Giodarno

1. INTRODUCTION

Despite a humble beginning, Giordano, a manufacturer of casual apparels, has managed to establish itself as a household name today. During the 1970s it evolved to become a well-known clothing chain in the Asian clothing retail market. Giordano's founder, Jimmy Lai, adopted a strategy that differentiated Giordano from its competitors and brought it on the road to success. His strategy includes value pricing, frugality, computerization, good customer service, effective advertising and promotion.

Under Jimmy Lai's leadership, Giordano evolved from a single store in Hong Kong to 360 stores. However, Lai's political involvement in protesting against Mainland China's communist government made it impossible for Giordano to expand into Mainland China. Lai was eventually forced to sell all of his shares in Giordano and thus left Lau to be in charge.

Today, Giordano has a present network of over 1500 stores all over South East Asia, Middle East and Australia and have seen profits and earnings that were more than three hundred fold in the year 2000 compared to 1999. (Asiaweek.com, Under the gun)

2. ANALYSIS

2.1. GIORDANO'S GOALS AND VALUES

Vision: To be the best, the biggest world brand in apparel retailing

Corporate Mission: To make people feel and look great

Core Values: Innovation, Service, Quality, Knowledge and Simplicity

Knowing the company's vision, corporate mission and core values, will allow easier analysis of how the company operates. Working along the lines of the core values, we can see that they are in line with the factors, which led to Giordano's success.

2.2 FACTORS FOR SUCCESS

Value Pricing

The first factor, Value Pricing came into place when Giordano positioned itself as a brand that is value for money, by practicing strict cost control. Such strict cost control was managed by selecting suppliers who did offer mid-prices for their good quality materials, and not to increase the retail prices unnecessarily. The top management and other employees were frugal to take the economy class when they went overseas for business trips. Giordano made sure that its outlets were located in densely populated areas and this brought about higher chances for customers to visit their outlets and more convenience for the customers to buy their products.

Computerization

The second factor, computerization was incorporated along with the advancement of Information Technology (IT). According to article, Information Impact: Connecting People with Information to Create Value, Giordano made use of the software Windows Share Point services to communicate with its retail stores, to obtain improved feedback on local trends. When an item is sold, the barcode information will help identify its colour, size and design and transmit these information to the main computer. The software Windows Share Point, will collate the information at the end of the day, and send it back to the sales department and the distribution centre, which acts as a main store room for all the stores. The software will then inform the individual stores of the stock that had to be replaced the very next day and deliveries will made by early morning. This ensured that all the Giordano stores have all their stocks replenished before the stores were opened for business.

"The improved communication from Windows Share Point Services and Outlook allows us to make better product allocations between markets, which has helped Giordano raise the average selling price on our items and increase gross profit," says Cody Chan, Regional Merchandising lead for Giordano.

The software will also send information to the sales department and inform them about the items that were slow moving. This enabled Giordano to stop shipping the slow-moving item and then modified the style of the item for future shipments. This also reduced cost related problems due to slow moving items.

Customer Service

The corporate mission, which aim to make people look and feel good when they enter a Giordano store, led to the third factor, excellent customer service. With this in mind, Giordano staffs are trained to greet customers with smiles, allowed customers to have unlimited try-on, and provided free hemming and buttons replacement service. Exchange of items is allowed worldwide upon presentation of original receipts.

Giordano even went the extra mile to keep customers happy and introduced more benefits for customers when they are buy products from Giordano. Any non-member customer whose birthday is approaching can obtain a 15% discount off the normal price of the merchandises. Giordano also dabbled a little in relationship marketing when it launched the Giordano Membership Program, which aimed to identify and reward loyal customers and high spenders. The membership program ensured that loyal customers were informed of the annual warehouse sale and of new arrivals or new promotions. A 15% discount was given to members for all merchandises, and an additional 20% discount for members whose birthdays were approaching.

Giordano ensured that its customer service staffs all have a positive, "can do", "customer first" attitude which only adds to enhancing the customer's experience when shopping at any Giordano store. All staffs, from the top management to the lowest rank had to go through refresher course and regular training programs to educate the staff about on goings within Giordano. In order to create a customer friendly environment, there were constant evaluations and internal competitions to motivate and reward staffs who were able to put into practice what they have learnt, to give customers a satisfying and happy experience.

Advertising and Promotions

Giordano spends a large amount of its profits and turnovers on advertising and promotions. Giordano aggressively promoted its brand through a series of creative, customer-foccused campaigns, one such example was the "Simply Khakis" in 1999, which focused on street culture and easy mix and match, making the clothes suitable for all occasions. The "Simply Khakis" campaigns were very well received, as the new products were very quickly sold out in Singapore. Another few of Giordano's better-known campaigns will be the "Wrinkle Free" series and the "Dry

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