BUS 5112 Marketing Management
Unit 1; Written Assignment
University of the People
Master’s in Business Administration
Dr Josyabhatla Santhosh kumar
6 February 2024
Women’s Bags
INTRODUCTION
From Ancient Egypt hieroglyphics depicting men carrying pouches around their waists to the
late 17th century, men were the ones who carried bags. Even the term 'handbag' itself, which was
first popularized in 1900, was a term for a man's hand luggage. For thousands of years, bags
were merely practical objects. Our earliest ancestors used bags made from animal skins and plant
fibbers to carry hunting and gathering tools.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, fashion changed dramatically, and women started wearing
extensive dresses that had a lot of fabric. They could not wear their girdle pouches on the outside
of their clothing anymore because they would get tangled in their dresses. Instead, they wore
girdle pouches under their skirts. These later led to the invention of pockets.
At the same time, men's fashion also changed and with that the pouches they carried. When
pockets were invented around 1670, men no longer had to carry a purse strapped to a girdle.
They still carried smaller pouches to hold their money. These later evolved to become wallets.
But not everyone wore small pouches. Lower classes, peasants and travelers carried messenger
bags and larger satchel-like bags worn across the body known as the sacks. These were better
suited for carrying larger items and were purely utilitarian bags.
In the 18th century, fashion once again changed. The discovery of the ancient city of Pompeii led
to a fascination with sleek and slender designs. As a result, women were wearing slimmer and
narrower dresses under which they could no longer carry girdle pouches. The purse had to be re-
invented. During this time, women began wearing slender purses with a wrist strap called
reticules or indispensables.
Not only did the bags convey the social status and identity of the wearer, but they also revealed
how much freedom one had to move in society. The earliest bags were carried exclusively by
wealthy men as they were more likely to venture outside of the home. As women were at home,
there was no need for them to carry bags.
By the end of the 19th century, with the introduction of public train travel, women began
socializing and travelling across the sea and land more independently. The purse became a real
symbol of female emancipation. And with that, the handbag as we know it was born.
PRODUCT
In marketing, a product is an object, or system, or service made available for consumer use as of
the consumer demand; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need
of a customer (Wikipedia).
Women’s Bags is a locally operated bag business that acquires the most popular and in-demand
style indifferent type bags to sell through their product with discounted pricing. In addition to
selling their product, the business also engages in buying from customers. Once trading became
popular, they increased their product to trading, buying, and selling, creating a larger inventory
with expanding services.
PROMOTION
Women’s Bags promotes their bag product through advertising mainly on social media. They use
telegram primarily as it is a visual marketing tool that provides reports on the statistics of reach
with details on who and what type of viewers are viewing and interacting with their content.
Additionally, they use sponsorships to increase popularity and maintain customer relations- once
a bag is bought, a customer is encouraged to take a picture in or with them to post on their
personal telegram tagging the company’s product page. This leads to the customer’s followers
being exposed to the product as well as more content for the product’s page to show satisfied
customer usage of the product.
PLACE
The place or “deliverance” for the products includes a local store front at a semi popular mall
well-known to most people living in the Hawassa area. Most businesses that offer the same
products as those offered by Women’s Bags do not have a store-front or a physical place for
customers to try on bags.
PRICE
A large aspect of this product that sets it apart from others similar to it is the pricing. Hawassa
City sells their bags at a slightly discounted rate, and even though minimal, will make the
difference between a customers buying with them. Their opportunities for trading and selling to
the product also allow for price lowering unlike other that do not take promotional codes or
coupons.
VALUE PROPOSITION
Women’s Bags brings the most highly sought after, fashionable, and popular bags to the
Hawassa and Hawassa area. Try on, buy, sell, and trade bags without the wait at a competitive
unbeatable price.
REFERENCES
Principles of marketing. (2015). University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.1901 (Original work published 2010)
Young Entrepreneur Council. (2019, September 6). How to increase sales by building brand
equity and shaping brand perception. INC.
https://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/how-to-increase-sales-by-building-brand-
equity-shaping-brand-perception.html.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF A HANDBAG – Maiook
https://www.maiook.com › blogs › journal › history-of-bags
