...Marketing Case Study, Target: From “Expect More” to “Pay Less” Introduction In this case we examine Target, a discount retailer who was always known for their ‘cheap chic’, “Expect More, Pay Less” value proposition. Heavy investment into this value proposition positioned Target in the market in a not too distant second position to WalMart with their slogan “Always Low Prices”. Over time Target’s success led WalMart to mimic certain aspects of Target’s value proposition but shortly thereafter the macroeconomic force of the “Great Recession” fell upon the market and WalMart seemed to reinforce its position of superiority. In response to this Target rolled out a new marketing strategy which involved adjusting the flavour of its value proposition to entice customers who were seen to have defected to their major competitor. In this case study we shall examine Target’s strategy in the face of these challenges and evaluate the effectiveness of it against best marketing practices. What microenvironmental factors have affected Target’s performance over the past few years? Four main microenvironmental factors have affected Target’s performance in a negative way over the past few years. Four main microenvironmental factors have affected Target’s performance in a negative way over the past few years. 1. Competitors: Pre-recession, both Target and its main competitor, WalMart had well developed and communicated value propositions. Target’s being “Expect More, Pay Less” and WalMart leading...
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...Company case: Target 1) Target’s economic factors shifted its image into detriment that has been doing very well for years. For a big company like target it’s difficult to switch gears according to the trend where its executives failed in recognizing the problems. Consumers: The case indicates that Target did not carefully study consumer markets and adapt its markets accordingly. Competitors: Walmart who has always been a good competitor for Target was selling their stuff at cheaper prices than Target. Even though Target’s stuff was better in quality compared to walmart, people preferred to gotowalmart instead of Target when the economic conditions started shifting. There are other competitors beside walmart which affected Target’s shifting fortunes, but walmart has been the main cause. 2) The macroenvironmental factors that affected Target’s performance during the period are: i) The main factor in the shifting dynamic between Target and Walmart was the change in economic conditions. Unemployment, sliding GDP growth and mortgage payments created an environment where most of the customers had less income. ii) Changing demographics relates directly to the economy. Household income also was dropping while the household expenses have been increasing. iii) The political activities also spotlighted the economic conditions during the time of shifting economy. For example, during 2008 and 2009 the news involving the banks, insurance companies, auto manufacturer’s bailouts...
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...Marketing Management Case Study 2 Marketing Excellence >>Walmart Walmart, the giant chain of discount stores, is the second largest company in the world, with over $400 billion in revenue and 2.1 million associates (or employees). The phenomenal success story began in 1962 when Sam Walton opened up his first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas. He sold the same products as his competitors but kept prices lower by reducing his profit margin. His customers quickly caught on and the company took off almost immediately.Walton’s EDLP (Every Day Low Price) strategy remains the foundation of Walmart’s success today.Through the company’s economies of scale, Walmart is able to offer customers top brand-name products for the lowest price. Walmart expanded throughout the United States in the 1970s and 1980s by acquiring some of its competitors and opening new stores. The first Walmart Supercenter—a discount store with food outlets, an optical center, photo lab, hair salon, among other amenities—opened in 1988. By 1990, Walmart had become the nation’s number one retailer, with $32 billion in revenue and stores in 33 states.The company’s international expansion began with a store outside Mexico City in 1991 and has grown to over 3,800 international locations, some under a different brand name. Walmart thrives on three basic beliefs and values:“Respect for the Individual,” “Service to Our Customers,” and “Striving for Excellence.” Sam Walton’s original 10-foot rule—“I promise that whenever...
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...This article is published in a peer-reviewed section of the Utrecht Law Review Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Conflicts Affect a Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy? Cristina A. Cedillo Torres, Mercedes Garcia-French, Rosemarie Hordijk, Kim Nguyen, Lana Olup* 1. Introduction 1.1. Background and objectives This article will discuss the different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues that emerged within four multinationals (Apple, Canon, Coca-Cola and Walmart). There is no clear definition of CSR. In Corporate Social Responsibility, Legal and semi-legal frameworks supporting CSR Lambooy gives an r o verview of several definitions of CSR.1 The European Commission defines CSR as ‘the esponsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society’.2 This is the definition which is the most suitable for the c ontext of the article’s research question. As this article will focus on companies from the US and Japan, the authors also provide an overview of the focus on CSR from the US and Japanese perspective. In the US there is no governmental regulation regarding CSR or business best practices. Instead, according to findings from Bennett American, companies have a marked tendency to use codes of conduct.3 The American CSR perspective could be described as following a principles-based approach, with codes of conduct that prescribe values and principles which company members as a whole should aspire to follow. ...
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...This article is published in a peer-reviewed section of the Utrecht Law Review Four Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility: Do Conflicts Affect a Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy? Cristina A. Cedillo Torres, Mercedes Garcia-French, Rosemarie Hordijk, Kim Nguyen, Lana Olup* 1. Introduction 1.1. Background and objectives This article will discuss the different Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) issues that emerged within four multinationals (Apple, Canon, Coca-Cola and Walmart). There is no clear definition of CSR. In Corporate Social Responsibility, Legal and semi-legal frameworks supporting CSR Lambooy gives an r o verview of several definitions of CSR.1 The European Commission defines CSR as ‘the esponsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society’.2 This is the definition which is the most suitable for the c ontext of the article’s research question. As this article will focus on companies from the US and Japan, the authors also provide an overview of the focus on CSR from the US and Japanese perspective. In the US there is no governmental regulation regarding CSR or business best practices. Instead, according to findings from Bennett American, companies have a marked tendency to use codes of conduct.3 The American CSR perspective could be described as following a principles-based approach, with codes of conduct that prescribe values and principles which company members as a whole should aspire to follow. ...
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...Assignment 1) | Walmart | Target | Profit margin | 3.51% | 4.19% | Net marketing contribution | 47,874,2505$ | 11,091,000$ | Marketing Ros | 10.71% | 15.87% | Marketing Roi | 74.86% | 101.62% | Based on the following figures, it is clear that Target is performing better. Although Walmart has a higher sales revenue gross and net profit, it is clear from the figures that Target has a higher profit margin. It is evident that the COGS at Walmart are slightly higher than all other companies competing in the market. Since Target has a higher ROS and a higher ROI we can say that Target is growing more than Walmart. 2) | Apple | HP | Profit margin | 22.85% | 4.41% | Net marketing contribution | 82,879,250$ | 14,550,000$ | Marketing Ros | 35.46% | 14.08% | Marketing Roi | 771.2% | 142.52% | Marketing expense apple: 10,746,750$ Marketing expense HP: 10,209,000$ * All figures are based on the income statements for the year ending 2015. From the figures above we can conclude that Apple is making much more profit than HP since its sales revenue are much higher, although both have close marketing expenses. Company Case 1) In order for Marta and Trap Ease America to assess their golden opportunity they should study the market carefully and see whether there exists another product that is launched in the market to fight mice or will they be the first company. If Marta’s product is going to be the first product in this market they are expecting a...
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...WALMART SUCCESS IN MEXICO, CANADA AND CHINA: GLOBAL EXPANSION, STRATEGIES, ENTRY MODES, THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES Lee Yee Mun B1000922 Help College Of Arts and Technology Bachelor of Science in Collaboration with Southern New Hampshire University, USA lemon_0611@hotmail.com Rashad Yazdanifard Faculty of Management, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia. rashadyazdanifard@yahoo.com 1 ABSTRACT Global expansion has been gaining a lot of attention. There are many important factors to be considered in the decision-making process such as business strategies, entry modes, and threats and opportunities in the markets. Appropriate strategies will minimize the risk of failure in international markets. The right business strategies and entry modes employed will increase the firm’s chances of success and influence the future of the retailer. Key words: global expansion, business strategies, entry modes, threats, opportunities, Walmart 1. Introduction The internalization of the retail industry has been researched widely, and majority of these studies have described the motivations and scales for international expansion by retailers (Akehurst & Alexander, 1995; Williams, 1992). Many models of internalization explains the sequence of foreign expansion, showing that companies who go international will do better in foreign markets that are similar to their domestic markets. This was why Walmart chose to enter the markets of Canada and Mexico (Johanson...
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...other areas becoming the ‘Walmart’ of e-commerce world. By 2010, Amazon had a higher market cap than Target Corporation, Home Depot, Costco, Barnes and Noble, and Best Buy, only lagging behind that of Walmart among the US brick and mortar retailers. Our study would focus on analyzing how Amazon revolutionized the concept of digital enterprise and succeeded in becoming the numero uno online retail company. Amazon vision was to offer “Earth’s biggest selection” and to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company” and succeed to a greater extent in realizing this vision. Facing fierce competition from a variety of traditional and digitial competitors such as Walmart, Target, Bestbuy, Ebay, Barnes and Noble, Buy.com etc., Amazon was able to grow successful over the years through strategically reinventing and adopting itself. Amazon’s relentless costumer focus, ability to offer shopping convenience, consumer decision-enabling information, a wide selection, discounted pricing, and logistical competencies forms a very interesting case study for understanding present world’s competitive strategies of the firms. The growth of Amazon since its inception in 1995 and its evolution into its present business model help us learn some of the very important strategy lessons in staying competitive in the real world business and hence the motivation to pursue this study. Research Methodology: - What kind of data you think you might need to collect to study the issues that you selected...
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...interview employees who are being directly affected. The target group in this research project would be Wal-Mart employees that are willing to participate in the study. These employees will range from different age groups, various backgrounds and cultures. Access to these employees would be during work hours or before or after work. Employees could come in early or stay late. Interviews could also be performed on days when business is slow. There are several types of sampling methods that can be used such as: simple random sampling, stratified sampling, systematic sampling, and cluster sampling (“Choosing a Sampling Method”, 2013). Random sampling is an effective way to measure the perspective of a group of people that is too large to interview (“Basics of choosing a survey population”, 2008). In this research, the random sampling will be the method used so that favoritism or being bias does not occur. Instruments Used Often times large groups of people are broken down into smaller groups because it can be too expensive and too time consuming (“Basics of choosing a survey population”, 2008). Some examples of instruments used to collect data are : informal and formal surveys, direct and participating observation, interviews, focus groups, expert opinions, case studies, existing records and literature search (Carroll) In this particular study the instruments that will be used is informal and formal surveys , case studies and interviews. Surveys can be on paper and handed out to...
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...Walmart It all began in 1962, Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. This was when grocery stores were becoming popular and he wanted to take a different spin on the idea. He followed behind Kmart and Target. Today Walmart has over 8500 stores in 55 different countries and employees over 1.4 million people. Walmart has set a precedent that others have tried to follow, but have not been as successful. Walmart has built its empire on the “one stop and shop.” Walmart offers everything from groceries to clothes, cell phone service, tires, oil changes, and even gas at discount prices. Walmart’s organizational structure has been successful and is still growing. It is evident in the amount of revenue generated each year, their marketing strategy, and the number of new stores they open yearly. Walmart vs. Target vs. Kmart Walmart’s structure consists of a board of directors and below the directors is the senior management. This type of structure is vertical. The board consist of 15 members, including the head chairperson Sam Walton and Mike Duke the CEO. The committee also has inside directors. Target is another store that also has vertical structure with a board of directors. Kmart is on a smaller scale due to recent financial and restructuring of their organization. Target Target is also a discount store, but they offer a different spin. They are more focused on the style. Target’s corporate strategy is one that has changed little over the years: to provide...
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...Walmart Movie Analysis Threat Level Midnight MGMT 382, 12:00pm Monday Class Rheanna Ladron De Guevara Mohammad Shojaei Danielle Seymour Teresa Radtke Curtis Anson Amy Self Walmart is quite arguably one of the largest multinational grocery retailers in America. The corporation routinely produces record sales, earnings, and employs more than 2.1 million full time employees. Last year Walmart earned a record four hundred and five billion dollars in revenue. The company was founded in 1962 by business entrepreneur Sam Walton. Walmart’s past (2006) advertising slogan, “Low prices, always”, accurately reflects the appeal the store has to the masses. In an attempt to attain a wider and more diverse customer base, in recent years Walmart has adopted the new slogan: “Saving people money so they can live better lives.” While there’s no doubt about Walmart’s low prices, it’s questionable as to whether Walmart actually allows people to “live better lives.” Not only this, but the ethicality of Walmart’s business practices seem unsound to say the least. After watching the film “Walmart: the High Cost of Low Cost”, the ethicality of Walmart’s business practices and the impact the company has on the communities in which they expand into become apparent. While some argue that Walmart makes unethical decisions quite often that harm the communities they expand into, others assert that Walmart operates within the law and is simply doing business rather than acting unethically...
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...Wal-Mart study Case#1 1. What threats and challenges is Wal-Mart currently facing? From the beginning, Walmart did not have many threats. However, not only the competition is different, several global retailers such as Target, Carrefour, Costco, and Amazon, are working hard to keep efficiency. They are trying to work together to shrink the prices difference between them. Walmart has facing difficulties from every single angle. Not only the company has internal labor relation problems, but also it has some external threats from its competitors. The company must work hard to get possible solutions against its competitors, and to solve any internal problems regarding its labor relations. Even though Walmart does not have any problems with its good sales performance, it does not stop the company to have issues with sales. Walmart needs to pay attention because there are too many claims from women regarding the lawsuit discrimination for several reasons inside the company such as pay, promotions, and training. The company has no other recourses to re-evaluate the situation to make its employees feel better as far as the coverage is concerned. There are several companies in the United States that offer better health insurance coverage than Walmart does. As a result, a re-evaluation is necessary so that associates can pay less with a higher contribution of the company. Life insurance is important for every single employee within an organization. An employee with no good life...
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...Basak Alemdag WALMART RETAIL ANALYSIS Business description Walmart is an American retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores in various countries. It is currently the largest retailer in US and in the world and also the world's third largest public corporation according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2012. Today, Walmart operates in 15 countries with a total of 8500 stores. It is well-known for its low-cost structure. Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, the company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is still a family-owned business, run by the Walton Family who has the 48% stake of the company. It also owns a chain of warehouse stores in North America, called “Sam's Club retail warehouses”. Walmart has a wide range of product categories under the following departments: Electronics, Auto&Tires, Apparel, PhotoCenter, Books, Sports/Outdoors, Home Improvement, Baby, Patio&Garden, Toys, Health, Pets, Grocery, Gifts, Beauty, Movies&VideoGames, Party/Occasion, Pharmacy, Jewelry. Customer identification Walmart essentially targets price-sensitive consumers as their regular customers. It offers overall medium-quality goods with lowest prices, and it is the main reason most customers shop from Walmart. The average US Walmart customer's income is below the national average, and analysts recently estimated that more than one-fifth of them lack a bank account, twice the national rate. A Walmart financial report...
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...Mobile Marketing Netflix One brand reaching out perfectly to Millennials is Netflix. In recent years, Netflix decreased the amount of money spent on paid advertising in the U.S. across traditional media and instead is spending marketing dollars online, particularly on mobile devices. Netflix’s efforts to be more digital and content forward in their marketing has shown favorable results. The company spent about $121 million on advertising last year, down from $143 million in 2013 and $218 million in 2012, according to Kantar Media. As the cost of advertising has decreased, subscribers increased by 4.88 million last quarter, shares recently increased to a record $560.24, subscribers have topped 62 million worldwide and 75% of millennials with connected televisions are using them to watch Netflix. Netflix expands their brand reach and promotes their content to millennials through the use of mobile and social media campaigns focusing on Netflix’s original series. Millennials want to share what movie or TV shows they’re watching. Netflix offers an app designed to celebrate their original shows and interact with its fans. For the season premiere of “Orange is the New Black”, a prison show, the app enabled users to insert their face into mugshots before sharing them via social media or SMS. According to research by ListenFirst, the series was a popular topic on social media in the weeks leading up to the premiere, with 124,000 uses of the show’s hashtag on Twitter in the three...
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...Case Study: Target Laval University 01/10/2013 To understand the struggles of Target during the economic crisis that started in 2008, one has to comprehend the relationship Target has with the biggest discount retailer in the United States; Walmart. The two stores are very often paralleled, so much that when one store is brought up, the other one is also brought up for a quick comparison. However, they still have one big difference in the fact that Target is considered to be more up scaled. Often described as “Cheap Chic”, the products at Target are of higher quality for a slightly higher price, while still staying affordable. Before the economic crisis, Target sales were always increasing and the business was growing at a faster rate than Walmart. Target’s profits and sales were increasing from one period to another, while Walmart was basically lagging; not decreasing in sales but not increasing neither. That situation alerted the biggest discount retailer so much that its top manager decided to change their marketing strategy and copy Target. They started to have more and more designer clothing and house furniture lines as well as more gourmet and organic food in its aisles. The well known “Always low prices. Always.” slogan was even changed to “Save money. Live better.” That new catch phrase was designed to take away the...
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