Reed Super Market

More recently, the recession impelled many bricks-and-mortar retailers towards a damaging focus on discounting that eroded not only many stores’ price positioning but also any point of differentiation or exclusivity.

In what ways does Trader Joe's demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process—planning, organizing, leading, and controlling?

In the past, JCP had, on average, one price campaign every day. The stores were full of sale signs and retail rise was getting out of control. JCP partnered with numerous exclusive collaborations which was hoped to bring about an expansion for the firm. However, due to the economic slump, the oversaturation of the market, and an expected lack of quality in the goods from the consumer perspective, JCPenney’s success was degrading in contrast to its competitors. (Sloan, 2010).

Target’s business-level strategy is one that does not strictly focus entirely on one plan to gain a competitive advantage over competition. It encompasses various strategic and meticulous planning and decision making that is implemented in order to position the company at the top of the retail industry. With competition from the likes of Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Costco, Target uses several clever and “out-of-the-box” ideas to attract consumer attention and ultimately increase market share within the industry. Most of the company’s ideas centered more on the differentiation of products and services provided to customers than lowering prices. For quite some time, the company’s plan was to not compete head-to-head with Wal-Mart in terms of lowering prices but instead to provide their customers, who they identify as “guests”, with a special experience every time they visited a Target location. One idea that was implemented was to market and sell upscale, trendy clothing and unique merchandise at discounted prices.1 This strategy, known as the “cheap-chic” strategy, focused on providing good quality clothing from various well known designers and fancy products from high-profile manufacturers for prices lower than their competition. This plan was vital because it began essentially began the concept of customers referring to Target as “Tar-zhay” which according to Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan, who are university professors, as a “connote its trendy sensibility”. Target

The industry we have chosen is the department store-retail industry. Within this industry, we have chosen the department stores of JCPenney and Macy’s. We find this industry, as well as these two companies, interesting from a strategic perspective. JCPenney has recently undergone a massive strategic restructuring in regards to its pricing, brand offerings, and store layout, pushing it away from the typical department store strategy of discounts and coupons. Its new strategy has become much closer to Wal-Mart’s strategy of every day low prices. Macy’s, on the other hand, has restructured with a push from the economic

Kudler Fine Foods is a specialty store founded in San Diego. Though nested in the neopolitan area they have additional store locations in Del Mar, La Jolla and Encinitas. Kudler has some of the best imported and domestic food, wine, and spirits. Their selection is comprised of fresh produce, bakery and pastries, condiments and packaged foods, fresh food and meat, and specialty dairy products and cheeses. Kudler’s mission is basically to provide the customers with the finest foods, wine, spirits and the best shopping experience all while buyimg the finest epicurean delights. Throughout this paper the importance of marketing research in the development of Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics will be

Family Dollar’s retail strategy will work in both good and bad economic times. The company’s mission: is to provide our customers with a compelling place to shop, our team members with a compelling place to work, and our investors with a compelling place to invest. Our vision is to be the best, small format convenience and value retailer serving the needs of families in our neighborhoods. (Family Dollar 2012 Annual Report) During the economic downturn, Family Dollar reevaluated the company’s goals. One of the goals the company will be refocusing on will be to build customer

As one of the largest American retailers, The Target Corporation offers home goods, clothing, electronics, food, and other household necessities at competitive discount rates. Founded in 1902 originally as a department store in the midwest, it has since branched off and grown to offer more to the common people. The company in its long run of upscale discount retailing has proved to be a worthy investment, but has since fallen in it stature. The mass amounts of goods and services generates a high-net of profit, but its recent spike in prices on some of their products. a security breach, and the state of the economy have attributed to a loss in clientele. Therefore. the Target Corporation is not worth investing it, based on the current shape of the economy and its continuous errors towards its once loyal customers.

In the world of commerce and retail today, there are a variety of retail stores that are all geared toward the customers who are interested in saving money and finding bargains on their daily purchases, as well as on some of their major purchases. Some of the retail stores that are in this category of low prices and discount prices are Big K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Inc., Fred’s Dollar Store, Family Dollar Store, and Ollie’s Bargain. Due to the increase in e-commerce and online purchases, several of these retail stores, such as Big K-Mart and Fred’s Dollar stores are closing in many areas of the country. Since there has been an increase in the demand for more sales and discounts by customers and there are less discounts stores available, retail stores

Macy's is one of the premier retailer franchises within the United States. To begin, Macy's Inc. is one of the nation's largest and well known department store chains. Started over 150 years ago, Macy's has continually generated excellent returns for its shareholders and employees. Currently, in the midst of a global recession, Macy's has generated huge profits with same store sales increasing 5.3% year to date. In 2012 same store sales increased 4.6% in the month of February alone (Macy's Inc., 2012). In fact, throughout the duration of 2012, Macy's is projecting even larger profits for its underlying business operations. Even though Macy's has experienced success with both its assortments and brand, its competitors haven't faired so well. Sears, due in part to part to a lackluster holiday season, has been forced to close nearly 120 locations to generate excess liquidity in an effort to shore up its balance sheet (Isadora, 2011).Other competitors who cater specifically to the middle class consumer have also lost significant amounts of market share as consumers trade down due to the economy. Macy's, with its ride array of assortments and products continues to grow as it attempts to capture market share from failing competitors. Macy's is also unique as it operates in a unique market demographic. It is upscale, but not to the extent of Saks Fifth Avenue or a Nordstrom. It is also not as low scale as a JC Penny or Sears. As such, the company occupies a unique

Running Head: DOLLAR GENERAL 1Dollar General StrategiesGlenda ReeseManagerial Marketing BUS 620Professor Mary WrightJuly 8, 2012

At 4:30 p.m. on December 6, 2010, Meredith Collins, VP of Marketing for Reed Supermarkets, walked down the sidewalk of the 10-store strip mall that housed Reed’s Westgate Plaza branch in Columbus, Ohio. Collins didn’t shop; instead she took mental notes about store traffic, first at the Reed store and then at an indirect but increasingly worrisome kind of competitor—a dollar store. The Reed was predictably well lit and inviting, and Collins could see three registers open and two or three customers in line at each. “Not too bad” she thought, “but not what I would hope for at this time of day, this close to the holidays.” She’d felt the same way at two other Reeds

The recent recession has hurt the entire retail market and regaining profits will be a constant challenge for the entire industry. In order to remain competitive, Ann Krill states,” value and versatility have become very important. She needs an incentive to shop.” (Hymowitz, 2012) Ms. Krill goes on to say,” I think in uncertain economic times, value becomes more important...” (Hymowitz, 2012)

The second factor from Porter’s five forces that affects Metropol Zoo is threat of substitute products or services. During recession, customer looks

Furthermore, given the challenging market conditions in 2008 and 2009, it would be interesting to analyze how Harvey Norman responded to the economic downturn. The company observed “a significant improvement in net profit from underlying business operations during the last 6 months of FY2009”, according to Harvey Norman’s 2009 Annual Report. It would be insightful to see what strategies and tactics were used by Harvey Norman to achieve this result, especially in the integrated, franchise and property system sectors since these were reported by the company to be “resilient in achieving strong results and growing market share in all key product categories.”