The Business to Be in Future: Branding Strategies Essay Example

Introduction

Questions have been rising concerning Hudson's entry into the real estate industry. The company has survived as a retail fur organization but has been showing interests in the real estate industry over the past few years. Hudson has managed several buildings and lands including the Saks Fifth Avenue property in Manhattan (Lawrence & Liu 2014). Hudson Bay acquired Saks property from Baker, at $2.4 billion cash. The amount was seen to be too high for such an investment. However, the property now costs about 15$ per share which tops up Hudson's Bays' stock price. The company's stores have not been active for quite some time compared to the real estate business which is performing brilliantly. Therefore, Hudson Bay should venture into the real estate business since it is playing well.

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Branding strategies

Mix of national brands and private label brands sold by the company

The brand of a company refers to the perception customers have about the organization's products and services as well as the firm's identity. Hudson Bay sells both national and private brands (Friedman 2008). HBC Flag is the brand identifier that Hudson Bay made in early stages. It had the British "Union Jack" in the top left corner and the letters HBC in white in the bottom right corner. Hudson used the flag on naval ships which entered Hudson Bay and its forts. Therefore, countries would see it and buy fur from the firm. After HBC Flag, Hudson Bay established A Standard of Trade which promised quality and consistency. It was a price list which showed how much one beaver pelt cost in all regions. "A Standard of Trade" brand provided for the similar price of a beaver pelt regardless of the area.

Hudson Bay sold its stores to Target in the United States in 2011. As a result, it moved from the lower end of retail. It then made a new logo in 2012. The arrangement of letters in the new logo is similar to the ones in the HBC Flag. However, store names translated from "the Bay" to "Hudson's Bay." The change did not have much impact as the words "Hudson Bay Company" were used in all stores. The brand performs well in the market. Hudson Bay had changed the HBC Coat of Arms several times. The 2002 Coat of Arms was unique since it was the first Coat of Arms without the motto "PRO PELLE CUTEM." Instead, the motto changed to "CANADAS MERCHANTS SINCE 1670". The company made further developments on the logo and redesigned it as a shopping bag in 2002. In 2006, the company further updated the logo by removing the handle and adding Point Blanket colored stripes. In 2009, the company added the lines on an updated coat of arms.

Contracting private label brands

Hudson Bay concentrates on five private label brands while getting rid of the other 20 such as Expression, Alfani and inc (Tyrrell 2013). They underperform. The five private label brands boost the company's performance by 6%. The five private label brands include Hudson's Bay Company Signature, Lord and Taylor, 1670, Gluckstein Home and Brack Brown 1826. Hudson Bay Company Signature is pricey in the selected Hudson's Bay Stores such as the new Hudson's Bay Airport (Schmidt 2011). 1670 will be updated to feature men's and lady's fashion at a moderate price. Brack Brown 1826 and the Lord &Taylor is now the Lord & Taylor brand which boost the department stores chain in American.

Summary of analysis and recommendations

The above discussion comprises of several issues concerning Hudson Bay. The first part of the paper explains why Hudson Bay should venture into real estate as the future business. The company proves to excel in real estate than in the fur business, thus the reason it should move into the real estate industry. The second part of the discussion is the branding strategies that Hudson Bay uses to market its products. The brands are a mix of international and private labels. The third part on the analysis discusses contraction of private brand labels. The five private labels adopted by Hudson Bay are beneficial while the other discarded 20 are non-performing.

Hudson Bay has made impressive progress (Cavanagh 2011). It has reported an improvement in the overall efficiency in recent years. However, there are several areas the company needs to improve on. The company needs to completely transit into the digital world. Incorporating technology in the system will speed up the operations. Therefore, it will boost sales. Also, Hudson Bay needs to increase online platforms through which customers can access services. The online purchases will hasten fulfillment and improve delivery time.

The future success of Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay has recorded increased income in the recent quarter with a 70.4% rise in sales, making $4.5billion. Also, its transformation into the digital World has increased digital sales by 61.6% thus boosting net earnings by 220%. As a result, the company secures its position as an option for traders. It continues innovating and shifting towards the demand and adding value to its stock through acquisitions.

References

Cavanagh, E. (2011). A company with sovereignty and subjects of its own? The case of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1670-1763. Canadian Journal of Law & Society/La Revue Canadienne Droit et Societe, 26(1), 25-50.

Friedman, D. (2008). From Hudson's Bay to eBay. In Morals and Markets (pp. 107-124). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

Lawrence Ph.D., B., & Liu Ph.D., P. (2014). Insights on Hospitality, Retailing, and Commercial Real Estate: 2014 Cornell Retail Real Estate Roundtable Proceedings.

Schmidt, J. (2011). Shopping in the late nineteenth century: the Hudson's Bay Company and its the transition from the fur trade to retailing (Doctoral dissertation, University of Saskatchewan).

Tyrrell, J. B. (Ed.). (2013). Documents relating to the early history of Hudson Bay. Champlain Society.