Laura Ashley

By the early 1990’s Laura Ashley’s clothing range was considered to be out of date 70’s fashion, women did not want ‘pretty’ any more.  It became the time of power dressing and Laura Ashley did not know where to go.  However, they knew it was necessary to reposition the brand as a product to change this view and thus increase sales.  They tried to do this mainly without success by advertising campaigns such as ‘say it without flowers’ to escape this belief.  They tried to appeal to a younger cliental (above 30 rather than above 50) by producing bold prints, vibrant colours and exciting new fabrics.   This had limited effect but conversely put off existing customers who said it no longer the true Laura Ashley.

Retailers typically use their stores to establish brand image, as advertising an image, which they cannot deliver in the shop could result in customer dissatisfaction.  The stores general ambience, the staff and the customer’s experiences when shopping all contribute to the perception of the company and the brand.  The company had many small stores, which could not display all their stock, so customers did not realise the true extent of their product line.  Therefore they streamlined their product line by 25 percent and closed many of the smaller stores.  Increasing the size of the shop allowed them to display most of their products, especially from their large home furnishing range.  Laura Ashley had a large turnover of CEO and senior management, each with their own ideas and visions of where Laura Ashley should go and how they should position the brand, however in reality there was very little profitable repositioning.  Laura Ashley should have chosen different repositioning strategies, which may have led to a more successful brand.  In the next section of this essay I will explore a number of ways I feel this could have been done.

When people shop they don’t buy attributes that a product can give them but they ‘buy benefits associated with the attributes’.  Therefore a brand should convey a simple message, which communicates the products main benefits and position.  Positioning or repositioning begins with differentiating the product so it will give greater perceived value even if it is the same or even a worse product.  Laura Ashley needed to differentiate its brand.  It could do this by making their product metaphorically  ‘scream out’ we are consistent, durable, individual, we are not outdated and we are fashionable.

Laura Ashley had a very strong brand, however unfortunately only with a relative small area of the market.  Their core market, UK ladies fashion held only a 0.7 percent share of the market (1997).  Many of the other players in the market held over a one percent share and the big players the Burtons group, Marks and Spencer and the mail order companies held over ten percent each.  Ladies wear could be segmented into age and expenditure power, Laura Ashley was competing with Monsoon, M&S and Department Stores such as Kendal’s in the older and more affluent area of the market.  Both M&S and Monsoon previously presented a similar impression as Laura Ashley but successfully repositioned their brand by updating it. M&S presented a ‘smarter’ image’ while Monsoon was relevant to modern times.  They used very simple techniques but did not do so half-heartedly, unlike Laura Ashley appeared to do.  They changed everything, staff uniforms, labels, bag etc.  

In my opinion there were many missed opportunities, which Laura Ashley could have utilised to aid in the repositioning of their brand.  They could have branched into the ever-increasing lucrative markets of men’s wear and other age groups.  Investing in new technology such as e-commerce, Internet shopping and selling earlier, which could have attracted younger clients and repositioned the brand as modern and up-to-date all at the same time.  If they had liased with mail order companies and displayed some of their product lines in already popular shopping catalogues this would immediately give them an advantage and set them apart from many other companies.  Another area Laura Ashley could have focused stronger on was their home furnishings, I feel this would of proven profitable because since the mid to late 1990’s there has been a boom in the Home Improvement market.

Laura Ashley lost touch with its customers and became left behind in the fashion world.  How can you reposition and satisfy the needs and wants customers better than your competitor when you do not know what they are?  This is where market research comes into play. If Laura Ashley had carried out the correct research they could of adapted better and in the correct way to the changing trends.  The use of famous people to promote a brand is also an effective method of repositioning.  Johnny Vaughan has made Strongbow a ‘cool’ drink once again and un-doubtfully David Beckham has made Brylcreem more fashionable.  So the use of a celebrity, for example Joanna Lumley, who is considered to be stylish and trendy but still in keeping with the traditional English qualities, which I incidentally feel are important to Laura Ashley’s heritage, could have been just what they need to rid themselves of their undesirable stigma.  

As well as inferior brand placement Laura Ashley has made several other detrimental decisions, which caused the downfall of Laura Ashley; these include expanding into the USA without a real understanding of the US market.  They were far to vertically integrated, producing their own products until the late 1990’s when other retailers outsourced to cheaper countries and concentrated on the more profitable retail market.

Laura Ashley is still not out of trouble; in 2000 the company made losses although 2001 saw a turnaround the first half of 2002 once again showed loses.  For Laura Ashley to get out of this predicament they need to do some effective repositioning of their brand to shake off its chintzy image.

Bibliography

Kotler P., Armstrong G., Saunders J.        Principles of Marketing 3rd European Edition

and Wong V.        (2001)                Prentice Hall

Case Study from hand out         (1997)

Laura Ashley Interim Report 2002        25th September 2002

Laura Ashley Annual Report 2001

Laura Ashley web site        

Azhar, S. (2000)        “Turning around Laura Ashley”

        New Straits Times 3rd March 2000 Business Retail (cited 28/11/02).                

Teather, D. (1999)        “Banks push Laura Ashley to quit US”

        The Guardian Unlimited Archive 19th April 1999 (cited 28/11/02).

Vora, K. (1998)          “Lessons from Laura Ashley”

        The Daily Fool, 3rd March 1998, (cited 28/11/02).