Introduction and Product Description

Marketing strategy is the explanation of the business objective to achieve with the marketing efforts. Marketing strategy is mainly shaped by the business goals. As stated by Hill, Jones & Schilling (2014), a marketing plan is organised in a way to achieve through marketing goals. Pandora Singapore manufactures and markets hand-finished and contemporary jewellery made from high-quality materials at an affordable price. Pandora management has decided to launch a new product with simple design; however, this comes with the engraving services. Pandora is going to launch engraving bangles and this service will be done within 7 days after the day of purchase. Being a Marketing Consultant for Pandora Singapore; this paper aims to highlight the situation analysis showing the competitive environment of the organisation. This study will also highlight the market analysis identifying the target market and their needs. In the final part of the study, marketing mix elements will be explained stating the pricing, promotion and placing strategies.

Pandora was founded in the year 1982 and it has it’s headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Pandora jewellery has its presence in Singapore. Pandora manufactures jewellery and it has its concept shops in Singapore. Pandora has its online store in Singapore along with points of sale. Pandora’s feminine universe offers vast opportunities for the personal expression, consistently designed from strong brand DNA (Sg.pandora.net, 2018).

The mission statement of Pandora Singapore is to inspire every woman to feel creative in their self-expression (Sg.pandora.net, 2018).

The vision of Pandora is to be branded manufacturer which delivers the most personal jewellery experience.

Pandora Singapore positions itself as a premium brand which offers best jewellery products to the women with affordable prices.

The customers buy the products of Pandora as Pandora offers products which are new in trend. Pandora always tries to surprise the customers with their newly launched products. Recently, Pandora is to launch engraving bangles keeping in mind the simple design, yet in an elegant look. The value positioning of Pandora lies in the high quality, modern and genuine jewellery products at affordable prices. Each of the women has their individual story to tell and Pandora inspires the woman to tell the story through Pandora’s personal collection. Value is all about celebrating the memories through jewellery making the moments unforgettable. 

                                                     

Company Overview: Pandora Singapore

                                                                                                 (Source: Self-developed)

Pandora Singapore believes in branded retail experience and Pandora wants to provide a unique shopping experience to the customers and some of the stores are run by the franchisees. The online shop of Pandora is also exclusive and the customers can expect to have the best product through the online platform. Pandora Singapore offers the full assortment of jewellery and this is the key to the ongoing success of the organisation (Sg.pandora.net, 2018). Pandora works further to balance the sales of existing and new products. Pandora targets particular consumers segment in each market that enables relevant segments in each market while ensuring the brand must remain consistent across Singapore.

Jewellery market in Singapore is fragmented with small players. In Singapore, the buyers of jewellery like to purchase from the online jewellery makers. Industry rivalry among the online jewellery sellers seems to be higher. Gems and jewellery industry in Singapore is more than $1.1 billion (Euromonitor.com, 2018). A large market player is Swarovski. The jewellery produced in Singapore market has its demand in China, Vietnam and Malaysia as well. The rivalry among the manufacturers of jewellery is medium as the online market for jewellery is expanding.  

Maximum jewellery makers in Singapore use the internal manufacturing facilities. Pandora produces more than half of the merchandise it sells. Pandora buys polished diamonds and Pandora purchases the various materials from their suppliers. Therefore, the organisations have their own suppliers and suppliers do not have large bargaining power. The companies do not expect a shortage of materials; however, long-term increasing of demand may lead to higher prices. The switching cost of suppliers is not high.

Pandora has great pricing power even if there are large numbers of jewellery manufacturers in the market. Pandora can increase gross margins showing it passes on the higher input costs to the customers. The customers of jewellery can visit the concept stores of Pandora and they can also visit online platform. The customers do not have the power to set the price in the jewellery industry in Singapore. 

Substitute of jewellery companies are many as the manufacturers of silver, gold, diamond, stones and gem jewellery are present in Singapore. The customers have various options to purchase the jewellery from the online and mobile app (Carringan et al., 2017). Singapore customers also have the options to purchase the fine jewellery, synthetic diamond jewellery and stones. Substitute in the market is existing physical local stores, online stores and the international brands (Fossil and Swarovski).

Market Analysis

In Singapore jewellery industry; there are low barriers to entry for the manufacturer to open jeweller shop and run the business in local market. However, these local marketers can start their journey through online and they can expand the business easily. It is very easier to run the business in Singapore as Singapore government provides help to the business people to run the business. The local retailers of jewellery have the further opportunity to give repair service and small retailers cannot be matched with the branding efforts also.

Critical Success Factor (CSF) is also a high-level goal which is critical for the business to meet. Critical success factors should be vital to the success of the organisation, give benefit to the organisation and link directly to the business strategy (Osei-Kyei & Chan, 2015). Pandora’s success factors lie in the increase of market share through the current customers in Singapore market. Pandora inspires the customers through providing the culturally relevant products for different seasons and occasions. Pandora is also increasing the frequency with which they go to market with new products. In order to increase the market; Pandora is digitalised the brand experience which inspires the seamless consumer touch point to inspire the existing customers. Another critical success factor for Pandora is to be service-oriented when they work with the customers. Pandora is service oriented company through navigating channels and across online and offline touch points with same personal experience. Pandora communicates with the customers through influencers of social media along with PR events and sponsorships. Another critical success factor of the company is to align the rewards and incentives with employees’ roles for increased employee satisfaction. In Singapore, Pandora has almost 1,000 employees and Pandora takes winning omnichannel retail to grow in the market.

 

Jewellery firms	Strengths	USP
Aspial (Direct competitor)	A Chain boutique in Singapore and it is one of the largest jewellery companies in Singapore. Asipial Corporation owns Lee Hwa, Citigems and Goldheart brand.	It offers top ranges products for the young generations. It also offers customised jewellery for the customers.
Swarovski  (Direct competitor)	It is mainly Austria based jewellery organisation and it offers various ranges of jewellery to the customers. It provides the sterling fashion crystal, gemstone and personal accessories products to the customers.	Swarovski provides corporate merchandising through direct mail. It is mainly famous for the luxury products, diamond, lead glass jewellery and sterling silver.
Fossil (Indirect competitor)	It is also a US-based organisation and it is famous for the designer jewellery. Fossil provides jewellery for both men and women.	In Singapore, the customers can have the jewellery through an online platform. Fossil jewellery also makes licensed accessories.

Pandora is going to launch engraving services for the bangles and Pandora is going to provide simple yet customised stuff. The engraving services will be done within 7 days after the day of purchase. In Singapore, the mid-range customers are much bigger than the high-end jewellery customers and this section provides the massive opportunity for the large-scale market expansion. In the coming five years, Singapore jewellery market can increase by 3% annually (Jalaludin et al., 2018). Today; the worth of Singapore jewellery market is $3.5 billion and approximately 25% of the jewellery contains diamond. Antwerp exported polished diamond to Singapore worth of $ 315 million in the year 2016 (Euromonitor.com, 2018). Pandora mainly targets the mid-range customers who can contribute the maximum to the overall sales.  

Segmentation and Target Market

Market segmentation is the process of segregating the broad consumer, normally consisting of existing the customers into subgroups (Alt & Iversen, 2017). Pandora can segregate the customers into a geographic segment which can be based on locations. The demographic segment can be divided into gender, age, occupation and socio-economic group. Pandora can segregate the customers into male and female and young customers will be targeted. The behavioural segment will be based on the rate of usage of the customers, benefits sought, loyalty status and readiness to purchase. Psychographic segmentation can be based on personality, lifestyles and class of the customers.

Target markets of Pandora of the engraving bangles are the young generation, regardless of gender. Pandora is going to target the young generation who like simple yet customised jewellery. Young generations of Singapore are fashion conscious and they use the internet to check the new fashion trend (Huggins et al., 2016). Pandora is going to use the social media to promote the bangles and to attract the young generation. 77% of Singaporean youngsters are Chinese and 14% are the Malays; these two cultures both prefer to wear jewellery and bangles. Young generations spend money on their preference; therefore; they can afford the bangles.

• Aged 20-35
• Recently graduated and the young professional
• Looking for the affordable jewellery
• Mainly female
• Looking for customised jewellery
• Has tried multiple jewellery products

In Singapore, middle-class customers regularly buy the medium priced jewellery products and the women also like to purchase from home-shopping through television. Educated young women also like to purchase from the online platform. In Singapore; soft economic conditions decreased the consumers’ confidence to spend and it reduces the value of growth in jewellery. Needs of the young generation in Singapore are mostly fulfilled through online as 79% of millennials in Singapore shopped online in 2015-16 of which 2 in 5 shopped cross-border. When it comes to jewellery, the women mainly like to purchase the gems, bangles and customised jewellery. Young and fashion conscious customers are less willing to spend on expensive jewellery as the young customers move on to new pieces each season (Madhavi & Devi, 2015). Therefore, the desire of the customers is to stay fashionable and live on the verge of the trend. The young generation does not like to visit the concept stores or the physical stores and they purchase through online. They want to have the online platform to be convenient, fast processing, secure payment and from a trusted brand.

The fundamental wants or needs that the customers satisfy by consuming the products and it is the core benefit of the products. The generic product is the version which contains only characteristics necessary for the function. The generic product of Pandora is ring and bangles. The customers expect a set of characteristics which buyers normally expect and agree to when they purchase the product (Dreyschultze et al., 2017). From Pandora; the customers expect to have the best design with affordable price. Augmented products are the features, competitors attributes that serve to differentiate the products. Pandora makes itself differentiate from the design and international offering.

 

Strengths ·       Pandora sets the trend in the industry; its bracelets and its personalised jewellery are the trendsetters ·       Pandora has its presence in the global market, almost more than 100 countries ·       Pandora manages to do end to end control of the operation. Pandora has spent more than 20 years in crafting the strategy and its business model ·       In Singapore, jewellery is taken as expensive materials; Pandora repositioned the jewellery through unforgettable memories.

Weaknesses ·       Pandora has its weakness in poor communication strategy as in this age of advertising; Pandora uses the poor advertising strategy which reduces the visibility of the brand with the result. ·       Pandora operates in poor planning as it increases the prices to supplement of the poor margin. Pandora also re-engineers the products to satisfy the upmarket customers.

Opportunities ·  Distribution strategy of Pandora has been revamped and through expanding the distribution strategy; Pandora can reach large numbers of customers ·  Pandora uses franchisee and it has its own concept stores to expand the business in many other regions. Pandora can start the franchisee training to make them understand about the merchandising, performance and product development. ·  Pandora works to spend more to understand the preferences of the customers (Sg.pandora.com, 2018).

Threats ·   Competitors in Singapore market are as large as the main competition of Pandora is with Chamilia, Aspial and Fossil. · Pandora has its focus mainly on jewellery, not on the other domain.

Situation Analysis

Marketing objective of engraving bangles will be:

• To grow the market share by 3% in Singapore among the young generation
• To reach the young generation through social media
• To increase the sales of customised jewellery

Product: Pandora Singapore offers a various wealth of charms, rings, bracelets, earrings, pendants and necklace (Ju, Hu & Sun, 2017).  Pandora is going to launch its bangles and the bangles are in various shapes like crowned heart, princess tiara, Pandora Shine, Moments silver bangle and essence silver. Pandora is mainly famous for the new collection of the engraving bangles and the collection will be named as ‘be different-make it yours’. The engraving services will be done within seven days after the day of purchases. Pandora provides the customised services to the customers and these bangles will be discreetly hand-engraved with a personal message and are adjustable for the perfect fit.

As stated by Iqbal, Nadeem & Zaheer (2015), product differentiation is the process which showcases the differences between the products and it shows the unique qualities of the products. Pandora Singapore will take the product differentiation strategy as Pandora will offer the product which will be new and more attractive comparing by contrasting its unique qualities with other competing products. Pandora can differentiate the products based on the features, performance quality, customisation, reliability and durability. Pandora will have a competitive advantage through engraving bangles as the customers view these bangles as the unique or superior. In addition, Pandora Company can also use the product line strategy where the organisation uses the group of related products under the single brand sold by the company. The company can use the multiple product lines under the numerous brands. Line stretching is also an expanding strategy of the company where the new products can be launched in the same product line; however, the beyond product range with different features. Pandora will provide a warranty of six months of their customised bangles.

Price:  Pandora will take price skimming strategy when they will start selling the engraving bangles to the customers in the open market through the concept stores and through an online platform in Singapore. As opined by Toptal & Cetinkaya (2015), price skimming strategy sets the relatively high price at the initial stage and then the management lowers the price over time. Pandora will set the price higher at the primary stage as the customers’ interest in engraving bangles will be higher as this temporal version of price will yield a good amount of revenue to the organisation. Price skimming will provide the benefit of giving high-profit margin to Pandora and it will work as cost recovery in developing of the products. Pandora can also provide to the dealer profits as the percentage earned by the distributor will be high.

Marketing Mix Elements

Place: Pandora will sell the engraving bangles through an online platform in Singapore and Pandora has its concept stores in Singapore as well. Retail stores of Pandora are situated in Singapore and the customers can have the engraving bangles in these retail stores as well. The customers have to purchase the bangles first and they can engrave the message or names on the bangles. This customised service will be done within 7 days. The stores can be located through the website. The distribution chain of Pandora is well managed and Pandora mainly uses the single distribution channel to sell the products.

                                                                       Producers >>>> Retailers>>>>Customers

Promotions: In order to make the best branding of Pandora; the organisation will try to make famous use of the logo. The engraving bangles will be promoted through social media network as Pandora has its Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Pandora can take SEO and PPC strategies to attract the customers through the internet. 

Activities	Facebook	Twitter	Instagram
Social media presence	Sharing news, photos, posts	Sharing news, photos	Posting images and videos
Brand presence	Facebook business page	Twitter page and followers, retweets	Company page and link with Facebook
The increase of website traffic	Posting a link and asking likes and comments	Posting a link of website and share price	Posting a link and exclusive image

Table 3: Social media strategy of Pandora

In order to make it popular among women, this jewellery will be promoted through fashion magazines, both in online and printed format. Pandora will also use blog by the famous jewellery reviewers to promote their products. Singapore based shopping malls will be targeted to do the events to make the bangles popular among the young generations.

Conclusions

It has been observed that Pandora is one such large jewellery manufacturing organisation and it sells a variety of products to the customers through retail, concept stores and online platform. It has also been observed that direct competitors of Pandora are Fossil and Aspial. The competition in the jewellery industry is intense and critical success factors are service-oriented and rewards and motivation. Pandora is offering engraving bangles for the young generation and these bangles are targeted to the young customers who like to wear customised stuff. Therefore, Pandora is taking price skimming strategy so that their tailor the marketing objectives of having market share and increase the sales

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