Giordano, International Limited is a retailer of men’s, women’s and children’s quality apparel,

accessories and supplying products to third parties, founded at 1981 by Jimmy Lai in Kowloon,

Hong Kong. Giordano has become a pioneer of customer service in the Asia-Pacific region and,

as of January 2008, currently employs more than 11,400 people and operates 1800 stores

worldwide in 40 countries. The company is Asia-Pacific’s most successful retailer and sells its

name under the brands of “Giordano”, “Giordano Concepts”, “Giordano Junior” and “Giordano

Ladies”. Giordano has been publicly listed since 1991 and since then trades on the Hong Kong

stock exchange under the ticker symbol. Giordano’s success is measured by the company’s

relentless focus on its five corporate business values of quality, knowledge, innovation,

simplicity and service. The company has its own apparel manufacturing division where many of

its own clothing styles are produced. Giordano is also renowned for its basic and practical

men’s, women’s, and children’s T-shirts and trousers, especially denims. In comparison,

Giordano is very similar to the American based popular retailer The Gap.

Giordano Hong Kong uses the name of both the company and its mainstream fashion labels,

and this strategy has allowed the company to pursue an integrated marketing approach directly

related to the company name. There are also a variety of marketing strategies available that

Giordano Hong Kong could make use of in order to control all of their promotional activities.

When used appropriately, these marketing strategies will be able to help to consistently

disseminate the valuable information that they want to convey to their valued consumers.

However, certain points have to be taken into consideration by Giordano Hong Kong

regarding marketing strategies. Since their income is relatively higher than most of

their competitors, the time for implementation of their chosen marketing strategies

would take longer than usual, aside from being expensive. But since the goal of

Giordano Hong Kong is towards a long-term dominance and stability in the fashion

industry, then the pursuit of these promotional campaigns will be beneficial for the

company in the long run.

Q1 Describe and evaluate Giordano’s product, business and corporate strategies?

Product strategies:

Value for money product Excellent services Focused on core items Customer oriented

Business Strategies:

Differentiation Cost leadership Niche

Corporate strategies

They did vertical integration Asian currency crises Concentrated on retailing

Q-2 Describe and evaluate Gioranado’s current positioning strategy. Should Gioranado reposition itself against its competitors in its current and new markets, and should it have different positioning strategies for different markets?

Current positioning. Target up-market may create confusion Measures Difficult to make different strategies for different market Costly to acquire existing brand or setup new brand. So go with old strategies

Rivalry among established firms=High>price and non price

competition increasing in intensity,Slower demand growth

Threats of substitute products=Low> Lack of substitutes for casual cloths

Bargaining power of buyers=Moderate> low switching cost but no collective bargaining power

Risk of entry by potential competitors:

=moderate> investment in brand building and retail

outlets needed

Bargaining power of suppliers:

=low> suppliers can be replaced easily

Q-3 what are Gioranado’s key success factors (KSF) and sources of competitive advantage? Are its competitive advantages suitable, and how would they develop in the future?

Porter’s Five Forces in Retail Industry

Giordano’s Key Success Factors (KSF)

Giordano’s Key Success Factors Sustainability in Existing Country Markets (Likely)

Potential Future Developments of KSF

DesignFast and Market Driven New Product Development Systematically collects ideas

from customers, frontline and experienced designers

Fast turnaround from market impulse, design, manufacturing to distribution to the shops

Operation, Logistics and ITExcellent Management of systems and integration of activities, e.g. stocks obsolescence costs are minimized due to:

Daily sales report(facilitated through IT &system)

Limited stock in shops that are daily restocked

Rapid market driven manufacturing

Branding and Marketing Giordano’s Brand:

Positioning: helps instant transfer of key values Giordano offers(Value for money, good quality casual wear, excellent service)

Excellent brand recognition due to high advertising budget

Somewhat Sustainable Relies on effective

organizational communications and other intangible sources of advantage, which are difficult for competitors to copy and implement effectively

Somewhat sustainable Giordano’s efficiency in

logistics and operations may be copied or even exceeded with an acquisition of superior systems. However, there are not many competitors who would be able to copy the implementation and integration of the systems on the scale that Giordano has done

Somewhat sustainable Brand Equity helps to

build customer loyalty However, Giordano faces

threat of strong competitors with similar positioning and also from brand dilution (e.g.”Cheap image”) as the marketing general shifts upward

Competitors could increasingly use technology to assisting their design process

On Giordano’s part, effort must continually be made to obtain and utilize feedback from target customers.

Attracting and retaining good staff in design is important.

Other competitors would be likely to try to emulate Giordano

Needs to continually look for new ways to improve and build its advantage inside and outside its industry

E.g. benchmarking against retailers like The Gap and Liz Claiborne, which are well known for their integration IT systems and deficient operations

Biggest threat comes from reputable players like The Gap

Giordano should continue to invest in strengthening its brand equity through heavy advertising and excellent customer service

It could acquire another brand to serve higher end segment

Customer Service:

Fantastic customer service: Service orientation

is pervasive in many of its activities

Recruitment, selection and training of staff.

Empowerment and motivation

of staff 

Location:Good, high traffic shopping and convenience locations

along with increasing incomes.

Somewhat Sustainable

A service culture is one source of advantage that competitors would find difficult to copy

However, Giordano needs to ensure that this culture can be maintained as it expands rapidly in existing and new markets

Difficult to sustain Giordano’s sites are an

important source of advantage, but other competitors could also do the same

Other competitors have not yet attempted to follow Giordano’s service strategy.

Competitors and new entrants will successfully compete for good locations

Q-4 Could Giordano transfer its key success factors to new markets as it expanded both in Asia and other parts of the world?

Giordano Company’s main competitive strengths which can be transferred to other market are: the experience of the employees, inventory controlled system, HRM practices but the policies should be different for each country and can use the established distribution, marketing and inbound channels members in order to market their product outside the home country

Q-5 How do you think Giordano had/would have to adapt its marketing and operations strategies and tactics when entering and penetrating your country?

Giordano would have to take the following the marketing and operations strategies and tactics when entering and penetrating to adapt in my country:

Consistency in service and merchandise quality Two dimensions of marketing and operations need to be addressed separately Concentrate on the similarities between countries Careful to consider national and cultural differences in some aspects of its marketing mix.

Q-6 what general lessons can major clothing retailers in your country learn from Giordano for?

Giordano managed to deliver a high level of service “Even the most sophisticated training program won’t guarantee the best customer service” When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. To augment their products for e.g. “no question asked and no time limit’ exchange policy

Recommendation 

From the above analysis we have some recommendation for Giordano International Limited. These are: 

It is essential to start promotions to increase brand awareness when starting businesses in new market.

The location and site selection for establishing Giordano’s outlet in different country will be critical. The company should carefully select the site to position their stores which will be convenient for the customers.

Customer is the key and main factor for differentiation is customer care. The company needs to follow customized customer service strategy for each market segment.

Giordano needs to find out possibility of outsourcing to maintain low costs Extensive market research is needed to investigate designs and fabrics required by the

target customers