Week 14: Business Marketing

Business marketing is the marketing of goods and services to individuals and organizations for purposes other than personal consumption.The goal of good marketing is to keep customers coming back. The location of a business is also key to a good marketing, to have a sucessful business it is key that your store is located in an area in which their is a target market. In Toms shoes case their shoes are available in various different online outlets. In New York City alone it is easy to spot Tom's shoes are many different stores.

Week 13: Segmenting & Targeting market

A target market is a specific group of people that a company is trying to market their products to. It can be narrowed down to a certain gender to a specific age group. In Tom's shoes case their target market can be separated into two groups. i would define group one as the more environmentally conscious. People who are concerned about what goes into the making of their shoes, Tom's is made from recycled materials. The second group is the fashion conscious. Since hitting the market back in 2006 Tom's shoes has become the latest trend. Tom's can be found in various different department stores such as high end establishments like Bloomingdales, their also available at the local grocery store: Whole foods. Target markets can often change but every company makes sure that their products are being advertised to a certain target market.

Week12: developing & managing products

New products are constantly being released to keep up with the high demands of the public. Current products already out also need managing to keep up with changes. There will always be a need for new products. In toms shoes case there was a demand for environmentally friendly footwear. Developing a shoe that was made from recycled materials was what was in demand. Many customers are arracted to toms because of their comfort appeal but the price of toms can't be beat either. At $30-$50 a pair there becoming the next must have shoe.

Week 11: intergrated marketing communications

Promotion is a great part of the survival of a business. Each business goes about their promotional strategy in a different way. There is advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. There is a competitive advantage, each company sells different unique products, and can be promoted differently to each target marget. Getting your companies brand name and products out there are essential, for example the company khiels a homegoods store is always giving out samples of there products, and there is always great great promotions.

week 10: Product Concepts

The packaging behind certain products are what makes them top sellers. For example the shape of the box that your shoes come in, the kind of cardboard that makes the box or the colors that are on the box. The brand behind the product such as the name and the spelling of the name can also launch a product. For example Apple and the iPhone..when the iphone first came out there was nothing else quite like it on the market. From the sleek small black box that the phone came in to the apple logo stickers you could put on the back of the phone. In tom's shoes case..Tom's comes wrapped in a hemp bag and an eco friendly recycled box. Inside the box there is a brief history of the company and then an explanation of how the purchase of one shoe helps to provide shoes to a child in an underdeveloped country.

Week 9: Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

It is said that a good product needs no advertising and will sell itself. This can in fact be true but a good product can be a greater product if it is introduced to those beyond it's target market. A great tool used in trade to promote a product is giving out free samples of the products. For example if your company specializes in household products like soaps and lotions you can pre-package samples to hand out in front of your store. If your product is something that people generally have an idea about already such as shoes and clothing, you advertise to set your brand and company apart from the others that are selling in the same category as you. There needs to be something special or different about your product that is going to make customers want to wait in line to buy your shoes rather than going to the next store where there is no line and no wait to buy a pair of shoes. The purpose of shoes is to protect your feet and get your from point A to point B..but in Tom's Shoes case their shoes are known for an entirely different reason. Tom's Shoes is known for being the shoe that gives back and for being the environmentally friendly shoes. The founder of Tom's Blake Mycoskie has done a number of interviews and has had his shoes seen on the likes of well known celebrities. There is also a good chance that if you own a pair of toms that you will make a second or third purchase, because their shoes really are comfortable and the fact that your helping a child in a third world country that cannot afford shoes is the icing on the cake. One of the largest promotional events that was held by Toms was "a day without shoes" event. It is a day where you go without shoes to get a feel for what thousands of children suffer through day after day. It was talked about in many news articles and featured on Oprah. I personally attended "a day without shoes" event and it was an eye opener and cemented my place as a loyal Toms customer.

Retail Experience

Earlier this month i walked into an Urban Outfitters in search of a new comfort shoe. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Urban Outfitters had Tom's shoes available at their store. There was a wide selection of Tom's to choose from and they were also outside in their window display. The Sales associate was helpful when i asked to see a pair of the gold glitter Tom's espadrilles in a size 8. I tried on close to 4 different pairs of Tom's, all of which were new designs that i had not seen before. I continued to browse at the other styles of Toms and some other shoes that where in the store. All in all it was a great shopping experience.