Introduction
Brands are an important phenomenon in the modern market, for they allow customers to distinguish between the products of different manufacturers and identify the goods of the company the products of which they want to buy. It is vital for a designer to know how to analyze brands in order to be successful in today’s world where art and business often intersect. In this paper, we will study Baby Dior, a brand of children’ apparel produced by Christian Dior SE. We will both examine the literature and other textual sources related to the topic and study a local store selling the production of the Baby Dior brand.
General Information about the Brand
Christian Dior SE, a company which is widely known simply as Dior, is a major European enterprise originating in France that deals in luxury goods, such as apparel, footwear, jewelry and watches, cosmetics and perfumes, wines and spirits, etc. Among its products are clothes, including clothes for children. The division of the company responsible for producing apparel and footwear for kids is known under the name Baby Dior. Clearly, clothes not only for newborn babies but also for older children, both boys and girls, are produced and sold by Baby Dior. This division of the Dior company was founded in 1967 by Marc Bohan, a creative designer working for the Christian Dior SE. It is stated that the apparel created by Baby Dior is among the most well-known luxury wear for children (“Baby Dior” n. pag.). The collections of clothes and footwear for the youngest can be viewed on the section of the Dior company website related to the children (“Children’s fashion” n. pag.).
Organizational Structure, Location, and Marketing Strategy
The Baby Dior is a division of Christian Dior SE which specializes in children’s apparel. The brand of Christian Dior is known worldwide mostly as a producer of goods for women; the Dior Homme division is responsible for creating products for men, whereas Baby Dior offers clothes for kids. Christian Dior SE is led by its Board of Directors. Bernard Arnault is the CEO and the chairman of the company’s Board of Directors (“Corporate Governance” par. 1). Arnault also is the enterprise’s major stockholder. Other stocks of Christian Dior SE are commonly considered to be public float (The Wall Street Journal n. pag.).
It is important to point out that the products of the brand are sold in many places in the world; the business is international, and it is represented, among other countries, in Bahrain. There are a number of stores where the products of the Dior company are sold in Bahrain. For instance, the division of the company in question, the one responsible for children’s wear, is represented in the Saks Fifth Avenue store, one of the large chain of American department stores; there is the Baby Dior section in that department.
Dior is a luxurious brand (Riley, Lomax, and Blunden 42-43). Thus, the marketing strategy of the Dior company, including the Baby Dior division, is aimed at the customer who has a rather high social status (that is, can usually be attributed to either upper-middle or upper class) and high incomes. (Clearly, children do not buy clothes on their own) The clients of the enterprise usually are sophisticated people who value good taste, elegance and luxury, and prefer that both they and their children look according to their prominent status in the society.
The company usually releases new designs of apparel every three months, creating collections for each season of the year. The clothes and footwear made by the firm are usually elegant and somewhat romantic, yet often simple; their luxuriousness is clearly stressed. The style of the apparel is usually inclined towards classics and tradition; those who seek casual or sports clothes, or clothes that are “modern” in looks, can find something that matches their taste among the products of the company, but they are not the primary audience of the enterprise. The company also tries to create and maintain contact with its customers, for instance, by establishing presence on the Internet and in the social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, and Tumblr (“Dior Brand Strategy” n. pag.).
Products Profile
The products that are currently sold by Baby Dior mostly belong either to Winter 2015 Collection or Spring-Summer 2016 Collection. According to the official website, the Winter 2015 collection for girls “honours the folklore of Russian ballet with a modern twist: bright colours, florals and whimsical outfits for little girls” (“Winter 2015 Collection” par. 1). The company proposes its clients to buy jackets, dresses, t-shirts and sweatshirts, knitwear, pants and skirts, and light leather shoes for girls. For boys, shirts, polo-shirts, and T-shirts are offered, as well as pants (often velvet), knitwear, and jackets; footwear includes leather shoes as well. Clothes for young children include jackets, waistcoats, dresses, shirts and T-shirts, pants, shorts, and denim trousers, pajamas, as well as elegant slippers that cover the heel, are laced, and resemble shoes.
The Spring 2016 Collection for girls includes light dresses and knitwear, shorts, jeans, and pants, as well as accessories such as brimmed hats and felt hats; footwear include elegant ballerinas, sandals, and sneakers. Clients who wish to purchase apparel for boys can find wool and leather jackets and coats, knitwear, shirts, polo- and T-shirts, pants and baseball caps, as well as leather shoes, sandals, and sneakers. For babies, it is possible to buy cardigans, dresses, t-shirts and shirts, as well as shorts, pants, and leather slippers which also resemble shoes due to the fact that they are laced and cover the heel (“Spring 2016 Collection” n. pag.).
On the whole, the production that Baby Dior offers to its customers is in line with its other apparel; the clothes are rather simple and not very sophisticated, yet extraordinary elegant. They have the classical coloring and patterns. Many garments combine black and white colors, as well as gray; others are red or deep blue. More than a few pieces of clothing are of soft pastel shades. Children wearing the apparel from Baby Dior look neat and elegant.
Visual Merchandising, Store’s Apparel, Sensational Variations, and Frequency of Change
The clothes shop in question is located in the Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Bahrain; apart from the production of Baby Dior, it also sells apparel of some other brands, such as Dolce & Gabbana, Stella McCartney, Cacharel, Paul Smith, etc. The store is located in a large, spacious hall; the racks with clothes hangers supporting garments are arranged along the walls, as well as distributed around the store so that the spaciousness remains there. The brand of Baby Dior is represented by sweaters and sweatshirts, shirts, jackets, knitwear, dresses, as well as by socks and some footwear. See Fig. 1, 2, and 3.
The shop itself is cozy and warm, and it is likely that virtually everyone who enters it feels comfortable and calm. Music is constantly played there, usually retro. The shop assistants are polite and helpful. The assortment is regularly restocked, and special offers and discounts might be proposed to the patrons of this store.
Unique Selling Propositions and Factors
The Dior company itself does not propose many special offers; it prefers to sell its products for a high price. However, the representatives of the firm are very attentive and caring towards their customers, and strive to provide them with goods of the exceptional, unique quality, ones that would make them feel elegant, comfortable, and worthy; this, they are convinced, fully justifies the high prices the business charges it clients (“Christian Dior Aims to Continue” n. pag.).
The same applies to Baby Dior, for it is a division of the enterprise and largely follows the same principles. There are a number of unique factors that stimulate the sales of the production of the brand. For example, the company is one of those that set fashion around the world. Frequent fashion shows (including kids’ fashion shows) which are translated all over the world significantly increase the brand’s popularity and encourage its customers to buy apparel for both themselves and their children (“Christian Dior (Couture)” n. pag.).
Opinion of the Clients
Christian Dior SE strives to provide its clients with high-quality products, and the fact that the company remains one of the prominent acting parties in the world of fashion clearly demonstrates that it is a successful company which is able to satisfy the needs of its customers; had it not been so, the brand would not be able to stay at the top for many decades, and it would not be so well-known. Clearly, as the production of Baby Dior retains many of the characteristics of the whole brand, the goods produced by the company are able to satisfy the needs of the kids and their parents. It is possible to state the clients who buy the production of Baby Dior can count on the brand, and be certain about their children’s elegancy and satisfaction while they wearing the clothes of the Baby Dior brand.
Our View of the Brand Design Studio
In our opinion, the designers of the brand know how to successfully combine colors and forms to produce high-quality clothing that is able to set fashion styles worldwide. We believe that it requires indeed professional designing skills to create clothes so simple, and yet so elegant and good-looking that they are able to satisfy the needs of the most sophisticated customers.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is important to point out that the children’s apparel sold under the brand of Baby Dior inherited many of its features from the other brands offered by Christian Dior SE. Classical and elegant, the clothes that come from Baby Dior allow the children who wear them to look according to the status they have in the society, which undoubtedly satisfies both the children wearing the apparel and their parents.
Works Cited
Amado, Brian. “Saks Fifth Avenue (Bahrain) Kids Department Fall-Winter 2012 Collections.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 2012. Web.
Baby Dior & Dior Kids Clothes France. n.d. Web.
Children’s fashion. n.d. Web.
Christian Dior Aims to Continue to Sell Products Despite High Prices. 2012. Web.
Christian Dior (Couture) – Baby Dior Stages a Kids’ Fashion Show to Celebrate the Beginning of Spring. 2012. Web.
Corporate Governance. n.d. Web.
Dior Brand Strategy. 2014. Web.
Riley, Francesca Dall’Olmo, Wendy Lomax, and Angela Blunden. “Dove vs. Dior: Extending the Brand Extension Decision-Making Process from Mass to Luxury.” Australasian Marketing Journal 12.3 (2004): 40-55. Science Direct. Web.
Spring 2016 Collection. n.d. Web.
The Wall Street Journal. Christian Dior SE. 2015. Web.
Winter 2015 Collection. n.d. Web.