Urban Outfitters: Marketing a Business - Essay Example

Urban Outfitters: Marketing a Business The purpose of this essay is to provide answers to four unique questions. Firstly this paper will seek to explain why it is that Wal-Mart or Sears are not effective at creating a trendy counter culture, secondly this paper will provide reasoning as to why big-box stores may or may not be able to sell merchandise identical to Urban Outfitters. After this point, this paper will highlight three reasons why exclusivity is valuable, and finally this paper will explain why shopping can be considered largely entertainment. It could be argued that Wal-Mart or Sears would not be effective at marketing and selling a counter-culture image. The reasoning behind why Urban Outfitters has been considered such an effective organization for promoting a counter-culture image is because the company works very hard at making the shopping experience as unique as possible. This has been achieved by locating their stores in trendy parts of town, keeping a very small inventory of distinctive (Even peculiar) items so that shoppers get a unique experience, and by keeping a business model and product line that offers differentiation through focusing on “obscure finds.” In this regard, Urban Outfitters has actively promoted themselves as a kind of anti Wal-Mart or Sears. The reasoning as to why these big-box stores have achieved such a high level of success According to Reuters (2010) is through massive standardization of their business practices, through offering the same product lines at all of their stores, by purchasing large quantities of goods in order to drive costs down, and by streamlining their shopping experience to ensure customers are in and out quickly. In this regard Wal-Mart has achieved its success by being the anti Urban Outfitters, and if Wal-Mart were to adopt a policy of trying to achieve a trendy, counter-culture image the company would in fact be losing the element which in turn has made them so successful. When asked whether or not a big-box store can sell merchandise identical to Urban Outfitters, the answer is that they certainly can. A quick examination of Urban Outfitters North American website (2010) indicates that the company sells Panasonic AV room headphones, and it is likely that similar headphones can be found at a big-box store as well. However, it may be the case that these companies can theoretically sell these items at their store (Assuming they can establish relationships with the suppliers) however it is arguably the case that if these store were to start selling these items the Urban Outfitters would simply stop offering these product lines and focus on a new more trendy product offering. Owing to the fact that the big box stores would probably have to establish a long term relationship with their suppliers, and keeping into consideration the size of the distribution network of these store, one could assume that they would never really be able to compete head on with the smaller boutique shop such as Urban Outfitters. Furthermore, the offering of these specialty items and the business model as employed by Urban Outfitters seems to be contrary to the means which has made these big-box stores profitable. The reasoning behind why exclusivity is considered valuable can be broken up into three categories. The first issue that one could consider would be product quality, in this regard somebody would probably be willing to pay more for a product if it is considered to be of a higher quality (Such as an expensive bottle of scotch which would have the same effect as a cheap bottle of scotch). Building on this last point Senk argued that scarcity creates demand. Secondly, exclusivity could be considered valuable is that people are willing to pay more money if the product has a good brand identity. According to Alleperts.com (2010) the General Motors H2 and the GMC Yukon are built on the exact same platform, and when all the same features are added up, logically they should cost about the same but it is the case that on any auto dealers website one is likely to recognize that the H2 costs significantly more than the Yukon. Lastly it may be the case that exclusivity may be more valuable to a consumer if it brings with it an added level of convenience, such as people paying more money for an entrance fee to an exclusive nightclub if it guaranteed the customer would not have to wait in line. In this regard a person would receive the same end result as a person waiting in line yet they would save time. Whilst it is the case that Senk stated that shopping was largely entertainment, I am inclined to both agree and disagree. Senk had self identified that for most men the spending of an afternoon shopping can be hellish, however in the case of many women this is a desired activity. By Urban Outfitters creating an exclusive environment one could conclude that a typical individual would be inclined to spend at least a little time shopping around their store environment which is an atmosphere which would likely include music and involve looking at items that are relatively new to most consumers. In this regard one could conclude that for some of the target demographic (80%of customers are women) the environment provided at Urban Outfitters could be considered entertaining. References Allexperts.com (2010) GM GMT Platform [online] Available at http://en.allexperts.com/e/g/gm/gm_gmt_platform.htm Accessed on MArch 5th 2010. Automotive.com (2010) Hummer Manufactures Suggested Retail Price [online] Available at http://www.automotive.com/new-cars/pricing/01/hummer/index.html Accessed on March 5th 2010. Reuters (2010) Profile: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. [online] Available at http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=WMT.N Accessed on March 5th 2010. Urban Outfitters (2010) Electronics & Music: All Electronics & Music Page 3. [online] Available at http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/category.jsp?pushId=APARTMENT_MEDIA&itemCount=10&selectedProductSize=&id=A_MEDIA_ALL&startValue=21&selectedProductColor=&navCount=&prevVisit=true&navAction=poppushpush&sortby=&prepushId=&popId=APARTMENT Accessed on March 5th 2010. Wal-mart.com (2010) Electronics Department [online] Available at http://www.walmart.com/ Accessed on March 5th 2010. Read More