Timberland Marketing Analysis

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Group 26.2 Camilla Terzi
Gloria Nüsse 4775716
Sander Kooi 4783840
Anna Wienczkowski 4611500
Anne Eenkhorn 4739833
Introduction 3

Intro about the company 3

Market definition 3

Description market offering / value proposition / need 3

Objective of the report / use SWOT analysis 3

Structure of the report 3

Internal analysis 3

Performance company 3

Market strategy (description segment & positioning + analysis) 3

Marketing mix per instrument 3

Strengths 3

Weakness 3

External analysis 3

Competitors (fit with market definition?) 3

Consumers (trends in consumer behavior) 3

Macro-environment 3

Opportunities 4

Threats 4

Strategic advice for growth 4

SWOT table and confrontation leading to strategic issues 4

Growth development strategy + short description new marketing strategy and marketing mix 4

Internationalization: criteria and short list countries 4

Question 1 Internal Analysis 5

Question 2 External Analysis 7

Question 3 Strategic advice for growth 8

References 8

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Introduction

Intro about the company

Market definition

Description market offering / value proposition / need

Objective of the report / use SWOT analysis

Structure of the report

Internal analysis

Performance company

Market strategy (description segment & positioning + analysis)

Marketing mix per instrument

Strengths

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Weakness

External analysis

Competitors (fit with market definition?)

Consumers (trends in consumer behavior)

Macro-environment

Opportunities

Threats

Strategic advice for growth

SWOT table and confrontation leading to strategic issues

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 one way of doing this by writing down
everything and pinpoint where there is a strong link between those individual items

Growth development strategy + short description new marketing strategy and

marketing mix

Internationalization: criteria and short list countries

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Question 1 Internal Analysis

Give a thorough internal analysis of the company and brand, answering (at least) the following
sub-questions:
a) How would you define the market your company is operating in?
- Timberland operates in multiple markets: Apparel, Outdoor Lifestyle Footwear and
Accessories. Consumers are demanding fashionable outdoor wear as well as high quality
work wear.
- Since the acquisition of Timberland by VF Corporation, one of the biggest fashion
corporations worldwide with owning major brands like VANS, The North Face and Dickies, in
2011 the company needed to differentiate itself to a distinct market to not interfere with
any other VF owned brands. Therefore, to differentiate Timberland from the other brands
the market Timberland operates in is outdoor street fashion.

- recent marketing strategy with basketball followed by a tweet of timberland with a

basketball shoe design https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/1495237087779438592?
s=20&t=AkinG9bbXZsMR7C8dAVgIw (video of cole anthony dunking while wearing
timberlands)
- https://twitter.com/Timberland/status/
1495427414968745986?
s=20&t=EECQ8VY_Bfm4uLHLAvxz7g
(shoe design)
-
b) How well does your company do at this moment?
Search for information on several metrics / measures
to display their position in the market. Does this translate
into any strengths or
weaknesses?

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- increase of 11% in revenue in the past 3 months (slide 12 fiscal year report)

- “Global revenues for the Timberland® brand increased 11% and 24% in the three and nine months ended
December 2021, respectively, compared to the 2020 periods, including a 1% unfavorable and 2% favorable
impact from foreign currency in the three and nine months ended December 2021, respectively. The increase in
both periods was driven by recovery from the negative impact of COVID-19 on demand and distribution channels
in the prior year periods. The overall growth was led by an increase of 20% and 45% in the United States in the
three and nine months ended December 2021, respectively. The increase in both periods was partially offset by
an 11% and 6% decrease in the Asia-Pacific region during the three and nine months ended December 2021,
respectively, including a 1% and 3% favorable impact from foreign currency, respectively. Revenues in the Asia-
Pacific region have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 resurgence during both periods.” (p. 34 VF Corporation Q3
FY22 Form 10Q)

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 - Strengths: Strong demand for classic styles, outdoor and timberland pro, constant
innovation which is highly demanded by customers, pre-pandemic levels have been arrived
again,
- Weaknesses: Less demand due to covid
-

c) What is the market offering, and value proposition of the company/ brand? Which need or
want is being satisfied?

The brand ‘Timberland’ offers high-quality outdoor apparel to its customers and the market,
although a big focus is put on shoes, which are mostly made of leather. Their apparel is not only
supposed to be sturdy for functional use outdoors, but especially recently has shifted to attract more
style oriented customers. While the brand puts a big focus on practicality, it also offers shoes which
are supposed to appeal to street fashion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQBQbuIGIMg).

Timberland's value proposition consists of wanting to ‘ create a culture built on giving back, and
building relationships with our communities’ (https://www.timberland.com/blog/values.html). They
strive to improve the world with their products, satisfying their customers needs for high-quality
outdoor clothing that consumers can buy with a clear conscience. Whereas their old shoes were
marketed to fulfill the need of sturdy, high grade working shoes, they have now changed to also
fulfill the need for fashionable shoes. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQBQbuIGIMg).

d) How does this translate into their marketing mix? Or, how does the company offer value to
the customer? Shortly describe the marketing mix per instrument, and indicate strengths
and weaknesses.

Product:

Timberland offers apparel for women, men and children. Included are boots, high heel boots, shirts,
hoodies, trousers, socks, backpack, wallets and more. The brand is offering a variety of items to
supply customers with stylish, high quality clothing and accessories, showing that they have reacted
to the need of customers for not only practical but stylish apparel. The design is very simple and the
colours are solid and mostly natural, which help the brand to appeal to a wider range of customers.
This, and the wide variety of items Timberland offers can be seen as a strength of the company in
this category.

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However, at the same time these points can be seen as a weakness. The simple design and colors
can be seen as repetitive relative quickly. Furthermore, the demographic of Timberland’s customers
used to be inspired by the hiphop/ street stlye. Timberland’s items however, no longer reflect this
style

Price:

price of timberlands apparel might be considered rather high, however taking into consideration
that its a high-end brand name the price doesn’t seem too high

with those prices they are able to attract a variety of customers, probably most of them (upper)
middle class, however timberland sometimes offers customized shoes or shoes in collaboration with
other companies which tend to be very pricey and can be seen worn by celebrities

timberland offers discounts though,

as well as a student and

teacher discount, making their products more accessible to more customers

-> strength: higher price strengthens timberland as a high end brand, sales allow more customers to
gain access to this

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-> price might be too high for some customers, some might see 70 euros for a shirt as overpriced
and opt for similar but cheaper options

Promoting:

timberland has brought environmentalism into advertising, calling for

steps to save the earth within their advertisement

collaborations with brands such as supreme, Tommy Hilfiger, and SpongeBob Squarepants draw a lot
of attention towards timberland and help advertise their brand

social media channels like Instagram help the brand to reach more customers, however so far they
have failed to successfully create a TikTok advertising account, something other brands have already
done and benefitted from (different part of market bu duolingo has managed to create a big
following on TikTok and has reached a bigger potential customer audience with that)

very open on wanting to give back to their community, as can be seen in their values

strengths: the promotions reflect their stated values

weakness: are not that well represented on social media, especially nowaday a good media
representation is key to successful promoting

Place:

timberland has in person as well as online retail stores

the locations for those physical stores are carefully chosen and can only be found in larger cities,
such as Berlin or Munich or in outlet stores

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strength: having not as many physical stores saves the company a lot of money in terms of rent costs
and similar costs. through their website all of their products are still accessible to customers that
don’t have a store nearby

weaknesses: even though online shopping is becoming increasingly relevant, many customers still
value the experience of offline shopping. if timberland doesn’t offer this, consumers might be
intrigued to go to a store that offers similar goods and has a physical presence nearby, leading
timberlands to lose customers.

External analysis

The microenvironment of Timberland

Timberland is a brand focussed on outdoor wear. Therefore, their top competitors are brands that
focus on this as well. For example, Wolverine World Wide and Red Wing Shoe Company, (Yahoo
Finance, 2014) belong to the top competitors of Timberland. Another big competitor of Timberlands
is the Dr. Martens boot. Wolverine World Wide is a company with a large portfolio of owned and
licensed brands. Ranging from extreme industrial occupational safety footwear, to high-performance
outerwear, to everyday accessories, (https://www.wolverineworldwide.com/our-brands/) Their goal
is to excite consumers around the world through apparel that brings style to purpose and innovative
footwear. Both the brands have similar purposes. Wolverine strives to produce the most
comfortable shoes on earth. Shoes that are able to face real challenges in most hazardous of
environments. The Timberland brand promotes innovation and a great love for the outdoors. Both
want to produce an outdoor boot with the best quality and comfort. Wolverine Worldwide is more
expensive than Timberlands. Timberland is more focused on water resistance but Wolverine
Worldwide is heat- and chemical resistant.

The Red Wing and Timberland have multiple similarities as well. in comparison to Wolverine, the Red
Wing company produces more of a working boot instead of an outdoors boot. The Red Wing Shoe
company ‘strives to make a difference in people’s lifes’. (https://www.redwingshoeco.com/).
Difference: The Red Wing Shoe is marketed as a working boot which is clearly shown on their
website. Timberland is also a working boot but is promoted as a more street style boot as well.

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(https://www.timberland.nl/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp8zr6I-
R9gIVibbtCh2RMwRFEAAYASAAEgLDovD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) Another difference is the price.
Timberlands range from 75 - 200 dollars while the red wing shoe starts at 200 dollars and goes up
from there. https://workgearz.com/redwing-vs-timberland-boots/
The last competitor of Timberlands, is the Dr. Martens boot. As a contrast to the previous
competitors, this brand focusses more on being a street-style brand rather than a ‘outdoors brand’.
https://casualgeographical.com/timberland-vs-dr-martens/ ‘our purpose is to empower rebellious
self-expression’ (Dr. Martens) https://www.drmartensplc.com/ Although, both of the footwear
brands provide both iconic streetwear boots, Dr. Martens is more focussed on creativity while
Timberlands is more focussed on innovation.

b) Who are the typical customers of your company (use segmentation variables)?
The target audience of Timberland are called ‘outdoor lifestylers’, or city dwellers who like the
outdoors but prefer their footwear and clothes to have more style than other outdoor brands.
(https://fortune.com/2015/10/13/retooled-timberland/#:~:text=Its%20conclusion%3A
%20Timberland's%20target%20customers,%2Dbrand%20The%20North%20Face.)
geographic segmentation: segmentation based on regions, climate, population density, countries.
Considering geographical segmentation, the ‘typical’ Timberland customer, could live in a region
where mountains or hilly landscapes are common.
demographic segmentation: divides market based on age, life-cycle stage, gender, income,
occupation, education, religion, ethnicity, and generation. Timberlands are worn by different types
of people. Mainly worn by construction workers. But currently also worn by fashionable people
(https://www.toptrendsguide.com/how-to-wear-timberland-boots/) . Therefore, the demographic
group consists of working adult men.
psychological segmentation: segments based on lifestyle or personality traits. As mentioned before,
the people who wear Timberlands like the outdoors, or use them as their working boots for
construction work, etc. Another group worth mentioning are drug dealers. (
https://kulturehub.com/timbs-nyc-culture/#:~:text=The%20trend%20started%20in%20the,while
%20posted%20on%20the%20block.) The drug dealers wore the shoes back in the day to keep their
feet dry and warm while selling drugs during the night.
behavioral segmentation: segments based on consumer knowledge, attitudes, uses or responses to a
product. As the Timberlands were introduced during the 50s, the shoe has had enough time to make
a name for themselves with the workforce and outdoorsy people. Therefore, the consumer is aware

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of the quality and comfort of the shoe. The consumer attitude changed when the hiphop scene
started to take over the silhouette. Rappers like Jay-z and Kanye West popularised the shoe and
made it an iconic product. Worn by all different types of customers.
(https://www.gq.com/story/timberland-alife-tall-boot#:~:text=The%20rugged%20boot
%20eventually%20leaped,beloved%20in%20the%20Big%20Apple.).

The Macro-environment of Timberland

A company has to cope with more factors than the ones that are mentioned in the micro-
environment. The macro-environment consists of factors that affect actors in the microenvironment.
These factors can be summarized in five categories: Demographic, Economic, Natural, Technological,
Political, and Cultural.

● Demographic
The demographic environment refers to the changes in population, examples of
these changes are: size, race, occupation, density, and some other factors( ). Changes in the
demographic environment will affect Timberland. Historically, Timberland was loved by the
hip-hop community, their sales skyrocketed because of this. Nowadays this prevalence in
this community is decreasing. To boost their brand image Timberland is doing an increasing
amount of collaborations with artists and other famous fashion brands, such as OFF-White.
(Timberlands)These designs are fashionable at the moment. However, if a young part of the
population dislikes the products of Timberland, it will become increasingly difficult to stay
relevant.

● Economic
The Economic environment includes all economic factors that affect a company.
Examples of this are buying power, buying behavior, but also the stock market in general,
and the value of houses (P. Kotler & G. Armstrong, 2021). Timberland is a brand that wants
to produce products that are of great quality and will last for a long time. This quality comes
at a cost, therefore the prices of their products are higher than some of their competitors.
Expensive products in themselves are not a problem (Strategic Direction, 2021). However,
when a new recession comes in the future consumer may be less willing to spend that much
money on apparel.

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● Natural
The natural environment includes the physical environment and the natural
resources a company may need. Timberland uses leather and plastics for their shoes, a
shortage in resources will affect Timberland's production capabilities. If there is a semi-
permanent shortage of a certain product, the prices will most certainly rise (P. Kotler & G.
Armstrong, 2021). Furthermore, the world is experiencing changes in the climate at the
moment. As a result of this more populations are experiencing harsh weather. These
tougher conditions may change the buying behavior of customers. Because of these changes
consumers are maybe more willing to pay more for water-resistant products.

● Technological
The technological environment refers to the development of new products,
technologies, and market opportunities. Timberland has multiple competitors, both in the
fashion segment as well as in the working shoe environment. One way Timberlands make
itself unique is their sustainability. With new technologies, they try to create a circular
system that reduces the effect on the climate. An example of this is the opportunity to send
back your old Timberland products and let those be recycled into new Timberland products
(E. Segran, 2022) .

● Political
The political environment refers to all the governing bodies and pressure groups
that have an influence on the company. In recent years governing bodies are creating more
rules to force companies to be more environmentally friendly. An example of such a rule is
the CO2 rights that have to be bought from the European Union(C.T. Albulescu et al., 2019).
Timberland is a company that started early with sustainability issues and is therefore ahead
of its competitors.

● Cultural
“Institutions and other forces that affect society’s basic values, perceptions,
preferences, and behaviors.” (P. Kotler & G. Armstrong, 2021). An increasing amount of
people is becoming aware of the problems climate change brings. Timberland was already
aware of this in the late nineties, as a result, they started relatively early with sustainable

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 practices. Nowadays they have a lead over their competitors in this regard. Examples of
these practices are: using plastic bottles in their shoes, using well-sourced leather, and
reusing leather. Timberland is also engaging in CSR, they give employees 40 paid hours a
year to do social work (Timberland).

Opportunities and threats for Timberlands

Opportunities: We think that there are multiple opportunities for Timberland where they
could potentially benefit from:
1. Timberlands is changing how they see their customer, they used to produce shoes
for workers who need durable shoes. Nowadays Timberlands are often used as a
Fashion statement. If Timberlands maintains to be relevant for younger generations,
they should be able to increase their revenues.
2. Consumers are becoming more aware of the effect climate change has on the world.
A way to combat climate change is to consume less. Since Timberlands is producing
high-quality products that are designed to last multiple years, consumers may be
more willing to spend more money on Timberlands products. One of the key
products for Timberland's shoes is leather, since this is not a sustainable product
consumers may buy another shoe. However, since the shoes last multiple years, a
consumer may take the use of leather for granted.
3. Timberland is currently active in The Americas, Europe, and Asia. One part of the
world is still lacking in its coverage, Africa. As a result of this increased buying power,
the revenue that fashion makes in Africa is growing approximately 16 percent a year.
In the coming years, a new market for Timberland will maybe arise in multiple
countries in Africa.

Threats:
However, Timberland has also some threats they should watch out for in the future.
1. Fashion is momentary, within a short period of time you could lose all of your
attractiveness to the consumer.
2. As resources as leather are getting increasingly scarce, a product Timberland relies
on for their shoes, problems in the supply chain may arise. Not only shortages can
become problematic, but also rough weather conditions that will disturb the supply

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chain. These factors could lead to increasing prices because Timberland has to
mitigate the negative effects of these problems.

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Strategic advice for growth
Finally, some questions from the SWOT analysis can be derived. What strategic issue does
Timberlands face? What would be a suitable growth development strategy and lastly what would be
a country where Timberlands could expand its market reach to.

Strategic Issue

To answer the question: what is a strategic issue of Timberlands? it is important to

first define what a strategic issue is. A strategic issue is a question or problem that needs to
be solved in the future and that has a major impact on the company goal. (R.B Kennedy et
al., 2020)

By analyzing the SWOT of timberlands an issue comes to light. Timberland became

famous as the company that made durable shoes for blue-collar workers. However, the
shoes got adapted by the hip-hop community and became a fashion statement. Over the
years Timberland chose to keep its image as a durable shoe for the workers. In more recent
years they chose another strategy, they adopted the street style and started to focus their
marketing on this. With more street style clothing and shoes appearing in their assortment
they face the risk of becoming famous for street style and not for the quality. This could
potentially harm their sales since customers expect above-average quality from Timberland.

Development Strategy
What type of growth development strategy would you follow?
There are four different types of growth development strategies. Firstly, marketing
penetration occurs when the company increases their sales of existing products in the
current market segment without changing the product. Secondly, when new market
segments get identified by a company for current company products, it is called market
development. Product development is when a company grows by offering new or modified
products to current market segments. A company diversifies when it starts or acquires
business outside the company’s current product and markets. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2021).

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The type of growth development Timberland should follow is the marketing penetration. As
Timberland had identified new business opportunities in the past, they went from a
outdoors brand to a streetstyle brand. This is where there focus is currently on. And as they
have changed their marketing strategy to fit this new market segment, they should continue
by doing so. They could continue with branding out their street wear to countries where this
is not as popular as it is in the west.

New locations

Timberland strives to attract customers that value high quality, as well as a certain
fashion sense. Especially from the collaborations that the brand has done, one can see that
parts of their target group includes street style fashion. Timberlands customers include
celebrities but also the average middle class consumer, who isn’t willing to pay 730 euros for
a pair of Timberland x Off white boots. From this one can derive that the target market for
Timberland should be one where fashion plays a big role, so that the brand can continue
working on their street style aspect, as well as being able to connect with other brands to do
further collaborations. The market should however be accessible to a wide range of
customers, not only wealthy ones, so that the brand stays in contact with all of their
customers and can adapt to their needs and wishes.

As Timberland already is a multinational company, operating in many different countries it is

almost impossible to offer new countries that the company should enter. However, while
analyzing their store locations it has become apparent that the brand is lacking sufficient
presence in many countries. Therefore this part will offer recommendations for markets that
the company should further concentrate on and increase their physical presence.
One market that is not ignorable is China. the country is on the uprise in fashion importance,
with Shanghai being considered one of the next fashion capitals by many fashion magazines
and even vogue has gotten interested in the city
(https://www.voguebusiness.com/fashion/future-fashion-cities-paris-new-york-shanghai-
moscow). Street style is of big importance in many parts of China, as many street style
videos from the country can be found all over the internet. Therefore the market meets the
criteria listed above, offering a broad environment in which the company could develop and

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 stove, as well as a wide mix of customers. However, currently Timberland only has stores in
Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
Another market is Russia. Moscow has been named another potentially important fashion
city by vogue (https://www.voguebusiness.com/fashion/future-fashion-cities-paris-new-
york-shanghai-moscow). Furthermore the cold climate offer perfect conditions for the
Timberland apparel. Currently there are 23 stores in Russia, 14 of them being in Moscow.
Considering the size of the country, there is still potential for Timberland to penetrate the
market even further.
Both Norway and Sweden are also worth mentioning. While their neighbor Finland already
has a multitude of stores, both of those countries have no more than three stores. While
neither of them are specifically well known for their fashion, the climate is perfect for
Timberlands intended use, as they still lay a big focus on sturdy outdoor clothing.
Furthermore Sweden and Norway are both known to be rather wealthy nations, meaning
that the population will be able to buy and support a slightly more expensive brand, such as
Timberland. Therefore these two markets offer expansion opportunities for the brand.

Given these criteria Russia seemed like the country with the best opportunities for further
market penetration to us. However taking recent happenings and tension into consideration,
we also see this as the market with the highest risk. Even though Timberland already has
stores there, with more stores they would need to export more items and that could very
easily become a problem for example because of possible sanctions. That is why we are
choosing Sweden as the market Timberland should focus on. Currently there are two of their
stores in the country, leaving big opportunities for the company. With the cold climate there
is a need for high quality outdoor clothing and even though the country is not considered
one of the fashion capitals, Swedish fashion is on the rise, as seen by popular brands such as
Fjällräven. This allows Timberland to further expand on their ‘stylish’ aspect and maybe even
collaborate with new brands.

References

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Gloria:
Fiscal year report Timberland
https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_7bfd89ebc3c88b0655f6d6eabf4c526f/vfc/db/409/96865/
presentation/3Q22+Earnings+Presentation.pdf
PDF Corporation Q3 form 10Q https://www.vfc.com/news/press-release/1785/vf-reports-third-
quarter-fiscal-2022-results-reaffirms
https://clearstrategy.com/work/timberland/ (opportunities but probably too old)
Anna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQBQbuIGIMg

https://www.timberland.com/blog/values.html

https://www.timberland.nl/

Anne:

https://www.wolverineworldwide.com/our-brands/

https://www.redwingshoeco.com/

https://www.timberland.nl/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp8zr6I-
R9gIVibbtCh2RMwRFEAAYASAAEgLDovD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://casualgeographical.com/timberland-vs-dr-martens/

https://www.drmartensplc.com/

https://fortune.com/2015/10/13/retooled-timberland/#:~:text=Its%20conclusion%3A
%20Timberland's%20target%20customers,%2Dbrand%20The%20North%20Face

https://www.toptrendsguide.com/how-to-wear-timberland-boots/

https://kulturehub.com/timbs-nyc-culture/#:~:text=The%20trend%20started%20in%20the,while
%20posted%20on%20the%20block

https://www.gq.com/story/timberland-alife-tall-boot#:~:text=The%20rugged%20boot%20eventually
%20leaped,beloved%20in%20the%20Big%20Apple

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Sander:
Albulescu, C. T., Artene, A. E., Luminosu, C. T., & Tămășilă, M. (2019). CO2 emissions,
renewable energy, and environmental regulations in the EU countries.
Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(27), 33615–33635.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-06155-1
Consumer purchase intention towards sustainable luxury products. (2021a).
Strategic Direction, 37(10), 17–19. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd-09-2021-0099
Consumer purchase intention towards sustainable luxury products. (2021b).
Strategic Direction, 37(10), 17–19. https://doi.org/10.1108/sd-09-2021-0099
Kennedy, R. B., Jamison, E., Simpson, J., Kumar, P., Kemp, A., Awate, K., Manning, K.,
Grey, K., & Pamplin College of Business (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University). (2020). Strategic Management (color). Van Haren Publishing.
Segran, E. (2022, 18 januari). Your old Timberland boots can now become your new
Timberland boots. Fast Company. Geraadpleegd op 23 februari 2022, van
https://www.fastcompany.com/90711379/your-old-timberland-boots-can-now-be-
your-new-timberland-boots
timberland. (2022, 23 februari). Our Story. Geraadpleegd op 23 februari 2022, van
https://www.timberland.com/about-us/our-story.html

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