...selling merchandise in exchange for gold, and they have long been driving to stores to purchase goods. With the technological evolution, this practice has changed. Today, people don’t even have to go to the store to buy what they want because they have the possibility of having the market virtually present in the comfort of their own home. In regard to this, any business that expands its market online will basically profit in expansion moving from a local to a global market. In this case, the income will be largely intensified. Home Dress’n X is a company that specializes in selling clothes, shoes, home accents, bed and bath products, and luggage. It opened its doors in 1982, selling its merchandise with bargain prices. Nowadays, it is well-known among the S&P, Fortune 500, and Nasdaq 100. Although Home Dress’n X has high ranges in the brick-and-mortar market, its website shows otherwise in the virtual market. The store has been very successful due its great prices as opposed to its competitors. However, when taking a look at the Home Dress’n X website, one can visibly see not much marketing there. Additionally, the website, as opposed to the store, is very dull and not enough diversity is shown. For instance, the store has a variety of merchandise, some brand names, and new trends. The merchandise are arranged according to sexes, sizes, genres, and new arrivals. Due to the high demands of established customers, though, according to Mr. Allendi, who is the sales manager of one...
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...shopping experience. • Increase consumer loyalty through “Shop Your Way Rewards” platform. External Threats • Economic collapse, caused by a difficult economy. • Minimum wage increases. • Economic conditions (e.g. inflation, fuel costs, & consumer debt levels). • Increasing competition. • Better online and catalog businesses. • Differentiating from competitors. Internal Strengths • Well known trademarks & brand names (e.g. Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard). • SHOP YOUR WAY Program (free member-based social shopping platform that offers rewards). • Leading retailer in home appliances & tools, lawn & garden, fitness equipment, automotive repair & maintenance. • Nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 13M service & installation calls made annually. Strengths &Opportunities: • Having Super Centers operate 24 hours a day that have a full-service grocery along with a merchandise selection of a discount store. • Sears Auto Centers operating in association with full-line stores • Offering its Sears collection through the use of sears.com website • Option of buying through a mobile app or online & picking up merchandise in one of the Full-line or Kmart stores. • Purchase leased operating facilities, as well as offers to sell owned, or assign leased, operating & non-operating properties. • Transforming into an integrated retail strategy. Strengths &Threats: • Selling Sears merchandise, parts & services to commercial customers through the business...
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...Company (SHC) to come up with a business strategy that will address competition, culture, and synergy and create a distinct brand image and identity for the company, which will help them succeed in the long run. II. Subproblem For the two companies, Kmart Holding Corporation (“Kmart”) and Sears, Roebuck & Co. (“Sears”) to be able to act as one company and create value. III. Objectives 1. To create a brand image identity 2. To create a culture of success 3. To generate consumer loyalty 4. To appropriately position the company in the retailing business industry 5. To be able to address competition 6. To make SHC a profitable company in the long term 7. To build a broader customer base IV. Case Facts and Analysis The merger of Kmart and Sears in late 2004 occurred to gain competitive advantage over its competitors by combining strengths of Sears and Kmart for the long-term value for SHC. This merger will benefit both companies in an ever changing and competitive retail industry. SHC will be able to enter into new markets with its combined expertise of Kmart in discounter stores and Sears in department stores. This merger benefits both companies in different ways separately and to the new merged entity – SHC. Kmart will benefit from the planned cost sharing of several of Sears leading proprietary brands as well as present opportunities to capture significant revenue and cost synergies including merchandise and non-merchandise purchasing, distribution and other...
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...Diversification Strategies Arissra Stamps Strayer University Diversification Strategies Types of Diversification Strategies Diversification is a business strategy that allow a company to establish additional lines of commerce that maybe different from the current products or services. Depending on company’s directions, the different types of diversification that company utilize are: Horizontal, Vertical, Concentric, Heterogeneous (Conglomerate) and Corporate Diversifications (Small Enterprise Strategic Development Training, 2009). Horizontal Diversification is used when the company wants to develop new product or offer new service that could appeal to current customers. For example, a dairy who produces cheese wants to expand its products with new types of cheese. A construction company may choose Vertical Diversification; it may venture into new selling product such as paint and construction materials while the core business remains in providing construction services. Concentric Diversification is the method a company uses to enlarge the production portfolio by adding new products and aiming to utilize the potential of existing technologies and market system. The best example of this strategy would be a bakery who sales bread, pastries and cake who begins to sale dough products. Heterogeneous or Conglomerate Diversification is opposite from Concentric because it focus on new products or services that do not use existing technologies and does not have any commercial...
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...Integrated marketing Communications Plan for Kmart Introduction Integrated marketing communications are important tools for companies to deliver their messages to their targeted customers. Marketing communication effectiveness was proved to have direct impact on organizational performance (Jerman & Završnik, 2012). Almost all business organizations take use of them to increase sale revenue or to raise their brand awareness. This paper is dedicated to develop a creative marketing communication plan for Kmart to attract the male consumers in their ages of 35-50. As different customers usually have different needs, the communication plan should be tailored according to the special need of selected customers. This paper will do various researches and analyzes to develop an efficient plan. It starts by enlisting the communication objectives. Then the possible way to achieve them will be explored and the most appropriate ones will be selected. At last the media mix and the coverage schedule will be arranged to ensure the successful implementation of this plan. Communication objectives Setting up objectives is usually the first step for communication plan development. Marketing communication objectives which are properly developed by coordinating individual behavior in organization with a view toward achieving the identified objectives affect the effectiveness of the plan positively (Jerman & Završnik, 2012). This kind of objectives can lead manager to a consistent and...
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...successful business plan a business plan is supposed to capitalize on your strengths and weaknesses. Components of a Good Internet Marketing Strategy SEARCH Engine Optimization A study conducted shows that around 90% of Americans use the Internet daily, with over 2/3rd of Se up rchases being researched on the Internet. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a procedure that relates to attracting Internet traffic to your website as much as possible. SEO is crucial for online marketing success of your business. It includes optimizing your website in such a way that your site would be ranked on the initial pages of the search, so that web users can visit your website for the content they are in search of. This is done using keyword phrases that users generally put in the Internet search engine interface for searching a particular product or service. Email Marketing Strategy Another important component of an effective e-marketing strategy is email marketing which is all about sending information of product and services to potential customers using email. This is a proven effective method of using online marketing as an efficient tool for business generation. It is also a very good business marketing technique for building good business relations with potential customers, as well as prospective clients. Online advertising online advertising is a marketing method that has a very substantial Return on Investment (ROI) value. It consists of placing advertisements of...
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...in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming, a small mining town.” (Grant, 1997) The store has since transformed to more of fashion-oriented retail store instead of a wide variety of goods. Since their refocus of the company, JCPenny’s has been able to compete in the very harsh market with a lot of competitors such as Sears, Walmart and Kmart. The internet shopping options provided by JCPenny has been showing great growth for the company. In fact the company is so well known because of its ability to adapt to the new forms of sales such as online. JCPenny SWOT Analysis Strengths: * JCPenny has a long history in the business * Brand Recognition * Locations nationwide that are in nearly every mall * Exclusive popular brand names that are not available other places Weaknesses: * Decline in comparable store sales * Decrease in popularity due to competitors * Changing business strategies a little too often * Lack of coupons Opportunities: * Growing internet sales * Exploring specific markets such as maternity and/or big & tall * Attracting new customers through new business models * Complete renovation of marketing strategies * New exclusive private label brands Threats: * Rising labor costs in America * Increasing competition in the industry of fashion retail * Internet customers comparing prices and finding a less priced good * Weak consumer from a weak economy JCPenny’s Principal Competitors: The top competitors...
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...that is an E-procurement business model which is a digital market that is a supplier exchange as in business to business or business to consumer through the internet. [ (Laudon, 2012) ]. The first business I chose to research in my project is Sears. Sears started with watches and then expanded to jewelry, later adding clothing, tools, electronics, appliances, and car service. After many years of operating as just Sears, they expanded their business by buying out Kmart; this caused them to have higher sales and a larger customer base. Sears is fourth largest retailer in the United States and Canada with over 4,000 retail stores and it leads in selling home appliances, tools, and lawn and garden, electronics, and car maintenance. Sears is a B2C (business to consumer) business model and an e-tailer (bricks and clicks) business model which have both an offline and an online existence, they have stores available in larger cities, they have catalogs sales, and they are online. Sears offers their customers support online and through the telephone where you can place your order by telephone. They have...
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...Background In 1989, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened Kmart, a five-and-dime store in Detroit. The low prices appealed to shoppers and he was able to open 85 more stores in 1912. By 1927, the Kresge Company started opening locations that sold items for $1 or less. Ten years later, he opened a store in a shopping center in Kansas City, Missouri (Sears Holdings, History). In 1968, Kmart begin to air television commercials to entice shoppers to the stores. Harry B. Cunningham became president in 1959, and developed a new strategy for the organization. While Cunningham was president, Kmart opened their first discount department store in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan; that same year seventeen more stores were opened. In 1976, Kmart made history by opening 271 stores in one year. In 1977, the company changed its name to Kmart Corporation. In order to fully focus on discount merchandising, Kmart sold the remaining Kresge stores (Sears Holdings, History). In 1990, Kmart took on a new logo and a new plan. As part of the plan, Kmart opened the first Kmart Supercenter in Medina, Ohio in 1991. Kmart was totally redesigned in 1996 and became known as Big Kmart. In 1999, Kmart launched a Internet presence, BlueLight.com; it offered free internet services (Sears Holdings, History). In 2002, the company filed Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court. Julian Day was promoted to CEO in January of 2003. Under his leadership, the company emerged from the Chapter 11 reorganization process (Sears...
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... Mergers and Acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions are common place in the business world today. Many companies merge or become acquired for different reasons. In 2004, Sears and Kmart, two of the largest retailers in the nation, combined forces to become the third largest retail company in the nation. Although thought to be a wrong move, the company struggles to streamline its new product line to the word. Circumstances surrounding merger and acquisition Both companies are a name in itself, but in merging, they both bring something to the table. Competition, along with brands, will allow the stores to be more competitive, while focusing on the consumer by offering low prices (Kmart) and reputation (Sears). Sears has been slow in moving away from locations in the mall to free standing buildings. Along with bringing a name to the table, each company brings money and real estate, along with the vision that Edward Lampert, financier, have for the company. He sees the merger of both companies as creating a positive outcome from two negative situations. Sloan (2004) Why did the companies decide to merge? Both companies are about branding: K-mart in its apparel and music, Sears with its appliance. K-marts strong point is marketing through cultural ethnicity featuring Martha Stewart brands, Jaclyn Smith and Thala Sodi, while Sears is a mid-western, Middle American demographic, featuring mostly home goods –Craftsman, Kenmore and Diehard brands...
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...buzzgenerating event, even if wrapped around something less than wholesome, should be a positive f or a company or brand looking to get some attention. But Wharton marketing prof essor Jonah Berger says that’s not the case. Instead, he has f ound that there is a limit to how much conversation can be generated by a modest amount of controversy. Increase the controversy, however, and the volume of conversation goes down — exactly the opposite of what a good brand manager wants. “T hey assume that controversy garners discussion,” he says. “We actually f ound out it’s more complicated than that.” Berger and Z oey Chen, a marketing doctoral student at the Scheller College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology, discuss these f indings in the paper, “When, Why, and How Controversy Causes Conversation,” published in the October edition of the Journal of Consumer Research. Berger and Chen set up a series of experiments to judge the relationship between controversy and conversation. First, they collected about 200 articles posted on Topix.com, an online news resource, and coded how controversial each was using two independent raters. T hey then cataloged the number of comments each article received in its f irst 15 days online. T he initial experiment showed a correlation between controversial topics and online comments up to a moderate level of controversy — a 4.6 on a seven-point scale, to be exact. Articles with higher levels of...
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...Integrated e-Marketing Plan: Developing an e-Marketing Plan for Competing in the Electronic Global Marketplace Prepared for [SEARS] By: [Maria Quinonez] Date: [October 29, 2014] Table of Contents Starting an e-business in the Electronic Global Marketplace: Completing an Integrated e-Marketing Plan 1 Executive Summary 3 Selection of the e-Business for the Project 4 Environmental Analysis of the Marketplace 6 Targeted Market Segmentation 8 Consideration of Placement Decisions 10 Consideration of Product Decisions 13 Considerations of Pricing Decisions 16 Analysis of Innovative Promotional Communication Tools 18 Implementation and Measurement of Strategic Goals 23 Conclusions and Recommendations 25 Appendices 26 Executive Summary Sears was founded in the 1800’s and it was one of America’s largest retailers at one point. However, competition, and evolution took place and left this company struggling to make profits. This forced Sears to come up with a new innovative idea and they created online website/sales. With that idea they needed an e-marketing plan, which is proposed below. Section I: Firm details- This section describes the company and its history. It specifies the success and its struggle, and where the company stands today. It explains the main reason for and e-marketing plan as well as why it would benefit from this plan. Section II: Environmental...
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...Running head: Sears Holding Business Analysis Sears Holdings Business Analysis Steven G Cole MGT/521 Leo Shelton Sears Holdings is an icon in the retail business since its founding in 1925. It survived the depression and many economic cycles since its founding. With the purchase of Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2005 and the unexpected recession of 2008 Sears has struggled financially. Their strategy of selling niche items of higher quality and brand names has not fared well in this valued based purchasing recession. They have continued to lose large amounts of money and continue sell off assets to raise capital. The CEO has announces new business strategy to implement to change the course of the company. Since the acquisition of Kmart in 2005 sales have declined steadily year after year. Last year alone Sears and Kmart had a total lose of 1.4 billion dollars. This year that amount is down to 421 million through the 3rd quarter. The continued movement of customers to discount stores like WalMart and Target has continued to erode the customer base at Sears and Kmart. Sears reputation of rundown stores and poor customer service is helping lead the way to the slow demise of the once retail giant. Sears is a leader in ecommerce investment, but poor customer experience in the store is translate to apprehension of customers to return to Sears online (Skariachan, 10/17/2011). In February 2012 in a note to shareholders, CEO Edward Lambert issued a lengthy letter to shareholders...
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...Mr. Bezos originally started Amazon in his garage. He believed that only the internet had the ability to grant consumers the convenience of being able to browse a myriad selection of book titles in the shortest amount of time. In 1995 he started the website Amazon.com which was primarily an online book store at the time. “During the first 30 days of business, Amazon .com fulfilled orders for customers in 50 states and 45 countries- all shipped from his Seattle-area garage” (Overview, n.d.). In Two years later in 1997 Amazon went on to become public being listed on NASDAQ under the trade symbol of AMZN. Since then Amazon has expanded its consumer base by adding multiple products, features, and upgrades. The company now employs over 43,200 employees worldwide and is considered a world-class e-commerce platform. Borders bookstore was founded in 1971 by two brothers by the name of Tom and Louis Borders while they were attending college at the University of Michigan. Borders bookstore was once a leading retailer of books and educational items with stores located throughout the United States, Australia, and Puerto Rico. In 1984 Kmart acquired a company by the name of Waldenbooks and in 1992 Kmart acquired Borders only to merge the two in hopes of generating greater sales (Borders Book Store, 2011). In 1997 Borders launched its first international store in Singapore that was 32,000 square feet making it the largest bookstore in the country. In 1998 things quickly began to change for...
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...Trap-Ease America: The Big Cheese Of Mousetraps In: Business and Management Trap-Ease America: The Big Cheese Of Mousetraps Case Analysis Case: Trap-Ease America: The Big Cheese of Mousetraps Product: Variety, quality, design, features, brand, packing, services, warranties, returns. Price: List price, discounts, allowances, payment period, credit terms. Promotion: Sales promotion, advertising, sales force, public relations, and direct marketing. Place: Channels, coverage, assortments, locations, inventory, transport. Strategic Marketing Choose de value: STP: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning. The marketing staff must segment the market, select the appropriate market target, and develop the offering’s value positioning. Tactical Marketing Provide the value: Product development, service development, pricing, sourcing making, distributing. Communicate the value: Sales force, sales promotion, and advertising. Strategy Formulation: Overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. 1) Diagnose Advantages: Consumers can use safely and easily with no risk, and it poised no injury or poising. Target Market: Women Distribution: Direct through national grocery, hardware, and drug chains (Safeway, Kmart…). Pricing: $0.99 – Suggested Retail Price $2.49 (2 unit) – Cost $0.392 – Retail net revenue $0.75. Price Positioning: 5 to 10 times more expensive Sales expenses: $60,000 ($50K for travel, and sales calls...
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