The Billabongs Development Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Billabongs Development - Case Study Example The name of the company- Billabong, means 'a place of stagnant creek water'. Billabong’s logo has 2 parallel and motionless waves. According to the Merchants, this was meant to depict the uniqueness of the Aboriginal culture and its interpretation of an oasis. The main factor that distinguished Billabong’s boards from those produced by other local companies were the triple-stitching method which made Billabong’s surfing boards short and thus more durable.When Billabong first began to market its products to the Australian market in 1975, its products were well received. This allowed for the company to be able to create more products and thus increase sales. By 1981, the Merchants had been able to move to a larger headquarters and reached $1 million in total annual sales. To gain more publicity for their company, they funded competitions such as the World Final Surfing. Billabong would soon branch into other nations such as South Africa, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States.  As the brand grew in popularity, the Merchants made the decision to begin creating other sports apparel. They began to experiment with manufacturing and marketing artifacts such as snowboards. In all the expansion efforts, Gordon Merchant was at the forefront of designing and marketing new brands.The surfing industry would witness great development all through the 1990s as professional surfing profited from a newfound respectability. By the end of the 1990s, the Billabong Corporation had been restructured to take advantage of the growing international opportunities in the sector of board-related sports.