Supporting investor Odewald KMU in its investment in Spieth & Wensky, a leading provider of traditional clothing from Lower Bavaria
maconda News May 2013
maconda’s extensive experience in textiles & leather goods, retail, and especially niche markets has once again been leveraged by various clients in recent months – both for strategy projects and for transactions. Most recently, in a transaction in Lower Bavaria.
Spieth & Wensky, based in Obernzell near Passau, is a leading full-range provider of traditional fashion. Its core business is the development, production, and marketing of traditional fashion and shoes, primarily for a younger target group. The products are sold mainly through specialist traditional-fashion retailers, which is the most important distribution channel.
The maconda team supported Odewald KMU with the Commercial Due Diligence. Within a short period of time, we evaluated the specific niche market for traditional fashion, including Spieth & Wensky’s positioning in the competitive landscape. A particular challenge was to accurately assess the key market and demand drivers as well as the retail structure for traditional fashion in the core region – reliable market data was not available. Drawing on experience from a large number of engagements, including in niche markets that are typically difficult to capture via statistics and similar sources, maconda nevertheless succeeded – above all through more than 90 exploratory and structured market interviews with specialist retailers and manufacturers of traditional fashion, traditional costume associations and clubs, as well as other market experts. In addition, more than 20 traditional-fashion retailers and traditional-fashion departments in clothing stores were visited.
Special expertise in niche markets
New trends, increasing specialisation in many industries, and technological progress are constantly creating new niches. Some disappear just as quickly, while others persist for decades or develop into mass markets. Defending these – mostly very attractive – niches against potential new competitors and achieving further sustainable growth, despite the smaller market size compared to the mass market, are the greatest challenges for a niche provider. In particular, a niche provider must safeguard in good time against the risk that, as its niche grows, large, well-funded competitors suddenly enter the market because the niche is gradually becoming attractive to them as well.
A prerequisite for sustainable success is, among other things, a precise understanding of and response to customer needs, whose ongoing demand is what makes a niche possible in the first place. This includes designing and continuously developing a suitable product portfolio, selecting the right pricing – e.g., using modern methods such as conjoint measurement – and targeted, often selective distribution. This keeps you one step ahead of the usually few existing and future competitors.
Further information on this topic can be found in our current industry focus “Niche markets – defence and sustainable growth as a guiding principle.” Please request this from us by email. Most recently, maconda has carried out engagements in the following niche markets, among others: river cruises, specialised market research for crop protection and agricultural machinery, online wine retail, temporary staffing with a focus on IT personnel, software for specific retail companies, production of low-cost dental prosthetics abroad, and outpatient ventilation care. Over the past years, we have completed a large number of engagements in niche markets overall.
Of course, we are also available to you as a competent and trusted partner – for developing strategies for long-term successful work in niche markets, for Commercial Due Diligences (including on the sell side), as well as for value creation projects, business field development, international expansion, and strategic and operational restructuring.
Current topics our team – organised in various competence centres – is working on include: consumer goods, food, packaging machinery, luxury products, and various eCommerce concepts. And several others. Please contact us at any time if you need expertise in this area. We are happy to support you.