Background
Black and Decker (B&D) is a pioneer in portable power tools. In 1991, it is a $5 billion in sales company with 29% of these sales coming from Power Tools and Accessories. B&D is the world’s larges producer of power tools and the U.S. market overall leader.
Problem Statement
B&D has a strong market share in the consumer and industrial markets, but is weak in the P-T market as it is currently experiencing decreased market share. In this segment, B&D is not generating profits and, at the same time, retailers want more advertising allowances and rebates.
Analysis
The U.S. power tools market is divided into three segments: Consumer (home use buyers), Professional-Tradesmen (P-T) (contractors who purchase their own tools), and Industrial (procuring professional buying in large quantities for industrial usage). The P-T segment is the one experiencing the largest growth potential.
B&D is one of the most powerful brands in power tolls. Its products are generally regarded to have high quality. B&D currently has 45% of the Consumer and 20% of the Industrial markets. However, in the P-T segment B&D holds only 9% of the market and is in near parity with Milwaukee Electric (10%) and trails Makita, which has captured 50% of the market.
Makita was able to grow rapidly in the P-T market as its dominance was aided by the rapid development of a new type of distribution channel, the Home Centers such as Home Depot, which Makita actively sought. B&D, however, was not able to grow quickly in the P-T market due to Tradesman’s perception of its P-T Line.
The Tradesman market perceives B&D as a “Consumer” product that is not on par to handle professional tasks. This is evident in that in studies of brand perceptions in the P-T segment, six manufacturers out-rank B&D, three tie with B&D, and only one is rated with lower quality. On blind trials the quality of B&D P-T products often outranked those of the manufactures whose quality was perceived to be better, implying that B&D’s problem is not of having bad products, but of having a bad reputation.
One factor contributing to the perceived higher quality of Makita and Milwaukee is that both are priced at a premium, and on average, are 5-10% more than B&D. This difference in price contributes to foster the perception by the P-T market that because the competitors’ prod...
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...f B&D P-T line may remain.
The recommended Option 3 is that B&D should go with the established DeWalt and Industrial Yellow. Marketing DeWalt alone is a better choice, as there are negative perceptions of the B&D line concerning reduced quality. Increasing the DeWalt brand awareness and improving the perceived quality will be easier and more successful to accomplish than increasing B&D’s perceived quality at the P-T market.
The color of the new line should be “Industrial Yellow” because other power tool companies have not used this color. It is a bold color, and will stand out compared to the other P-T colors. In the early stages, the positive associations will be associated with the original DeWalt Company’s reputation and safety as this color is used to indicate safety. As the DeWalt line’s positive market perceptions grow, Industrial Yellow will be easier to identify the high-end P-T line and will automatically be associated with high quality goods.
Although not sufficient by itself, Option 4 is also interesting for B&D, since Makita has already damaged relationships with retailers, and retailers “push” of products is an important element in driving sales.
Stirling Bridge had been a thriving power tool business for over 100 years. The company had sold and distributed power tools and equipment all over the U.S., Europe, and third world countries. Recently one of Stirling Bridge’s top selling products, the Braveheart power tool line, came under attack when consumer agencies conducted research and found many consumers who purchased the power tools were experiencing significant harm and personal injury after use. Stirling Bridge (STIRLING BRIDGE) had identified potential safety concerns with their power tools and hired an independent research company to investigate why consumers were being injured using their power tools, well before the company came under the attack of public agencies.
The competitive analysis sought to establish Kendra Scott’s competitive rivalry, buyer power, supplier power, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes. Kendra Scott has various major competitors, but it has preserved its leadership in the jewelry industry by maintaining a brand that is associated with superior and consistent customer experience, authenticity, superior core values, and flexibility in responding to changing tastes. The consumers have weak bargaining power largely due to the emotional attachment they have for particular jewelry brands. Besides, they do not rely on market forces and pricing levels to make purchasing decisions. The jewelry company and its main competitors depend on a few suppliers for their raw materials
In 1978, when two executives Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank received news they were fired from their jobs at Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, they decided to take something negative and turn it into an opportunity. They put their experience and knowledge of the business and industry together and developed a business plan to create a chain of home-improvement warehouses. Their idea was to create a business which would be larger and more profitable than any of their competitors. So in 1979, one year after being fired, they acquired their funding and opened three stores in Atlanta which they branded with the name Home Depot. Today, Home Depot is the world’s largest home improvement chain and second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart, operating approximately 2,250 stores throughout the Americas (Parnell, 2014).
For this analysis we have chosen Home Depot Incorporated a home improvement retailer. It primary clients are professional “professional remodelers, general contractors, repairmen, small business owners, and tradesmen” (Yahoo Finance, 2015). In addition Home Depot sub contracts installations to third parties (Yahoo Finance, 2015). Home Depot has 2,270 stores in the US and international stores located in Mexico and Canada (Yahoo Finance 2015).
Sourcing strategy. The Home Depot maintains a global sourcing strategy to acquire products directly from various manufacturers around the world. The company has a merchant team that identifies and purchases products directly f...
marketplace no matter what the product is when a company begins sacrificing at the customers expense people take notice quickly. This is when the buyer thinks they would be willing to give a little more in the price to be happy about their purchase. This is when Papa John steps in and reminds us all that they have been number one three years in a row in customer satisfaction. People take notice of the decisions that other people make. If they see an empty Papa Johns box in the trash of their next door neighbor they will take notice.
Dansk Designs Ltd., founded in 1955, is a company that markets stainless steel flatware. The firm traditionally followed a strategy of differentiation. They produce high quality products for the “top of the table”. Their goal was to reach a small market segment, which consisted of upper class, prestigious customers. Dansk Designs wanted to sell the concept of the Dansk brand, and believed their consumers would purchase the Dansk products because of the prominent brand name and because the products were the very best in taste and quality. Ted Nierenberg, the founder of Dansk Designs has recently decided that he wants to keep Dansk growing at 15% to 20% per year. Nierenberg feels as if his current product line will not provide sufficient growth to meet his objectives, and believes it is in the company’s best interest to introduce a new line of house ware products called Dansk Gourmet Designs Ltd. Nierenberg believes they should market this new line to a much wider group of consumers at competitive prices. However, I believe that although expanding into a new market with a new product line will increase short-term revenues, in the long run it will be detrimental because the new line will dilute the brand identity of Dansk Designs. If Nierenberg wants to grow every year 15% to 20%, I believe he should consider ways to lower costs instead of increasing volume and revenues.
And we will purchase capacities when plant utilisation above 90%. This will expand the business size and have a positive impact on economies of scale. Composed with High End and Size products transfer into Traditional and Low End, we have multiproduct in targeted segments. “Higher firm-level ability raises a firm 's productivity across all products, which induces a positive correlation to a firm’s intensive and extensive margin” (Bernard, Redding and Schott 2006). This means with an effective business strategy and management, businesses can boost sales of all products within the segment. With a larger product profile for Traditional and Low End, it works to generate larger market shares. Refer to Graph 4 and 5, Digby sold twice units of products than its core competitor-Baldwin by having Daze and Dixie in its Traditional segment, which drives its segment market share to double Baldwin’s. The boost in sales and market share prove the correct implication of the
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Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., McDaniel, C. D., & Wardlow, D. L. (2009). Essentials of marketing (6th ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub..
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