Question :
First case study in this report is based on Unilever; they are trying to connect with their existing and potential customer by using social media and special events. The second case study is based on IKEA; they are appealing people to visit their stores and company is using new ideas to keep customer engaged so they do not feel that they are wasting their time at IKEA store.
- Provide an assessment on the main issues/problems of given case study on Unilever and IKEA.
- Analyze identified issues by considering all the relevant calculations.
- Provide necessary recommendations by connecting different issues with strategic concepts.
Answer :
INTRODUCTION
IKEA wants to be a life long partner with persons of same-same sex, single parent just room mates. Its sales is are really high almost $33 billion whose credit goes to 284 stores of 26 countries. For attracting new customers, it is concentrating its price rates by lowering in the eyes of customers. It is a kind of family friend. Many parents browse this store for the purchase of children's furniture while youngsters drop this option. This store serve Swedish style foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. IKEA have high class furniture for its restaurants and that are served for its customers. In Wednesbury , England it expanded its area for children to play and enjoy more and have fun. After this there was an immediate, increase in its sales and customer visit.
CASE STUDY 1
Unilever has created a good brand image in the market by developing strong relations with customers. It has created a platform through which consumer can easily communicate with them. In this way Unilever is able to identify customer needs and wants. The first thing that company does is focus on making customers loyal (Solomon, Dahl and Polegato, 2014 ) They invest a lot of amount of research and development so that change in taste and preference of customers can be identified. This has allowed them to develop products in order to satisfy people needs. Besides this, Unilever has effectively used social media in interacting with customers. For example – they have launched ad campaign that is on soap Dove. This was done to find out attributes of women. It helped in linking brand with customers so that loyalty can be gained. This is also useful for Unilever.
Moreover, company also tries to generate a message with products. This has benefited them to increase base of loyal customers. Besides this, Unilever has focused on identifying change in psychological behaviour. It has helped them in producing different products according to people needs. However, it has changed the overall internal process (Cantallops, and Salvi, 2014) Moreover, by relating the product with consumer need Unilever is able to market it in more effective way. It has also allowed them to use social media so that more people can be attracted. With this, Unilever is able to find core changes in their products. It has enabled them to develop accordingly. Also, by marketing product in unique way Unilever is able to increase sales and profits. It has also fulfilled needs of customers in effective way.
Basically there are for external processes that are involved n consumer culture. These are religion, ethnicity, reference group and social class. These all helps in marking products in the market. Every company uses this in different customer segment. Unilever has also used consumer culture in their Dove campaign (Zhao and Zhu, 2014) Due to this campaign was successful. In my opinion the culture used in this was ethnicity. It refers to the person behaviour. Thus, by identifying women behaviour towards beauty Unilever produced this soap. It was based on how women has reacted after using dove soap. So in order to bring change in ethics of women this campaign was launched. It is because dove was based on beauty product. Also, it s purpose was to touch customer by telling them that there are no standards for beauty. Moreover, it showed women that real beauty is in skin. This can be more beautiful by using this soap. This allowed women to start using dove soaps ( Li, Linn and Muehlegger, 2014). Furthermore, this campaign spread a message that women of all races, age, size, etc. to use it. It helped in targeting the overall women segment. For this more effective advertisements was developed.
Along with this, the ethnicity consumer culture helped in creating awareness about beauty in women. It also made women think about how they can look beautiful. The major purpose of dove campaign was to bring all women together. It showed that women of all age, caste and race can use a single soap to look beautiful. It created a positive image in minds of women. They start purchasing Dove to enhance their beauty. Also, mouth publicity was beneficial for Unilever to promote their product. It allowed women to become more beautiful. This was the reason why Dove campaign was successful.
It is very important for company to protect environment so that it can sustain for long term in the market (Zeugner-Roth, Ã…½abkar and Diamantopoulos, 2015). Also, it is the duty of business to contribute towards society by contributing in corporate social responsibility activities. In context to case study yes I agree that Unilever decision to link brand with efforts was correct. It has helped them to encourage healthy and protective environment so that it can survive for long term. This has created a positive image in minds of consumer. They are able to buy to get connect with company. Besides this, company has shown efforts by linking product with environment. They develop product that does not harm people health and environment. Besides this, Unilever just not only sell products but also interact with customers to take their views. This helps them to create loyal customers and retain them.
Furthermore, it can be seen that Unilever is highly involved in organising campaigns related to environment and health. Through this they promote their products as well. It enables them to communicate with customers so that safety tips can be given to them (Solomon, Dahl and Polegato, 2014). These campaigns helps Unilever in getting engaged with people so that trust can be gained. It leads to building effective and strong relationships with them. They take initiative to become loyal towards Unilever. The example can be taken as first they make understand customers on why to use product, second they show how to do it, next company makes feels good about doing this action and finally company ask consumers to continue their behaviour. Thus, by following these steps Unilever is able to build loyal customers. Company is entirely based on loyalty (Cantallops, and Salvi, 2014). If this is broken it will highly affect Unilever overall growth and development.
Therefore, from the above it is concluded that Unilever had made efforts while promoting their products. It has enabled them to get involved with activities related to environment so that it can sustain for long term in the market by building a positive image. At last company has successfully in identified changes in customer psychological needs. It has enabled them to make changes in products accordingly. Besides this, by continuously making efforts to relate brand with environment Unilever has created a positive image and goodwill. By this company has grown and develop in different markets (Zhao and Zhu, 2014) Now, it is one of the world largest consumer goods company.
Related Sample: Functions of Marketing - IKEA
CASE STUDY 2
The company started its marketing very effectively by introducing the campaign Manland experiment. It was firstly started in Australis where man were allowed to play video games while their wife was busy in shopping. This gave an advantage to company as people who was not interested in shopping can have fun in their stores. Apart from this, it also helped those couples
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