Fluent Essays

Provide a thoughtful 250 total word response to the following questions (you will need to answer all parts of this question) by clicking REPLY below. Please separate your answers to clearly differentiate your answers to each question below. It makes it easier to see your specific response to each part.This week there is only one question that all students will answer:DQ – Coronavirus and RetailingFrom school to your social lives, you have seen a lot of changes in your daily lives over the past couple of months due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the resulting health concerns and government orders. Retailers have been impacted as well. With this in mind, please analyze what has happened... and forecast what may be ahead from the retailing and consumer perspective by answering the following questions:Thinking about the Costco retailer to follow for the Retail Recon Assignment, please do some research and summarize to us how they first reacted to this situation in March and April.Looking at Chapter 3, how did Costco retailer using multi- or omnichannel retailing in this event?Looking at Chapter 4, what consumer behavior concepts did you see in March and April (or are you seeing now) in the world around us (you can talk about what youve seen AND/OR you could look at how consumer behavior has changed for you and/or your family)?What one strategic move (and you must offer one here, dont just say keep doing what theyre doing, for example) would you suggest to Costco retailer based on what you have seen or how consumers are reacting - specific to the Coronavirus situation at hand. Please be specific here and discuss WHY you answered the way you did.Please keep the discussions here very civil and retail- and consumer-focused. While Im sure we all have differing views (political or otherwise), I really want you to think about what you would do if you were in charge of a retailer in this environment. mktg_lecture.docx Unformatted Attachment Preview Week 2 Lecture Last week we talked about the world of retailing, how to differentiate retailers from each other, types of retailers, etc. This week we will be discussing multichannel retailers (a concept we talked about briefly last week) and some retail-related consumer behavior topics MULTICHANNEL AND OMNICHANNEL RETAILING What is a multichannel retailer? A multichannel retailer is one that sells its goods or services through more than one channel. An omnichannel retailer works to provide a seamless and synchronized customer experience through all of the retailers shopping channels. The 3 major types of retail channels are: • • • In-Store (also known as a traditional “brick and mortar” store) Internet, Mobile and Social (or s-retailing) Catalog and Other Nonstore (like vending machines) As I’m sure you all have found in your shopping adventures, each channel has advantages and disadvantages. Catalogs, internet and mobile can be convenient, however they don’t allow for “tangibility.” Shopping in a store can be entertainment, but selection might be a bit more limited. You can read about all the plusses and minuses in Chapter 3! As Im sure youve seen throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, retailers are raelly relying on these different channels as they have had to adapt to Stay Home orders and the determination of whichretailers are deemed essential... and which ones are not. Service retailers have found a great home on the internet and in phone apps as well. Travel sites have boomed (Expedia (Links to an external site.), Travelocity (Links to an external site.) and provider-specific sites like Delta’s (Links to an external site.)). Online banking is a great convenience for everyone, as is ordering pizza (or other food for delivery/take-out) online. Although there are perceived risks associated with using the internet, such as privacy violations and credit card security, those risks are being diminished with enhanced security (such as encryption technology) and privacy policies. One note about the Internet is that we’re seeing growth in virtual communities, which are networks of people who have a similar interest and they share information about that interest. An example of this would be Stylecaster (Links to an external site.). Take a look around that site and let us know what you think! Also, think about any online shopping or social networking that you do. Do you see your purchases being influenced by your online friends? Overall, there is a great move toward multichannel retailing. Some early Internet adopters predicted the end of brick & mortar stores, but that hasn’t happened. Instead, the channels complement each other. One channel can overcome the limitations of another (brick & mortar offers the “touch and feel” for customers who need that, the Internet offers broader variety and deeper assortment to meet the needs of more customers and so on…). The Internet allows retailers to reach customers in markets where there isn’t a brick & mortar store (the guy who lives in rural Kentucky and wants to buy his girlfriend an engagement ring from Tiffany & Co.). The market presence of the retailer is expanded and the retailer gets an increase in the “share of wallet” in the marketplace. Plus, there is more opportunity to gain insight into consumer shopping habits (people who look at X also look at Y, but rarely at Z). Think about how that kind of information from an online site could translate into how things are displayed in a brick & mortar store. The big trend is toward integration – so that the transition between store, catalog, mobile and Internet is seamless. The experience can be (somewhat) similar and the channels can complement each other – think about how you can order an electronics item online from Best Buy, and then go pick it up in the store (Links to an external site.) within a half an hour. That’s a great example of this multichannel world working together. Some of the continuing issues in multichannel retailing are: • • • • • Information technology issues – database integration and support systems Brand image consistency – online look vs. in-store look Merchandise assortment – will everything seen in the store be available on a website? Vice versa? Pricing consistency – will all channels be the same, or at least match prices? Reduction in channel migration - when consumers look online at one site, then go a a competitors store (or vice versa) CONSUMER BEHAVIOR To successfully sell to their potential customers, the retailer needs to understand how consumers make decisions regarding their purchases. Let’s take a walk through the mind of a consumer. (This process is outlined at the beginning of Chapter 4 – keep in mind that it is shown in a linear fashion, but often this process will have stops and loops and skips depending on the consumer, the product/service being purchased, etc.) The Buying Process • • • • • Need recognition – there is an unsatisfied need (utilitarian or hedonic?) Information search – looking internally and externally for ways to satisfy the need Evaluation – measuring the options (and the retailers that sell them) – check out the multi-attribute model in Chapter 4 Choice of Store & Purchase – what is being bought, where and how? Post-purchase evaluation – how satisfied is the customer? Retailers must often stimulate need recognition in consumers in order to get them to buy. It’s one thing to realize you just ran out of milk, but did you know that you actually needed the Magic Bullet (Links to an external site.) to dice, chop, mix and help you entertain all of your friends (why can’t they all just eat what you serve instead of being so darned picky?!?) and create salsa in under 30 seconds? Types of Buying Decisions There are three main types of buying decisions: • • • Extended Problem Solving – considerable time and effort go into this type of buying decision and it often involves high risk (lots of money, long-term…a house, a car, a computer). Limited Problem Solving – involves a moderate amount of time and effort and might even involve more internal information (past brand experience or familiarity) than external information (another pair of jeans from Old Navy, but maybe a more recent style…). Habitual Decision-Making – involves little thought, and may involve brand loyalty (“the usual” brand of soda or cat food) or low importance (any brand of notebook paper or sugar). Social Factors Affecting Buying Decisions We as buyers are influenced by outside sources when making our buying decisions primarily our social environment. • • Economy – No big surprise here… out financial state (and our world’s financial state) will impact what we buy and when we buy it! Family – Is this a product to be used by the whole family? • • Reference Group – Seeking opinions from people who share like feelings, beliefs, or behavior (other MCC students, other marketing professionals, etc.) Culture – What are your core values? Are they based on your race, religion, ethnicity or your culture? Market Segmentation Retailers cannot market to all people and do it successfully. There is a need to break the market down into smaller sizes. A retail market segment is a group of customers whose needs are satisfied by the same retail mix because they have similar needs. Examples of segmentation include: • • • • • • • Geographic segmentation – according to where the consumers live Demographic segmentation – based on age, race, gender, etc… characteristics that are easily measured Geodemographic – combining geographics and demographics Lifestyle segmentation – based on consumer psychographics, or how people live their lives (make sure to read about VALS types in Chapter 4!) Buying situation segmentation – based on buying habits Benefit segmentation - based on the benefits desired by the customers A mix of all of the above segmentation strategies: for example, people who live in the northeast that are between 40-55 years old who buy more than 5 pizzas a month. This next part isnt in the text, but its a nice review from MKTG 1010. Theres no “perfect” approach to segmenting the market and typically a business will use a variety of segmentation schemes to get at their target customers. No matter the approach, there are four criteria that should be used to evaluate the usefulness of a segmentation method. • • • • Actionable – the definition of the segment clearly indicates what the retailer should do to satisfy the customer needs Identifiable – clearly identified customers allow the retailer to determine who is in the segment and to communicate with them Substantial – the segment must be large enough to support a unique retailing mix (the Internet has allowed for that group of people to be more geographically dispersed, so you don’t have to have a million porcelain cat figurine collectors just in metro Detroit to support your new porcelain cat figurine store, you can access people all over the world!) Reachable– the customers are accessible through some communication medium Once the retailer has found out all of this information how do they use it? The information is used to establish a marketing strategy that will appeal to the customers they are targeting. And we will get more into that as we go forward in our MKTG 1020 course! ... Purchase answer to see full attachment