Ch. 12-Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Givenchy's products are finely and carefully crafted with great attention to detail while using the highest quality materials. These are found is every single one of their products. Although they don't let you see how the items are produced, customers can only believe that the maison will live up to their name. Why do people spend outrageous amount of cash on a item from Givenchy when they can probably find something way cheaper in H&M? Well that is like comparing a BMW to a Jeep. The customer ultimately knows the quality before the purchase. 

Why do high end brands strive for so long? They feed off of peoples insecurities; fashion itself feeds off insecurities. Some people that buy Givenchy products love the items and are amazed by the quality. However they just can't have enough, they will buy another one. Could it be the quality? Maybe it can. Since most sales for Givenchy are made online and the consumer get their knowledge off the description, communication with service workers become less. Which means that the products overweigh services. Even though services have greater heterogeneity over products, which Givenchy understands. They make up for that part by often exceeding customer expectations and offering the best possible customer experience. Givenchy's customers expect the highest quality work delivered in a timely manner, which is what Cartier does. 

One thing that all fashion brand have to face is the end of each season. During the end they must place all their clothing on huge sales. This is done to get rid of the items and minimize losses. Some stores may have 40% off or even 80% off. Can you imagine Givenchy products going on 80% off? I cannot, well I don't have to because they don't. Products only go on sale for Givenchy is when the product is being sold through a different retailer than Givenchy itself. So what do Givenchy do with the left over clothing in their main stores? They collect items in all available sizes in a big warehouse and let the employees buy them at a very low price, even at cost! These items are often kept for a very long time until they decide to effectively destroy them. While it may seem like a crazy move, it's actually a well thought business decision. Every Luxury brand items are considered luxury for their scarcity. By destroying the remaining, you control the demand and your goods won't flood the market and end up in places that will affect the brand. 

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Ch. 11- Developing and Managing Products

The brand Givenchy has become today can only be described in one word, which is unique or avant garde in French. If Givenchy didn't have anything special, why would people buy their items at such an outrageous price? I agree price tags on luxurious item are unjustified by just the material. Givenchy can do that because the now how to manage their products. They know that their customers will buy it due to the hype and demand for such trendy items. Fashion brand feed off of these trends created by the people. This means that a lot of brands will try to produce items that the customers want. Creating a huge competition for Givenchy. So what does the Givenchy brand do? They experiment with fashion, they try to create items that will set a trend. The marketing team for Givenchy often get celebrities to promote new styles and whatnot. With such a huge loyal customer base, they are safe to experiment on new items and try for flashier styles, or even basic styles. And with prices placed so high, customers often like to flaunt want they purchase on social media. This allows Givenchy to see whenever or not the item that they produce can continue to sell.

Kobe Bryant in a Givenchy tee and blazer

Show off???? (The Bag)

Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

With Givenchy's philosophy being elegance with simplicity, the brand was definitely geared towards professional, elegant women back in the 1960s. However, now with a larger line of more formal attire and hefty prices, it can be seen that the brand is geared towards the middle class. Consumers range from the late 20's-30's since they are the ones with the money to spend on the products. However, Givenchy has recently tried to become more popular with the younger generation. By experimenting with unique pieces, graphic prints, and using celebrities to be the face of Givenchy. The brand has definitely widened their demographic. Now this is just the people they sell to. To put them on the larger scale of world wide, they do a very good job of targeting the consumers. You may think that items sold in Asia will be more Asian cultured, and items sold in Africa is more African cultured. That is untrue, because Givenchy is a brand know for their pieces. And no matter where the items are sold, the item will always be the same that is sold everywhere. Givenchy is Givenchy because of the consumers. They know that the item they are getting isn't the same as the ones they get from Walmart or H&M. By having customers like this, Givenchy can always experiment with unique designs. But of course the maison wouldn't do anything to make their pieces unreasonable. The consumers that buy Givenchy most likely have the mindset of "You pay for what you get" and if Givenchy's quality doesn't match with the price, they will lose a large group of people.

Example of younger audience

Ch. 15- Marketing Communications

Givenchy is a brand establish upon the idea of high luxury, elegance, precision and extravagance. Being that most of their customer has already known or heard of their amazing quality, feedback is unnecessary. Their way of sending the message that their products are only the best quality is by their unique advertisements. Givenchy's advertisement only appear in high end fashion magazines as well as websites. Some customer may not know of Givenchy's superb quality through these avant-garde ads. As to how the retailers communicate with the customer is pretty straight forward. Since Givenchy is a high end brand, it is only right that all of their clothing being put out are sold in luxurious stores. If you have ever been to Bergdorf Goodman or even Mr.Porters in NYC, you will see that their customer service is in par with the items they sell, elegant and finesse. This goes for a lot of the stores that carry high end clothing. Their workers are expected to communicate well with the customers.

Givenchy F/W 2015 Ad

Chapter 10: Product Concepts

Givenchy is one of the worlds leading high end fashion brand. Loyal customers are always willing to drop a lot of cash in order to get the product. Givenchy’s target audience is mostly younger customers who seek the most pioneering fashion design. Although Givenchy products aren't limited, they are special. The special part about them is the quality they put into their items. Their authentic items can never be replicated due to the details and patchwork. One thing that gray market producers have trouble making is the logo "GIVENCHY" on the tag of all products. Which is just one of many way to differentiated fake and real. Clothing is just one of the many things that Givenchy produce. They range from cosmetics, perfumes, and many different accessories. These things are often packaged into a glossy box emblem-ed with the Givenchy logo, different from the logo on the tags of clothing.

Top is AUTHENTIC, bottom is FAKE

The infamous logo

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Givenchy was not always as famous as it was today. The founder Hubert de Givenchy had to work with Cristobal Balenciaga, the founder of the luxurious brand Balenciaga. Together they presented their collection in New York during a charity gala. In those days, the selling process mattered more than the product itself, but with all the changes and innovations, things have changed.But those days are long gone when consumers had to visit these shows to purchase a piece. Personal selling and sales management are crucial to a companies success but in the luxury market things operate a little differently. Givenchy is a luxury apparel brand, so their approach to sales and sales management will be a bit modified to fit their particular target consumer. 

As far as the sales management go, luxury brands like Givenchy usually depend on media publications to make allow their consumers to do their own research before even making a final decision. So as a result consumers value things more than they value service, making management a lot easier. The people want nice things more than they want nice service. Luxury products, like other products are part of the media many consumers consume, which is where people learn about and decide what they want to buy. That is why many luxury brands are working with the internet’s best retailers.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Givenchy is a company known not only for their amazing quality in fabrics, but also a unique avant garde style. Which translate to new and unusual experimental ideas. This is applied to their clothing as well as their fashion shows. To promote their sales they do the most extraordinary things. For their Fall/Winter 2014 collection, Riccardo Tisci used a full basketball court as a runway to present his collection. The collections theme was sportswear but not only that, some of the pieces were made from high quality basketball skins. Givenchy implements a mix of advertising strategies to boost their company image. Their ads can be found in fashion blogs or any fashion related news topic. Their unique sales lies in the fact that many famous celebrity wear their clothing. Some like Beyonce and Jay Z would get their pieces custom made to fit the occasion.

Givenchy F/W 2014 Basketball Themed Showcase

Beyonce and Jay Z in Givenchy

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Givenchy is a high end maison that prides itself on being the ultra-luxurious high end fashion company. Which means that their item can only bought through authorized Givenchy dealers, boutiques, their main website, and sometimes popup shops. They currently have 37 authorized Givenchy stores worldwide, most of them being in China. This type of retailing makes them a direct channel, where as the producer "Givenchy" directly sells to the consumer. However, as of today the Haute couture has expanded into a retailer channel. Who is their middleman? Well the biggest one so far is Barney's. Barney's not only carry Givenchy, they are known for the department store that carries countless other high end clothing. Other retailers for Givenchy can be found through many websites that carry high end clothing. Few big ones being Ssenses, Saks 5th Ave, and Bergdorf Goodman. Just don't expect these retailers to carry EVERYTHING that Givenchy produces.

Givenchy flagship store in Paris

Givenchy flagship store in CheongDam Korea

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Givenchy's concept is to produce fashion, lead fashion, and explain fashion. They have made thousands of creative clothes for its specific target market, people who seek the most avant-garde fashion design. Givenchy designs today apparently considers more of the younger audiences taste. Large graphic prints like the rottweiler was a huge money cow for them. With the rottweiler design, they set out to design more patterns. Designs include birds of paradise, religous pattern and even more rottweilers. The brand just keep on its track to please the customers who want the most fashionable clothing. What other way is there is lead fashion than pleasing the younger customers? It is hard to believe but the younger generation promote the trends. If one person wear something that catches another persons eye a chain starts. Givenchy needs the younger audience to to promote its brand and new creative products.

A$AP Rocky in the Birds of Paradise tee

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Givenchy the great maison of haute couture history isn't just what they claim they are; luxury goods and jewelry. They are way more than that. Starting from 1969, Hubert de Givenchy launched his fashion line for men "Gentleman Givenchy". Things began to snowball from there. Givenchy was known for many things in the 1960s including shoes, jewelry, ties, tableware, upholstery and kimonos. Product designs were a work of art. They were so successful at one point Hubert de Givenchy became passionate about interior design that he was the one to design the interiors of the Hilton Hotels around the world. In addition to that in 1977 they worked with Lincoln to produce a Luxurous car, the Lincoln Continental Mark V, which of course sold out instantly. In 1988 the house of Givenchy then joined LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton), which also owns the fashion houses of Dior, Lacroix and Kenzo.

The Lincoln Continental Mark V

As of today the fashion house is still rapidly growing. The CEO of Givenchy, Sebastian Suhl has spoken about the brand's constant development since the beginning of LVMH. He stated that to continue this rapid growth LVHM and himself are planning to open 26 new boutiques. This can happen because Givenchy post 2013 revenue at almost $234 million, market sources predicts that it will be reaching half a billion within the next few years. And of course Suhl gave most of the credit to the creative designer, Riccardo Tisci, as it is he who made the products very much desired.

Sebastian Suhl

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Fashion is in constantly changing, it is never just one thing. Creativity, motivation and innovation is the drive of fashion, hence why things become trendy. What is trending at on moment, may not tomorrow. That is just the world of fashion; you will never be bored.


In 1952 Hubert de Givenchy started his own couture house, la Maison Givenchy, also launching his debut collections of floor skirts and beautiful blouses. Two years later, Givenchy became the first couturier to present a luxury ready-to-wear line. Being first means a lot of things, in this case it means that Givenchy's product get to target a certain group of people first, the very rich. At the time Hubert de Givenchy only focused on women clothing lines, which was a huge success. Givenchy then introduced the first male line is the seventies, and since then the Givenchy brand has been targeting the male audience with their men's collection.

As of the past few years Givenchy has tried to make their products more affordable to another set of group, the young adults. To do so, they have created the Givenchy app, two different apps, one for men and one for women. This allows young adults that are always on social media to always stay in touch with what Givenchy has to offer.

Link:

The Givenchy App Details

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Ch. 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

$265 for a tee shirt.... now who in the right mind would purchase that, am I right? Well I did and so did hundreds of other people. The 2011 Givenchy Rottweiler print is very iconic to a point where the sweater retailed for $960. The fashion mogul Riccardo Tisci must be doing something right for such an item to be sold out worldwide.

Info on price w/ pictures of product  


If you are calling the hundreds of people and myself crazy and materialistic, then by all means do let me explain. The way Givenchy live up to is ethical standards is no other than great quality. Almost all T-shirts are made primarily of cotton, sometimes blended with polyester. However Givenchy use a fancier cotton blend and may also incorporate silk, for a more luxurious feel. Also people might stretch and wash the shirts several times to achieve a softer feel. Yes the items are really expensive but you are ultimately paying for the quality of the material and the print. If it is the name that people are purchasing for then that is marketing done right. If the people that but the stuff because celebrities wore it, then their marketing strategy for that specific target group was done right. All in all the rottweiler print have lived up to its standard by simply appearing in almost every season after 2011. Same dog different print, style and silhouette. 

Chapter 2 : Strategic Planning for a Competetive Advantage

      Hubert de Givenchy, the luxury brands' founding father, was the trendsetter of his time. 

Thanks to the underlying ideology that says, "Innovation is key to our success." and "the customer is boss", the company has survived and will continue to thrive. 

      Givenchy offers a wide variation of marketing strategies, by targeting different consumer groups and using advertisement. The advertisement the implement isn't as basic like the ones you see on subways and streets. When was the last time you seen a Givenchy public advertisement, let alone ever in this decade. They happen to be in magazines or from 3rd party sites that carry their collections. One advertisement strategy Givenchy and other Haute Couture do that is very profitable is sponsoring celebrities. Through this strategy alone has let a SINGLE design to thrive. The infamous rottweiler print, debuted on Givenchy's Fall 2011 men's runway, it has been worn to death by everyone from Kanye West to Liv Tyler to various street style stars. " I got the idea from a "boy scout book." We're not sure exactly what that is--a handbook perhaps? But, it is a surprisingly innocent point of reference for such an aggressive-seeming graphic. "It's not a violent picture, for me, it's a sweet dog. It represents power and sweetness." - Givenchy Creative Director Riccardo Tisci.

Chapter 1: Company History and Mission Statement

      
General Description
       Givenchy is a luxury French brand of haute couture clothing, accessories, Parfum, perfumes and cosmetics.

  

Company History     

       The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter. It is owned by luxury group LVMH and in 1993 achieved a total sales worth of $176 million, making it the second largest apparel division of LVMH after Dior.

Hubert de Givenchy

Mission Statement

       Riccardo Tisci was named Creative Director for Givenchy Women's haute couture and ready-to-wear lines. In May 2008 he was additionally named as menswear and accessories designer of the Givenchy men's division. Throughout the decade his work revitalized the Givenchy brand and infusing it with his precision and imagination for Gothic touches. 

Riccardo Tisci (Left), Kanye West (Right)