Segmenting and Targeting Markets

A market is a set of people or organizations with needs or wants and the ability and willingness to buy. A niche is one segment of a market. When these terms are applied to Supreme, their main market is the skateboarding community. But this isn't the only niche they cater to. They also entice the likes of street artists, many musicians and those who just want to stay trendy in the fashion world. Take for example hip hop artist A$AP Rocky. He is not a skateboarder, which again is Supreme's main market. But he is in the market of Supreme seeing as how he dresses differently from other rappers today and likes to set trends. Since he as well as others live this certain lifestyle when it comes to fashion and clothing, this is considered psychographic segmentation or the segmenting of markets based on personality, motives, lifestyle, and geodemographics. But this is not the only way that Supreme is segmented. Supreme is also geographically segmented as well. Geographic segmentation is the segmenting of markets by region of a country or the world, market size, market density, or climate. As of now there are 9 different Supreme stores located in the world. 1 in SoHo, 1 in Los Angeles, 1 in London, 3 in different areas of Tokyo, 1 in Osaka, and 1 in Fukuoka. If you do not live in these areas near these stores the only way to get clothing from Supreme would be to go on the online website and have it shipped to you. These stores are also strategically placed in these areas. This comes from seeing that these areas are higher income areas. Based on this as well as Supreme's higher pricing, geographic segmentation was perfectly put into practice.

Developing and Managing Products

A new product is a product that is new to the world, the market, the producer, he seller, or some combination of these. In the case of Supreme they bring new products to their stores every week during the spring and winter seasons that they open their doors. A new-product strategy is a plan that links the new product development process with the objectives of the marketing development, the business unit, and the corporation. In this Supreme helps launch new products or new product lines for an already by promoting new or unreleased products through their site.

Services and Nonprofit Organization

When it comes to Supreme, it has always been a brand that produces quality product. For example after purchasing and wear clothing from Supreme the customer now has experience quality since they have been using said product. Whether a t-shirt or a camp cap

Product Concepts

A product is everything a person receives in an exchange whether favorable or unfavorable. In the case of Supreme, they are in the business of selling different products. They sell consumer products, shopping products and some specialty products. This means that customers buy these products because they want to satisfy personal wants, because some of the clothing is on the higher end in terms of pricing and is found in fewer stores, and customers will most likely not accept any substitutions. Every season Supreme releases limited amounts of clothing that customers line up for. One of the products released from the spring of 2014 was the Nike Foamposite Supreme collaboration. This was a specialty release in terms of being a particular item that customers search for. This is also considered a shopping product because it is was more on the expensive side considering the fact that most foamposite from nike retail at $200-$230. These retailed for $250. Alongside these sneakers, similar clothing was released to accompany it in the form of a jersey as well as shorts. These were also considered specialty and shopping products seeing that both these pieces of clothes were priced at over $100. These products all together can be considered a product line seeing as how they are similar in design and color. These products also contain the Supreme logo. This is what's known as the brand name as well as co-branding seeing as how the foamposite sneaker is made by Nike while the design comes from Supreme itself.

Personal Selling and Sales Management

Supreme is a brand that doesn't do out of store personal selling nor do they do relationship selling. Supreme takes more of the traditional selling route. When you walk into the Supreme store usually there is a door person ready to greet you. But after that usually the customer is on their own when it comes to looking for products. This works negatively in Supreme's favor because a majority of the time they are not making new connections with potential customers. The only time I have seen a form of relationship selling from the staff at Supreme is when customers who frequent the store regularly return looking for new products.

Advertising, Public Relations, and Sales Promotion

When it comes to advertising, Supreme isn't your average run-of the mill commercial running company. In fact Supreme doesn't even run commercials. Instead their advertising campaign consists of celebrity advertisers in various formats or media mixes. A media mix is a combination of of media to be used for a promotional campaign. One of Supreme's mediums of conveying their products is getting celebrities to advertise for them. As you can see from some of these posters, Supreme makes attempts to advertise to current customers as well as trying to catch the eyes of possible customers by using the likenesses of model Kate Moss. This likeness as well as others show someones favorite model or artist wearing and endorsing this brand. This would lead some to think that if their favorite celebrities wear this brand, they and or should could wear it as well. Another part of Supreme's media mix is the fact that sometimes these celebrity endorsements are the free. What is meant by this is that numerous artists, models, and athletes (skaters mainly) are photographed wearing Supreme logos in their outfits. For example, artists like Tyler, The Creator and Kanye West have been photographed wearing Supreme clothing. On the left is Tyler, the Creator accepted an award while wearing a Supreme box logo hat. On the right Kanye West was photographed in a green tree camp field pullover jacket while walking through the streets of Paris. These 2 pictures are just some examples of pictures seen by numerous people all over the world. This creates a word of mouth advertising campaign of sorts leading people who want to either follow the trends set by their favorite artist or to want to check out what other unique and rare items that Supreme would have to offer them.

Retailing

During a recent trip to the Supreme store I came across a couple of things.

Consumer Decision Making

What is so attracting or eye catching about Supreme and their products you might ask? Well one of the biggest reasons is that Supreme frequently collaborates with various artists, musicians, photographers as well as other brands like Levi's, Timberland, Nike, Comme des Garcon, etc. Depending on the seasons, Supreme will collaborate with certain brands. For example for the Fall/Winter seasons Supreme will collaborate with brands such as The North Face for jackets and coats or Timberland for boots. In the Spring/Summer seasons they will usually collaborate with brands like Comme des Garcon for sneakers and t shirts. For many a brand teaming up with another brand or a brand coming up with a centered theme would be normal. Even for the avid Supreme consumer this is something that is seen all the time. But for those that haven't ever heard of or do not shop at Supreme, these collaborations with various other brands and artists can open them up to becoming a consumer of Supreme. This of course leads to new potential clientele. These frequent collaborations are what keeps consumers coming back to continually purchase products. In turn customer satisfaction is met as well as the consumer decision making process.

Developing a Global Vision

Even though Supreme only has a brief 20 year history, they have expanded to an international brand. They have done so through global marketing and through their own global vision for the Supreme brand. Global marketing is marketing that targets markets throughout the world. Global vision is recognizing and reacting to international marketing opportunities, using effective global marketing strategies, and being aware of threats from foreign competitors in all markets. So far they have expanded from smaller markets in the U.S. to opening 7 other locations respectively in London and as well regions all over Japan. Through their global vision, Supreme saw an opportunity to push their brand beyond domestic boarders. Supreme's largest retailer to date so far is the shop in Los Angeles. It has 2 floors, a skate bowl, and a wall of skateboard decks at the front of the entrance. As for quality, Supreme supplies each and every one of its retail locations with quality clothing making sure to stay consistent. This is global marketing standardization at work. This is also exporting at work seeing that Supreme produces products in the U.S. and sends them overseas.

The Marketing Environment

Originally Supreme opened there doors to New Yorkers in 1994 in downtown SoHo. Since then they have opened 7 other locations around the globe. A store was opened in 2004 in Los Angeles, California. Other locations include London, 3 different stores in Tokyo (Harajuku, Shibuya, and Daikanyama), a location in Nagoya, a location in Osaka and a location in Fukuoka. Due to the new aged look and Supreme using the highest quality material possible for all clothing, Supreme has established itself as one of the better fashion outlets not only among the skate community but also throughout the fashion world. However, even though Supreme has a new aged look that is more popular amongst the younger audience, they also keep there products simple looking when it comes to the design and production of these products. This can not only be said about the products that Supreme offers, but this can also apply to the stores showroom.

From the photos shown, you can see the showroom of the New York City Supreme store. These pictures show the simplistic but new aged style that Supreme has as well as how their clothing affects the way the store presents itself and vice versa.

Because of this simplistic but new aged look, Supreme's target market is mostly a younger crowd from the ages of 14-25 or 26. They also target both male and female customers. These customers are known as generation Y.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

Along with an ever expanding fan base and great products, Supreme has numerous values that stem from their code and values. Supreme prides itself on manufacturing its products from the best materials from cotton on their t shirts to even alligator skin on some hats and other accessoires. They are also committed to selling products that are made in the U.S.

Strategic Planing for a Competitive Advantage

Supreme's strategic plan is and has been to establish itself as a brand known for its quality, style, and authenticity. They have done so by working with some of this generation's most groundbreaking designers, artists, photographers and musicians to produce the best quality product they could produce.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths: Some of the strengths of Supreme is that they have prime location in the downtown SoHo. With SoHo being the epicenter of shopping and fashion in New York City, it is perfectly placed within the downtown area. Another strength is that Supreme has celebrity endorsements from the frequent amount of collaborations they do with musicians, artists, photographers and designers, giving Supreme free advertising to those who haven't heard of or bought Supreme clothing before.

Weaknesses: One of the weaknesses Supreme has that I've come across is the high price point of some of the items. Another weakness would be that they release new clothing on Thursdays. On those days there is usually a huge amount of people trying to get into the store which leaves employees with no choice but to let only 5-6 people in at a time. This causes some to leave or not even go try to go into the store due to the long backed up lines.

Opportunities: Even though they already have nine store locations (one in New York, one in Los Angeles, one in London, and five locations in Japan) they could use a couple more locations. Preferably mall locations to make their clothing more accessible to the regular people who cannot find a store. Another opportunity I see for Supreme is that they could use an advertising campaign to gain new followers along side being able to sell itself.

Threats: One major threat that I have noticed is small amounts of inventory on certain products. Another threat as I mentioned before is that certain items they carry have high price points. This could turn first time buyers off of the product or even the brand as a whole. One final threat that I noticed was the production of unauthentic or fake clothing that is passed off as authentic Supreme clothing.

Mission Statement

Supreme targets mainly skaters. But the brand is not limited just to skaters. They also target the young, trendy and fashionable.

A Breif History of Supreme

In April 1994, Supreme opened its doors on Lafayette Street in downtown Manhattan and became the home of New York City skate culture. At its core was the gang of rebellious young New York skaters and artists who became the store's staff, crew and customers.

Supreme grew to be the embodiment of the downtown culture, playing an integral part in its constant regeneration. Skaters, punks, hip-hop heads – the young counter culture at large – all gravitated towards Supreme.

While it grew into a downtown institution, Supreme established itself as a brand known for its quality, style and authenticity.

Over its twenty year history, Supreme has worked with some of our generation’s most groundbreaking designers, artists, photographers and musicians – all who have helped continue to define its unique identity and attitude.