teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

Caterpillar, Deere/Hitachi, and Komatsu own the market for heavy construction equipment – together accounting for 82% market share for excavators weighing at least eight metric tons. A new kid is trying break in. Chinese construction equipment maker Luogong has signed up one of its first dealers in the U.S. with Syracuse, NY based Stephenson Equipment. Breaking into the U.S. market will likely be a long-term proposition for Luogong as most customers in this market prefer a proven record of reliability and dealers nearby with spare parts.

This article, “China Treads on New Turf” (Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here) could be used in a number of different places in the introductory marketing course. There is a four minute video with the article, but it is kind of dry. This case raises issues about organizational buying when you think about whether customers will buy from an unknown upstart — though the 15-20% lower price might attract some buyers. It might be interesting to discuss what types of customers would be the best target market for Liugong. It also provides a great example about the importance of channels of distribution — particularly as a firm moves into a foreign market.  You could even outline Luogong’s marketing strategy – target, price, product, place, and promotion decisions – based on the article.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

We have mentioned before (skim these posts for more background) how we like to address the challenge of getting non-marketing majors involved in the introductory marketing course.  I like to do it early by showing them now jobs flowing from every major use marketing concepts.

This post over at Harvard’s Working Knowledge site, “HBS Cases:  QuikTrip’s Investment in Retail Employees Pays Off,” (May 25, 2011) describes how convenience store chain QuikTrip delivers high quality service at low cost.  The case shows how operational and human resource decisions made by QuikTrip result in high quality service and reasonable prices.

The article describes and links to several Harvard Business School cases you could read for even more depth and other examples.  Our text books have a cross-functional chapter where this example could be integrated into class discussion.   The example could also work when you cover quality (we get to that in the product chapters) or retailing.

This article “Check Out the Future of Shopping” (Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2011 – non-subscribers click here) and its companion video (3:33) below describe a variety of different technology solutions retailers are employing to make shopping more convenient.  The article provides an excellent example of the influence of the external market environment (for retailers) or when discussing retailing.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

This long article looks at operational elements of the drive-thru window for quick-serve restaurants (QSRs). For many restaurants and especially for certain locations, the drive-thru is critical to business; at some Taco Bell locations 70% of the business was at the drive-thru window with 80% of that revenue coming in during a 90 minute lunchtime window! With this in mind, Taco Bell focuses on improving through-speed and quality of the drive-thru experience. This article, “Taco Bell and the Golden Age of Drive-Thru” (Bloomberg Businessweek, May 5, 2011) details many of those strategy changes.

The article provides a nice complement to the coverage of quality management in our text books — as well as our coverage of cross-functional collaboration (with production/operations) in Basic Marketing. Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

How does a dominant firm increase its customer base?  One tactic targets a new market with a new but related marketing mix.  Starbucks’ continues to look for growth — and is now looking for it from its Seattle’s Best brand that it acquired eight years ago.  This article “Starbucks Targets Folks Who Shun Starbucks” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, April 21, 2011) gives some insights about product, price, promotion, and place elements for Seattle’s Best.

Here is a suggestion for using this article in class or as an assignment.  Since most of our students are familiar with Starbucks, it might be fun to draw a 3 column figure — with the left column headed with “Marketing Strategy,” followed by “Product,” “Place,” Promotion,” “Price,” and “Target Market.”  Then head each of the next two columns with “Seattle’s Best” and “Starbucks.”  You could let students break into teams to complete the picture – or simply ask students to fill in the cells on the figure you draw on the board.  I find that my students learn a lot from these types of compare and contrast in strategies.  To give students more insight into the perhaps less familiar Seattle’s Best brand, you could show one or more of the three ads in the video clip below.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

Is the future location of retail in Facebook?  Maybe it is one more channel for many retailers.  This article, “Fashion Retailer Asos Sets Up Shop on Facebook,” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, February 17, 2011) describes one retailer’s efforts to target “moppers” (mobile shoppers).   Online fashion retailer Asos has a store in Facebook with a smartphone app on the way.

This article, “Bringing the Farmers’ Market to Your Doorstep,” (Wall Street Journal, February 3, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here) offers a good example of creative channels of distribution — home delivery of fresh produce.  There appears to be a market for this service especially in cities.  When covering channels of distribution, it might be fun to talk about different channels of distribution for fruits and vegetables.  You could ask about different target markets — and fill in various services, prices, and products which might appeal to each.  The perishable nature of the product adds extra questions.

With demographics you can see the changes coming from a long way off.  The oldest baby boomers turn 65 this year — and many companies are changing marketing strategies to appeal to this growing market.  This article “How to Market to an Aging Boomer: Flattery, Subterfuge and Euphemism” (Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2011 – non-subscribers click here) provides some great examples about how a diverse range of companies from ADT Security Services, to Kimberly Clark’s Depend brand, bathroom fixture maker Kohler and paint retailer Sherwin-Williams are carefully approaching the new baby boomer.  Great examples of how these companies are adapting promotion, place, and product to better meet the needs of this target market.

This is a really interesting marketing challenge for global cosmetics leader L’Oréal.  This article and 3:52 video tell a very interesting international marketing story.  Brazilian consumers have traditionally buy cosmetics (and many other products) from door-to-door salespeople.  L’Oréal does not use this channel of distribution in Brazil — instead relying on retail shops.  The market is actually quite large — Brazilian women spend a lot on cosmetics.  But L’Oréal hopes to change consumer behavior, which is never an easy task.  Most marketers are better off adapting a marketing mix to customers rather than trying to change customer behavior.  Use these links to access the article, “To L’Oréal, Brazil’s Women Need New Style of Shopping” (Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here).

Here is the latest example of the internet threatening to radically change an industry — retail eyeglass sales.  This article in the New York Times, “Defying Conventional Wisdom to Sell Glasses Online” (January 16, 2011).   The article describes a New York start-up Warby Parker.   There are other online sellers of prescription eyeglasses — Zenni Optical and EyeBuy Direct have been around for a few years and sell primarily based on lower prices that start at less than $10 for a pair of glasses.   I have used both of these retailers and while they have pretty limited customer service, I have been pretty satisfied with the experience.  Warby Parker seems to be shooting for a place in the market between the full-service neighborhood optical store and the low price, limited service provider.

The example here could fit into a discussion of market segmentation, competition, technology as an element of the external market environment, place, or retail.