The spread of the share of the market is pretty much dominated by Sam’s Club and Costco; 36% and 56% respectively. The competition is there, but not between each other. While the Wholesale clubs have lower prices and larger quantities, they lack in other areas which sometimes drive consumers away from them and towards other stores such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and other such retailers. But some of those things that scare away the consumer from Wholesale clubs, attract other kinds of consumers, which then deter them from shopping at the non-wholesale clubs. I would personally say that, of the five forces, the substitution from other industries would be the strongest.
By minimizing handling of goods through the use of direct shipments form the manufacturer to the store, as well as the use of cross-docking techniques where items are shipped to a cross-dock and then distributed to stores, Costco is able to minimize handling time. This minimized handling enables Costco to cut costs due to less labor involved. Costco also buys items from retailers on the grey market at deeply discounted prices that it can pass onto its customers. Often times, because Costco has such a rapid inventory turnover, Costco is able to buy products and sell them before the invoice is due, often taking advantage of early payment discounts, and in essence, the vendor finances purchase, and Costco is able to pass those savings onto its customers. I think that Cosco’s biggest weakness is that they are not overly forward-looking.
The Production Concept – Companies focusing on this concept will primarily focus on achieving high production efficiency at low costs and mass distribution as they believe the consumers are primarily interested in widely available products at low prices. This concept makes sense when the consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than features. The Product Concept – Companies will study a product concept before they market the product to their customers are a lot of time and money is spent on research to ensure they reach their target market, in order to do this they must fully understand and know the product to ensure they can present the products best qualities and features. 2. Britvic’s micro and macro environment.
The strategy of Costco was low prices, a limited product line and limited selection, and a “treasure hunt” shopping environment. In terms of pricing, Costco was known for selling top quality brands products at prices below other wholesale or retail outlets. Costco kept prices low to members and capped margins on brand-name products at 14 percent and 15 percent as well as on private label Kirkland signature items. However, unlike Wal-Mart or Target that provide wide ranges of product selections, Costco provided members with a selection of only about 4000 items. The product range did cover a broad spectrum of categories but each category had a limited selection and products were usually packaged in bulk and targeted to large families and businesses.
BJ’s takes a different direction and offers products in lower quantities. This differentiates them with the competition. However, Costco and Sam’s Club have more stories and do not have to worry about them, at least not yet. BJ’s is growing quickly, but is still distanced from Costco and Sam’s Club. Recommendations In order to continue its leading position in the
Its earnings slightly increased while its business has not grown much. The apparel manufacturing and general retail divisions remained on-going problems, due largely to a changein thenature of these businesses like decline in consumer spending, imports from countries with lower labour costs. Therefore, since the overall performance of the company was improving, although some divisions were not pulling their weight, this means the stock price might be undervalued. Interco management and Wall Street analysts believed that the apparel group’s performance would continue toweaken Interco’s overall operations and cause the equity markets to
Niche markets can allow for higher margins; however new entrants effectively position their product to a low volume high price model limiting their sales volume. Consequently, J&J should not overlook the low end segment of the consumer market,
As we all know Wal-Mart`s strategy to win against its competitors is its offered prices. The company is considered leader in the market because it has the capability to offer the lowest prices for this reason Wal-Mart is considered to have a large negotiating power. They can negotiate with suppliers to drop prices and consequently lower prices. In my opinion NAFTA benefits plus Wal-Mart`s purchasing power was the combination that allowed the company to be successful. Wal-Mart uses time inventory system which allows them to keep track of what they need
Planning it strategically, Tyco seems to have chosen to enter businesses that are unglamorous but provide an opportunity for profitability and growth. Further, Tyco choice of products which compete in stable, low-tech and standardized products requiring limited R&D spending is also a part of its strategy. This has helped the company to control costs and reap the benefits of standardizations and consolidation of processes and systems adding to the corporate advantage. To further elaborate this, with acquisition as its major strategy early on, in the days of Mr. Gaziano, Tyco earned a reputation as a „corporate raider‟. Later on, however, under Fort and Koslowski, things operated under more diligent control.
Yes, the company’s business model is appealing because the company’s increased inventory turnover and low operating costs allowed it to maintain a profit, despite their significantly lower gross margins compared to the industry (traditional wholesalers, mass merchandisers, supermarkets and supercenters). What are the chief elements of Costco’s strategy? How good is the strategy? The chief elements are pricing, product selection, maintaining low operating costs and expansion. Pricing/Product Selection-The company philosophy was to provide high end quality product and/or services to club members but maintain low prices.