Mark’s Work Wearhouse opened its first store in Calgary in 1977 and has now expanded to 378 stores across Canada and claims to be the third-largest men’s apparel retailer in Canada. Quite an impressive success story. So, why is it changing its name to Mark’s?
It started by selling industrial clothes (think overalls and hard hats) and protective footwear. In time, it introduced a range of fashion apparel and casual clothes but it feels that its brand identity has not shifted – people still think of it as a workwear store. According to published reports, the new brand name better reflects what the store has become – a main stream clothing retailer.
These are classic issues of product & market development and brand extension. You start with a tight product portfolio and a well defined marketing mix. You earn success and you make a strategic decision to move in to related product areas. As you stretch the product range, the brand identity gets stretched and it either has the elasticity to encompass everything, or it needs to be changed. In this case, the company name, Mark’s Work Wearhouse, which works really well with the company’s initial product lines, works less well with women’s fashions. By adopting a clever marketing communications tagline of “Clothes that work” the company can stretch the brand a little in to more fashion-conscious areas, but not for long. It has no choice but to change its name if it wants more success in these new strategic markets.
The company’s challenge will be whether it can hold on to its traditional customers while continuing to attract new ones. It’s not just whether the different target markets will comfortably shop together, it’s also whether one brand can be stretched over the whole product range. There is always risk and opportunity when you change your product and/or brand name. Risk and opportunity for the incumbent and opportunity for newcomers who can make a play for the old market.
The new branding is being tested in three markets, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Edmonton, because of their geographical isolation, which allows for cleaner testing.
It’ll be an interesting 3-5 years for this Canadian success story.
Just a thought.
Tim
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