Executive Summary
This analytical report of the luxury fashion house Alexander McQueen presents a comprehensive overview of the company’s background, business environment, brand positioning, trend influence, marketing mix, and communications strategy. Alexander McQueen is a unique brand characterized by its exquisite and iconoclastic fashion style, but it has evolved to become a powerhouse within the highly competitive market and offers sophisticated products which appeal to a wide range of affluent consumers. It can be argued that at its core, Alexander McQueen is one of the few brands which has stayed true to its artisan and artistic core while running a successful business without compromising its values in any element of operations while navigating the complex environment of the fashion industry.
Alexander McQueen is a luxury fashion house founded in 1992 and named after its founder, a recognized designer and couturier Lee Alexander McQueen who passed away in 2010. It is currently a subsidiary of the luxury product conglomerate Kering and continues to be a known brand in the world of fashion led by a close colleague of McQueen and current creative director Sarah Burton. The Alexander McQueen label has always been recognized due to shock tactics and experimentation in its collections, commonly with symbolism and inspiration from the natural world, while maintaining high levels of craftsmanship (Evans, n.d.). As of 2019, Alexander McQueen maintained 778 employees and annual revenue of approximately $195.3 million.
Analysis of the Environment of the Brand
The luxury fashion industry has undergone a significant market shift in recent times. Prior, the market consisted of small artisan businesses valued for high quality and craftsmanship. However, large multinational companies emerged in the industry, upturning the market. Some brands focus on heritage and superiority, being truly luxury and exclusive due to price. However, others, such as Alexander McQueen combine the perception of high prestige with reasonable prices with products that are available to middle-class consumers.
Therefore, the luxury sector has rapidly increased in market size, product range, and consumer diversity in the last two decades. Furthermore, luxury fashion typically implements a slow fashion business model which differs from fast fashion. The slow fashion model is aimed at creating sustainable and ethical supply chains, which highlight the use of local resources and long product lives. However, because fashion products typically have a short shelf life, designers and manufacturers operate on tight product schedules and distribution deadlines (Kvasha, 2019).
PESTLE
SWOT
Positioning Strategy
Alexander McQueen is a globally recognized luxury fashion brand name that also maintains a strong financial status and strong support within the Kering fashion conglomerate. It has a defined market position as a niche and unique fashion house, with high-quality products. The brand has products that are highly expensive and unavailable to purchase through its regular channels, affecting accessibility and driving up exclusivity. The brand’s extension McQ does offer a range of more affordable options to wider target markets, but still remains an expensive product for most consumers (Martin Roll, 2020). Its strive for quality and exclusivity over quantity and fast fashion allows them to strengthen its position as a truly luxury brand but severely restricts its growth potential in the mass market.
Target Consumer Segment
Alexander McQueen focuses on the Western fashion market, targeting established and professional demographics aged 25-45. The brand offers collections for both men and women, but their campaigns are primarily focused on women which is their forte. The majority of consumers reside in metropolitan urban areas, the fashion capitals of Europe and America, that typically indulge in luxury products and brands. Alexander McQueen targets fashion-conscious individuals who favor quality and recognition as luxury brands are considered esteem drivers as they generate a sense of respect and accomplishment among the affluent that recognize the value of such designs and clothing (WC-SN, 2020)
Influence of Trends
Alexander McQueen is a very complex brand, founded and long upholding the principle of rebellion and anti-establishment in the fashion industry. The fashion house both capitalized on certain trends as well as set their own standards which would often shock and overturn the fashion world. Since McQueen’s passing in 2010, with the company being led by his protégé Sarah Burton as well as being incorporated into Kering, the brand has shifted towards a middle ground of being unique but maintaining a sense of consumer-friendliness by following the latest trends. This approach has allowed the brand to prosper in an extremely competitive industry (Kruger, 2020).
Alexander McQueen is being positioned to capitalize on changing trends in fashion towards smarter aesthetics after a long dominance of streetwear. The elaborate designs and elements that are present in a large portion of the brand’s collections are fitting with the changing dynamics in the fashion which emphasize a polished and elevated aesthetic. The designs continue to represent some elements of British rebellion and sensibility while following popular themes of beauty of decay and strong femininity. However, under Burton, the brand continues to maintain its unique identity, keeping elements such as craft tailoring, knit dresses, and leather elements which have also been adopted by other fashion houses to some extent. While modern Alexander McQueen is less audacious and iconoclastic than that of its founder, it remains a work of beauty and art in the fashion industry, proving that the brand is top-quality artisan (Sutherland, 2020).
Competitor Analysis
Alexander McQueen operates in a highly competitive industry that is dependent on its ability to distinguish itself in terms of fashion as well as fickle consumer demands and trends. Alexander McQueen faces competition both from within the conglomerate of its parent company Kering which owns famous brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta, as well as other luxury companies such as Stella McCartney, Chloe, Mani, and Vivienne Westwood. Many of these companies are luxury feminine brands that target the same consumer segment as Alexander McQueen.
Meanwhile, others such as Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent are more widely recognizable in the general market, having the brand equity and visual identity with broad appeal; an aspect that Alexander McQueen lacks (Cabigosu, 2020). In terms of price and quality, Alexander McQueen stands in the middle of the pack in that segment as seen in the diagram below. It is neither extremely luxurious nor extremely formal/quality – making it still a luxury fashion brand but with the availability to target consumers.
Marketing Mix of the Brand
Marketing Communications Strategy
With its communications strategy, Alexander McQueen aims to reach its target demographic and generate consumer engagement through the shared values of the brand. It seeks to establish and increase brand recognition while maintaining a luxury and fashion powerhouse status. The brand maintains a limited social media presence with pages on major platforms, with Instagram being the most active capitalizing on the visual elements of its product being “instagrammable” and therefore popular on that social platform. It periodically announces new products and collections using its Instagram page (Chitrakorn, 2020).
However, the majority of marketing communications occur through industry-specific media which are fashion magazines and outlets, both print and online where the company publishes new collections and reviews from its fashion shows. Alexander McQueen also maintains a versatile and well-developed website that is used not only for the retail experience but for publications related to the company as well as official press releases.
References
Cabigosu, A. (2020) ‘An overview of the luxury fashion industry’. Nature Public Health Emergency Collection, pp. 9-31. Web.
Chitrakorn, K. (2020) What makes a popular luxury fashion brand?Vogue Business. Web.
Conti, S. (2018) CEO talks: Emmanuel Gintzburger of Alexander McQueen on the magical marriage of creativity and commerce. WWD. Web.
Evans, C. (n.d.) Alexander McQueen. lovetoknow. Web.
Kering. (2020) 2020 financial report. Kering Corporate. Web.
Kruger, M. (2020) The evolution of fashion’s edgiest designer brand: Alexander McQueen’s meteoric rise to prominence. Luxury Lifestyle Magazine. Web.
Kvasha, E. (2019) The current and future external environment in the luxury fashion industry. Linkedin. Web.
Roll, M. (2020) Kering – the evolution of a global luxury brand company. MartinRoll. Web.
Sutherland, E. (2020) The ongoing reign of Alexander McQueen. Drapers. Web.
WC-SN. (2020) How to attract the luxury consumer in 2020. World Retail Congress. Web.