For many, especially in the college age, Michael Kors has been a staple piece of their wardrobe since 2011, getting a new school bag for the holidays every year. However, since 2011 Michael Kors has also become a staple piece for your 13 year old little sister, your mother, your 200-sorority sisters, and your grandmother too.
Granted Michael Kors knows how to differentiate his brand in a way where you might not find yourself having a matching bag with your grandmother, but there’s still the chance of you running into someone with the same bag as you at the mall or on your way to class. There really is no worse case for a fashionista, who would rather stand out with an individual staple piece, then blend in with something owned by everyone else.
Business Insider tributes Michael Kors’ wide level of diversity to a diminishing brand value that, “consumers won’t pay $300 for a Michael Kors bag in a department store when they can get one at the outlet mall for half the price.” Business Insider also mentioned that not only are Michael Kors stocks down—so for any stockowners it might be time to sell—but Google searches for Michael Kors have significantly decreased since this time last year!
So, you might be wondering what does this mean for you, a loyal Michael Kors shopper and an FSU student? Well if fashion to you is a fad then you’ll end up moving on from Michael Kors maybe on to another luxury bag retailer, like Kate Spade or Marc Jacobs. However, you could stay loyal to Michael, he has been there since high school, so you might owe him some for seeing you through your awkward stages and still loving you.
There is hope! Maybe the Michael Kors Branding and Marketing team will go through what Coach did when they hired their new Creative Director, Stuart Vevers, and revamp the Michael Kors image in some way. When Coach revamped their image they went from a brand where I bought flats for my 6th grade graduation to where I wanted to own their whole 70’s esque, urban feel from leather jackets for Fall 2015 to pastel colored fur for Spring 2015.
In my opinion; however, in order to do that Michael Kors has to decide on a specific target market, no more 13-year olds or grandmothers. I understand that Michael Kors probably loves everyone and loves how versatile the brand can be, but in order to stay on top he needs a clear image on who his consumer is. If the Michael Kors team does decide to want to please everyone maybe target shoes more towards adults, bags toward college age students, and jewelry towards everyone’s favorite sassy 13-year olds. Or even have three levels of luxury bags and differentiate each level based off age and price to fit a certain target market.
Mr. Kors please from all your loyal FSU followers no more keeping your brand so vanilla; add some edge, and let the students of FSU rock your bags with confidence knowing they’ll still have you around for their next holiday season.