintain good environmental practices.
Strategic Market Objective
Bravissimo has lately developed a critical strategy that is meant to attract more clients by using the technology platforms. Having realised that most of the people, especially the youth are on social media platforms, the company intends to use platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to get more clients. However, it should be noted that their plans has not succeeded well enough, given that they still haven’t gotten a good following on social media (Discover Bravissimo 2018). Therefore, Bravissimo Company should be able to focus on three main things which includes making use of technology and improving the human resource capacity, and increasing the tangible resources to improve their marketing skills.
Technological Approach in Marketing
With the advent of an era of technology, most companies strive to adjust with the most recent changes, and Bravissimo is not any different. The company seeks to make use of such an advantage to increase its market capacity in the Asian region (Kumar & Sethi, 2016). By integrating themselves into technology, most companies have realised the big potential regarding getting clients. For instance, Bravissimo has been able to make use of social media for the purposes of interacting with their potential clients. With the advent of better social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Snapchat, and Instagram, the firm should be able to put down strategies that would enable the growth and development of the firm even further. By using the Facebook ads, it is expected that in the next 3 years, the firm would have improved to a much greater extent.
Human Resource and Marketing
In the contemporary world, at least every company is most interested in boosting their marketing skills, since competition has become stiff in most occasions. Therefore, Bravissimo should not be any different as they also face much competition.For the next three years, the firm needs to place its strategic measures in the Asian market, which in one way or the other would help marketing. Having a good human resource in place by itself is quite advantageous to the people. Boosting the human resource would men also expanding the marketing department to an extent that the firm would be advertised further (Chaklader & Gulati, 2015). Studies reveal that companies that have had to boost their human resource department end up performing well, as the manpower is equally enhanced.
Tangible Resources and Focusing on Top-Customers
In the next three years, the firm should be able to focus on the top customers, by giving them resources. However, for this to be done, the firm should make good use of the tangible resources, which would be used to reward the potential clients. The firm’s potential greatly lies in their resources, and this is divided into the tangible and intangible resources. However, it is vital to note that the tangible resources have had a positive effect to the company (Discover Bravissimo 2018). Types of tangible resources in the company include the financial, organizational, technological, and physical ones. Reputational, human resource, and innovation are part of intangible resources, which the firm has also capitalized on greatly. Since the firm is doing well in this aspect, they should be able to boost their marketing levels by enhancing and making use of the tangible resources.
Market Mix Analysis
By making use of the of the marketing mix analysis, the company will be able to understand the factors likely to affect it. The process involves looking at a combination of four factors that are deemed controllable, which includes the firm’s profits, product, place, promotion and the price (the 4 Ps). The four factors have been blended in such a way that they meet the demand of the target audience, hence creating an opportunity for the business to grow further(Fredericks, 2005). In this report, the four Ps would be analysed effectively to understand the weakness and strengths of the company,
The Product
The product is primarily the service or the tangible goods that are being sold by the company. To a much greater extent, the product should be quite attractive to the clients. In this case, women lingerie is the product which should be analysed to the effect of seeing its viability in the Asian country(Kumar & Sethi, 2016). Due to the fact that there are other several fashion companies that are performing well in the Asian market, one realises that the products would work effectively in such a market.
The Place
Through online platforms, it is expected that any product could be availed at the exact position without failure. Bravissimo Company seeks to employ such tactics like creation of social media platforms and mobile apps, which would facilitate the process of acquiring such goods.
Promotions
Bravissimo firm seeks to make use of strategies such as advertisements, digital marketing, personal selling, channel marketing, and direct marketing to make progress in the marketing department. Promotions are quite important, especially at a time when there is much competition in the place. On the other hand, this being a new market for the company, it is expected that promotions are enhanced as they boost the number of clients in the business.
Price
To come up with the right price, the process involves creating policies that are based on the principles of the basic price of the country, checking on various upgrades, doing discounts, and sometimes, they should be able to come up with coupons(Kumar & Sethi, 2016). Before setting up the prices, it is vital to note that the firm checks on the distributor’s price.
Cross Functional Dependencies
The cross functional team should be able to pin point the best evangelists regarding marketing, rounding up various expertise for the necessary projects, and structuring the cross-functional team appropriately. Analysing the cross-dependencies of the company, meant to help the firm achieve the stated strategic marketing skills would involve going through the SWOT analysis, as this would help in determining what is required in each stage(Fredericks, 2005). The cross functional team should understand the SWOT analysis of the firm before anything.Bravissimo firm seeks to look at the significance of the cross-functional teams a make use of them while in the Asian market. Some of the significant aspects include the following:
Task Complexity
For the company to thrive in the new Asian market, it is a requirement that they employ specialists from different functional groups, most of whom understand the market quite well.
There is a shared vision among the stakeholders, and this should be considered a significant factor as far as the business information is concerned.
Every company should be able to come up with either fixed or short term strategies that will keep them on focus making the firm to realise its potential in the market.
Any given task should be allocated to a smaller team, as this gets to work more effectively.
Structure of the Cross-Functional Dependencies
Just like the matrix system, the cross functional dependencies or teams are complex, but with every unit being functional and relying to the other. It comprises of a dedicated core team, a functional team of managers and architects, and sub-functional team members (Chaklader & Gulati, 2015). Under the dedicated core team, there are individuals such as the cross-functional leader (CF), the program manager (PM), and the system architects, all who are very instrumental in the existence of the firm.
Conclusion
The company has made tremendous efforts since the day it was formed, in such a way that it keeps on improving. In as much as theories could be easier than practical implementation, it is vital to note that the good management at the company has to a greater extent led to its success. However much they have failed to achieve in some sectors, it is a good thing that their graph keeps on improving on daily basis.
