Bottega Veneta Brand Image Analysis

Introduction

Bottega Veneta was first started by Michele Taddei and Renzo Zengiaro. Since 1966, the firm has been recognized as a luxury goods and designer clothing company. The Italian-based company has gained a lot of clout in the high-end design industry. By concentrating on establishing a brand that will serve as the foundation for a fresh and distinctive brand identity, one may successfully capture the luxury daily items market, hence bringing the utilization of corporate sustainability and harmony in the business, as indicated by Weingerl and Javoršek (2018). According to TFL (2021), the firm disregarded the fact that no shortage of luxury goods brands’ revenues come from the high-volume purchases of more available and accessible branded Bottega items, which buyers often show off on social media. Abandoning the digital market creates an overarching gap that would take decades to bridge.

Bottega Veneta Target Market

The original target market for Bottega Veneta is comprised of women aged 30-45 years who prefer ready-to-wear outfits. They also fancy interior designs and fragrances, good fashion, and elegance, among others. They also prefer luxurious outfits and have at least half a million dollars in earnings. They are sophisticated and self-assured customers that prefer comfort, confidentiality, and luxury designs. On the other hand, the digital target market is Aspirational consumers, in this case, the younger, aged 9-24 years with relatively lower income. They love quality items and aspire to make Bottega Veneta a part of their luxurious lifestyle. They prefer sustainable clothing over fashion but still love a glimpse of trendy clothing. They are more concerned with climate change, ecosystem management, and ZERO WASTE collection. Therefore, before purchasing, they would research if the firm is observing ZERO WASTE management before they buy such clothes. They are fancy the social media internet age, hence are majorly found in Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram, and other online shopping websites.

Why the New Target Market is Necessary

Gen Z, as a new target market defines the current fashion industry. For instance, since the world is more concerned with climate change, so does the new target market which is concerned with social and environmental issues. The social issues about such concerns as police brutality, sexuality issues (LGBTQ community), and racism. Environmental concerns pertain to ZERO WASTE management, and the use of recyclable material for the fashion industry, among others. The new target market also commands approximately $350 billion of spending power in the U. S, and two-thirds of them say they would boycott brands based on social controversial issues (Amed et al., 2019). Hence, this target is important to be considered while redesigning the clothing industry, especially for Bottega Veneta if profit and sustainability are to be factored in.

Why the GEN Z is a better fit for Bottega Brand

Since the GEN Z are more concerned with the resale value of an item than just fashion, the return of the It bag, the Bottega’s pouch bag fits the bill. For instance, since the bag is a ready-to-wear pouch and ensures longevity through resale, the GEN Z is a better fit for the brand as it promises the resale of the product (second-hand shopping). The ability to resell Bottega brands without losing value for money and trend makes the brand appealing to the younger generation Z that are more low budget but requires sustainability (Friedman, 2021). Moreover, according to Parisi (2021), in the U.S., the fashion resale market is approximated to reach close to $76 Billion yearly by 2025. This makes this new target market a force to reckon with in terms of sustainability.

Brand Identity, Personality, and Positioning

Brand identity is the noticeable features of a brand, such as color, design, and logo, that classify and differentiate the brand in customers’ minds. The Bottega brand identity is a fairly sophisticated one, unique and with a flare of the luxurious theme. Using leather in fabrication is just the brand’s identity. Their identity is all about doing what they do best, and that is being creative with leather production (Langer, 2021).

Brand Personality refers to a set of human features that are accredited to a brand name. In the case of Bottega, its brand personality is more of unresolved craftsmanship, the expertise of technique, high-quality raw materials, timeless, understated, and sophisticated to the social and corporate world (Langer, 2021). Brand positioning describes the is the way a customer can differentiate the brand from competitors and how consumers identify and connect with one’s brand. Bottega’s core customers embody innovativeness and timeless elegance. Their consumers sought only high-end quality without regard to price.

Competitor Analysis

From the diagram (in blue), Bottega products sales from the beginning of 2019 to the end of June 2020, have increased. Notably, Gucci (in red) has seen its product sales decline at the same time by 20% from its December 2019 peak (Shobert, n.d.). The success of Bottega during this time has been its corporate philosophy to the customers. Moreover, its bags have seen a financial boost for fashion brands, propping up ready-to-wear sales (Shobert, n.d.). The sales have been credited to its logo, which served as a form of advertising to its consumers. However, the move to shut down all its social media accounts was perceived by many customers as a show of exclusivity of the brand. Therefore, the brand has prospects to furtively promote its items on digital accounts. Since more than 95% of purchase decisions are made on e-commerce, a lack of online marketing will put Bottega Veneta at a strategic disadvantage over time, hence not sustainable (Shobert, n.d.). Since Generation Z is internet-based, the firm needs to connect to its social media accounts.

CSR Strategy-Range Plan

Generation Z requires a socially responsible firm in this world that has become resource-constrained. For instance, the chunky boots, a hybrid of clogs and wellies, are made of sugarcane and coffee that are fully biodegradable. In terms of social responsibility, at Bottega Veneta, there are no training and seminars programs established for its workers. Furthermore, a lack of clear supply labor standards is missing. With regards to environmental protection, the above range plan has insufficient new product packaging that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). By using a CSR strategy, the firm can validate its values, involve its employees, and connect with the social world (consumers) about how they operate and the choices they make, to ensure a sustainable future. In this regard, the range plan will be redesigned to ensure their packaging is FSC certified, carry out continuous audits which are sustainably oriented, and perform continuous training to employees on the values of CSR.

CSR STRATEGY is a unique concept that brings accountability to a firm hence profit generation while playing a key role in broader demands of civic welfare. In this case, the women’s range plan comprising of coat, bag, shoe, wallet, and earing has to be met by the said CSR. This can be done through the identification of the stakeholders responsible for the design. The plan needs to relate to the firm’s mission, competitive strategy, and other core activities that ensure the production of the items. This is followed by the implementation of the CSR program, which can be done through measurement of the social performances like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. Lastly, the program is integrated, and a review for future updates is initiated by comparing it to competitors.

Execution

Based on the survey conducted, on the first part of the survey asking about the color of the logo, the majority of the respondents preferred blue (38%), compared to black (30%) and red (32%). On the question of packaging material used for the items, most customers preferred a material that is both biodegradable and recyclable (90%), with others choosing recyclable only (3%) and biodegradable (7%). On preferred social media accounts that the firm should mostly use, customers quoted Instagram over Facebook and Twitter at 52% against 38% and 10%, respectively. Moreover, the consumers, when asked what part of the landing page on the Bottega Veneta website required correction, the majority said the homepage layout (67%) needed restructuring compared to the “what we do”(20%) and “About us” (13%).

Conclusion

To acclimatize Bottega Veneta to the internet age, social media should be utilized to market new products to clients. Furthermore, an application needs to be developed to help potential customers more efficiently navigate the company’s manufacturing process. The investigation revealed that Bottega’s internet ads and visibility are still lacking, even though the digital revolution has taken over. The company should employ more social media platforms in addition to its website’s capabilities to stay up to date and maintain its position as a leader (Prathapan et al., 2018). Apart from workmanship, brand loyalty, and customization choices, the firm should emphasize the personalization of the digital environment (Shukla and Nigam, 2018). The company will have to experiment with a variety of designs for each item, including umbrellas and tote bags. Moreover, continuous training and seminars on CSR programs should be done to ensure sustainability and certifications.

References

Amed, I et al., (2019). The influence of ‘woke’ consumers on fashion. Web.

Friedman, V. (2020). Breaking the curse of the It bag. Web.

Kelleher, K. (2021). Bottega Veneta green was fashion’s favorite color. What happens next? Web.

Langer, D. (2021). What brands can learn from Bottega Veneta’s reinvention. Web.

Parisi, D. (2021). In 2021, brands finally went all in on resale. Web.

Prathapan, et al. (2018) ‘Effectiveness of digital marketing: Tourism websites comparative analytics based on AIDA model’, International Journal of Innovative Research & Studies, 8(4), pp. 262-273.

Shobert, E. (n.d.). A case study: Bottega Veneta’s success by the numbers. Web.

Shukla, P. S. and Nigam, P. V. (2018) ‘E-shopping using mobile apps and the emerging consumer in the digital age of retail hyper personalization: an insight’, Pacific Business Review International, 10(10), pp. 131-139.

The Fashion Law. (2021). Bottega Veneta is overhauling its social strategy and abruptly abandoning its accounts. Web.

Weingerl, P. and Javoršek, D. (2018) ‘Theory of colour harmony and its application’, Journal of Technical Gazette, 25(4), pp. 1243-1248.