Ten Thousand Villages Marketing Analysis

Ten Thousand Villages Marketing Analysis
Opportunities
Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) is the only location in Cincinnati, a city with a population of 331,280 people. This presents some distinct opportunities. First, it provides a sufficient population base to sustain the business. The primary market, “cultural creative” people, account for approximately 19 thousand individuals (based on the percentages provided). Since the store served 10,880 customers throughout the first year, there is an opportunity to reach an additional eight thousand people. Based on the rate of increase in demand for socially responsible products across North America, this number could even be larger. Second, TTV is located in O’Bryonville, which has more drive-by traffic than foot traffic. So, a second opportunity exists for TTV; to move to a location with significantly more foot traffic, like Hyde Park, in order to reach the additional people. A final opportunity is to record the information about consumers that visit the store. They are already inquiring how customers heard about the store and if they were a repeat customer, there is an opportunity to find out more about, and potentially expand the target market by simply recording the information and analyzing the results.
Threats
Cincinnati has four other businesses with similar products to TTV: Pier 1 Imports, Cost Plus World Market, Z Gallerie, and From the Ridiculous to the Sublime. These competitors pose the primary threat to the TTV location. Currently the products at these stores are slightly misaligned with TTV’s target market consumers because the products are not fair trade. However, if the national demand for fair trade products increases similar to the previous year’s rate, it is likely the managers or owners of these establishments will adapt (especially if they are