Lesson 2/Week4 - STDP and Fashion Channel Case

1. How does segmentation facilitate consumer obsession?

Because segmentation is based on customer needs. And it will help to drive a customer intimacy and it will help employees to focus and adapt to each customer segment. Due to the information access thanks to internet, customers have non-linear behaviors which are harder to predict. Customer obsessed companies understand their customers so well that they can influence these non-linear behaviors.

The following graph shows an example of how to segment customers.

2. When a firm chooses a particular segment for targeting what are its primary considerations?

The firm selects a particular segment base on attractiveness and how their products could have differentiation in this market.

The following will help to choose a particular segment:

1.   The segment must be measurable by size, purchasing power, business profile, or individual characteristics.

2.   The segment must be large enough to justify the effort of developing a specific approach to sales or marketing.

3.   The segment must be reachable in some reasonable way

4.   You must have the capacity and capability of communicating your marketing and sales messages to the segment.

http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/principles-of-market-segmentation-part-2-business-to-business-0391062#!DSBIb

3. What is positioning?  Where does a firm's position reside. 

Positioning is defined as the marketer’s effort to identify a unique selling proposition for the product. It is the action or organizing a product to have an specific, unique and attractive position compare to its competitors. The position of a firm resides in the customer perception and how their products are identified in an specific segment.

The following definition is very clear: positioning is an effort to influence consumer perception of a brand or product relative to the perception of competing brands or products. Its objective is to occupy a clear, unique, and advantageous position in the consumer's mind.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/market-positioning.html

4. Think about a couple of companies competing in the same space with different segment focuses.  Discuss these firms and their various approaches.  Why are they different? The grocery shopping business is a super competitive market and there are a couple of companies in the same space with different segment focuses.
   The following website gives a very detailed explanation of the supermarket customers where the types are showed below
   
   
   
   http://www.segmentationstudyguide.com/segmentation-bases/segmentation-base-examples/market-segmentation-examples-for-retailers/
   Personally I will combine a couple of those segments per my personal perception of supermarket companies, specifically as:
   1.   Fast and Furious – time efficiency -> Gas station, small supermarkets in cities or towns. They are very different because products are easy to get, they have convenient shopping hours, parking and locations.
   2.   Smart shoppers and budget conscious – cost focus -> Walmart, their focus has been low prices with a lot discounts.
   3.   Gourmet focus and variety seekers – new and good products -> Whole foods, their focus is a nice environment, organic and locally produce products. They offer cooking classes, the supermarket environment is friendly and they advertise the good benefits their employees have.
   4.   A day out – like shopping -> Whole Foods and Target. Nice locations with food for lunch, breakfast or dinner available, seating space.
   5.   Here we go again – easy and convenient shopping -> Target and Stop and Shop. Stop and Shop has a very well advertise delivery shopping service (Peabody) and their locations are in roads with high traffic where people could stop by and do shopping. They have scanners then customers will scan and pay at the end, making the shopping experience very quick. Target is new in this market and they changed their strategy to have one place for all shopping, it is very convenient for this market specifically if they have kids.
    

Lesson 2/Week 3 - Using Market Research to Gain Consumer Insights.

1. Does your company use research to understand it's customer's?  What type of research? 

In my previous job the company used to make surveys to customer in order to understand their needs, the biggest challenge was to adapt to global customer needs. The following figure is a fantastic example of how to collect market information for larger customer base.

The following list is very helpful when having customer or feedback communication and I have use it when I need to get feedback from customer inside the company.

At my current job, the company uses Market Feedback Analysis (MFA) tools and QCPC data which is a company wide database where any person could login and report as problem they had, QCPC is very good because it collects information immediately when the problem happens and it provides specific actions for the other department. This method is used with external customer too.

2.    What Insights does Dr. Rosling gain from the data collection and analysis he conducts in the video.  How important is the visual display of data in creating these insights? 

The world is getting flat specifically about income, fertility rate and life expectancy. Countries which invested in health saw a huge in increase in wealth and he shows a great example with China. Visual data is an easy way to show and create insights of the data, the data Dr. Rosling showed was very complex and it was very easy to understand due to the visual display.

3. Where will you go to collect data for your marketing plan?  How can you learn about the type of consumers in the market you have been assigned.  How will you convey and provide insights to your client using this information?

It depends of the data needed; the government usually has very good statistical data for example demographic data

https://www.census.gov/population/age/

For an organization, I have volunteered in the past, I have collected data from the following:

http://www.pewhispanic.org/topics/education/

In the past I had create graphs and visual ways to explain the data, specifically because I was looking into motivate educated Hispanic to help the young Hispanic who do not understand the education system to reach to higher education.

Lesson 2/Week 2 - Examining Environmental Variables

Lesson 2/ Week 2- Examining Enviromental Variables

A.  Consider either your company if you are working or an industry in which you may aspire to work and consider external factors that need to be considered in strategic planning for the business.  Look at the list at the beginning of chapter 2 in your text and consider the variety of factors listed in the second column.  

External factor that could affect the aerospace industry is for example the Malasyan airline airplane accident because it could affect how people perceive plane traveling as safe and it will affect the airline industry. This factor will directly affect airplane order which will consequently change the aerospace industry.

B.  Think about mission.  Look at the missions in exhibit 2.5 of your text on page 31.   

• Are the missions market/consumer focused?  What is the danger of a product based focus? The danger of product based focus is that products are developed to be the greatest innovation without thinking in the customer.

• Which do you think are the best? From my point of view customer focus is the best option.
• Does your company have a mission?  Is it a plaque on the wall or does it really lead the culture of company. Yes, the company that I work for has a mission and it leads the culture of the company.

The following article talks about the importance of customer focus. Specifically customer satisfaction is achieved when it is based on a clear understanding of what the customer wants and needs.

http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tnt/delivering-a-superior-customer-experience/why-is-customer-focus-so-important.html#axzz2xdSrym1a

C.    Think about 1 or 2 changes in the external environment in culture, technology, politics or some other sphere and  come up with two or more specific examples of a change and its affect on specific industry.  This is fodder for your blog contribution this week.

A great example is the movie rental industry which has changed tremendously in the last couple of years. Blockbuster used to be the market dominant and later on Netflix came with ideas on cutting cost, 2 weeks free trial and providing unlimited access to movies and TV shows. Over the years Netflix became the industry leader and the link below explains Netflix’s strategy.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CEoQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fkimboal.ba.ttu.edu%2FMGT%25204380%2520FL%252009%2F006%2FCA-T4.pptx&ei=cp46U8T1KOessQTlroHoDA&usg=AFQjCNF2KdBuzMeFPkO5qK86RB6CHIfEIQ&sig2=pQVqCF3mz0pceCFroVTMlg&bvm=bv.63934634,d.cWc

 

D.  As we read in the article by Levitt, customers buy benefits not products. Think about your company.  What needs do the products of your company satisfy?    

 There are different needs based on the business units, in one of the divisions, Pratt & Whitney has to satisfy fuel efficient to its engine customers.