The worst year appeared to be 2009 with the luxury segment rebounding in 2010 and 2011. The following is a comparison of 2011 sales growth of Nordstrom as compared to several of its competitors: Nordstrom 7.2% Neiman Marcus 7.5% Saks 5th Avenue 6.4% Bloomingdales 5.4% Nordstrom, in its most recent Annual Report, anticipates its same-store sales to be 4 to 6 percent but sets a corporate goal of high single digit Total Sales Growth. Total sales growth is achieved through the expansion of retail space and increased online sales. Same-store sales are sales growth
One of Sam Walton's techniques for change is technological changes. By the 1990's the organization had been so successful and had more increasing growth than any other department store in the United States. Wal-Mart's product categories include: soft goods (apparel, linen and fabrics) accounts for 29% of sales, hard goods (hardware, house-wares automobile supplies, and small appliances) constitutes 28% of sales, candy (11% of sales) sporting goods and toys (10%), health and beauty aids (9%), gifts, records, and electronics (5%), shoes (3%), pharmaceuticals (3%), and jewelry (2%)." Wal-Mart provides consumers with "Everyday Low Prices" (Walmart.com). The price sensitive merchandise allows customers to get more for their dollar.
Colgate vs Crest, it is one of those brand battles in the marketing industry, like Coke vs Pepsi or Big Mac vs Whopper. Colgate (sub-brand of Colgate-Palmolive) and Crest (sub-brand of Procter & Gamble) both, in international market around different countries in the world, an oral hygiene product line of toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes and dental floss; therefore these product of daily use represent high volume of sales in the market. However Colgate Palmolive and Procter & Gamble are the largest players in the oral care business globally. Colgate is the world leader in oral care with a 33% market share, followed by P&G’s Crest and Oral-B brands, which together command 20% of the market (TREFIS,2010). On the surface at least, the marketing strategies used by Colgate have been more effective than Crest.
With the electronic business increasing producers had to increase transistors. They went from chips with 5,000 transistors to chips with 50,000,000 transistors. This was a changed made for the vast increase in the capacity and portable computers, computers and many other electronic devices had become what businesses and people used in their everyday life in the 1990s. Globalization also had a few negative aspects along with the positive ones. General Motors is a company that fits into this category.
A faster installation time means an increase in the amount of jobs plumbers complete in a year. According to the case, plumbers install 40 to 50 showers a year and each installation takes 2 days to complete. With Aqualisa’s new Quartz Shower, installation would be done in half a day which could possibly increase profitability by allowing plumbers to complete 4 jobs over the course of 2 days. The faster installation time would translate to 160 to 200 potential installations per year. Customers The results of the market research conducted by Aqualisa showed that customers did not like the showers available on the market, they wanted showers that were visually appealing, easier to use, have the desired water pressure and featured better temperature controls.
The three competitors were also positioned differently in the product space from Inditex’s chains. Inditex employed 26,724 people, 10,919 of them outside Spain. Capital expenditures had been split roughly 80% on new-store openings, 10% on refurbishing, and 10% on logistics / maintenance, roughly in line with capital employed. Operating working capital was negative at most yearend, although it registered higher at other times due to the seasonality of apparel sales. Plans for 2002 called continued tight management of working capital and €510- 560 million of capital expenditures, mostly on opening of 230-275 new stores.
Dick’s Sporting Goods is rapidly growing and achieving things that many people thought would be impossible. This year alone, Dick's Sporting Goods has exceeded expectations with its third-quarter results and they have also pleased their shareholders with its plans to start paying dividends. Dick’s Sporting Goods now operates more than 450 shops across 42 states, along with 81 Golf Galaxy stores in 30 states and they do not plan to stop here. Dick's third-quarter net sales rose by 9.3% from the year-earlier, to almost $1.2 billion, with the help of additional sales from 19 newly opened stores. The company's gross margins went up by 126 basis points, to 29.7%, mainly because of better inventory management and a change in the product mix and selling and administration expenses range in at $274.4 million.
SUNRISE MEDICAL INC.’S WHEELCHAIR PRODUCTS A GLANCE AT THE WHEELCHAIR INDUSTRY IN 1993 Despite being a young industry, the wheelchair business showed a large amount of growth in a ten year span in terms of sales. By 1992, worldwide sales were approximately US 800 million, with half of these numbers coming from sales in the US while the rest were concentrated in Europe. These numbers were an indicator of the potential the industry had and this was confirmed by projected sales growth, which ranged between 5% to 15% annual increases for different product lines. There was excitement as an important US insurance program announced it would reimburse more money for wheelchairs of higher price, fact that could boost sales in the near future. Although sales potential was attractive, profitability margins were still low because costs ranged between 65% and 75% and additional operating expenses ranged from 23% to 34% of sales (exhibit 1).
During the 1990’s, it was one of the fastest growing retailers in history. This was mainly due to the fact it trained its employees to form enduring long-term customer relationships rather than push for immediate sales. In 2001, a new CEO implemented a number of new initiatives intended to make the business more competitive. These changes led to significant dissatisfaction, low morale, high turnover, reduced productivity, and general discontent among the associates (Dr. Ronald L. Hess, Jr., 2012.) As a result, the company suffered a decline in customer satisfaction and financial performance.
There are several parallels that lead us to believe that history may be repeating itself. Today’s U.S. economy is producing 2.2% more goods output then before the economic recession started in the late 2000’s, but with 3.8% fewer workers. This can be attributed to our modern day recession stimulating huge productivity and efficiency gains as business let mediocre employees go to save on labor costs. They have learned to do more with less. Unemployment rates were steadily on the rise just a few months ago and corporate profits are at all time highs.