Introduction:

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) is one of the world's largest brand-name apparel marketers with sales in more than 110 countries. There is no other company with a comparable global presence in the jeans and casual pants markets. Today, the Levi's trademark is one of the most recognized in the world and is registered in more than 160 countries. The company is privately held by descendants of the family of Levi Strauss. Shares of company stock are not publicly traded.

The company employs a staff of approximately 15,000 people worldwide, including approximately 1,000 people at its San Francisco, California headquarters. Levi Strauss & Co currently makes jeans in approximately 108 sizes and 20 finish fabrics. With 2014 net sales of $4.75 billion, the company is committed to building upon strong heritage and brand equity as they position the company for future growth. There are more than 60000 retail store worldwide which includes 2800 franchised store and also 530 company-operated stores around the world. The company is privately owned by the family of Levi Strauss.

Brands:

The products of Levi Strauss & Co are sold under four brands:

Levi's:

Since their invention in 1873, Levi's jeans have become one of the most successful and widely recognized brands in the history of the apparel industry. Levi's range included

1. Tops, sweaters, jackets, and outerwear2. Kids wear3. Footwear and hosiery4. Loungewear and sleepwear5. Belts, bags and wallets6. Eyewear7. Luggage and home bedding products

Dockers:

Dockers brand, which pioneered the movement toward business casual, has led the U.S. khaki category since the brand's 1986 launch, and is now available in numerous countries. Dockers were mainly design to target men's and women's of age group 25 to 39. And with the laps of time he has introduced the several ranges followed as

A. Dockers PremiumB. Dockers RecodeC. Extract Dockers

Levi Strauss Signature:

In 2003 the launch of the Levi Strauss Signature brand, giving value consumers high-quality and fashionable clothing from a company on which the consumers trust. Levi Strauss signature became very popular among middle class people.Levi Strauss signature included a wide range of jeans wear.

DENIZEN

In the summer of 2011, the DENIZEN brand launched, providing great-fitting, great-looking, well-made jeans exclusively to target shoppers in online stores. With premium fabrics and finishes and a variety of fits for the entire family, the DENIZEN brand offers the quality craftsmanship and authentic style. DENIZEN jeans are the perfect fit for todays active families, offering the perfect balance of style and value.

Organization Background

Background (Time line) 1853: Start selling dry goods. 1873: Get patented and began selling them. 1912: Design the denim playsuit for children. 1935: Sold first blue jeans for women. 1940s: government Issue a denim clothing of workers in defense industry. 1974: company had enormous growth of $1 billion. 1986: Dockers brand was launched 2003: signature brand was launched

Market Environment

Themarket environmentrefers to factors and forces that affect a firm's ability to build and maintain successful relationships with customers. It is divided into 2 parts:

1. Micro environment2. Macro environment

Micro environmentThe company microenvironment has distinguished to six different environments, which is:

1. The internal environment of Levi's company included the company management, finance, R&D, purchasing, operating, accounting. The company executive of Levi's has total 131 executives in the United State. The main executives are Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President and President of North America Region, Senior Vice President and President of European Division, and Senior Vice President and President of Levi Strauss Asia Pacific.

2. Supplier is the company that provide the resources to produce goods and services. A new information management system is currently being installed to Levi's suppliers which, when fully operational, will enable the company to collect and track data from their suppliers, as well as optimize the data collection efforts. This system will provide a more complete picture of Levi's supply chain's climate change impact and identify opportunities for policy change.

3. Marketing intermediaries included reseller, marketing services agencies. Resellers are the distribution channel firms that help the company to find customers or make sales to them, which included wholesalers and retailer.

4. Levi's company has their outlet in more than 110 countries in the worldwide, and customer may browse for and purchase Levi's products online from their authorized retail partners.

5. Being is one of the worlds largest brand-name apparel marketers; Levis have the following competitors- Calvin Klein, Lee, Wrangler, and GAP.The competitor of Levi's company, such as Calvin Klein has successfully taken the market from Levi's due to heavy advertising and branding. Some of the marketing strategies that competitors used to differentiate their product and brand included up-to-date European product designs, such as low--rise, tighter and advertise jeans as "designer. Although Levi's jeans may be physically the same as its competitor, consumer preferences are affected by brand name.

6. The public is any group that has an actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization ability to achieve its objective, it included financial publics, media publics, government publics, citizen-action publics, local publics, general publics and internal publics. Financial publics influence the company's ability to obtain funds. Media publics carry news, features and editorial opinion. Government publics influence product safety sand truth in advertising. Citizen-action publics include consumer organizations, environment groups, and minority groups. Local publics include neighborhood residents and community organization. General publics influence the company's public image. Internal publics include workers, managers, volunteers, and director.

Marco Environment

Within the rapidly changing global picture, the marketers of Levi's are monitoring the following six environment forces:

Demographic Environment

Demographic environment is important to company because is the study of human population in the term of sizes, density, location, age, gender and so on. There are some Demographic trends such as age, family structure, geographic population shift, educational characteristics and population diversity. There are three changing age structure of the population which are baby boomers, generation x and generation y.

a. Baby boomers are people who are born between 1946 and 1964.This generation will enter peak earning years as they mature. They play important role in buying the Levi jeans. However, the baby boomers were looking for different but they still wanted clothing that was comfortable and made from natural, which Levis jean is made from 100% organic cotton.

b. Generation x includes people born between 1965 and 1976.Levi Strauss has made a concerted effort to redefine its image and regain lost market share. The company discontinued its sixty-seven-year relationship with advertising agency Foote, Cone and Belding to create new advertising campaigns targeted at Generation X.

c. Generation y includes people born between 1977 and 2000 .This generation is internet generation. As Generation Y choices have been driven by faddishness and rebellion. It is hard for Levi attracts the generation y to buy its jean .Having grown up in an even more media-saturated, brand-conscious world than their parents, they respond to advertising differently, and they prefer to encounter those advertising in different places. The marketers that capture Generation Y's attention do so by bringing their messages to the places these kids congregate, whether it's the Internet, a snowboarding tournament, or cable TV.

Economic Environment

Economic environment consists of factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending pattern both across and within the world, markets. Changing economic condition can have a big impact on even the most successful companies like Levi. In this recently economic downturn, many companies especially Levi sale has affected. People start to saving rather than spending on the Levi jeans. A change in consumer spending pattern has affected the customer buying behavior according to Ernst-Engel's law. When income rises, the percentage spent on food will decline as well as reduce spending on Levi products.

Political and Social Environment

Marketing decision are strongly affected by the developments in the political environment .This political environment consists of laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence various organization as well as individual in a given society. In order to Protect Levi trademarks from unfair competition and other factors in Philippines, Levi and co. has identified three specific priorities with respect to protect Levi trademarks which are

a. Equal enforcement for all industriesb. Improvement in the efficiency of the courtsc. Prevention of copycat registrations of globally famous trademarks.

More than two decades ago, Levi was among the first companies to raise awareness about HIV AIDS. Thus, Levi has successfully to attract new customer because of the program. Not only that ,Levi has been working for the past two years with other apparel brands, as well as non-governmental organizations, to stop the practice of using child labor in harvesting cotton in Uzbekistan.

The Cultural Environment

The customer who believe that after wearing Levi jeans would make them that looks more mature and as a symbol of their break with the taste and traditions of their parent's will encourage them to buy more of Levi brands.

People varies in their attitude toward the natural world-some feel ruled by it, others feel in harmony with it, and other seeks to master it. Customers who love natural and will be going to buy or seek for the Levi jean although they feel Levi jean is out of date compare to competitors. Levi has announced it will include jeans made with 100% organic cotton. For customer who love natural will eventually seek out everything from natural, organic and so on.

Natural Environment

Levi is aware of several trends in the natural environment such as growing shortages of raw materials, increased pollution, and increased government invention in natural resources management. Turning to the lack of resources and to improve the environment, Levi Company is aware that cotton farming requires significant amounts of water and pesticide so Levi has made announced it will include jeans made with 100% organic cotton. That has led Levi to produce apparel made from recycled soda pop and blended organic cotton. Not only that, Levi's recent marketing campaign asked consumers to trade in their old jeans, which could then be recycled by Levi for its own commercial use .All external packaging will be made from organic fabric or recycled paper and printed with soy-based ink. By doing so it will help the overcome the storages of raw material as well as decrease the pollution. Technology Environment

The technology environment is the most dramatic force now shaping Levi destiny. Levi has created a powerful project management tool that helped establish significant visibility and profitability across the global IT organization. Levi makes use of the electronic data interchange system to order and monitor stock levels with their customers such as major department stores in order to avoid costly stock out but in less developed country.

Marketing Strategy

Levi Strauss & Co. is an international clothing company which studies what people wants and needs and therefore selling and promoting their products in a very competitive textile sector, especially in jeans market. Their marketing strategy has played a very significant role in the success of their products and hence making it a very successful company. They have been a world leader in the jeans apparel market for many years but they have also faced a continuous increase in competition along the way. They have suffered a bit due to a lack of adaptation to customers' needs. In this assignment I will be analyzing the marketing strategies followed by the Levi's. Different variables have been selected for an alternative marketing mix. Through marketing research the company should vary depending on the country or product that the company is addressing.

Its worldwide known that Levis is really a successful company producing, reading people needs, selling, distribution and its product promotion in a really competitive textile market, especially in the market of jeans, for many years. Levi Strauss & Co is an international company

Marketing strategy is a functional level strategy which consists ofCreating value for target Customers (Segmentation, Targeting, Differentiation, Positioning)Marketing mix. (Product, Price, Place, Promotion)

Segmentation

The process of dividing or disintegrate the market into a number of sub-markets or segment is known as Market Segmentation. For example: market segmentation is the division of markets into similar group of customer, every one reacting differently to communication, promotion pricing and other variable of the marketing mix.

Geographical Segmentation:

Geographical location is the major factor in segmentation of Levis market, as the customer are residing in different areas.

Region and Size:

Levis is selling different clothing as per continent, country. For e.g. European, African, Asian etc. have segmentation according to the culture. In Europe the denim jeans are the most preferable clothing for women's as compare to Asian. Availability of the store is depending upon the size of the area. As we see that London have more outlets as compared to counties.

Population Density:Levis stores are most common in the urban sector as compared to the rural sector.

Demographic Segmentation:

Age: Levis segmented its product according to different age groupLevis created brands for women's, men's. And it also has variety for children's. Because of this the sales increased dramatically during recent years.Income: Income is major factor for segmentation.Company have segments as per income group like the Levi's original is the premium brand of the company and have expensive clothing range which is preferable for high income group and brand conscious. And it has Levi's signature brand which is attracts and affordable to middle class income group.Psychographic Segmentation: This segmentation groups customer according to their life style and buying Psychology. Levis offers product according to attitude, beliefs and emotion of target market. The desire of status, enhance appearance and more money are example of psychographic segmentation.Behavioral segmentation: Levis had segmented market on basis of buyer behavior. As different customer group expect different benefits from the same product and therefore it directly reflect to the behavior of buying. For e.g. there are 2 types of buyer the regular and occasional buyer. Levis had segment the market by keeping in mind the buyers need.

Market Target

It is the process of pulling market as a whole and separating into manageable, disparate units based upon demographics. Target market is a business term means particular goods are marketed through market segmentation. Target marketing is a key of success for small business. Till 1960 the target of Levis was middle age group people but with the laps of time it has changed his marketing target, now Levis is promoting women's and children as well.

Levis Market Target Strategies:

Single segment strategy- It is a concentrated strategy .Till 1960 Levis was having this strategy i.e. it was targeting middle age group people.Selective specialization: It is a multiple segment strategy knows as differentiated strategy. For example Levis is now selling goods for all age group people in women, men etc.Product specialization: It is important one must have specialization in one of his product. As Levis have specialization in blue jeans. Full market coverage: In this firm attempt to serve entire market. Now it is seen that Levis has summer and winter casuals. Also it has launched shoes and undergarments as well.Therefore it is visualized as Levis capturing whole market.

Differentiation

To fight against low cost rivals, company adopt following strategy:1. Differentiation in terms of: Quality Design2. Dual strategy: The company has launched one of its low price product Levis Signature which range FromRs.799Rs.1599.whichhelps the company to cope up with low cost rivals

3. Know your customers: The cost leaders today generally miss out on one important aspect. They typically concentrate on delivering a product of competitive quality at the lowest cost and pass on part of the savings to customers. They are so obsessed with costs and pricing that rarely do they dissect the customer value proposition.Levis continuously make efforts to keep a track on his customers need and demand and their expectations by taking their feedback.

4. Supplier and partner relationships drive low cost strategy: A common theme across the companies that base their strategy around low cost leadership is supplier relationships. In other words they have sufficient control over in-bound supplies and logistics. Levishave no of suppliers for supply of their material hence it facilitates on time delivery of material and cost effectiveness.

5. EMI Schemes: Levis being a top most brand in apparel industry started selling its Apparel on EMI basis so that the middle class people who wish to wear brand like Levis can afford to buy it easily.

6. Targeting Low segment: Levis has opened a low range brand called Levis Signature for the middle income people so that people can buy brand like Levis at a low rate. It offers high satisfaction to the various people and delivers Value for Money to them.

7. Annual Season Sales: Levis also conduct Sales Twice a year-Once after the summer season and another after the Winter Season to offer a great deal of discount on various apparels and other stuff.

PositioningThe position of Levis is like branded product so its customer can forgive its brand and hence had made a brand image in the mind of its customer because the customer can trust the company as Levis is first jeans maker so there should not be any doubt about its product. The main aim of the company is to make the position of the product trust worthy in the eye of the consumer.

Marketing Mix

Market mix is putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. Strategy of Levi's in relation to marketing mix which consists of product, price, place and Promotion is briefly described as below.

ProductThe company design and markets jeans and jeans-related pants, dress pants and casual, jackets, and shirts related accessories for men, women and children under Levi's(R), Dockers(R) and Levi Strauss signature(R) brand.

Brand name: Levi Strauss as it is one the most popular and well known apparels makers of jeans, so it has a valuable brand name in the market and its product are been recognized as original, authentic, definitive and real.

Styling: Style & image are what characterize celebrities, actors, TV shows, music videos, advertising, businesses, shops and people. Levi's products aim at doing at the same with knowledge, expertise and experience of emerging trends fashion & looks. Levi's products basically aim at selected customers by targeting them with proper aim. Levi's styling had made a niche in style market with proper Fashion Styling & Image Design and market updating. Its style and casual market is today among the world's best casual market in the world.

Quality: As being a branded company in clothing market Levi Strauss is very much conscious about its quality of product. Because it's the quality which makes the product trust worthy to the customer.

Safety: It is a very important aspect in product because safety is really important as Levi's is very much conscious in safety it uses the best quality jeans material which don't harm to its consumer and preferable to the body of consumer.

Repair and support: It is a service which is given by the company for satisfying its customer in relation to the main product. It is really important because at once customer cannot fully satisfied with the product so it is a support for the customer if any wear or tear is there in the original product, for example: size, length, etc. They might be change or repair. So with this service customer can buy the product without any hesitation in their mind if they have any problem related with product after buying it that can be easily solved by repairing and changing the product. In this competitive market where customer is king this strategy is must for each and every company.

Warranty: This is also one of the important factors in relation to the product for the customer because customer needs warranty in each and every step one cannot judge the product at once therefore customer needs the surety for a time period about its basic function so that they can trust the company about product service and quality because if one company don't gives warranty than the consumer fell's about the quality of the product that its quality is inferior that's only it won't give the warranty.

Price: It is an important in marketing mix it shows the value of the product and it is consider as an important aspect for the customer because customer wants full value of its money which he is spending to buy the product the following are some factors which are to be consider in tacking pricing decision of product are as follow:

Pricing strategy (skim, penetration, etc.):Levis as it is the branded company in jeans field and have a brand image in its field the customer can forgive the company even though the price is not worthy for the product because customer buys its product by watching the name of the company as it is very trust worthy for the consumer

Retail price: the company's retail price is an important factor because it is the price which is to be paid by the customer so it effect the thinking about the product as they are in direct touch of the customer not the company

Price flexibility: As Levis is an branded jeans apparel company there is no flexibility in the price because it have a brand image in its consumers mind therefore Levis have fix price of their product.

Price discrimination: Levis price varies from country to country because every country have different social and political influence on the market so the company have to fix the price of the product depending on the factors mention above there for its price discriminate.

PlaceDistribution is about getting the products to the customer. Some examples of distribution decisions include:

Distribution channels: The distribution channel of the company is consist of factory where the product is made than it goes to the company suppliers who distribute to the whole seller and then it goes to the retail shopkeeper than it goes to the consumer

Market coverage (inclusive, selective, or exclusive distribution): the company covers a wide or exclusive market because its one of the well-known company in jeans apparels so it covers a huge market

Specific channel members: The Company gives up the franchise to the people who needs it and then they become the member of the channel and this is how the company becomes famous and this is how the channel goes further

Warehousing: the company uses its warehouse for keeping the stock of its goods because clothes are not made to order so there is need of stock for supply and for keeping that stock it needs warehouse and as its world wide spread company it needs its warehouse in each country where the products are available

Distribution centers': the behavior of consumer attitude towards retail store have changed dramatically in recent years, in order to increase the channel of sale to vendor, by watching this behavior the manager of Levi's Strauss as per need upgraded the distribution centers

Order processing: In this competitive market the order process should be very much fast and should be forecasted as for which thing the shortage is going to happen that's why the order process should be fast and the at the same time delivery.

Promotion In the context of the marketing mix, promotion represents the various aspects of marketing communication, that is, the communication of information about the product with the goal of generating a positive customer response. Marketing communication decisions include:

Advertising: Levis Strauss advertise its product by many ways by giving add on television and by using the advertising holding and in newspaper and in magazine and such different means which is related to the consumer or which goes through the customer day by day

Sales promotions: If the company want to increase the sales or any new product launched in the market than company wants to improve its promotion by sales this is done in various ways by giving discount on the product or by giving some offer in relation to the product

Public relations & publicity: This is also a kind of promotion because by maintain relation with the public the company is indirectly promoting its product on the name of customer relation this is a kind of publicity infect this promotion is benefit for both the consumer and the seller because they can promote the product on the name of public relation and consumer is happy because they are being cared by the company personallyMarketing communications budget: This is the budget which is being given to the marketing manager of the company and he is to decide where he has to spend its budget. This budget is related to the communication of product which is between company and the consumer because before anything the communication reaches to the customer and brings the him to the product so this budget is really needful for the product and for sale also

Tactics Going with the generation Diversified Always comes with something new to the market

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

Levis enjoys high brand equity. People all around the world recognize the brand name.

Levis products are unique and innovative in the style.

A lot of variety is offered by Levis ranging from sunglasses to skirts and shirts.

The products are renowned and are considered as the most durable i.e. the long lasting products.

Levis follows a high standard of quality.

Weakness:

Levis products are considered as very expensive. Therefore a large percentage of people are reluctant to buy the products.

As no discounts are present and products are sold at fixed prices many customers are lost.

Levis does not provide any services like free delivery etc.

Opportunities:

Levis can do more well in the women section. This section is give less importance as compared to the men section.

The kids section, which has been started from few years, should also be given proper attention to gain customers.

Sales promotion can be increased by increasing the advertisements expenses so as to enjoy a large number of customers.

Threats

The threats that Levis faces are the competitors. It does have some competitors at the global level.

Recommendations:

Levis products are considered as the most durable product. Therefore that area is secured. But the areas which Levis lacks are comfort ability and inexpensiveness. If Levis lower down its prices to some extent the sales volume could be increased to a very large extent. As we saw in the survey that people who are somewhat dissatisfied or who are completely dissatisfied gave the reason of high prices. The brand name of Levis is well recognized. We saw in the survey results that most people just to maintain their high status buy Levis products. Levis pays its maximum attention to the mens wear. Although the women section and kids sections are present but they are not full filling the requirements much. The kids section, which is just in start, should be given attention to attract more customers. A lot of importance should be given as far as the advertisement is concerned. They should stress on promoting their products especially through TV media

Conclusion

So from all of our above discussion and explanation, we conclude that: If a company wants to reach the heights of glory, it must have to focus strongly and efficiently on its customers needs to create greater customer value, loyalty and satisfaction &Carefully analyses the strategies of its competitors in order to develop and use more Efficient marketing strategies than its competitors for greater growth and market share and always keep moving with modern trends.

References:

1. http://us.levi.com/home/index.jsp2. http://www.Levistrauss.com/3. http://www.forbes.com/companies/levi-strauss-co/4. Principal of Marketing: A South Asian Perspective 13th Edition by Kotler & Armstrong

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