Microeconomics

How would you describe Dell’s current distinctive competencies? What other potential sources of distinctive competency might Dell work to develop? Answer: According to the case, Dell’s Current distinctive competencies are: ; “Mass customization”; by focusing on this strategy (which they followed as their core differentiation strategy), Dell has successfully been able to transform the way consumers shop for technology. Customer could place customized orders for their PC’s according to their unique needs and wants.

Which at that time seemed to be a very attractive, innovative and hence successful strategy. However while concentrating too much on its distinctive strategy of mass customization for too long, Dell gravely failed to adapt to the changing world of technology which opportunity was promptly grabbed by its current and emerging competitors like HP, Sony, Leaner, Apple and others. They quickly managed to reap the benefits of the fast growing market for technological products like PC’s and notebooks. Direct Sales Channel- Dell has proved to be extremely successful at coming up with a very efficient and smart supply chain, by making Its customers able to place orders for their PC’s online, wrought e commerce. Dell used direct sales via Internet, whereas traditional PC manufacturers previously assembled PC’s to make them ready for purchase at retail stores. Thus, Dell enjoyed early-to-market advantage. This eliminated the need for retailers that would add unnecessary time and cost for Dell and Dell has enjoyed this competency for a pro-longed period of time. Dell’s cost efficiency: Dell was able to provide PC’s at a low cost for quite a period of time, until paying a low price for a standard PC was no more attracting the potential customers who were rather lured y the more technologically advanced products offered by Dell’s competitors like Hewlett-Packard. However continuing with its cost cutting strategy cost them their customers in later years when HP emerged as the market leader and attracted all the consumers and business clients to themselves.

Moreover, Dell’s extremely efficient supply chain management aided In keeping Its costs low and hence being cost effective. Dell’s strong market position due to its strong brand value as one of the top 100 brands In the world (In the IT systems market), provided It with a competitive advantage. Dell has a strong market presence in IT systems market. Despite losing market share to other players in the recent past, Dell continues to remain a strong player in the IT systems market.

In the fast growing market for technological products Dell should have obviously gone for innovating their product lines. Dell should go for product development. It might work to launch faster and more attractive versions of PC’s and laptops. Most Importantly Its marketing strategy should be changed, In order to reap benefits from Its distinctive competencies. Being Innovative could have obviously paid off as a good extinctive competency, because then competitors like HP and Apple would get as much opportunity to grab the market share.

Moreover, Dell could go for making ‘OFF silent changes In Its organizational culture Day encouraging Its employees to De more creative and to think out of the box so as to get rid of the monotonous feeling in them which would also enhance the productivity and would obviously spread a good word of mouth regarding Dell as a “ready to innovate and serve company’, which would work as another great distinctive competency. Question 2) Dell is currently engaged in a cost leadership strategy. If Dell decided to move more toward a differentiation strategy, what might be some sources of differentiation Dell could explore?

Answer 2: Emphasizing on the cost leadership strategy for too long has caused Dell to lose it market share and not to mention has lead it to earning lower profits. That’s because the same strategy would not work forever. Dell has not explored in serving their customers with variety in their offerings for PC’s and notebooks, neither did it do much to upgrade its features and technology. Dell has not re-invested any of its profits into going for a different racketing strategy other than cost leadership.

A differentiation strategy incorporates the development of a product or service so that it can offer a customer perceived uniqueness in the marketplace that seems to be better than or different from the products of the competition. Dell has to focus more on providing additional value for their customers if they want to differentiate their brand form the others in the market, to do so, they have to address their customers not yet raised demand for new technology say for example, delight their customers by offering new software and applications for their PC’s.

Dell can also go for sales promotion; that is they can provide short term offers where they would be providing free upgrades for software in their current customers’ PC’s and offer discounts on certain software Just so as to attract their customers’ lost interest. Launching and promoting different complimentary products made by Dell can be a good idea to enhance the sales of Dell PC’s.

For instance if Dell came up with a product line for gaming computers, to attract a certain segment of its potential clients, and along with that if it issued games made by Dell one of which would be provided for free with the gaming PC’s, it loud be a great way of differentiating their brand as “innovative” in the mind of customer, especially since no other competitor at that time came up with gaming PC’S. Question 3: According to Nations Product-Market expansion grid which strategy is applicable for Dell computer’s offerings?

Explain the strategy in your own words in the context of the case. Answer 3: Nations model is based upon four types of strategies which are; market penetration strategy, market development strategy, product development strategy and diversification strategy. The diagram below illustrates the Nations Product-Market expansion grid. In my opinion, Dell should primarily go for product development strategy and then market development strategy. By going for product development strategy, Dell would be issuing new, developed and modified versions of its products.

By doing so, Dell can show it to the industry that they are all ready to launch innovative products and solutions for their clients both Business and consumer. Moreover given the strong and well established brand name Dell has, it would not be a problem to beat its competitors Like HP, IT Dell can offer new Ana developed products to Its customers. For example by considering software as an product/service to offer, Dell can assemble a services portfolio that would include e-mail disaster recovery, spam/virus filtering and archiving via its Message acquisition.

Moreover Dell can come up new models of its PC, and notebook, more lighter ones, faster ones, PC’s specially made for gaming, and PC’s which are specially made lighter and smaller for office going executives and students. Just like Google developed a new browser Chrome for the existing Internet user. Going for a market penetration strategy would be bad session for Dell since it has proved to be a failure Just because it refused to be innovative about its products and was only focusing on a single strategy of “mass customization”.

However, Dell can also go for a market development strategy if that is feasible giving the transportation and set up costs associated with setting up business and dealerships in developing countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, or it can focus on a different demography, like the elderly people; by creating easy to use and simple light laptops for them, which they can also afford with a little portion of their savings.

“If you love her, then take her to Hagen-Dads”, the advertisement is familiar to people all around the world. Hagen-Dads has successfully created value for its customers. Aimed to make itself the represent of top-class ice-creams, Hagen-Dads tried to make the feeling of satisfaction and happiness its selling point. And this orientation proved to work well. In 1981 , Times referred to Hagen as ‘Rolls-Royce among ice-creams’. While there are some modification actually, Hagen-Dads focuses more on young ladies who are thirsty for romantic love than noble people.

On the en hand, women usually cannot resist the entice of sweet food and romantic feeling . An the other hand, the orientation builds an emotional tie between its product and the customer. It is not Just ice cream is actually part of their dream. Due to its market positioning, most of its consumers of are lovers. For them, they are pursuing more than Just delicious ice cream . Lovers desire intimacy, the feeling of being loved and understood, and special experiences . So Hagen-Dads make Its Ice cream the symbol of romantic and fancy. The packaging of its product is all-sided.

Firstly, the name of the brand ‘Hagen-Dads’ sounds to be Nordic ,which actually Is American. Secondly, the ice cream has a unique look and name which create a noble impression. What’s more ,Hagen-Dads has done something that most companies failed to do. That Is ,to make ‘ the pursuing of romantic’ the spirit and culture of the company. The connotation Hagen-Dads are trying to deliver has been developing all the time . From the original one “If you love her ,then take her Hagen-Dads” ,then In 2004,”melt slow’,and the 2009 one “melt together”. Hagen-Dads tries to deliver this usage to the customers-?to foster love In the spirit level l.

And that’s exactly what the couples are looking for today. Among the brands that are trying to create a romantic tale, Hagen-Dads successful makes Itself to be the leading one . Let Is even Impossible for others to copy or Imitate. We can encounter It In every corner of our life ,such as movies ,novels and so on. Hagen-Dads has definitely been a symbol of romantic love. In a word ,the key to the success of Hagen-Dads Is that It Is “FACING” Its customers Instead of back to them. It tries to find out what the customers really want and then successfully create value for them.

If was to buy the list I would sale contact method that I would use would be contacting them in person, although it would be time consuming and expensive, I would want them to see me and know that I am serious about business. I would be able to directly answer any questions that they might have and it is always good to put a face to someone wanting to do business. Cold calling assumes sales people will be successful If they can reach the right person In an organization. I do not think that cold calling should be used but It Is the only way that some can get through.

Cold calling focuses on getting past the middle people. A person who calls Like this tries to let the buyer know why they should make a purchase decision right now. They can create a negative experience. I know that I do not Like when people call me and push me to buy something. Many people are so often hit with advertising messages from TV, newspapers, magazines and it is hard to get their attention. Direct mall can help build relationships between you and whomever you are trying to reach.

It is more personal because you can say what you want and have time to put your thoughts together and express whatever it is you need to and is also cost efficient. Most consumers are receptive to direct mail. Yes, I consider sending these contacts unsolicited emails spam. Most of us get spam every day, ranging from a little to a lot, but if you have an e-mail account it is always there. It is frustrating when you open your business email and before you can respond to your customers or email your suppliers, you have spam. I feel that it is just a way for people to try to get you to buy into something, Spam is of no importance to me.

This report analyses SPINE, an online Korean company specializing in quality mobile phone accessories and its plan to enter the sustainability market. The report further analyses the company’s mission statement that will set the course for sustainable development. It is recommended that SPINE adopts a sustainable strategy and launch new line of CEO-friendly products that is a variant of three of Spine’s best-selling phone cases, “Neo Hybrid”, “Slim Armor” and “Tough Armor”. These new phone cases will be made out of 100% recycled materials.

This report will further evaluate the marketing mix strategies involved in implementing sustainable development such as the target market, product, price, promotion and distribution. The report finds that with the company shifting towards a CARS policy, the new sustainable product line will now be targeted at technology savvy Gene X and Gene Y consumer age between 22 to 45 seeking green alternatives as well introducing green alternative to already existing customers. The company is to adopt a differentiation strategy to challenge the current market leader head on in this fairly new market.

Pricing will continue to be at a premium but a proportion of profit earnings (20%) will be contributed to WFM for funding sustainable campaigns. Distribution strategy will adopt the use of reverse logistic to recycle overstocking of inventory so that raw materials can be reused for future products. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION MARKET BACKGROUND The mobile phones market has received substantial growth in the past years due to the technological advancement as well as the introduction of smart phones becoming an essential part of a person’s life in today’s digitally connected lifestyle.

Along with he progressive growth in smart phone sales around the globe, the market for mobile phone accessories has also received a direct boost in growth. Primarily driven by the uprising sales in smart phones, the market for mobile phone accessories is projected to reach $ASS 84. 6 billion by the year 2018. This growth is akin to the fact that currently there are over 5. 9 billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide against the world population of 7. Billion people, mirroring a penetration rate of over 80% (Global Industry Analysts, 2012). On top of adding protection to your phone, mobile hone accessories also provide additional customizable and personalization for the user and this creates opportunities for accessories focused on aesthetic. COMPANY BACKGROUND Launched in 2004, SPINE is an online South Korean company specializing in the design of various mobile accessories such as screen protectors, cases, and utility bags for a variety of phones, tablets, and laptop.

The company offer products of quality and innovation at a premium price range and is targeted towards the high end consumer market. Some of its notable products include the GLASS series range of . Mm thick tempered glass screen protectors manufactured at different shapes and sizes to fit popular smart phone models and also a line-up of high quality polycarbonate phone casings and frames that are light in weight and shock absorbent.

In reaction to global awareness, SPINE has realized the need to cater its products to the shift in consumers’ mindset towards green products. This means to re-establish the current goals and commitment of the company and also to create a new product line to pander towards a new market segment. The objective is to increase the rand’s product reach and also employ ethical and green policy that will bring a positive image to the brand as a company who supports in the sustainability of the world.

AIM This report aims to establish a good sustainable strategy that will aid SPINE in the launch of a new product range of mobile accessories that will be 100% environmentally friendly. This will redefine SPINE as sustainable company that will set itself apart from its competitors as well as enrage new customers to the brand through its appeal towards environmental sustainability. This report will state the recommendations for change required to proceed with the munch of this new product such as altering and creating new marketing mix strategies for SPINE to appeal to a new audience.

This includes defining a new target market, as well as implementing a suitable product, pricing, and promotion and distribution strategies for the new product line. 2 MISSION STATEMENT In the past, companies were narrowly concern the quantity of production and manufactures only expanded supply and lower cost which burden a huge impact on environment. Nowadays, mass production expanding led to overcapacity in various markets as supply exceeds demand.

The sustainable marketing focuses on the target roof of green consumers who would be willing to pay premium prices for more environmentally friendly products. (Frank-Martin Bell and Ken Appetite 2009, pap) SPINE ignited the design of mobile phone markets revolution in the sass with the mobile phone accessories. Today, SPINE continue to lead the industry in innovation with its mobile phone accessories into sustainable market in order to paying more attention for responsibility to society, and ethical concerns about the social and environmental impacts. RECOMMENDATION FOR CHANGE In order to create sustainable development, SPINE will need to look into the economic, environmental and social factors that will contribute to this change. As Creating sustainable development is to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (The Borderland report ‘Our Common Future’ 1987), it is crucial for the company to not only look into environmental friendly alternatives but also to support the society through social responsibility such as equality, poverty etc. ND at the same time generating a sustainable profit for economic growth. For this to happen, it is recommended that SPINE adopts a sustainable development tragedy by promoting a new product line that will increase public awareness towards Spine’s decision in adopting a Corporate Social Responsibility CARS policy. This will be accomplished by reinventing three of its most popular product range, namely “Neo Hybrid”, “Slim Armor” and “Tough Armor” and creating new CEO- friendly variants for the respective product.

The new product line will continue to be consistent in quality, functionality as well as technical features of the current existing product line but will also be environmentally sustainable through the use of 100% recycled materials. For example, the Neo-hybrid phone casing CEO variant will continue to provide protection, shock absorption and customization through interchangeable frames and will also be made from 100% recycled parts. The new product line will be marketed towards environmentally aware consumers; it will also reach out to new users within the market to expand total demand.

The introduction of new sustainable products will act as a stepping stone for Spine’s to convert more of its existing products into green products in the future and to fully incorporate sustainable development in all of its product range. In addition to helping the environment, SPINE has paired up with World Wide Fund for Nature (WFM) to engage in humanitarian activities through contribution of 20% of their product’s earning in funding charity campaign.

Economically, with the cost in research and development as well as the cost of outsourcing recycled materials from various suppliers, SPINE will need to set a maximum cost of goods sold COGS no higher than 30% of mark-up to be able to generate a healthy profit in order to sustain the business. By satisfying the all three elements in creating a balanced sustainable development Truckee, SPINE will create a strong foundation in the shift towards a sustainable solution. MARKETING OBJECTIVES While Spine’s primary marketing goal is to offer products for the mobile phone and gadgets not only from being scratched or impacted but also, as there are potentially a sizeable market for more sustainable products, shifting our marketing focus towards targeting on green market have been identified as a great opportunity. Presently, Spine’s aimed at people between the ages of 22-45 who are searching for functional and sustainable protection covers.

If SPINE can put forward an agenda uh for seeking the environmental, safe and recycle products would enable SPINE to start enhancing its positive image as an CEO-friendly company. The following are important objectives for Spine’s green product range. INCREASE MARKET SHARE Conventionally, marketing performance is only concern about economic and growth- oriented issues, managers are not aware of considering in sustainability objectives. Presently, marketing objectives have to be provided by green materials. Frank-Martin Bell and Ken Appetite, 2009) SPINE should increase market share in era of sustainability from 0% into 10%. RAISE PUBLIC & CUSTOMER SATISFACTION To connect with consumers by taking advantage of social media could increase more public awareness, faith, loyalty, and by creating higher customer popularity results for making high level of benefits. There are more modern communication tools in today’s society. For example, Faceable is the most popular tools with over 300 million users; SPINE should follow closely with the development of modern communication channels.

Social media is the vital tools being used for communicating which provide the fast-paced information from global online channels, making consumers get more acknowledge with the brands. The Faceable online page posts photos, activities, innovations of new products and customer comments. The customers of SPINE on the Faceable can post their individual products photos, information, and impressions in order to let the company to acknowledge immediately.

SPINE can then reply to the comments and provide more advices about the products, making the communication more effectively and increase customers’ satisfaction about the products. Specializing on social media will allow SPINE enhance brand awareness and gain more satisfactions from customers. REDUCE THE POTENTIAL NEGATIVE IMPACT ON HEALTH Researches have shown that mobile phone accessories that are made from mass- production plants using cheap materials in the manufacturing process can generate CHIC, a hazardous gas in which if it reaches the point at 0. OMG/mm are very harmful to the human body and also to the environment. Spine’s production plants are closely monitored to ensure all materials are quality controlled and that all emission levels are kept at or below industry levels. All of the recycled materials in production process goes through the same monitoring and control to ensure all the mobile hone covers and gadgets match the highest safety standards not only to keep customer more safe and healthy, but also to reduce our carbon footprint on the environment. MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES Camphor & Bandage, (2005) mentions in the Journal “Green Marketing Philosophy’ that if marketing philosophy is a process of which the firm conceives the consumer into an exchange relationship whereby the firm offers a product to the market, which is driven by the desires of the consumer and aims to fulfill that desire in the most beneficial way for the entity or company.

Then green marketing philosophy can be scribed as the exchange relationship that goes beyond the current needs of the consumers in terms of addressing the social interests in the conservation and protection of the natural environment at the same time. From a green marketer’s perspective, as Fuller (1999) describes, a ‘new competitive game’ is at play as there are three parties that are involved in the exchange relationship: the company, the consumer and the environment.

Green marketing goes beyond the commercial exchange of fulfilling a desire of the consumer, it is a way of understanding the company’s relationship with society in general. With that in mind, green marketing an be found within the approach of social marketing (Kettle, 1995), it is a way of understanding the exchange relationship by planning, implementing and controlling a policy for product, price, promotion and distribution that at the same time fulfill customer needs and the objectives of the company while reducing any current or potential negative effects to the natural environment.

TARGET MARKETS The previous target market for SPINE products are technology sax. N. Y Gene X and Gene Y consumers between the ages of 18-45. Primarily enthusiasts for electronic gadgets such as smart phones, tablets and laptops. These consumers seeks for accessories that can not only protects their favorite gadgets, but also be able to do it in a way that allows them to express who they are from Spine’s variety of products that offers form, functionality and protection through innovative designs and materials.

As the company re-defines itself through the launch of a new product range of 100% environmental friendly mobile accessories that are made from recyclable materials. The new target market is now aimed at people between the ages of 22-45, who are seeking for greener alternatives to accessories their gadgets without sacrificing quality and functionality. Consumers in their early ass’s start to get more influence from the importance of green sustainable products, also the income level is another factor of consideration as people get older, their disposable income are likely to increase along with the level of green-awareness.

SPINE’S green-product range consumers represent a demographic group of well-educated successful young adults, single or married with an annual household income range of ADD $40,000 – $100,000 or more. They are particular about their taste in styling and self-image aware, trendy and strives for high-quality innovative and sustainable products on the racket. PRODUCT STRATEGIES With over ten years in the industry, SPINE has established a solid reputation through its design and innovation. The success of SPINE is a direct result of the fast-growing smartened and tablet users around the globe (SPINE, 2014).

With this in mind, SPINE have discovered that there are enormous market opportunities for green-sustainable gadget accessories as there are currently very few numbers of competitors in this segment, for example:, Case-mate, Groveled, Minimize and Ore that produces phone cases and accessories from part to 100% recycled materials, wood and bamboo. SPINE aims to challenge the market leaders by differentiation and with plans to become the market leader of this segment. In order for the company to differentiate from other competitors, it aims to use 100% recycled materials in the production of our green product range.

The recycled materials will come from industry and household wastes as well as recycling old mobile phones, phone cases and other electronic devices. The green range products will not substitute quality, functionality or appeal for using recycled materials, in fact, all of our green products are able to keep all of the original features so our customers can est. assure that they are getting high quality products while contribute to our mission to raise awareness and the importance for using sustainable phone and gadget accessories.

SPINE will also donate 20% of profits from its green range to WFM and other organizations for research and conservation purposes. PRICING STRATEGIES The prices of our green sustainable product range are set accordingly with the competition in mind, also to cover the initial research and development costs as well as on-going costs associated with recycled materials. The company does not aim to hare a high premium over the green label, nor does it attempt to lower the price in order to sell high quantities of products.

It is set at a price where consumers feel that it is reasonable and will be comfortable of purchasing knowing that a large portion of the profits will be used for a better cause such as further research for more sustainable products and in forms of donations to conservation organizations such as the WFM. PROMOTION STRATEGIES SPINE currently has 7 sub divisions apart from the Korean headquarters in different countries around the world which are USA, Japan, Hong Kong, I-J, Turkey, China and

Taiwan. Each of the divisions has its own authorized retailers and resellers. These divisions are responsible to interact and provide information with the consumers, retailers and resellers whenever it launches a new product through various methods such as direct mail, face to face, e-mail and through social media sites such as Faceable and twitter. All of Spine’s product range can be found on the division countries respective websites (SPINE, 2014).

Promotional activities will take place before the launch of the green product ranges to establish awareness for sellers and errs to grasp an idea of what is to be released and how it is differentiated from the competitor’s products, training programs will be conducted by trained staff assigned from Korean, American and Japanese headquarters to prepare each division’s in-line managers and sales personals to be able to pass on to consumers and individual retailers on the features of the new sustainable products.

After launch promotions will include forms of discounts, a further 5% discount for customers who trade-in an old phone case when they purchase a product from the green range at participating detail stores. These promotional activities will be carried out through methods mentioned above.

As SPINE depend heavily on online sales through its own websites as well as liaising with Amazon and eBay, online promotional activities through these websites, e-mail and social media are vital to keep up to date with the company’s goals and visions while constantly seek better ways of improving existing products to shift into the new green sustainable future of phone and gadget accessories. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES Currently, SPINE adopts direct marketing channels through online sales from its official weeping and also through third party online distributors such as eBay and Amazon.

When adopting a sustainable distribution strategy, the company will look at providing biodegradable and recyclable packaging that enables overall volume reduction when transporting to serve the goal of sustainability. Materials used in the packaging will be in the form of lightweight recycled cardboard boxes that provides good protection but maintain flexibility when it comes to transport efficiency. Information and communication technology is also key to Spine’s sustainable striation as under overstock can be counter intuitive in reaching the goal of creating a sustainable framework.

As SPINE uses short distribution chains (products are shipped directly from their warehouse to the customer’s doorsteps) good coordination can increase efficiency, but it should be noted that outsourcing suppliers for recycled materials should be monitored and well communicated to avoid over or under stock in inventory. To counter this, reverse logistics will be implemented to recycle unsold goods so that materials can be reused for future products instead of scraping all unwanted inventory. In conclusion, Spine’s move to a more sustainable direction will set itself in a positive motion.

Ethics Ideas Case A Ethics idea is an innovative concept of interacting with the consumers especially for a retail company like Ethics. Usually, consumer product companies like P&G produce a wide range of consumer goods and sell their products in retail stores owned by other companies like Walter. The retailers also produce goods under private labels and sell them in their stores. But, Thatch’s business model is very different. Ethics produces its own products, though it outsource production. It sells its own products and introduces new products every week.

It uses Ethics ideas to produce some its products. The Ethics ideas bring in high value to Ethics as a retailer, manufacturer and brand. As a retailer, it is very important to understand the consumer and their problems and preferences. This requires expensive and extensive market research. When consumers post their needs and problems, it reflects their preferences and buying behavior. This enables Ethics to understand what customers want and need. As mentioned in the case this would reduce the marketing and consumer research expenses by 20% to 30%.

The customer feedback, comments and response to a particular Ethics idea help the company to come up tit fairly accurate sales projections. It also helps to understand where the competitors stand. The problems of consumers reflect the semiconductor gap in that particular area. It helps to understand why the competitors are not regularly producing the goods that are brought up in the Ethics ideas. Uncertainty regarding acceptance of a particular product in the market is greatly reduced by Ethics ideas.

Ethics as a retailer tries to understand the market demands, and Ethics ideas help to identify much of untapped market potential. Ethics ideas are highly valuable to Ethics as a manufacturer as well. The products that serve as solutions for customers’ problems are innovated and designed by professionals participating in the Ethics ideas. This greatly reduces the costs and efforts to develop products that would have the potential to address market problems. As Ethics refreshes its product lines every week, it requires a very dynamic innovation and development work.

Ethics ideas contribute to the efforts of product development at Ethics. It leverages the creativity of general and professional people and integrates everyone’s work. The large number of products that are introduced every year required the production to be fast paced. It is not easy for other companies to introduce such overgenerous number of products in such short time periods. A specific product has to be produced in small quantities compared to the products expected to run for an indefinite time period. Thus, Ethics outsource the production and can easily launch new products or change its current product lines.

Ethics ideas bring a lot of value to Ethics as a brand. First, it uniquely positions the Ethics brand in market. Filling the store shelves with products that are designed by the consumers for the consumers reflects that the consumer is most important for Ethics. The customers feel that Ethics pays them unparalleled attention. This increases consumer’s trust for the brand. The concept of weekly launch of new products compels the customers to visit the Ethics stores every week, whether it is due to a need for a particular product or it is the curiosity to see what is new in a Ethics store.

It brings in the surprise element and enables the customers to feel excited for their next visit to Ethics. It is believed that Germans like spontaneous shopping. The Ethics ideas give the brand an image of an innovator, which is reputable for a retail company. The consumers expect Ethics to be highly innovative. It is expected to address problems that are not heard and addressed by other companies. This makes the Ethics brand relevant for almost every person. It is not like apparel or a car company that is relevant to only clothing and transportation requirements of people.

This is very important in a country where people show emphasis on individualism”, as consumers get an opportunity to find products that suit their personal nature, desire and requirement. Instead, Ethics is relevant to every German who has access to Internet. The brand builds a strong relation with every consumer ND significantly increases brand loyalty. Reducing the life of a product to one week greatly reduces the risks posed by a product failure. A failed product would be easily forgotten and would not leave a dark impression of failure on the company’s image.

Ethics ideas enable Ethics to achieve a feat that would be eve difficult for competitors to imitate. Unless the competitors replicate the Ethics Ideas model, Ethics would enjoy competitive advantage over every other retailer. Its unique positioning in the market significantly increases Thatch’s brand power. The Ethics ideas are equally, if not more, valuable for the consumers. The people have the power to express their problems and needs in front of other people and a company, who would work hard to solve the problems. People can now actually expect someone to think about their problem.

People know that for a large corporation, it is not feasible to solve to everyone’s problems. But Ethics changes this perception of a common man. The Ethics provides a place of surprise shopping and fun. Ethics changes the shopping experience completely. They can expect to be pleasantly surprised in a Ethics store as well as find something that would not be available anywhere else. It would make the consumers feel proud to buy things that were produced because they raised the issue. Apart from the intangible benefits for the consumer, Ethics ideas also have tangible benefits for the consumer.

The products that are produced due to Ethics ideas are born from people’s actual problems. These problems are faced by common man in every day life as well as special occasions. A market usually comes up with products at the interface of supply and demand. Most of the suppliers are interested to enter most profitable and high volume markets. Due to this, the consumers are compelled o be satisfied, in many instances, with whatever is available in the market. For example, traditional producers of electric extension plug boards would not be interested to produce the multi strip electric board due to small volume of demand for such boards.

But, because Ethics is capable of producing goods in small quantities, the number of problems that could be addressed in the market increases significantly. This creates substantial amount of value for the consumers in the market, especially as Ethics ideas could be regarding any kind of goods. Not only are the problems solved, but also the cost of most goods is very reasonable. This compels other companies to weigh heavily on the power of customer satisfaction and come up with products that would solve people’s problems.

The Ethics ideas allow the common people to listen to other people’s problems and think over to find a solution for them. This is not only challenging but also rewarding. The person whose idea is commercialese gets a part of earnings as well as recognition on the product’s packaging. These rewards, though criticized by some, seem to be highly valuable for most of the people. It might not be even possible for many to commercialism their ideas. This could be made feasible for a large portion of the population only through Ethics ideas.

It greatly diminishes the hurdles of innovating, producing and counterclaiming a product in the market. Ethics should continue with the Ethics Ideas and refine the whole process. It could, strategically, confine itself to some particular target segments and thus increase its efficiency. The market research and data gathered due to the Ethics ideas is very valuable and should be used to develop successful product lines for Thatch’s own products. It is helpful to leverage people’s ideas and problems to develop maximum umber of products that could be efficiently sold in consistency with the one-week business model.

The weekly regularity makes it unique and nearly impossible for the competitors to replicate the model in a profitable way. It is mentioned in the case that some people wait for particular yearly occasions for specific themed shopping. It would be helpful to develop a strategy to separate the weekly product lines from the themes repeated every year. This might prevent loss of business in weeks prior to festivals, as people might not substitute festival shopping with the weekly shopping.

The themes of weekly product lines could be more focused around the core functionality of the products. A study indicates that only 26%iii of Europeans think that the home ware, food and drink and electronics sectors of E-business offer good service. Integration of Ethics Ideas and the Direct Ethics offering satisfactory online service would be welcomed by most in Europe. The Ethics ideas website should be designed to be more interactive than it is. Higher engagement of users would help to better understand the user as well as competitors’ willingness to address the problems.

The users could e asked to answer a questionnaire, which could have questions like “Have you tried to find a solution to your problem before? If yes, where and how? ” or “How did you realize about the problem? ” Activities like commenting and discussing the issues on Ethics websites must be encouraged. Employees related to the production and marketing department of Ethics could participate in the discussions that would make the online Ethics Ideas experience very informative and interesting. BY Mess Frankfurt (trade fair organizing firm), “Mess publishes Study Buying Behavior in Germane,

‘Yathu’s Supermarket’ sells several of goods such as all groceries items, wines, alcohol, etc. We sell specific product to target specific people so that we can satisfy customers’ wants and increase sales eventually as they buy the products they want. We have to be aware that our product is fashionable among the community and the customers so the products we sell are what the customers want. We also have to be cautious that our products are safe and don’t harm people in any way; we also have to sell products which are reliable. In our supermarket we have to offer various types of products to increase customer choice so that they can choose what they prefer. We also have to make our product look appealing to the customers. So overall, we have to sell the products look desirable for the customers so that they will buy it.

Price

Price is also a major factor in determining how much sales and profit we make because customers normally look for cheap products so if we sell the products at a cheaper price then it is going to attract customers so eventually we are going to increase sales. So as we are a small business we have to lower our prices to a relatively low price than our competitors to catch customers’ attention and try to persuade them to buy the product. It is important to have low prices as low prices increases sales; this is manly because customers always go for low prices and high quality products. However, we have to make the price reasonable so that we can make some profits, this is important to compete in the market.

We have to try to make short term tactics to boost sales such as lowering prices of key products we sell to attract customers. We could use psychological pricing, so we can for example sell products �2.99 instead of �3.00 so this will encourage the customers to think that it is a bargain. However, in the long-run after we have established as a strong business in the market we can increase our prices gradually to increase profits.

Promotion

Promotion is a campaign increase customer awareness of our service. Advertising is main way of promoting our service. There is other several types of ways to promote such as personal selling, public relation or even sponsorship. Comparing with the budget we have advertising through newspapers, leaflets, etc is the ideal way as it is in reach of our budget. A successful advertising campaign increases customer awareness and increase sales/profits.

‘Yathu’s Supermarket’ have to limit our promotional campaign to our budget, so we have to advertise in the cheapest possible way such as leaflets, local newspaper, billboards, etc. ‘Yathu’s Supermarket’ have to improve our public relations so we have to increase how the customers think of us, so we have to do several activities to improve public relations, this is because customer satisfaction and customers’ relationship with our business is one of the major keys to our success in the future. We have to create a brand such as a logo to represent our business. By developing a recognising brand we can help boost sales and profits by encouraging customers to make repeat purchases, so the customers will be loyal.

Place

‘Yathu’s Supermarket’ has decided that setting up our business in Woolwich is the best way for our business and the public and also it is the most cost-effective way. We have to store our stock at our supermarket as it is the cheapest way. However, as we become a larger firm we can find our places to place our stock such as a warehouse. We can also use internet to sell goods to our customers as it is easier for them and we are able to target a wider audience. We have to make the product we sell appealing so the customers will buy it so we have to place the product in a place where it is likely catch the customers’ attention. So where we place the product is essential to how much profit we make and how much sales we make.

We can also provide a service such as free delivery if they spend a certain amount in the shop. So for example if they spend more than �10.00 they can get free delivery service, this will attract the attention of customers so this will likely to increase sales and the profit we make. One of the reasons why it might take the attention of customers is that probably not many people offer this sort of service so it is unique, which the customers might prefer.

All these 4p’s (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) are done to help my business stabilise in the market and obviously to try to make more sales and profits.

What consumers should Pillsbury target?

Pillsbury should target Scratch Users segment which is 61% as compared to 49% in US. They have almost 24% as refrigerated users, when we go through the qualitative research which suggests the following:

• Product should be easy, quick, practical, affordable and pleasing to children.
• The was important.
• Feel of sharing and giving.
• Lapsed users were less secure to use convenience products which take them away from scratch baking.
• No issues with nutritional value
• Using Pillsbury product was still far better than buying readymade product, because it involved the effort and therefore represented an act of generosity.

From above we can conclude that if Pillsbury can increase customer value perception in the scratch segment, they can increase the market share. Since the main concern of scratch users are baking experience and to certain extend the quality of product, if tackled could lead to increased market share.

What should Pillsbury brand messaging be?

Brand messaging should be targeted to increase the customer value perception, target scratch customers, especially to mothers and kids who play an important part in Canadian family, as suggested by qualitative research.

Scratch taste equals to Pillsbury Cookie Dough Pillsbury Refrigerated Cookies, leave the mess part to us, readymade dough, get yourself creative with cookies, have fun with kids and will taste like home made cookies.

How could Pillsbury communicate this message in a relevant way to the consumers in a way that would translate into increased sales?

This can be done by various means as stated below:

• Target Segment Market Campaign
• By TV ad campaign aiming the target audience – Scratch Users
• Targeting mothers and kids
• Packaging
• By changing the packaging to suite the target market specially to kids and mothers.
• Having Influential messages on the pack, to influence scratch users on the quality and nutritional value of the product.
• By having recipes which can be used with refrigerated dough cookies, like a value added, which will increase effort and experience of baking using readymade dough.

Product Placement

Placement of the product at eye level (premium space), research shows cookie dough buying is impulsive, this will increase greater exposure to scratch users, more noticeable and accessible for impulse buying.

Rewards Programme

From the reason it’s seen that kids play a larger role as purchase driver in Canada than US, create rewards programme for kids, which will increase brand loyalty, awareness and attract the users/customers with kids. Influence on kids will eventually lead to sales increase.