Mintel database

We found several information on Mintel database such as the sector size, market infomation and many reports and figures about C&J Clarks. Most of the reports also include charts, graphs and tables which are very convenient to collect statistics.
We would use this database as our main sources of data.

Phuc Nguyen

Basic Research

At the beginning of the project I did some basic research of Clarks and found out about the history of the business, how it originated and what they are doing to improve themselves. It was very interesting and I learnt new things about the business which I hadn't known before. I live close to Street where Clarks oringated from so I feel very passionate about this company.

Lauren Conen

Critical success factors of Clarks

Critical success factors of Clarks

Threats (CSF)

• To overcome the threats from competitors e.g. supermarkets, Hush Puppies etc., Clarks can develop effective competitive pricing strategies whereby Clarks can under-cut the prices set by the competitors to attract the customers.
• Clarks can also enhance the elements of 'added value', to make their products distinct from the competitors.
• To manage the political threats of EU commission monitoring anti-competitive behaviour, Clarks can plan to expand their business into emerging markets such as India, to not only overcome the EU threats but to also gain full scope of global markets.
• The fragmentation in the leather shoes can have an immense effect on the customer loyalty of Clarks, the company can overcome this by developing showrooms of 'how the Clarks shoes are made?', this will not assure the customers but also will allow Clarks to develop a strong brand image.

Opportunity (CSF)

• Clarks have the opportunity to support the environment e.g. 'green campaign' this will not only work in favour of public interest but will also indirectly promote the company.
• The company can tap into emerging markets such as, India and Africa, as they have the potential need for particular products Clarks provide.

Weaknesses (CSF)

• The company doesn't advertise extensively, this can have adverse effects on their marketing positioning (e.g. if they desire to move to a niche market). They may also find it difficult to attract customer's attention from the competitors.

Strengths (CSF)

• The company maintaining economies of scale shows their efficiency in managing the production level and costs particularly as its currently in the global recession, whereby most companies have failed to prove their capabilities whilst Clarks show astonishing results in their profits.
• Clarks is attributed to be one of the only shoe company in the world to own and manage each and every step in the production process from tanning to the end-point of sales, this shows they are less likely to be affected by external changes. 

Seminar 12/02/2013

During this session our objective was to develop a TOWS analysis for Clarkes. After completing this we did critical success factors which was taken from the TOWS analysis created earlier in the session.

TOWS of Clarks

TOWS of Clarks

(Factors that create) Threats	(Factors that create) Opportunity
•                      There is a significant threat from new competitors such as the major supermarkets as well as high fashion retailers extending their product range to footwear.	•                      Social trends are impacting Clarks market. There is a move towards cheaper more fashionable boots and shoes made of synthetic materials which can easily be disposed of after a relatively short period of time.
•                      There is increased political threat on cheap imports e.g. tariffs on imported goods from China and Vietnam. The EU commission is also monitoring anti-competitive behaviour closely. This could escalate in the future.	•                     The company has invested heavily on 'green' champagne; this environmental support has allowed Clarks to gain strong customer loyalty.
•                      The UK economy is showing signs of slowing down which will have an adverse impact on demand of the Clarks shoes, therefore movement/ or remaining in niche market can become difficult.	•                      The brand can tap new emerging markets like India and Africa.
•                     The fragmentation in the leather shoes segment is high leading to low customer loyalty.

Weaknesses	Strengths
•                      The brand does not heavily advertise as its competitors who only brand and market their products.	•                      Attributed to be one of the only shoe company in the world to own and manage each and every step in the production process from tanning to the end-point of sales.
•                      Fake replicas and imitation products affects brand image	•                      Company maintains economies of scale in five countries spread across Asia and Europe and nearly 80% of the shoes are manufactured in its own factories.
	•                      The brand’s foray into leather accessories has been a success.
	•                      The brands exclusive retail outlets as performance centers have been a great success.

Rehma Shamim

Seminar 05/02/13

In this session we did a basic macro and micro analysis of the footwear sector and of Clarks.
This helped us to gain a better understanding of the business and the market sector which will help us with our research and our analyse in the future.
At the end of this session we all had been assigned roles to research to bring to the next session.

Seminar 29/02/13

Our chosen company is Clarks.

In our Seminar we did a spider diagram showing the knowledge we know of Clarks at the moment before research. We categorised them into customers and products they sold.

After our seminar we decided to all do our own little bit of background research on the business to see what we come up with.

Set Up

Our group has been established. Some of us have worked together before so we know our strengths and weaknesses but we have new group members which is exciting!

After this we had to decide on which sector to do our research in. There were three areas the group was interested in. Footwear, Holiday/Hotels and Sport. We had a big decision and debate and then we had to vote on the one we preferred. It came to a tie between Footwear and Holiday/Hotels so we flipped a coin for the decision. It landed on footwear.

We then came up with pros and cons of each business we thought of within the footwear sector. We had another vote and majority decided on a local company, Clarks.