Table of Contents ● Executive Summary 1 ○ Market Opportunity 1 ○ Summary of competitive advantage 2 ○ Summary of competitive assessment 2 ○ Net assessment 2 ○ Summary of marketing objectives 3 ○ Summary of marketing strategy 3 ○ Summary of financial results 3 ○ Conclusion 3 ● Business Overview 5 ● Product/Service Assessment 7 ○ Formal product/service description 7 ○ Product Technology 11 ■ Technology description 11 ■ Technology life cycle 13 ■ Service life cycle 14 ■ Market life Cycle 15 ○ Service platform. 16 ○ Evaluate competing technologies 16 ■ Relative competitiveness 16 ■ Features, advantages, and benefits (FAB) analysis 17 ■ Cost factors/drivers 21 ○ Evaluate potential disruptive technologies 22 ○ Government/Political/Legal issues 23 ○ Environmental sustainability issues 23 ○ Conclusions 23 ● Market Analysis 25 A. Potential market segments 25 B. Segmentation 26 1. Segment definitions 26 2. Segment forecasts (3 years) 30 C. Segment Attractiveness Analysis 31 D. Potential new markets 33 E. Conclusions 33 ● Competitor Analysis 34 A. Industry dynamics. 34 B. Competitive factors mapping. 35 C. Competitor Profiles 36 D. Competitive Benchmarks 38 E. Conclusions 38 6. Net Assessment 39 A. SWOT Analysis 39 B. Critical Factors 41 1. Risk Factors 41 2. Success Factors 41 C. Conclusions. 42 7. Marketing Strategy 43 A. Strategy Platform 43 1. Marketing objectives dashboard 43 2. Growth strategy—goal is to achieve uncontested market space. 44 3. Value disciplines 46 4. Positioning strategy 48 5. Brand strategy 49 6. Transition to 4Ps 52 B. Service Plan 52 1. Service objectives/metrics. 52 2. Service life cycle, market life cycle, technology life cycle 53 3. Service strategy 53 4. Service Platform/family 54 5. Service launch issues 56 6. Service launch timeline 57 C. Sales and Distribution Plan 57 1. Sales and distribution objectives/metrics. 57 2. Sales strategy 58 3. Channel strategy 59 D. Promotion plan 61 1. Promotion objectives/metrics 61 2. Promotion theme. 61 3. Promotion strategy 61 4. Campaign plan 63 E. Pricing plan 66 1. Pricing objectives/metrics 66 2. Pricing strategies 67 8. Implementation 70 A. Financials 1. Three-year pro forma P&L by quarter 70 2. Marketing budget 72 3. Marketing communications budget 73 4. Capital budget 73 B. Controlling the marketing plan. 74 C. Organizational requirements. 76 1. Objectives. 76 2. Organizational plan 9. Plan Conclusions 79 10. References 80 11. Appendices 85 3 1. Executive Summary A. Market Opportunity Bonobos is the largest online founded clothing enterprise in America as of 2011 (Hotchkiss, 2011). As a one- As an idea that began as a student project from by two Stanford University grads. Bonobos has established itself as a major leader in the online men’s retail industry. Today, Bonobos is focused to provide customers with excellence in fit and excellence in customer service. We have created a marketing plan to speak to these values and extend on them by introducing The Bonobos Gentlemen’s University. The Bonobos Gentlemen’s University is reinventing the way men shop online: purchasing clothes is not a chore anymore; with these services Bonobos is focusing on providing an experience for customers. The Big Idea: The Gentlemen’s University is about re-educating young professional males to be 21st century Gentlemen. Being a 21st Century Gentleman isn’t just in what you wear, it’s a lifestyle, we want to change how men feel by assisting through their shopping experience. An updated marketing strategy to embrace what Bonobos stands for and their goals while continuing to keep path with the ever advancing World Wide Web and all of its functions will help Bonobos capture a larger market share. Bonobos will be offering three new major services under the umbrella of “The Gentlemen’s University.” Since social media and online technologies provide us an opportunity for upfront customer contact we will be introducing our first service: a personal stylist assistant service called the “Gentlemen Professor’s.” Bonobos will offer the services of a personal stylist using today’s technology, through means of personal chat sessions, video, email, and reference to a personally tailored user dashboard that will include articles of clothing that our stylist feel are just right for you. Bonobos won’t just stop with offering fashion advice from our Gentlemen’s Professors. The Bonobos Gentlemen’s University will also offer a personal online customized dashboard that personally evolves as your relationship with your Gentlemen Professor grows, to reflect more of your 21st century lifestyle and product preference. This customized dashboard will serve as a “virtual closet”-you’ll have an online closet that helps your professor and yourself find outfits that work well together, as well as the ability to have “favorites” and upload pictures of clothing from your physical closet at home. Bonobos will offer a slim down version of your online dashboard through the Bonobos Smartphone app. Here you can view your outfits, chat with a Professor, and purchase items from Bonobos. Stumbled onto a Bonobos advertisement? Really like the outfit in the ad? Use the mobile app to scan the QR code on the ad to “save” or “purchase” all or parts of the outfit. Through research, it was found that men do not enjoy the overall shopping experience because of the inconvenience to brick and mortar locations and also the lack of education and confidence when it comes to fashion. The market for menswear overall is stagnant, but in the online sector is has grown annually more than 2.0% over the past few years. Men are more apt to shop for items online and enjoy doing so (Rodgers). Since Bonobos is strictly online we will appeal to the male masses. One of the key opportunities for brands looking to grow market share is in offering fashion advice and tips. FHM a popular men’s magazine launched an online menswear shop in November of 2009, it is now the most popular areas of their site, specifically the “What to Wear” section which attracts 10% of all page views (Smith, N.). With our marketing plan to implement social media tools at the Gentle Professor and a mobile app, we can help educate the young professionals of the 21st century, not only in fashion but in being a gentleman. Also, it was found that a great majority of the market lies within the young professional. Our target market will be males between the ages of 22-55, that are active, and in a professional career where dressing with some class is essential. The growth potential of the target market is 2.4% and is broken up into the following segments (Inc.2007): • Trousers – 46.3% 4 • Shirts – 33.1% • Underwear – 9.6% • Coats – 6.3% • Suits – 4.8% Trousers and Suits combined are more than 50% of the market; this puts Bonobos in a prime position to capture more of the market share. With the newly offered value added services provided by Bonobos’ Gentleman’s University, there should be no problem capturing a larger share of the men’s fashion market B. Bonobos Competitive Advantage The Bonobos fitted pants put Bonobos on the map. With the curved waistband technology, custom fit services, and stylish products Bonobos gained competitive advantage among competitors. Other than products, Bonobos recognized opportunity through social media marketing and it has paid off. Bonobos has fully integrated Twitter and FaceBook, devoting 30 percent of daily customer interactions from social media. (CRM Magazine, 2010) Their return on investment from social media is so strong, benefiting from word of mouth and some fashion press; they sold $11,000 worth of trousers the first month. (Smart Ideas, 2011) Looking forward, Bonobos must continue to leverage social media marketing for expansion into new market segments. In order to identify future opportunity for market growth and competitive advantage we conducted a weighted competitive analysis and comparative assessment analysis-evaluating five Bonobos competitors. This analysis provided interesting insights. Found was that most competitors are behind in mobile application technology. Competitors that have brick and mortar locations are behind in online customer support-Bonobos has opportunity by focusing on personalized services and features for customers. Over the next three years we will strategically launch portions of the Gentleman’s University, starting out with the custom online dashboard and Gentleman Professor online chat. In the following years Bonobos will launch add-on features to the Gentleman’s University ending in year three with the addition of a mobile app containing your mobile dashboard, and lastly a premium service ($19.99/month) allowing online video chat with your very own Gentleman Professor. Also, it would be beneficial for Bonobos focus on their current competitive advantage. Many competitors do not provide customized/innovative products (such as the fitted pants). There is opportunity for Bonobos to extend this competitive advantage and work towards being an innovative problem solver through new products and services. This marketing plan will assess these competitive advantages and associated analyses further. C. Summary of competitive assessment Through analysis of competition we compared Bonobos against five competitors: J Crew, Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers, Gilt, and Trunk Club. Through our competitive analysis we learned that no single competitor was consistently strong across customer value drivers. However, as stated before we recognized the Mobile Application, innovative problem solver and personal features and services to be important factors to focus on moving forward. Each competitor is different, which will be beneficial for Bonobos because it allows us to see what is working within the market and what does not work. Since Bonobos is fully online, provides innovative solutions, and offers customized products we see Bonobos as having an upfront advantage among competition. Concluding, our comparative assessment of these competitors and the competitive analysis reveal a few significant factors that we will consider moving forward.