Ch. 8 - Segmenting and Targeting Markets

When Doc Martens were made they were originally meant for working men. Specifically police officers, mail men and construction workers and factory workers. But in the 60s the younger generation who were punk/skin heads took the shoe into their subculture. Today Dr. Martens has become a true icon of youth culture throughout the world. Since then Doc Martens have focused on their target market of teenagers and young adults. The age ranges from 13-25 both male and female. 
  In order to keep their target market interested and loyal, doc martens a company with a strong orientation to the youth and fashion market have been trying to keep a relationship with their customers. Dr. Martens has chosen different projects like theatre productions and music festivals and social media to connect with their customers.

Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

The Doc Martens company main focus is to be known as a unique shoe brand. They have a very popular boot called the 1460 boot. The 1460 boot in black is the most popular boot but this boot has been modified hundreds of times. This shoe has come out in every color you can think of and multiple designs like floral, velvet, and cartoons. Whenever Doc Martens come out with a new shoe they always puts out a ad on social media and on their own youtube channel, the minute long video is usually something a teenage can relate to. If its a big collection for a season there is always a video thats a couple minutes long and they try to represent the brand the way it has always been known. Expressive, Rebellious and free thinking.
Doc Martens known as a shoe company expanded into clothing, bags/wallets,and socks. All these products are going to attract new customers and keep loyal customers interested. There is a small selection of the clothing and purses in store which gives customers a little taste of what style the doc marten company is trying to give off.

Ch. 12 - Services and Nonprofit Organization Marketing

A service is different from goods because it is the result of applying human or mechanical efforts to people or objects. Service quality is a very important part of the Doc Martens company. Out of the five components customers look at i have to say that Tangibility is the strongest for Doc Martens. The tangible parts of a service include the physical facilities, tools and equipment used to provide the service. Dr. Martens Made in England range is created at the unique Cobb’s Lane factory, which has been producing footwear for the Griggs family since 1901. It is the home of the original Dr. Martens boot. On their website they specifically say they would exchange any defective boot/shoe for anew one. I think this can create a sort of reliability between the customer and the company. 

Moving on to Nonprofit organization marketing i was not able to find information about Doc Martens involvement with it. 

Here i included a video of how doc marten boots are made in the Uk based factory by hand and machine.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Doc Martens would be considered as a consumer product instead of a business product because it is usually bought  to satisfy an individuals personal wants. Back when doc martens first came out in England the boots were worn by the working class and were always considered to be working shoes. Until they were wrenched from the factory floor into youth culture and nothing was the same for the Doc Martens brand. Doc Marten boots started of as plain black boots and now they have a large selection of shoes and they have made them about every color you can think of. Doc Martens are known as a statement shoe and their very unique designs. The boots all have the signature logo on the back where it says "air wair" and the boots have a yellow stitching that goes around the whole boot.

Doc Martens shoe packaging is very simple. They use a plain box usually brown or black,  their logo in  a big font and then they also have "made in england" sign on it because people were very upset when they moved their production to china. Since then Doc Martens opened a factory in England and have started producing shoes. They also include a little paragraph explaining the durability of the shoe. 

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

Doc Martens rely more on presenting their image on the internet rather than personal selling. Of course their employees are very informative I remember when I bought a pair of doc martens and the employee  explained to me how to take care of the boots correctly and she even helped me decide on what boot was better for me, She also told me her experience with doc martens which was very helpful. Doc Martens have rely on the internet by using twitter, youtube, and a face book page to help promote what shoes are in season. They show pictures of their customers buying shoes and even band members wearing them.

Ch. 16 - Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

Advertising is a huge part of the Doc Martens company. Doc Martens focus a lot on magazine advertising and recently YouTube. Doc Martens have their own YouTube channel where they post videos of varies bands speaking about their experiences with doc martens and showing performances of the band wearing doc marten boots. The channel also includes short detailed clips of new shoes they have released. The Doc Marten channel has almost 12,000 subscribers. This youtube channel is a great way to capture the attention of the younger generation, which are more attached to electronics than they are with magazines.

Doc Martens keeps its name known by having its boots worn by multiple celebrities or being showed in movies. For example Sasha Obama, who was viewed by millions wearing a pair of Dr. Martens’ classic 1460 boots at the annual pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey and  Blue Ivy, daughter of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, was seen wearing Dr. Martens’ floral print boots recently. This kind of publicity helps bring a new generation of customers and the help of celebrity exposure is helping the sales of Dr.Martens. Global sales were up about 20 percent in 2013. They are looking at even higher sales for 2014.

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Dr.Martens has stores all around the world 33 stores can be found in Asia, 6 in Europe, 20 in the United Kingdom,and 17 in North America. Doc martens can also be found in other stores like Famous foot wear, Urban Outfitters, Macys, Nordstrom and many other places. Recently I visited the Doc Marten store in New York which can be found in Union Square.

When I first walked in the first thing that caught my eye was the decoration of the store it had vintage looking couches made out of velvet material and other couches with worn out leather material. After I got greeted by one of the workers and they went right back to fixing the shelves, which didn't bother me because I prefer to have a look around the store without having someone following me. As I walked around I noticed that most of the lighting was focused on the shoes. The shelves had their own lighting installed to them which I found to be a really interesting technique because it catches your attention right away. The store had one side with Women shoes and the other with mes shoes. The colorful boots were set on a nice wooden table right in the middle of the store and there were boots set on little night stands and tables all through out the store everything was made out of wood which gave everything a nice cozy feel to the store. As I walked in deeper inside the store I noticed all the way in the back a clothing rack with coats and shirts that were unisex these items are sold only in doc marten stores and online. They had shelves with bags all made out of vegan leather. By the counter I noticed all these different accessories to buy like laces and socks and shoe care items like polish and shiner brushes. The whole store was very organized and it didn't feel like I was looking at a pile of boots when walked in. I also liked how they displayed their other line of products like their clothing and bags at the back keeping the focus on the shoes more.

Walking into a doc marten store you will definitely see something you have never seen before keeping customers always coming back for more.