Luxottica Marketing Mix

Luxottica Marketing Mix

Luxottica is a leading brand of fashion, luxury, sports and performance eye wear. The brand was founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio. It has been listed on the Borsa Italiana since 2000. Its wholesale and retail network is located primarily in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe. Luxottica is a globally recognised brand with a strong and large brand portfolio. Its brand portfolio includes some of the world’s best known eye wear brands including Ray Ban, Oakley, Vogue Eyewear, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Alain Mikli and Arnette. The brand is present in more than 150 countries. It has several production facilities and laboratories around the world. Its financial performance in the last five years has consistently improved. Net Income has grown continuously and the brand is well positioned for faster growth in future.

Learn more from this marketing mix of Luxottica :

Product Mix:

Luxottica owns a wide range of some among the most popular eyewear brands on earth. The leading brand in its portfolio is RayBan, which is among the most renowned lifestyle eyewear brands of the world. Another is Oakley, a leading eyewear brand in sports and performance category. Some of the other brands in its portfolio that cater to the high end segment of the market are Persol, Oliver Peoples and Alain Mikli.  Its Arnette brand is targeted at the sport market and Vogue at the fashion market. Apart from these proprietary brands, Luxottica also has  large portfolio of licensed brands. There are at least 20 licensed brands in its portfolio. Most of these are major names in the fashion and luxury industry.

The names include Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Bulgari, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, DKNY, Ferrari, Michael Kors, Miu Miu, Paul Smith, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Starck Eyes, Tiffany & Co., Tory Burch, Valentino and Versace. This strong portfolio of a large number of brands caters to a large and varying segment of customers.  From the latest in design to the best in performance and the most innovative and advanced, Luxottica has products of all kinds including frames and lenses. Another major attraction of Luxottica is sunglass hut which is the  biggest retailer of premium sunglasses in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South Africa and the Middle East.

Place Mix:

Luxottica is an internationally famous brand of eyewear. Its business is spread over a large geographical region all around the world.  Today, it has a large global network of wholesale distributors that covers more than 150 countries. Its extensive distribution network is complemented by a  large retail network of around 9,000 stores. Main retailers of Luxottica include LensCrafters and Pearle Vision in North America, OPSM and Laubman & Pank in Australia and New Zealand, GMO and Óticas Carol in Latin America, Salmoiraghi & Viganò in Italy and Sunglass Hut worldwide.

Luxottica also owns several manufacturing facilities all around the world for product design, development and manufacturing. Six of them are in Italy, three in China, one in U.S. that is devoted exclusively to performance and sports eyewear. To serve the local Indian market, it has opened a small manufacturing facility here too.  The company’s growth is also evident from the fact that  it opened there new laboratories to increase its manufacturing capacity in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. These facilities are completely integrated with its logistics hubs.   

Price Mix:

Several times, it has been claimed about Luxottica that it tries to totally dominate the eyewear industry and sets the price standard for it. Its vertically integrated model acts as a critical advantage. Another advantage is its ownership of Sunglass hut retail chain. Luxottica may itself claim that it is not monopolising the eyewear market but its dominance is clearly visible. It owns a very large part of the high end eyewear market; some claim 80%. It is able to charge hefty prices on its luxury eyewear. However, Luxottica has a very large brand portfolio which has also enabled it to make its price mix more favourable. So, the brand is not only for the higher end but also the middle-tier consumers. A lack of competition is the main reason that the eyewear brand can charge high prices.  Still, to find faster growth in the current market, attracting he lower end segment of customers through more competitive pricing will be good.

Promotion Mix:

Luxottica is known for stylish and innovative products. Its market leading brand Ray Ban is a highly recognised brand, popular all over the world. In 2017, Luxottica spent around half a million Euros on advertising. The brand also creates attractive marketing and social media campaigns for brand awareness and sales growth. The glamorous looks of Ray Ban sunglasses and their frequent appearance in the Hollywood movies on the eyes glamorous stars also help promote the brand.

Ray Ban has also used the ‘Never Hide’ campaign for promotions. In 2012, it rolled out its Ray Ban Legends campaign. Luxottica also uses social media creatively to execute its marketing and promotions strategy.  Ray Ban’s Facebook page has 14 million followers. On Instagram, it has 5.1 million followers. Luxottica also has its own YouTube channel for brand promotion and customer engagement.

Conclusion:

  Luxottica is considered the king of the eyewear industry. It stands relatively unchallenged in its domain with very little competitive pressure and challenge to its market share. Its large brand portfolio and vertically integrated business model are some key strengths that helped the brand achieve growth globally.

RayBan is the leading brand in its portfolio which includes several more in house and licensed brands. To promote its brand and products, Luxottica has launched attractive campaigns and used social media. It also started a campaign to prevent counterfeiting which has resulted in better sales globally. It has also grown its manufacturing capacities appreciably. The brand’s financial performance has grown stronger over the last five years with revenue and net income growing steadily. Overall, Luxottica is in a strong position to retain its  market leadership.