Purpose
The purpose of this document is to identify the key strategic and supplementary measures the
Moods of Norway(MoN) management must take under consideration, to successfully
penetrate the New York marketplace, more importantly stay there.
Methodology
In order to identify those areas of importance stated in the purpose, we looked at the several
areas of importance such as the company´s history of expansion, identified business
objectives for the New York launch, analyzed the internal and external environment
including potential competition, conducted a research to gather information consumer
behavior and reactions to brand stimuli, used this research in addition to information given to
us by the management to plan for the New York launch, and at last we made
recommendations for the preceding of the plan when entering this new marketplace.
Company
MoN is a Norwegian fashion and apparel brand that focus on making contemporary apparel
and other merchandize inspired by the cultural and geographical characteristics of the brands
country of origin, Norway. While looking at the company background, it is clear that the
Norwegian culture permeates the entire organization. The company´s core competencies
derive from the founder´s creative interpretation of the rural Norwegian heritage and their
effort in translating that to fit the international urban society of 2012. Further, the company
has had a rapid growth since it was established in 2002 and the internal analysis suggest that
the company should be able to grow even more in the years to come.New York Competition
Based on communication with the company management and we identified MoN´s main
competitors in New York to be Paul Smith and Ted Baker. Both stores are located in SoHo
and have similarities in European tailoring. In addition to these two, several other brands are
somewhat similar. However, Were the design is similar, the price points are different and
vice versa. This suggests that MoN has good market potential in NY.
Research
To identify consumer reactions to MoN apparel, we chose a qualitative approach and
developed a depth interview based research instrument. We conducted these interviews at
selected locations in NY, where we presumed to meet consumers that would fit MoN´s target
market profile. 150 interview subjects were asked during the process that started 21st of
march. In addition to revealing attitudes and reactions towards the apparel, the store interior
and knowledge about Norwegian culture, the instrument was designed to collect some
quantitative data as well. These data´s was collected to look for significant correlation
between the responses in for instance age, residency and household income levels. Our
research findings suggest that the slightly more conservative apparel is better received than
the more extreme. In terms of store interior, the overall response was positive with few
exceptions.
Recommendations
It is in our belief that MoN should standardize activities such as their merchandizing
program, how they convey the brand essence to the consumers, and brand symbolic when
entering new markets such as NY. The brand concept is unique, viable, and hard to copy. However, based on the relatively small size of the company, the low brand familiarity and
little knowledge about the Norwegian culture and heritage, it is important that Moods
continue to convey the Norwegian exotic story in all details surrounding their business. This
will enable them to shift their focus from raising brand awareness to focus on increasing
profits. MoN is a creative business that should focus on converting their creativity from the
designing process to a business level. This will generate PR from their innovative use of
social media and special events. We also believe that if the company wants to have a longterm
presence on the east-coast, they should look for new distribution partners to handle
merchandize for this area. Store location will be a key factor in increasing brand familiarity,
and being located close to assumed competitors will allow the MoN to steal market share
from them. Further, a premium location is suggested, as it is important that they are visible to
consumers unknown to the brand. The store launch should in our opinion be close to May
17th 2013, which is the Norwegian independence day. This will attract Norwegian New Yorkers and create buzz around the grand opening
