Lina Kim, Pranav Reddy, Brett Mabie, Alex Zoeckler, and Claudia Fang
Professor Dzyabura
Introduction to Marketing
October 11th, 2015
Calyx Flowers Case Memo
Calyx Flowers’ report indicated that Calyx did not reach its full potential despite gross margins of almost 50%. For Calyx to increase revenues and reduce marketing costs, Calyx should focus more on Internet advertising. By increasing Internet advertising and targeting a different segment of customers, Calyx can improve its yield rate and total revenues. An additional recommendation is to merge the two current websites for further convenience. The added emphasis on Internet ordering can reduce Calyx’s advertising costs such as maintaining the hotline.
Calyx Flowers is a flower delivery
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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
A Couple of Squares is a company specializing in producing and selling gourmet cookies to retail stores. Recently, A Couple of Squares has been brainstorming the idea of starting an e-commerce website so they can sell there gourmet cookies directly to consumers instead of selling to retailers. There are many considerations that need to be evaluated when deciding to launch an e-commerce website. First, the risks of launching an e-commerce site and the steps to mitigate the risks must be evaluated. Along with the risks of launching an e-commerce site, the benefits of launching an e-commerce site also need to be taken into account. In order to seek profitability a break even analysis must be performed. Once profitability is feasible, A Couple
In light of an evolving market, faced with new competitors, and after a careful analysis of their current customers, the Vanguard Group (hereinafter referred to as “Vanguard”) realizes it must rethink its entire marketing strategy. However, in order to protect and leverage their competitive advantage, which is their low management fees, and to optimize the loyalty that their customers continuously demonstrate toward their organization, they must now target the most profitable segment for them, and develop the best way to serve and delight these customers.
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
As competition intensifies and pressure from retailers to get better margins increases, Clique Pens’ margins have dropped 6% in the past 3 years. Trade deals for retailers are the main reason our margins have steadily shrunk and our customers are not getting the benefits. Market development funds (MDF) are the key to bring our margins back up, while keeping retailers happy and their margins intact, we can increase our profit margins by 3%, to 2011 levels, while giving our customers a better deal.
We are using October 2006 as the base for our forecasted sales due to the many changes that have occurred in the last year. Several product lines have been ...
Sephora has started its digital presence in the year 1999 with the launch of its website, “Sephora.com” and pioneered in the digital and beauty retail business. With around 3 million visitors per month to its website, Sephora has not put a single step wrong in its marketing strategy. The introduction of Sephora Beauty Insider program in 2007 followed by the Customer Relationship Management programs, the number of online customers have been exploded in multi-fold across Sephora’s online channels. Although Sephora was known for its in-store experience, the shear increase in the number of customers on its online portals had almost blacked out the online system in the holiday season of 2014. This led many of its Asian loyal customers
Six years after deciding to be an independent public company in late 2000, Coach Inc.’s net sales had grown at a compounded annual rate of 26 percent and the stock price had increased by 1,400 percent due to a strategy keyed to a concept called accessible luxury. Coach crafted the accessible luxury category in women’s handbags and leather accessories by differentiating themselves on price, but matching competitors on styling, quality, and customer service. The accessible luxury strategy mirrors a focus (or market niche) strategy based on low costs. Coach concentrates on a narrow buyer segment and outcompetes rivals by having lower costs than rivals and thus being able to serve niche members at a lower price. Management believed that new products should be based on market research rather than on designers’ instincts. Coach utilized extensive consumer surveys and focus groups to gain insight in the market, and ultimately a competitive advantage over competition. Coach’s $200-$500 handbags appealed to both middle class consumers who now were able to afford a taste of luxury, as well as affluent consumers with the means to spend $2,000 on a handbag on a regular basis.
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.
During the last decade, we’ve been to the top of the world—during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s—and back down again, when it all fell apart a few years later. But with the bad came the good: The Web forever changed the business world. The following small-business owners are shining examples of how Web-based technologies can be a businessperson’s best friend.
University of Phoenix, (2007), retrieved January 19, 2007 from the University of Phoenix rEsource database MarketLine Business Information Center
The natural progression of the Internet and emerging technologies is towards streamlining our lives both personally and professionally. Instantaneous communications and available on-line services continue to reduce the physical distance between individuals. Almost anything is now available in cyberspace from shopping, schooling and education, on-line trading, banking, to social and political on-line communities. On-line service providers are shifting from a product centric approach to a more personal and customized approach to marketing their products and services. The idea of one-to-one marketing is very powerful and has become an important tool for competing in the interactive age. One-to-one marketing takes a customer-orientated approach to selling; customers are treated as individuals with different interests and needs. We respond positively to individual attention; when we visit a web site we want to see products and services of interest to us not every available product. We do not want to waste our time. For many people, time is money and the convenience factor ways heavily on the decision to return to a web site.
The organized results provide the company with a detailed analysis on each customer’s private information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns. Using this data, customers can be segmented into groups of buyers with different tastes and budgets. Columbia can then identify the most profitable, frequent, and unhappy customers and individually market to each group using promotions created specifically for them. Columbia can continue to serve new and long-term customers by practicing social engagement, knowledge management, and customer retention. CRM systems could analyze social engagement by encouraging communication through social media to identify key media influencers within that customer community. Columbia’s CRM systems may also provide customers with an online community that may be similar to a blog. On these webpages, customers may seek advice from each other, give feedback to the company, and share their own ideas for potential products and
...and ad revenues—think of pointclick.com and others). This affiliate marketing paper has covered a “submodel” – one that fits inside proposition two and proposition three. For readers interested in seeing how much more savvy the field has become, go to the following locations: www.netcentives.com, and www.mypoints.com. Both sites advertise and promote a customer-loyalty, revenue-generating ecommerce solution that reads like an affiliate program on steroids. I suggest delving into both of these sites if readers are interested in seeing the latest tactics for marketing in the business to business and in the business to consumer market.
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...
Demographics of the area show the largest consumer base as professional adults and students ages 24-54 with household income of $52,000 and up. The primary target market are the professional wage earners, which will be a high proportion of customers that will have a greater demand for the product, the age and income breakdowns show that a large portion has enough disposable income to be able to patronize Rooms for Dessert upscale dining and entertainment. Sub-segment market is based on the heterogenous approach, “The heterogenous approach taps into the differences between consumer demands. Segmenting the market into bite-sized chunks allows your company to cater to individuals” (Bradley., N.D.). Rooms for Dessert will target customers desiring a sweet treat not necessarily a high-end dessert such as customers who are generally not concerned about health or