SWOT Analysis

Hello there!

The next step in our Pöllöt project was to conduct SWOT analysis of the company in question. So, without further ado, here it is!

Strengths:

• Original design. Handmade, high quality products that are not modeled after historically popular sunglass designs (such as Wayfarer) provide differentiation from competitors. 

• Price. Pöllöt glasses, with their €80 price tag for all models, are considerably cheaper than the products of (European) competitors. Mahonki glasses will cost you between €130-295, Palo glasses €145-190, and Hout Couture glasses €125-135. 

• Retailing. In addition to its online shop, Pöllöt is already available in a few select retail shops around Helsinki: Kick/Off, Helsingin Optiikka, and Welodrom Clothes & Lifestyle. More retail partners, especially independent urban lifestyle shops, should be expected to follow. 

• Social media. Pöllöt is active in advertising and spreading brand awareness through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and various fashion blogs. Enthusiastic responses and good publicity from bloggers can be found for example here and here. They even came up with a meme for one particularly sunny Sunday - it says "Pöllöt: when hangover is not enough".
  

Weaknesses:

• Name. Pöllöt (“Owls” in English), although humorous and appealing to Finnish customers, is not international at all. 

• Resources. The company currently consists of only two people, so resources are quite small. 

• Inexperience. Pöllöt is a very new start-up at the beginning of their learning curve. 

In addition, the sunglasses are handmade and there are various models, so any scale or scope economies are utopia. Then again, this applies to its main competitors as well, so it can be considered as a weakness only when comparing to the big players of the eyewear industry.

Opportunities:

• Environmentalism. The growing trend of ecological consumption will also spread to sunglass business and Pöllöt is in front to spread the message. 

• New models. As said, Pöllöt uses their own unique design, and with new shapes and colors they can attract new customers, some of them likely weary of the same old same old and seeking something completely new. 

• Retailing. Expanding the business from online to retail shops and getting shelf visibility is a great way of increasing brand recognition. 

• Fashion blogs. Using Finnish and Swedish fashion bloggers as marketers is a clever tool gaining market visibility, especially within the customer segment that Pöllöt are focusing on. 

• Social marketing. With regard to the product and the potential customers, building up the Pöllöt brand through social media and new marketing channels, such as the fashion bloggers mentioned above, seems like the best and cheapest marketing option. 

• Pioneering. Wooden sunglasses have not yet experienced a breakthrough, especially in the Northern Europe. Pöllöt may acquire a lot of brand equity in the Nordics if they penetrate the market fast, and being a pioneer in the Nordic countries can be a huge advantage in the largely untapped markets.

Threats:

• Ease of reproduction. Global brands can easily copy the design of Pöllöt sunglasses. 

• Ease of importing. The glasses are produced in Asia, where cheap copies of the glasses are available. Any other company can also start to import wooden sunglasses. 

• Supplier problems. If the supplier of the glasses faces unexpected problems, for example in receiving raw materials or ending up in financial problems, it is difficult for Pöllöt to keep their promises to customers. 

• Value. Apart from being environmentally friendly, the wooden design doesn’t give any extra value for customers compared to other sunglasses. 

• Name. How do you make the purely Finnish brand name shine in Sweden?

Generally speaking, the strengths and opportunities of Pöllöt stem from their hipstery and fashionable product and the blogging and social media culture associated with their target customer groups. Weaknesses and threats are related to the company being very new and small and the possible difficulties in marketing the purely Finnish name in other countries.

Pöllöt on display in Helsingin Optiikka in Kamppi, Helsinki.

Project Introduction

This blog details Aalto University's Global Marketing Management course project, the purpose of which is to select a real-life company and prepare a marketing plan for a foreign market entry for its product or service. The following is a short introduction to the project to get things going.

 

The Company

Pöllöt Ltd: Homepage | Pöllöt on Facebook | Pöllöt on Twitter | Pöllöt on Instagram

 

The Product

Wooden sunglasses made out of bamboo:
 

 

Short History

In fact, very short. The company was just established in 2013 by two Finnish students from the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. They do not yet have any experience in the international markets.

 

Target Country

The most logical selection for early internationalization is Sweden, as it is close to Finland both geographically and culturally. Russia was also briefly considered as a possible target country, but the bureaucracy involved for example in the movement of people and goods over the European Union and Schengen Area borders - combined with the cultural differences between Finland and Russia - made Sweden by far the safer choice for a start-up company.

 

Internationalization Potential

Sunglasses have a somewhat constant demand all around the world. Pöllöt Ltd is producing premium eyewear both in terms of product quality and style, and can be seen as an up-and-coming challenger of established high quality eyewear brands. The main attribute which differentiates Pöllöt from these brands and their models is the material used in the products: The frames for the eyewear are made out of bamboo, which makes them environmentally friendly and surprisingly lightweight.

The main value of the company is to use ecological and renewable materials, and the company also wishes to offer customers a high-quality option that differs from the mainstream. The Pöllöt brand appeals to trend-seeking customers who look for sustainably produced luxury goods and do not want to "wear what everyone else wears".

Of course, Pöllöt is not the only wooden eyewear company in the world. There are many American firms (e.g. Proof, Shwood, Woodzee, Capital) as well as a couple based in Europe, more specifically in Barcelona (Palo, Mahonki) and Amsterdam (Hout Couture). However, based on a quick market research there are no other Scandinavian firms producing wooden sunglasses, and the existing European firms are all very young and small. The market growth potential is enormous, considering the fact that the product is a very new invention and seems to offer a fashionable, ecological, and fresh alternative to mass-produced eyewear.


That should do it for the introduction of the project, more on everything later!