WestJet was founded in 1996 as a discount airline that served cities in Western Canada. For years it religiously followed a pure low-cost model, but started to move away from the winning formula in the mid-2000s as rival Air Canada cut costs and offered more competitive domestic fares.

WestJet plans to dip its toes into the transatlantic travel market next spring with flights between St. John’s and Dublin, further ramping up competition with rival Air Canada. WestJet’s innovative foray into the European market represents a willingness to do what it takes to connect Canadians to the world while bringing the world to Canada.

We talked about WestJet in class in the beginning of the term. We discussed that whether WestJet need to expand their flight to other country to make more profit or not. By that time I thought WestJet shouldn’t expand their business because I thought that it is too risky since lots of airline companies are there. However, I kind of changed my mind after I read this article. If WestJet provide cheaper tickets to customers with less service, I think customers will buy their tickets. I found that not so many people care about how comfortable it is because planes are always uncomfortable in economy class.

The home advantage wasn’t enough to save Second Cup in the ’90s, when Seattle-based Starbucks wrested dominance of the Canadian premium-coffee sector away from the company on its own turf. But now the coffee chain has a plan to expand into territory where Starbucks will have trouble following. This is especially true in Pakistan, where North American coffee culture is gaining popularity, but anti-American sentiment runs high. Second Cup has already tapped the Middle East for growth, with franchises in Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and others. Tea has long been the traditional drink in South Asia, but coffee consumption is rapidly growing among young people in Pakistan, creating a market for premium coffee shops.

I think Second Cup got a really good opportunity. It is easier to expand their business with less competitors. Especially with no Starbucks. If Second Cup don’t emphasize that it is American product ,since there is anti-American sentiment runs, and fits into Pakistan people’s life smoothly. It will definitely success because Second Cup is not only expanding their business in Pakistan, they also expanding their business in middle east area. It also might be a risky somehow but if they make strategy efficiently like sell tea-based drink or give out free sample coffee on the street, I believe that they will success.

————————————————————————————————————-Reference

Photo and article

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/companies-and-industries/a-second-chance-for-second-cup/

I have been an enthusiastic and vocal supporter of Penney’s “no sale” strategy for almost a year now, sticking with the brand even as its marketing fell on deaf ears with consumers and investors. The stock was up last month and its website was reportedly a favorite visit during the holidays, but there’s every reason to expect it will report dismal fourth quarter results (expertly obfuscated with stats on eyeballs, awareness, and whatever). I now believe the company is doomed. We should stop holding our collective breath waiting for success, and start looking for lessons to learn from its failure.

I think no sale strategy is not a very good idea to increase their profit because consumers are usually waiting for sale season to get something that they want. They want more sales and they are willing to buy the products with lower price. They want to feel that they earned profit after they buy products. Let’s say JCPenny and other company are selling same product but the other company is on sale but JCPenny is not, who wants to buy the same product with higher price? What I think is JCPenny need to change their tactic if they want to survive in this competitive market.

——————————————————————————————————————–

References

picture

http://smartcanucks.ca/jc-penney-now-9dollar-shipping-to-canada/

Article

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathansalembaskin/2013/01/02/lessons-from-j-c-penneys-doomed-marketing-makeover/

At noon in Beijing today, Starbucks’ first store in China served its last drink. China’s harsh real-estate landscape might make it hard for Starbucks to keep its pledge to have 1,000 stores in China by the end of the year. Most of its stores now are in major cities like Beijing, where authorities are paying less attention to bringing down commercial property prices. Commercial property in Beijing grew 23% in May, compared to 15.2% in residential real estate. Regardless of where Starbucks moves in Beijing, it might have trouble making rent.

China’s Starbucks chain has been driving forward without a stop in the Chinese market. However, it has started to slow down due to labor cost and renting fees. In June 21, 2013, the first Starbucks China closed because they could not afford high rent fees. Even with the financial support from Starbucks China. I believe that without long term financial stability, the stores will fail to succeed and thus discontinue. I think Starbucks need to open in smaller cities where costs are slightly lower because the coffee consumption in China is growing rapidly so they have enough supplier to sell their products in other cities too.

——————————————————————————————————————–Reference

Article and picture

http://qz.com/96882/why-the-first-starbucks-in-china-closed-today/

Coca-Cola has cancelled a Canadian promotion that paired randomly generated English and French words inside bottle caps after an Edmonton woman got one that said “You Retard.” To cancelling the campaign, Denny said the company will destroy all of the caps with words printed on them. She said Coca-Cola was still deciding how to deal with the printed caps that are already on bottles.

In my opinion, I think Coca-Cola assume that people are willing to buy more vitamin water to make funny sentence by collecting lids but they failed it. Some people got offended and complained it to Coca-Cola. Why didn’t they put beautiful words instead of bad words? If I were them I would put positive words that make people happy and cheer them up. The consumer might buy this specific vitamin water instead of other brands because when I see the positive words in wash room that positive words influences me, it makes me feel better when I was in bad mood. I think most people wouldn’t buy something that says to me “You Retard”. Why didn’t they make funny words without using bad words? I hope Coca-Cola don’t make this kind of mistake in the future.

——————————————————————————————————————–Reference

Article and picture

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/offensive-phrases-on-bottle-caps-prompt-coca-cola-to-cancel-canadian-promotion/article14427173/