...Please answer in detail about the problem, who has it, how big it is, why is important, the pains the people have, and the gains they are trying to get. In small retail Food there are several problems. The main cause is an explosive growth of major chains which increase their power of decision over Marks (farmers, processors, manufacturers or wholesalers) and destroy local stores throught taking advantages of economies of scale and their magement of sales promotions based in strong discounts. One of the problems is that between 20 and 25% of sales in big chains stores is made with promotions, but in 6 out of 10 promotions the brands are the ones wihch resigned their profit margin. And this effort did not reach the consumer because the...
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...Mini Case – Groupon Online coupon businesses have begun to boom recently in not only big cities in the U.S. but also in smaller areas around the country. With the growth of this business, though, comes competition, which is a major problem facing big online businesses such as Groupon and Living Social. Although these are the two largest rivals in the business right now, there are hundreds of other companies that have tried to take a piece of the pie by offering their own online coupons. Companies such as Groupon and Living Social have to find a way to get customers to buy from them, but also to get them to return and not just go to the next best competitor; return customers, which is another major problem those compaies face. Tim O'Shaughnessy, the founder of Living Social has been trying to stay ahead of the curve by making sure he hires in the right people that will not only work with the company’s core values but also live their personal lives through the company’s core values too. By doing this, companies such as Living Social and Groupon can differentiate themselves from the other competitors. For a company to have a winning strategy they must pass three different types of tests; the fit test, the competitive advantage test and the performance test. Living Social has grown to around 200 cities across the U.S. which allows their competitors to rival them in many different areas. The company must take a look at the three winning strategy criteria to make sure that...
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...Evolution Of Coupons.......................................................................................4 Digital Coupon Delivery Moves To The Forefront...........................................................................................6 Personalization Tops Digital Coupon Benefits.........................................................................................11 Retailer-Manufacturer Collaboration Moves The Needle On Digital Couponing.............................................................................................15 The Retailer Learning Curve For Digital Couponing............................................................................................16 The Digital Future...................................................................................................18 Conclusion: Retailers’ Digital Couponing Predictions and Demands.................................................................20 Appendix..................................................................................................................21 2 The Tipping Point: Retailers Embrace Digital Couponing Executive Summary Over the last two decades, technology has helped put security and distribution controls in place to build the online coupon system that we see today. With the rise of smartphone usage, we see an even more dramatic shift for consumers away from traditional clip-and-save paper coupons and towards digital coupons. In a recent...
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...that question is simple in a way, sales for JC Penney were decreasing and the weak sales cost JcPenney to exit the catalog business and close 19 of its catalog outlet stores. An additional seven stores, two call centers, and one customer decorating facility were closed as well (Heller, 2011). Johnson came out the corner swinging in the early 2012, he announced a major overhaul of the way JCPenney does business with a new “fair and square” everyday low pricing scheme to replace the “fake prices.” (Tuttle, 2013) The idea seems great but that wasn’t what the customers/consumers wanted. Yes, it seems realistic with all the fuss over “fake prices,” but the data didn’t come back successful at all. The first quarter after the installment of “Fair and Square,” sales declined 18.9 percent. Total sales decreased 20.1%, and Internet sales through jcp.com were $271 million in the first quarter, a 27.9% decrease from last year. Overall the store reported they lost $163 million net loss in the quarter (Tuttle, 2012). The idea made logical sense, but shoppers aren’t logical. They’re often drawn to stores not by promising low prices but by the chances of catching a deal with coupons or prices. During Johnson tenure as the CEO, he got ride of sales, instituted low-price guarantees, eliminated brands and “fake prices,” negotiated for new brands, brought back sales and coupons, planned to redesign stores and then brought back “fake prices.” In doing all this in the 17-month period of being in charge...
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...CASE TITLE: MC DONALD’S “SENIORS” RESTAURANT CASE STUDY METHOD OBJECTIVES: 1. To enhance socialization and quality decision making. 2. To advance the student’s learning in the national world of business operation. BY: MARY KRISTINE S. TORRECAMPO LC 3 I. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1. What is the effect of the increasing seniors’ population to the image of Suzanne’s Mc Donald’s Restaurant? 2. What services should Suzanne’s Mc Donald’s Restaurant could offer to attract more young customers to avail the facilities longer than the seniors? II. DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM The Mc Donald’s Restaurant is open to the public especially to the young ones, but unfortunately, the main customers under Suzanne’s management are said to be “seniors.” If the senior customers continue to grow in the fast-food restaurant, there are two possible outcomes that may happen, both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is – for the management perspective – there is nothing to worry in terms of the restaurant sales and gaining of profits because even they are seniors, they are still customers that are willing to avail the services being offered. However, the disadvantage is, if the seniors’ population continue to grow, in availing the services in which supposed to be for young people as the main targets, their presence will monopolize the place as being the main customers and withhold the young ones. Young customers might feel uncomfortable...
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...Defining Marketing Paper ShuMikki Stinson MKT/351 Thomas Collins August 26, 2013 Marketing is a tool that can help business owners to prosper with their product. Marketing can be defined as an instrument that is helpful to individuals to promote their goods in their unique way that other people items would not be an eye-catcher. It is vital to know that the key thing for every marketing tool that the individual uses will be used for the proper reasons. By the individual using marketing tools in the proper way, the individual will reach their marketing level in which they wish to be at. There are side effects when it comes to the marketing tools and the techniques which they do not work properly as it was intended too. There are numerous of definitions that relate to the marketing field. According to William D. Perreault, the author of Basic Marketing, the best definition of marketing is the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and directing a flow of need satisfying goods and services from producer to customer or client. (William D. Perreault, 2011). Marketing is important because it can be a benefit for a business or a hardship. Respectable marketing methods can make a transformation between a concrete upsurges in sales to an impasse circumstances on a quality merchandise. Marketing can be as simple as having a general conversation, which is usually the case in the long run. Marketing...
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...such a profitable business? Cereal breakfast industry has been highly concentrated industry with top four firms accounting for 80% of market share in 1993. Return-On-Sales in this industry (18%) is also significantly higher than compared to those in general food industry (5%). Primary reason for high profitability is * Barrier to entry: Cereals breakfast industry although had no explicit regulatory barriers to entry, still the list mentioned below were acted as high deterrent for new firms to enter the market: * Brand Proliferation: Big-3 had launched a very successful Brand proliferation strategy, by launching products to serve every foreseeable market category. This strategy also resulted in lowering market-share/brand and profit/brand, making it difficult for new entrants to cover the cost of initial capital. * Advertising & Promotion: Advertising/sales ratio in Cereal industry has although reduced from 18% in 1960’s to 10.2% in 1993, still it was higher than most of the other consumer product business. A typical spend of $20 million in the first year of a new brand can be enough to deter a new firm from entering the market. * Retail Channel: With increase in number of brands to offer, prime shelf space in retail channel was of prime importance in success of a product. Securing prime shelf required providing ‘slotting allowance’, which could result in extra spend of $ 1m at national level. While the same was applicable to Big-3 too, but they...
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...The Misguided Bond Case 11 Prepared by for Professor C.E. Reese in partial fulfillment of the requirements for ACC 541- FORENSIC ACCOUNTING School of Business/ Graduate Studies St. Thomas University Miami Gardens, Fla. Term A1/Spring, 2015 March 25, 2015 Table of Contents Issues………………………………………………………………. 1 Facts……………………………………………………………….. 1 Analysis/ Authority………………………………………………... 6 Conclusions/ Recommendation……………………………………. 8 Issues 1. What is Martin’s actually return for 2000, 2001, and 2002? 2. What would have been Martin’s return for years 2000, 2001, and 2002 if his portfolio had remained with its initial holdings? 3. How do STRIDEs contrast with conventional bonds? 4. How appropriate were these STRIDEs for a 78 year-old with Martin’s stated investment objectives? 5. Considering that the prospectus and accompanying supplemental prospectus exceeded 300 pages, is this reasonable to expect “Joe Investor” to digest this volume of information? 6. How does Blink’s representation of the STRIDE as reported in the statement of claims contrast with the actual nature of this product, as reported in the supplemental prospectus? 7. Assume you are an arbitrator panel member. Would you order the brokerage firm to awards Ralph any damages? If so, how much? Why? Facts Late in 2001, Ralph Martin, a former clothes salesman, sat on his patio evaluating his current retirement portfolio. Ralph, a 78 year-old retiree, had little interest in investment and had previously...
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...companies and products were limited. As debt became cheaper and technology took rapid strides in the form of the Internet many wannabe entrepreneurs took the plunge. They realized that if they had a good idea, it would not be long before it could be brought to market. They did not have the budgets for above the line advertising. They had to resort to guerilla marketing techniques to get the message across to the target audience. They had to try out various tactics to get word-of-mouth promotion going. Viral marketing came into being. When all this was happening, marketers decided to draw a line between different advertising mediums. One part was called “above the line” while the other was called “below the line.” In organizational business and marketing communications, Below the Line (BTL) is an advertising technique. It uses less conventional methods than the usual specific channels of advertising to promote products, services, etc. than Above the Line (ATL) strategies. These may include activities such as direct mail, public relations and sales promotions for which a fee is agreed upon and charged up front. Above the line is a type of advertising through media such as TV, cinema, radio, print, banners and search engines. Below the line advertising typically focuses on direct means of communication, most commonly direct mail and e-mail, often using highly targeted lists of names to maximize response rates. In addition, Above the Line is much more effective, when the target...
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...years ago in 1883 in Cincinnati by a man named Barney Kroger. He built his business on the motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself” (“History of Kroger”, 2014). Kroger has delivered a wide variety of items for its customers since day one. These items include baked goods, a pharmacy, deli, home décor and an assortment of other goods. In the recent years Kroger has launched a mobile application for its customers. The launch has enabled Kroger to provide an even more personalized approach to shopping in its stores. Mobile Application Features As of 2012, 87 percent of the world’s population was using mobile phones (Turban, Volonino, & Wood, 2012, p. 195). Every year that number greatly increases. Therefore, it is obvious why Kroger made the decision to capitalize on the mobile opportunity. The company’s CEO, David Dillon, had reported that since the birth of the Kroger app three years ago, it had been downloaded more than two million times (Monk, 2013). The company integrated the store customer loyalty program into the application; along with making the switch to digital coupons. Every week, as new manufacturer coupons are released in the paper or online, the Kroger mobile app is updated as well. There is no need for the customers to clip coupons in the newspaper anymore. The consumer can open his or her mobile app and locate the coupon by category or name. Once the coupon is selected, it is downloaded directly to his or her customer loyalty program...
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...because they have been in business for a very long time and a very popular place to shop for shoes. It is the largest footwear retailer in the United States. I also worked there about 18 years ago so I have some knowledge of how the company runs and what they do to appeal to customers. This is a place that people love to shop at due to the prices of their shoes and the selection that they have for the whole family. I think this store is great for kids shoes since kids out grow them so quick. Why spend so much money on shoes when they will outgrow them in a couple months. I don’t think there is anyone who does not know what Payless Shoe Source is. They may not have shopped there but they know what the store is by the name. Payless Shoe Source opened in 1956 as Pay-less National. In 1991 they changed their name to Payless Shoe Source, Inc. I think this is a great company to write about because they have been around so long and in that time they really have not changed who they are as a company and what they offer to the customers. 2) Describe how your selected retailer uses social media to build relationships with its customers. Payless Shoe Source uses many social media to build relationships with its customers from television ads to online ads to the advertisement that they do in the store. They have advanced with going online and being in contact with customers on the web. They are on facebook and twitter where customers can play a game to win a coupon. I don’t think there...
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... 7 7. EVOULUTION OF SNAPDEAL 8 8. CORPORATE STRATEGY 9 9. TIME LINE 11 10. MARKETING STRATEGY 13 11. SWOT ANALYSIS 14 12. VALUE POOSITION 16 13. COMPETTION 17 14. BUSINESS MODEL 18 15. REVENUE MODEL 20 16. CONCLUSION 22 17. REFERENCE 23 INTRODUCTION Started in February 2010 by founders kunal bahl and Rohit Bansil the company has turned out to be...
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...offers discounts and coupons for products and services. The idea of this innovative service was unveiled to the public in Manhattan, New York on May 26, 2011, but was actually launched in Portland, Oregon on June 1st 2011. Initially, the first phone this service was accessible for was the Android-based Nexus S, solely because it had NFC chip made by NXP inside of this phone. It was later released that smart phones were going to be built with said NFC chip so, the application will also be available to other phones My interpretation is that this service is Google Inc.’s way to get into the coupon/discount scene. Its main competitors include, but are not limited to Groupon, Living Social, and Amazon Local and Facebook Deals. Initially, the service Google Offers had a similar goal to one of its competitors Groupon, which was to be a ‘deal of the day’ website, but later changed its focus to many smaller discounts opposed to a small number of prepaid offers. This money saving service appeals most to the penny pinching or thrifty shopper. It stands out from its other competitors because Google Offers infuses its competitor’s ideals and purposes but modified them, making them compatible with other Google appliances and services, such as Google Maps, Google Search, Google Checkout and Google Wallet. It is of great assistant to not only big name stores (i.e. Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, etc.), but is equally if not more helpful to small business. According to http://www...
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... Making Business Decisions 1: M-Coupons The purpose of this paper is to discuss how technology can help the Broadway Café to strive in this technological society. During the years, technology has made some miraculous technological contributions to society. Currently, the latest technological breakthrough that has been introduced to this country is called mobile couponing. Mobile couponing is a computer generated paperless coupon that is forwarded to individuals through a technological device (What is mobile couponing, n.d.). Many businesses are deciding on using the new method of technology as part of their marketing campaign. When businesses are texting information to their customers this information goes straight to either a loyalty card, or to their cell phone. This is a great benefit to business because it’s helping to cut down on the use of some much paper. Also, those businesses that are sending these coupons to their customers this will help cut down on scanning a lot of coupons that the customer has brought in. Customers are able to get through checkout counter quicker and with ease. Third reason retailers are choosing to send their customers these mobile coupons so that it will make their shopping trip stress free, and customers will never have to worry about forgetting their coupons because it’s already on their customer cards (What is mobile couponing, n.d.). Unlike the regular traditional paper coupon, and the mobile coupons they are not the...
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...GROUPON GROUPON 1. Coupons are a tried-and-true promotion method, and the Internet includes other couponing sites. How does Groupon differentiate itself? With fierce competition from countless competitors, Groupon faces increasing uncertainty regarding its product positioning as it pursues its IPO. Specifically, it must continue to differentiate itself in the web and mobile markets to retain and grow its customer base. Groupon should diversify its product offering and position itself as a hyper local digital platform rather than a daily coupon service to provide future opportunities for expansion. This classic diversification strategy will enable Groupon to handle the level three risks it faces amidst growing competition. In December of 2010, Groupon declined a buy-out offer from Google valued at $6billion. Business Insider noted that anti-trust concerns and low valuation were the two main reasons why the acquisition did not occur (Hagel 2005). As Groupon pursues its IPO, valuations have range anywhere from $15-$25 billion. According to Crunch Base, Groupon has received $1.1 billion in five rounds of external funding. By 2012, annual revenue in the daily coupon market is expected to be between seven and eight billion dollars. Groupon’s competitors number in the hundreds, including both large and small players. Three of the most concerning rivals are Living Social, Facebook Places and Google Offers 2. Groupon’s business strategy harnesses what it calls “collective buying...
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