Global Marketing

One of the weakness that Neiman Marcus have is that they do not have a single location overseas. Even tough you can shop online which will be considered a global market anyway, they will have to look at that aspect also. This is a definite negative for the company as a presence in other countries would expand their affluent clientele and increase their revenue. A major objective of Neiman Marcus in this area will be store expansion overseas. They are dedicated to store growth especially into the new markets both domestically and abroad. Analysis has indicated several locations in Asia, the middle East and Europe that will be beneficial for them and once they meet their commitment domestically, they will start expanding globally to match and get ahead of their competitor Saks Fifth Avenue which currently hold a store in Saudi Arabia. By the year 2010, the group wants to have a least 5 stores overseas. This will be their main target in this area but if they can open more, it will be more revenue into their packet.

Global Marketing

Neiman Marcus Operations overseas is not far-fetched. It is well known, world class brand. It is very complicated to open a store overseas. It will be best by licensing, the kind of thing that Saks is doing said Traub (former Bloomingdale's chairman). Licensing is not lucrative. It is difficult to make a major difference in earnings per share. the bigger advantage is the international exposure it provides. Past management of the retailers have examine foreign cities for possible Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman units. Asia seems more likely for Neiman Marcus than Europe said the retail source. One reason is that Taubman Centers is forming Taubman Asia to develop shopping centers in the Asia Pacific regions. Five of the 22 Taubman regional centers in the US house Neiman Marcus units and 3 have Neiman's outlet currently known as Last Call.

Marketing Environment

As the result of our current economy, many stores are struggling and Neiman Marcus is no different. In August 2009, the company reported a loss of nearly 170 millions for its 4Th quarter as consumers continue to cut back on high end purchases and the company itself suffer from a large debt burden. Neiman like many other luxury retailers was struck by the economy downturn forcing the company to cut down on his workforce and reduce inventories severely. Neiman said that it has made progress in restoring its balance sheet and position itself for the current environment. The company ended his fiscal year with 323 millions in cash, up by 84 millions a year ago. Inventory level, a sign of retail management, were down 23% from a year ago. the company also said that it was trying to bring in more value oriented items in order to meet customers needs. I am confident the significant actions we have taken combined with our outstanding customer relationships and the strenght of our marketing initiative, will position us well for the new year, said Burton Tansky, chairman and CEO of Neiman Marcus.

Neiman Marcus Social responsability and ethics

The Neiman Marcus group extend their benefit far beyond their customer and their employees. It participate actively in promoting and promote charitable events in the communities. Neiman Marcus discovered that accepting social responsibility was simply good business. The store has a review board that analyze all requests for support from organization around the country and then attempts to donate to a variety of different organizations. The objective is to support those causes that affect the most customers. Beneficiary have included art, civic, educational and health related organizations. One the cause in which the store has been involved is AIDS. It is a disease that have impacted our community for more than 10 years. It hasn't only impacted Neiman Marcus but it has impacted all the retail store across the country. It impacted our resources, our designers and also our advertising designers. This was something that was very important to their employees as well as their customers. Neiman Marcus has been involved with that cause for sometimes now. It is a very important cause for us. Neiman's funding for charity is generated in a number of ways including donating portion of the proceeds from numerous fashion events and sales of products such as cookbooks, candies and certain fashion collections such as its 50 Against One accessory collection.

The Neiman Marcus group has a strong commitment to compliance with the legal requirement that apply to our business and the product that we sell. One unwavering rules lies at the core of Neiman Marcus group business philosophy: we will conduct our business in strictly compliance with both the letter and the spirit of the law and with a scrupulous commitment to the highest standard of ethics. To this end, Neiman Marcus Group has developed a program of US custom and other government agency compliance that provides strict guidelines for those doing business with Neiman Marcus group including our agents and the manufacturers and the suppliers of the goods that we buy. As a condition of doing business with them, manufacturers and suppliers must agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations including those related to the manufacture and distribution of product sold to consumers in the United States. Our contract also require all suppliers to impose this same obligation to their contractors. In addition, The group also require its vendors to abide by this standard corporate policy and code of conduct related to labor and employment practices. The group believe our customer can have confidence that merchandise manufactured in compliance with these standards is not produced under exploitative or inhumane conditions

Marketing planning

This area is very important. Let's take an example here, when teenager are looking for clothing, they are looking for what is popular, currently in fashion and cutting edges. The marketing team will then need to develop a campaign built around the labels and build a vehicle that will be the revenue driver. They need to find solution that will help them penetrate the youth market. By also doing so, they will have to keep in mind the cost of the merchandise without blowing the image of the store because remember that Neiman Marcus is an upscale store. The marketing will be responsible for keeping that image up without being very costly. They will also target family oriented neighborhood. In order to accomplish this goal they will have to work closely with the management and finance team so they can be able to project their new sale.

Stategic Planning

Neiman Marcus patriarch Herbert Marcus Sr. espoused a management philosophythat he instilled in his children and continues to direct the store management even today. "Its never a good sale for Neiman Marcus unless it is a good buy for the customers". It continues to be at the forefront of higher department stores. To approach the strategic planning of Neiman Marcus, i will be talking first about their Grand strategy which plays an important part in their strategic plan. The main objective of the store is to change the image as a store as the young market will be appealing by applying a business model based on a clear and consistent strategy brand positioning. The grand strategy needs to focus on all the major areas of the strategy planning in order to identified opportunity that appealed to the younger market.The store is knowledgeable that they need to grow in this area and by doing it, they can achieve market growth. The main market that need this growth is the affluent market. What I mean by that is somewhere that have an abundance of spending cash and a discerning audience. At this time, the company is receiving less than 3% of its revenue from the 15-30 years old market mostly due to the fact that the store is flagged as the stores of our " parents and grandparents". This perspective has to change. The belief is that with a good marketing plan and the right product and merchandising campaign, they will be able to tackle the problem and be competent.

The Current Status of Neiman Marcus

Current status of Neiman Marcus

With this economy, stores have suffered and Neiman Marcus is no different. Sale has fallen 16.6 percent in the most recent 4 weeks period ending August 29. The company stores open for 12 months or more fell to 237 millions from 284 millions. Neiman Marcus posted a total sale of 241 millions foe August down from 285 millions in August last year. The strongest sale area included ladies shoes, precious jewelry, beauty product and couture. In June, the company reported a net loss of 3.1 millions for the 3rd quarter. revenue for the quarter hit 810.1 millions which was down 1.06 billion in the 3rd quarter last year.

The History of Neiman Marcus

The company that I am choosing for my Project is Neiman Marcus. I like the store and I do shop there so It is going to be interesting for me to do some research on them also. Neiman Marcus was founded in 1987 in connection of restructuring of Carter Hawley Hale stores, inc. They have been around for more than a century. They are specialize in the sale of luxury goods. The Neiman Marcus group have specialty retail store division: Neiman Marcus stores and the Bergdorf Goodman stores. They also have a direct marketing division which is the Neiman Marcus direct. This luxury store offers upscale assortments of apparels, accessories, jewelry, beauty and home decor products. The Neiman Marcus group has 40 Neiman Marcus stores across the United States ,2 Bergdorf Goodman stores in Manhattan and 25 last call centers.