EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Objectives
v To be a World Class Provider of BATIK Garment Industry
Our Mission
v Our vision is to focus on offering range of quality batik products to our customers, and introduce Malaysian Batik to the people all over the world. We would like to penatered US market and introduce variety product that can produce with Batik. It is the opportunity for batik business to improve it profitability and competitiveness.
The Opportunities
v Rising demand for handicraft products in developed countries such as USA, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy etc.
v Developing fashion industry requires handicrafts products.
v Development of sectors like Retail, Real Estate that offers great requirements of handicrafts products.
v Development of domestic and international tourism sector.
v Ability to produce high quality product with good design
v E-Commerce and Internet are emerged as promissory distribution channels to market and sell the craft products.
1.INTRODUCTION
The Malaysian government has supported its craftspeople significantly since 1974 with the establishment of Kraftangan, a government organization under the auspices of the ministry of culture that is designed to promote Malaysian handicrafts and culture. This outstanding program serves as a role model for the arts and textile industries of other countries.The common goal is simply to make Malaysia a Batik capital. According to Matrade, textiles are ranked 9th and accounting for 2.3 per cent share of Malaysia’s exports of total manufactured goods. In 2011, exports of textiles and apparel & clothing’s totaled RM10.81 billion from RM9.32 billion for the same period last year, an increase of 15.9 per cent. Of this, exports of textiles was valued at RM6.72 billion and accounted for 62.2 per cent share, while apparels and clothing accounted for 37.8 per cent share, valued at RM4.08 billion. Higher exports were due to increasing exports of yarns and apparels.
The USA, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia and China were Malaysia’s top 5 export destinations for Malaysia’s textiles and apparel & clothing. USA remained the leading export market contributing to 18.6 per cent share of the total exports of the industry. Export was valued at RM2.01 billion, an increase of 13.6 per cent.
1.1 The Unique Batik Malaysia
Developing batik as handcrafted textile – hand printed and hand drawn, has made us all acutely aware of the importance of three essential elements in producing a new product. They are, namely, Design, Colour and Technique. We need to pay attention to all of the three above elements giving emphasis to Design which requires the most and urgent attention.
Secondly, Malaysians love bright colours and batik in bright colours has become a manifestation of that expression. However, we need to think of the market and the consumers we are targeting. Therefore, we need to study how they perceive colours and their receptivity to our selection of colours.
And thirdly, the need to take an aggressive approach in R&D and to engage in experimenting new technologies that can expedite and enhance batik production process as well as to solve problems related to attaining quality production. Learning from the experiences of other countries such as Japan and Korea, and adapting their practices to meet our needs would indeed be a real asset. Another aspect of R&D, relates to acquiring knowledge about the characteristics of fabrics in order to appraise their appropriateness for making batik.
What makes Batik Malaysia unique is that we have been able to develop it through innovation by observing and learning from the tradition of batik–making of other countries, and successfully creating our own indigenous batik–style.
1.2 Trends in Fashion
The world of fashion has created an immense consciousness with the designers and batik – makers who recognize the need to constantly innovate and produce new designs, introduce new range of colours as well as to experiment with new production techniques to meet with the fast changing consumer taste and fashion trends. As a result, batik crafted from a variety of materials such as silk, cotton and linen of varying texture have emerged in the market place.
1.3 Batik as an Art form
Malaysian artists have made an inroad with their innovative adaptation of the batik technique on canvas. Henceforth, a new genre of batik as an art form was born. Batik paintings depicting images of Malaysian flora, fauna, forest, food and fiesta themes are providing a glimpse into the rich diversity of natural and cultural heritage of Malaysia through Batik Art.
1.4 The Design Challenge
A good design should create a pleasant virtual experience: the customer should perceive the product as aesthetically pleasing.
In this respect, batik designers should develop batik design to respond to the particular needs of the consumers thereby promoting the concept of special design for specific usage, such as batik for school wear, batik for uniform, batik for daily wear, batik for formal day and evening attire and batik for special occasions. Each particular design with special motif, pattern, colour and fabric created would therefore give batik that exclusive look and this would impact on batik not only as a versatile textile for clothing but also in popularizing it to a wider market.
Malaysia’s natural environment offers limitless source of inspiration from which new ideas, patterns, motifs and colours could be derived. At the same time, the uniqueness of each community in Malaysia, the people and their living traditions and cultural heritage are yet another source for design input.
2. US MARKET
2.1CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE
Due to the extent of American culture, there are many integrated but unique social subcultures within the United States. The cultural affiliations an individual in the United States may have commonly depend on social class, political orientation and a multitude of demographic characteristics such as religious background, occupation and ethnic group membership.
2.2 POLITIC & ECONOMIC
Political
US REGULATORY COMPLIANCE
Companies that are involved in the production and distribution of medical devices that are intended for marketing in the U.S. are required to register their facility with the FDA on form FDA 2891. There is no fee for registering your facility. As of 11 February 2002, foreign companies must also provide the FDA with the contact information for their U.S. Agent and this information can be provided on this form as well. This form must be completed by the official correspondent designated on the form and submitted 30 days prior to exporting to the U.S. All registration information must be verified annually and updated if changes have occurred. If the company is registering for the first time, the registration form FDA 2891 must be submitted to the FDA along with the Device Listing form FDA 2892. This form is used to identify to the FDA the devices that the company has in commercial distribution by generic category. There is also no fee for submitting this form.
U.S. Fiscal Policy
Turning first to U.S. fiscal policy, the slow pace so far of economic recovery and weak job creation—despite the wide margin of excess capacity—argues for maintaining supportive monetary and fiscal policies in the very near term. Indeed, expansionary fiscal policy already played a critical role in averting a deeper U.S. recession. According to IMF analysis, fiscal measures contributed about 2 percentage points to GDP growth in 2009, and another one percentage point last year. At the same time, federal debt held by the public has risen from about 36 percent of GDP in 2007 to about 62 percent of GDP in 2010, while prospective debt dynamics have worsened significantly. In the absence of corrective measures, and taking into account underlying fiscal pressures that predated the crisis, debt could reach about 95 percent of GDP by the end of this decade—a level last reached immediately following World War II. Without policy adjustments, subsequently the debt simply would keep rising. From this perspective, the need for urgent action to secure medium-term fiscal sustainability appears to be self-evident.
Political Ideologies in the United States
Ideologies in US politics vary greatly. However, for the majority of American citizens, most political ideologies are derived from classical liberalism. Ideas such as individual liberty and limited government, for example, are popular with most Americans. Unlike many other countries, there are only two major political parties in America and their core beliefs are very similar due to the moderation that the two party systems in US politics encourages. The Democratic Party, who tend to represent liberal ideals, lean slightly to the political left and the Republican, who generally favors conservative ideals, lean slightly to the political right. The two dominant ideologies that exist in American politics today are conservatism and liberalism.
Economic in US
The United States’ economic freedom scores of 76.3 drops it to 10th place in the 2012 Index. Its score is 1.5 points lower than last year, reflecting deteriorating scores for government spending, freedom from corruption, and investment freedom. The U.S. is ranked 2nd out of three countries in the North America region, and its overall score remains well above the world and regional averages.
The U.S. economy faces enormous challenges. Although the foundations of economic freedom remain strong, recent government interventions have eroded limits on government, and public spending by all levels of government now exceeds one-third of total domestic output. The regulatory burden on business continues to increase rapidly, and heightened uncertainty further increases regulations’ negative impact.
Restoring the U.S. economy to the status of a “free” economy will require significant policy changes to reduce the size of government, overhaul the tax system, and transform costly entitlement programs. By boosting growth in the private sector, such freedom-enhancing policies are the best hope for bringing down high unemployment rates and reducing public debt to manageable levels.
The trade weighted average tariff rate is 1.8 percent, with non-tariff barriers such as “buy American” procurement rules adding to the cost of trade. Investment freedom is hampered by ongoing protectionist restrictions. The impact of the recently passed financial reform bills has yet to be measured, as detailed regulations are gradually emerging.
The indicators to gauge the economic performance in US
Population: 310.0 million
GDP (PPP): $14.7 trillion, 2.8% growth
0.9% 5-year compound annual growth, $47,284 per capita
Unemployment: 9.6%
Inflation (CPI): 1.6%
FDI Inflow: $228.2 billion
(Based on data compiled as of September 2011)
2.3 TARGET MARKET
The focus of marketing effort is people. The goal is to reach a subset of the population who may be interested in our particular product (Batik Malaysia). That group of people is our target market.
The term target market is used because that market is the target at which we aim all our marketing efforts. The markets we are trying to reach are people with common characteristics that set them apart as a group. The more we know about the target market, the more precisely we can develop our marketing strategy. The table below shows some examples of market segments (or groups):
Demographic Segmentation
Gender
While the target market for batik Malaysia product can include females and males, one gender may represent a larger share of a company's target market. Businesses can segment their markets by gender, and come up with variations of their batik products devoted to serving a specific gender or alter the marketing campaigns to appeal to the male or female segment. Our company provides men and women's batik clothes may create a segment for the women customers and promote a new dress line to them, while promoting a new tie line to the men.
Income Level
When our company develops pricing strategies for our batik Malaysia brands and products, they consider the income levels of target markets. Salary, or income level, is an example of a demographic segmentation businesses use when we prepare to introduce a product to the market or initiate a sale. For example, our batik Malaysia product have created affordable clothing and accessories, sold at target, to reach customers who cannot afford their high-end, more expensive lines.
Age
Age plays an integral role in how company promotes our products online and offline. Segmenting our market by age often involves diversifying pricing and color options, and adjusting features to fit the anticipated needs and expectations of each age group. Our company produces our product for child such as child girl dress and pareos for adult and many types of souvenir for all ages.
Occupation
Businesses who offer products and services to individuals and businesses in specific professions or industries may use their demographic data to segment their markets by occupation. For example, our company produce batik tie, batik T-shirt and men’s outfit and sleeves batik dress for ladies which is formal clothes and suitable to wear while going to office.
Marital Status
Our company has discovered that married individuals are more willing to purchase than single individuals, or that single customers purchase a certain product more frequently than married people. Our household product such as lamp shades, cushion cover and bedspread comforter is segmenting for married individuals.
Psychographic Segmentation
Markets consist of buyers, and it is common sense that those buyers differ in one or more respects. They may differ in how they want a product delivered, where they want to buy it, their available resources, their buying needs, or their location. Any of these variables can be used to segment a market.
Social Class
In the US, the broad social classes are described as Lower lowers, Upper lowers, Working class, Middle class, Upper middles, Lower uppers, and Upper class. In Western societies, class is determined mainly by personal income or wealth, occupation, education, and family background. At face value these would seem like factors that would have a strong influence on the amount and form of consumption of a particular product. The equivalent UK classification is:
A Upper Middle Class--Upper managerial, admin, or professional
B Middle Class--Intermediate managerial, admin, or professional
C1 Lower Middle Class--Supervisor, junior managerial, admin or professional
C2 Skilled Working Class--Skilled manual workers
D Working Class--Semi- and unskilled manual workers
E Subsistence--State pensioners, widows, casual workers
Certain product areas have been found that are strongly influenced by social class and background. These include home furnishings, leisure activities, and reading/media habits. There is convincing data to show that social class is a good predictor of market behavior in these product categories.
There are several problems for the practical marketer attempting to use these class distinctions:
They are fluid over time.
Particularly in post-industrial societies, the increase in incomes in many of these categories has blurred the differences between the classes. In addition, people are defining themselves less in these terms than they did in the past.
They are less discriminating than they were.
In the US, the majority of the population describes themselves as middle-class, and while sociologists may find it useful to produce sub-segments of this large group of people, in practice this does not help marketing decision making. So, the branded purchased by upper, middle and lower class people are certainly different. However, with so many people in the middle class, this is not a useful discriminating factor.
The world has moved on.
In post-industrial markets, everyone demands and can often afford most of the products that are available. There are still some exclusive brands around, but the trend this century has been towards mass prestige - stylish brands that are within the reach of most of the working population, even at a slight stretch. Also, as markets globalize, marketing directors need segments that will work globally. So Social factors may play some role in psychographic segmentation, they can be of limited practical use in consumer marketing.
Geographic Segmentation
Geographic segmentation is dividing the market on the basis of where people live. Divisions may be in terms of neighborhoods, cities, countries, states, and region or event countries. Considerations related to geographic grouping may include the makeup of the areas that is urban, suburban or rural, size of area, climate or population. For example, Batik Malaysia should export or start the business in US during summer session. It’s because the textile feature of Batik Malaysia is more suitable to wear on summer. The batik product such as swimwear, pareo, sleeves batik dress, and shawl is suitable on this time.
People in US always waiting for the warmer temperatures to spend time for outdoor activities during the summer such as traveling to the beach and picnics occur during summer months. Sports such as cricket, volleyball, skateboarding, baseball, softball, tennis and water poloare played. Water sports also occur. These include water skiing, wake boarding, swimming, surfing, and tubing. With most school-age children and college students on summer vacation during the summer months, especially in the United States, travel and vacationing traditionally peaks during the summer. Teenagers often take summer jobs in industries that cater to recreation. Schools and universities typically have a summer break to take advantage of the warmer weather and longer days. In the United States, public schools usually in early June while colleges get out in early May.
3. PRODUCT STRATEGIES
Malaysian Batik is fresh, fashion-forward, and edgy. And this modern-day style of Batik is now penetrating European and American markets. With its couture quality, Malaysian Batik is equally at home on any New York or Paris runway. This is a world-class textile and art form that is “here and now.”
Malaysian batiks are not limited to cotton either. Today various type of silk including jacquard, satin, crepe de chine are used to produce batik blok and batik tulis. Voile, rayon lawn and shirting have also been used at one time or another. Most type of cloth can be used to produce batik except polyester.
Today’s batiks are highly fashionable, baring little resemblance to the stereotyped sarong. Batik tulis are much more fluid and cater to both local and international markets. Batik has many moods. It can be mod, sweet, formal or just plain fun. And it is not just limited to apparel. Exclusive designs and quality as well as good workmanship are our products greatest assets to create strong brand image. We offered clothing collection such as:
3.1 Batik T-shirts & Men’s Outfit.
We decided to base our outfits on the guppy because they are so colourful. The aim of the competition is to take batik into international markets and since the guppy is found everywhere, we thought everyone could relate to the designs.
The men’s outfit had a black long shantung coat with similar design motifs on the front and back, with a matching shirt that stayed with the theme without going over the top.
3.2 Sleeves Batik dress for Ladies
For the ladies dress we decided to use bright pops of color accent the unique, geometric print along this Antik Batik dress, rendered in cool silk twill. A scoop neckline flatters the shoulders, while a single seam subtly defines the waist. Long sleeves.It look exclusive and elegent suit for American women.
3.3 Pareos.
Pareos are commonly done in batik tulis as the free flowing canting lines enhance the casual nature of this beach cloth. We decided to base our cotton pareo with flowers, abstracts organic and geometrical elements including the familiar awan larat or Malay arabesque. We also decide to use a hand-drawn crepe de chine pareo from the Tropical Marine Life collection.
3.4Batik scarves and shawl
We decided to base our collection of “Tropical Marine Life” was designed primary as casual wear. It is hand-drawn crepe de chine scarves are gaily decorated with reef fish. For the shawl we used flower such as orchids and hand-painted on chiffon and it meant as an elegant shawl.
3.5Cushion covers
We have a great selection of Cushion Covers to choose from. Our cushion covers are made of 100% cotton and have a zip closure unless otherwise stated. The vibrant colors and design will lift your spirit and sooth your soul.
3.6bedspeards and comforters
This lavish, reversible Malaysian batik comforter set features rich shades of grass green, teal, cobalt blue and off white. This comforter set offers a soothing modern Batik motif for any bedroom in your home.
3.7 Girl Dresses
We decided to use 100 % cotton in girl dresses, with playful pairs of tumbling starling birds and big floating blossoms, this is sure to be one of your favorite Batik-inspired play dresses. Just to add to the fun, it's got a little bit of a bubble shape.
3.8 Batik Silk Tie
Every piece is a handmade masterpiece and unique in the world.We use high quality of silk to make it exclusive.
3.9 Lamp shades
We offer a large selection of lamps shades. We carry hand painted batik with exclusive design. Change the feeling of any room instantly by simply covering your existing Lamp Shades with our unique batik design.
3.10 Batik Swimwear
This fresh new print batik meets a tried and true style to answer all your swimwear distress calls. Brown and ocean blue batik pours a delicate pattern across a tankini top that is tough enough to meet any swimwear challenge.
3.11 Souvenirs’
Batik Gifts that we sell are made by a master craftsman. This batik, truly a work of art is uniquely designed and printed by hand. Malaysian batiks are revered around the world as being the most beautiful.
i. Batik Coaster Set
Send sincere wishes with our Adorable Batik Coasters with 6pcs and dried flowers decorations a classic touch to remember. Suitable for any occasions - corporate events, annual dinner, wedding souvenir, the list is endless. Presented in clear box.
ii. Batik Soft Toys
A cute animal creatures such as rabbit, turtle, dog and etc for children to paly with.
iii. Traditional Batik Sandals.
Comford and unique design, bring a simple feel.
iv. Letter holder Batik
his batik cloth letter holder is 16 x 8 inches around. It is perfect to put by your front door and hold mail, papers, and other odds and ends. This beautiful batik cloth was handmade.
4. PROMOTIONAL PROGRAMME
The trend of sale of handicrafts products in the handicraft Expos and Exhibitions organised by the Matrade in the recent years reveals that the demand for batik products are increasing day by day. thrus areas for intensive development will create employment opportunity in the state. The following actions/steps are taken for intensive development in introduce Batik to the world:
i. Participation in specialised rade fairs / with fashion show
We will participate in International fashion shows are a great platform in showcasing its beauty, the versatility of batik as a fabric, the story and cultural appreciation behind batik and the position of batik as one of modern society's celebrated fashion statements.
ii. Internet
We will set up our website BUYBATIK and introduce online selling where customer can buy our product currently; online-Shopping is playing an important role in developing batik careers for designers and artists. As well as setting trends in Batik fashion, BUYBATIK makes it easy for batik lovers to purchase quality batik products. Batik lovers can shop for a vast range of Batik products in a safe environment where carefully-selected designer goods can be purchased at attractive prices.
iii. Magazines & Newspapers
Newspapers and magazines becomes a very important medium to deliver messages about batik into the market, this will increase awareness of consumer about batik product. We can choose a top magazine such as Better Home and Garden to promote home apparent such as Lamp shades, bedspreads and comforters and etc. For ladies we can choose magazines such as Women’s Day or Ladies’ Home Journal to promote ladies product such as swimwear, pareos and etc.
iv. Radio & Television
Radio is potentially a good opportunity. We target potential buyer listen to local news, talk show, this is because consumer efficiently using this medium in their daily living. Beside that we also can take opportunity to be main sponsorship, such as Oscar Academy Award and sponsor a few Hollywood stars walking in the red carpet such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. This will give awareness to audience about batik fashion.
5. THREATS BARRIERS
Trade barriers are measures that governments or public authorities introduce that prevent or restrict overseas trade and investment. These measures need not necessarily take the form of legislation or a specific decision. They may also take the form of current practice. As a result of these measures, domestic companies receive a competitive advantage relative to their foreign counterparts.
It is accepted that in many cases, products are liable to customs duties when imported into a market and that imported products ought to be accompanied by the correct documentation. In some cases, however, customs duties may be unreasonably high or customs clearance may take an unreasonably long time.
Batik Garment trade barriers may take the form of, for example:
• Customs duties
• Customs procedures
• Technical regulations, standards, etc. - for example for the purpose of consumer protection, health protection, protection of the environment, etc
• Veterinary and phytosanitary measures - barriers based on health and safety regulations
• Restrictions on access to primary products - for example in the form of export batik that drive up prices artificially or special export prices that are higher than the price of the same primary products for use in national processing industries
• Insufficient protection of intellectual property rights - both with respect to the scope of protection and with respect to the possibilities of legal protection. This includes, for instance, protection of patents, copyrights, trademarks and geographical indications of origin
• Barriers to trade in services - for example in the form of discriminatory conditions
• Restrictions on access to investment - for example through national participation requirements or restrictions on access to repatriation of profits
• Unfair application of state aid and other forms of subsidies
Due to globalization, trade restrictions have become increasingly significant.
At the same time, traditional trade obstacles such as tariffs and import restrictions have been reduced, as a result of international trade liberalization. In the period following the Second World War, average tariffs for industrial goods have been reduced from approx. 40 percent to less than 5 percent.
As a consequence, other trade restrictions have become of relatively greater significance. These other trade restrictions are often based on regulations and principles relating to qualitative matters, for example: product quality requirements and product packaging requirements ostensibly for the purpose of consumer protection; education and qualification requirements for providers of services; or rules relating to patent and trademark protection.
This has contributed to making it more difficult for companies to gain an overview of rules and changes to rules, making the handling of trade barriers more complicated, as barriers touch on matters that are subject to internal national legislation or regulation in the export markets.
6. Competition
Our main competitor in US is American Batiks which the fabric is printed with designs inspired by the colors and plants native to Florida. They make print blocks to developing stylized representations of Florida’s native species. At the same time, they also provide plain weave cotton muslin.
All their fabrics are hand printed and dyed in approx 3 yards lengths. No repeat batik production exact result even though they may use the same patterns. Price start at $55.00 for men casual shorts,$100.00 for shirts, $55.00 for bikini, $150.00 wrap around skirt, $175.00 wrap around dress. They also receive the request from customer to provide the product based on what style or design their customer want.
American batik’s is an artist effort, designed, hand printed, dyed and sewn right here in US. They try to make well-fitting, durable, flattering garments for men and women. It’s has lot of batik fashion such as dresses, wrap-around pants, bikinis, men fitted, surf shorts, casual wear ladies skirts, blouses, men Aloha style shirts, short sleeve fitted shirts and short pants.
American batik trade mark is high quality wearable art, designed and made in America. The product is originality as America product.American Batiks product:
7. CONCLUSION
Our batik is already well branded with Malaysians. We buy our locally-produced batik without really thinking about whether it is distinctive or differentiated. To all Malaysians, our batik is visible and memorable as the “Made in Malaysia” label is enough for nationals to support this fast-evolving industry. But the international customer cannot in all probability differentiate Malaysian batik from competitive offerings. Strategic brand intent is therefore and important issues to clarify in brand creation, as all brand communications are targeted to customers in different markets, some with similar and some with different needs.
Even though we have to compete with American Batik, but still got the differentiation between our product and US product. Our batik products have our own design style which using hand drawing and print block. Our product comes with flora design and also abstract design to make variety of product. American batik only have the print block design and for sure the type of textile also different. The differentiations give us the advantages to provide better quality and variety product which will meet customer satisfaction as well. Because of that, batik Malaysia got potential to market the product in US.
Our long term objectives have been set for the future of Malaysian batik, then value chain delivery of the brand becomes and imperative. One of the advantages of value chain thinking (be it the business or the brand) is that gaps in industry skills and capacity at any point on the value chain can be identified, resolved and strengthened.
By identifying, creating and supporting the key market players through the various phases of the value chain, not only will there be skills enhancement throughout the chain, but cost and service efficiencies could simultaneously be achieved by the respective market players as greater specialization leads to shared knowledge and services from sourcing through to promotion. One of the main reasons why global brands are becoming stronger each day is their knowledge and experience in orchestrating and managing global value chains in alignment with their brand positioning. The same value chain brand model is being used across industries and branding Malaysian batik would demand a similar focus.
8. REFERENCES
Malaysian Batik: Issue challenges & Problem Faced By Manufacturers – Ab Kareem Bin Said Khadaied
Batik A Malaysian touch by Raja Fuziah
Marketing of Batik in Globalization Era – Matrade Article
Nor Arfah Batik -www.noor-arfa.com.my
Sustainable Batik Design Towards Sustainable Business by Nazlina Shaari
Branding Malaysian Batik by Yasmin Abdullah
Malay Woven Textiles: Beauty of a Classical Art Form, Siti Zainon Ismail, Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka, Malaysia
