Retail branding and positioning: How to build a retail brand position in the Danish optician retail sector

Abstrakt

The objective of this thesis is to analyze the following problem statement: How can an optician brand, exemplified by Thiele, create an attractive position in a market that is assumed to be highly competitive with similar offerings? Based on the assumptions of category blurring and the difficulties of distinguishing between the optician brands offerings, we want to analyze how Thiele can differentiate its store image given the market situation and create an attractive position. After having created an understanding of the current competitive situation in the optician sector and conducted an empiric analysis of consumers’ perception and associations of the optician brands, we analyzed which retail brand positions are obtainable and sustainable in the optician market. The results of our analysis made it possible to examine how Thiele can create an attractive position. We recommend Thiele to take ‘ownership’ of a high-end fashion position and by choosing a differentiated positioning strategy linked to a strong brand personality, Thiele will be able to differentiate its store image. In terms of positioning strategy, Thiele needs to differentiate its strategy and not use the store image attributes for positioning strategy but instead utilize a user-oriented positioning strategy. This strategy is used when consumers are driven by social approval in their brand selection and their needs and feelings have to be aroused. Thiele’s brand personality has to be aligned with the user-oriented positioning strategy and we recommend it to be linked to the personality of ‘Sophistication’. Finally, we recommend Thiele to take some parameter adjustments and implementations into consideration, which supports the high-end fashion position. Thiele should aim at having a broad and deep selection of popular designer brands and be updated with the newest collection in every store. Further more, design and atmosphere of the stores should be aligned with the personality of sophistication. The staff and service are also very influential part of the store experience and therefore Thiele should focus more on staff behavior and service skills. Moreover, Thiele should consider taking advantage of customers’ data and use the information to appear more customized by developing further on an existing CRM-system. Finally, Thiele needs to align its positioning strategy and brand personality to its communication strategy in order to create a clear and consistent store brand image.