International Sourcing and Product Development
About this Project
Examine the product development process of a new brand; analyze the roles of manufacturing, wholesaling, and retailing and their interrelationship of allied industries; learn and apply the steps involved into merchandising products to consumers and develop a merchandise plan for a product line with a mindset of the consumer, manufacturer, retailer, and the international market.
Vision Statement
We seek to bring together and support all Latin American communities to appreciate our values and empower our colorful and beautiful Latinx heritage by embracing where we come from and who we are.
Creative Statement
Belleza de Cultura collections are 100% influenced by our Latino deep-seeded roots in culture. Our design team chooses and develops our jewelry collections inspired by a mixture of our heritage and the contemporary fashion trends while also allowing our customers to customize selective pieces to their preference. Our jewelry pieces are colorful, fun, and exotic making a statement of our identity and our Latinx pride most sustainably and fashionably possible.
Plan Distribution
My plan for distribution strategy is to sell my jewelry in Latino-owned shops both, small and big, focusing in popular shops located in Illinois where there is a great amount of Latinos in the area. Little Village and Pilsen are known for their Latino community that lives there and I believe selling my jewelry in shops around those areas would be perfect. The top 3 retailers I choose are Latino-owned and sell a variety of traditional Latino hand-made gifts, home decor, jewelry, and all kinds of accessories. Before distributing my products to shops, I plan to start selling my products on my online store so that it is available for all Latinos in the U.S and not limited to those that live in Illinois. Then, I would consider shipping outside of the U.S.
Direct Market Channels
Using these different direct market channels can help for my brand exposure, brand loyalty as well as reach my revenue goals. Using direct market channels will allow me to be involved with my own sales and engage with the consumer. This is important to me because my goal is to create a strong, trustworthy relationship with my consumers to better understand what they like and don’t like through their feedback and also persuade them to buy my products. It will also allow me to demonstrate the beauty of my product, the different way you can style them and I can also set my own prices. In addition, I would also want to offer exclusive sales and be able to manage the way I increase my brand awareness.
Market Strategy
Objective: Our objective is to become known worldwide and be able to ship worldwide as well. Have major influencers, such as Latina actresses, artists, and signers, help advertise our brand through their social media. Ultimately, the goal is to expand our product line from just selling jewelry to sell a variety of accessories and apparel and have our boutique at a shopping mall.
Strategy: Our strategy will consist of being active on our social media and prove our customers how much their consumption and feedback is appreciated by commenting back to their comments, both positive and negative, and post their tagged photos on our page and stories. Also, we will be supporting other small businesses online so that we can share brand awareness and have their followers notice us.
Tactic: Our tactic will consist of having our customers to feel as included as possible. Engage them in conversations, not just with our brand, but between other customers. We’ll constantly be sharing important information on our stories and have our customers answer a variety of polls.
Brand Extension
I believe the most appropriate product expansion for our jewelry brand, which at the moment is just necklaces and earrings, would be an addition of rings, bracelets, and hair accessories such as hair clips. Because such products all fall under the jewelry category, I believe it would be easy to introduce and expand my market reach. I would start with a countdown of the addition of new products with fun and exciting advertising. I would start posting photos on the brand’s social media with the caption, “Something Big is Coming” and share sneak peeks of the new products in video clips. All the new products will continue to embrace the Latino culture and resemble exactly what my brand is about, honoring our roots.