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E-MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT- FOSSIL GROUP, INC.

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SECTION ONE: ORGANISATION BACKGROUND

Organization Name: Fossil.com.

Organization Information:

Fossil.com is an American fashion manufacturer and designer, which Tom Kartsotis founded in 1984 (Pedro, 2017). The organization is located in Richardson within the state of Texas. Besides being a global manufacturer, it is a global distributor of luxurious personal accessories. Since 1993, Fossil.com has remained publicly traded on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Global Select Market (Pedro, 2017). The corporation majorly deals in the fashioning of accessories and handles the commodity lifecycle exclusively, beginning with designing, publicizing, and then supply.

Fossil Group’s product offerings include smartwatches, handbags, belts, traditional watches, leather products, jewelry, and sunglasses. Additionally, the company produces and distributes private label brands; buys and resells branded goods in the non-fossil branded outlets. Fossil avails its goods through proprietary brands like Zodiac, Fossil, WSI, Misfit, Relic, Michele, and Skagen (Fossil Group, 2022). The company is also making licensed brands for Puma, Diesel, BMW, Kate Spade New York, Tory Burch, Skechers, Armani Exchange, Emporio Armani, Michael Kors, and DKNY (Fossil Group, 2022). Fossil Group sells its goods via company-owned outlet and retail stores, jewelry stores, airlines, departmental stores, cruise ships, retail concessions, specialty watch, retail stores, e-commerce sites, franchised and licensed Fossil shops, and mass-market outlets.

According to the 2021 statistics, Fossil.com was operating 450 stores globally. The company is in 150 countries (Fossil Group, 2022). It has 7500 employees as of 2021, and this is after laying off 2700 employees. As of 2019, the company’s total assets were valued at $1.6 billion; total equity was $503 million; revenues were $2.21 billion, with net incomes being $52.3 million (Yahoo Finance, 2022).

Fossil.com faces threats mainly from companies that are producing high-tech watches. The company’s rising overdependence on technological commodities represents a potential business threat, and this is because the emergent competitor’s technologies have the potential of evolving much quickly than Fossil’s tech, an issue that may make the firm’s products obsolete. The primary product class within the Fossil Group is the sale of watches. The commodity is among the accessories, which fast fashion companies might utilize to gain competitiveness within the market, hence making the watches more affordable to customers. The main competitors of Fossil.com include Fitbit, QVC, Francesca’s, and Misfit (Comparably, 2021). QVC is a retailer in electronics, fashion, and food with total revenues of $11.5 billion and a net income of $910 million; Fitbit deals in the sale of wearable equipment with services and software, which helps the consumers attain their fitness and health aims. The company is valued at $1.9 billion with revenues being at $1.4 billion with a net income of $320.7 million. Francesca’s is an online retailer that deals in the distribution of fashion products. The organization is valued at $6.7 million with revenues being at $487.2 million and net income of $42 million (Craft, 2021).

 

 

Customer based overview

The company’s strength is in the production and supply of watches, a segment that derives more than seventy percent of its net sales. Thus, in spite of the slowdown in the sale of watches, Fossil’s growth plan maintains to involve the firming up of traditional watch products, predominantly in licensed brands and Swiss watches. Astoundingly, the firm’s licensed product in the Michael Kors watches maintains to be among the largest Fossil rivals in the sale of bug accessories. As of 2017, Michael Kors and Fossil’s market had overlapped by $396 million, whereby there were twenty-nine common markets (Pedro, 2017). Predominantly, the overlap had taken place within North America, where it stemmed from the sale of crossbody bags, coin pouches, wallets, and mid-priced handbags. On the other hand, the Michael Kors bags’ target consumers include primarily female customers; the Fossil.com bags largely target male customers. It is recommended that Fossil.com should also increase brand awareness in the supply of female bags (Comparably, 2021).

 

SECTION TWO: ORGANIZATIONAL DIGITAL SITUATION

The company has maintained both an offline and online presence. The firm’s holistic digital efforts involve many channels. For instance, through the company’s international e-commerce sites it has succeeded in availing captivating brand information, mobile-friendly practices, and has integrated with retail stores, whereby customers are in a position to purchase particular commodities online and then pick the goods from the firm’s retail stores. According to the 2021 United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Fossil Group’s digital sales contributed to about 39% of the accumulated 2020 net sales and this is an indicator that the firm has a strong online presence.

Moreover, the Fossil Group has often depended on the notion of creating unique designs, which reinforce the company’s distinct strength. They have succeeded in developing curated collection that are detailed and operational. Globally, the firm’s stores outline a touch of vintage impression compounded by a well-lit, comfortable, pleasant, and cozy ambience. The Fossil Group has an active lifestyle blog and social websites. The other significant feature to their marketing concept had been laid in 1985 when the company launched Fossil watches. The designs were developed in a manner that was appealing to the public since the watches had a retro feel and to compound to this touch, the company packaged them within tin cans with the primary aim of making customers feel nostalgic. Besides, the watches were also availed within wooden boxes. At the time, they featured Indiana Jones in the marketing of their models and this led to an upsurge in sales. In 2015, Fossil came up with the #CallingAllCurious campaign, which featured directors, fashion bloggers, artists, and photographers, where customers became actively involved via Instagram. The firm’s collaboration with renowned international brands has provided it with the edge of designing, manufacturing, and distributing their commodities.

Overview of Target Audience and Market Segmentation

The Fossil watch being a luxury commodity, it is regarded as a nonessential item. Due to this fact, the commodity is demanded by high income-earning families even when lowly priced. The Fossil brand’s target audience is extensive likened to that of competitors. The company products’ target consumers are female and male millennials between the ages of 18 to 40 who are working. The leather accessories are targeted at all ages. Currently, due to the advent of smart phones, a watch has been rendered a product which its demand is driven by fashion. The millennials are racially and ethnically diverse compared to older adults. They are perceived to be the most learned, less likely to have been in military and less religious. Additionally, they are tech-savvy and have a low demand for watches.  The male customers demand the watches for fashion reasons more than for timekeeping. For the women, the target consumers are not only millennials but also Generation X individuals between the ages 18 to 40. There main focus is on watches, jewelry, and leather accessories like bags. They demand the commodities due to their mid-century design and vintage.

According to Forbes (2022), the company has four main market segments and they include Europe Wholesale, Direct to Consumers, North America Wholesale, and the Asia Pacific Wholesale. The North America Wholesale encompasses sales made to distributor and wholesale customers who are within Mexico, Canada, South America, and the United Sates. The Europe Wholesale is concerned with sales to distributors and wholesale clients situated in Africa, European nations, and the Middle East. The segment within the Asia-Pacific Wholesale constitutes purchases made by distributor consumers within China, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Australia, India, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Singapore. The Direct-to-Consumer market segment encompasses organization-owned retail outlets, catalog activities, and e-commerce sales (Forbes, 2022).

Fossil Group Inc analyses the productivity of these segments based on the operating income and net sales. The geographic segments’ net sales are founded on the selling identity’s location. The operating income for the individual segments constitutes the relational sales cost, third party net sales, and the operational expenses, which are attributed to individual segments. Corporate encompasses the marginal revenue generating actions from intellectual property and factories. It also includes the overall corporate costs that encompasses specific administrative, accounting, legal, technology, payroll, and equity compensation costs, compliance, strategic, marketing, and back-office expenses, which are not assigned to the different segments and this is because they are internally administered from the corporate level. Interfirm transfers amongst segments are not included due to administrative reasons (Unites States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2021).

The Target Persona and Journey Map (need to add sales funnel, which will identify where fossil’s is lacking and based on that marketing objective is set, in sales funnel objective is at the top of the funnel which is awareness)

The target persona presents the consumer’s information personality, media usage, demographics, the consumer’s attitude towards a brand, description of the consumer’s life. Besides, the persona constitutes the client’s aim behind making a particular purchase and the important elements when carrying out purchase. In connection to Fossil.com, and pertaining to demographics, the customer has to be between the ages of 18 and 40 for both male and female. The customer has to be working and be a high-income earner because the products offered are luxurious. The persona further indicates that the customer can physically access Fossil stores worldwide within Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America.

On the other hand, the appended customer journey map is based on five scenarios; awareness, consideration, acquisition, service, and loyalty. These scenarios are evaluated against thirteen steps. This journey shows the actions undertaken by the consumer to finalize an aim on a specified period. The journey map has analyzed the business objectives, steps taken by the consumer, the consumer actions, touchpoints, technology systems, Key Performance Indicators, consumer goals, consumer emotions, the customer happiness track, the opportunity, message, customer rational, and the responsible touchpoint cooperator. Based on the presented analysis in the appendix section, I can infer that the customer journey map can be key in tracking the actions of the consumer at some particular point with reference to the customer’s rational and emotional requirements. For instance, by tracking a consumer’s feelings and emotions to a product, can be key in making the required adjustments- a dissatisfied customer will imply that the products and services did not meet his expectations hence enhancements can be made to make the consumer happy.

The Macro and Micro Landscape

The pandemic is among the main issues that affected the macro and micro landscape of Fossil Group Inc (Benjamin, 2021). The company also faces stiff competition from rival brands like Rolex that have maintained high brand awareness. Moreover, the advancements in technology may lead to the collapse to the sale of Fossil watches. Initially before the pandemic, Fossil Group was experiencing a decrease in the sales. The situation was further worsened after the emergence of the Corona virus whereby the government discouraged against social gatherings and movement of people and this led to the closing down of Fossil’s retail stores; the customers were affected since they could not physically access the Fossil stores (Benjamin, 2021).  The COVID 19 effects have further affected the sales of Fossil.com and this has made the firm to face a challenge in delivering primary priorities and this has led to the acceleration of digital device application, e-commerce, and the function of Asia Pacific markets. In brief, the pandemic hindered customer mobility to Fossil Stores leading to some opting for alternative products that are offered online by rival firms. However, through the implementation of the New World Fossil 2.0, the firm has the opportunity of enhancing profitability and improving competitiveness through supply-chain reengineering.

Culture is also another macro element with the potential of influencing both the current and future consumer behavior. Fossil Group has maintained to be an active driver of inclusivity externally and internally. From the beginning, authenticity has been the company’s primary value. The firm paves way for new believes and perspectives, which can wheel the organization to attain greatness in creativity, collaboration, growth, and innovation. As a result, Fossil.com has succeeded in cultivating authentic employees. According to Kosta Kartsotis, the company has incorporated an exemplary culture that has greatly enhanced staff morale and overall happiness and this implies that service delivery is the best, hence satisfied customers. As per the report by Comparably, the workers within Fossil.com are happy and this is in reference to their combined future outlook ratings, excitement, and customer perception.

Digital Channels

The company uses its official website in connecting to its target consumers worldwide. Moreover, Fossil Group Inc. chose the IBM Order Management, which is an omni-channel, centralized inventory management and order fulfilment hub, which permits organizations to make informed decisions on how to associate with clients to the commodities they prefer. The company has maintained a digital presence through its official website and Amazon.com, Instagram account. Besides, the company had a digital presence on Facebook, Twitter, email, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. According to Kartsosis, the company CEO, Fossil.com is working towards enhancing the company’s digital capabilities and footprint. For instance, as from 2017, there has been substantial investments in the digital marketing functionality and e-commerce. The CEO further stated that the company has laid focus in growing and developing their brands digitally capitalizing on social media channels, mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms. The company has increased digital interactions since 2017 through digital media, search, social, and e-mail channels. Of all the marketing channels, Instagram is predominantly used by the organization in doing product promotion compared to the competitors’ adopted media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Amazon Ads, 2022. Fossil creates higher brand awareness using display ad. [Online] Available at: https://advertising.amazon.com/library/case-studies/fossil [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Benjamin, S., 2021. Fossil Group Seeks to Reignite its Business Amid Mounting Challenges. [Online] Available at: https://www.euromonitor.com/article/fossil-group-seeks-to-reignite-its-business-amid-mounting-challenges [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Craft, 2021. Fossil Group Competitors. [Online] Available at: https://craft.co/fossilgroup/competitors [Accessed on: 01-Feb-2022]

Comparably, 2021. Companies; Fossil Competitors. [Online] Available at: https://www.comparably.com/companies/fossil/competitors [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Forbes, 2022. Fossil Group, (FOSL). [Online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/companies/fossil-group/?sh=687cd4463112 [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Fossil Group, 2022. Brands. [Online] Available at: https://www.fossilgroup.com/brands/ [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Fossil Group, 2022. Home-Investor Central. [Online] Available at: https://www.fossilgroup.com/ [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

IBM, 2022. Fossil Group, Inc. [Online] Available at: https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/fossil-oms-omni-channel [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Pedro, A., 2017. Company Profile: Fossil Group Inc. in Global Personal Accessories. [Online] Available at: https://www.euromonitor.com/article/fossil-group-global-personal-accessories [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

Unites States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2021. Fossil Group. [Online] Available at: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/883569/000088356921000010/fosl-20210102.htm [Accessed on: 29-Jan-22]

Yahoo Finance, 2022. Fossil Group, Inc. [Online] Available at: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/FOSL/profile/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIlyH9TZxTyqDjc1p6qM1iy_diIMybMtCg1aI1Uzx-_HqYRdQT0FY2hgeE-ZI84gizHrIRPGyoJOpUJws2s4njCy0tpucBVt8YpkkF60oq2WuCLzy2ZaO4WMNM7m5KGvQjW04f_5DIvbKWrxjNuU9C8vnmn0YSDMXDClkoKN8Hqw [Accessed on: 07-Jan-2022]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendices

Appendix 1: Target Audience Table

Potential Audience for Fossil Brands	Segmentation by:
	Socio-Demographics	Psychographics	Shopping Behavior	Situation
Males	Between the ages of 18 to 40. Millennials. They are racially and ethnically diverse. most learned, less likely to have been in military and less religious. High-income earners.	Demand is driven by fashion.   are tech-savvy and have a low demand for watches	Mainly drawn to watches	Working
Female	Between the ages of 18 to 40. Both Millennials and Generation X. High-income earners.	They demand the commodities due to their mid-century design and vintage.	main focus is on watches, jewelry, and leather accessories like bags	Working

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fossil Group, Inc. Name	Description of Me and my life I am Richard. I live in London. I am 38 years and I love watches. I am married to Catherine and we have two kids; Annabel and John. I love online shopping and Fossil.com is among the firms that have made virtual shopping easy. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, I have done 90% of my purchases online through Amazon. However, I do find it a challenge settling on what to buy online and in many instances, I have ended buying products that do not meet standards.	Objective Behind Buying the Product For prestige and meeting the emerging fashion trends
Demographics ·         Age between 18 to 40. ·         Gender: Both Male and Female. ·         Working ·         High-income earners ·         Location:  Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific.		What is important when buying? I feel contented.
Personality   I am goal-oriented and technologically savvy.	Attitude to the Product/Category ·         It is a vintage and fashionable ·         Customers may stop buying some of the products and this is because go for those of competitors. ·         The pandemic disrupting movement hinders consumer buying.
Media Usage Offline media channels: Television ads. Shopping destination: London I love leather watches and I do my purchasing online through Amazon.com. Digital Channels: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, e-mails		Other Brands I Use ·         Leather Watches ·         Smart watches

Appendix 2: Target Persona Profile and Journey Map

 

 

Journey Map:

STAGES	AWARENESS	CONSIDERATION	ACQUISITION	SERVICE	LOYALTY
BUSINESS OBJECTIVES	Foster interest and raise brand awareness	Increase the number of customers- online and physical customers	Increase both the point of sale and online sales	Avail brands that fulfill customer satisfactions,	Make consumers brand ambassadors. Increase consumer rate of retention.
STEPS	The consumer Visits the company social media platforms. Clicks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram adverts.	Analyzing third-part reviews Browsing for virtual shops	Receives the Fossil product via mail	Contacts customer service desk Carries out the transaction	Conducts reviews on the purchased product Rates the product
CUSTOMER ACTIONS	Through digital channels like Facebook, Instagram, e-mail. TV ads and website referrals.	Analyzing and comparing alternatives	Making purchase. Conduct an order	Receive assistance in case of an issue. Receive an order.	Share experience. Provide feedback.
TOUCHPOINTS	Search, E-mail campaigns, Facebook ads	Customer reads reviews Visiting landing pages Blogs	Purchases online Physically visits store	Calls the customer service desk	Surveys Loyalty programs Direct mailing
TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS	CRM, Social Media platforms	CRM, Social Media platforms	CRM, Social Media platforms	CRM, Social Media platforms	CRM, Social Media platforms
KPIS	The number of customers who have transacted	New customers into the business		Commodity reviews	Consumer satisfaction and retention. Rate of retention
CONSUMER GOALS	There are no aims at this stage	Purchase quality products	Purchase and make orders seamlessly	Access help in case of an issue	Provide feedback and share experiences
CONSUMER EMOTIONS (FEELINGS)	Enthused,	Excited	Feels excited when making an order Feels pain when making payments	Happy when attended to excellently. Happy when receiving an online purchase.	Happy: share experience.
CUSTOMER HAPPINESS TRACK	Delighted	Delighted	Delighted	Delighted	Delighted
	Very Happy	Very Happy	Very Happy	Very Happy	Very Happy
	Happy	Happy	Happy	Happy	Happy
	A little Happy	A little Happy	A little Happy	A little Happy	A little Happy
	Satisfied	Satisfied	Satisfied	Satisfied	Satisfied
	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral	Neutral
	Mildly Dissatisfied	Mildly Dissatisfied	Mildly Dissatisfied	Mildly Dissatisfied	Mildly Dissatisfied
	Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied
	Unhappy	Unhappy	Unhappy	Unhappy	Unhappy
	Very Unhappy	Very Unhappy	Very Unhappy	Very Unhappy	Very Unhappy
	Extremely Unhappy	Extremely Unhappy	Extremely Unhappy	Extremely Unhappy	Extremely Unhappy
CUSTOMER RATIONAL	Phones, TVs, Internet	Social media	Emails, Adverts	Word of mouth, Social media	Social media, word of mouth
OPPORTUNITY	Accept	Accept	Accept	Accept	Accept
MESSAGE	PR Develop marketing campaigns- offline and online	Develop marketing campaigns- offline and online	Optimize on online sales	Developing product range and commodities, Organizing customer service	Handling social media channels and feedback, Cross-selling, up-selling,
WHOSE COOPERATION DO YOU NEED FOR THE TOUCHPOINT/ OPPORTUNITY	Communications and Marketing	Communications and Marketing	Customer service and online development	Customer Service	Customer Service
Physical Stores	450
Website	https://www.fossilgroup.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3: Digital Maturity Map

Current Technological Situation	Current Digital Channels	Merging and Future Digital Trends	Future Technological Situation
The target audience both shops online and physically visit the company outlets.	social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, email, Pinterest, and LinkedIn), mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms	Introduction of AI-enabled digital channels. Physical customer presence will reduce due to increased online purchases.	The target customers are more likely to shop online through e-commerce websites, apps, and social media platforms.

 

 

 

Appendix 4: Trends Matrix

	Future Trend
Technology	Tech will gain relevance in conducting online transaction and offering consumer feedback through AI-enabled apps and sites.
Customers	Customers will opt for digital means of purchase
Culture	Cultural changes
Competition	Competition is likely to increase