Initial SWOT analysis

Rough initial SWOT analysis. 

https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-dolce-gabbana/
This SWOT analysis was taken from this website however the notes in colour are my added notes.

Strengths :

• ·     Brand image – strong brand image of being luxury brad that is both stylish and sophisticated. The company has products that target the upmarket urban niche segment who are on the lookout for creating a different style statement. 
• ·     The customer connects – the company connects to customers through a mobile platform called D&G fashion channel. The company uses their mobile platform to continuously target customers and update them on latest products of the company. The app also helps the brand keep track of customer behaviour and this helps the brand to design and customised clothing. 
• ·     Portfolio of brands: the designer brand dolce and Gabbana custom designs a large number of products comprising wide varieties of segments. The company designs and creates clothing for men women and children eyewear watches jewellery shoes handbags travel bags fragrances and makeup. The company therefore caters for a wide audience and is popular among celebrities. 
• ·     Business philosophy – d&g started their design studio primarily because they were passionate about design. The business philosophy of dolce and gabbana is centred around principles of creativity, innovation, contrast, and harmony. 
• ·     Unique designs – the customer designs their own merchandise and they are highly unique and well differentiated from their competitior. The designs are developed by expert designers who have proven expertise and experience in designing of clothing jewelry or accessories. 
• ·     Celebrity support – just like many other designers brands dolce and gabbana are support of a lot of A-list supporters from Hollywood. Including – Britney spears, Daniel Craig, Eva Mendes, Katie Perry.

WEAKNESSES:

•   Homophobic outlook – the designer duo had gone on record commending the same sex relationships and commenting that children from same sex relationships are synthetic and this made them hugely unpopular amongst celebrities who form a critical part of their clientele. 
• ·     High costs of operations – Dolce and Gabbana like most other brands make customized clothing. The result is that right from sourcing material to design there has to be exclusivity which makes it costly. Though prices are high increase in competition have cut down sales and affected margins adversely. 
• ·     Don’t wanna discount stock cause it will affect brand image 
• ·     Controversies – D&G has often been in the news for all of the wrong reasons and has a number of controversies associated with them. Some of the latest ones include a few tax evasion cases, the designer banning media from their fashion show and some obnoxious comments on gay rights. These have affected the brand equity and adversely and many top-grade celebrities have boycotted the brands. 

OPPURTUNITY:

• ·     Growth in Asia: though Dolce and Gabbana have primarily been catering to the western markets through the partnership with key Asian retail brands the designer brand has forayed into Asia the increasing propensity to spend, dual income households, internet revolution etc have ramped up the sales of the brand in Asia. 
• ·     Working with other brands – use streetwear and high end to become more current and more up to date. For example Vigil Abloh for Louis Vuitton 
•      Sustainable perspective - closed loop system, reuse etc, lessen waste especially since the brand doesn't do sales as that would lessen the brands luxury and expensive image

THREATS:

• ·     Competition – the main competitors of Dolce and Gabbana are Versace, Armarni, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klien and Prada. 
• ·     Cheap imitations / Counterfeits – luxury brands aren’t always affordable to all buy but everyone wants it so this results in a lot of cheaper imitations and a lot of people end up buying those which brings down the image of the original brands in the long run. Lessens exclusivity of the brand and makes it become a lot more common. 

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