SWOT analysis of Oakley

Oakley is a brand owned privately by Luxottica which is a California based company. Oakley was founded as a company which only dealt with the sunglasses and hence got the name of being a specialist. The brand was founded in the year 1975. Gradually the brand has diversified into other categories and currently deals in clothing, backpacks and other apparels.

Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Oakley :

This helps in understanding the core areas of the business where it beats the competition and has the competitive advantage in the market. Strengths are generally the core competency of the business.

1. Product Line – The biggest strength of Oakley is that they not only specialize in sunglasses industry but at the same time present in Apparel industry and other categories which gives them an edge over other sunglasses brand such as Rayban which is a world famous brand but specialize only in sunglasses.
2. Outlet Stores – Most of the competitors of Oakley does not have their standalone stores. Moreover, Oakley also has discount stores which attracts the customer to try the brand at the much lower price and this helps in making loyal customers for the brand at the same time.
3. Marketing Management – Oakley has a unique concept where they sell the older versions of their sunglasses at much-discounted prices for their customers. Also most often they have a buy one get one offer on their stores which helps to better market their product.
4. Celebrity Endorsements & Sponsorships – Oakley has a lot of celebrity endorsements. They always associate big athlete with their brand which is famous in the market and hence it helps to attract the customers. Also, Oakley is very much inclined towards sports and hence they keep on sponsoring big events such as Olympics which helps to spread the awareness about the brand at the global level.
5. Status and Value – Oakley associate themselves with the big athletes and champion teams and hence it wants to spread the message that they always associate with the best and people with high values. This spreads a very strong message in the market and gives the customers a feeling of pride to be associated with the brand.

Weakness in the SWOT analysis of Oakley :

This is the pain area of the organization where it does not have the resources or skills. Business has to work upon these areas so that they are not left behind from the competition. Though there will be some or the other weakness it should not be an area which takes the business pout off the market

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1. Marketing Activities – Having mentioned it their one of the strengths but the vehicles used for marketing is very limited to the sporting events. The only publicity they get is from these events and sponsorships and hence they are not advertising themselves using other mediums where they lose to their competitors.
2. Target Market – Oakley does not have a good range of products which targets females. Today females are one of the influencers in the shopping activities and missing females from their product line poses a challenge to sell in the market.
3. Price – As Oakley is a premium brand their prices are quite high and the competition is quite high in the premium market. This clubbed with specific target market leads to loss of customers to other players in the market which has better market offerings for their customers.

Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Oakley :

This helps in understanding what other things a business can do with the current skills and resources. It helps the business to know the areas where it can expand and take a lead in order to diversify the business and expand the customer base

1. Better Marketing – Despite the fact that they get good publicity from the events but they should look on using other media vehicles to spread the word about the brand in the market to attract more customers.
2. Focus on Female Segment – The brand has very less focus on the female segment. Nowadays females are very much keen on the sports and hence the brand can use their establishment in the sports category to market to females as well. Thus introducing more collection for females will definitely be a great idea. This will open doors to other categories in the female segment as well

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Oakley :

This analysis helps in understanding what are the areas which can impact the business in future or right away. So business has to prepare itself to handle the threats in the market landscape. Competition or increasing number of players in the market with same value proposition is a threat to business as it directly lowers the customer base and revenue

1. Brand perception – Competitors are well known for the luxury and the status in the market. At the same price, Oakley is just providing the sporty feeling which makes it less attractive for consumers in the market.
2. Copy Brands – These are posing a high challenge to the brand as there is an ample number of imitation brands available in the market which looks exactly like the brand and hence eating away the market share and also at the same time it tarnishes the brand value because of the lower quality of products.
3. Product Line not famous – Consumers have the perception that Oakley specializes only in the sunglasses industry and hence the other product lines such as backpacks and apparels are never considered because of the presence of other established players in those lines. This causes a high threat to Oakley