Korra Dancewear Company was established by Karolina Swietoniowska in 2013.The long time dancer with a love for design started creating her own dancing apparel and was brainstorming on how to make her business profitable. Based in Mississauga, Ontario her company was mostly online and it was through the internet that she was able to market and make sales for the apparel. She delivered the items personally in her car so as to reduce on distribution costs. This paper conducts a PEST and SWOT analysis for the business. It also seeks to identify the best consumer market by conducting a market analysis and also analyzing the competition and evaluating level of threat they pose to the growth of Korra.
PEST analysis of Korra dancewear
Companies such as Korra need to understand the versatile operations environment and this is what enables them to come up strategies for the company. Analysis of the macro environment constitutes of various segments. These include the political, economic, environmental social and technology aspects of a said business. So as to achieve growth a PEST analysis was conducted on Korra dance wear.
Political
The political aspects influence the level of operation of any company. It may also dictate the location of the market for the product. Political influence on the clothing industry has relaxed and more companies are allowed across border investments (Grasby, 2014). It also allows for outsourcing for products in other parts of the world. Korra can comfortably venture into new markets all over the country and across borders without political interferences.
Economic
Ontario was able to recover after the recession and it was picking up from the financial crisis of 2008.As the economy improved more employment opportunities were being put forward which meant that a higher percentage of women had disposable income that they could use on the dance wear. Economic stability always increases demand for goods. In recent years the number of poor people progressing to middle income earners is rising. Korra dance wear can take advantage of their purchasing power.
Social component
The changing social component in Ontario is a major aspect. More and more people are finding the need to dress appropriately for their dance sessions. The teenagers and young adults are continuously being influenced by the fashion industry and the evolving trends create a niche for Korra. Korra should tap into this component as it develops its marketing strategy.
Technology
Technology as a tool is among the major aspects that should not be overlooked with regard to developing of marketing strategies. Technology provides a channel for Korra to improve its productivity and also the quality of products delivered to consumers. Korra having started out as an online company was not able to reach a large enough market because it fell short on online marketing strategies (Grasby, 2014). Since the main target market for Korra is the youth social media and online forums is a major way of reaching both existing and potential clients
SWOT analysis of Korra dancewear.
The existing business has been predominantly as an online business and even through its years since inception it has failed to show considerable growth and has stagnated for a long time. Having identified its target market and launched a research into new marketing strategies to boost sales to an estimated $1000-2000 in monthly revenue, it creates a need to conduct a SWOT analysis of the company’s current state so as to determine what improvements can be made and to what extent.
Strengths
Korra dance wear focuses on comfort for the wearer. The apparel is designed by an actual dancer who understands the schematics that should be employed to create comfort and flexibility for the dancer. This form of experience is what places Korra on top of its game and it is a good marketing pitch as it appeals to dancers to have the designs made by one of them. Another strength that Korra rides on is the quality of their dance wear. The costumes are made up of 90% polyester and 10% Lycrics ensuring comfort, flexibility durability and also at the same time reducing sweat retention in the fabric during dancing (Grasby, 2014). This is the preferred fabric by even the professional dancers. The duration of time Korra takes on shipping around Ontario is convenient for most buyers as it only takes 2-4 business days after ordering.
Weaknesses
Korra has failed to grow mainly because it is faced with many weaknesses. The duration of time that Swietoniowska took in school retarded the growth of the company as she was not able to focus on her business. Manufacturing costs in Canada are high and they therefore reduce the profit margin forcing Korra to increase the price of the commodity. However Korra prides itself with having the goods manufactured in Canada and therefore outsourcing to china the cheaper alternative is not good for marketing. The goods that were outsourced in china appeared cheap and affordable for the business however the quality was wanting and Korra was forced to decide on either increasing volume sales of poor quality items or maintaining the standard and incurring higher manufacturing costs (Grasby, 2014). Another major weakness for Korra is that it is not well branded and marketed. Korra is not a household name and advertising has to be done more.
Opportunity and Threat
Korra should be concerned about threats and work towards strategies to eliminate these threats while taking advantage of the opportunities. The expanding network is a major opportunity for Korra to establish itself with its consumers. By showcasing its work at exhibitions events is one major promotional idea. It should exploit the social networks so as to reach more people. It is should take on the social media marketing plan. The major threat that Korra faces is the competition from other dancewear companies who are well branded and already established in the consumer market.
Competition
The dancewear market is highly competitive and Korra has to face competition from companies that are already well established, experienced and that have already developed good supplier customer relationships. The major competitors for Korra include; Ainslie wear, mondor and Bloch. Ainslie wear was established by a retired dancer for reasons similar to those of Korra’s inception. The company manufactures from Canada and is a household name in all of Ontario. It has stores all over the country and even into the United States (Grasby, 2014). However its weakness that Korra can exploit is that it retails its costumes at very high prices that are only affordable to the upper middle class. Mondor is another competitor that Korra is up against. Established in 1955 as a nylon stockings manufacturing company it has built a strong consumer base all over the world and it is well known for its high quality. However it charges a premium price for its apparel. The other competitor is Bloch an Australian company that is well rooted in Canada it offers affordable apparel that are of high quality.
Consumer market analysis
Seeing as most studios do not have dance apparel as a mandatory thing Korra is burned with the trouble of identifying and reaching out to dancers who want dance costumes for personal preference purposes. The consumer target for Korra initially was on girls in their late teens and young adults in the dancing arena. Korra targets groups who work on choreographies and may need like apparel for uniformity. It targets dance teachers who need to show a level of professionalism by being dressed for the occasion. Professional dancers are also a key target group especially those ones who are coming up and may not afford the costumes sold at high end stores such as Ainslie wear (Grasby, 2014). Korra should seek to appeal to the locals with an estimated population of 220,000 women and girls interested in dance in Toronto’s 5mile radius alone. The target consumers are competitive dancers, recreational dancers and the new target is children. By targeting children from age 5 upwards Korra would be able to tap a new and ever growing market having started out as a child dancer herself.
Making plans on distribution, pricing and promotion is one of the key areas that should be addressed so as to ensure the company’s success. Swietoniowska should focus on creating a good marketing plan with an elaborate distribution system. She should explore the retail market and get her items in retail stores so that they can reach the market and even though they may face high competition from established brand it should be a calculated risk that should be taken as it helps consumers compare the quality and affordability and thus building its brand. Korra should invest in face book ads and Google ads as well it should exploit social media fully by hiring users to promote the businesses pages even on instagram leading to an increase in the number of followers which in turn helps in advertising (Grasby, 2014). Other marketing strategies should be used too. The product should be well priced such that it is affordable to the everyday consumer yet profitable for the business. Korra should also hire personnel to help in distribution of orders .By creating an attractive business concept and a strong organization, Korra will without a doubt build lasting customer relations and eventually achieve profitable operations.
Reference
Grasby, M.A. (2014). Korra dancewear. school of business foundation .
