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"What is Target Marketing: Types, Benefits, and Campaign Launch"

Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:55 am
by subornaakter20
From the end consumer's perspective, the Benetton brand stood out in the 1980s for its colorful, natural-material clothing at a mid-market price. Benetton became a way of self-expression for people who wanted to express their individuality in their appearance.

From the retailer's point of view, the Benetton brand was also very attractive due to a well-thought-out marketing strategy and bright, memorable advertising. Many retailers wanted to list of us mobile phone numbers database become part of the welcoming Benetton family. In addition, the company promised that it would be able to completely replace the assortment of its products in any retail outlet on the globe within 15 days.

As already mentioned, Benetton is expanding not only in the “upward” direction, but also in the “downward” direction. Although it is known in the market for its franchising strategy, the company’s management, represented by Luciano Benetton, denies this. According to Aldo Palmieri, who served as Benetton’s CEO in 1993, what the company is doing is not a franchise, but a partnership.

By the end of the 1980s, the Benetton retail chain had 1,600 outlets in Italy alone, 2,400 stores in other Western European countries, another 800 in America, and several retail outlets in the Far East and Eastern Europe.

Entrepreneurs wishing to engage in retail sales of Benetton products must equip the store themselves according to the company's standards: buy the necessary store equipment, renovate the premises in accordance with the company's standards, etc. All capital investments are made at their own expense. Benetton only issues instructions on how everything should be done.

For example, a store must display a white and green Benetton brand sign. The interior must also adhere to the brand's color scheme and place mannequins with clothes in display cases at a certain distance from the glass. Benetton sets the rules for promoting products and determining the retailer's trade markup.

There are minimum sales requirements. It is prohibited to return unsold products back to the supplier. A retailer working with Benetton clothing is obliged to sell only the products of this brand. The advantage of such a partnership is that there are no payments to the company (as, for example, when buying a franchise).


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Benetton's downward expansion of sales channels is built through the work of 80 agents. These are usually owners of retail stores, who also act as supervisors for owners of other outlets selling products under the Benetton brand. Their area of ​​responsibility includes motivating retailers, monitoring compliance with the company's requirements regarding the style and culture of the store. Agents are also responsible for opening new stores of the brand.

It often happens that several company stores open in the neighborhood. This is how Benetton insures itself so that in case of losses in one outlet, sales in the others will cover its failure. This allows maintaining a certain level of intra-company competition. But there are no acute conflicts between stores, since Benetton produces about 7,000 units of products, so different collections are usually presented in neighboring outlets.

Agents also discuss with the company's management issues of releasing new clothing collections, make their proposals on prices and competitive policy. As a fee, agents receive 4% of the cost of products shipped to the outlets under their control. In addition, they can receive income from their own outlets.

From a strategic marketing perspective, Benetton's agency system is considered the secret to its success. In essence, agents are the company's outsourced commercial department. They are closer to the end consumer than the company itself, while agents have some degree of independence from the head office. The introduction of the agency system allowed Benetton to enter the global market without