Month: October 2014

In light of Starbucks’ announcement to launch a delivery service to account for their recent decline in sales, Matthew’s blog post on RGB Social provides an insightful response, as he believes that by initiating the new delivery service, Starbucks will add to the customer experience, and develop client relationships by providing a change to their brand experience, which consequently ties in with what we learned in class 8 on brand positioning and value propositions.

Unlike Matthew, I feel that even if Starbucks does introduce this new delivery system they will not necessarily provide a significantly better customer experience. Starbucks’ main point of difference and value proposition lies in their ability to provide excellent customer service and the perfect environment for a quick meeting or chat.

If customers simply ordered by delivery, they would be forgoing the whole experience of walking in the store and interacting with the employees, and in theory only be getting the coffee. Coffee shops in history were not a place necessarily made just to drink coffee, but more as a meeting place for people to have meaningful intellectual conversations in. Though that idea has shifted over the years, it still serves as a place for people to rewind after a long day and meet up with friends or clients. I believe that people do not go to Starbucks because their coffee is “incomparable” to other shops, but more so for the experience itself. So would people be willing to pay the additional delivery fee on top of the already pricer price just to drink their maybe now “cold” coffee at home? At least I would not. If people did not care about the experience at all, they might as well just invest in a good coffee maker.

References:

http://blog.rgbsocial.com/2014/11/04/what-starbucks-delivery-service-has-to-do-with-storytelling-customer-experience-and-social-media/

Picture from: https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2182/5696698102_ba3bdcdf60.jpg

Living in Vancouver for most of my life, I never really wanted or had to take a taxi to get anywhere. The whole system of having to call them first and then pay a hefty sum of money when I could easily take the bus or skytrain, made the process quite unappealing. 

Class 14 on innovation and entrepreneurship gave me the inspiration to write this blog post on Uber. Like how email has disrupted the postal mail industry, Uber, a taxi like car-sharing app, is a new disruptive innovation that is posing dangerous risks to the taxi industry. Even though, with plans to expand to Vancouver many external forces are trying to lobby Uber’s entry into the market, I believe we should encourage the entry of Uber into the taxi industry. 

One of the most important reasons is that recently taxis travelling from the YVR are to apply a set price based on different zones. What I find really absurd about this new regulation is that with the new set rates, taxi drivers are basically able to charge more depending on which corner they choose to drop the passengers off of, making the inconvenient experience even more inconvenient. This issue has already caused much debate, and I personally would much rather turn to a company like Uber, where the customers are given the flexibility to choose the price, even though prices might be higher depending on the time and day.

This will also increase the competition between the taxi companies and Uber-like services, which might finally lead taxi companies to decrease their prices to keep up with the competition, giving consumers more affordable choices on the market.

References:

http://www.theprovince.com/news/Taxi+community+cries+foul+over+Uber+lobbyist+also+serves+Vision+Vancouver+executive/10277843/story.html

Set fares for taxis leaving YVR for Vancouver, Richmond destinations

Pictures from:

https://utstatic.a.cdnify.io/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/uber11.png

Set fares for taxis leaving YVR for Vancouver, Richmond destinations

Many First Nations in Canada strongly believe in the importance of preserving their ancestral land that has not only belonged to them for centuries, but served as a strong part of their cultural identity. With increasing new industry expansions and developments threatening their once sacred and untouched land, many First Nation are not afraid to take a stand against such proposals. After the introduction of Kinder Morgan’s new proposed pipeline expansion, the Tsleil-Waututh and First Nations from Vancouver Island met on Se

ptember 21 to sign a treaty in order to put a final stop on the proposal. The treaty is said to address the fear of rising cancer rates near the Alberta oil sands. This article is of direct correlation to how First Nations can serve as an external factor that can significantly influence an organization’s business plan, as many clans hold substantial political power. The article “Tsilhqot’in set to declare site of New Prosperity mine a tribal park,” mentions similar actions other First Nations in Canada take to prevent potential harm to their land. The First Nation’s firm stand on protecting their ancestral land in not only to protect their heritage but also serves to protect our environment and citizens from potential harm, keeping the land safer for future generations. This is something that we as members of the society need to learn from as it affects us all. Though economic prosperity is important to the success of our society, is it really worth the ultimate sacrifice of various aspects that improve our quality of life, such as health and a clean environment to live in?

Reference:

http://www.biv.com/article/2014/9/coastal-first-nations-sign-treaty-stop-kinder-morg/

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Unilateral+park+declared+Tsilhqot+includes+Prosperity+mine/10192766/story.html

http://calgaryrealestate.ca/images/2011/11/Golden-Forest-by-Ian-Muttoo.jpg

After the much hyped American retailer, Target, launched in Canada in March, the sales did much worse then expected. Target may be finally changing things around with their new adjustment in prices. Target in the United States is popular and successful due to its discount retailing approach. They are able to bring customers a vast assortment of discounted merchandise in one convenient store. However, when it was first introduced in Canada, many customers thought the price was too high for their “discounted” claims. When compared to other stores like Wal-mart and Shoppers Drug Mart, the was no visible price difference despite it being a “discount retailer,” making the company lose its biggest value proposition. As a result of this Target did very poorly in Canada during the first few months and it began to seem not that different from Zellers, a similarly styled Canadian company that struggled in sales prior to its purchase by Target. Only recently has Target finally decided to lower its prices and is now winning the price battle with Wal-mart. When comparing 33 items in grocery, heath, and beauty aisle, Target’s prices were cheaper by 3.9% than Wal-mart. With the introduction of the new prices, Target has found a strong advantage with its new cost leadership strategy. With this new leadership strategy, customers will finally have a very good reason to choose to shop at Target compared to other retailers. 

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/09/24/target-canada-walmart-prices-kantar_n_5870342.html?utm_hp_ref=target-canada

U.S. retailers getting chilly reception in Canada

Sears and Hudson’s Bay have once been the two major competitors in Canadian department store retail. However, in recent years the Canadian retailer has found growth and expansion while the American retailer is slowly backing out of Canada with major layoffs and closures. The reasons to why become quite evident when you compare the existing Sears stores with Hudson’s Bay stores. Hudson’s Bay improved their services over time and adjusted to the changes in consumer trends while accounting for different customer segments. In addition to their constant renovation of their stores, by bringing in popular, higher-end brands like Polo Ralph Lauren, Alaia, Jason Wu, and Proenza Schouler, to appeal to higher class consumers, collaborating with popular retailer, Topshop, to appeal to younger, trendy customers, and at the same time keeping their affordable in-house brands as well, they extended their customer segments to reach basically everyone. Sears stores on the other hand, has undergone minimal change and expansion in both company brand and products, sticking with the same lower-quality and affordable products, which target a very specific customer segment. Not to mention most of their stores still look the same as they did ten years ago. This alone gives consumers little incentive to shop there given the atmosphere and lack of selection, since competitors like Hudson’s Bay and Target can probably offer better and more varied things with minimal price difference. Even successful businesses, like Sears, need to constantly undergo changes in accordance with the ever-changing consumer tastes in order to become successful even as time passes by.

References:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/new-look-hudsons-bay-pushes-retail-growth-plan/article10836382/

http://www2.thebay.com/theroom/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/01/29/sears-canada-layoffs-job-cuts_n_4690554.html

The unique aspects found in a company’s business model is often what sets it apart from competitors and gives it the lead in the industry. Making a unique yet efficient business model is key to growing the company and expanding into new markets. Take Japanese retailer Muji for example, the retailer, that produces household and consumer goods and known for its “no-brand” philosophy, is set to enter the Canadian market by opening 7-8     stores in the next five years. The brands unique value proposition of environmental friendliness, simplicity, and functionality design sets it apart from many competitors and fits extremely well with Canadians own environmentally clean and stainable image. Though the brand’s image targets and attracts a seemingly specific customer segment (think wealthy and trendy urbanites), the vast assortment of quality everyday products is bound to draw much attention from the mass market. In addition to its unique value propositions, the brand’s distribution channels, as it prepares to launch in the Canadian market, is also quite different. Unlike Target, who has also recently just launched in Canada, Muji does not plan on opening multiple stores at once, but instead focuses on one store per year. This will increase the amount of attention put on each store and will eventually lead to more customer awareness on the brand, and will be perhaps a better idea since despite Target’s vast popularity in the United States, its sales in Canada have seen a steady decrease overtime. 

References:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/09/29/muji-canada-toronto-vancouver_n_5902066.html?utm_hp_ref=canada-business

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/same-store-sales-at-target-canada-tumble-11-in-second-quarter-1.2741617

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/target-canada-s-failed-launch-offers-lessons-for-other-retailers-1.2711149

http://www.muji.us/