Eileen Fisher Case Analysis

Marketing Plan for:

Eileen Fisher

Written by:

Tonika Dorsey

 MKTG 605

December 19, 2017

Table of Contents

Executive Summary        3

Company Description/Corporate Philosophy          5

Strategic Focus and Plan        6

Mission/Goals        6

Market Analysis         8

Situation Analysis        8

Competitive Analysis        9

Company Analysis        10

Customer Analysis        11

SWOT Analysis        12

SWOT Analysis Summary         13

Market-Product Focus        13

Marketing and Product Objectives        13

Target Market        14

Marketing Program        14

Product Differentiation         14

Promotion /Place        16

Action Plan        16

Contingency Plan         17

References         20

Executive Summary

Eileen Fisher Inc., is an American clothing company that was founded in NY by its namesake Eileen Fisher in 1984. The well established fashion brand has grown from an initial investment of $350 and profit of $3000 to $272 million in annual revenues and over 50 company- owned retail stores in sixteen states and e-commerce website in the US, Canada and the UK. The brand is known for their high-quality, simple, yet timeless fashions designed for women of all ages. The organization is considered mid-sized and has a strong focus on sustainability and civil issues.  Eileen Fisher’s brand is perceived as prominent and upscale and has established collaborative wholesale relationships with US department stores such as Neiman Marcus,  Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue. The company also encourages their customers to be eco-friendly by recycling and hand washing clothing. The core value of the brand is simplicity, design, culture  and service. However, after 25 years of successful growth in revenues, profit and building a strong brand and loyal customers the company enacted a strategic initiative to reposition and evolve their image to appeal to a younger segment.  The company found itself stereotyped as a brand for older women and to some extend women with larger  body types. In order to remain relevant and keep the brand current, the focus shifted to attracting new customers while limiting the risks of alienating their current loyal and profitable customer base.  To address these challenges new strategic programs such as  the THREAD and STITCH projects to help them better clarify and apply their vision and principles across all channels and to gain a better understanding of consumers needs and expectations. These projects also enabled the company to create more modern and trendier collections and achieve their set goal of attracting a younger segment and increasing brand awareness.

By analyzing the relationships between their products and customers body types and preferences the company was able to make significant changes to their brand image and products. Merchandise was displayed differently in stores and brand communication became edgier in hopes of satisfying both targeted segment and current loyal customer base. Eileen Fisher’s designs were initially based on the founders personal style, body type and intuitions with little input from design and concept teams. As their founder and customer base age, the company must decide on a target segment and create a brand repositioning strategy and plan that will include increasing social media use and their online presence.

Eileen Fisher’s current customers are mostly affluent and are between the ages of 46-64 . They are youthful, vibrant and active who prefers simple, yet stylish clothing . This particular segment prefers to shop high-quality department stores and cares about shopping at places with high morals and values.

This marketing plan will serve as an analysis and evaluation of Eileen Fisher’s current and proposed strategies as well as recommendations and contingencies.  Action and contingency plans are based on an analysis of internal and external environments, consumer and industry trends and changing economic variables The recommended action plan consists of  hybrid marketing for both segments which will maintain image and brand loyalty, expand reach and increase brand awareness. Contingency strategies includes aggressive target marketing and  increased segmentation and are in place to safeguard our market position and maintain our brand image in case critical events were to occur.

1.1 Company Description and Corporate Philosophy  

Eileen Fisher the company’s founder and namesake, founded Eileen Fisher, Inc in 1984 in New York city. Mrs. Fisher noticed an obvious need in the market and invested  $350 to start her company. Despite not having any fashion or sewing experience she was able to sell $3000 in orders at a boutique show in NYC, later selling $40,000 in orders for eight of her designs. By 2009, the privately-owned company grew to include 50 company-owned and retail stores in sixteen states that accounted for 25% of its retail sales. The company also operates an e-commerce website that accounts for 12% of its retail sales. Customers loyalty to the brand drove a click-to-receive rate of 17% and click-to-receive rate of 52% in 2009, which greatly outperformed national averages. A bulk of their sales comes from their wholesale collaborative relationships with over 478 US department stores and 315 specialty shops located in all fifty states. The company has wholesale accounts  and partnerships with department stores such as Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.

The company embodies the beliefs, convictions and lifestyle of its founder. Products  were designed based on Mrs. Fisher’s personal experiences and intuition as a women. Eileen Fisher’s brand statement of “beautifully simple clothing designed to move with real life” embodies and supports their core cultural values of inspiring creativity , instilling confidence and cultivating connections. From the beginning the organization  had a strong social consciousness striving to make a social difference and substantial change. Eileen Fisher has shown a commitment to social good, which was guided by an increased focus on business practices that had a high regard for human rights standard; to include child labor, discrimination, working hours, health and safety. The company also displayed strong support for its employees by offering growth and well-being programs intended to help them balance life between work and home.