Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Normally, to purchase a new season Louboutin shoe, you would have to make your way to one of the shoe designers glamorous eccentric boutiques. Boutiques, not a regular shoes store, because the word boutiques screams glamor, elegance, and even prestige. But now, thankfully, you no longer need to spend hours in a huge queue outside one of the many Louboutin stores like the one in Paris shops to buy these amazing shoes. The famous designer has decided to open his first boutique within a department store in France – the Printemps Haussmann. In addition to all the convenience and impeccable services you receive at Printemps in Paris, you can, like a queen, have all styles from the legendary designer, literally at your feet!

70 sqm is dedicated to the brand, in a Parisian paradise of fashion. Where customers are offered with a friendly and fascinating experience, where architecture, art, and fashion merge into a single space specially created by famous customer experience design company, Household. And to anyone's pleasure, the result is definitely always there. In fact, all of Louboutin's boutiques offer the same elegant and to some point extravagant retail experience, they offer and celebrate Louboutin’s theatricality, offering the customer a unique shopping experience. When walking in to a Louboutin store you can expect anything from velvet upholstery, extensive woodwork, re-imagined famous landmarks, deep tones, scarlet colour palettes, and arched niches in which shoe collections are displayed. All reminiscent of a stage set design, creating a feeling of suspended reality. In the end, even if you don't fall into the designers target market of high income fashionistas, you can always struddle yourself into one of his luxurious boutiques and dream! The space definitely allows you to! And if you can afford a trip to France..... well there' s always e-shopping.

Ch. 6 Consumer Decision Making

Christian Louboutin has said it himself. Red attracts, that's it. People are like bulls and bulls like red! Does this have an impact in consumer decision making while purchasing his product? I believe so. While his iconic red sole came from a nail polish, most will agree its the PERFECT color red. Louboutin uses visual stimuli to attract. But what can consumers really expect from this brand besides the image of luxury, a pair of Louboutins is nothing more than a luxurious trademark. I believe people and mainly woman go about wanting a pair of Louboutin's for a very long time, making the process of actual decision making to purchase an extensive one.

The decision to finally invest in a pair is methodical and well thought out to the average person except for a higher social class "the overly rich"  who can curiously walk into a store and make an impromptu decision to leave the store with a pair. Do social influences affect this?  I would say yes! Who wears Louboutin's on a regular basis, celebrities? I'd call that the hierarchy of social influences! Who better sets and influences trends and styles besides celebrities. Take Kloe Kardashian, she happily shares her closet on social media, proudliy owning more than 100 pairs of Louboutins.

Ch. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

Global Vision – Marketing experts all agree that having a global vision means that your product is not only trying to impact the city, state, or country, but the whole world. Products like Apple, Coca Cola, Mc Donalds, Disney, and Google, among others, are all up there in terms of Global Vision. They are all easily and generally recognized around the world. The same goes for that shiny sleek red bottom sole. Even if you can’t pronounce the name, the bottom red of the shoe will always ring a bell in anyone’s memory. Over the last 20 years Chistian Louboutins creations have ruled red carpets and adorned the feet of the world's most famous and fashionable women.

Louboutin has stated “he does not believe in advertising and marketing his brand, nor does he need to, because his collection itself speaks out loudly.” Why is Louboutin so popular, it’s because of his crazy designs, be it studded, jewel encrusted, feather topped, or just patently sexy that boosts the wearer’s sense of self. For Twenty years, French Designer Christian Louboutin’s red soles have stamped an inimitable mark on the world of fashion and shoe making. Currently targeting 14+ global markets, Louboutin took what was generally an overlooked part of the shoe—the sole—and colored it red, sending women into a frenzy suddenly making shoes one of the most coveted parts of a woman’s wardrobe. He sells more than 700,000 pairs of his signature red soled shoes annually.

Middle East

According to Women’s Wear Daily Louboutins annual sales volume estimated over $300 million, Louboutin’s company is still privately owned, something which helps him retain creative control over the brand. I believe the numbers speak for his success, he has over 96 stores worldwide and is growing rapidly. The bulk of sales are still concentrated in the west, but demand from luxury markets in the east is catching up quickly. He has opened 13 stores in the Middle East in the last two years, with shoes flying off the shelves and they cannot keep up with the demand. Two years ago Louboutin launched his men’s collection, which already makes up almost a quarter of all sales.

Campaign in the NEW store in India

But this has not stopped Mr. Louboutin from continuing to globalize his brand. The shoemaker has already opened his first exclusive showroom in New Delhi and another in India. He states that it’s because he has a connection with the city, I want to say his marketing team are made up of geniuses! This is because the per capita consumption of shoes in India has gone up from 1.1 shoes a year in 2011 to about 2.5 shoes per year and the Indian footwear industry is growing at a compound annual growth rate of about 15% given that Indian woman dress more conservative there is a big market for shoe swag.  

Whether inspired by French glamour, or influenced by haute couture and have a dash of fanciful energy stolen from the 80s, his footwear line is loved by all women who love to be fashionable. In India, New Delhi, China, Egypt and the US, women rule the fashion market and they love those shiny bottoms. 

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

Selling more than 500 thousand pairs of shoes a year at, some will call it "ridiculous prices", you'd assume Senor Christian Louboutin has no need to keep an eye out on the marketing environment. People just crave his brand. Fun fact - Christian Louboutin's target market is not an ethnic group, nor a gender group, his target market is anyone who craves fashion, fashionistas! However, because his brand is so outrageously pricey, Louboutin, was catering only to high and upper middle class fashionistas/woman because woman are the major factor. It wasn't until recently that his strategy began to change.

According to interview by Lauren Collins, Louboutin states that "Self-serious monochrome fashion people are not Louboutin’s target audience. (Shawna Rose, his head of communications in New York, refers to them as “the black-and-camels.”) He gives his designs onomatopoeic names, like Toutenkaboucle, or raunchy ones, like Zigounette (“tiny dick”). Once, he made the straps of a sandal out of tape measures. Another time, he put pockets all over a boot, like a safari jacket, and called it CNN Girl. Occasionally, he goes overboard with the jokes. For example, he designed a shoe with a trompe-l’oeil heel that made its wearer appear to be standing on a curtain tassel. “It was a big failure,” he recalled".

But as we know that basic demographic patterns are influencing marketing mixes. Because the world is ever changing it is impossible for them not to have a strategy. Given that the world population rate is growing slower Louboutin has had to cater to the "basic world" including young girls, who in the end do not make sufficient income to purchase one of his non "black-and camels" shoes including myself. What does this mean? Because someone cannot afford a $25,000 pair of shoes does not mean that they won’t settle for his $1,000 basic black or camel shoe. Remember it's his shiny red sole that steals the fame, it’s the shiny red sole anyone can recognize in a dance floor at a club after a hand full of drinks. Sad but very true! As Louboutin has stated himself "even men are attracted to his shoes. Because men are like bulls and bulls like red". I'd like to call him a genius!

Given the dynamic impact his "red sole" has made on the market, it has made even 10 year old's aware of the luxury it stands for. This red sole is so magical Disney has partnered with Christian Louboutin when they asked him to bring Cinderella's iconic slipper to life. Barbie has also made a doll with Louboutin slippers. Louboutin has also began fabricating shoes catered to men, nail polishes, jewelry, and hand bags. All much cheaper than his shoes, just so that "regular" people can afford the brand.

   

Ch. 3 - Ethics and Social Responsibility

How much ethics and social responsibility can a brand have when the inspiration comes from everything from exotic dancers to exotic travel, incorporating elements of burlesque and unashamed feminine glamour for its customers. In fact, if you just take a quick stroll through Senor Louboutins shoe names, you’ll find things like Frisky Girl, Sex and candy, Tiny .. well you get the point. In an interview by CNN Christian stated that “growing up in the French capital, he became intoxicated by the glamour of the Moulin Rouge. And at just 16 years old, he went to work for the famed cabaret Folies Bergère, where he began by sewing sequins onto costumes before honing his skills as a cobbler under legendary French shoe designer Charles Jourdan. "Yes, burlesque and cabaret has always been a big inspirational thing for me," said Louboutin. "I have this thing for sure that women, in every woman, there is a showgirl in a way." So how much morality, ethics, and social resposibility can this one man empire hold?

Well, truth be told, Mr. Louboutin does think outside h is friskyness. In 2013 he offered Marie Claire readers his gold-studded, suede Geo Pump from his fall collection, with a percentage of sale proceeds going to the Grameen Foundation. The Grameen foundation helps microfinance institutions in communities around the world alleviate poverty by making loans and providing financial services to people, especially women, in need. The foundation was inspired by Grameen Bank founder and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus' book Creating a World Without Poverty. Louboutin first worked with Grameen in 2010, when he created the limited-edition Peace of Shoe pump to benefit the foundation as well.

Louboutin also regularly donates exclusive pieces to be auctioned out in fundraisers and worldwide events including the partnership with UNAIDS where they did a fundraising Gala to raise funds to stop new HIV infections among children. He also recently collaborated with friend Elisa Sednaoui who established a cultural center for Egyptian children hoping to alleviate the pressure of the economic crisis and revolution on children. Anyone can go on mygoodness.com to help raise funds, but not without getting back something spectacular! The campaign works like a combination of a kickstarter program and a lottery. For every donation, which can be as little as $10, you are entered to win a grand prize. A VERY grand prize to some.  You enter for a chance to win a weekend in Paris, all expenses paid and a stay at the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal with a friend. You also get to meet Christian Louboutin and Elise Sednaoui in his studio. You receive a relaxing treatment at Spa Darphin and party at the Crazy Horse. There are also Louboutin books and shoes to be won. A pair of red soles is an investment, certainly in this case, it's an investment in someone's future in some cases too. How's that for emotionally uplifting?

Ch. 2 - Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Does a brand that is so well known the designer signs its shoes, like an author does books need strategic planning? Like the designer, Christian Louboutin says, “a shoes has so much more to offer than just a walk”. 

Louboutin currently sells more than five hundred thousand pairs of shoes a year, at prices ranging from $300 - $75,000 for a shoe covered in thousands of crystals. His patent red sole attracts woman from all around the globe, it is every woman’s fantasy to have a pair of “red bottoms” in her closet. The red soles offer the pleasure of secret knowledge to their wearer, and like Louboutin says, “that of serendipity to their beholder”. They signal a sort of extravagant code, promising a world of glamour and privilege. They’re also a marketing gimmick that renders an indistinguishable product which is instantly globally recognized. It is clear that Louboutin caters to the rich, upper middle class, and fashionistas who can afford them such as celebrities.

Louboutins vision is to make women feel better and more confident in themselves. He’s stated in interviews that he’s always loved how women looked in shoes and the psychological “why” they loved/wear them, but then why doesn’t he cater to a more general target so that every woman can own a beautiful silhouette for their walking? So that every woman can feel beautiful in his shoes? It’s the extravagance he puts in his shoes that doesn't allow him to cater to the average Joe. 

With the brand popularity growing daily, Louboutin is finally headed toward diversification by creating new products such as hand bags, jewelry, and accessories. If you cannot afford the shoes, at least you own a piece of the brand. He is also beginning to grow his men’s collection. 

But what happens to the non-rich who still fantasize about those red bottoms and can’t afford them? I guess we have to settle and hope one day we can be privileged enough. (booo!)

Ch. 1 - Overview of Marketing - Into the Louboutin World

Christian Louboutin, a French footwear designer whose footwear has incorporated shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature. Christian Louboutin’s trademark glossy red soles are an undisputed stamp of fashion excellence. Launched in 1991 with a mission statement “to make shoes that are like jewels”, the designer has delivered season after season of fantasy footwear, and his expansion into accessories has proved every bit as sensational. From razor-sharp stilettos to lace-up boots and studded sneakers, Christian Louboutin is every woman’s first port of call for outfit-transforming wardrobe updates. While any Louboutin red bottom shoe is every woman's closet fantasy staple, the ever-graceful "Classic Pump" is the shoe Monsieur Louboutin says every lady should have in her 
closet.