Ray-Ban Company.edited

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Ray-Ban Company

Ray-Ban sunglasses were introduced in 1937 in New York, United States. It was later bought by an Italian company, Luxottica. The company is well known for its sunglasses, both prescription and non- prescription. The company is one of the major companies that deal with the sale of eyewear boasting a 5% share in sales in the world.
Internal Analysis
Ray-Ban has successfully maintained its reputation as a leading company in the eyewear industry as it has continued to produce high-end products over the years. This has partly been due to the efforts the company has put in keeping up with the trends and also customization of the sunglasses depending on the preference of the customer. Their prices go hand in hand with the quality of the sunglasses especially the lenses. This makes their prices to be high with prices ranging from $150- $250. They are sold in high-end stores which also accounts for their high prices. Their retailers include Nordstrom and Macy’s. They also sell their product online through their website or a third party such as Amazon (Poushneh et al. 232). The promotion of their product is mostly online but they also do the advert in print and billboards. The target market for their products are mainly the generation X and the millennials who are persons aged between 21 and 57 years. This is partly due to the large cover of the age limit of young adults and middle-aged adults who want to switch up their styles every day and also look stylish and professional hence Ray-Ban sells different sunglasses to them increasing sales.

They also tend to set up in large cities where there is a large pool of market. The middle class also tend to stay in the suburban and can hence be able to afford the products.
External Analysis
Luxottica, the company that bought Ray-Ban deals with high-end products. The company wanted to make the sunglasses high end and hence limited the sales to only selected retailers. The quality was high end as the sunglasses were equipped with emerging technology. This ultimately led to the rise in prices of the sunglasses. The sunglasses produced have since had modifications made to them to accommodate the changing lifestyle. For example, Ray-Ban has made modifications to the sunglasses by ensuring that the eyewear offers UV protection. The world is changing due to the pollution of the environment hence the UV rays are a much greater threat than before This is due to the thinning of the o-zone layer which offers protection against the rays.
The company faces limitations to produce the kind of lenses that the customer may want as the EU is considering regulating the sunglasses frames made of metal and nickel. Ray-Ban also suffers losses due to the counterfeits in the market which are sold at relatively cheap prices. They are almost identical hence it is sometimes difficult to penetrate the market and clean the product of any counterfeit. China is the most affected by this vice.

Competitive Analysis
Ray-Ban’s competitors are Oakley and Maui Jim. Oakley is also based in the US and deals with sunglasses of higher quality and its products are sportier than of Ray-bans hence gaining the competitive advantage over Ray-Ban. Oakley is also reputable among the public and together with its strong advertising policy becomes a major player in the industry. Maui Jim is the US company that mostly deals with prescription sunglasses. The company does not advertise heavily as it relies on client referrals and word of mouth (Dharawat 7). Maui Jim also does not boast of creative technological ideas infused in the sunglasses. This gives Ray-Ban competitive advantage over Maui Jim.
SWOT Analysis
Ray –ban ‘s strengths can be attributed to its product flexibility and popular designs backed up by its reputation as a well-established company. The flexibility of their sunglasses is that everyone can find their own fit. Ray-Ban weakness is brought about by its association with high-end stores hence the prices are high and the stores are limited hence limiting sales. The opportunities that Ray –Ban possess is that it can modify its products to suit the changing tastes and preference without losing its market. Ray-Ban can also expand their market to reach different regions providing more market. The threat that Ray – ban experiences is that of cheaper products which are almost identical to its sunglasses hence people prefer the cheaper option.

Work Cited
Poushneh, Atieh, and Arturo Z. Vasquez-Parraga. “Discernible impact of augmented reality on retail customer’s experience, satisfaction and willingness to buy.” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 34 (2017): 229-234.