Branding Strategies Of Owndays

Discuss about the Branding Strategies of Owndays.

Shuji Tanaka is the present president and CEO of Owndays; he obtained full control of the company, which was on the edge of being insolvent due to huge debt when he took charge of the situation. Mr. Shuji Tanaka had come adored in response to an appeal for increased third-party capital. This was during the year 2008 and the company has not looked back again. The growth of the company has been exponential in terms of expansion and market growth over the time span of just 9 years. In less than over decade that Mr Shuji Tanaka has taken over the company, Owndays have become one of the largest and one of the most popular eyewear brands in the world with almost 170 shops in Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Australia, Malaysia and Vietnam as well as in Japan. The brand is known for its quality products and services at a reasonable price point. The motto of the company is to provide its customers with a comfortable view so that they can enjoy life to the fullest. In the optical industry, Owndays is one of the few companies in the world who have the SPA operating system (Specialty store retailer of Private label Apparel) in the eyewear industry. In the SPA system the entire process starting from designing of the frame, manufacturing of the pair of glasses to inventory management along with retail is operated from within the same company (About Us 2017).

Often a brand is confused with the products or service that a firm offers its customer. Brand is not the product; it is rather the image of the company which the company purposefully instills into the head of its customers through various medium. But brand is what the customers end up buying where as the product is what the company has to offer. A brand is an image of the product in the minds of the customer it is what a consumers expects form a company or a product. It is the factor which makes a product different from the competitors in the market. Brand creates customer loyalty and enhances the goodwill of the company as a certain reputation is always associated with a brand. It is the flag bearer of quality and service assurance (Santos-Vijande et al 2013). The brand is an intangible asset of the company.  As a brand Owndays has a reputation of a high quality affordable brand that takes care of its customers. Over the years the company has developed this image with the help of their marketing strategies, promotional tools and other policies the company has successfully developed the brand. The SPA operating system has allowed the company to maintain the high quality of products in a very reasonable and affordable price as all the steps that are involved in production of the end product is being made within the company itself (Kelley et al. 2015).

Competitors

The products and services that Owndays offer ranges from being functional, stylish and fashionable in the optical industry which is also known to be partially medical and partially commercial. Brand name is one of the most important concepts; a brand has to have a name that has a recall value and gravity to represent the company. Owndays in a very less time has made a place for itself to becoming one of largest optical instrument forerunner in the industry (Dinnie 2015).

As Owndays is focused on spreading its global footprints, the competitors of the firm are also increasing. Some of the major competitors of the firm are Four Eyes, Spectacle Hut, Nanyang Optical, Lenskart, Titan eyewear. The spokesperson of one of these brands have stated that what makes each of these brands different is the way each of them have positioned themselves in the market.

Another brand promotion is the promise of delivering the pair of glasses within 20 minutes. The claim of such a rapid progression of a process that usually takes 2-3 days normally is one of the reasons why the brand has gained popularity in the first place. This claim also gives the company an edge over its competitors which and encourages the target market to chose Owndays in comparison to other high-end eyewear brands (Singh, Stavros P. Kalafatis, and Lesley 2014). The Point of difference of the competitors of Owndays in the optical instrument industry is that some of them have taken up the e-commerce as their place of retail this has a huge disadvantage as people find it difficult to understand the quality and the style of the eyewear like lenskart. One of the biggest competitors of Owndays is the Japanese brand Matsuda Eyewear, they offer premium craftsmanship and style in the optics department. They boast their luxurious approach and delivers finest quality expensive eyewear. Another competitor in Japan is JINS the point of difference with this company is that they focus their branding on the heritage that the company has built over the years and they also talk about the technicalities creating quality lenses rather than style.

A strong brand has a list of attributes like relevancy, consistency, positioning, sustainability, credibility, motivational, unique and appealing. In the case of Owndays the company checks of each of these attributes. The products and services that are offered by the company is of high quality and always meets the expectation of the customers. In order to bring the customers closer to the products and choose at their own will the glasses are all displayed for viewing and not only that people can pick up their choice of frame and try it as well. The firm has also been continuously evolving in its own providing better products and keeping up the promises that are being made during the promotions (Uche 2016). As far as the brand position is concerned it has positioned itself as a care giver, it has become a name that is aimed to uplift the way of living of the people as much as they can. This comes across through their several CSR activities that the company has involved them into. To be sustainable the brand requires to innovate and develop new and improved designs so that the brand can live up to the expectation of the customers and also beyond that, the slimmest and light weight eyewear has been the latest of the many innovations that the company is persevering (Arrigo 2015). Owndays is always on the feet to deliver what it promises and this is what helps the brand to grown in the long run. All the claims and promotions that are done by Owndays are realistic and the display of their wide array of choices is the proof of their claims. Along with creating an image of itself by taking up several CSR activities the company has been inspirational and has proved its stand of making life more comfortable for its customers (Alan and Smith 2013).

Brand Attributes

The optical instrument industry is an oligopoly market with a few big names in the industry. Most of these companies who are at the top of the industry offer high-priced fashion and luxury products which make the common crowd deprived of the good quality of lenses and style in terms of the frame (Rosenbaum et al. 2015).  For a company like Owndays it is important to keep up the quality along with the affordable rate. The modern eyewear customers are not only looking for comfort or a pair of glasses to rectify their vision. Style is also one of the most important criterions that have to be kept in mind for the companies who are working in this industry. The Owndays store not only allow the customers to freely choose from the wide range of stylish and functional frames but also allows the customers to have their vision checked by the PRC Licensed Optometrist who are always present in the store (Sirianni et al.2013). The in house doctors use the latest technologies and methods of eye checkup which is done without any hassle. The customers can also make a pair of glasses by showing an existing prescription, or have an existing pair of glasses copied. The location of their stores and the decor also adds to the brand image and positioning.

It is the process by which a brand creates loyalty from its customers to ensure repeat sales. In order for a brand to reinforce, it has to first ideate, innovate, and systematically develop the process of manufacturing as per customer requirement. Owndays has built a reputation of being fast as well as stylish and in order to maintain the image it has to continuously develop its design. Employment of new fashion and design graduates to keep up to the fresh trends is a policy of the company. Along with that the exponential spread and opening of stores in various part of the world is also a very significant step towards the reinforcement (Oliveira?Castro 2016).

Conclusion

As a brand Owndays has made a place for itself in a very less time. It has grown its market not only in Asian countries but also in Australia and The Netherlands in Europe. The company houses sub brands which also follow the same outlook in terms of the products and services they offer. This assists Owndays to create a brand image and maintain it. Owndays have a very successful branding strategy which has helped the company to gather a huge client base. High-quality with reasonable price, 20 minutes delivery claim, free and open themed store décor, skilled ophthalmologist along with cutting edge technology and Several CSR activities over the years have helped the brad develop its own image in the minds of the customers. 

Owndays encourages innovation in terms of style and mechanism and aspires to become a household name for eyewear fashion.

References

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