Week 7 BOC | Largest Retailers

There are an abundant amount of retailers in the world, and there are many different types of retailers, but asking the simple question of “Who is the biggest retailer?” has a very complicated answer. First off, if we categorize the different retailers, our job may be a little easier. Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer in the United States and worldwide. In 2011, their retail sales amounted to $316,083,000 in the United States and $452,976,000 worldwide. They are showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, the retailer is currently in the works to expanding the grocery portion of their company. They want to purchase the company, Fresh & Easy, which went up for sale recently. Fresh & Easy is a subsidiary of Tesco, the world’s third largest retailer that is based in the United Kingdom. Wal-Mart is at the very top of the list. The second spot belongs to Kroger, another American retailer. Kroger’s retail sales are $85,491,000 in the United States and $85,491,000 worldwide. If you could not tell already, there is a significant difference between the top spot and the second spot. Also, Wal-Mart employs the most people. They have a total for 2.2 million employees: “Like large retailers, fast-food chains also require plenty of low-skilled labor in order to operate their stores and expand” (Hess). 

In the fashion retailing, the GAP, from the United States, was the largest fashion retailer in the world for quick some time; however, Zara, a clothing and accessories retailer based in Spain, has surpassed the GAP and taken the title of “The Largest Fashion Retailer”. Zara is a subsidiary of Inditex, which happens to be the  “something of a supply chain marvel: clothes move from concept to design to the Zara stores in a matter of days” (Carlyle). The popularity of Zara has caused Zara to rapidly become the largest.

Sources:

1.     http://www.stores.org/2012/Top-100-Retailers

2.     http://retailindustry.about.com/od/topusretailcompanies/a/us_2013_worlds-largest_retail_companies_chains_retailers_biggest_American_globalpower.htm

3.     http://econsultancy.com/us/blog/63236-battle-royal-how-the-top-us-retail-brands-compare-on-social

4.     http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/08/21/the-10-largest-employers-in-america/

5.     http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/magazine/how-zara-grew-into-the-worlds-largest-fashion-retailer.html?pagewanted=all

6.     http://www.forbes.com/sites/erincarlyle/2013/03/04/the-years-biggest-winner-zara-billionaire-amancio-ortega/

Week 6 EOC | Rocky Ford - Restoring the Brand

Like the Tylenol brand crisis that happened in 1982, the Rocky Ford brand experienced a similar crisis. The Rocky Ford brand was threatened in 2011 and 2012 due to a food-borne illness outbreak that was caused by another farmer who sold bad melons under the Rocky Ford name: “A Rocky Ford farm wasn't even responsible for the outbreak; it was a cantaloupe farm in Holly, about 90 miles away” (Farney). The Rocky Ford brand already took action by trademarking the brand, which doesn’t allow anyone else to impersonate the original: "The Rocky Ford brand name can now be used only for Otero County and an adjacent growing area in the neighboring county" (Flynn). They bought new equipment to better grow and maintain their melons: "[They are now] making the food safety investments the best science was calling for" (Flynn). However, after years of being in the market, their current business is not what it used to be. 

In order to improve the brand and get the brand where it used to be prior to the crisis, they need take more actions to get the public to trust them again. The Rocky Ford brand should remind the public of its reputation, for "cantaloupes from this Rocky Ford growing area have 'a perfect safety record for 125 years'" (Flynn). The brand already has an amazing track record for growing cantaloupes, but sometimes people need to be reminded of that fact. Also, although the tainted cantaloupes were from another farm, Rocky Ford should initiate random and frequent inspections of their crops to ensure healthy and high-quality cantaloupes to ensure the public that their products are absolute safe. As a result, the people will see trust and respect the brand for putting the health of its consumers first, even with the inevitable high cost. If people see that a brand is willing to pay more to make sure that their product is the best of the best for their consumers, they will trust the brand wholeheartedly and buy from that brand.

Sources:
1. Farney, Teresa. "Colorado Wine News." Rocky Ford Growers Association Working to Provide Colorado Consumers with Safe and Tasty Melons. Colorado Springs Gazette, 7 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://beverages.einnews.com/news/wines/colorado>.
 

2.  Flynn, Dan. "Food Safety News." Food Safety News. Marler Clark, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/08/colorado-celebrates-recovery-of-rocky-ford-cantaloupes/>.
 3. Whitney, Eric. "Listeria Outbreak Still Haunts Colorado's Cantaloupe Growers."NPR. NPR, 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/14/211784739/listeria-outbreak-still-haunts-colorados-cantaloupe-growers>.

Week 6 BOC | Tylenol Scare 1982

 

In 1982, the Tylenol brand was put to the test. Because of a terrorist-like attack, unknown criminals tampered with certain Tylenol bottles and filled them with poisonous capsules that can easily kill a human being. As a result, seven people died in the Chicago area. The way Tylenol handled this crisis was very impressive and possibly saved the brand that people know and trust. People, who work for the Tylenol brand, took many steps in order to save their company: “Once the connection was made between the Tylenol capsules and the reported deaths, public announcements were made warning people about the consumption of the product” (Susi). They not only used the media to warn the public, they also took action and recalled as many bottles of Tylenol from stores to take precaution: “It placed consumers first by recalling 31 million bottles of Tylenol capsules from store shelves and offering replacement product in the safer tablet form free of charge” (Rehak). This was a very noble and humbling thing to do for a brand because it was very costly: "Johnson & Johnson spent more than $100 million for the 1982 recall and relaunch of Tylenol” (Rehak). Tylenol proved to the public that they are a company that will put the consumers’ health and safety before their own financial stability;“By withdrawing all Tylenol, even though there was little chance of discovering more cyanide laced tablets; Johnson & Johnson showed that they were not willing to take a risk with the public's safety, even if it cost the company millions of dollars. The end result was the public viewing Tylenol as the unfortunate victim of a malicious crime” (Broom, 1994). The public viewed Tylenol as a trusted company that did whatever it took to help and serve the public, even though the Tylenol brand was the victim of a horrible crime. Nevertheless, the brand had to simply do the right thing in order to stay alive and, of course, Tylenol’s actions did not go unnoticed: “Johnson & Johnson’s responsibility to its public first proved to be its most efficient public relations tool. It was the key to the brand’s survival” (Susi). I have the up-most respect for the Tylenol brand for taking the correct actions and for being the epitome of a great brand. They have proven that even when facing a life-threatening crisis, they are a trusting brand. At the time, they were highly-praised and respected for protecting their brand and the people.

Sources: 

1.     "Case Study: The Johnson & Johnson Tylenol Crisis." Crisis Communication Strategies. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02C2/Johnson%20&%20Johnson.htm>.

2.      Rehak, Judith. "Tylenol Made a Hero of Johnson & Johnson." The New York Times. The New York Times Company, 23 Mar. 2002. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/23/your-money/23iht-mjj_ed3_.html>.

3.       Susi, Reyna. "Tylenol Scandal and Crisis Management." Tylenol Scandal and Crisis Management. N.p., 2002. Web. 14 Aug. 2013. <http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall02/susi/tylenol.htm>.

Week 5 EOC | Trend Predicting

It is a proven fact that trends come and go – no question. The more complicated aspect of trends is trying to predict what will be the next big trend that everyone will go crazy for. People like new and exciting things, so there will always be something next. More importantly, trend prediction plays a vital role in branding. According to Shari Swan, a Trend Predictor, quoted in an interview, “Progressive brands are moving away from traditional advertising methodologies and opting for consumer insights to connect authentically to the market” (More Than a Name, 153). Essentially, in today’s market, brands are doing their research to learn more and more about their customers’ wants and needs. The brand wants to know what the customer wants before the customer even realizes it; there is a lot of thought and effort that goes into branding. Swan also stated in the interview, “Today’s youth interacts with brands that connect with it on an emotional level. They want to feel that a brand belongs and connects to their lives” (More Than a Name, 153).

Fashion Trend Prediction is also very important: “Fashion forecasting resources help predict trends in the fashion industry.  The fashion forecaster must combine his/her own knowledge of fashion design and history with consumer business information” (University of Cincinnati). Although professional fashion forecasters work extremely hard to predict what will be the next “hot” thing, they are always not correct. For example, in 2012, Pantone Inc., a company that is used in a variety of industries, the fashion industry in particular, predicted that the color of the year for 2013 would be the color emerald. Designers have included emerald pieces into their fashion collections; however, the color is not a successful trend. People are not going crazy for the color. This is an example of how trend predicting can be very difficult and there is no set formula for predicting the next trend.

Pantone's Fashion Color Report | FALL 2013

Sources:

1.     "Fashion Forecasting and Trend Resources." Fashion Forecasting & Trend Resources. University of Cincinnati, n.d. Web. 07 Aug. 2013. <http://libraries.uc.edu/libraries/daap/resources/researchguides/design/forecasting.html>.

2.     http://www.pantone.com/pages/fcr.aspx?pg=21057&ca=4

3.     Class e-book, More Than a Name

Week 4 EOC | McDonald's Response to Super Size Me

When Super Size Me first came out in 2004, people witnessed what the food from McDonald’s can do to a human body if one eats nothing but McDonald’s food for thirty days straight. The results were surprising and disturbing. Personally, when I saw the film, I swore off McDonald’s and thought who in their right mind would want to eat McDonald’s after seeing what it can do to your body. However, years after Super Size Me came out, McDonald’s still remains the top fast food restaurant in sales and continues to feed billions of people. Expectedly, McDonald’s took action and responded to the film to defend the company. First off, they printed an ad that stated: “If you haven't seen the film 'Super Size Me', here's what you're missing…hat we do agree with is its core argument -- that if you eat too much and do too little, it's bad for you” (Whitehead). They agreed with the message of the film; the message of the film was that if you eat too much fast food and don’t exercise regularly, there would be health consequences. This was smart of McDonald’s for doing this because it would be foolish to deny that their food isn’t good for you, when there is documented evidence in the film. With this ad, McDonald’s has “taken out full page ads in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Scotsman and The Herald” to get their message across (Dams). On another note, a representative of McDonald’s also said, “the film is slick, well made and yes, somewhat annoyingly, doesn't portray McDonald's in the most favorable light. And yet what we do agree with is its core argument - that if you eat too much and do too little, it's bad for you. What we don't agree with is the idea that eating at McDonald's is bad for you” (Dams). Also, in response to the film, the fast food chain started to offer healthier food option on their menu, like salads, fruit-yogurt parfaits, and apple slices. They have also made it their mission to provide friendly and hospitable service to all their customers. They have made many improvements: “With their remodeled restaurants, additions to the menu and at least one nontraditional ally — mom bloggers — executives are trying to present a greener, more healthful McDonald’s. And in some ways the company is indeed changing” (O’Brien). All in all, McDonald’s have increased their standards in order to stay on top, regardless of a popular film.

 

Sources:

1.     Whitehead, Jennifer. "'Super Size Me' Prompts McDonald's Press Fightback." 'Super Size Me' Prompts McDonald's Press Fightback. N.p., 20 Aug. 2004. Web. 31 July 2013.

2.     Dams, Tim. "McDonald's Adds Heat to Super Size Me in UK." Screen International. Webvision, 23 Aug. 2004. Web. 31 July 2013.

3.     'Brien, Keith. "How McDonald’s Came Back Bigger Than Ever." The New York Times. The New York Times Comapny, 16 May 2013. Web. 31 July 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/how-mcdonalds-came-back-bigger-than-ever.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.