In 1971, three academics, English Teacher Jerry Baldwin, History Teacher Zel Siegel and writer Gordon Bowker opened Starbucks Coffee, Tea and Spice in Touristy Pikes Place Market in Seattle. The three were inspired by entrepreneur Alfred Peet (whom they knew personally) to sell high-quality coffee beans and equipment. The store did not offer fresh brewed coffee by the cup, but tasting samples were sometimes available. Siegel will wore a grocers apron, scooped out beans for customers while the other two kept their day jobs but came by at lunch or after work to help out. The store was an immediate success, with sales exceeding expectations, partly because of interest stirred by the favorable article in Seattle Times. Starbucks ordered its coffee-bean from Alfred Peet but later on the three partners bought their own used roaster setting up roasting operations in a nearby ramshackle building and developed their own blends andContinue reading
Marketing Case Studies
Case Study of Walmart: Procurement and Distribution
Wal-Mart always emphasized the need to reduce its purchasing costs and offer the best price to its customers. The company procured goods directly from manufacturers, bypassing all intermediaries. Wal-Mart was a tough negotiator on prices and finalized a purchase deal only when it was fully confident that the products being bought were not available elsewhere at a lower price. According to Claude Harris, one of the earliest employees, “Every buyer has to be tough. That is the job. I always told the buyers: ‘You are negotiating for your customer. And your customer deserves the best prices that you can get. Don’t ever feel sorry for a vendor. He always knows what he can sell, and we want his bottom price. ‘We would tell the vendors,’ Don’t leave in any room for a kickback because we don’t do it here. And we don’t want your advertising program or delivery program. OurContinue reading
Case Study: Toyota Prius Marketing Strategies
Toyota manufactures cars, which has a wide coverage from economic minibus to luxurious cars, SUV. The brand on sell includes Crown, Reiz, Vios, Corolla, Coaster and Prius. And Prius is the brand or car that Toyota has made a significant success in American market. It is a hybrid vehicle. What are the characteristics of it? Hybrid vehicles have both a gas engine and an electric motor. When starting up or at very low speeds (under 15 mph), the auto runs on the electric motor. At roughly 15 mph, the gas engine kicks in. this means that the auto gets power from only the battery at low speeds, and from both the gas engine and electric motor during heavy acceleration. When starting up and operating at low speed speeds, the auto does not make noise, which seems eerie to some drivers and to pedestrians who don’t hear it coming! Toyota PriusContinue reading
Case Study: McDonalds Marketing Strategies
McDonald’s is the world’s largest fast-food restaurant chain. It has more than 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. Over one billion more customers were served in 2007 than in 2006. Although net income was down by $1.1 billion in 2007, McDonald’s sales were up 6.8%, and revenue was a record high of $23 billion. “The unique business relationship among the company, its franchisees and suppliers (collectively referred to as the System) has been key to McDonald’s success over the years. The business model enables McDonald’s to play an integral role in the communities we serve and consistently deliver relevant restaurant experiences to customers.” McDonald’s overall strategic plan is called Plan to Win. Their focus is not so much on being the biggest fast-food restaurant chain, rather it is more focused on being the best fast-food restaurant chain. McDonald’s “strategic alignment behind this plan has created better McDonald’s experiences through theContinue reading
Case Study: Zara’s Entry into Indian Retail Fashion Market
Zara is an extremely renowned brand, known for its latest designs and is among the top 100 best global brands in 2010 .It uses the unusual strategy of zero advertising and instead invests the revenue in opening new stores across the world. Zara is popular amongst old and young generations too because it is affordable fashion. It is crystal clear that Zara is successfully living upto the standard of its two winning retail trends firstly, it is fashionable and secondly it is low in price thus resulting in a very effective mixture out of it. The first store of Zara was opened in a central street in Spain in 1977 by Amancio Ortega who also owns, other brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear and many others. Spain is the headquarter of Zara. Zara have opened 95 stores around the world in quarter 1 of year 2009 alone, bringingContinue reading
Case Study of Maggi: Brand Extension and Repositioning in India
The industrial revolution in Switzerland in the late 1800s created factory jobs for women, who were therefore left with very little time to prepare meals. This wide spread problem grew to be an object of intense study by the Swiss Public Welfare Society. As a part of its activities, the Society asked Julius Maggi miller to create a vegetable food product that would be quick to prepare and easy to digest. Born on October 9, 1846 in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, Julius Michael Johannes Maggi was the oldest son of an immigrant from Italy who took Swiss citizenship. Julius Maggi became a miller and took on the reputation as an inventive and capable businessman. In 1863, Julius Maggi came up with a formula to bring added taste to meals. Soon after he was commissioned by the Swiss Public Welfare Society, he came up with two instant pea soups and a bean soupContinue reading