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. 

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

Supreme's major target is a youth population of those who love fashion, cool, streetstyle from different countries.Supreme box logo seems become the icon or even the recognition when fashionable youth group think about streetwear brands.It based on the classic red box logo and have various design and they are popular all the time.The logo design itself has powerful influence in the this streetwear brand game.The company tries to make its goods classic but easy for everyone to remember and recognize:"Oh, look! Supreme".The logo design feels like an invisible hand that catch kids' attention and attract more new customers.

Moreover,celebrities do wield influence over consumer decision making, especially the younger generation's purchase decisions. They tend to copy the celebrities' whole outfit. For that reason, supreme keeps celebrities co-signing and "rocking" Supreme's goods becomes the driven force that motivate and attract the devoted supreme fans.

Supreme stuffs on famous celebrities such as rapper Kanye West, Tyler, model Kate moss help the brand maintain its crown and impress all of the cool, stylish kids.

Chapter. 5 - Developing a Global Vision

New York is where all points converge in fashion and is able to birth arguably the best streetwear brand of all the time.Because of that an invisible competition among all of the New York streetwear brands shaped.However,Supreme still holds its crown in this streetwear game over the years. It became a global cultural brand not only with its own myths,iconography and belief systems but also its understanding of globalization.Supreme rationally picked the top international streetwear destinations for their flagship stores.In 2004,Supreme located its first chain store in Los Angeles,the heart of streetwear culture.It after arrived in Soho,London with its first shop in Europe in 2011.This is of course a big deal.I say that not as if English is the best language in the world but it is the language of streetwear culture.Let is take a look of the opening T shirt-the supreme box logo tee remixed with the UK flag.

Supreme now has six stores scattered across Tokyo,Japan.We have a saying at JG:Born in LA.Raised in Tokyo.Made in America. Streetwear grew up in Tokyo.What other country could make every would-be streetwear designer really think about challenging the establishment that Japan helped build?That is why Supreme love this country and doing business with it.In 2011,supreme released the "Japan Relief" Benefit T-shirt in an effort to support the earthquake and tsunami victims of Japan.100% of all the proceeds from the sales of the T-shirt will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

They have connect with many other countries in the world besides the ones I mentioned above.For instance,most of their products are not made in U.S.They are made in China,Canada,India,Spain, France,etc.Supreme knows the importance of global marketing and takes the advantage of it.

Ch. 4 - The Marketing Environment

As we know,United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations.Supreme pay much attention on the growing ethnic markets.And the Asian American population is the fastest growing among minority groups.Supreme,for that reason,tend to make their designed productions fit Asian style.In this year,Supreme also release the collection in memory of Bruce Lee,the Asian American martial artist.Moreover,as they found the great number of fashion teenage groups in Japan,they have six stores located in Japan. But apparently the demand is greatly far away from the supply.There is a line on every new release day. 

They also take advantage of social media,using Instagram  and any other social net working pages to promote their company and every new season release.Of course,they invite some celebrities as their brand models for attracting more customers.

Chapter 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

          When we mention limited stuffs like some sneakers or clothing, collectors might think of resale right away.A reseller is a individual that purchases goods with the intention of reselling them instead of consuming or using them.This is usually done for profit.There is also a phrase to describe reselling: flipping. As most of the supreme items are limited ,you can always see a long line in front of supreme store on Thursday, the day Supreme releases new stuffs . However,most of them are just line up for money.They try to get the stuffs and resell them then make money,especially resell to other countries where there are no Supreme stores at all.For that reason some items sold out so quick and people sometimes have to spend triple price on just a T-shirt.On the term Ethics& Social Responsibility, supreme focuses on fair dealing.They makes a clear statement that purchase for personal use only not for resale.They limit the purchase mount for the buyers."Limit one style per product".They also maintained and fixed the online shop's system,preventing people from using bots to automatically and illegally order goods online.They want every supreme fan,streetwear fan to get the items fairly instead of "crazy flipping".Supreme sets a good example:A company is the important element of keeping a healthy,fair trade market.

Chapter 2 Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

When we talk about street culture,downtown New York, especially Soho, must be the first place pop out our mind. And if we say downtown New York  is the home of hip hop,punk rock,skate boarding or any other kind of street culture, Lafayette Street must be the central spot.Supreme, like anyother streetstyle brand such as APC, Stussy,Bape,BillionBoyClub,Kith,picked Lafayette Street as their retail store location.The brand ,forged from New York City skate and street culture of the early to mid 1990s ,has risen to great success and becomes the star of the market.But meanwhile ,be surround by a series of  similar style brands  means Supreme has to put more effort to improve  its competitive advantage.
The founder of the brand- James Jebbia pointed out that Supreme is much more than a skate culture-driven brand.They tended to strengthen their market status with the product development strategy.Remaining their original clean,simple aesthetic ,supreme creates many sort of accessory besides skateboard and sportwear.Couple weeks before they even worked with JamBox company and released the wireless bluetooth speaker. 

Streetwear is an endurance game.Supreme is trying really hard not only to increase market share among existing customers but also attract new targets.The product development is one thing,but the most important thing that maintain this young brand is TEAMWORK.They still prefer to cooperate with those stylist artists or outstanding brands to get stronger.

Chapter 1 Brief History and Mission Statement

In April 1994,Supreme opened its doors on Lafayette Street in downtown Manhattan and became the home of New York City Skate culture.Lead by its founder,James Jebbia,Supreme is playing an integral part in its constant regeneration.Skaters,punks,hip-hop heads-the young counter culture at large-all gravitated towards Supreme.

Over its twenty year history,Supreme established itself as a brand known for its quality,stylish and authenticity;it has worked with some of most outstanding designers,artists,photographers and musicians in the world.Supreme successfully collaborated with some groundbreaking brands,such as Nike, Bape, Comme Des Garcons,Vans, Timberland,TheNorthFace,etc.The collaboration and the abundant unique ideas make this young, energetic brand become more influential and competitive.

Huge lines,once endemic to its flagship in SoHo,New York,now form at satellite stores in Los Angeles,London and six cities in Japan:Shibuya,Harajuku,Daikanyama,Nagoya,Osaka,Fukuoka since 2004.