The role of corporate website in brand repositioning : the case of Malìparmi

The work at hand aims at analyzing the role of the corporate website in the internationalization and upwards brand repositioning strategies undertaken by Malìparmi. Malìparmi is a niche-fashion Italian-based SME born in the 1970s. During the 2000s Malìparmi experienced strong growth and could be defined as a ‘premium brand’. In 2012 and 2013 its growth slowed down. Due to the economic crisis and to major shifts in the competitive environment, the management decided that internationalization together with a upwards brand repositioning strategy were needed if the company was to grow again. In order to achieve these two interdependent objectives, the management reckoned that a renewal of the website was needed not only to approach consumers otherwise unreachable, but also to communicate the same brand image consistently through all channels. Furthermore, a new website was necessary if the e-commerce channel was to be expanded. The methodology included a market research and a literature review on the concepts of luxury branding, brand repositioning and on the reciprocal effects of online and offline brand image. The market research entailed an in-depth interview with Malìparmi’s CEO and an online survey. The research’s results proved that the current corporate website conveyed an image of the brand not in line with the one perceived by consumers who visited Malìparmi’s mono-brand stores. Moreover, it was demonstrated that consumers who did not know Malìparmi before visiting its website could not develop a clear image of the brand, and perceived the service offered by the website in worse terms than those who held a prior offline brand image of Malìparmi did. Therefore, these results confirmed that a renewal of the website was necessary if the company was to upwards reposition its brand as a designer brand and become more international