1. Your product was just introduced to a big box store. Provide advice to your retailers on how to merchandise your product and brand to maximize sales.
Because this product is a product of convenience, it is important for potential customers to be able to see, touch, feel, and move the items when they are presented by the store. A mannequin within reach is important for customers to be able to see the clothes as the fall on the body, but also for customers to touch the fabric and feel the way the clothes feel. This product will be marketed to families-- mothers and fathers who are doing the shopping-- and should be placed near other children’s clothing items, as well as cleaning supplies that are commonly used in the household.
If possible, advertisements should be provided that demonstrate the ways that Eazy Clean Wear clothing is different from regular children’s clothing-- perhaps through demonstrations or through a video advertisement that demonstrates the way that Eazy Clean Wear can be cleaned with minimal effort regardless of the mess made by the child.
2. Your product has been on the market for a year and a new competitor has introduced a similar product, at a lower price, made in China. Discuss what marketing tools should be used to improve product and brand performance to react to the competition.
3. Your product has been identified in a leading consumer reporting magazine as having poor quality; your brand has also come under attack by a consumer advocacy group because of ethical concerns. Nonetheless, demand is at an all time high. How might you react to this situation?
The ideal way to address these issues is to address the ethical concerns that the advocacy group has brought up openly and transparently; if there is indeed an issue, recognizing and acknowledging the issue, and then taking steps to fix it will only help brand image in the future. If demand is at an all-time high, the issue of poor quality should be investigated, but if it is found to be baseless or exaggerated, then few changes will need to be made to offset the potential bad press of one review. Engaging other reviewers and asking for product reviews can also be a good way to offset a single bad review given by a source.
4. You have been approached by a service provider to bundle your product with their service product. Develop strategies for enhancing both products by leveraging the service products.
Leveraging Eazy Clean Wear with another product like a cleaning product would be an excellent way to bundle products. They can be sold as a pair, and advertised as such; for instance, if the cleaning product is designed to work well on fabric, then it can be advertised as the best cleaning product to use on these particular pants.
5. Your product is at the mature stage of the product life cycle and is now a commodity that sells for a fraction of its original price. How might you react to this situation?
Expanding the line into different types of clothing for children is one solution to the commodification of the product. However, another potential solution is to expand into adult workwear, or into industrial uniform creation, thereby expanding the market and creating a niche that will not commodify so easily.
Works cited
Bickle, Marianne C. Fashion marketing. New York: Fairchild Books, 2011. Online.
Rath, Patricia Mink. The why of the buy. New York: Fairchild Books, 2008. Online.
