Brand History
In the year 1984, Thomas Sabo started his business of jewelry in Germany. He is a self made person. His brand became well known all over Europe and Untied States in the early years of his business. Today the Charm Collection of Thomas Sabo is popular in the whole wide world. He established his first jewelry company in the historical area of Bavaria.
The brand is famous for excellent quality of style and design and for the amazing quality in the silver jewelry. Thomas Sabo also has a keen interest in music and rock and roll, so it also reflected in the designs of his products in the fairly time of all the years (Thompson, 2010).
There was a time when an unwritten law was passed about the silver jewelry and the fair trade of the jewelry was announced, so the retailer’s demand of jewelry went high, it was the specific time when Thomas Sabo had an idea of introducing silver ornaments and started the trademark of his own.
At that time, the purchasers had to tackle only with the brand names and it was bought through the structure of trade fairs (Thomas Sabo, 2010). In the early 1990’s, he hired a designer named Susanne Kolbli who became the creative director of the company. With the help of team work and cooperation they were able to attract the customers and make the brand significantly successful. They both struggled exceptionally hard and through a constant support they created a brand having a unique look.
They emphasized upon every detail of the silver jewelry, showed an incredible consideration on the materials and had a great sense of fashion and design that helped to create a totally new segment in the jewelry market that is highly appraised by the customers. Today its Charm Club Collection which is well known throughout the world was also originated by Susanne Kolbli (Thompson, 2010).
As the brand achieved a massive success, so at the ending of the year 1990 the company became certain to open its own retail outlets. Exclusive and fashionable stores were built all over the United States, Asia, Europe and America. Due to the speedy success they also set sales agencies in different countries.
Thomas Sabo became a well developed globally recognized brand and came out from the world of enigmatic guard of fashion insiders. Fashion is introducing more and more diverse trends and so it is bringing more opportunities to Thomas Sabo brand to provide new and amazing collections (Thompson, 2010).
Target Customers
Thomas Sabo jewelry is not prominent among the females of all ages but also becoming well known among men. Every person likes to look attractive with the striking rings, earrings, bracelets and other ornaments and for this Thomas Sabo is a leading brand (Reynolds, 2010). Its potential customers range from 35 to 55 of age although its jewelry is worn by people of any age groups.
It is extremely beneficial to analyze the social and cultural factors in selecting the target market. Thomas Sabo has carried a detailed research and selected appropriate locations for his outlets and shop-in-shop fixtures. It has used exceptional window displays to create a center of attention for the customers.
For instance recently, its Summer Spring campaign shows an outer space ground where robots and flying saucers have been displayed which helps to attract the female shoppers who like adorable, delicate items (Fashion Jewelry, 2008). Thomas Sabo also make small teddy bears, little high heels and lady birds etc as multipurpose charms that create an urge into the customers especially girls, they even collect them and keep them as little treasures (Fashion Jewelry, 2008).
Brand Strategies
Thomas Sabo offers a unique collection to every individual. The sterling silver collection of Thomas Sabo brand presents a wide variety of products ranging from rings, necklaces to bracelets and brooches. The company has named its silver ornaments as Charm Club Collection.
The charmed bracelets are becoming immensely famous among the users and are available in 450 varieties. These charms are attractive, and in addition people have a belief that the use of these charms helps to bring love, victory and romance in the lives. They are designed according to the needs of the customers. Troll beads are also another collection of Thomas Sabo. Various designs and patterns have been engraved on these beads and built a feeling of fashion icon in to the users all around the world (Reynolds, 2010).
Initially it was decided by Sabo that he is not going to sell the word jewelry he had a firm belief of building a brand. He even used the phrase fashion accessory rather than using the term jewelry, and this brand strategy is highly flourishing now. Today it is generating almost twenty five million Euros in the international sales. The marketing director of Thomas Sabo said, “From the beginning, it was clear that we were selling a brand name, not a product.
We realized jewelry was a difficult category in travel retail. Our idea is to make the category simple for our retailers and attractive to our customers. We have created a concept in visual merchandising that appeals to the consumer, where they can find a huge variety of items of very high quality, attractive in their designs, colors and shapes.
Our customer is a contemporary woman looking for a fashionable accessory, not just jewelry.” (Thomas Sabo, 2006) The brand strategy is maintained by tough advertising promotions and strong public relations. The company has also established a self service concept which is highly accepted by the retail market and consumers (Thomas Sabo, 2006).
Thomas Sabo has also adopted another strategy of providing a facility to create your own jewelry ornament. Every person can make her own fashion statement by creating their own design. There are 500 varieties available and the customers pick their choice of jewelry from these wide options to create their unique design. The self made jewelry presented by Thomas Sabo brand helps to make the person’s occasion memorable and extraordinary.
Furthermore, Barbie and Disney themes are also well-liked by the novel users. These ornaments help the person to introduce their own fashion apart from exhibiting their personality. All the users of Thomas Sabo are totally satisfied by the products. It has become a universal designer brand and is well ahead in the market providing exciting collection to everyone (Reynolds, 2010).
Brand Positioning
Thomas Sabo has made the brand look fascinating and accessible. Its every piece of ornament depicts elegance, attraction and mythical preference. It is now ranked as the best provider of sterling silver jewelry throughout the globe (Thomas Sabo, 2006).
Micro Environmental Factors
Competitors
Today Thomas Sabo has to face challenges as a number of replicas and fakes have become popular in the jewelry market. More and more offshore competitors are using their talent and resources and offering elaborated equally gorgeous and professionally engraved gothic silver ornaments to the rock n roll lovers and bikers at reasonable and affordable prices compared to the branded items.
These alternatives have provided feasibility and access to gothic fans. These competitors are diverting the attention of Thomas Sabo consumers, and fans and they are illumining the realty of trade marks (Thomas Sabo Charm, 2010).
The branded products are always expensive and it charges a premium price and every customer is not able to pay for it. So mostly they switch to its alternatives that are affordable and cheaper, but designer’s label jewelry is always rare and unique. However, the consumers should always know the status of the jewelry they are paying for as the fakes and replicas are similar but not up to the mark.
Thomas Sabo brand’s competitors vary from good quality substitutes and nearest replicas produced by real jewelers to wholesale manufacturers who are producing products in mass collection and using base metals (Thomas Sabo Charm, 2010).
Suppliers
There are a number of suppliers that are dealing with Thomas Sabo. These include Deborah. A Thomas, Thomas Limited, Jie Yang City Hong Kong Limited, Sarita Thomas, and Thomas Wolf Enterprises they are selling the items on Internet (Bossgoo, 2010).
Macro Environmental Factors
As the prices of gold is increasing every day so most of the costumers are shifting to silver jewelry, and as Thomas Sabo is selling their products in silver so that’s a plus point for the company, but if we consider the jewelry it is also facing a number of challenges based political, social and environmental factors. There are three main activities that are carried out in the manufacturing of jewelry and that are mining then polishing the product and then retailing. The jewelry industry has undergone various factors such as an abrupt rise in the prices of raw materials, the new and unique demands of the public and obligation of many rules and regulations announced by the government (Fashion Products, 2010). Various social and economic factors are helping to transform the fashion jewelry industry, but there are also some factors that are holding back and creating barriers in developing the fashionable jewelry. These factors include:
- There is a shortage of providing supplies of raw materials. The drastic increase of prices of raw materials has made a significant competition among the regions that carrying polishing process. Due to the shortage of polished semi precious stones the prices of finished jewelry is increasing which is affecting the entire jewelry industry.
- The change in fashion trends is also a crucial factor that Thomas Sabo and other leading jewelers should always consider. As the users are becoming highly aware of the upcoming, and new trends so their demands are also changing which are sometimes hard to cope.
- The retail sector is also been affected as there is a lot of substitutes introduced in the markets such as bead jewelry, leather jewelry and other various types of materials and metals are being used that are diversifying the consumers interest (Fashion Products, 2010).
Long term Strategies
Thomas Sabo is planning to open new stores in Melbourne and Brisbane, but there is no exact time frame as it is particularly beneficial for them to first evaluate and analyze the premium location of the stores according to the consumers demand.
According to Edward Thomas Sabo manager “No other stores planned at this stage and explained that the limited number of openings was part of a strategy to maintain the exclusive nature of Thomas Sabo. Further stores would only be considered on a strictly limited period by case basis” (Jeweller Magazine, 2010).
Ansoff Matrix
Ansoff matrix also known as market matrix helps to identify the sets of growth strategies of the company to increase the market share. There are four main factors; market penetration, market development, product development and diversification. If we consider the Thomas Sabo brand it is planning to penetrate in the jewelry market by providing strong advertising and media campaigns and driving out its competitors by providing innovative products.
It is also increasing its market value by introducing new segments. For instance, its upcoming variety of Spring and Summer campaigns would attract the female shoppers who like cute and admiring products (Fashion Jewelry, 2008). It also carried out a beer festival party in year 2010 in Munich and its theme was known as “Hunting for Love”.
Company’s basic motto was to introduce their upcoming jewelry of sterling silver collection. This party was a massive hit. The guests were presented with little souvenirs which were Charm surprises especially the female guests were highly delighted, and Thomas Sabo brand got a positive feedback (Thomas Sabo, 2010).
The company is also planning to diversify their brand and is building new outlets in various countries its latest strategy is to introduce their products in Japan and for that the research, and development are carrying out various analyses to collect the primary and secondary data.
References
Bossgoo. (2010). Thomas Sabo suppliers. Bossgoo. Web.
Fashion Jewelry. (2008). Tremendous ways to hype your brand. Fashion Jewelry Accessories. Web.
Fashion Products. (2010). Fashion Accessories Overview. Fashion Products. Web.
Jeweller Magazine. (2010). Thomas Sabo’s new store a hit. Jeweller Magazine.
Reynolds, J. (2010). Some Great Jewelry Collections From Thomas Sabo & Trollbeads. Retrieved from Finance Business Articles. Web.
Thomas Sabo Charm. (2010). Thomas Sbo and its Illustrious Founder. Retrieved from Thomas-Sabo-Charm. Web.
Thomas Sabo. (2010). History. Retrieved from Thomas Sabo. Web.
Thomas Sabo. (2010). THOMAS SABO “HUNTING FOR LOVE” BEER FESTIVAL PARTY 2010. Thomas Sabo. Web.
Thomas Sabo. (2006). Thomas Sabo meteor dazzles as sales go into orbit. Moodie Report. Web.
Thompson, D. K. (2010). Thomas Sabo – History. Web.