Billabong- Digital Marketing Analysis-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the Comprehensive analysis of the Business and Marketing Policies of leading Australian surf-board and swimwear brand, Billabong, with special emphasis on Digital Marketing. Answer: About Billabong Billabong International Limited is a surf and swimwear company, based in Australia. It was founded in 1973 by Gordon and Rena Merchant in 1973, in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Although Billabong started out mainly as a manufacturer and retailer of board shorts, it gradually expanded business to surf-boards, skate-boards, and clothing and fashion accessories. Fast forward to 2013, and the brand was reported to own prominent fashion labels and surf companies like Von Zipper, Element, Sector 9, Palmers Surf, and Honolua Surf Company. However, the companys aggressive policy of buying out other companies came to a halt since early 2009, and the road has been uphill ever since. The objective of this report is to study Billabongs digital marketing strategies and assess the causes of the brands failure to cope with other leading swimwear companies. Discussion Market Position Analysis At present Billabong boasts of a varied range of products to offer their customers. This constitutes products ranging from their signature surf-shorts, surf-boards, swimwear, and miscellaneous sportswear, to garments, footwear, bags, watches, and numerous other accessories. Given such a wide canvas, the customer-base of Billabong varies from toddlers owning their first mini surf-board to old people buying dinner jackets. However, the companys usual target-audience is the age-group of 12 to 25, comprising of both aspiring and adept surfers and swimmers. After the slump of 2012 brought about mainly due to poor marketing policies, Billabong restructured its business strategies under new CEO Launa Inman took up the challenge of restoring the brand back to profitability. To that effect improved marketing plans have been implemented, especially in the department of digital marketing. The share-prices are certainly headed in the right direction, nearing 4C, at $1.45, after hitting a massive low of $1.24 in 2012. In 2016, Billabong recorded a net profit of $2.1 million before tax; but met a tax expenditure of $3.7 million. This resulted in a $1.6 million loss in the first half of the year, although Billabong claim to be enjoying hefty revenues from its acquired brands (Rogers 2017). Digital Marketing Strategies Digital marketing or data-driven marketing refers to the selling of products or services by using digital technologies, involving the internet, mobile phones and advertising through other forms of digital media (Chaffey, Smith and Smith 2012). Billabong are no stranger to digital marketing and to that effect, they have their own website which handles advertising and online shopping, both domestic and international (Billabong.com 2017). The website provides ample information regarding products and latest offers, while also incorporating user-blogs and event schedules. Besides the official website, Billabong also has a mobile-app for Android, Apple and IOS platforms to enable shopping on the go. They are also a potent force on social media, advertising and propagating though their own Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube handles. In 2010, Billabong launched the ISurfBecause campaign; a social media drive whereby new and existing customers could share their passion for surfing, and popularize the brand in the process (Isurfbecause.com 2017). Collapse of Digital Marketing On paper, Billabongs digital marketing policies seem almost perfect. However, there are cracks within the system, as the official website faces coding and efficiency issues, with the number of unsatisfied online customers increasing every month. Moreover, there are issues with the e-commerce department as well, as the Billabong cannot provide necessary return/refund issues, especially for overseas orders. Billabong failed to keep their trade and turnover at par with their net investments since early 2009, owing to the huge number of companies they had commercially acquired (Terry-Armstrong 2014). By 2012, Billabongs share prices were in free-fall and the company was in fear of a takeover themselves. Stuck in utter financial disarray, the then CEO Derek O Neill decided to cut down the digital marketing budget to a meagre 30%, and did the same to advertising and endorsements, instead of boosting the marketing budget to promote sales. This proved to be a grave mistake with catastrophic outcomes, the immediate one being a direct $275.6 million financial loss. Caught in this pincer movement, Billabong had two choices- to start selling assets or ask shareholders for capital. None worked while American Equity firm TGP Capital started bidding aggressively to buy Billabong out, with an initial bid as outrageous as A$ 776 million (Knight 2017). Comparison with Speedo Despite its financial supremacy and large number of subsidiary companies, Billabong fails to attain an edge over their direct rivals like Quicksilver, Speedo, Roxy, Hurly and so on, mainly because of its poor digital marketing strategy and budget. Special mention might be made of Speedo, another Australian manufacturer and distributor of swimwear now based in Nottingham, England. Although Speedo has been acquired by the British Pentland group, the brand has retained its independent and competitive marketing procedures, especially on the internet. It launches frequent social media campaigns and keeps experimenting with new advertising and endorsement techniques, unlike Billabong. Speedo is endorsed by prominent athletes like Nathan Adrian, Jazz Carlin, Mark Horton and others (Speedo.com 2017). These are the obvious areas concerning digital marketing where Billabong loses out to its competition, both domestic and international. The only silver lining to this cloud of financial crisis i s the fact that the new CEO, Inman, has identified and addressed the mistakes under her predecessors charge. Efforts are being made to re-establish Billabong to their former glory, and steps like the ISurfBecause-campaign are undeniably steps in the right direction. References: Billabong. 2017.Mens Home | Billabong. [online] Available at: https://eu.billabong.com/mens [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017]. Chaffey, D., Smith, P.R. and Smith, P.R., 2013.eMarketing eXcellence: Planning and optimizing your digital marketing. Routledge. Isurfbecause.com. 2017.I Surf Because - Billabong. [online] Available at: https://www.isurfbecause.com/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017]. Knight, E. 2017.Billabong's wipeout is a tragedy of errors. [online] Brisbane Times. Available at: https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/billabongs-wipeout-is-a-tragedy-of-errors-20120224-1ttjz.html [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017]. Rogers, J. 2017.Billabong back in retail action. [online] Goldcoastbulletin.com.au. Available at: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/business/gold-coastss-surfwear-giant-billabong-takes-top-spot-as-best-surf-brand-retailer/news-story/ [Accessed 5 Aug. 2017]. Speedo.com. 2017.Blog | Athletes | Explore Speedo. [online] Available at: https://www.speedo.com/international/en/explore/blog/athletes [Accessed 4 Aug. 2017]. Terry-Armstrong, N., 2014. Billabong: A company in financial crisis.Busidate,22(3), p.4.