Situation Analysis Report

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2.5 Customer Journey Mapping

The Haylo Knits philosophy entails four concepts; natural, hand-made, quality, and timeless. These concepts came out of love for traditions, passion for the hand-made, and an enthusiasm for knitting. The company’s mission is to create traditionally-inspired, quality knitwear for babies while preserving hand-made creations’ unique essence. The company also seeks to be competitive in the knitwear industry. The customer journey map helps the company achieve its goals and mission. Haylo Knits customer journey map details how the customer interacts with the company to achieve target goals. The customer journey is particular to the physical and emotional experiences of the consumers. Haylo Knits’ customer journey map visualizes the interaction between the company and its consumers. This customer journey map helps Haylo Knits to comprehend the customer relationship and structure its operations and the most effective and efficient way.

The customer journey map entails different stages, customer emotions, and touchpoints. The touchpoints for Haylo Knits’ customer journey map include television, in-store, person to person, email, and online. The stages highlighting the customer journey are discovery and awareness, research, purchase, delivery, after-sale services, and review. The television serves as the first stage for the customer to know of the knitwear products present at Haylo Knits. The adverts on the television will direct the customer to the online touchpoint, which entails reviews and ratings. The online touchpoint serves the second stage of the customer journey in research.

The customer will then contact the company through email as the third touch point to enquire about the product. The prospect customer will then be given a demo by the person’s sales representative to the person touchpoint. However, the company will also provide the customer with access to some of the knitwear products. The email touchpoint will confirm the purchase, contact, and other relevant documents for the customer. Online marketing will help Haylo Knits to access a wide market segment in New Zealand. The customer will also provide feedback in case of any problem and receive the company’s required instructions.

The after-sale service stage entails the email communication, customer service agent chat through online platforms, and in-store help from the company sales representatives. The last step of the customer journey map is the review, rate, and sharing. The customer can quickly provide reviews on the online platforms set by the company. The customer can also give recommendations on the website and available suggestion platforms in the company stores. All the stages highlight customer emotions and how to achieve customer satisfaction. The stages and touchpoints help to analyze, innovate, engage, and implement sustainable processes. They help to build and create the best customer experience in the company. The figure below shows Haylo Knits customer journey map

3.5 Environmental Factors

Environmental factors affect the processes and operations of the organization. These factors determine the strategies and impact on the growth of the company. According to Li, Lu, Tan, Wang, and Shen (2017), environmental factors can be classified as external and internal. External factors include outside aspects of the environment where the company has no absolute control over them, while internal factors include relationships and value systems. The company has control over internal environmental factors. When developing marketing strategies, the company considers the elements to understand market trends and impact. The three main ecological factors affecting Haylo Knits include environmental policies, climate change, recycling, and waste management.

Environmental policies significantly affect the strategies and operations of the company. It is one of the significant external factors that affect all the players in the textile and knitwear industry. The environmental policy shows the company’s commitment to adhere to regulations and laws to protect the environment. State or federal governments set the policies, and they are to be strictly followed by all players in the textile and knitwear industry. The environmental policies require the company to change its operational procedures and equipment to align with its standards. Failure to adhere to these set standards can easily cost the business negatively. The New Zealand environmental policies ensure the approaches and operations lead to a clean and sustainable knitwear production.

Recycling and waste management are also critical environmental factors. This factor helps to reduce cases of environmental pollution, which can easily interfere with supply chain and customer relationships. Recycling allows Haylo Knits to reduce wastage, which could easily harm the environment. It helps make the production process cost-effective while improving the company’s background. Waste management helps the company minimize discharge cases into the environment, which could lead to legal cases. The company sets up strategies that ensure less waste is released into the environment to ensure sustainability. Haylo Knits focuses on environmentally friendly production to create sustainable knitwear and textile products. The company focuses on reducing waste discharge and resource consumption. It emphasizes on reuse and modifications of the products. Haylo Knits collects waste and reuses it in the same or different parts of the production process.

Climate change is one of the major environmental factors. Climate change entails global warming and adverse weather conditions. Since the Haylo Knits depends on water and chemicals, it is likely to be affected by factors that affect water supply. The company strategies its activities and operations to ensure to foster practices that help reduce climate change. Customers and consumers are becoming aware of the need for climate control methods. According to Muthu (2020), consumers prefer companies and brands that save the environment from supporting the cause. Increased awareness and public perception of the environment has forced Haylo Knits to produce environmentally friendly products. The company uses eco-friendly technologies to deliver its Beau Beanie with better process controls.

4.5 Key Suppliers

Suppliers and distributors in the knitwear industry are significant players in the market. They affect the day to day operations and strategies of the company. It is important to note all the suppliers and distributors are vital and dependent. However, Dalziel et al. indicated that one supply chain model easily overlaps with distribution models in the same industry (2018). The supply chain and distributor operations and technology continue to evolve and change with the industry’s needs. The major suppliers in New Zealand knitwear industry include Amex Custom Prints Limited, House of Zen Designer Shoes and Needlecraft Distributors Limited

Amex Customs Prints Limited based in Auckland, and it supplies the New Zealand market with readymade clothing and two-piece bodycon dresses. The company is a premium supplier and marketer of garments and apparel. They provide custom made children wear which compete with the Beau Beanie offered by the Haylo Knits. The supplier offers a wide range of products in the Ethnic wear industry. Haylo Knits seeks to benefit from the innovation and technology provided by this supplier in the market.

House of Zen Designer Shoes, based in Tauranga, deals with jeans and apparel in the New Zealand market. The supplier serves as a distributor for jeans retailers and apparel dealers in the market. The supplier employs refined creativity with high recognition of good designs. The House of Zen Designer Shoes is a cheap ethnic clothing supplier, and it can help Haylo Knits achieve its marketing goal of quality homemade knitwear.

Needlecraft Distributors Limited is one of the major distributors in the New Zealand knitwear industry based in Palmerston North. It’s engaged in the supply and exporting of fabric, apparel, and garments. This distributor focuses on apparel manufacturers for medium business both in New Zealand and internationally. They offer unique quality and exquisite customer service to all the players in the knitwear industry. Haylo Knits benefits from this distributor to tap into the new market potential and access new market segments.

5.5 Key Distribution Strategies and Positioning

The knitwear industry requires efficient distribution strategies and positioning. The company’s actions and activities will reduce the challenges of resource limitations and access to new market segments. Hence, the company’s management needs to develop critical strategies in distribution and invest resources that will build a competitive advantage in the knitwear industry. The essential distribution and positioning strategies include market control, alliance and partnering skills, and local responsiveness. These strategies position the company in a competitively strong niche in the market.

Local responsiveness is essential for the customer and Haylo Knits because of customer demand fragmentation and increasing competition. Haylo Knits employs this strategy to customize its Beau Beanie to the needs of the specialized markets. The company tailors its services and products to match the local situations. This distribution strategy allows the organization to customize the market approach to enable innovators to focus on developing superior knitwear products. This strategy positions the company as experts who offer and respond to the need of the customers. The company should harness technology that enhances communication, quick responses, and flexibility in the knitwear industry. Haylo Knits can turn its operations to incorporate locally-based partners. The latter will help to customize the firm market approach hence allowing the company systems to focus on the core technical skills of developing superior knitwear products. Haylo Knits can leverage this strategy to scale and secure a competitive advantage in the market. Besides local responsiveness, another key distribution strategy in the industry is alliance and partnering.

Alliance and partnering strategies are vital in the textile and knitwear industry. It provides a linkage between the company, its suppliers, and the consumers. Alliance and partnering ensure the company cooperates with other players in the market and allows sharing resources, knowledge, skills, crucial business development, and operations improvement. It helps to mitigate the challenges the company is facing and places it in a competitive advantage position. This strategy ensures the company expands its market share and access to new markets. This strategy plays a crucial role in the industry. Haylo Knits quickly obtains the advantages of size in the knitwear industry without ownership. Alliance and partnership provide access to resources the firm lacks. The ability to cultivate and manage working relationships in the market equips the firm with resources, reduces costs, and enhances effective performance. Other than alliance and partnerships, market control is a crucial strategy for Haylo Knits.

Market control is the last key distribution strategy for Haylo Knits. It helps the company control its access to the local New Zealand market. Through research-driven market control, the company improves customer relationships and interaction. The company identifies resources that are less substitutable and focuses on gaining a competitive advantage position. Market control provides the company with information about demand and how it can leverage it to its advantage. It helps the company’s management build knitwear products that satisfy the customer needs and a higher value proposition with a good, deep fit and the cuteness factor. Therefore, Haylo knits implementing the three crucial distribution strategies, will increase the competitive advantage, expand its market share, and provide access to new market segments.

Conclusion

Haylo Knits’ customer journey map entails different stages of customer interaction, customer emotions, and touchpoints. The customer journey map helps the company to structure its operations effectively and efficiently to meet customer needs. Environmental factors affect Haylo Knits operations, and they include climate change, environmental policies, recycling, and waste management. The firm has several key suppliers and distributors who support its operations. The distributors and suppliers are dependent and crucial in the industry. The critical distribution strategies for Haylo Knits include alliance and partnerships, market control, and local responsiveness. These strategies help establish a competitive advantage, increase the market share, and provide access to new market segments.

References

Dalziel, P. C., Saunders, C. M., Tait, P. R., Saunders, J., Miller, S. A., Guenther, M., … & Driver, T. (2018). Rewarding responsible innovation when consumers are distant from producers: evidence from New Zealand.

Li, Y., Lu, L., Tan, Y., Wang, L., & Shen, M. (2017). Decoupling water consumption and environmental impact on the textile industry using the water footprint method: a case study in China. Water, 9(2), 124.

Muthu, S. S. (2020). Assessing the environmental impact of textiles and the clothing supply chain. Woodhead publishing.