Business Overview
Products:
Designer and manufacturer of leather goods: bags, luggage, wallets, accessories
All products have registration and style number on them
Originally created to complement Trafalgar line of wallets, belts etc. and focused
on men’s travel bags and luggage.
With lifestyle positioning, X is selectively broadening its product offering to
include shoes, cashmere sweaters, cashmere socks, leather chairs, etc
The product tends to be unisex or on the masculine side, however the meter is
moving more towards offering products for men and women
Customers:
Traditionally 30-60 year old men and women. Skewed more towards men due to
it s heritage in men’s products. An older audience is due partly to the nature of the
product being expensive and gherkin not targeting the “hip” image.
Customers tend to be extremely loyal and make repeat purchases
Purchase occasion is for themselves or as a gift. (Women buy high portion as
gifts.
Some current customers- Cindy Crawford, Tom Hanks Steven Spielberg business
executive, Wall Street executives. It is the customer who wants to be fashionable
and stylish without screaming trend and a brand name
Channels
3 Stores: New York, Troy Michigan, San Francisco
1 discount outlet: Woodbury Commons
Online stores: Multiple sites sell X products many are without company approval
In general, the lack of trendiness makes it difficult to place products in stores-new
products are not released seasonally. The top three dept stores targeted are
Nieman Marcus, Saks and Nordstrom
Competition
No true competitor in the market with X’s product mix, price point, positioning
and image.
Louis Vinton, Hermes and Gucci are close but tend to be more on the fashion side
Other potential competitors: Tumid (High end luggage), coach (leather goods)
Brand And Image
Ghurka is about quality of material, skilled craftsmanship, timelessness and
durability. It is stable brand with great style and class.
However X is positioned as a lifestyle brand-not a fashion brand. The site should
not portray a trendy of high fashion image. X does not pay attention to the latest
fad or trend
Products are designed to always be in style. They are not introduced seasonally.
“Timeless”
They are still fashionable though. Fall 99 they are introducing a limited addition
line (All the products are numbered). It is geared toward woman and has a safari
feel to the products. – Made of alligator, zebra, bamboo, sterling silver hardware
etc. Nothing is under $1000
X started as a mans brand, so the image also tends toward the masculine side.
However, designs and products are moving the X brand toward “Men’s and
Women’s lifestyle products”
Goals and objectives for site
Become a critical channel for customers to shop for X products
Develop site as a substantial revenue source/ channel for X
Move store customers onto the web site
o Increase profitability
o Improve the ability to manage customer relationships (also gather
more customer information)
o Increased control over communication, presentation and image
Help move X toward a younger customer audience and develop a new
generation of customers.
o Younger audience is coming into money sooner
Develop a fully integrated site, catalog and store selling process.