Giventhat the jewelry is made to order, clients at Blue Nile must be willing to wait to receive theirorders, unlike at Tiffany or Zales. The Tiffany brand is very strong and well established. It is associated with glamour, trust, andcustomer service. These associations allow the company to sell at higher margins than itscompetitors. Diamond and other high-end jewelry purchases are expensive, and many customerswill trade off other factors for the Tiffany customer experience when making such purchases.Moreover, when spending thousands of dollars for a single item, customers often want to see andfeel what they are buying.
Tony Qian 1/13/2011 BUAD 441 – Individual Case Study1 Blue Nile, Inc. – World’s Largest Online Diamond Retailer 1. What key factors will determine a company’s success in the online jewelry business in the next 3-5 years? The online jewelry business will be highly dependent technology. They will also need to keep good relationships with the organizations that certify their diamonds. They need to give their customer a safe, comfortable environment in which to make high dollar purchases.
Through arrangements with suppliers, they are able to offer a large inventory of loose diamonds at low prices. Until a customer orders a stone, Blue Nile does not have to purchase it. Besides being able to have small inventories, this set up allows them to be paid by the customer before they have to pay suppliers. Using this cost saving supply chain also gave them the advantage of being able to set a markup price lower than competitors. The nature of their business model enabled them to enter the fairly new online market and compete based on lower prices.
How strong are the competitive forces confronting Blue Nile and other online retail jewelers? Which one of the five competitive forces is the strongest? In the online retail jewelry industry there is a strong power of buyers and suppliers, and a stronger difficulty of entry. In the diamond industry the biggest threat is competition from other online retail jewelers as well as huge completion from brick-and-mortar retail stores. While all five of the competitive forces are strong when analyzing Blue Nile and other online retail jewelers, the strongest competitive force is analyzing rivalry determinants.
Risk Factors of Bloomingdales Risk factors play a major role in today’s economy. Since we are stuck in the stagnation period and do not seem to be recovering for quite some time, businesses have to come up with a proper marketing plan that will help sell their products. All businesses suffer from the same risk factors. Some common risk factors include: product quality, price, brand loyalty, competition, managerial skills, etc. Many customers are shopping at lower priced stores because the economy is not allowing them to spend extra money.
Firm overview and Introduction to the Case The main player is Joel St. Marseille who is the founder and owner of Skadurz Pro. Skadurz Pro is a a custom skateboard, snowboard and clothing store. Skardurz currently faces the following issues; • Increase in local competition is reducing the advantage that Skadurz Pro had over it's online competition. • Retirement of key employee leaves a void not easily replaced because management is limited to family members. • The prices are not as low as competitors because its a small, local business with less volume.
Bargaining power of denim fabric suppliers is low due to the low margins and intense competition. Threat of substitutes is high as there is no switching cost and many other apparel types are available. Bargaining power of buyers is also established as a high threat. Before the recession premium denim brands targeted “aspirational” middle – class consumers, but this target group had traded down in 2009 to less
Urine tests are the least expensive for employers and are considered an intrusive method of testing. This test can be done at home, but do require lab verification for accurate results. A urine test can detect use primarily within the past week. However the test can be affected by abstaining from use for a period before the test, and are often temperature tested to insure sample integrity. Saliva tests are a little more expensive than urine testing and considered a relatively intrusive method of drug testing, therefore becoming more commonly used by employers.
However, a successful company like Amazon.com also has its own actual problems. What is the actual problem? Since the 1990s the company has invested heavily to quickly develop the best-in-class retailing, fulfillment, and customer service capabilities required to support its rapidly growing and increasingly complex business. During 1998 and 1999, Amazon.com spent over $429 million to build a state-of-the-art digital business infrastructure and operations that linked nine distribution centers and six customer service centers located across the United States and in Europe and Asia. However in late 1999 this distribution infrastructure provided 70 percent to 80 percent overcapacity.
Externalities cause deadweight loss which can lead to market failure. Businesses can make more money if they can internalize the externalities. Externalities can be internalized if the transaction cost of the business is low. “Transaction costs are the costs of identifying and bringing buyers and sellers together, bargaining and drawing up a contract”2and it is relatively high for department stores like Galeria Kaufhof in comparison to stores like H&M. Similarly, the transaction cost for stores such as H&M is more than that of the jewelry shops but less than the department stores.