BRAND, COMPANY, PRODUCT POSITIONING

Brand, Product and Company positioning

Lacoste was established in 1933 by renowned French tennis star Rene Lacoste with his good friend and fashion expert Andre Gillier. Andre Gillier owned the largest french knitwear company at that time. Rene was nicknamed the crocodile because of his tenacious style of play on the court. This would later become the logo for his clothing line simply named Lacoste. The first product developed had to be something that could be used on the tennis court but still had casual sensibility. A result of this hybrid thinking was the L12.12 polo, which is Lacoste’s signature polo today.

Lacoste is based out of France so as the brand gained popularity, they sought expansion in the U.S. In order to assist with production, Lacoste enlisted the IZOD company. IZOD manufactured the L12.12 polos for the U.S market, which is the reason the two companies are almost synonymous today with the older generation. Lacsote began to gain incredible popularity in the U.S and is today, considered one of the biggest foreign brands in the country.

Today Devanlay Corporation is the sole owner of the license to manufacture Lacoste Apparel here in the United States. Accessories and fragrances are licensed to various companies who produce around the world. Although Devanlay is a French Company production is not limited to France. Lacoste does manufacturing in Tunisia, India, China and various Asian countries. This helps keep the price down and reserves premium or "fashion show" product to be produced in France which is reflected in the price point.




The company is known for classic aesthetics that are sportswear inspired but still have functionality. As the company moved forwards into more trendy markets they develop the brand Lacoste L!VE which targets a more younger, trendier and more fashion conscious market.

MARKET AND CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION

This unique collective of traditional tennis and golf inspired silhouettes mixed with hipster geared fashion has given Lacoste a very strong presence here in the U.S which is unheard of from a foreign brand.  Going into the future, Lacoste plans to place more focus on its tradition in order to grow the business and maintain its stance as a globally acknowledged brand and a household name. These are some of the steps they have taken to position themselves as a premier brand in the U.S.

·      “Unconventional Chic Campaign”

a.     High fashion imagery

b.     NYC catered styles

c.      Day and night tailored styles

·      Embracing Niche Market: focusing marketing on business casual yet playful trends

·      Creating brand experience: most recently the brand was paired with Coachella Music Festival by having a beach party simply titled “Lacoste L!VE Desert Beach Party"

·      Controlling brand experience in retail stores

·      Social Media Presence.

  

 Merchandise

This is Lacoste's signature polo the L12.12. This polo was the first polo designed by Rene Lacoste and is considered to represent the tradition of the brand. As a result this item comes in many colors and all sizes. Priced at $89.50 it is classic fit with the green signature Croc on the left chest.

Another staple product for the brand Lacoste is the cotton v-neck sweater. This also comes in many colors and contains the signature green croc on the chest. This item is carried from season to season in an assortment of colors and is priced modestly and $145.00

Although Lacoste is known for tradition and timeless pieces they incorporate capsule collections into their assortment. This particular polo is for their flag collection which includes countries like the U.S, Italy, London and of course France. The polo is 100% cotton and priced significantly higher than the standard polo with a tag of$165.00 This price is justified by the limited quantities and quality of an imported garment. 

Lacoste also does collaborations. This item is from the Andy Roddick collection. Andy Roddick was a famous professional U.S. tennis player before retiring this year. Prior to his retirement he designed this entire collection for Lacoste which features of his favorite pieces with an updated style and his signature logo and signed name on them. 

LACOSTE L!VE

 Finally, Here a few of the Lacoste L!VE items meant to target a more youthful, trendy customer and this can be seen by the amazing patterns, slimmer fit and lower price point. Also the use of younger looking models helps create a great image for a more youthful Lacoste L!VE. 

THIS ISN'T YOUR GRANDFATHER'S POLO.

$98.00
100% COTTON

$70.00
100% COTTON

$125.00
100% COTTON

$98.00
100% COTTON

Women's

Women's assortment has not been very succesful for Lacoste. They recently lost the Macy's account for the womens sportwear and apprel. Here is some of the product offering.

Short Sleeve 5 Button Polo
$89.50
$100 cotton

LightWeight Garment Washed Twill Jacket
$325.00

L!VE Half Sleeve Scoopneck Dress
$125.00
100% Cotton

 

Kid's

Palm Tree Polo
$60.00
100% Cotton

Dip Dye Jersey Dress
$65.00
100% Cotton

Polo Onesie Set
$85.00

BRAND AWARENESS

Lacoste is making great strides to use social networking to its advantage. With the emergence of its online store in 2007, creating this presence was key and they have been very successful thus far. With the help of a revamped public relations department they have been able to improve brand recognition here in the U.S. as well reach a broader market.

@LACOSTE Twitter Profile

 They have implemented projects such as Lacoste News which keeps the customer up to date on all the happening with LACOSTE USA . Lacoste News is a blog style site that keeps the customer informed on the latest news, releases, video, advertising etc about the company. Blogs like these can attract customers who do not like spam emails and find it easier to look at information at their own leisure.

Here is a screenshot of Lacoste News and the links it provides on the left are very concise yet informative about the brand and its current state of affairs.

Social Media Center 

Lacoste's site also provides a Social Media Center which provides links to all of the company's social networking accounts. These accounts include Facebook, YOUTUBE, Twitter, Flickr and Google+. Here the user can look at each websites post in real time as they occur on one single screen. There is an also an opportunity to follow these profiles and enjoy the information and images that are provided on them.

L!VE Blog 

Lacoste L!VE which is considered the younger, cooler brother to the company's contemporary sportswear men/women collection. For the fan of L!VE there is a much more aesthetically pleasing blog to look at with great colors an imagery. This is meant to embody the essence of Lacoste L!VE which can be seen in the screenshot below. Here at the L!VE blog you can shop the curret collection or check out video and photo look books of upcoming or past season.

This year was Lacoste's 3rd Annual Lacoste L!VE Desert Pool Party. This event boasted celebrity guests, djs, lots of games and of course a pool. The party took place during California's Coachella Music Festival. This kind of event appeals to a younger crowd that Lacoste is accustomed too. The event had great product placement and solidified Lacoste's growing presence on social media. The number impressions due to the tweeting of the hash tag #LacosteDesertParty, the magazine editorials featuring celebrities who attended the party and other promotion led to approximately $200 million in sales for Lacoste.

80TH ANNIVERSARY MARKETING CAMPAIGN

2013 marks 80 years since the birth of the L12.12 polo. With the help of Macy's and the launch of the new Lacoste department at their Herald Square store help us celebrate this joyous occasion.

This flyer can be printed at the will of the customer and be used to recieve first access to the Lacoste space with in the Macy's at Herals Square.

The success of this ad can be tracked by how many people come into the herald square location with the flyer above and how many of those same consumers purchase the L12.12 polo.

Also with the use of the hash tag,  tweets and retweets can be tracked which will result in making it easy to record the impressions of the campaign made on the social networking channels.

WEBSITE AESTHETICS

Brick and Mortar vs E-commerce   

Since its inception in 2007 The Lacoste E-commerce store has made great strides in achieving revenue and improving brand positioning. Previously Lacoste didn’t have an online presence which hindered the brand here in the United States as the product offering was much difference from France. Lacoste and brick and mortar stores provide a great aesthetic to the brand from its Flagship on Madison Ave. to the boutiques set up in Macy’s departments. The flagship store on 5th avenue has classic Lacoste design. It has a floating staircase, glass balustrades, illuminated pans and leather wrapped hand rails. Also the chandeliers and faux crocodile upholstered on the walls is a must see. 

Lacoste 541 Broadway, SOHO

Polo Bar

Floating Glass Staircase

E-Commerce Experience

 Although the website isn’t able to to provide  the same aesthetic it has its own strong points. The U.S. e-commerce store makes up for its the unique and fulfilling shopping experience it provides to all its customers while maintaining a high standard for quality product. Lacoste E-commerce store makes up for more than half of its U.S. revenue. On the e-commerce site you can view the same product line but tend to experience deeper discounts due to Flash Sales and promotional sales.

When you first log on to www.lacoste.com you are brought to Flash based home screen which contains links for all the content on the website. This includes news, upcoming events, fragrances, accessories, blogs, shop locations and social media content. Also included here is a link that takes you the U.S. e-commerce shop. The interactivity of this home screen makes for an exciting and fun experience that is also pleasing to the eye because it has many colorful images and beautiful models wearing Lacoste sportswear.

As you click on the link to the web shop for Lacoste you are taken to the e-commerce main page which features NOIR which is Lacoste's brand new fragrance that launched earlier this month. If you stay on that page for a few minutes you will notice a slide show of the products they want to feature and promote.

This page also features many links to begin your shopping experience and help you navigate to any content on the website. The options that you have to choose from include but are not limited to company information, shopping product, customer assistance and shipping/returns. Also on this main page are opportunities to create a Lacoste account to limit your transaction time and there are also links to all social networking accounts for the company.

 

To maintain the traditional and historical theme the website maintains a very simple layout with little to no color. The site was only launched six years ago and this is evident by the crowded home page in which all the necessary information is thrown at the eyes of the viewer. They continue to make improvements on the site by adding various information and interactive opportunities to the site. This simple display makes the shopping experience seamless and memory is not an issue here. The advantages of having basic layout is the ease of going from page to page and makes the opening of various links extremely fast. 

All product images are taken on a model and then edited for use on the e-commerce site. The images are provided in various colors and allow you to zoom in as you hover over them for a better idea on how the garment looks. There is little to no product description here other than fabric content. This can hinder those customers who are new to the site and the brand. They are unable to know how an item fits and what size they should be purchasing. 

One great feature is the online chat. The company places focus on customer service and this chat is the best example of that. Speaking to a live person about your order and the product you want to purchase enhances the shopping experience and can sometimes be the deciding factor in making a sale in e-commerce 

With Mother's Day right around the corner there is a GIFT option on the main page to help the customer find something special for the women in their family. This kind of interactive option allows for easy shopping which saves the customer lots of time in this day and age where instant gratification is key.

Here is a video showing the ease of use for the site by showing the steps from the home page to the checkout screen.  

 

ETHICS, FRAUD & SECURITY

Fraud and Security

Lacoste has the right to use its discretion to limit or cancel quantities purchased per person, household, billing address if deemed suspicious. They notify customers of this cancellation via email with reasoning for judgment. 

Lacoste online shop uses cookies to obtain information such as demographics, geolocation data, ip addresses and aggregate data in order to understand trends to tailor the product and its services to the individual users. This information is used for identification of various users.

Because Lacoste takes pride in assuring the safety of its customers, any financial information and transactions are guaranteed to be safe on the site. Lacoste uses Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology. The Web Stite can secure your private information using a Verisign SSL Certificate so that any information exchanged with any address beginning with https is encrypted using SSL before being sent or transmitted. 

They call these measures their "Safe Shopping Guarantee" which is outlined on the policies page

Ethical and Compliance Issues

Lacoste takes great pride in  being a socially responsible company and reassuring its shareholders and the general public that it makes the effort to lead the way in this regard.

The Rene Lacoste Foundation supports and funds projects throughout the world that allow for the youth to have access to sports. In 2011, there were a total of 20 projects developed by the foundation including;

First Tee Miami: opened golf access for disadvantage kids

Hand in Hand for Haiti: construction of a sports facility for a new school

Sports San Frontieres: sports program for children of Afghanistan

Lacoste is one of the first companies to put a logo on their product, which is the crocodile. Unfortunately the crocodile is in danger of being extinct. So as a result, Lacoste has created the Save Your Logo program, which allows private companies to contribute to the protection of the species, represented in their logos.

“Transparency Supply Chains Act

Lacoste is opposed to human trafficking and slavery and takes steps to ensure that these illegal behaviors are not incorporated into the Lacoste supply chain. These steps include agreements with vendors that they will not engage in this type of behavior and will comply with local laws. We also have the right to conduct facility audits during visits, as well as include provisions in our vendor agreements that permit Lacoste to conduct unannounced audits using independent auditing agencies. Together, we can all help to stop human trafficking and slavery in the retail industry.”

 Lacoste Quality Guarantee

This screenshot shows how Lacoste guarantees quality of product to ensure that the customer is satisfied with any item that my purchase on the website.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.forbes.com/sites/keithlevy/2012/06/01/the-crocodile-rocks-lacoste-evolved/

http://www.lacoste.com/univers#

shop.lacoste.com

http://www.devanlay.fr/public/hr/

http://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/lacoste/

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/10/31/crocodile.logo/