When you walk into a store and go to buy a pen or pencil or some other writing utensil, you go to that aisle with hundreds of packages and various combinations and try to find one that fits your needs. Well one of such companies has had an 8% decline in their gross profit margin while seemingly reaching their goal of 3% increase in sales. Such company was named Clique Pens. This occurred through many under the table deals with both consumers as their items went on sale or discounted as well as with retailers. In this case, there are 3 main people involved in the decision making. Elise Fergusen, the president, who is rethinking how the company advertises, sells the products and the price associated in order to increase profits for her company. There is also Logan Chen, the VP of marketing, who believed that the company needed to be more customers driven with less money going to sales and more focused on advertising to the customer. Whereas, Ross McMillay, the VP of Sales, had the complete opposite mentality and believed more deals should be made with the retailers. This ended them up in a conundrum as to how to improve profit margin while accomplishing goals in sales.
Asked the question “can Clique Pens implement a price increase”, it is easy to answer yes. However, that may not be the most beneficial for the consumer, retailer, or company (in this case, Clique Pens). There needs to be a balance in price where the customers perceive the price as fair as well as the company needs to gain profit. More importantly there should be a balance with in the concept of the marketing mix which includes product, distribution, promotion and price. The product deals directly with the customers’ requirement. In this case the customer wants pens or pencils, but the product aspect also deals with the appearance of the packaging. If the packaging is bland and not separating itself