Innovation and design
Strengths
The company has a veteran fashion manager as a chief executive capable of sustaining its Italian heritage to appeal to customers in new countries where its corporate strategy has conducted a brand extension. It insists on hand engraving everything, and that is a good attribute for a luxury product that should be sustained in addition to being communicated along its advertisements to appeal to customers.
Weakness
The company has made a bold move to step outside its comfort zone and expand its supply chain management attributes. It is now working with Swiss movement manufacturers for producing simple movements and grand complications for its watches. The swish partnership is important for innovation and design, especially after the company decided to have customers take part in its design initiatives of making their Swiss-made timepieces.
Opportunity
Buccellati has insisted on having its wares designed by the founding family of the company, which places its design in a unique market position in the luxury sector for jewelry. The company can continue to use its workmanship as an influence on the price of its products.
Threats
The design concept only retains the exclusivity part where the company is associated with a few customers, however, mass outsourcing of handcrafting it going to hurt the brand.
Branding
Strengths
Bucccellati targets upper earning groups in society and most people who are brand conscious. It targets women with class, but also appeals to everyone’s interest in gift giving for different occasions. Another careful strategy for the company has been brand marketing, where the company refuses to lend its necklaces and broaches to actresses who walk the red carpets at famous film conventions like the Oscar ceremony or the Cannes film festivals.
Weakness
The company is not advertising itself much to increase global awareness. Thus, it is not communicating with those that it is not targeting. Initially, Buccellati was known for being family designed, and Italian made. The Swiss connection and the customer designs go against this formula, and they make the brand more responsive to customer wishes. If this strategy continues, Buccellatti will no longer stay as a luxury brand because it is not defining luxury, but relying on customers to define it (DeMarco, 2014).
Opportunity
Tradition will help to improve the relationship between the brand and customer’s perceptions of being special and wanting to associate with such brand personality. Occupying iconic buildings known for their attraction for luxury brands is a good move that can help give customer satisfaction for associating with the Buccellati brand.
Threats
After selling majority shares to a private equity group, the corporate strategy of the firm changed, and it has embraced aggressive brand extension. Unfortunately, keeping up with the introduction of bespoke watches, engagement rings and high-tech jewelry for mobile devices can be very innovative in its design, but also lead to the dilution of the brand to make it a premium brand instead of a luxury one (DeMarco, 2014).
Corporate Strategy
Strengths
The company is currently positioning itself as a diamond jeweler providing texture engraving. The company is pursuing the anti-laws of marketing, which include not pandering to customer wishes and keeping non-enthusiasts out such that it does not dilute its design principles.
Weakness
Unfortunately, the current corporate strategy is becoming too attached to revenues and forgetting the anti-laws of marketing that insist on no responding to customers’ whims and not succumbing to incentives for relocation.
Opportunity
For the company’s watches, Buccellati insists on designing to show the aesthetic value of watches, and the price point for the watches starts at $120,000. The move is convenient for the brand as it expands its presence around the world.
Threats
A threat presented by this corporate strategy is that it violates anti-law of marketing that calls on the luxury company to retain avoid relocating factories. The company cannot afford to continue facing these threats. Its potential to break a luxury brand is enormous.
Website/E-commerce
Opportunity
Instead of responding to specific market changes in its traditional buyer segments, the company should focus on improving its website and other branding strategies to appeal more to a global audience with increased purchasing power.
Threats
Other businesses are combining websites with other internet-based marketing to defeat website-only strategies. It is a well-designed website but some customers may find the website, not user-friendly. If that happens, then customers will feel unappreciated for being set up with a generic solution.
SCM
Strengths
Long-term partnerships with suppliers ensure that raw materials and other important supplies are available at all times. They ensure that the strategy execution for marketing and sales is well-placed.
Weakness
Unfortunately, the Buccellati is already shifting its brand from its family designed pieces with semi-outsourced designs that are now less glamorous and have become more wearable.
Opportunity
The company can improve relationships to get better margins with suppliers. Nevertheless, relying on the same group of suppliers creates risks of design leak. Thus, in expanding, the company must also work on secrecy to sustain its brand value.
Sustainability
Strengths
The company only makes 3000 exclusive pieces annually, a position for its innovation and design that contributes immensely to pricing strategies. The exclusivity of production justifies the annual increase in prices. Therefore, it increases the company’s value in the market. The extension of the brand from jewelry prices has only been into watches.
Weakness
The strategy does not reflect the market growth potential. The company ought to recognize that it occupies a unique position with its designs and boutique operation. It can improve awareness and set up protected partnerships for its retail distribution strategy to gain more visibility.
Opportunity
The boutique concept can allow retaining control of distribution and were also a brand communication strategy that works well for luxury brands.
Threats
The small market share against other established luxury brands can negatively affect the management’s judgment of pricing. Establish brands tend to dominate consumer awareness channels thus locking out smaller brands. Thus, they make it difficult for smaller brands to gain a following that can improve their sales.
Internationalization
Strengths
There have been plans for expanding to the rest of the world, and the plan might include additional advertising. Expansion is good for any brand as long as it follows anti-laws of marketing. Focusing on awareness and exclusivity will work well for the brand.
Weakness
Although market statistics show that watches have a big potential for Buccellati, the company is risking dilution of its brand by going to a full stretch of watch manufacturing using different strategies and seeking to appeal to the global mass market.
Opportunity
It can enter additional cities that are emerging as a global center of commerce just as it did in Hong Kong, by using its boutiques. Emerging economies offer opportunities for increasing sales, and they can work with the introduction of boutique shops or direct marketing for events and individuals likely to appreciate the brand.
Threats
With a limited market base, the company may not have sufficient room to increase its prices as demanded by its strategy. Price increase comes with increased demand and is also a strategy for increasing demand. It relies on adequate market share.
Ethics
Strengths
Has not has a major issue of ethics. Therefore, it has succeeded to avoid headlines with wrong mentions of its brand. It therefore enjoys substantial goodwill among people in its markets. Cultivating such goodwill is important because luxury brands are prone to ethical accusations by consumers who see them and their consumers as the source of problems of economic and social inequality. The brand should be working hard to sustain this position through good public relations
Weakness
The company seems to abuse its luxury brand tag, and it might be losing the Italian country cachet and culture. With this approach, its customers may no longer use the brand as a social marker, which will destroy its value.
Opportunity
However, it should not increase production to meet market potential. The company may also take pre-orders for its annual production of 3000 pieces and communicate the pre-orders sufficient to improve the hedonistic aspects of the brand as people want to feel important for being considered for its waiting list (Som & Blanckaert, 2015).
Threats
Otherwise, the company risks becoming a fraud for claiming that its brand is a luxury commodity, yet doing differently with its business practices. Consumers might feel cheated and fail to see exclusivity and rarity in the brand (Wendlandt, 2013).
References
DeMarco, A. (2014). Private equity partner drives change at Buccellati.Financial Times. Web.
Som, A., & Blanckaert, C. (2015). The road to luxury: the evolution, markets and strategies of luxury brand management. Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.
Wendlandt, A. (2013). Former Lanvin head named CEO of Italian jeweller Buccellati. Reuters. Web.