1. It is obvious that M&S Turkey has a serious positioning problem. What should be the proper (correct)
   1. Brand mantra,
   2. Brand positioning statement?

MARKS & SPENCER TURKEY

INTRODUCTION

Marks & Spencer (M&S) in Turkey operates through a Turkish franchisee with 18 stores in five cities. The parent company is a British clothing and food chain, well known as a value retailer. However in Turkey, Marks & Spencer is positioned as a seller of imported, fashion label private brand merchandise at premium prices. Many Turkish customers who can afford these prices have visited the United Kingdom or Europe and are aware of what Marks & Spencer really is.

MARKS & SPENCER STORES IN TURKEY

The first Marks & Spencer franchisee store in Turkey opened in September 1995. Some of the 18 M&S stores in Turkey are in shopping centres, some are freestanding. The typical shopping centre-based M&S store is 700-800 m2 and carries a limited range of womens fashion apparel (and no mens apparel). Womens clothing is both formal and casual, and all womens clothing in shopping centres carries a Mark & Spencer label no upscale brands. There is a limited assortment of shoes carrying the Footglve label (a M&S brand), a good assortment of lingerie carrying the Ceriso label, and a good assortment of skincare and hair care products under other labels; there are no cosmetics, jewellery or other fashion accessories.

Large fashion posters in the stores show a slim female model who appears to be 19 years old. However much of the womens clothing in the store is oversize up to 48, and most of the customers are female aged 30-45.

Larger, freestanding Marks & Spencer stores in Turkey carry a much broader range of menswear (24% of floor space), women's' wear (32%), and childrens clothing (11%). Other products are home textiles (7%), mens and womens shoes (8%), perfumes and cosmetics (5%), and a limited assortment of furniture and home accessories (13%). This product range duplicates (except for food items), the M&S assortment in UK stores. However freestanding Marks & Spencer stores in Turkey are half the size of the average freestanding store in the UK or in Europe. The assortment of merchandise in the Turkish stores must be of necessity be reduced.

There may be as many as twenty brand names represented in an M&S store in Turkey. For women there is Marks & Spencer for everyday clothing, per una for younger womens fashion, Limited Collection for upscale fashion, Ceriso for lingerie, Footglove for shoes, and Autograph for cosmetics. For men there is Italian for suits, jackets and sweaters, Marks & Spencer for pyjamas and miscellaneous goods, Blue Harbour for younger mens sportswear, MW for underwear, and Harvard for mens cosmetics. None of these brands are advertised or promoted in Turkey, and none except Marks % Spencer is known to Turkish consumers.

Posters in freestanding stores show models who appear to be 25 years old and upper middle class. The customer base is 80% female and 20% male, with an age range of 25-60 and a median age of about 35. They are middle class or lower.

POSITIONING

Marks & Spencer in Turkey is known as a moderate quality, moderate status retailer of womens fashion. There are different opinions as to where it is positioned vis--vis competitors. Two M&S store managers claimed that M&S competes directly with Vakko and Beymen, high quality high prestige and very expensive Turkish womens fashion stores.

However when asked where they shopped for fashion merchandise, no shopper in Marks & Spencer store mentioned either Vakko or Beymen, and no Vakko or Beymen shopper mentioned Marks & Spencer.

Most Marks & Spencer shoppers said they also shopped in department stores or in specialty stores like Park Bravo, Mango, Zara, Roman or Network. Beymen and Vakko shoppers mentioned the other store, along with other international store brands like Ferre, Joop and DKNY.

The most negative comments about Marks & Spencer from female shoppers were:

• It is really expensive for what they offer
• It is not the same as M&S in the UK, much more expensive

And on the positive side:

• It has a good assortment of larger sizes which most stores do not carry
• It is a great place to buy undergarments, especially when they are on sale
• They have really nice, sexy lingerie at good prices

Female shoppers were interviewed as they exited from fashion retailers and asked to name the seven major retailers of womens fashion where they would shop. They mentioned Ipekyol, Roman, Network, Park Bravo, Tuzun, Vakko and Beymen. No shopper interviewed mentioned Marks & Spencer in the top seven.

When non-M&S shoppers were asked to describe women who shopped at M&S, the description were in terms of income, social class and age, and national status. Turkish income and social classes are often described as A, B and C (with A highest). Vakko shoppers were described as A, Beymen as B and C, and M&S as B and C but purchasing on credit. About half the respondents described M&S shoppers as foreign women who want British-styled clothes.

BRANDING

M&S in Turkey carries the Marks & Spencer brand, and twenty other private brands that are unknown to Turkish consumers. Turkish female shoppers do not rank these brands as high status compared to heavily advertised Turkish and foreign brands. Some female shoppers do not rank Mars & Spencer brands as prestige because they are aware of how these brands are positioned in the UK market.

CUSTOMER MIX

Marks & Spencer customers in Turkey are 95%+ female in shopping centre stores, and at least 80% female in freestanding stores, although there is a 60-40 mix of female-male space allocation in freestanding stores. Customers perceive M&S a s female moderate-level fashion store, not as a family fashion store.

THE M&S BRANDING AND POSITINING PROBLEM

Marks & Spencer Turkey presents a rather confused mix of branding and positioning. On entering a Vakko or Roman or Park Bravo store, one knows immediately the target consumer and the brand level and brand value offered. On entering a Marks & Spencer in Turkey, one encounters conflicting signals.

• The M&S brand in Turkey represents imported fashion when it is known as a value brand in the UK
• The freestanding M&S stores devote more than half their space to menswear, childrenswear and house wares, although the brand is perceived as a womenswear store, not a family store.
• The M&S fabrics are created in response to purchasing preferences of UK women, who are quite conservative (some would say boring) in their fashion tastes. Fashion preferences of Turkish women (based on fashions shown by leading Turkish retailers), are far less conservative.
• Posters in M&S stores suggest the merchandise is indented for a 19- year old female customer, while most customers in the store are 35+.
• Customers perceive M&S to have a competitive advantage in apparel for foreign women, for women who require larger sizes in the sale of lingerie and nightwear.
• Turkish consumers are very conscious of status brands, and not responsive to private brands. Private brand sales of clothing are by far less than half and even only 10-15% in some garments compared to M&S stores in UK. M&S seems to do nothing to try to overcome this by promoting the status and virtues of their private brand clothing.