Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

Geographic segmentation

Since opening their first store in downtown Manhattan, Supreme expanded to London and Tokyo to cater for their growing audience. Japan- this Asian country has more locations than all other countries combined. There is no wonder because Japan is one of the most creative countries and so many outstanding artists and art works are born in this country. The reason why Supreme picks most of the flagship locations in Japan becomes obviously. It is a good idea for this creative streetwear to grow into more creative. The success of Japanese Supreme stores and the sixth flagship location proves that Supreme promoting in Japan is wise.

Demographic segmentation

Supreme targets on those teenagers who loves skateboarding and streetwear, The main age range is from 15-30. 

Psycographic Segmentation

Supreme is the symbol of fashion, stylish and creativity. The brand collaborated with some trendsetters and fashionists which visually show its image to the target market. 

         In my opinion, Supreme is not only a skateboard or clothing brand, it is also the symbol of art to New York.The red box logo"supreme" has been traveling around the world and spread its unique but simple style.

Chapter 11 Developing and Managing Products

As a brand based on art, Supreme always promotes the products in some creative ways. Especially the flagship outlook. An example of the creativity is the picture above. In response to their huge commercial success in Japan, Supreme opened a new store in the Shibuya of Tokyo on 29 September, 2012, which is the sixth Supreme flagship location in Japan. Mark Gonzales, the American professional skateboarder and artist helped create a brightly colored glossy sculpture of a sphinx coming with the Supreme sphinx collection.

Supreme's online store website is under a good management too. The product line is clear, classified and the product line depth had been increased with every kind of things that the company carries.

This Black Friday, Supreme also gave out the 20% off promotion sale which help they develop the brand and prepare the coming new release, the classic and hottest collection of a year. Supreme box logo hoody- Supreme fans' favorite collection.
  

Ch. 12 - Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

Like most of the brands, Supreme creates and adjusts their marketing mix(product, place, promotion, and pricing).

Product (service)

Many people may feel that Supreme operates off a lazy, non-nonchalant business model because their design is always that simple- simple design with its remarkable, classic box logo. However, Supreme is actually "working really really hard to make everything seem effortless" .They make their products unique and quality and try to fit different culture, as we known the main market of this brand is Asian countries. They collaborate with different artists with different style make their stuffs more creative and special. And the amount of their stuffs are limited. The brand releases simple functional but stylish items.Besides, they have online services, people can order the products from the online shop and they have the customer services.  

Place

There are nine Supreme stores all over the world. There are two in the U.S- New York and Los Angeles, one in London and six in Tokyo, Japan. Supreme chose their location surrounded by other streetwear stores, such as soho in New York and Fairfax avenue in LA. Their neighborhood are all like some sneaker or fashion brands.     

Promotion
Before every new collection releasing (usually on Thursday), supreme will post some videos or pictures on the social network pages such as Instagram to introduce and promote their new products. Sometimes they will also sell some season magazines(lookbook) as a promotion way. The company holds some social skateboard activities to promote their brands as well.   

Pricing
As for the prices, supreme sets a acceptable prices. The items they are selling are limited but the price is not a luxury price because their target market is teenagers. There is a Japanese brand named Visvim which is a streetwear brand like Supreme. But compared to Supreme ,Visvim sets a very high price. For instance, a regular T-shirt would cost $300. Most of the Japanese streetwear brands have a high, upset price for teenagers. Supreme tend to provide a more fair and affordable price for those streetweaer fans.

Supreme is always adjusting this "4P" marketing mix. Creative products, proper place, social promotion and affordable pricing make this brand keep its crown in this streetwear market.
   

Chapter 10 Product concepts

Supreme red box logo represents the brand throughout the world. The classic logo became an important part in the success of the company. And a battle between Supreme and another skate-fashion brand makes supreme take this logo more serious. In 2004, when 22-year old Leah McSweeney started a woman's skate-fashion line called Married to the mob, her first T-shirt was a sort of homage: supreme bitch written in the Supreme.Supreme sued McSweeney for $10 million and demanded she remove the offending items from retailers. In some reasons the lawsuits were dropped after an out-of-court settlement was reached. On March 6,2013,last year, a trademark for supreme's box logo has officially been filed.The action make supreme box logo become a more loyal and influential. Besides, it makes the company have the exclusive right to use this logo develop the brand.A trademark is really essential to protect a brand from copy or offense.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Supreme has two small sales per year- winter sale and summer sale. There is also a big warehouse sale every five years.The sale is available not only in the physical store but also their online shop which is convenient for those customers who can't grab stuffs in physical stores. Except those special sales,supreme never go on sale in the other days,not even give out VIP cards or any discount.Supreme doesn't have any duty-free store or outlet,either.They never use some extreme sale ways to attract kids.Instead,the company try their best to improve the quality and the design for the brand.

Understanding the impact of technology on personal selling,supreme makes good use of social net working to have good communication with customers.There are many supreme sites are set up to preview the coming release or events and the promotion information.The members who sign up for the online shop can also get the details about the new collections,stories behind the collaborations or sales.There are also some skateboarding events that connect the brand and the fans.

Supreme is a brand that try to inspire the teenagers with their attitude to skate culture,street culture and stylish of this country.Supreme maintains the brand in the market,moreover,it also becomes a important part of the culture in this country.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

      It seems Supreme does not spend a lot on commercials or promotions. You would never see this company's advertisements popping out on some websites or shown up on newspapers,theater,TV,etc. But Supreme do promote. Every new season,they publish a look book magazine which promote the new stuffs of the coming release. In the books, there are the pictures of the celebrities who skate on Supreme decks or "rocking" their clothes. As I said before, the celebrities who represent urban or street style like model Lady gaga or rapper Kanye West wearing supreme is a big part of promotion for the brand.

Besides, Supreme also hold some special events to promote their brand such as some concert, street style exhibitions and shows such as the popular show in this summer celebrated for their 20 anniversary "Cherry". The show was also recorded into DVDs. It is a series of sessions with everyone skating together and being a part of the street scene. The limited DVD becomes another indispensable collection for supreme fans and skateboarding fans.

There is also a skateboarding team named "Supreme Kids" found by supreme staffs. It became known because of a crew of friends from LA and NYC who all skate together. Like I mentioned before, they built up a skateboarding spot in LA Supreme flagship store, Supreme is not using the traditional way to connect with customers. Supreme is promoting the street culture, the skate culture and doing the institutional advertising. 

Chapter 14 Marketing channels and retailing

Supreme is the skateboard and street wear retail store - an independent retailer owned by James Jebbia. The main thing that the company does is design.The goods are made or produced in many other countries such as France, China, Japan, India, Spain,etc. It targeted to generation Y consumers especially those who love skateboarding and fashionable street wear. As the form of distribution,Supreme is a kind of selective distribution.It is not aimed at maximum market coverage.Every new collection is limited which means only a few are chosen.They have total nine stores all over the world. I visited the Supreme store in SoHo,the first Supreme store's location.I think the sight is the most important stimulus to attract customers.The store's atmosphere of calm and order make me feel just that comfortable which just reminded me of the brand's concept-simple but quality.Couple skateboard decks are hung on the wall in orderly rows which pop out when I stepped into the store.Some young staffs are fixing the skateboard decks. There are couple shelves for caps,shoes,clothes,backpacks and accessories.Even though it is not a large or luxury stores like other retail stores but everything is neatly labelled and cataloged. 

Last month I went to Los Angeles and stopped by another Supreme store of U.S.It also located on the street where all of the fashion and street wear brands gather together like supreme New York store. Supreme Los Angeles is also a simple designed store without exaggerate decorations but the special thing of this spot is a big skateboarding ground on the second floor which even make it a "must go to" place for tourists. 


Other flagship stores which are located in Japan and London seems more likely mixed style because Supreme love getting along with different culture and they always ready to change to adjust and to improve.But the similar look is always keeping simple and organized.May be in some people's eyes, street culture in some points means rude or riot.However,Supreme tells me that the street culture is a symbol of youth,energy,creativity and stylish. Everything present the brand a simple but creative image.