Victoria's Secret Fire

Amazon understood firsthand that the competitive advantage of a company originates immediately from how distinctive the organization's resources and competencies are. Amazon is able to both engage in production at a lower cost and generate a superior product at a standard cost. This is accomplished mostly via Amazon's strategy of having a wide variety of goods and competitive pricing. Customers know they can find basic products at slashed prices or high quality goods at standard prices and this is all achieved via the enormous range of products and product brands and types available on their massive marketplace. For example, the depiction displayed in the case study which shows how growth was related directly to: lower cost structure- lower prices customer experience traffic sellers -selection and convenience. While this is a grave oversimplification of the Amazon business model, it demonstrates how many aspects of the strategy reinforced one another.

Throughout history, women have faced with a plethora of challenges that called for them to transcend society’s limitations. One of these situations was the challenges presented by the terrible living and factory conditions in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took the lives of 146 immigrant women and devastated New York; and due to the theft-preventative measures of locking the doors to the factory, owner, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck led to even more lives being lost. This situation, although terrible, was not that uncommon. As these immigrant women arrived in the United States, there would be a typical and similar experience among many; one that started with the problems offered upon arrival,

Fire! Fire! Fire! Only it took 18 minutes to destroy 146 lives. A normal day that soon was about to become the deadliest in one’s life, it went through the top floors in the blink of an eye. The lives lost in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire were tremendously tragic, but worth it because they changed America by bringing up many laws that will impact the wages gained and working conditions that would later prevent this from happening again.

In today’s time, it is almost impossible to to find a building that does not have exit signs or fire extinguishers here in America. Fire drills are regularly practiced in schools and workplaces to ensure the tiniest amount of fatality would not occur. However, it wasn’t like that in the 1900’s. Neither safety issues nor regulations were taken into thought. “The waist industry was flourishing in New York: there were more than five hundred blouse factories, employing upward of forty thousand workers.” In this time of history, the Triangle Waist Company was the largest manufacturer of women’s shirtwaist in the entire country! On March 25, 1911, one hundred and forty six individuals lost their life to what was one of the biggest events in history

Amazon’s fulfillment centers are valuable, rare, costly to imitate, and organized to captured value. Thus, they attribute to Amazon’s competitive advantage. Amazon Prime and 1-Click are also valuable to the organization. However, they can be replicated. Walmart launched a membership program to compete with Amazon’s Prime Service. With Walmart’s membership program customers receive free two-day shipping when they spend $35 or more on orders. Amazon Web Services is valuable, rare, costly to imitate and the organization has capture the value of it. Therefore, AWS has contributed to Amazon’s sustainable advantage. Amazon’s brand name and reputation have also given the company sustainable advantage. Amazon acquired enormous brand valuation in a short period of time. It is

In March 25,1911, blossomed into the kind of Saturday afternoon in early spring that gives rise to thoughts of a picnic in the park. But picnics were not part of the weekend routine for 600 people who work at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. “on March 26,1911 in New York. At 4:35 in the afternoon the fire springing from a source that no one knew it was coming from the rear of the Eighth floor on the Ten-story building at the North-west corner of Washington place and green streets. When the fired died down 154 men and women died in that horror”. But though some people think the factory owners are to blame for the deaths of 154 employees in the fire of 1911 because the trial revealed that the shirtwaist kings had been warned of the Hazardous

Lululemon is a large company, making clothing for athletic activities, not only are they in the women’s athletic range, but they have hit the men’s market and youth range as well. A SWOT analysis will be used to break down Lululemons strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to the business. Strengths which Lululemon have achieved include multi-faceted and community-based approach strategy, making customers feel part of a community through marketing strategies like there “ambassador program, social media, in-store community boards and grassroots initiatives” (Lululemon, 2016 Annual Report, 2016, p. 3). Touchpoints which have been a part of this multi-channel include Lululemons websites www.lululemon.co.nz and ivivva.com which is based around female youth active ware. With Lululemon having 12,500 full-time employees worldwide (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017) with 406 stores (Lululemon, 2016), their large market capital of $8.33 billion (Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), 2017), shows the total value of Lululemons shares of stock. Lululemon having $581.1 million in net revenue, this is an increase of 13% while their gross profit increased by 17% rising to $297.4 million. (Lululemon Athletica Inc. Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2017 Results, 2017). This shows a steady increase in profit for Lululemon for 2017 which is a strength for them.

Many consumers go for what appears to be cheapest and most convenient. The reality is, Amazon’s increasing dominance comes with high costs. “These consequences have gone largely unnoticed thanks to Amazon’s remarkable invisibility and the way its tentacles have quietly extended their reach” (LaVecchia, 2016). It is vital that consumers are aware of this superpower that is taking over.

LA Times journalist Amy Koss proposed in the article “Amazon.com is a 21st century deal with the devil” that the online retailer Amazon caters to customer’s lustful desire for easy consumption as it enables the consumer’s tendencies for sloth and greed. Furthermore, throughout the article Koss implements the image of Amazon as a manifestation of the devil that tempts people to sin and as a destroyer due to its leading success in the market causing former retail giants to go out of business. Koss’s stance is evident when she brought attention to the executive director of the Southern California Independent Booksellers Assn. Andrea Vuleta’s belief that Amazon’s objective is that, “he wants our “information” to sell us everything else, and to

Victoria's Secret has a stronghold on the lingerie market. Its store sales this year brought in over $6.1 billion, Even so, some are saying that Victoria's Secret's explosive success might start tumbling because of the paramount demographic of millennials and their changing attitudes. Research analyst Nikki Baird of research firm RSR explained in Forbes how many retailers are trying to cater to millennials to save themselves, but millennials' preferences may not fall in line with what Victoria's Secret stands for. The lingerie industry is going through enormous changes. Thin, models have been replaced by body types that more similar to the everyday

The threat of substitutes for Amazon is high. With the exception of its patented technology, there are quite a lot of alternatives to Amazon’s products and services. In addition to physical presence, most companies have an online store as well. Amazon’s products can be purchased all over the internet and they are just spread out among different web sites. The companies operate in brick-and-click mode providing the similar product categories and competitive prices have become the biggest threat for Amazon. However it is extremely difficult for Amazon to establish physical stores or launch price

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

Amazon’s core competencies are in its ability to effectively use and develop technology to drive site traffic and enhance the customer experience. Their distinctive use of website real estate coupled with their ability to leverage their brand and effectively use that leverage to deliver low prices and high quality products, makes them a leader in online retailing. Their partner brands and their ability to adapt and recognize deficiencies enable them to effectively cut out the middle man, or at the very least, partner with them.

The company has many strengths. First, Amazon is the world’s leading online retailer. According to the 2016 Annual Report, Amazon had total net sales of US $135, 987 million in 2016. These total net sales include three segments which are North America, International, and AWS. Second, in comparison to many companies, Amazon has a superior logistics and distribution system, which allows the company to actualize improved customer fulfillment. Third, with its prolonged strategic drive on low-cost, differentiation, and focus, Amazon offers a wide range of product at low prices to customers. Fourth, Amazon enjoys global recognition from its customers. As stated earlier, Amazon built a strong brand in very little time. Finally, the

The reaction to Amazon’s marketplace initiative in the financial markets had been generally positive. Indeed, Amazon’s stock was up 52% for the year (as of mid-September 2002) versus a 35% drop in the NASDAQ index. Still, doubts clearly remained in some observers’ minds. For example, Holly Becker, an equity analyst at Lehman Brothers, had reservations about Amazon’s model. In a report issued in February 2002 she said, in part: The used business appears to be an excellent complement to Amazon’s core retail offering. The used business allows Amazon to participate in a growing market that leverages all of the inherent benefits of the Internet . . . a truly virtual model, used eliminates a large portion of fulfillment costs and inventory risk, and therefore provides higher margins . . . but . . . we believe used is detrimental to Amazon’s franchise in the long term. The company’s point of difference, market share, and service capabilities are far greater in new products than used . . . we believe cannibalization is likely in the longer term.1 While the company had made dramatic strides in expanding the range of products it offered, there were still many categories in which it participated little or not at all. Thus, a key element of enhancing selection was to constantly expand the range of