SustainU Product Depth and Breadth - Research Paper Example

? Marketing paper Contents Marketing paper Contents 2 SustainU Product Depth and Breadth 4 Make suggestions for added product lines and/or product categories 4 Evaluate SustainU's branding components 5 Recommend a new product for SustainU and explain your reasoning behind this recommendation 6 Recommendation 6 Suggestions do you have for SustainU in communicating with their customers and closing any gaps you discover in the realm of customer service 7 Suggestions 7 4. Evaluate the pricing for the products presented on SustainU's website 8 As SustainU manages its supply chain through "strategic relationships" what do you think are the most important similarities/characteristics/goals these key partners should have in common with SustainU for a successful relationship and why? 9 Important similarities 9 Do you think SustainU should offer its products direct to consumer (i.e. online, have their own branded retail stores) or partner with retailers to sell their products on their behalf...or both? Why? If you choose to partner with existing retailers, name a few examples you would recommend they partner with and why. 11 Recommend a key message (tagline, campaign slogan or potential marketing theme for a campaign) SustainU should consistently integrate. Would you use one of their existing messages such as "Change Your Clothes. Change Your World" or "Wear a Better Story" or something else (200) 12 Key message 12 Come up with and describe a PR "stunt" to attract awareness towards SustainU's business and messages. 13 Public Relation Stunt 13 Focusing on SustainU's website, recommend the sales promotions you would use and why (contest? sweepstakes? coupon code? etc.) 14 Recommend sales promotion 14 Qualities important for sales people. What makes SustainU's approach different than a stereotypical sales pitch? 15 16 Reference 17 . SustainU Product Depth and Breadth Recycled Apparels Alpha Wiki Vital Hybrid Zealot Uriel Zip The recycled apparel is the company’s product breadth and depth comprises of Alpha Wiki, vital, Hybrid, Zealot and Uriel Zip (SustainU, “Products”). The suggested product line for SustainU is Shoes and bags. Make suggestions for added product lines and/or product categories SustainU can add more on its product line and categories. The company deals with recycled apparel which proves to be beneficial for the environment, therefore the company can come up some more product lines like skirts, trousers, shirts both in formal as well casual. SustainU deals in recycled apparels particularly pull over and t shirts, thus it can extend its product line which would help to create an eco friendly environment. Evaluate SustainU's branding components The mission and goal of SustainU is to make a change in the way clothes are made so to improve the environment, reinvigorate the manufacturing sector of America and educate the world that clothing can impact the lives in a positive way. Thus the tagline of SustainU suits its goal and mission which says ‘Change your clothes. Change the world’. The brand name ‘SustainU’ in the context of recycle would mean to sustain the environment and the color green in its logo depicts the company’s goal and mission. The logo is the alphabet S, maybe the initial of SustainU with green and black embedded on it. The black color may symbolize that the environment is getting polluted, and green a symbol of live with their recycled clothing. Thus the current branding strategy suits its mission and goal. The logo can be revised a bit which would help to create awareness about its recycled apparel, also the company can go for mascot, with the color green on it depicting to save the environment and its safe wearing SustainU apparel. This way the company would be able to generate awareness about its recycled apparel not only in America but to the world as such. Recommend a new product for SustainU and explain your reasoning behind this recommendation Recommendation SustainU can extend its product line by producing recycled shoes and bags. Shoes are required by all individual, all wear shoes, loves shoes, but shoes are made up of leather which in turn damages environment. Therefore in today world everything is getting recycled thus shoes would be a good option to expand the product line of SustainU. With an increase demand for its apparel there would also be a demand for its shoes which will be eco friendly and at the same time cool. Since the target audience is the collegiate thus to make cool stuff would be an important element for the company. The youth today are enthusiastic and prefers preventing the environment thus if the company includes shoes as its extended product line, it would prove beneficial for SustainU and as well as the environment. The shoes would be made up from recycled bike tires and rewoven leather and textile fibers. Though the price would be quite high from the normal shoe but it would be a good way of telling the shoe industry and the people that SustainU care about the environment and consumers should participate by buying these recycled products. Apart from shoes SustainU can manufacture bags, with an environmental conscious society more emphasis is put on reusing and avoiding plastic bags, a practical bag has become an essential in everyday life. Thus SustainU can design bags to make the most use of the material which are available and recyclable. The bags can have an economical as well as ecological impact. Suggestions do you have for SustainU in communicating with their customers and closing any gaps you discover in the realm of customer service Suggestions The brand SustainU has been able to generate awareness in terms of its recycled products which are apparel. The company has conducted many events in colleges in and around America and is able to gather a crowd required for its success. But never the less, the likes in its social networking site are less compared to any other brand. Thus the company needs to gather more and more networking with various other colleges and students. The promotional tool used by the company is good; it has connected through various social networking sites which helps the brand in interacting with more and more customers and create awareness about the brand. SustainU encourages entrepreneurial course, in a talk with the students of Mendoza College of Business said that sales of the recycled apparel grew up about 10,000 shirts and is expected to triple in the current year (Mendoza College of Business, “News & Events”). The current customers are the audience of the message and they should be because SustainU target audience is the students and it’s through them the company is able to generate awareness and help in recycling of products. Thus the current customers should be the audience and they would be the best source to convey the message to the entire population to use recycled products and save the environment. 4. Evaluate the pricing for the products presented on SustainU's website Pricing is the only element of marketing mix which generates revenue to a firm. Specific strategies used by the firms to price goods and services grow out to become the marketing strategies in order to accomplish the organizational goals and objectives (Boone & Kurtz, p.641). Referring to SustainU website, the price quoted for each product is priced at a high rate than the usual price. The company is following skimming price strategy, where the prices are intentionally set at a high price as compared to its competing products. The t-shirts range from $15 to $25. This is because each and every t-shirt has a message store in it. SustainU Alpha-Wiki Tee is made out of 100% recycled plastic bottles and sends a message that complements whatever passion a consumer desires, SustainU fulfils it in terms of recycled apparel. SustainU partnerships with the NGOs like Kids for tomorrow which is dedicated to improve the world by sending a message one child at time helps in raising money by selling the designer tees which are meant to educate and mobilize the people. Therefore in this context, the prices charged by SustainU are acceptable and because these are the products which are being made from recycled products which would save the environment. Thus to conclude the price is balanced with respect to environmental issues as this brand utilizes all the recycled products to make a product which protects the environment with its eco friendly products. As SustainU manages its supply chain through "strategic relationships" what do you think are the most important similarities/characteristics/goals these key partners should have in common with SustainU for a successful relationship and why? Important similarities Supply chain is an important aspect of every business. The success of supply chain depends upon the strategies used by the business organizations. As SustainU maintains its supply chain with the help of strategic relationship therefore it is very important to analyze the common traits, characteristics or similarities which the organization must have with its strategic partners which will develop a good strategic relationship which would help the organization and its partners in achieving its goals. Some of the important common characteristics are mentioned below:- Mutual trust: Mutual trust signifies the common trust and belief among each other. Like any other relationship the success of strategic relationship also depends upon the mutual trust between the organization and its strategic partners. SuntainU and its suppliers and other strategic partners must have trust each other on fulfilling their duties, being reliable etc and should understand each other’s value, position and problems. Mutual trust would enable the partners to share the information more accurately as they will be willing to share the information. This would in turn increase the efficiency of the organization. Open communication: Open communication signifies the information sharing among the business partners and the organization. Effective open communication would help in understanding the relevance of each partner and the business and their role in the organizational success. SustainU must have open communication with its strategic partners which would help in understanding the relation of each other’s goals which would in turn help in strengthening the strategic relationship and would improve the efficiency of the supply chain activities. Common goal: This is a very important common characteristic which the organization and its strategic partners must have in order to improve and strengthen the strategic relation. The SustainU and its strategic partners must have shared goals which in turn will enable them to put their joint effort and strength in their activities and will help them to explore new opportunities. Common goals will also increase the trust as they will be assured that none of the party activities will hinder the goals of the other as they have common goals. Credible commitments: Credible commitments also help in improving the strategic relationships. SustainU can improve the strategic relationship with its partners of supply chain by helping them in improving their infrastructure of making any other such commitment which would improve their work. Such type of ‘tangible investment’ would improve their mutual understanding and would help in sustaining and strengthening the strategic relationship (Grewal and Levy, p.429-432). Do you think SustainU should offer its products direct to consumer (i.e. online, have their own branded retail stores) or partner with retailers to sell their products on their behalf...or both? Why? If you choose to partner with existing retailers, name a few examples you would recommend they partner with and why. It is very necessary to have big useful brands to have an own retail outlets which implies that SustainU should have its own outlet and should offer products directly to its customers through online or outlet stores. Since online marketing is gathering a high importance thus it is advisable that the company should launch its own website and sell cloths from there. In this way it will be able to generate awareness about its recycled products not only in America but also globally. SustainU can also go for partnership with existing retailers in its own country and also open up few stores globally. Since the concept of recycle is something that people would love to go for, therefore going for partnership deals with companies who promotes recycled product or are into the business would help the company financially as well as setting a standard for their product in the local market and also when the company goes for international expansion. SustainU can enter into partnership with ‘Run With Us’ a company which recycles shoes with over 110 years of experience. This company deals with shoes used during jogging or running, particularly during exercise. Since it is suggested that SustainU can extend its product line into shoes, therefore this would be a great opportunity for the company to add on its product line. ‘Run With Us’ is footwear and apparel store, and has been into business for over the years, by entering into partnership SustainU would get a preference over the other brands dealing in recycled products (Run with Us, “Run With us History”). Recommend a key message (tagline, campaign slogan or potential marketing theme for a campaign) SustainU should consistently integrate. Would you use one of their existing messages such as "Change Your Clothes. Change Your World" or "Wear a Better Story" or something else (200) Key message When brands sell products directly to its customers, a key message is very much necessary to integrate for its communication which would influence the customers to purchase its product. Therefore the key message SustainU should integrate is ‘Change Your Clothes. Change Your World’. This is because this message conveys sustainability of social, economic and of environmental issues and thus focused on changing the world by changing the clothing. The company supports domestic growth in respect to job and taking care of the ecological impact. And the main objective of SustainU is to create a global company with recycled fibers and minimize the impact on environment. Come up with and describe a PR "stunt" to attract awareness towards SustainU's business and messages. Public Relation Stunt Public relations are important for any brand to generate awareness and get noticed by its target group. The basic premise of PR is about getting a message in front of the target audience. For an effective PR, the audience needs to be identified clearly and the brand must speak to them, the company goal must be defined, getting the message in the right place and get associated with big events. Therefore SustainU can utilize all of these measures to create awareness towards its business and message. Since the company deals in recycled apparels, the loyalty of customers increases as it deals with environmental issues also the target customers are the collegiate thus creating a PR would not be much difficult. SustainU can conduct fairs in colleges to generate awareness about its recycled apparel and also let the students participate which would the students to generate interest. Also the company is engaged with NGOs which add on to its strength and it’s also one of the best ways to generate awareness. A road show depicting the recycled apparels of the company and if SustainU can get engaged with any of the fashion shows, showcasing its apparel would prove to be an advantage for the brand and its product. Focusing on SustainU's website, recommend the sales promotions you would use and why (contest? sweepstakes? coupon code? etc.) Recommend sales promotion Sales promotion is a form of tool which marketers used to increase its sales. The two types of sales promotions that offer high value are sweepstakes and contest. SustainU can promote through a contest. For example, SustainU can keep a contest in college and may offer free tees to the winners of the contest. This would help the collegiate to take part and showcase their talent and in turn promote the brand SustainU. The next tool is sweepstakes, this would be appropriate means of promotion because the winners are selected randomly and the chances of winning in some case are much higher for consumers who make the purchase if entry into the sweepstakes occurs automatically when a purchase is made. Therefore SustainU can use both contest and sweepstakes in sales promotion for its recycled products. Qualities important for sales people. What makes SustainU's approach different than a stereotypical sales pitch? Qualities or characteristic that a sales person should acquire are as follows, A successful sales person must have the characteristic of setting a goal. They should know what they want and what their target is and accordingly plan their approach. The salesperson must make sure that the goals are specific at the same time motivating, achievable but yet challenging. The target to be achieved is visualize and must determine how they should achieve the goal and take necessary action on their day to day basis. The best sales people would ask quality question to its respective customers so that the customers are able to acquire knowledge about the product being offered. A sales person must know that the most effective way to present the product is to uncover customer’s goal, objectives. Next characteristic is that successful salespeople have a tendency to listen. They know that the consumers will tell them about their requirements and thus they should listen carefully and response to the quires of the customers. Most important quality a sales person must possess is that they must be passionate about their work and the company. When a salesperson loves what he is doing, he is able to put on more efforts into his work thus generating more profits for the company. Apart from being passionate they must be enthusiastic, in a positive mood. SustainU deals in a totally different category of apparel. It deals in recycled apparel thus its pitch is also different from those of stereotypical sales pitch. The company should pitch in with a different mood which highlights more of environmental issues and encourages the customers to purchase more of recycled apparel. Reference Boone, L.E. & Kurtz, D.L. Contemporary Marketing. Cengage Learning. Grewal, D and Levy, M. Marketing. India. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. 2008. Mendoza College of Business. News Article. 2010. News & Events. November 19, 2011 < http://business.nd.edu/news_and_events/news_articles_article.aspx?id=10280> Run with Us. Run with Us History. 2009. about Us. November 19, 2011 < http://www.clubrunwithus.com/about-us.html> SustainU. Products. No Date. Products. November 19, 2011 < http://www.sustainuclothing.com/products/> Read More