Yogagurl, a small business owned by Alex Leikermoser, is a competitor Lululemon Athletica Inc. should be worried about. The company has a small studio in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Toronto, which sells yoga fashions and accessories and provides classes. Their most popular product is a $55 women’s T-shirt imprinted with the company’s slogan.

Leikermoser focuses on changing her company’s weaknesses into strengths to gain a larger share in the market. She does this by differentiating her product through the use of slogans, and by approaching a new marketing strategy.

Her new marketing strategy includes selling a limited edition T-shirt through an invitation-only basis. The first ten customers will get to buy the product, and share this invitation with five other friends and so on. This will create a unique brand identity that pushes consumers to notice the product. Their company will also benefit through this strategy in two ways. Firstly, manufacturing costs will decrease because there will be no surplus of T-shirts. Secondly, she may be able to increase the price of the T-shirts as there is great demand and short supply for the product.

Leikermosers business model is similar to Dell’s strategy of Virtual Integration. The company won’t have surplus as they produce exactly the amount demanded, manufacturer costs are cut down as the company doesn’t require offshore manufacturing, and they will have a close relationship with customers through yoga classes. With a completely fresh strategy to business, Yogagurl may be able to steal the spotlight for yoga fashions.

Brijbassi, Adrian. “Her Dream: take Lululemon to the mat”. “The Globe and Mail” Phillip Crawley.  25 Sept 2013. Web. 25 Sept 2013.

In the previous Comm101 class, we had a discussion on why students either own or do not own a hybrid car. Recapping the lecture, hybrid cars are vehicles that run on both gasoline and electricity. It was invented in hopes to create a more sustainable environment, particularly, reduce pollution in the air. I found an article about the anticipated launch of a new car by the Japanese company, Nissan. Reports show that this new vehicle is able to control itself through cameras, radar, and solar sensors. Not only will this car reduce pollution, but it will also help reduce accidents caused by drunk and careless drivers.

The idea of a “driverless” car is bizarre to me. This car will potentially decrease the number of car accidents on the road, but is it right for our society to be put into the hands of these robots? A number of other problems will arise because of this invention. People in the car insurance field, policemen controlling traffic, and construction workers will lose their jobs. Innovations are supposed to improve the lives of human beings, not cause trouble for them.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/08/driverless-cars

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