Introduction:
Hallmark is among the leading card making companies. Its headquarters are in Kansas City and is privately owned. The company’s vision is to be the company that produces superior experiences, services and products. It is in its vision to enrich the lives of its consumers by facilitating communication amongst them, connecting and celebrating. Hallmark’s mission is enriching lives. Among its strategies is diversification of its products in addition to producing high quality products that satisfy its consumers. There are a number of objectives the company has in relation to their customers’ perspective. These objectives include the following: Capturing the hearts of the consumers, diversification of the products available from Hallmark and lastly, re-arranging their stores so that complimentary goods are arranged together.
Discussion:
It is important for firms like Hallmark to set up mechanisms that will ensure that company objectives are attained. Such mechanisms break down objectives to levels that show the roles of every person in the firm geared toward achieving the objectives. The output from key players, mainly the management team and the employees, have to be measured against pre-determined targets. These targets have to be measurable in terms of units, time taken or percentages. It is also vital for such mechanisms to involve post analysis plans of action. When the targets are not met, plans on how to reach them should be researched and put in place. Plans that involve rewarding mechanisms to award employees when the targets are met should also be put into consideration.
The first mentioned objective is providing emotional satisfaction to customers by producing products that offer emotional gratification. The performance metric involved in monitoring emotional consumer satisfaction is the rate of purchasing products that have been graphically and textually customised to reflect various emotions. The target would be to sell ninety percent of goods that are deemed to be very emotionally satisfying by the company. An initiative to package the products in such a way that consumers get to see their graphical designs would ensure they give attention to these products.
The other objective is diversifying the products offered to consumers to ensure all the consumers’ needs are met. The performance metric established to monitor consumer appreciation of the new products is the percentage of new products purchased per month. The target would be to sell ninety percent of the new products introduced to the consumers. Developing a plan that would involve advertising for these new products during times that they are most marketable would ensure that the consumers have knowledge of the existence of these products in Hallmark’s stores.
The third objective is avoiding stressing consumers by arranging complementary products together. The performance metric involved in monitoring ease of shopping for the consumers is the total time taken to shop for complementary goods. The target would be for consumers purchasing such products to increase the sales of unpopular goods by eighty percent. A list of complementary products should be available to employees who arrange products in the stores to ensure they are arranged together at all times.
Conclusion:
Emotional satisfaction that will be gained by the consumers from Hallmark’s products by consumers will work toward establishing loyalty from them. This in turn will increase sales and increase profits for the firm. Product diversification will increase the amount of production by the firm. Increase in production will cater for the demand for the new products leading to an increase in profits. Arranging complementary goods together on the shelves is a simple technique that has a number of benefits for both the firm and the consumers. It will save the consumers’ time and effort when shopping. This will increase efficiency in serving consumers and also improve the amount of diverse products that are sold. This will in turn raise the profit margins for the firm.
References:
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). The balanced scorecard: Translating strategy into action. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2001). The strategy-focused organization: How balanced scorecard companies thrive in the new business environment. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press.
Olve, N.-G., & Sjöstrand, A. (2002). The balanced scorecard. Oxford: Capstone Pub.
