Curvissa is a UK-based clothing brand specializing in apparel for women size 14-32. Founded in 2011, Curvissa became a part of the Freemans Grattan Holdings, Ltd., along with such brands as Grattan, Bonprix, Kaleidoscope, and Swinwear365. The company specializes in online apparel commerce across the UK, with the apparel assortment varying from coats and jackets to lingerie. The primary focus of the company’s philosophy and marketing strategy is the creation of fashionable and reasonable-priced clothing for plus-sized women. According to Curvissa’s website, the company’s message is that plus size fashion should be perceived as a full-scale aspect of global fashion in order to make women feel special and valued regardless of their size (“Why Curvissa?” n.d.). Hence, Curvissa, as a clothing brand operating in a highly competitive retail apparel e-commerce market, outstands its competitors by a long-term commitment to creating clothes for plus-sized customers that started much earlier than the global trend of inclusion and diversity in fashion.
Plus-sized customers’ perception of fashion has always been a complex matter due to the companies stigmatizing overweight women by creating less revealing and colorful clothes in their sizes. Indeed, according to Elliott and Finkel (2019), previously, plus-sized women felt rather excluded from the fashion world, claiming implicit body-shaming and marginalization to be some of the major reasons for distancing from fashion. However, over the past years, the apparel market embraced body-positivity and started mas launch of plus-size collections, such as Marks & Spencer’s 2018 “Curve” clothing line (Muttarak, 2018). Such growing interest in manufacturing clothes for plus-size customers has increased market competition for Curvissa while simultaneously helped the company to capitalize on such a niche market. All these aspects contributed to the following SWOT analysis pattern for the company:
Table 1. SWOT Analysis
Hence, having considered the company’s competency, it is of paramount importance to examine the company’s environment.
External Environment
In order for a company to objectively evaluate its potential in the market, it is vital to define how the macro environment may either accelerate or halt the firm’s growth. Thus, when applying PESTEL analysis to Curvissa, the following pattern may be identified:
Table 2. PESTEL analysis
All the aforementioned factors, for their part, directly affect the external environment of the firm, especially when it comes to Porter’s Five-Forces analysis:
Hence, the foreign trade policies in the UK, which make it relatively easy for a foreign business to enter the local market, create an increasing competitive threat for the locally oriented Curvissa. Additionally, an easy taxation system and the ability to set up an online business in a matter of months contribute to the market growth and rivalry increase. Another contributor to market growth is the demographic pattern of the overweight female population in the UK, which becomes both an opportunity for Curvissa to expand and a competitive threat for the firm.
The bargaining power of suppliers is not a threat to the firm due to the fact that Curvissa has multiple suppliers in order to avoid quality and pricing issues relevant to cooperating with a single supplier. Finally, the bargaining power of buyers becomes a weakness for the firm due to low switching prices, as the difference between average goods price within the mass market is either insignificant or even lower compared to Curvissa. For example, the new H&M plus-size line is considerably cheaper than Curvissa’s, and such a price difference is relevant in today’s post-pandemic context of increased unemployment rates. Hence, having considered the impact of PESTEL on the external development of Curvissa, it may be concluded that macroeconomics has a tremendous impact on the firm’s opportunities and threats.
Internal Analysis
The current position of Curvissa in the market, although beneficial in terms of client-oriented approach and pioneering position in the market, has become affected by the global trend of presenting plus-size clothing lines within the mass market apparel segment. When speaking of VRIO (value, rarity, imitability, and organization) model application to Curvissa, it is necessary to outline the value proposition of the company:
- Size assortment. Although the mass-market apparel segment has now become invested in creating a plus-size clothing line, the size charts remain rather limited, as these clothing lines are perceived as a side project of the clothing line and not a manufacturing priority. As a result, Curvissa obtains a rare and valuable asset of size assortment, which provides the company with a temporary competitive advantage, as this resource is imitable;
- Product quality. The manufacturing process, focused solely on the UK-based plus-size segment, provides Curvissa with a considerable competitive advantage in terms of quality, as the limited manufacturing scopes allow the company to shift the focus to the follow-through of the final product manufacturing. Since quality standards are expensive to imitate and rare in the mass market industry, so this is a long-term competitive advantage for Curvissa;
- Brand name and customer loyalty. Curvissa being a pioneer in reselling apparel for plus-size women in the UK, is, by all means, an asset in terms of brand and recognition in the market segment. Moreover, the current brand image implications related to fast fashion, such as employment exploitation, are common for mass-market brands issuing plus-size clothes, including Marks & Spencer and H&M as the firm’s major competitors. As far as customer loyalty is concerned, it has been recently discovered that brand uniqueness and awareness play a significant role in customer loyalty in the fashion industry (Su & Chang, 2018). Based on these findings, Curvissa finds itself at a disadvantage in terms of nationwide recognition.
- Target demographics and pricing. Based on the average profile of Curvissa’s target customer, the firm places major emphasis on meeting the needs of young and middle-aged plus-size women. Indeed, the brand’s active social media presence on Instagram and Facebook, along with the apparel assortment, indicates the marketing strategy prioritizing the buying intentions of all types of target demographics, and such a strategy provides the firm with competitive conformity. Competitive conformity may also be identified in terms of pricing, as reasonable garment prices are valuable yet common across the market.
Hence, considering the aforementioned analysis components, it may be concluded that Curvissa obtains a sustainable competitive advantage in terms of size assortment and product quality. However, as far as brand recognition and customer loyalty are concerned, the opportunity is rather limited due to the shifted focus to fast fashion and more commonly recognized mass-market brands across the UK apparel industry.
Business Strategy
In order to sustain the competition, Curvissa is to define whether it strives to create a new market demand or reinforce the existing position in the market by reducing costs and investing in marketing. Considering the brand recognition in the local market, the most relevant strategy for Curvissa would be to pursue competition in the existing market by introducing product differentiation and capturing a bigger share of the target demographics. Hence, the red ocean strategy may be considered as the right option for business strategy. Fundamentally, the red ocean strategic model is focused on the company’s intention to strengthen its position in the existing market by beating the competition instead of entering new markets with little or no competition (Srinivasan, 2018). Based on the internal analysis of the company, such aspects as pricing and target demographics should become a competitive advantage instead of conformity.
However, while the latter may be achieved through an emphasis on marketing and product diversification, the notion of pricing is almost impossible to modify. Once prices become lower, the company will inevitably lose on the product quality, one of the few long-term competitive advantages. For this reason, an adequate strategic move would be to capture the existing demand for more stylish plus-size clothing. Product diversification, including garment collections aimed at younger adults, may become an asset for the company in terms of competing with mass-market brands like H&M.
As a result, in order to satisfy the market demand for fashionable plus-size clothing, the brand should align the whole system of activities in order to secure product diversification. For example, one of the current social issues concerns the fact that historically, women’s plus-size clothing has been manufactured with an intention to cover most of the body, and such manufacturers’ policies were associated with the promotion of such social issues as body-shaming and fatphobia. As a result, the strategy to expand the clothing line with unique and youth-oriented clothing lines may provide Curvissa with a significant advantage without reducing the price and affecting the products’ quality.
Corporate Strategy
While being a part of a big UK-based holding company and having a recognizable brand of plus-size clothing, Curvissa should not consider the option of a merger with other businesses, as it provides a significant risk of losing the already existing competitive benefits in the market. Hence, in order to align with the red ocean strategy, Curvissa should consider opting for a horizontal integration corporate strategy. The process of horizontal integration of the company stands for the introduction of more business operations within the business segment this business already operates (PĂ©rez-Lara et al., 2018). Hence, the introduction of a new clothing line designed for younger target consumers, when combined with size assortment and product quality already obtained by the company, may beat the competition.
However, when speaking of the size assortment as a completive advantage, the way to make this value lasting for the company is to develop a new product aimed at improving customers’ online shopping experience. For example, the investment in AR-based technology development to choose the right size and see how an item would fit the customers according to their parameters may become a crucial advancement in the plus-size apparel industry. The product growth initiated by such a strategy is more likely to affect customer retention than brand recognition, as brand awareness is fluid in the social media environment.
Recommendations
Having closely considered the current internal and external environment of Curvissa, one may estimate that the company has the potential of outperforming its competitors in a rapidly growing market by emphasizing the aspects of quality and unique customer experience. The recommendation in terms of further development primarily concerns the expansion of the clothing line in order to correspond to the existing customer needs in terms of fashion by creating new clothing lines for younger demographics. Unlike its competitors, Curvissa has always been prioritizing the plus-size fashion trade, and such a focus may become a decisive factor for customers willing to feel special and respected. For this reason, it is highly recommended to continue dwelling on the satisfactory customer experience by introducing assisting techniques such as AR tools that design the item’s fit for a specific customer. Finally, it is of paramount importance to emphasize the quality of the garment with the help of marketing and customer feedback, as this is an asset in the context of fast and affordable fashion.
Executive Summary
Curvissa is a UK-based e-commerce apparel company specializing in clothing for plus-size women. Having been operating in the market for more than a decade, Curvissa has become a pioneer in manufacturing and reselling plus-size apparel online. However, over the past years, the tendency for plus-size clothing production has grown dramatically, with an extensive number of retail fashion companies entering the market. As a result, Curvissa, while benefiting from garment quality and size assortment, was challenged by the competition in terms of pricing, brand awareness, and design assortment. In order to beat the existing competition, the local brand is to invest in product diversification while appealing to the garment quality and unique customer experience that focuses solely on plus-size women. In such a way, the company will be able not to lose on its competitive strength, simultaneously exploiting the demographic’s demand and making use of healthy competition in the UK market.
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