(Strategy Development Group, Inc, 2002) K Mart’s product line includes Joe Boxer, Route 66, Wrangler, & Martha Stewart products. (CBS Interactive, 2011) These product lines give K Mart a competitive advantage unlike Wal-Mart and Target. Additionally, K Mart would be wise to include more product lines geared more towards their market segmentation. Other competitive advantages include K Mart’s loyal customer base. Frequent shoppers often have a resistance to new discount stores.
The primary cost advantage is Wal-Mart’s superior distribution capability (location of stores, inside-out growth patterns, cross-docking, superior information management). Wal-Mart’s prices are low by the industry standard, which, combined with its lower costs, indicates a strategy that aims at growth in volume through grabbing increased market share. Low prices, advanced data management and extremely motivated employees (“10 ft rule”, “sundown rule”) means a better customer experience than at other discount retailers, even though Wal-Mart remains a self-service retailer. In addition, the large size of the traditional Wal-Mart stores adds convenience by offering a one-stop solution by offering a wide range of products. It’s worth mentioning that Wal-Mart acquired volume through a careful consideration of locations, away from competition.
The rules of marketing may have changed but it definitely does not mean that IM is the only answer for marketers. For a company like HubSpot, whose products appeal to a certain type of customer, specifically people who are familiar with 2.0 and know what product they are looking for, IM is effective because potential customers are already familiar with the platform and are shopping around. IM is also good because it is cheaper and provides very informative details on the company’s products. However, if a business only offers products which appeal to older or specific customers who are not familiar with web 2.0, IM will not work. One example of a business where IM will not work is a business that that sells electric wheelchair.
Credit segment: It included Sears’s proprietary credit cards which can be used by customers to purchase goods and services from the Retail and Services businesses. Service segment: Composed of businesses that performed home remodeling and appliance repair Wal-Mart is one of the world’s largest retailing powerhouses functioning in three different formats, namesake discount stores, Sam’s Club membership warehouses and Wal-Mart supercenters. • Business Strategy: Wal-Mart is a discount store and it gives large discount on the products it sells. They maintain a very razor thin margin and make the profits through volumes. Hence the tagline “Always Low Prices “ Sears on the other hand does not follow a policy of discounts.
Wal-Mart is basically a store where someone can buy everything unlike K-Mart. Second, the affordability and quality of goods at each store are different. At Wal-Mart items can be found for a lesser price than K-Mart. Wal-Mart will match the price if an item is found for less at another store, but K-Mart does not do this. Usually items at K-Mart are usually a couple of dollars higher than Wal-Mart.
They believe in making better on product availability and inventory, the real risk that the customers take their basket elsewhere when there are items out of stock will be reduced. However, there are few factors which greatly affected the company’s total revenue. One of the factors is the continued store expansion activities. Each additional store may take away sales from the existing units. That’s why the Walmart management started to plan a slower new store growth, so that the impact of new stores on comparable store sales will be stabilizing over time.
* Partnership with suppliers. 68,000 suppliers. Wal-Mart forced suppliers to search hard for ways to remove the inefficiency in their own processes in order to drive costs to a minimum and to improve the quality of goods. * Unrivalled distribution and logistics management. Wal-Mart controls the movement of merchandise by operating its own fleet of trucks and shortens lead times by building its own distribution centers.
“ Alternative Solutions Consider developing healthier snack-food alternatives – “healthier choices” or “low calorie” doughnut selection, and find new ways to eliminate trans-fat in their products. To consider this alternative solution, the company can penetrate new market and retain previous consumers who de-patronized its products for healthier substitute goods. In addition, the company can cope into the growing trend, in which, connoisseurs or expert in the industry predicts will still dramatically increase in the near future. Thus, with this practice, Krispy Kreme could evaluate its flexibility to ever-changing trends occurring in the industry. Although this solution could impose benefiting results, it also has its disadvantage such as: additional budgets for Research and Development, and Marketing Department.
In addition, by not manufacturing its own PCBs, it would allow the company to save $-6,187,178. This money could be used to protect the company against risk and or unexpected events. In addition to the risk of option one, this option has instability in product quality, delivery and responsiveness. Compared to option two, the quality of the PCBs can improve by increasing business with a supplier and have partnership benefits. But the risk are the possibility of
In most cities, a few Wal-Marts can be found. Another advantage over the competition is being open 24 hours because most competitors cannot stay open as long. The competition at night may consist of select pharmacies and /or general stores, but they are usually more expensive and carry smaller selections. Wal-Mart notices all income levels shop for their necessities, but they want to revamp the look and provide an upscale appearance to attract all type of clientele. Wal-Mart’s has a competitive advantage because of their incredible logistics system.