Hats In 1993, Ben Fischman was a college junior who realized from observing his Boston University classmates that there was an opportunity in the baseball hat industry. He noticed that many students, like him, only wore 1 or 2 caps because the rest of their hats did not fit properly. Consumer needs were not being met. “We all owned 30 to 40 hats, but only wore one or two because those were the only ones that fit properly. There was a complete misunderstanding from the industry about what the customer wanted,” Fischman later said. What started as a mall kiosk quickly turned into 350 stores where the baseball hat consumer could get every team’s cap in any size they needed. Lids Corporation was based on the needs of the consumer. Fischman Retail stores were left with excess inventory because of lackluster sales and used the online commerce stores as an outlet. Some of the other major flash sale competitors include Zulily, Guilt Groupe, Haute Look and Beyond the Rack (see Exhibit 1). Fischman’s Rue La La wasn’t the first website of its kind on the scene in 2008, but he says that isn’t a problem in business. Describing his business idea philosophy, Fischman says, “A good business idea isn’t one no one ever thought of before…take an existing business and figure out how to do it better. How can you take what people are passionate about and do it uniquely?”(Johnson, 2011). Rue La La grew its membership to over one million in the first 18 months despite existing competition. IBISWorld foresees increased competition over the next 5 years in an already highly competitive industry. Also fueling a change to the flash sale site industry is a recovering U.S. Only one year later in October 2009, e-commerce services provider GSI Commerce purchased Retail Convergence Inc. for $350 million. GSI Commerce CEO Michael Rubin said at the time, “Rue La La’s short, intense events are entertaining and engaging. They have proven to be an effective solution for brands and retailers to sell significant opportunistic merchandise in a compressed time period” (Evans, 2009). Ben Fischman stayed on to run Rue La La and SmartBargains.com, reporting to Rubin. In March 2011, GSI Commerce was acquired by eBay, which also has a 30.0% ownership of flash-sale site rival Gilt Groupe. In that $2.4 billion transaction, Retail Convergence, including Rue La La, was spun out as an independent subsidiary, with eBay retaining 30.0% ownership. eBay placed ShopRunner, a members-only shopping service, and Rue La La into a new holding company called Kynetic. The newly formed company was initially run by GSI’s founder, Michael Rubin. eBay’s CEO John Donahue said at the time of purchase, “What we see happening today is that commerce is changing rapidly. The boundary between offline and online commerce is coming down at a stunning rate.” There is an ongoing shift in the retail industry as companies work to reach new
The ecommerce industry is growing faster than ever. TJ Maxx needs to start focusing more on ecommerce not only to keep up with competition, but also to make sure they do well during weak economic periods. ecommerce, overall, tends to do very well during lackluster economic times. TJ Maxx will be able to cut costs more easily the more they expand their ecommerce business. Our business idea will allow them to expand their ecommerce as we will take over their website and delivery. TJX Companies’ three ecommerce sites accounts for only about 1.0% of the company’s total sales. However, the online channel is a key growth driver and TJX is taking initiatives to improve its online business. The ecommerce sales
This nationally recognized mass merchandiser that stood as Kohl’s other leading adversary in the market has everyday low prices that were able to compete with Kohl’s promotional events. Wal-Mart also outdid their competition when it came to number of store locations around the country. The weaknesses of this reputable company come to light when shoppers are looking to buy clothes and are not presented with nearly the selection that the department store can offer. Also, their service is not considered to be as helpful as the department stores that can input more expertise when trying on
The Los Angeles Dodgers have almost gotten into the playoffs and looked like real contenders for the past three years. Yesterday marked the day that they would be officially in the playoffs. They beat the Giants 8 – 0 with Kershaw getting the shutout and launching their campaign into the postseason.
It is no wonder that the company has been carrying losses through its short existence, yet, it is disturbing to find that there is no evidence of the sales “take-off” that has been expected to happen, especially on the Christmas shopping season.
The two organizations our group explored are Target and Wal-Bazaar. We picked these two organizations since they are prosperous organizations where most Americans shop routinely. Indeed, even with this economy, these organizations find vital approaches to inspire clients to purchase stock. While these two organizations have contrasts, they have likenesses in their correspondence and showcasing styles.
While walking into Olney Central College, one may be greeted by smiling faces of students who are conversing with their friends between classes. When observing these students, one may come to find out that it isn't very difficult to spot an athlete. Spotting athletes is extremely easy because he or she tends to be surrounded by a group of people, or the athlete may simply look a lot different compared to a normal student.
In 1979, Chipman-Union was a medium size company which primarily manufactured unbranded socks sold as private label merchandise. The market of socks in the U.S. was characterized by severe price competition and limitation of product differentiation. There were only two companies which manufactured branded socks, and companies except those two companies had 20% gross margins or below. To get higher gross margin, CU had to venture into new business branded socks. They began to investigate the marketing program for the new product, and recognized that there were not only valuable possibilities, but also problems they would have to solve before launching the product.
In 2000, Coach Inc. became the first recognizable retailer in providing an accessible luxury good, namely in the women’s handbag market. Coach’s mission was to do something competitors had not yet realized was feasible: they offered a product of comparable or matched quality at a significantly lower price. Coach’s sales increased at an annual rate of 20% until the onset of a slowing economy in 2007 known as “The Great Recession” (Gamble, 2015, Page 73). Slowing sales began to take their toll; however, it was the introduction of primary competitors following a similar business strategy (Ex. Michael Kors, Versace, etc.) to the market that directly threatened Coach’s standing. In an attempt to revive business, Reed Krakoff was hired as the new
Van Der Werf Selgino, Martin. "Activist Seeks Probe Into Logo Apparel Sales." Chronicle of Higher Education 20 April 2001: A 46-47.
Zappos.com is a website that started off just selling shoes but now sells items such as handbags, clothing, and housewares in addition to shoes. Their company logo includes their catchy name with an explanation point as the end in the shape of shoe print which leads consumers to believe Zappos has strong feelings about the service they provide to their consumers. Zappos believe that customer service is the number one priority and is focused on cultivating repeat customers which is why they have always provided free shipping on both orders and returns; occasionally provides upgraded shipping so customers can receive their shoes the same day that they are ordered even though this is very expensive to the company; and they only show products on their website that they actually have in stock albeit they lose 25 percent of their potential business by doing so (Walker, 2009). For a compa...
Baseball is America’s past time. All it takes is one crack of the bat or the smell of peanuts and cracker jacks and you’re instantly hooked on the game. One reason fans love baseball so much is because they play more games than any other sport which brings the fans even closer.
In addition to Gap Inc.’s competitive advantage given its multiple brand, channel and geography model, the company plans to build its online success by delivering an industry-leading world class platform for consumers as the retail landscape continues to merge online and in-store shopping experiences. This end-to-end system, which includes capabilities such as ship-from-store, find-in-store and reserve-in-store, is designed to leverage Gap Inc. channels and resources to drive store traffic and conversion, while meeting the needs of customers who increasingly demand an integrated shopping experience.
Due to the good establishment of the business, it has huge market national. The company has therefore opened many retail shops and stores all over the country to ensure that their products are accessible to the customers. The entity provides a favorable environment, and many clients view the place as a fun shopping place to be. The retailer has targeted a big pool of customer because of the variety of products it sells. The stores products vary from kitchen goods, jewelry, and electronics clothes to hardware
Hometown fans and visitors to Atlanta enjoy taking in a Braves baseball game at Turner Field in downtown Atlanta. But the National League ball club is not the only draw. The home of the Braves is an attraction in its own right. The Atlanta landmark has the look of an older ball park, but is equipped with state of the art technology and conveniences.
Zara, the most profitable brand of Inditex SA, the Spanish clothing retail group, opened its first store in 1975 in La Coruña, Spain; a city which eventually became the central headquarters for Zara’s global operations. Since then they have expanded operations into 45 countries with 531 stores located in the most important shopping districts of more than 400 cities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Throughout this expansion Zara has remained focused on its core fashion philosophy that creativity and quality design together with a rapid response to market demands will yield profitable results. In order to realized these results Zara developed a business model that incorporated the following three goals for operations: develop a system the requires short lead times, decrease quantities produced to decrease inventory risk, and increase the number of available styles and/or choice. These goals helped to formulate a unique value proposition: to combine moderate prices with the ability to offer new clothing styles faster than its competitors. These three goals helped to shape Zara’s current business model.