1

Polo Ralph Lauren Brand Audit

I dont design clothes, I design dreams. Ralph Lauren
Laura Su
MKT 3320.002

Table Of Contents
Company History & Growth3
Category & Competition..4
Product Introduction & Innovation...5
Brand Analysis6
Consumer Profile.7-8
Advertising/Marketing Communications9-10
Media & Promotions11
Internet & New Media.12
Miscellaneous & Brand Value...13
Research & Brand Recommendations..14-17
Works Cited18

Part I: Brand Inventory

Company History & Growth
Ralph Lauren is a multi-brand, American based holding company that is headquartered in New
York, New York. Ralph Lauren Corporation got its kick start back in 1967 with the creation of
Polo Ralph Lauren by the American designer himself, Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren, the designer,
grew up as Ralph Lifshitz in The Bronx, New York, whom later pursued a career in menswear.
He started his vision with the approach of designing mens ties. Polo Ralph Lauren acts as the
flagship brand for the company, which has many other subsidiaries now. These subsidiaries
include Club Monaco Corporation, Polo Jeans Company, LLC, Ralph Lauren Home Collections,
Ralph Lauren Media, Ralph Lauren Watch and Jewelry Company, and RL fragrances just to
name a few. Since Ralph Lauren has become a global leader in premium lifestyle products, it is
no surprise that their revenue is at the top of their industry. Although the company has been

Polo Ralph Lauren Net Revenue

around for 47 years already, there

has still been tremendous growth in
the past 20 years. In 1997 they had

8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0

a net revenue of $1,180,440,000,

but over the years they grew to
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

$6,944,800,000 in 2013 (Ralph

Lauren Corp). To the left is a bar

Net Revenue (in billions)

graph of the net revenue for the

past 10 years, and it is clear that Ralph Lauren has maintained a steady line of growth despite
growing competition.

Category and Competition

Worlds Most Valuable Apparel
Brands (in millions)

As mentioned on the previous page, Ralph Lauren has

branched out into all facets of daily living with its multiple

1. Nike

$24,579

lines in clothing, accessory items, and even home dcor.

2. Zara

$23,140

They have managed to dominate as an apparel brand,

3. H&M

$15,557

despite having premium pricing and maintaining a

4. Uniqlo

$7,303

simplistic look. They have been quoted as the 6th most

5. Adidas

$7,192

valuable apparel brand of 2014 as shown in the table to the

6. Ralph

$6,323

left (Worlds Most Valuable Apparel Brands). Since

Lauren

Polo Ralph Lauren has branched out into more than mens

7. Next

$5,716

clothing, this means that they must deal with more

8. Hugo

$4,526

competition. They are competing with every apparel

Boss

company, every home dcor line, and every accessory

9. Lululemon $3,258

brand. This means that they must strive to keep their

10. Tommy

competitive edge and dominate every category that they

Hilfiger

$2,004

are in. Competitors range from Nike, H&M, J. Crew,

Vineyard Vines, Banana Republic, Abercrombie, Michael Kors, and etc. Luckily, unlike many of
the brands I just named, Polo Ralph Lauren distributes its product through multiple channels.
They have their own specialty stores and outlet stores, but can also be found in department stores
as well as specialty discounts stores such as Macys or TJ Maxx.

Product Introduction and Innovation

The brand covers everything from clothing, accessories, footwear, sportswear, childrenswear,
home living, paints, denim, and even fragrances. Polo Ralph Lauren strives to maintain a classic,
traditional look, so they have stayed true to their lines of the classic polo button up shirts, polo
shirts, sweaters, and etc. The past decade is when they have started to add more unique, pastel
colors rather than just using primary and secondary colors. That adds a great appeal to their
demographic because people are constantly trying to add color to their wardrobe and color block.
On the day of the US Open a few months ago, Ralph Lauren unveiled the new PoloTech sensor
shirts as shown below.

The shirt has features sensors that are knitted into the core of the product to read biological and
physiological information (Edelson). This innovation proves that the company is keeping up
with current trends in regards to technology, and that they also have a focus of maintaining a
healthy, active lifestyle.

Brand Analysis
The company operates on the three main business segments consisting of wholesale, retail, and
licensing. The wholesale component is responsible for selling its products to specialty and
department stores, both domestically and internationally. Because of their partnerships with so
many department and specialty stores throughout the world, they are able to sell excess supply
and out-of-season products through those secondary channels. As of 2013, the retail segment
consisted of 388 stores with the majority of them being outlet stores in the US and in Europe
(Reuters). Also included in the retail segment are the e-commerce websites from which
customers can shop and browse. Licensing is just as important as the products sold in the
wholesale and retail segment. The companys licensing partners have created the opportunities
for Ralph Lauren to become prominent in other product lines such as home dcor and bedding.
Having the ability to extend
product lines increases
marketing for the company,
which ultimately leads to its
complete lifestyle concept.
The graphic to the right
breaks down Polo Ralph
Laurens income from these
three segments over the past
seven years. As it is shown, wholesale is majority of their business, but since every segment has
been growing, there is overall growth in the company.

Consumer Profile
Ralph Lauren, the designer, draws largely from the look of the American Dream. Since the
look of his products aims for the simple, yet elegant character, the brand appeals to the upper
middle class to the upper class. The brand creates the feel of tradition with a flair through its
quality materials and timeless styles. Despite so many competitors such as Vineyard Vines and
Tommy Hilfiger, people remain very loyal to Polo Ralph Lauren due to the timeless quality that
is associated with the brand. The remarkable recognition of the pony is due to the fact that Polo
Ralph Lauren can be associated as casual and formal wear.
A large decision maker associated with purchasing a product like this is obviously the price. It is
known that Ralph Lauren uses top notch quality materials, but people also realize they are paying
for the brand due to its brand equity. Since Polo Ralph distributes its products through many
department and specialty stores, there are many discounts that can be found on their items, which
engages the customer to buy even more. At the end of the day though, the wealthier demographic
that Polo Ralph Lauren targets will still buy what they want because they know that with the
purchase of the high quality product, they are getting a refined stamp of approval.

Advertising/Marketing Communications
The appeal of a brand such as Polo Ralph Lauren is that when you are purchasing their products,
you are becoming a part of an exclusive club. Catalogs and advertisements used by Ralph Lauren
always have a very rich and prominent background that depicts the feel of the clothing. For
example, for the equestrian look, they have multiple ads that have used the background of a
stable and sometimes even incorporate a horse into the shot. They full incorporate the persona that
surrounds the brand by making you feel as if you are part of their world.

A marketing approach that was recently used was pairing of the US Open to introduce their new
PoloTech shirt, as mentioned on page 4. The execution of this led to great awareness of not only
the new product, but to remind the people that Polo Ralph Lauren stays on the cutting edge of
fashion and culture. Not only is Polo now associated with an enormous event like the US Open,
but they are also associated with the athletes that surround the event. There is no better way to
market a clothing product than to have well-liked public figures wearing them. The company
made history with this product launch because it was the first time a global sporting event served
as the platform to debut a collection of clothing.

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Media for Polo Ralph Lauren

Since Ralph Lauren, the man himself, is an astute businessman, he has explored all facets of
expanding his brand. Even before the media and digital world became so prominent, in 2000,
Ralph Lauren struck a deal with an American broadcast television and radio network, NBC, to
launch RalphLauren Media. This 30 year, $110 million deal gives Mr. Lauren 50% ownership of
his new found media company (Hogan). The remaining percentage is split between NBC, Value
Vision, NBCi, and CNBC.com. The addition of RalphLauren Media has allowed for the Polo
brand to expand its presence in e-commerce.

Promotions for Polo

Ralph Lauren
There are many
secondary promotions
for Ralph Lauren
because of the secondary
distribution channels
used to sell their products. In addition to that, outlet stores run promotions for 20% off your
entire purchase quite often. For specialty and outlet stores, many of the people who get the
promotions are the ones that sign up for the newsletter or link their cell phones to get updates
from the store. Competitors such as J. Crew and Gap also run a great deal of promotions similar
to Ralph Lauren due to the expensive nature of their brand. Any holiday is also a primetime for
all of these stores to run specialty promotions to increase sales.

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Internet & New Media

http://www.ralphlauren.com/home/index.jsp?direct
Ralph Lauren has realized the importance and difference in profits
that e-commerce can make. Their website is always updated with
the latest trends for the latest season, and attempt to offer
promotions whenever possible. With 67% of Ralph Laurens revenues coming from the United
States and Canada, Mr. Lauren has grasped the importance of expanding his brand presence
overseas. E-commerce proves itself to be a great area of opportunity for the company to invest
in. He has expanded e-commerce efforts into South Korea and 10 other European countries,
which allowed e-commerce sales to grow to $624 million at the end of 2012 (Lambrano). Ralph
Lauren also uses social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to post new
seasonal items and highlight which public figures have been seen in Ralph Lauren recently.
On Twitter they use a majority of
retweets to recognize all the places and
people that Ralph Lauren is being
mentioned at or by. This is fitting because
it helps keep up the appearance the brand
persona has of many high class people
wearing their clothing, but also maintains to the marketing of their retail products through
current advertisements. As for Instagram, the company posts many luxury shots of new additions
to a collection and stills from photo shoots modeling different items. Their use of Facebook and
all social media platforms are consistent throughout. They do not differ much from platform to
platform, but this works for them because it maintains simplicity, just like their brand image.

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Miscellaneous
As if having product lines in clothing, home dcor, footwear, eyewear, and media werent
enough, Mr. Lauren is due to open up a Polo Bar restaurant in New York City around the corner
from the flagship store on Fifth Avenue. He already has a RL Restaurant in Chicago, but
bringing this addition to New York truly embodies how he strives to make his brand trendy.
Brand Value
As stated previously on page 3, Ralph
Lauren is the 6th most valuable brand in the
world. I believe the reason why Polo Ralph
Laurens brand is so valuable is because of
the man behind it. Ralph Lauren has proven
himself to be a business mogul, innovator,
yet keeper of tradition. His vision to
embody the American dream, although
times are changing, is a tough one. He
manages to mark his brand with the idea
that it is a lifestyle, not just pieces of
clothing. Due to the constant innovation of
Polo Ralph Lauren with items such as
PoloTech, I believe the brand value has increased this year and will continue to. As long as
sophistication and class are in style, Polo Ralph Lauren will be as well.

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Part II: Brand Exploratory

A) Research Surveys
I conducted 2 surveys to measure peoples knowledge and general liking towards
Polo Ralph Lauren as a brand. Below I have attached the results of my survey. For
my qualitative questions, I asked questions 1, 2, and 5. For my quantitative data, I
used questions 3 and 4. The qualitative questions gauge the attitudes people feel
toward the brand and the quantitative questions gauge their knowledge on the brand.
Out of 25 respondents, 64% believe that Ralph Lauren is the most well-known brand
in comparison to five other answer choices. Although people think that Ralph Lauren
is that most popular, it seems that just around the same amount shop at Ralph Lauren
as they do J. Crew. It is clear that J. Crew is a huge competitor, at least in regards to
college students. The quantitative question of 3 is testing the respondents knowledge
on that brand. Ralph Lauren actually has 13 brands, so only 8% of people answered
that correctly. It seems that many people know the name Ralph Lauren, but do not
necessarily know about the brand.

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B) Initial Report
C) Last Modified: 12/13/2014

D) 1. In your opinion, which of these is the most well known

brand?
#

Answer
Tommy
Hilfiger
Ralph Lauren
Vineyard
Vines
Lacoste
J. Crew
Nautica
Total

1
2
3
4
5
6

Response

16%

16

64%

0%

0
4
1
25

0%
16%
4%
100%

E)
F)

G) 2. Which of these brands do you buy from the most often?

#

Answer
Tommy
Hilfiger
Ralph Lauren
Vineyard
Vines
Lacoste
J. Crew
Nautica
Total

1
2
3
4
5
6

Response

8%

10

40%

4%

0
11
1
25

0%
44%
4%
100%

H)
I)

J) 3. How many brands has Ralph Lauren created?

#
1
2
3

Answer
1-5
6-10
11-15
Total
K)
L)

Response
10
13
2
25

%
40%
52%
8%
100%

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M)
#
1
2
3

4. How many Polo Ralph Lauren shirts do you have?

Answer
0-5
6-10
10+
Total

Response
23
1
1
25

%
92%
4%
4%
100%

N)
O)

P) 5. Ralph Lauren has a line for home decor (furniture, bedding,

etc)
#
1
2

Answer
True
False
Total
Q)

Response
25
0
25

%
100%
0%
100%

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B) Recommendations
It seems that Ralph Lauren has so many different brands and product extensions that
most people do not know how to differentiate between them. Enable for the public to learn the
differentiations, the company could start making stronger associations with one line that they
really want to emphasize. For example, if they really wanted to emphasize the Womens Black
Label, which is their modern luxury line, they could host an event like a gala. To associate a lux
event like that with the label, you could use a catchy slogan like, The Black Tie Affair for the
Black Label to make it memorable in peoples mind.
In addition to that, the graph shown below depicts that licensing brings in only a small
portion of revenue. As mentioned above, they could improve upon their home dcor, bedding,
and home improvement lines. If they plan on increasing revenue from their licensing distribution
channel, then they could do a lot with focusing on the home dcor collection. Polo Ralph Lauren
could team up with a company
such as Ikea to create a college line
of furniture and bedding. They
could cater to the young
professionals that are just as
sophisticated and have good taste,
but need to watch their budget.
This lets Polo Ralph Lauren be seen as more than just clothing and also becoming more budget
friendly, while maintaining their image.
In addition to that, they could improve other subsidiaries under their name such as Club
Monaco or Chaps. There are almost just as many Ralph Lauren stores as Club Monaco stores,

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but I dont believe there is a great presence and drive to buy Club Monaco. There are many other
alternatives to Club Monaco that consumers will buy from, so they should emphasize that it is
under Ralph Lauren and use that to prove that they are able to differentiate from just the classic,
traditional look and go into the trendy, chic look.
If it is not possible to increase the revenues of these subsidiaries, I would recommend
collapsing a few of them together so there arent so many different labels. People start to get
confused when there are so many labels under one brand.

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Works Cited
Edelson, Sharon. "Ralph Unveils Polo Tech Sensors Shirt." WWD 25 Aug. 2014: 2. Business
Insights: Essentials. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

HOGAN, MONICA. "NBC, Ralph Lauren Partner for E-Commerce." Multichannel News 14
Feb. 2000: 29. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Lambrano, Libardo. "Ralph Lauren's Big Ambitions Overseas." Smarer Investing by Covestor.
Covestor, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
<http://investing.covestor.com/2014/08/ralph-laurens-big-ambitions-overseas>.
"Ralph Lauren Corp." Gale Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
<http://bi.galegroup.com.libproxy.utdallas.edu/essentials/company/427581?u=txshracd26
02>.
"Ralph Lauren Corp (RL)." Reuters. Thomas Reuters. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=RL>.

"World's Most Valuable Apparel Brands, 2014." Business Rankings Annual. Ed. Deborah J.
Draper. 2015 ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2015. Business Insights: Essentials. Web.
13 Dec. 2014.