The Fashion Industry

In an article by WellHeeled, an investigation into the markups and discounts of clothing are explored. The initial question is how is it possible for a company to make a profit if they are selling below the MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price). What they discovered is that  the price gets marked up several times by the time it gets to the retailer from the manufacturer. That means that an item sold at a store may only cost them an eighth of the MSRP price to make. That is why a product that that starts out at an expensive designer, such as Ralph Lauren, at high price can eventually be found later at a discount store or wholesaler for half the price and that store is still capable of making a profit. It is interesting to note that the article does not answer it's own question and only gives a vague hypothesis.


Do you believe that the initial price of clothing is established with the belief that the clothing will not be sold at that price so that the store may offer discounts to make the customer believe they are getting a better value? Do you believe, as a customer, that you would be getting as good a value or as good a quality product if they started at the lowest discount price?



http://www.wellheeledblog.com/2009/08/22/profit-margins-in-fashion-industry-banana-republic/

Response to Will Redding's Best Buy Question

Do you think this is a good market strategy for Best Buy? Do you think this policy will help with Best Buy's poor stock performance? 

I believe that it is a good strategy to decrease the loss of sales of their physical store locations. The question will be in the effective implementation and marketing of this new policy. I had no idea that they had changed their policy to that and it appears that as of now they have not openly marketed this policy. The major area of concern will be where do they cut off matching the price of online competitors (some of them sell at wholesaler or manufacturer pricing) and Best Buy will not be able to stay profitable if they match those extremely low discounted  prices.

Marketing JC Penney

             JC Penney finds itself in a crisis as they have reported losses in sales of 25 percent, share price reduced in half, and a 522 million dollar loss. These losses have caused them to fire CEO Ron Johnson and seriously reevaluate their marketing strategy. under Johnson, JC Penney removed their coupon and discount sales and altered the image of their relate stores as mini stores within a store. The new objective of JC Penney will be to continue this remodelling while also bringing back their old customer base they lost. This dire situation that JC Penney has found itself is the perfect situation for a marketer or PR specialist to come into and become the hero. The only question is what is the next move for JC Penney in order to get back into become competitive again.

If you were a marketing professional for JC Penney what would you recommend the company and what direction to take? 




http://www.nbcnews.com/business/what-jc-penney-must-do-fix-itself-1C9284003

Response to Drew Farrar's blog

Do you think public service announcements are beneficial? Why or Why not? 

          I believe that public service announcements are beneficial. While they obviously don't have the money backing the advertisements like the advertisements by companies, people know that the purpose of the advertisement is to inform. Also the bias is not to sell a product but rather to improve the general welfare and welbeing of the individual viewer and society as a whole. Most people know that and that allows the advertisement to resonant stronger with the audience because they are not as wary of being lied to or tricked.

Samsung Vs. Apple Cell phone Battle

                  Samsung and Apple are in total war in the smartphone market. Apple in one corner with the reliable, tested, and true iphone; Samsung in the other corner with the more advanced Galaxy. The latest battle waged between these cell phone titans took place in the courts, where apple sued Samsung and won major victories over their patent designs. The patents were over touchscreen technology and the generic look of a smartphone. The Galaxy SIII and other android and googled powered phones have lost major ground, as they now risk being sued for future phones that use touchscreens and the standard rectangular look that almost every smartphone has.While Samsung has staggered back significantly, they are now back on the offensive through various marketing tactics and one simple message. That message: it doesn't take a genius to see the the Galaxy S III is better than the iphone 5. In fact all the ads Samsung has for the GSIII in print, internet, and television exist only to educate the consumer on the features both phones have. Apple fired back in their marketing campaigns by mocking their competitors attacks and focusing on the advantages of the iphone. While on paper samsung appears to have a better phone and a great marketing strategy for it, long term they may find themselves unable to compete with apple if they can't overturn the verdict for the touch screen patent. Consumers will also find long term problems as well, with the risk of existing products that infringe on the patent risk being removed and companies having to pay for the licensing agreement. Basically consumers will have less choice and have to pay higher prices.

Do you believe that the verdict on the patent infringements by apple's competitors should stand Why/Why not? Also do you think Apple's competitors will be able to compete against apple without the touchscreen feature that has become standard to all smartphones and all users.

• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/business/media/samsung-apple-fight-moves-to-the-marketing-arena.html?_r=0

• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/24/apple-samsung-lawsuit-verdict_n_1829268.html

Response to Pam Galante's Post

Has a negative stereotype or expectation of a specific group of people ever caused you to not buy a product? What about completely boycott a company because of their actions? 

The only company I have ever gone out of my way to not buy from is NEstle becuase of the plethora of illegal activities they've conducted and are continuing to conduct. usually I do not go out of my way to find the ethics of a company to determine which company i am going to go to to buy a product. Neslte is the only exception for me and the only reason I even found out about their unethical practices was from a report a student did for school. After that I looked into the company and decided that if I can help it i will pick their competitors over them.

Pizza Hut Crazy Cheesy Crust

Pizza Hut has an answer to get bigger sales and increase profits...More cheese. This answer has inspired a new pizza that The chain on Wednesday is introducing a new pizza that comes surrounded by 16 semi-circles of cheese that can be pulled off and eaten separately. The "Crazy Cheesy Crust," which will be available for several weeks, is 16 half circle breadsticks with cheese on them. Pizza Hut has always been know for pushing the limits and possibilities of crust and cheese, and this latest creation may very well be the "monalisa" of cheesy crust pizza they've been working toward. it will be interesting to see if they can market it in a way that makes it the new standard of their pizzas.

How and to who should Pizza Hut market this new pizza to, and what techniques should they implement?

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/pizza-hut-rolls-out-crazy-cheesy-crust-1C9157768