Paper Example on Analyzing International Competitors

Introduction

Labels and bottle designs have a more significant influence on customer's choice of wine. The best designs attract sales. By making the label or the bottle more unique and attractive, the more likely the company will sell the brand. This is because there is a belief that bottle wine designs and labels are reflective of the wine inside. Therefore, wine label initiates the first sale, quality the second and price the third sale. Today labels are not just used to relay information about variety or the producer but most importantly it is a marketing strategy to draw potential customers. The variety of wines, brands, colors and packaging options available have created a highly competitive market for companies. These companies are forced to develop a competitive strategy to differentiate themselves from other brands if they are to survive in the market. This also means, a wine label and bottle designer company also needs to put this in mind if they are to attract wine brand companies to buy their labels and designs. Though there are some companies which prefer to design their labels and bottles, most prefer to hire designers.

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For Designer France Paris (DFP) Wine Labels which intends to start such a wine and bottle designing company in France, it needs to analyze the market and more so what the existing companies are doing not just in France but also globally. Globally we have companies like Autajon, Designhill, PersonalWine that have been in the labeling business for a long time. In France, there is Label Skin, Sidecar designers among others.

This paper will focus on these companies and evaluate competitive advantage they have created and how DFP can capitalize on the weaknesses to develop a niche in the market.

Competitive Advantage

Autajon Group

Autajon group is a company that was started in 1964. It specializes in a variety of products among them being wine labels and bottle designs. It has branches in many countries including Canada, USA, France, England, China, Germany, etc. and as a result, it enjoys the global market. For a business start-up like DFP, this might be a challenge.

Secondly, Autajon does not just specialize in supplying wine labels and bottle designs; it deals with a wide variety of products. Besides, it has its brand of wines and spirit. Therefore, they make labels for themselves rather than just supplying to other brand manufacturers. This way it provides a market for its labels and designs.

Due to diversifying its products and services in packaging, industrial labels, and wines and spirit labels, Autajon is flexible to demand changes in one sector of the market.

In most of their branches, Autajon is located near its potential wine producers. This way, it saves on transportation cost that would be incurred if it was located far from its potential customers.

Label Skin

This is another wine labels and bottle design company. It is located in Paris, though it has opened many branches worldwide. The company has made a name for itself from traditional labels and bottle designs to the modern brand labels.

Some of the competitive advantage Label Skin enjoys is that it's able to integrate French culture in its labels and designs. For companies which have opened their branch in France, this has been a significant challenge. They have not been able to incorporate French culture into their designs and preferred to stick to their foreign culture.

Label Skin is situated near its potential customers. This cuts on transportation costs in the supply chains. It has also diversified in the field of design by providing labels and bottle design for pharmaceutical and cosmetics just like Autajon Group. This makes it flexible in the market changes.

Market Niche

Both Autajon Group and Label Skin serve large markets, that is, they serve established brand companies. Also, they target large markets to lower costs while increasing sales. This means that small brand companies do not get their services or if they do the services and products are priced high. For Designer France Paris this is an opportunity it can capitalize on as a start-up company. It should try and make a name for itself by reaching out to such small brands.

Also, Autajon and Label Skin are a bit rigid in adopting new technology. They find it difficult to innovate new designs as a result of trends that might emerge. The inflexibility serves as an opportunity for DFP. Since it's a start-up, it would be flexible to such demand in the market.

Besides, Autajon and Label Skin have not specialized in wine labels and bottle designs. They have diversified their market. They deal with cosmetics, wines and spirits, pharmaceuticals, packaging among others. By specializing in one line of design, DFP can explore the wine labels and design to the maximum. Also, it would be easier for it to study various trends in the industry.

Later, Designer France Paris Wine Labels should consider segmenting the market, that it, opening small designer outlets close to every potential customer. This way it will minimize competition while maximizing opportunities for sales.

Works Cited

Autajon Group, www.autajon.com/en/

Label Skin, www.labelskin.com/