Jones∙Blair
Case #1
Introduction
In 1999 the U.S. paint industry sales were projected to be more than $13 billion. The industry has slow sales growth and is constantly changing due to government regulations. In 1999, Jones∙Blair had sales volume of $12 million with an annual growth rate of 4%. Jones∙Blair produces and sells architectural coatings, OEM coatings and paint sundries. However, the President, Alexander Barrett and the senior management executives know that there are some areas that they need to improve on.
Statement of the Problem
Jones∙Blair has a major struggle with the sales of their architectural paints in the DFW areas. This is because they have the highest priced product in a very price competitive segment
…show more content…
If we can assume that most households have a television set, then our advertising should increase of our brand awareness. However, just because the consumer is aware of the product/brand doesn’t mean that they are going to purchase it. Because of this, we believe that while the DFW do-it-yourself market is important to reach, this marketing plan excludes a more profitable, untouched segment that is the non DFW household consumers. We feel that 15 counties is too few and leaving much room for improvement in the rural areas.
2) The vice president of advertising suggested that we go another route, and that we neglect advertising and focus on sales price and volume. She suggests that we can achieve parity with our competitors if we cut prices by 20 percent. Since the paint market has shown that consumers are price sensitive, cutting our price by 20 percent should in fact drive up sales. Perhaps we can achieve a larger market share if more people are drawn to our higher quality product, which is now at the similar price of the rest.
However we feel that this strategy also has several weaknesses. Compared to the first option presented by the VP of Advertising, we would still need to advertise that our product is coming down in price. If we don’t advertise, the consumer is still going to be drawn to our competitors because they will remain unaware of the new parity in pricing. Also, if we
The company believes that new initiatives are necessary to bolster unit volume and especially reorders. I believe Advanced Materials lacks coherent strategy for Nundies to effectively appraise the financial worth of product service offerings. The managers must reduce the spending on order getting costs because they cannot increase their output to the capped limit of 100,000 liners. Other issues are whether or not the distribution approach currently used by the company will help reach profitability, and whether or not the company effectively reaches the target market.
Todd Wates, now 28 years old, has been treated for Cystic Fibrosis (CF) since he was eight years old. He currently resides with his mother Sarah, and father Anthony, in a two-bedroom apartment close to the hospital where he receives treatment.
From the courier, it is clear that the products with the highest customer awareness have the higher market share. With that in mind, we will adjust the promotion budget for the low end products to increase our customer awareness which in turn will increase our sales if we continue to compete based on low prices. Because we are featuring our low end product, we think that this product will remain in the cash cow position, never becoming a star through an increase in market growth rate. The only way that this product will ever become a dog is if the price of the product
What alternatives are available to Brent in regards to the audit of payables? What are the pros and cons of each alternative?
Owens & Minor is a distributor of surgical and medical supplies to hospitals and other health care facilities. Due to changing demand from customers, the company is facing increased operating costs, which has resulted in lower profit margins and even losses. In 1993, O&M recorded an $18 million profit, which was reduced to a loss of $11 million in 1995. The entire industry is experiencing similar difficulties. In an effort to resume profitability, O&M is evaluating alternatives to “cost-plus pricing”. Cost-plus pricing does not reflect the true cost of the services provided by O&M. Customers are demanding more of O&M while
1. How might one characterize or describe the architectural paint coatings industry and Jones Blair’s trade area?
However, there are several factors for the company to choose its pricing strategy. In this case, it may be better if the company choose to sell its product at $21.50 instead of $15.50. This is due to the fact that price-cutting appears to be not a good strategy in this industry. If every player in the same industry starts to lower the price of their products, every company will end up having the low price, which in turns lead to a low profit margin. Moreover, referring to the calculation in a below table, it also implies that if the price is lower than $12, sales will not be able to cover the variable cost incurred, thus it will bring about a loss in net profit.
Jones-Blair is a paint company headquartered in Dallas, Texas that sells architectural paint. Jones-Blair markets its paint to fifty counties in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Louisiana, and eleven county Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) metropolitan areas. Jones-Blair has branded itself as having a high-end paint product. Increased R&D, material, and labor cost have allowed Jones-Blair to have the highest price among competitors in its service area and still obtain a great amount of business. Jones-Blair is focused on providing architectural paint to a market that is fifty percent segmented, which half consists of “do it yourself” consumers and the other fifty percent spilt among professional painters and government contracts. Jones-Blair has enjoyed dollar sales rising at an annual rate of four percent over the past five years. Even though Jones-Blair has enjoyed a successful rise in dollar sales, it has seen a decline in the gallon volumes in DFW areas due to a rise in competition. Jones-Blair is aware that it is approaching the threshold in its prices. Jones-Blair is afraid that once the threshold price is reached, then the decline in volume sales will lead to Jones-Blair unsuccessfully meeting its sales margins. Jones-Blair needs to determine how and where to adjust marketing efforts to raise sales volume amounts in the DFW and Non-DFW areas. Jones-Blair currently spends approximately three percent of net
In order to hold their place as the dominant seller in their favored industries, W. L. Gore & Associates must choose between advancing as a technological pioneer or cutting costs and becoming the lowest priced provider available. If they were to pursue the first route, it may be to their advantage to expand their research and development departments, as well as reorganize the way they market their products. On the other hand, if W. L. Gore & Associates felt that the more prudent course of action would be to become the most competitively priced provider, the company would need to seek out and reduce superfluous costs more efficiently.
I believe the best option for Terry would be to use the specialty paint suppliers. He should sell his product to a paint manufacturer who would have more established distribution channels and more experience in this particular market. General Motors probably purchases their paint from paint suppliers and might be hesitant to use an untested product. AutoZone is already reluctant to carry his product and also stated that customers are brand and price sensitive. Although AutoZone might be persuaded to carry his product, he may not receive ideal product placement in the stores and might be limited to only a few markets.
This may include prices being cut to maintain the volume of sales or increased advertising.
Should a person with an incurable condition that is suffering be allowed to cease treatment and let die? The majority of people would answer yes, because allowing someone to die by natural causes is not seen as morally wrong however administrating a lethal injection to end suffering is seen as a cruel action and is considered inhumane. Letting someone die by not furthering treatment is called passive euthanasia, active euthanasia in contrast is consciously killing someone. But according to philosopher James Rachels, in “Active and Passive Euthanasia,” argues by using some examples, that both passive and active euthanasia should be weighed the same.
When it comes to pricing we always strived to provide one of the lowest prices in the market. We decreased product prices by $0.50 on each product each year to appeal to consumers. Since providing a low cost product was one of our strategic goals we did not stray from decreasing prices. Looking back, perhaps we shouldn’t have been so loyal to our strategy when we were unable to turn a profit. While a strategy is important to stick to, being a profitable company is the ultimate goal.
Low pricing eventually results in loss of customer loyalty as pricing to bottom is a risky business strategy.
| Reduction in retail price of Signature line of lamps for the particular wholesale customer can later make other wholesalers negotiate on price, which can lead to reduce gross margin from the entire wholesale business. This could be controlled by linking it to the volume of purchases, which could ultimately lead West Lake into a high volume – low margin company in the long run.