Lands End Where Buyers Rule - Case Study Example

 Table of Contents Lands' End: Where Buyers Rule 2 Ford Consulting Group, INC.: From Data to Actions 5 Nokia: A Phone For Every Segment 6 Flyte Tyme Productions, INC.: The Best Idea Wins! 7 Reference 8 Lands' End: Where Buyers Rule The company operates in organisational market were the number of direct customers are quite less but they make purchase in huge bulk. As a result each and every customer is of great importance. The main revenue of the company is generated through mail orders and internet; however it also runs several retail operations in the local market as well as in international market (UK, Germany and Japan). The company’s marketing slogan is “Lands' End: Where Buyers Rule”. This clearly reflects the customer centric marketing policies followed by the company. Operating in organizational markets, the company pays vital importance to the buyer’s behaviour. As compared to customer market, the number of purchase is comparatively low, though the quantity sold per order is huge. This means the buyers are quite powerful and should be kept satisfied (Rowley, 2006, p.35). However, it is equally important for the company to understand test and preference of the end users. Therefore, the company should make some changes in the prevailing marketing strategy. A parallel platform should be developed where the company can interact with the end users. For this, the market research department has to coordinate with the direct customers. They both should exchange ideas so that more customer centric products can be developed. The company can use its existing retail stores to attract some of the end users. If the end users visit the stores, it will be easy to understand their test and preferences which can be further used by the R&D depart. This will also generate extra revenue because the purchasing process of retail customer is simpler and less time consuming. CNS Breathe Right Strips: Going Global The company is a well known brand in the local market for its breath right strips that assist people to overcome the problem of souring. After acquiring the lion share in the local market, the company’s present marketing strategy is based on international market research. This is because it is planning to enter in the international market, specially the emerging markets to expand the business. At present the company has very less information about the international consumers, their requirements, value system and purchasing behavior; hence the company has to gather all these information. To be successful in the international market, the company is paying more attention on market research. It is gathering information that can be used to analyze the customer’s behavior and competitiveness in market. However, to make a product popular in a new market, it should reach to the customer. There must be a well developed distribution channel through which the product can reach to each of the retail units. Therefore, the company should work with the prevailing local distribution service providers to make the product available to the target customers. Instead of making huge investment in market research, the company should use knowledge of the local players by developing strategic partnership with them. The local companies which are operating in the emerging markets have better understanding of buyers needs and purchasing behavior. This knowledge should be used to expand the product portfolio by introducing new products that are capable in fulfilling requirement of the local customers (Kvint & L’vovich Kvint, 2009, p.133). Ford Consulting Group, INC.: From Data to Actions Ford Consulting Group is engaged in developing a business report that assist the user to overcome six main questions related to source, measures, application, additional information, data and time management (Ford Consulting Group, n.d.). Company’s marketing slogan is “Ford Consulting Group, INC.: From Data to Actions”. This reflects the core business strategy of the company. As per Ford Consulting Group’s website, one of its main businesses is to provide data to the customer to make sales and marketing decisions. The data is offered with required explanation so that the customer can easily analyse the required information. Therefore, the data offered by the consultancy results in action taken by the customer group. The prevailing marketing theme of the company is market research, data collection, organisation and presenting. The marketing plan can be effective if the company pay a little more attention towards customer relationship management. If the company has a better relation with the target customer, it will be easy to analyse their unique requirement and offer data in a more synchronised manner. The company can install advanced customer relationship management (CRM) tools. These tools should be integrated with the central data warehouse. As a result as and when required the customer management department can access to any of the required information and the quarry raised by the customer can be solved immediately. The company can also expand its product portfolio to assist the customers in effective utilization of the information. By educating the customer, indirectly it can market for its services among the target customer groups. Nokia: A Phone For Every Segment Nokia is well known brand in international phone market. It offers a vast range of cell phone to cater unique need of different market segment. To achieve the marketing strategy of developing a phone for each and every segment, the company is focused in segregating the target market in different segments and then understanding the unique requirement of each of this segment. This segregation can be based on different factors, as for example the purchasing power of different customer base, their basic requirement, their living status, buying behavior and so one. Such segregation requires advanced market research based on large data collected from different sources. Therefore, the company needs to collaborate with other market players like the retailers, department stores, local distributers and supermarkets to acquire required data. With the help of advanced data digging tools, the customer behavior and their changing requirement should be identified. This will assist in developing unique phone for each of the segment identified. The market research team should work hand in hand with the R&D department to develop new products and services that best suit the requirement of emerging market. As compared to the developed markets, the growth prospect is more in the developing economies (The Guardian, 2009). While designing the products, care should be taken that these markets are more sensitive to price; thus the price leadership is a good tactic to penetrate in the market and then explore new opportunities. Demand for smart phone is also increasing in these markets with increase in the income and living standards. Therefore, a better collaboration in the market research and R&D department with aggressive marketing will be effective for Nokia to become the market leader in international cell phone industry. Flyte Tyme Productions, INC.: The Best Idea Wins! Flyte Tyme Productions was started in 1982 by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. They started two small studios in 3,000 sq foot. Today the company operates five studios in 17,000 sq foot area which are exclusively for private facility (Flyte Tyme, n.d.). Today Flyte Tyme is considered as synonym of success. Its hit catalogs made the founders one of the most famous producers. The music albums were a big hit and assisted the company to acquire several coveted music awards. The company’s slogan is “The best idea wins”. This perfectly reflects the creativity and innovation in the music albums produced under the banner of this company. This creativity should also reflect in the marketing strategy followed by the company. Therefore, the company should focus on innovative and creative publicity. It can be done by organising and sponsoring different musical conferences, street jam (music programs on roads) and other such music related events. The company can also sponsor music contests were new talent should be encouraged. Care should be taken that whatever the company do, that should reflect the innovation and creativity followed by the company. A through market research is also required before making any major decision as this will assist in understanding the changing taste of music lovers. Reference Ford Consulting Group. (No date). Closing the six gaps between people and insights. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.fordconsultinggroup.com/. Flyte Tyme. (No date). Companies. About Us. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.flytetyme.com/html/index_frames.html. Kvint, V. & L’vovich Kvint, V. (2009). The Global Emerging Market: Strategic Management and Economics. Taylor & Francis. Rowley, J. E. (2006), Information marketing. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. The Guardian (2009). How ringing the changes meant bringing in the money. Retrieved January 25, 2011 from http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/mar/03/mobile-millionaires. Read More