In our previous article, we learnt in detail about the marketing strategy of a really fascinating brand, Future Retail. In this article, we are going to elaborate on the marketing strategy of Trent – India’s leading retail company.

You instantly think of WestSide whenever someone says, “Let’s go buy some clothes,” don’t you? For this reason, in this case study, we will focus on Trent Limited, the parent company of WestSide, to better understand the marketing tactics it has used to maintain such great brand recognition among consumers.

This blog post will go over Trent’s Marketing Strategy, along with its target market, campaigns, SWOT analysis, and so on. Now let us learn more about Trent without further wasting any more time.

As you can see, marketing is the rib of every industry in today’s totally internet world. Check out our Free Masterclass on Digital Marketing taught by IIDE’s CEO and founder, Karan Shah, if you’re interested in learning more about marketing.

About Trent Limited 

Source – The Sunday Guardian

Trent, a Tata group company founded in 1998, is operated throughout the country with its headquarters in Mumbai. Trent is one of the leading companies in India’s retail industry.

On December 5, 1952, the Company was first established as Lakme Limited (“Lakme”). Lakme was engaged in the production, marketing, and export of cosmetic, toiletry, and fragrance products.

Given the lack of well-known brands in the majority of categories, Lakme chose to leave the cosmetics industry and focus on the retailing of clothes in 1998.

It was determined that Lakme would launch a chain of department shops across the nation in order to develop a significant presence in the retailing of clothes and soft products. 

Towards this end, Littlewoods International (India) Private Limited (“LIIPL”) was purchased by Lakme in March 1998 from Littlewoods International Limited, U.K. Retail sales of already-made clothes and related goods were the focus of LIIPL.

A Lakme subsidiary called Lakme Exports Limited was combined with LIIPL on January 1, 1998, and the new company was given the name Trent Limited.

After that, Trent Limited and Lakme were merged with effect from July 1, 1998, and Lakme Limited’s name was changed to Trent Limited. The firm called Trent Ltd., which specializes in retail operations owns and operates several retail chains in India.

The company primarily operates four types of stores, which are listed below:

• Westside
• Zudio
• Star
• Landmark

Subsidiaries and Associates:

• ZARA
• Fiora Business Support Services Limited(FBSSL)
• Fiora Hypermarket Limited(FHL)
• Booker India Limited
• Trent Hypermarket Pvt Ltd

Business Highlights :

1. Continued emphasis on aspirational fashionability
2. Scaled up exciting exclusive brands
3. Ensured faster store opening to scale up to reach
4. Focused on the speed of delivering the latest fashion each week
5. Built Omni channel presence

Quick Stats :

 

Marketing Strategy of Trent –

Let’s take a look at Trent’s marketing strategy! And how Trent carries out the marketing campaign, 

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

The brand has segmented its customers into two lifestyle segments – contemporary and modern – and how all its in-house brands are mapped to these two based on predetermined parameters. 

Trent mainly targets youth between 15-25 years. They are active in Tier II and III cities which have seen rapid urbanization, influencing the traction for organized retail in the country. Since 69 per cent of the country’s population lives in these cities, it contributes up to 54 per cent to the total retail consumption, indicating significant purchasing power and retail opportunities for Trent Ltd.

Trent Limited (Trent) is a leading branded retail company with a pan-India presence.  Over the years Trent has been sharpening its focus on fast-moving value fashion targeted toward women. It sees value fashion as one of the growth drivers in the medium to long term. India’s ethnic wear is dominated by various unorganized players.

But now this trend is also changing and people are choosing branded clothes. And this is the main reason behind its successful growth and good positioning in the Indian Market. 

Marketing Campaigns

1. IMAGES Most Admired Marketing Campaign of the Year: Customer Chain Coupons by Star

Coupons help to attract new clients, increase interaction with existing ones and help in increasing revenue. Physical coupons can be provided in your store, and digital coupons can be made available through social media campaigns and marketing messaging on a company website.

It’s estimated that 60% of consumers are likely to try a new product as a result of a coupon, while 46% said they’d change their planned purchase. No matter if a coupon is intended to persuade a buyer to visit a physical store or a firm website, coupons can be a successful approach to increase sales.

Trent Ltd understood consumer behaviour and hence admired the best marketing campaign of the year 2020. 

 

2. Major marketing plans focused by Tata’s Trent Ltd to improve the reach of the brand by setting in smaller formats of Westside stores like “Westside Girl”, and “Westside Woman” in order to make them popular in Tier II, and Tier III cities.

Currently, there are 35 Westside stores spread over 20 Indian cities. The reason they are concentrating on the woman’s apparel segment is that they want to tap the new empowered woman’s brand loyalty with their stylized yet pocket-friendly offerings.

Also, CLUB WEST membership is offered where customers are given special privileges like 20% discounts during their birthday month, free home delivery of merchandise and Clubwest points on each purchase that can be exchanged for money.

The focus is to be extremely sensitive to the needs of the customers and build the brand on their suggestions and opinions. Last Diwali, Westside entered the world of cause-related marketing by selling diyas made by poor children in its retail locations.

 

3. Trent Limited has collaborated with organizations that help children and periodically contributes items like clothing, books, toys, etc. Within-the-organization volunteers participate in these contribution campaigns and spend time with the recipients through a variety of activities.

Trent also works with the Guru Nanak Trust, a medical NGO, to give unwanted medications that are then used by the trust’s medical staff to treat patients from poor communities who are ill or injured.

Trent encourages its staff and clients to contribute any unwanted medications, which are collected in designated medicine drop-boxes located at the corporate office and in the retail locations.

As part of their marketing campaign for societal improvement, they engage in a variety of such activities. They also inspire the country by using the hashtag #TrentInspires on their LinkedIn profile.

Social Media Marketing

Trent as a company doesn’t have an account on any other social media platform but stores under this company do have their separate social media accounts on various platforms. With TataCliq, Trent was a pioneer in the adoption of the Omni channel strategy in Indian retail, and it has recently increased its online presence.

Trent is very active on social media such as LinkedIn – 36k followers.

SEO Strategies

Source – UberSuggest

According to SEO rankings, the number of keywords – below 500 is bad, above 1000 is good, and 10,000+ is amazing. As we can see, www.trentlimited.com has 1322 organic keywords, which is good but still has scope for improvement. That means Trent still needs to work on its digital marketing.

Also, the monthly traffic is around 34K+, which is considered good. As a result, we can conclude that Trent is improving its SEO strategies while working hard enough to keep the brand afloat in Google’s organic SERP results.

Influencer Marketing

The company collaborates with social media influencers to leverage its reach and amplify the brand and its offerings. The company holds several online events, including quizzes, Lego workshops, bookmark-making classes, and DIY workshops.

These online events benefited in increasing the following base and driving over 4 million interactions across all age groups on social media platforms.

Ecommerce Strategies

Through its one-stop shopping app, The Brands of Trent keeps its customers incredibly engaged. They give discounts and very affordable pricing for their products.

Tata’s retail business stays off the deep discounting strategy of e-commerce giants including Amazon.com Inc and Flipkart Online Services Pvt. to lure price-conscious buyers, Tata said.

Mobile Apps

Westside, the major fashion brand of Trent ltd with around 22 labels all developed in-house has a mobile application where you can see a detailed list of their collections and order products right from your mobile.

This software is made to make it easy for customers to reserve things in physical stores as well as make online purchases.

Content Marketing Strategies

Exciting campaigns, such as brand videos and social media engagement, help its brands communicate their distinct identities. The company collaborates with social media influencers to leverage its reach and amplify the brand and its offerings.

It creates extensive & exclusive customer engagement by creating Instagrammable moments through events on social media platforms (Facebook & Instagram) via collaboration and digital-led activities.

Conclusion – What’s Unique in Trent Marketing?

Trent Ltd’s marketing strategy revealed that the company has gained a lot of love and support from its customers. They have done everything possible to gain a large market share by being unique in providing the best fashion trends based on consumer tastes and preferences.

Despite its lack of digital marketing methods, Trent Ltd is still attempting to evolve and grow in the digital sector.

In today’s world, the value of digital marketing cannot be emphasized. In contrast to traditional marketing, it concentrates on niche markets with a worldwide audience and produces substantial returns with little expense.

It is easy to notice and conversion-driven. Additionally, damage control is made simple by digital marketing.

Check out IIDE’s 4 Month Digital Marketing Course if you want to learn more and expand your skills.

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Thank you for reading, and please feel free to comment below with your opinions on this case study.