Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

85mm Heel - For the middle target

The Louboutin brand is mainly catering to middle and higher class woman from the ages of 17 - 55. Although the brand entails products for men and children their primary focus is woman. And no wonder it is given that woman hold almost 2/3 of consumer wealth in the United States.  Louboutin has stated in many interviews that he caters to "Fashionistas" (fashion forward woman), but according to my marketing professor there is no such thing, and I'd like to agree. A 16 year old can be a fashionista and most probably cannot afford a $900 pair of Louboutin shoe.

45mm Heel = For their older market

They recently positioned themselves within the Men's Footwear industry and while they currently stock over 150 men shoes, they stock over 900 woman shoe designs. Clearly making woman their target market. You'd ask yourself how can the end bracket of their target market be woman of 55 years old when their shoes are so high and fancy. But lets not forget that woman over 50 control net worth of $19 Trillion and own more than 3/4 of the nations financial wealth, it'd be silly not

to cater to such a powerful market. This is were the brand developed their mid heel and flat shoe line. The mid heel line has shoes with both a 45mm heel and an 85mm heel compared to their original 125mm heel. If you ever shop for such a heel you will notice that the designs are more subtle and classic. With colors focusing on nudes, blacks, and other staple hues, this is because this shoes is catered to this powerful market, and older market set in time.  

Emma Thompson Age : 56 -yrs

Ch. 15 - Marketing Communications

Instagram user - Emilymen 
#louboutinworld

#LouboutinWorld - if you don't know the power of the infamous hash-tags then take 3 minutes to stroll through the #LouboutinWorld. You'll notice posting times for the first 5 scrolls include posts from just 1 hour ago, which goes to show you just how engaged Christian Louboutin fans are on social media. Alexia Mourout, group COO and GM of Christian Louboutin stated that "Hundreds of thousands of images are shared to social media each day by our followers, we wanted to give them a home in our world." After Louboutin launched the hashtag in January, he teamed  up with visual marketing platform Olapic to source and curate user-generated images of Louboutin shoes which are then displayed on the Christian Louboutin website. Christian Louboutin personally approves the photos before they go live to meet the brands image standards. Its no wonder the designer uses social media as their main form of marketing communication vs ads, commercials, and sales.

Seni727 posts - Carpe diem OOTD -
Not sure what days shes seizing
with those high heels and
cobble road, but hey knock
 yourself out Seni77

The huge impact and growth of the Louboutin world has led other brands to realize that its not just about putting out messages and posting content, but also reacting to and curating other peoples content and spotlighting what other people are doing, this is were the #hashtags come into play. Emerging brands are also putting into effect their social media efforts, if you don't, its easy to stay behind.

User -Vikatheone states her most inspirational 
quote - "Tell her she is BEAUTIFUL not
 HOT, she is not a temperature. 
We know that Louboutin consumers are
wealthy, but their intellectual status is 
undetermined at the moment. 

According to Alexia Mourout the business impact is noticeable. She said that in some countries, mainly in the Middle East, consumers are visiting boutiques with their phones in their hands asking for specific styles posted on the #LouboutinWorld hash-tag feed. Fashion bloggers with a lot of followers with post their OOTD (out-fit-of-the-day) and #louboutinworld. Not only are they promoting the brand but they are giving woman examples of outfits they can pair their Louboutins with, so the not-so fashion foward woman now has an idea of what she can wear. Making it easier to say "I want that one" when she enters a Louboutin store, and giving power to the Monkey See - Monkey do effect.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Louboutin Canvas
and Woman

Shoes are normally considered consumer goods. But when a shoe is worth up to $25,000, can only be bought in specific boutiques or specific retailers (only older seasons), can it still be categorized as a consumer good or does it become a specialty product? 

Specialty products are products with specific benefits that are highly desirable to certain customers. And what is a Louboutin shoe if not the high class standard its portrays when worn? In the end its just another shoe, its no more comfortable than Aerosole brands.

Louboutin Quote on Comfort

Consumers do not buy a Louboutin shoes for the comfort it brings, on the contrary, reviews on the brand state that you cannot walk more than 6 blocks on any Louboutin 120mm heel, it's just the social status and burlesque-ness it stands for. Woman shop Louboutin shoes to feel sexy, to feel empowered, to be trendy, survey says. Louboutin himself has stated "I would hate for someone to look at my shoes and say "Oh my God! That looks so comfortable!" Which ironically is now sold as canvas art.  

Louboutin Canvas on Success

As stated in an article by Infinitee, a marketing blog "When you see a woman wearing one of these classic red-sole shoes walking down the streets of Manhattan or any office, a statement of power is conveyed. This woman is instantly associated as being classy and fashion savvy. It’s undeniable that the product itself sells the shoes" and by product she means the red sole. Its the branding/power behind the "red bottom sole". In the end the "red bottom" sole is the brand, no wonder Louboutin trademarked his brand back in 2008, at this point in time positioning the trademark as a global brand.  

Louboutin Canvas on Standards

So Louboutin shoe consumer good or specialty product? I go with Specialty product.