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attached its the response instructions and the posts. please utilize the reading material to support claims.

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Discussion 1 Instructions: Product Life Cycle Stories Introduction, growth, maturity and decline. Every product has a life cycle story waiting to be told. In this interactivity, you're going to document the story of a product, product category or brand that has progressed through the four product life cycle stages. 1. Review section 3.2 in our text regarding product life cycles. 2. Identify an appropriate product, product category or brand. o o One that has moved through all phases of the life cycle Do a web search for dead brands or product fads. Or use this article about bygone tech (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for inspiration. 3. Research your brand/product/category to answer the following: o o o The approximate timing of each life cycle phase The key events that marked the start or end of each phase Use at least three sources Respond to Peers: Respond to at least three classmates for brand/products/categories other than the one you picked. Then answer this question: o Of the products that you read about (including your own), which one best fits and least fits the classic life cycle curve? Explain why/how. Each response should be at least 100 words. Utilize the required reading materials to support your claims. Student 1: Toys-R-Us was a leading toy retailer chain that sold millions of toys and games (Moskowitz, 1994). When parents was thinking of purchasing something for their children, Toys R Us was the first place that came into mind. The Journal of Property Management (2010) tells us that there are 587 Toys R Us stories in the United States so there was no shortage of stores and one is always within driving range where ever you lived. As the market started to shift, management did not make the proper moves to shift with it losing its competiveness and allowing debt to close its stores. White (2012) explains to us that there are four phases to the product life cycle: market introduction, growth, market maturity, and decline. Toys R Us had a presence in each phase. In 1957, just shortly after the baby boom era began, Toys R Us was created and toys was introduced to the store and this began the market introduction. In the mid 70’s, it began its growth phase and Geoffrey the giraffe became the mascot and image of Toys R Us. During its growth phase, Toys R Us began opening stores all over the USA. During its maturity phase, Toys R Us became the leading toy and game retailer in the nation. It paid close attention to the demanding market and made sure it supplied what was most wanted. After a decade of holding the leading rank in toys, management changes was made and the company got lost in the market curve. In 1998, Walmart became the leading company in toy sales. Shortly after, companies such as Target and Amazon also beat out Toys R Us in toy sales. In the decline stage, Toys R Us had to close down their stores because sale numbers were so low. Student 2: The product life cycle has 4 different phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. According to White in Principles of Marketing, during the introduction phase costs are high but sales and profits are low, sales rise and costs fall in the growth phase, in the maturity phase both costs and sales are stable, and during the decline phase both costs and sales decrease (2012). I chose to discuss VHS tapes/systems VHS tapes were originally released in 1976 in Japan. The United States received its first VHS based VCR in 1997. Not long after the VHS was released it was the clear top runner in the business. During the first year the VHS format took 40% of business away from Sony. By 1987, 90% of a $5.25 billion VCR market in the United States alone was VHS format. Interestingly enough Sony would not allow pornographic material on its tapes whereas VHS did and that industry played a huge role in large sales. DVD’s and players started to emerge in the late 1990’s. In the mid 2000’s many families still owned and used VHS and the fallout was not overnight. However the last VHS movie produced was in 2006, just a year after DVD’s came out. I grew up watching Disney sing along VHS’s as well as any and all kid movies that were in fact on VHS. And more importantly all of our family home videos are on VHS. When the market changed to DVD you were able to buy VHS to DVD converters to help with the transition. However VHS’s are off the shelves and have become quite a symbol of nostalgia. Student 3: I chose the Saturn line of automobiles for my discussion this week. Saturn car company was a subsidiary of General Motors (GM.) The four product life cycles are market introduction, growth, market maturity and decline. Saturn was an automobile company created in 1985 as a subsidiary of GM. Market Introduction: The first cars were released in 1990 starting with the sedan model. The brand was an effort to compete with the Japanese imports. The company was created by then GM CEO Roger Smith and United Auto Workers (UAW) head Donald Ephlin. The concept was a “different kind of company,” and a “different kind of car.” Growth: The response to the “different kind of car” concept was well received, leaving dealerships short on inventory for the first few years of production. In 1994 Saturn was the third best-selling car model in the U.S. In 1996 the demand for Saturn exceeded production capabilities. Market Maturity: In the mid to late 90’s Saturn hit its peak in sales and started it’s decline. Smaller Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) were on market and Saturn released its version in 2000 and received a small bump in sales, however that did not last long. Subsequent efforts to release another SUV model did not receive the same boost of sales interest. Decline: By 2007 Saturn had not received any market boost and sales continued to decline. Figures were not identified by GM, but speculation was Saturn was losing money on each car being sold. Loses may have started as early as 200 and were estimated at about $3,000 per unit. Roger Smith had retired from GM and Donald Ephlin left UAW. The Saturn company were left to leadership that did not support the Saturn line and felt it negatively impacted sales to the GM primary product lines. All production of Saturn units was halted in 2009. In 2009 efforts to sale the Saturn product line to Penske failed. In 2010 Saturn brand was ended. Discussion 2 Instructions: You're going to select either the male targeted Sport Clips (a retail hair cuttery) or the female targeted Sister Snog (a London business social network) and describe how they target through the use of place and product. And while words are great, pictures are worth a thousand of 'em, so we're going to do digital show and tell using a cool new website annotation tool called BounceApp. Guided Response: • • • Check out our sample annotated web page for a high-end pet boutique. o Mouse over highlighted areas to view associated commentary. Pick one of the two brands and visit their website o Sport Clips or Sister Snog o Identify a site page – landing page or otherwise – where place and/or product is featured. ▪ Remember; place encompasses physical and virtual locations o Copy the webpage link from your browser. Screen capture and annotate the webpage using BounceApp o Identify at least three examples of how place and or product is used to reinforce the gender targeting. o Write at least two sentences of explanation for each example. Respond to Peers: Respond to three of your peers, at least one of which must be for the brand you didn’t pick. Comment on market niche strategies that those brands used/failed to use in promoting their website. Then answer this: • Which brand do you think uses product and place more effectively to differentiate itself? Cite at least one reason why relative to both product and place. • Feel free to pick a different "winner" for product versus place. Each response should be at least 100 words. Utilize the required reading materials to support your claims. Student 1: For this week’s discussion number two I chose to look into Sport Clips. Gender targeting “Haircuts for men by Guy–smart stylists who know how to give you the cut you want, and the cut you need” When on the website it will eventually scroll through certain main pages advertising what they do. When it gets to the fourth page you will see an attractive mid-twenties woman smiling, while running her hands in her (very happy) clients hair. This is clearly a gender targeting advertisement and establishment. It really just brings Hooters to mind. It’s a guy place, where you can watch sports, or the girl barbers/waitresses since that’s who serves the food or cuts the hair. Sport Clips is targeting men to come in and hang-out at their stores and get pampered by women during their hair cut. Gender targeting “The MVP Experience “ this includes a precision haircut, legendary hot steamed towel, massaging shampoo and relaxing neck and shoulder treatment. This MVP experience is aimed towards men. Men usually love sports and most know what an MVP means. This means "most valuable player", so of course, you will get treated like a king if you purchase the MVP package. They also used describing words like precision and legendary. I know this sounds funny but what kind of a man doesn’t like a precision cut of wood when building a fence, and the legendary Brett Farve or Arnold Palmer. These words are very catchy for males and make you want to see what the MVP is all about. Location“NO APPOINTMENTS REQUIRED, ALL WALK IN” This comes in handy for a man, women on the other hand always like making an appointment at a hair salon and almost always have to because of the demand in that section. For guys, though it is usually a last minute thing we have to do, or we are driving by the store and decide “hey, its been a while maybe I should just stop and get a haircut”. This is Sport Clips targeting location and making it convenient for a guy to stop at any of there locations and just watch sports, talk with the guys and get your hair cut by a beautiful lady. Student 2: I chose to work on “Sister Snog”. Identify at least three examples of how place and or product is used to reinforce the gender targeting. The First Example is the Gender Targeting. 1 – The front page of this website specifically indicates the targeted population. It is all about women. It starts with “Welcome to the World of Sister Snog”. 2 – Another way to clearly see the gender targeting here is the “Manifesto” which claims that Sister Snog exists to bring business women together who have already spent a minimum of two years following their passion. Sister Snog is for women who know and appreciate the importance of building a brand and who place a high value on being connected. The Second example is the features. 1 – The site presents features in pink, blue, and purple. All these colors are more for female versus male, indicating that the segment of the population target by the business is the women. 2 – The “Join Club” page is directed to women. The first sign says: “7 brilliant benefits of being a Sister”. The other sign reads, “7 ships of the Sister Snog # charter”. All this indicates that Sister Snog is exclusively for women. It is designed to encourage women to engage in the business world and to find a place where they can share their passion, feelings, and desires. I am convinced that male-run business will be different in style, in the choice of colors and words, and the design of the website. Student 3: For this discussion, I have chosen sports clips as my discussion topic. Gender targeting: At first glance at the website, it says "Sports on TV, Guy Smart stylist, Open every day, no appointments." The company is appealing to a select client, as they focus on the atmosphere and environment that would generally appeal to men. It shows convenience, stating that no appointments are needed. Selling the idea that you can watch sports while waiting and getting a haircut. Also, the barbers/stylist seem to be women further justifying their gender targeting of males. Gender targeting: A portion of the website that stuck out was the "MVP Haircut Experience." Viewing the pictures you see a young lady cutting hair, gentlemen getting steam towel wrap, massaging shampoo and relaxing treatment. Using MVP once again relates to the sports aspect of the environment, and the pictures with this section of the website are catered to men. The term MVP will likely appeal to men as they can relate that to a sport and potentially get treatment at the establishment like a most valuable player or at least feel like one. Convenience/Location: Appointment timelines are difficult to keep with a busy life, the fact that sports clips have no appointments needed accepting walk-ins, it appeals to the active lifestyle. Traditionally if this place were catered towards women, it would have a more structured appointment schedule. Beauty salons tend to take appointments allowing them to do everything they need to do in the desired period. For men the ability to walk in and get a haircut being in and out in no time. Most of the SportClips i have encountered are usually in the middle of town in a shopping center near tanning salons and gyms, once again appealing to a select group of people or genders.
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