Written Case #1: Vera Bradley in 2014: Will the Company’s Strategy Reverse Its Downward Trend?

LUICELENA PEREZ – CWID: 11493487
GBA 490-006 Dr. Marino 3/01/2016
Thirty-four years ago in the Hartsfield Atlanta Airport, Patricia Miller and Barbara Bradley noticed that the majority of people had the same simple and boring luggage design. These two friends saw the opportunity to pursue a new market that offers colorful and patterned baggage designs, and that is how Vera Bradley began. Vera Bradley started producing colorful and unique pattered designs for luggage, bags, sports bags and handbags; and after the success of the first product line and their economic growth, they
Consumers’ perception of Vera Bradley is more as a casual designer brand, which can be considered as an advantage because the company is not directly competing with the aforementioned rivals, due to the company’s uniqueness. Another advantage of this view is that the items sold at Vera Bradley are cheaper than Kate Spade, Michael Kors and Coach.
The main thing for Vera Bradley would be the understanding of its role in the accessible luxury brand market without going further than where they can actually compete. The attempt to design and produce handbags for night life or fancy occasions needs to be dropped because the culture of the company and the products as a whole do not fit into that category and strategy. The company should stick with the strategy of targeting customers who are interested in daily use luggage, duffle bags, backpacks, and beach bags because that is the company specialty; not the manufacturing of a cross-body purse to be worn at a night club or a cocktail party. That is the reason why the smartest move for Vera Bradley is to continue sticking with the products that are most successful, the products that describe the culture and concept of the company, and the materials they use to manufacture. Their designers, especially in Indiana and New York City, should work on coming up with a new collection that includes colorful patterns that