Executive Summary:

The main goals and recommendation for Patagonia’s marketing plan are to watch out for
existing threats, take advantage of opportunities, create new goals, and consider new tactics
that will help their brand. This marketing plan states the threats and opportunities Patagonia
should look at and take advantage of. It also states the goals Patagonia should look at in the
future in order to improve their brand. This marketing plan also states the addition of new tactics
that could help boost their brands customer relationships and their brand recognition worldwide.
This marketing plan goes over the major threats Patagonia should look out for and how
to prepare for them. Major threats to Patagonia are climate change, decline in buyers, and
competitors. Being diligent about potential threats could help ensure that Patagonia will keep
loyal customers and not go out of business. This plan also states the opportunities Patagonia
could take advantage of in the future. Future opportunities to take advantage of are bringing in
new buyers, expanding their market presence, and expanding Patagonia locations worldwide.
The opportunities stated could be a major success for Patagonia in bringing consumers and
keeping loyal customers. Future opportunities could also be a good time to take advantage of
expanding Patagonias store locations and countries they operate in.
Potential goals for Patagonia in the future are also stated in this marketing plan. One
future goal is raising brand awareness worldwide. If Patagonia chooses to raise their brand
awareness worldwide, it could potentially bring in more customers and widen Patagonia's target
market. Another future goal is adding more brand ambassadors. Patagonia already has some
brand ambassadors who are all athletes. If Patagonia chooses to add more brand ambassadors
they should consider choosing athletes that play or do different sports than the ambassadors
they currently have. The addition of new brand ambassadors allows for the expansion of brand
awareness and the addition of new demographics.
In this marketing plan there are also proposed tactics that could help Patagonias
products and their customer relationships. One proposed tactic is the addition of a feedback and
suggestion option on their website. The addition of a feedback and suggestion option on their
website will give Patagonia ideas on how to improve their existing products and any new
product suggestions Patagonia could consider adding to their departments to bring in new
demographics. Another proposed tactic is adding a loyalty program. Adding a loyalty program
will allow Patagonia to reward their most loyal customers and potentially increase their number
of customers.

Current Marketing Situation:

Patagonia is a brand that is dedicated to the environment while also making high quality
products for outdoorsmen and women to use and enjoy. Patagonia's target market is outdoorsy
and environmentally conscious people like kayakers, backpackers, surfers, and climbers from
ages 18-35. Their audience is focused on outdoor gear as well as an organization that supports
the environment and wildlife. Patagonia customers expect high quality products that will last
them a long time. Even if customers receive a product and wear it until it cannot be worn any
longer, Patagonia offers a service that will take their used equipment and reuse the material to
make other products. A factor that may affect customer purchasing could be the lower prices of
competitors products.
 Patagonia has many product benefits like their use of recycled materials made out of
recycled polyester, nylon, and wool, which allows for less waste. A key differentiator for
Patagonia is their consideration of the environment when producing and selling products.
Patagonia takes many environmentally conscious steps when producing their products. Some
ways Patagonia is eco friendly is their use of recycled products, their use of marketing to tell
consumers to not buy products in order to buy less, and taking initiative to reduce greenhouse
gas emission. The initiative to make the planet a better place is what differentiates Patagonia
from its competitors. Patagonia is most well known for their outdoor clothing in each
department: men, women, and kids. One of Patagonia's most popular products is their Micro
Puff Jacket priced around $300, great for cold weather. Another popular clothing product is their
Better Sweater, priced around $120, which is good for warmer weather while also keeping you
warm. The Refugio Backpack 28L is another popular item and is priced around $90, the Refugio
backpack is lightweight and good for hiking or traveling.
Some major competitors of Patagonia are Marmot, Arc’teryx, and North Face. Marmot
works in the clothing and footwear industry, similar to Patagonia. Marmot like Patagonia has
high performing and weather resistant clothing, making both brands products quite similar.
Marmot advertises itself as a place to be creative, express yourself, and escape from the
sameness of everyday life. Marmots products tend to cost less than Patagonia products.
Marmot products can be found at their retail stores and online. While Patagonia rarely has
sales, Marmot has many sales, promotions and discounts.
Another larger competitor is Arc’teryx. Arc’teryx is a privately held company clothing
retailer and a main competitor of Patagonia. Like Marmot, Arc’teryx is very similar to Patagonia.
Arc’teryx purpose is to build the finest products possible and to create equipment that enables a
person to be immersed in the moment of doing, regardless of external conditions. Arc’teryx
tends to have higher prices than Patagonia, with product prices sometimes two times that of
Patagonia products. Arc’teryx products can be found in stores and online. Arc’teryx tends to
have more promotions and discounts than Patagonia.
North Face is another major competitor and sells clothing and footwear. North Face is
geared towards providing the best great for athletes and the modern day explorer, supports the
preservation of the outdoors, and inspires a global movement of exploration. Patagonia tends to
be more pricey than the North Face because of the quality of Patagonias products. North Face
products can be found in retail stores and online on their website. Like Patagonia North Face
products are also sold in many different retail stores besides their own. The North Face offers
many promotions and discounts in their stores and online.
Many Patagonia products are made in Asia and shipped over to their receiving port, the
Port of Oakland, and then shipped to their distribution center in Reno, Nevada. After Patagonias
products arrive at the distribution center, they are then distributed to Patagonia retail locations.
Patagonia products are sold in their 70 store locations around the US as well as online.
Patagonia also uses wholesale as a way to distribute their products to consumers. Many
Patagonia products can be found in different retail stores worldwide like Dicks Sporting Goods,
Nordstrom, and many more.

Threats & Opportunity Analysis:

Patagonia faces both threats and opportunities. Some major threats are climate change,
people not purchasing goods, and competition. Even though Patagonia has some major threats
they also have some opportunities. Some major opportunities Patagonia can take advantage of
is the ability to bring in buyers who are concerned with the environment, they also have the
ability to up their number of stores, and extend their product line. If Patagonia is aware of the
threats and opportunities they will be able to be conscious of the threats faced and take
advantage of opportunities so they can be successful.
One threat Patagonia faces is climate change. With Patagonias materials being made of
natural products like wool and cotton, if faced with climate change, it would be difficult to
continue to make new products. If there is flooding, it could wipe out a majority of cotton fields,
something Patagonia relies heavily on. Without water due to droughts, there could be no way to
nourish livestock, making it harder to find wool. Patagonia recycles most of their material but
once they have used all of the access material they will not be able to make any new products.
Patagonia is actively fighting against climate change and it would be devastating if it took a toll
on their company so it is good to be aware of the effects of climate change.
Another threat that Patagonia faces is the decline in business or people purchasing their
products. Patagonia has very expensive prices, but it is worth it for the high quality of their
products. The high prices of Patagonias products may drive away customers, later seeing a
decline in overall purchasing. As a company that is very dedicated towards the high quality of
their products, they set high prices, where some buyers may feel the prices are too high, and
not purchase from Patagonia. Patagonia may see a decline in sales, as buyers feel their prices
are too high. In the future Patagonia should be aware of any sudden drops in sales if buyers try
to force their prices down.
The last major threat Patagonia faces is competition. Like many companies, competition
is something to keep an eye out for and be mindful of. There are many brands that are similar to
Patagonia like, North Face, Marmot, and Arc’teryx. If Patagonia has a rivalry towards other
outdoor apparel brands it could potentially be hazardous towards them. Once major competitors
are in mind, Patagonia can be mindful of their prices and products and compare them to other
competitors in order to make their products stand out.
A major opportunity Patagonia has is the ability of bringing in new buyers and
consumers who are concerned about the environment. Patagonia is very focused on the
environment and anything they can do to protect it. They strive to protect the environment
through initiatives, grants, and the ways they produce and dispose of their products. Once
environmentally conscious consumers hear about the good things Patagonia does for the
environment it makes buyers want to purchase products and support a brand that has similar
interests to them. If Patagonia takes advantage of their love for the environment they will be
able to bring in more consumers.
Another major opportunity Patagonia can take advantage of in the future is
strengthening their market presence. They could strengthen their market presence by adding
more stores around the US. As of 2021, Patagonia has 37 stores scattered across 20 states in
the US. If Patagonia decided to up their number of stores it could allow for more business and a
chance to widen their demographic. They could consider adding stores in Canada and
eventually other countries around the world in the future. The addition of more stores around the
US, Canada, and eventually other countries will strengthen Patagonias market presence and
bring in more buyers.
 Patagonia can also take advantage of expanding globally. At the moment Patagonia only
operates in the US and Canada. There is a high demand for outdoor apparel across the world
and by expanding globally, Patagonia would benefit from having several streams of revenue. By
expanding globally, Patagonia will also be able to reach other demographics and bring in more
consumers. If Patagonia decides in the future to expand globally it will also allow for them to
eventually add more physical stores around other countries.

Goals:
Some goals Patagonia should consider are raising brand awareness worldwide and
recruiting more brand ambassadors. New goals will help Patagonia bring their brand to a new
level. The new goals on top of existing goals will make it easy for Patagonia to be able to
continue to be conscious of the environment while also promoting their products. Once each
goal is established and understood by each employee and member of Patagonia then it will be
easy for them to continue to implement the goals in the future.
The first goal Patagonia should consider implementing is creating more brand
awareness worldwide. While Patagonia is already a popular brand and is well known in many
places, getting more countries familiar with the brand could create more customer relationships
and grow brand awareness. To start off it would be helpful to find where Patagonia products are
most and least popular around the world. This will help marketers see what countries are least
familiar with the brand and how to market Patagonias products to them. Once the countries are
chosen for marketing, then it would be helpful to survey what the target market is in the chosen
countries in order to try and sell as much product as possible. The increase of marketing in
countries where the brand is less known will help Patagonia reach new audiences and increase
sales.
Another goal Patagonia should consider is recruiting more celebrity athlete brand
ambassadors. If Patagonia decided to recruit more celebrity athlete ambassadors then those
chosen could bring in more business from promoting Patagonia on their social media. Patagonia
already has three core celebrity ambassadors, surfer Belinda Baggs, climber Tommy Cladwell,
and trail runner Clare Gallagher. If Patagonia considered adding more celebrity athletes as
brand ambassadors they should consider branching out and choose some athletes that play or
do different sports than the current athlete brand ambassadors. The addition of celebrity athlete
brand ambassadors would help Patagonia raise brand awareness and reach new
demographics.

Strategy:
In order to create stronger customer relationships Patagonia could take feedback from
consumers and create a loyalty program. Taking feedback, good or bad, can help a brand boost
their customer relationships. Allowing customer feedback makes it easy to see what consumers
are enjoying and what they are not. It also opens up opportunities to create new products
consumers may suggest. Patagonia could encourage open feedback on their website or through
social media. Creating a loyalty program will allow Patagonia to reward their most loyal
customers, creating stronger relationships. Once others hear about a loyalty program, they'll
want to see what they can do to be a part of it as well. Creating an option for customer feedback
and a loyalty program it will be easier to capture value and retain loyal customers. Patagonia
specific target markets are outdoorsy and adventurous people, people who are conscious about
the environment both young and old. Patagonia is an outdoor clothing and equipment company
that serves to protect the environment while also creating the best quality products with a
mission statement that says: “We’re in business to save our home planet.” Patagonia marketing
expenditure levels should be around $100 million on advertising.
Patagonia will create value for customers in the future by staying true to their mission
statement, “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and
implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” They will also create value by continuing to
make high quality products for customers to enjoy. Patagonia will do everything it can to stay as
environmentally friendly as possible in order to reduce their carbon footprint and effect on the
environment. When consumers see the efforts Patagonia is taking towards the environment
they can enjoy the brand and the products as a whole and contribute to various good causes for
the environment. They will continue to use recycled materials in order to create their products
and take in old, worn Patagonia products to gain materials to create new products. In turn
customers will value Patagonias dedication to their customers and the environment and
continue to buy Patagonia products.
Some specific strategies for each marketing mix element are expanding their product
line, adding more retail locations around the world, creating a loyalty program, and continuing to
create strong customer relationships. By expanding their product line, Patagonia has the
opportunity to bring in more buyers and expand their target market. If they expand their product
line they also face the threat of not having enough materials due to climate change. If Patagonia
expands their retail locations around the world it will allow for more consumers and the ability to
expand their demographic. Although, expanding store locations could pose a threat to
Patagonia because of competition. Once competitors see Patagonia expanding their store
locations it could drive others to expand their store locations as well, causing hazards. By
creating a loyalty program it will allow Patgonia to retain strong customer relationships and
potentially expand the number of buyers. Although, by creating a loyalty program it takes a lot of
work and costs a lot of money in order to give customers who join the loyalty program special
benefits. By creating strong customer relationships it allows for Patagonia to continue to sell
products and keep trusting and loyal customers. However, if prices of products get too high and
are changed too frequently then Patagonia may see a decline in sales of certain products
because of buyers not purchasing products.

Tactics:
In order to create a customer feedback option for Patagonia there would have to be an
option on the website that allows customers to select and give their feedback. The feedback
page on the website would bring customers to a new page that allows them to type in their
comments or concerns. There could also be an option along with feedback that would allow
customers to suggest new product ideas. To spread the word about their new system they could
add a link in their social media bios or linktree that sends customers to the same feedback page
as the one on the Patagonia website. The addition of the feedback page option will be added at
the start of the month of August, 2021. The person who is in charge of Patagonia’s website will
be in charge of creating the feedback option on the Patagonia website. The people who will
check the customer feedback will be product designers and higher power personnel. The
feedback addition will be added to the bottom of the home page where it is easy for customers
to find. The cost of the addition of a feedback option on the Patagonia website will be a part of
the website package chosen when their website was first created.
The first step in creating a customer loyalty program for active customers would be to
consider what kind of rewards Patagonia would want to offer. Some things Patagonia could offer
are points redeemable, free gifts, discounts, additional discounts, and free shipping. Once one
or multiple offers are chosen, the next step would be to choose how to reward customers in the
loyalty program. Some ways to reward include making a purchase over a certain amount,
buying a specific product, referring a new customer, or mentioning the brand in a social media
post. Next would be to allow a spot on the website to sign up for the loyalty program, this can be
a separate page or in checkout. In order to get the word out about the loyalty program it would
be helpful to advertise it on the website and on social media, while also having in-store
employees to promote it to customers. Once customers who decide to create an account they
will be able to sign in on the website and apply their rewards. The loyalty program will be in
place by the start of the month of September, 2021. The marketing team will be in charge of
choosing the different offers and rewards in the loyalty program. After the offers and rewards
are determined the website designer will add the option to sign up for the loyalty program on the
website. The addition of the loyalty program will cost $25 to $50 million dollars annually,
depending on the number of customers who decide to sign up and what rewards Patagonia
decides to offer.

Budgets:
Patagonia has marketing initiatives and of the proposed marketing initiatives they will all
need some sort of budget. The budget will allow for each of the marketing initiatives to be
funded. The initiatives that will need funding are the cost for materials, cost for the production of
products, cost for personnel, and cost for marketing and advertising.
The materials cost covers all of the different materials Patagonia uses to make their high
quality products. 72 percent of materials Patagonia uses are made with recycled material from
old clothing which helps to cut down the price of the total cost of materials while also helping to
make the Earth a better place. The main materials Patagonia uses are cotton, wool, and
polyester. Products that are not made with recycled materials are made of materials Patagonia
buys and are used to create brand new products. With the use of recycled materials cutting
down the materials cost, the average cost of materials Patagonia will need to spend around
$50,000 per year.
There are many steps that go into the creation of Patagonia products. Most Patagonia
products are made in factories outside of the US because it is difficult to find factories in the
United States that meet Patagonias standards. Patagonia has to pay for the different factory
locations they have in Asia and pay the workers who are making their products. Next the
transportation of products from factories has to be considered and then the transportation to
Patagonias distribution center in the US. Once Patgonia products reach the distribution center in
Reno, Nevada, some products are sent to Patagonia stores around the US and some products
are sold to retailers as wholesales. The production and transportation of Patagonias products
will cost them around $2 million per year.
 Patagonia has to account for 3,000 employees around the world. Some positions
Patagonia offers are customer service guides, store managers, and product managers.
Patagonia is very reliant on their employees and wants to choose the best employees that will
help to benefit the company. Patagonia wants the best environment for their employees and for
work to be something their employees want to do and something they are not forced to do. The
average salary of a Patagonia employee is $39,253 per year, although different jobs could earn
drastically different salaries. The personnel planning budget includes hiring, training, employee
salaries, and employee benefits. The cost of personnel planning at Patagonia per year is around
$115 million.
Patagonia uses many different marketing operations when promoting their products. An
example in 2011 they aired an ad for their R2 Jacket with the words, “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”
Patagonias intentions with the ad was to promote their product but also tell consumers to buy
less or buy used Patagonia products. This ad sparked many conversations and was a great way
for Patagonia to promote their product. Patagonia also uses marketing and ads to encourage
consumers to repair what they wear. This strategy goes along with the “Don’t Buy This Jacket”
ad and is another way to promote their products and their love for the environment. Along with
their other ads they also use social media as a way to promote their brand. Patagonia has a
large following on many different social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and
YouTube. They post stories of their buyers using their products on their adventures and
Patagonia promotes their brand by posting videos on YouTube to inspire buyers to become
activists and purchase their products. If Patagonia wants to continue to promote their brand as
they have in the past then they will need around $100 million per year.

Measurement:
One tactic that will need to be measured in Patagonia's marketing plan is their feedback
and suggestion option that will be added on their website. This addition will help improve their
products and potentially create new ones. Another tactic that will need to be measured is the
addition of a loyalty program, which rewards loyal and dedicated customers. The measurements
of these tactics are important because they will help marketing executives see if the proposed
tactics are working and help to monitor them throughout the beginning of the process. Once the
ways to measure the two tactics are determined it will be easy to see if the new tactics are
working and if they need any change in order to make them successful. If the tactics are
successful Patagonia will continue to implement them and see how they are doing after 1 year.
If the tactics are not successful then Patagonia should look over them and change the tactics in
order to make them successful. If after Patagonia has changed a tactic and it is still not
successful, it would be advised for them to stop using the tactic.
The methods that will be used to monitor and measure the effectiveness of the feedback
and suggestion addition to the Patagonia website is the number of responses. Once a customer
has sent in a submission it will collect with other submissions where employees will be able to
see the number of submissions that have been sent in. The success of the feedback and
suggestions option on the website will be measured by the number of helpful and interesting
comments and suggestions. Employees will be able to read the submissions to see if they are
helpful and interesting or not. If submissions are helpful then this tactic will continue to be
implemented. If the submissions are not helpful then the tactic should be analyzed to see how it
can be improved in order to get more helpful submissions. If the tactic is not successful and has
unhelpful responses or answers are spammed, then it would be advised to pull the implemented
tactic.
To measure the success and effectiveness of the loyalty program, select employees will
analyze the repeat purchase rate, redemption rate, average order value, and revenue per user.
The repeat purchase rate can be determined by the number of customers who go back to
Patagonia's website or store to make purchases. If customers are not coming back to make
purchases Patagonia could offer incentives or build engagement by sending emails with special
offers. The redemption rate can be measured by the number of customers who redeem their
rewards by cashing in their points for discounts and other perks. The redemption of points is a
good way to have customers use the loyalty program because of perks they receive once they
reach a certain number of points. If the redemption rate is low there could be more ways to earn
points, like birthdays and referring a friend. The average order value can be measured by the
average amount customers spend on individual orders. This number can be calculated by
dividing the total revenue by the number of orders. To increase the average amount value there
could be free shipping added to orders with a purchase of a minimum amount. The last way the
success of the loyalty program can be measured is by the revenue per user. The revenue per
user can be calculated by dividing the total revenue by the total amount of website users. The
revenue per user is helpful because it shows how members in the loyalty program are affecting
total revenue, if they are buying, and how much they are spending. To improve the revenue per
user, increasing the prices of certain products could be considered along with increasing the
transaction size by implementing strategies like volume selling.

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