Calyx and Corolla Case Report
Introduction
Calyx & Corolla was a new entrant into the $8 billion flower industry in the United States in 1991. Through the use of overnight air freight (Fed Ex), information technology, an 800 number, and a catalog, Calyx & Corolla was able to bypass three layers of distribution and provide fresh flowers directly from growers to consumers. As a result of their efficient distribution system, Calyx and Corolla changed the way flowers were distributed to consumers.
Strengths and Weaknesses
I. Strengths
A. Good niche and mission. Calyx and Corolla filled a consumer need. Consumers wanted very fresh and long lasting flowers and the company delivered it. Efficient distribution was the key to flower industry and the company was able to shorten delivery to customers by bypassing the middle distribution layers, and provide much faster deliveries than traditional FTD deliveries. For example, Calyx and Corolla delivered roses from growers to consumers within 1-2 days of purchase order compared with one to two weeks for other FTD retailers and florists.
B. Sales growing at a faster rate than cost of goods sold. Projected FY4 and FY5 also had projected sales growing faster than cost of goods sold. See graph for details (Derived from Exhibit 1).
Growth rate 1988-1989 to 1989-1990 Growth rate 1989-1990 to 1990-1991 Growth rate FY3 to FY4 Growth rate FY4 to FY5
Sales 4.31 1.55 .49 .61
Cost of goods sold 4.14 1.52 .42 .58
C. Good creative catalogs that have appealing photographs, as well as educational information.
D. High customer satisfaction. From Exhibit 2, customers showed genuine satisfaction with Calyx and Corolla's products and services.
II. Weaknesses
A. Business depends very critically upon Fed Ex. If Fed Ex had a major disruption to their delivery system, flowers would not be delivered on time, resulting in dissatisfied customers. For example, if Fed Ex employees went on strike, there would be no alternative equivalent to Fed Ex to deliver flowers to customers. UPS, although an alternative, did not deliver perishable products in the same timely fashion as Fed Ex.
B. Business was also dependent upon information technology. If systems were down for some reason due to viruses or major electricity failure, the company would not be able to fill orders. The company should consider external power supply.
C. Suppliers mainly concentrated in Florida, California, and Hawaii. Calyx and Corolla's suppliers/growers not very diversified geographically. If another deep freeze occurs, the company may have difficulty meeting customers' demands. The company should consider other sources of growers/suppliers, such as growers in Mexico.
Calyx & Corolla (Calyx) needs to determine whether it should change its current strategy and positioning as a mail order operation to compete more directly against more traditional outlets, such as florists, and wire services, such as FTD. How could Calyx attract the largest group of potential buyers who patronized florists or other retailers and were not accustomed to buying by mail order. Calyx needs to determine what actions it should take to make a profit and grow its business.
Online sales currently represent about 40% of Calyx revenues. Since Calyx’s main customers are upscale, professional women, it is understandable that professionals are more likely to use the Internet as a resource to buy flowers. The advantage of Internet for professionals is that the Internet requires the least amount of effort and time to purchase flowers. Calyx can use Internet advertising to target specific demographics. Calyx can position themselves towards the younger generation of customers who are more likely to use the Internet to buy goods. Calyx can also use the Internet to attract professional men, instead of its normal customer base of upscale women. Calyx should also target more heavily to companies, as it already offers flowers for corporate giving. Corporate customers and businesses are more likely to provide a higher lifetime value than a customer who only buys flowers for special holidays. In addition, Calyx could merge their two websites (calyxflowers.com and calyxandcorolla.com) together for easier navigability and increased customer convenience. By reaching out to the younger generation, corporations, and men, Calyx can increase their current yield rate. Focusing on these three groups can increase Calyx’s revenue by aligning themselves closer to the desired sniper
Monsanto’s largest competitors are BASF SE, Syngenta, and Bayer CropScience. Monsanto’s efficient and effective support activities for crop production have led to becoming one of the prominent companies in the industry. Product performance (in particular, crop vigor and yield for our row crops and quality for our vegetable seeds), customer support and service, intellectual property rights and protection, product availability and planning and price are important elements of Monsanto’s market success in seeds. In addition, distributor, retailer and farmer relationships are important in the United States and many other countries. The primary factors underlying the competitive success of traits are performance and commercial viability; timeliness of introduction; value compared with other practices and products; market coverage; service provided to distributors, retailers and farmers; governmental approvals; value capture; public acceptance; and environmental characteristics.
...rts showing that sales have increased every year and continue to grow, with the major portion in merchandise and credit.
Besides to the dramatic change of internet to the consumer purchasing pattern and retailer selling pattern, the consumer today have become less tolerant of service failures and likely to expect better services that are more than the average. In addition to this, the consumer demands more for personalized service. It can be a difficult task for FedEx to satisfy all customer needs.
Another problem in CCC's not-to-distant future is their distribution costs. With the use of the Internet, competitors have been able to ...
They have a big variety of California native plants and the staff is super friendly and provide assistance to their customers. They growth 70% of what they sell and the other 30% is from other sellers from Northern California up to Arizona. The most selling plants on the nursery are sages and desert flowers. One interesting event I was told is that the Botanic Garden of Russia is very interest in California natives; that is why they bought all plants they needed to have a section of California natives on their
Azalea has a great product that will perform very well in the market. Marketing and sales are areas that will also need improvement. Management is very capable and should easily be able to adjust to competition in the market. A great deal of opportunity lies ahead in the many unfulfilled niches to be filled and explored. Azalea will need to expand and diversify its customer base. This can easily be accomplished by focusing on marketing and sales efforts. The company needs to concentrate on, not only providing a quality product, but also creating a well-known and trusted name. Azalea can easily become a household name!
We have determined that their business model is an Integrated Low Cost – Differentiated Strategy. It involves finding the lowest operational cost along with a unique niche or strategy that separates them from the competition. Toyota’s new statement “Moving Forward”, reflects their plans and expectations for the future. This includes the known and the unknown factors that a business must face. In 2000, Toyota launched a new cost effective strategy called CCC21 (Construction of Cost Competitiveness for the 21st century), for Low Cost operational expenses. With this aspect Toyota plans to advance such initiatives globally, based on its policy of purchasing the world’s best parts at the lowest cost with the shortest lead times.
The benefits of these assumptions are that while maintaining the current growth rate of 13%; we can maintain our COGS. One of the major factors contributing to the firm’s poor profit margin is operating expenses.
The 3 percent decline in sales causing a 21 percent decline in profits can be attributed to the identification of the accounting concept of operating leverage. Operating leverage is what business managers apply to boost small changes in revenue into sizable changes in profitability. Fixed cost is the force managers use to attain disproportionate changes between revenue and profitability. Therefore, when all costs are fixed every sales dollar contributes one dollar toward the potential profitability of a project. Once sales dollars cover fixed costs, each additional sales dollar represents pure profit. A small change in sales volume can significantly affect profitability (Edmonds, Tsay, & Olds, 2011). So, therefore, if sales volume increases,
Toyota’s innovative nature allows them to produce quality products and maintain their brand image, even if it is at a higher cost. However, their customer base is also aware of their reliability, despite numerous recalls which dampened the organizations name, yet they are still willing to remain loyal customers.
This assignment was given by Madam Manaf as the subject of his assignment of Business Information Management Strategy to all degree students with international business information technology business (CU202). Based on this assignment students were required to make a case study on computer RBS failure ' Caused by inexperienced operative in India ‘. Based on the case study is also required to give an idea of comparative advantage of IS / IT outsourcing in the company. Then, based on the case study of this question me are required to describe the main Threats to take outsourcing IS / It to the company. Next, I need to make recommendations on measures to prevent the occurrence of a failure in the computer system. In addition, I also have an opinion on what I've learned from this assignment and I understand the issues case study RBS computer failure ' Caused by inexperienced operative in India’s.
There are several factors behind this success. First, the company is careful to invest resources in order to make its business more effectively. This backward vertical integration was a wise move because the business is able to increase operating margins. Additionally, Evergreen can improve their contracts with suppliers in order to reduce delivery costs. Second, Evergreen focuses on service and providing a special shopping experience. The use of quirky, hand painted signs to attract customers shows Evergreen Natural Market’s commitment to a personalized experience. Hiring the right people and encouraging them to interact with their customers and share their knowledge about the source of their products. Employees will help customers choose the best products for their individual situation and provide a lot of attention for the customer. Improving New
Floriculture, or flower farming, is a subset of horticulture which is essentially concerned with the development and cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral commerce. The development, via plant breeding, of new varieties is a major occupation of floriculturists. The flower industry comprises cultivation and trade of cut flowers, cut foliage, potted plants and bedding plants. The main representatives of cut flowers are: the rose, chrysanthemum, gladiolus, carnation and lilies. Potted vegetation and cut flowers roughly have an 80 per cent share of the total world trade in ornate plant varieties. In the flower industry, momentous changes are occurring in competitive relationships worldwide.