Module 3 Assignment: Competitive Strategic Analysis

Presented by

Nexford University

BUS6110: Organizational Strategy

Company Overview

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 ATAFO is a fashion brand that creates menswear, womenswear, and bridal garments. The brand is

known for its stylish approach to traditional Nigerian wear, showcasing Mai Atafo’s deep connection to his

heritage and roots. Our Story – Atafo (2023).

Atafo offers bespoke tailored garments, elegant wedding gowns, and sartorially elegant ready-to-

wear pieces, drawing inspiration from each client’s individuality, blending tailoring with craft, culture,

innovation, and detailing to its clientele in Nigeria and extending it to be, to expand its market reach, share

culture, drive the growth of the business and adopted in the global market.

Atafo Porter's Five Forces Analysis

1. Threat of New Entrants

 Capital requirements: It could be capital-intensive to kick-start a luxurious fashion brand like

Atafo, considering expense lines like procuring luxurious fabrics/materials, marketing, fashion

house/workspace, and skilled workforce (expected in Bespoke). Due to the evolving model of doing

business in the digital age and the adoption of social media, and e-platforms, it is easy for new

entrants to strive in the fashion space, they do not have to have stocks of materials, vast fashion

room, marketing can is made easier with social media, AI/ML gives them an insight of the market

trend and they can make mockups to demo their craft and design without actually using live

material and get interested clients to pay an front to replicate the concept to live. This scenario

depicts that the threat of new entrants ranges from moderate to high.

 Brand Loyalty: The Atafo brand is very reputable mostly among celebrities and high earns and has

a high level of retained loyal customers, over the years Atafo has been able to connect craft with

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 emotion and the user persona with a blend of cultural heritage. this innovativeness has made Atafo

stand out over the years, however, new entrants can have a share of the Atafo Market, by

researching what makes them stand out and understanding the trends in the fashion business using

consumer data to inform their services, degree innovativeness, and offering it at a lower price.

 Government Regulations in the fashion and design space are not stringent, so new entrants can

easily navigate through them.

2. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: In the textile and fashion industry there are several available options

for fabric material suppliers, which enables Atafo to settle with the one that offers a lower price for just the

right quality and can switch swiftly to a better substitute is discovered and necessary, this makes fashion

suppliers bargaining power relatively low. The importance of Atafo to the suppliers is not relatively

significant, because there are bigger brands that are more likely to purchase in larger bulk at a higher price.

3. Bargaining Power of Buyers: The fashion Industry is saturated with several brands springing up,

increasing buyers' bargaining power. The Atafo brand is known for its clean cuts, impeccable fit, and

attention to detail, and has showcased collections at various fashion weeks around the world and has

become an internationally recognized fashion force. Our Story – Atafo (2023). However new brands can

produce these high-quality, luxury pieces with exceptional craftsmanship and tailoring at a lower cost and

prospective customers can easily switch because implications are low. Buyer power can be offset by

increasing shopper switching costs, instilling brand loyalty, or differentiating products that add value and

shift purchasing decisions toward products rather than price-based ones. (Recklies, 2015)

4. Threat of Substitutes:

The threat of substitutes in the fashion industry is high and the competition is fierce. Atafo is a fast fashion

industry player, and other players are springing up, with high-quality, innovative prices and offering it at a

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relatively lower price. like Kenneth Ize and Deola Sagoe, so there are numerous alternatives ranging from

the upper class to the lower class segments. When suppliers exhibit symptoms of high profits, buyers can

integrate backwards and manufacture finished goods themselves (Porter, 2008).

5. Competitive Rivalry

The competitive rivalry within the fashion space is intense, with both established and uprising designing

strategic competition for market share the rising increase emerging in technology, social media apps, and

technological innovations makes it easier for a startup to compete for efficiency, strive, projecting is

unique distinctive values, and iterate with the real-time insight from market interaction and thrive

optimally, and with the emergence of e-commerce and online fashion stores, thereby lowering customer

switching cost. Startups leveraging emerging technologies (AI/ML, Blockchain, IoT) will gain a

competitive edge over their competitors, leading to greater success in today's business climate. Paul

(2024).

Competitive Advantage Strategy

Based on the above analysis using Porter's Five Forces analysis, the following are some strategies to

create or maintain a competitive advantage:

Adopt Sustainability Practices: Driving stainability efforts, like creating an arm for wardrobe

decluttering, repurposing, and recycling. Introduce to the consumer a 360 approach journey (synthesizing

new attire - purchasing new attire - offering thrift /repurposing fabric- re-wear or sell it out) and

incorporating eco-friendly material in making and designing pieces. This is a proactive approach for

customers to perceive that you are thoughtful of them (user journey).

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Partnership: Strike strategic partnership to manage the supplier chain ( raw materials sourcing,

distribution, packaging, delivery, for cost efficiency, and exclusivity to drive product differentiation and

uniqueness. Collaborates with celebrities, and top brands to promote perception, enhance reputation, and

influentially connect emotionally with customer sentiments, values, and beliefs.

Technology: infusing technology into the business functions, will help to streamline operations, optimize

cost, and enhance processes to run efficiently and effectively (efficiently managing, monitoring tracking

inventory and supply, improving payment methods, and creating e-channel, order online). This minimizes

operational costs, and the savings can be passed to the customer, by discounting the product price.

Customer Experience: Set up Hubs, Showrooms, experience centers(for stimulation, and dummy

display/idea playground; mockups of what they envisage), a Craft AppStore (customers can contribute and

submit a creative design to facilitate customer active participation) that support self-service activities, offer

combos, events (Fashion show), sales a system that the community can contribute without realizing,

implement a rewards system, user-generated content, freebies for word of mouth, referrals, and

participation. Customer-centric engagement drives participation, improves perception, and earns loyalty

Being Flexible and Agile: Open up a feedback channel, review and implement feedback appropriately

aligning it to the overarching goal of the business. Adopting emerging technologies like AI/ML,

Blockchain, and IoT, to get real-time insight into the ever-changing customer preference to be able to

accurately predict the next trend and iterate with findings. This will promote innovativeness, customer

retention, loyalty, and acqusition of new customers and strengthen Atafo's degree of competitiveness.

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More research, learning, training, and continuous improvement will foster a culture of innovativeness.

Innovation should be understood as an influence that motivates industry competition and plays an

important role in organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Bruijl (2019).

References

Anpel Rizaldy, & Supiansyah Supiansyah. (2023, July 30). Recognize The Fierce Competition in The Fast

Fashion Industry. ResearchGate; Prasetiya Mulya Publishing.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373930721_Recognize_The_Fierce_Competition_in_The

_Fast_Fashion_Industry

Bruijl, G. (2019, June 7). The Relevance of Porter’s Five Forces in Today’s Innovative and Changing

Business Environment. ResearchGate.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326026986_The_Relevance_of_Porter

Our Story – Atafo. (2023). Atafo.africa. https://atafo.africa/our-story/

Paul, A. (2024). Emerging Technologies That Will Transform the Startup Landscape | OpenGrowth.

Opengrowth.com. https://www.blogs.opengrowth.com/emerging-technologies-that-will-transform-

the-startup-landscape