...executives from Target and Neiman Marcus reported that they are still in the dark as to how they could have better secured their consumers from cybercriminals. The breaches to the two industry titans occurred between July and October of 2013 for Neiman Marcus, who logged some 1.1 million customers whose payment card and personal information were hacked, and between Thanksgiving and December 8th of last year for Target, where payment card information of over 40 million customers and the personal contact information of some 70 million people was compromised. These recent hackings “compromised the privacy and security of millions of consumers… (and the ensuing) erosion of consumers’ confidence, with data breaches on the rise affecting retailers, Internet companies and others, could hinder the U.S. economy’s recovery,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the chairman of the panel of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing testimony from the Target and Neiman Marcus officials. Unfortunately for this situation, the primary legal tool against cyber criminals is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which “mainly prohibits unauthorized access to a computer – a limited and increasingly outdated legal standard,” said Seattle U.S. Attorney and chair of the Attorney Generals cyber-crime enforcement advisory panel Jenny Durkin. As of now, there is no clear federal cybersecurity standard that dictates when or how customers must be informed in the event of a breach, and it is this that bothers...
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...Neiman Marcus Hacking and Securing a POS System John Fischer Security Research Paper 9/22/2014 For several years we have been using the point of sale (POS) system for payment at major retailers. In the last year there have been several attacks on major retailers POS systems. In this paper, I will focus specifically on the breach of security at Neiman Marcus. In this discussion I will explain how to help secure a POS system. Neiman Marcus was founded in 1907 by Herbert Marcus with his sister, Carrie Marcus Neiman, and her husband A.L. Neiman. Their initial investment was $25,000. The original Neiman Marcus was on the corners of Elm and Murphy streets in Dallas, Texas. In 1913 a fire destroyed the companies building and its entire inventory. A new building was built in 1914 on the corners of Main and Ervay, also in Dallas, Texas. Neiman Marcus’ headquarters is still located in this building. Neiman Marcus is a high end retail store. The target market for Neiman Marcus is the top 2% of the income bracket of the United States, plus the wealthiest people around the world. Neiman Marcus retails high end goods such as clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, home furnishings, antiques and even rare books. Neiman Marcus also has an online store, started in 1999, that offers customers access to high end luxury goods. In 1926 Neiman Marcus first issued their holiday catalog. Many different items have been offered in their holiday catalog, including life size robots and jetliners...
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...E-Commerce Introduction The retail industry is very large and full of many different strategic groups. There is a strategic group that focuses on the finer tastes in life and caters to a more upper-class market. Three dominant members of this group are Saks Incorporated, the Neiman Marcus Group, and Nordstrom. Through e-commerce strategies we will be able to see the similarities and differences in these firms’ core competencies and business strategies. Background Since 1998, Saks Inc. has opened forty-seven new stores. Their capital spending has increased to over $1.4 billion and they have upgraded or remodeled the majority of their stores. Saks Inc. has also reorganized into two distinctive groups; the Saks Department Store Group (SDSG) and the Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprise (SFAE). Saks Department Store Group targets the traditional department store. Their motto is "The Best Place to Shop in Your Home Town". The Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprise targets the luxury marketplace. Their motto is "The Most Inviting Luxury Experience". Both divisions of Saks are better strategically positioned to target their group of customers. As mentioned, Saks is divided into two divisions. The Saks Department Store Group's strategies are having merchandise incentives, an enhanced shopping experience, and focused marketing. These strategies present customers with ideas of what they need to have or what is in style. The idea is a floor presentation that places the customer in a situation...
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...Organizational Structure MGT/230 October 8, 2012 Organizational Structure Nordstrom Incorporated has a history that dates back to 1901, when John W. Nordstrom and Carl Wallin joined forces and opened the first Wallin & Nordstrom, Inc. They opened their first shoe store in downtown Seattle, Washington, and found that they needed to look for new and innovative ways for their company’s growth. They ventured into the clothing market and started selling fine apparel and added men’s clothing and children’s wear to expand the needs of their customers. In 1971 they went public, and the company was recognized as the largest-volume West Coast fashion specialty store, and the company name was formally changed to Nordstrom, Inc. From the beginning, John Nordstrom shared a business philosophy that was exceptional service, selection, quality, and value. Today the philosophy remains the same (“Nordstrom.com,” n.d.). The vertical structure is very apparent in the Nordstrom, Inc. organization. The company has key executives, board members, and executive key committees that run the organization. According to Bateman & Snell, (2011), corporate governance is a role of the corporation’s executive staff and board of directors in ensuring that the organizations activities meet the goals of the stakeholders. The board of directors’ selects, advises, and oversees management and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company. Although Nordstrom, Inc. is a vertical organization...
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...Designer Profile | The Biography of Carolina Herrera | | The life and career of Carolina Herrera | | Erica D. Griffin | 4/15/2008 | | Name: Maria Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Nino Birth date: January 8, 1939 Home town: Caracas, Venezuela Education: No formal training just a creative mind she actually went to school for 3 Interesting facts: * Carolina watcher her first couture fashion show at age 13 * Herrera herself had attended her first couture show, that of Cristobal Balenciaga, at the age of 13 with her grandmother. * Carolina Herrera is a Goodwill Ambassador Celebrity Clients: The late Princess Diana, The late Jacqueline Onassis, Rene zellweger, Rebecca Gayheart, Laura Bush, Kim Cattrall, Oprah Winfrey Key Looks: Tweed suits, Ball skirts and crisp white dress shirts, elegant evening wear and cocktail dresses Known For: Designing Jacqueline Onassis wedding dress How She Got Started: 1980, Herrera brought 20 dresses that her and her Caracas dressmaker created. She borrowed a Park Avenue apartment and invited a couple of her friends to see what she had made; soon buyers for Saks Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman were interested in her line and wanted to purchase them, but Herrera had created the line as a “test” and only had just the sample dresses, and not even a plan for production. Back in Caracas, she was introduced to Armando de Armas, owner of a Venezuelan publishing empire, who offered her financial backing. In a few months...
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...Way * Very large store sizes * Ability to register wedding gifts/baby shower gifts online * Use of social media such as Facebook * “My Macy’s” program rolled out nationally to enhance efficiency in a sunken economy by forming a unified operating structure, which has been estimated to save $500M annually Weaknesses * Decline in comparable retail sales from economic downturn * Litigation leading to bad press regarding merger with May Department Stores Company, where board of directors were allegedly fiduciary duties of loyalty and good faith to May shareholders * Impersonality of a national brand where one size does not fit all * Finding a middle ground between Wal-Mart bargain customers and higher-end Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom customers; Bloomingdale’s is more for higher-end customers, but persuading shoppers from Wal-Mart is difficult * Adjusting to evolving customers who do research online and are well-informed * Too big to advertise to only one market, only have primarily national campaigns as opposed to local Opportunities * Make good first impressions on potential new customers in newer markets * Minorities, especially Hispanic population is growing at a very rapid rate * Ability to step out from the crowd via name recognition and ability to overtake smaller brands *...
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...Nordstrom Case Study Shameka Fahie Columbia Southern University A corporation should strive to build a strong, reputable and recognizable brand image. According to Kotler (2012), a brand name such as McDonald’s carries many associations in people’s minds that make up its image: hamburgers, cleanliness, convenience, courteous, service, and golden arches. Consumers associate upscale, top-quality, high fashion, brand-name and high-quality customer service when they hear or speak of Nordstrom. Nordstrom number one goal is providing the highest level of customer service as well as continuing to improve their customer service. An example of providing great customer service is when a consumer purchased tired from Northern Commercial, a company that Nordstrom purchased, and needed to return the tires originally purchased from Northern Commercial. Nordstrom does not sell tires but they accepted the return and provided a full refund with no questions asked. Sales associates sending thank you card to customer who have made purchases and customer’s special order items being hand delivered to their homes are another way Nordstrom provides high quality service. Nordstrom creating a loyalty program for its customer based on their spending is a way of improving customer service. Customer who spends a certain amount of money annual can enjoy benefits such as free alterations, free shipping champagne, live music, access to fashion shows and much more. This makes the customer feel valued...
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...20-25 lines). You'll need a creative "hook" and a reassuring approach that identifies you as the right person to launch this new feature in the webzine (make up any details about your background that you may need to complete the message). Case Two- Thanks to a mix-up in your job application scheduling, you accidentally applied for your third-choice job before going after what you really wanted. What you want to do is work in retail marketing with the upscale department store Neiman Marcus in Dallas; what you have been offered is a similar job with Longhorn Leather and Lumber, 55 dry and dusty miles away in Commerce, just south of the Oklahoma panhandle. You review your notes. Your Longhorn interview was three weeks ago with the human resources manager, R.P. Bronson, a congenial person who has just written to offer you the position. The store's address is 27 Sam Rayburn Drive, Commerce, TX 75428. Mr. Bronson notes that he can hold the position open for 10 days. You have an interview scheduled with Neiman Marcus next week,...
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...Brioni Saturday, February 01, 2014 12:18 PM 1. How should Umberto react to the email from Joe Barrato? Umberto Angeloni should clarify the situation with Joe Barrato whether the CEO of Neiman Marcus or the buyer is upset with the new women's line. If the CEO is upset with the decision, then Brioni should offer some incentive to carry the new line. 2. How big a gamble is the ladies venture for Brioni? It is as big of a gamble as the amount of money that already has been invested into the women's line. Initial investment: € 13M 3. Who do you think should be the target market for the women's line and by what means will those women gravitate to buying Brioni? One target mentioned in the study indicated those that accompany men who wear Brioni suits. The other target would be independent women who believe they should also project their presence with a suit. Aside from the fashion show that Brioni hosted, word of mouth is the primary means for advertising. 4. What sales do they need to achieve to declare the new line a success? Is that level of sales possible? The Pro Forma Projections for Ladies (Exhibit 10) states the 'break-even' Net Sales for each division of the company, which are as follows: Factory: €5229000 Milan: €2424000 €5229000+€2424000+$2411000=€10,064,000.00 New York: $2411000 Investment on stores= $7670000 + $3200000 + $713000 + $1215000 = $12798000.00 Employees = 47 Total Investment(2years) = Investment on stores + Employees Revenue(2 years) = 36000 * 2500=$90000000...
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...pre-produce more cars than the number of dealers for pre-selling promotions. The BMW/MGM agreement was orally sealed in January 1995 and formally signed in July 1995. This elongated time period of gap may have created opportunities for their counterparts to break or disturb the agreement. Another thing is BMW did not pay anything to MGM to place its product in the movie. This may be because of its reputation in the global automotive market. So, the exchange between BMW and MGM was very simple. We feel that the agreement should have been more complex and strong enough to last long their relations as it was a one time opportunity. The final pre-launch marketing plan included some complimentary elements of the program. One of them was “Neiman Marcus Catalog Offer”. BMW...
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...Who is Michael Kors? He's only one of the most successful fashion designers of the past couple decades. Whether you knew that or not is beside the point, although try to keep your ignorance a secret amongst fashion circles. This isn't about Michael the man, though, it's about the smartwatch behind him. Well, I mean it's about the man behind the smartwatch and his name is Michael. Scratch that. What I'm really trying to say is that he has a brand new smartwatch out and it's making a statement. Here are five reasons why. 1. MICHAEL KORS IS EXCLUSIVELY ANDROID Michael Kors doesn't seem to give a flying duck about Apple. They probably have a lot more in common then the two think, which probably was the basis for his reasoning to go full Android. The first two, and only two watches at the moment, will be Android-Wear powered. It seems the guy cares just as much about functionality as he does looks. 2. MEN AND WOMEN WILL GET THEIR PICK Options are what the people want and options are what they will get. In the fall of 2016, consumers get a choice of two watches. One gold-plated wearable is designed for the dainty wrists of women while men will be treated to a sporty black version. Feel free to mix it up if you please. 3. IT WON'T BE EXPENSIVE Your definition of expensive may vary, but in this particular scenario, expensive is what an Apple Watch costs. Michal Kors smartwatch will cost significantly less. More than $400 less in fact. Both of his watches will be retailing for a...
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...1 Nordstrom Case Study Nordstrom’s Success Fred Ware III Strayer University Marketing 100 May 29, 2011 Professor Niquelle Wright 2 Nordstrom’s is an upper echelon grand department store that retails the finest products for an affluent consumer. Similar department stores that operate on the same scale and market are Barney’s, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue. Other less exclusive retailers like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Dillard’s are in competition with Nordstrom’s, but do not carry the same high quality merchandise. All of these retailers offer items such as jewelry, cosmetics, perfume, clothing, shoes, and accessories. Nordstrom’s inventory tends to be more upscale for the exclusive consumer. This consumer may be looking for the best product or shopping experience available in a retail operation. Nordstrom’s delivers this in exceptional style. Nordstrom’s carries a varied inventory on its floor, offering choices for men, women, and children. 2. Unrivaled customer service is entrenched in Nordstrom’s retail policies. Many times in order to appease the customer; a monetary loss is taken by the store. Customer Relationship Management as described in our textbook is a process that companies use to rank, sort, and group customers into categories. Once this step is done, customers are organized and a personal data file is created. With this data when the customer returns, the salesperson can view the customer profile, purchase history and...
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...shop luxury in person ( for Nieman Marcus’ situation). Another risk is that there will be other competitors trying to do the same thing you are doing by expanding into other countries. Also, the risk of not making your investment back and turning a profit. The company can cut some of the risk because through e-sales you have a larger profit gap because of less overhead. 2. For Neiman Marcus one of the challenges is selling at the price which they want, because Chinese spenders go online for the sales it brings. Another challenge would be that the Chinese luxury market spenders prefer to shop in an actual store and not online and since Neiman is a luxury line it would drive away some competition. 3. They can make “fake sales” which might be unethical but could be effective. By “fake sales” I mean bolstering the prices of items and then cutting them with a sale to their original price so it looks like it’s on sale but you are selling for the original price. If people prefer to shop in person then you could send people items they are interested in to their house so they can look at them on their own time and if they don’t send it back then they get charged if they do send it back no charge will be brought forth. 4. Both J. Crew and Neiman Marcus are expanding through e-commerce but what sets J. Crew apart from Neiman Marcus is that they wanted to include retail in their global expansion. Also, J.Crew is avoiding partners while Neiman bought a stake into a Chinese company...
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...Week 4 You Decide 1. Who specifically should Premier Portraits target with the new branding message? With the quality of the prints that Premier Portraits is going with I would recommend them market the new branding to high-end personal photographers that would service the higher end clients such as corporate big wigs and sports personal. These types of people are the people that can afford to spend the added cost and are also the people that would appreciate the added touches. 2. What product should Premier Portraits really offer to this market? Premier Portraits should offer this group the chance to capture the magic of childhood and the memories of today with a Catherin Portraits. Catherin Portraits can be offered in ways that depict the family’s children at major milestones like babies, toddlers, toothless, graduations. This would then follow the client into their professional career for when they when big games, or land huge business deals. 3. What value should the company’s online presence deliver? Since clients like to know that they are working with professionals. So you would need to be able to tell your client with confidence what you can do for them simply in two sentences, you look like a specialized expert who knows what they are doing and in turn, they can trust you to do it. You need to know where to target so you spend your efforts wisely. By developing specific content, programs and case studies for targeted segments, you will...
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...APPLICATIONS – NORDSTROM Diagnosis Company Background Industry: Retailer (Upscale US department store chain). Founder: John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin. Headquarters: Seattle, Washington, US. Product: Footwear, clothing, accessories, handbags, jewelry, cosmetics, and fragrances. Number of location: 112 full-time stores, 69 Nordstrom Rack clearance stores, 2 Jeffrey Boutiques and 1 clearance stores Connecting with customer 1) Maintain "no question asked" return policy. 2) Sales representatives send thank-you cards to customers who shop there and have hand-delivered special orders to customer's homes. 3) Installed a tool called Personal Book at its registers that allow salespeople to enter and recall customer's specific purchases in order to better personalize their shopping experiences 4) Provides customers with multichannel for shopping, allowing them to buy something online and pick it up at a store within an hour. 5) Fashion Rewards Program, rewards customers on four different levels based on their annual spending. a. Customers who spend $10,000 annually receive complementary alterations, free shipping, a 24-hour fashion emergency hotline, and access to a personal concierge service b. Customers at the highest rewards level ($20,000 spent annually) also receive private shopping trips complete with restocked dressing rooms in the customer's specific size, champagne, and live piano music; tickets to Nordstrom's runway fashion shows; and access to exclusive travel and fashion...
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