Commodum: Blair Connolly, Incorporated - Essay Example

1. Executive Summary
Commodus will be introduced using a skimming pricing strategy and consumers’ will most likely consider the product a high involvement purchase. Direct marketing will highlight important attributes such as service, quality, and warrantee to help reduce cognitive dissonance often associated with high-involvement purchases.

The ergonomic furniture giants in the U.S. primary consist of two companies Herman Miller and Steelcase and have the two best ergonomic chairs on the market. The Herman Miller “Aeron” is considered the “gold standard” in ergonomic seating, which everything else is compared to it. The Steelcase “Leap” is more luxurious than the Aeron and has a slightly higher price. These companies have targeted the business office furniture segment and have been very successful. It would be more difficult for Commodum to penetrate the business office furniture market and would be impossible to compete in terms of price. Also, with the current economic environment businesses will be less likely to make major purchases on a new product that does not have a brand reputation established.

However, home furnishings consumers are less aware of brand name and are a better market segment for Commodum to target. More specifically, Generation Xers and Baby-boomers are the best target market for the company because they spend more on home furnishings than any other generation. Baby boomers and Xers are more likely to have discretionary income and home furniture purchases have been found to be discretionary in nature. Throughout history, there has been a correlation between furniture purchases and life stages, including getting married, buying a house, children moving out, and retiring. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are experiencing life a stage associated with home furnishings consumption and make them a powerful target market for Commodum. Additionally, recent socio-economic trends have created a growing home office furniture market and many Baby Boomers will be working longer than expected and will be using home offices more frequently. Technological advancements have led to a “hiving trend” and consumers are using their home as a hub for communication.

In conclusion, there is a great opportunity for Commodum to succeed in the growing home office furniture Market, but will not be without barriers. Herman Miller and Steelcase may focus more promotional efforts on the home furniture consumer and may be hard to compete with. However, the novelty of the patented design makes the product unique and is the key component to strategy. With strategic positioning and promotion efforts, San Diego should be a good market to launch Commodum. Historically, the housing market has been a market driver for home furnishing consumption and if the company can time the launch of Commodum with the housing market recovery it could lead to a lucrative business opportunity.

3. Introduction
According to the Founders of ”the Company” Blair Connolly, Inc. the definition of ergonomics is, “the study of designing structures or activities, which conform to the human body’s natural complex shape or function”. However, many products or activities are designed with no thought of the human body’s anatomical structure and physiological function and force the body to conform to in an inefficient manner.

Blair Connolly TM Inc. was founded by Brian Blair and Sean Connolly; hence the name Blair Connolly was born. The inspiration for the company’s formation was based on the thought that current chairs exhibit a fundamental ergonomic flaw. The necessity to solve this problem resulted in the invention of U.S patent number 7,413,250 for a back support design.

3.1 Background of the Problem
The U.S. patented 7,413,250 back support is an improvement on current back support designs. Brian likes to call it, “the next step in the lumbar curve.” It blends a convex column in-between the shoulder blades in the upper back into two laterally opposing shoulder blade recession areas, as well as integrated lumbar support. This allows the occupant of the chair to sit with their shoulders further back than would be found using typical back support.