The 2008 recession had a nationwide impact on companies and consumers alike, but while “several retailers reporting declining sales and some declaring bankruptcy, Costco was thriving.” The key behind Costco’s success was in its value proposition, which aimed at providing “members with quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices.” It is able to do so while still maintaining a healthy profit by cutting costs where necessary and charging potential customers an annual fee to shop at Costco; “the company never advertises, charges its 64 million members to shop there and doesn’t mark up any product more than 15 percent.”

The way in which Costco organizes their warehouse-style stores is also a large contributor to their success. Customers are able to purchase a vast array of goods within one building, all of which are competitively priced. “Tim Rose, senior vice president for food and sundries, pointed out that ‘Costco only carries about one-tenth of the number of items that a typical supermarket carries,’” a strategic decision that resulted in increased revenue. Costco gains its competitive advantage when selling goods by selecting only one or two variations of a product that “it believes to be the high-quality products its customers want.” This takes away the responsibility of choosing from a variety of similar products from the customer, a process that usually prolongs or prevents a sale from being made.

Through excellent products, pricing, and positioning Costco was able to create a unique method of shopping that price-sensitive customers see a great degree of value in. This business strategy has allowed Costco to prosper, even in times of recession.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/IndustryInfo/costco-cashes-bargain-hungry-shoppers/story?id=4955384

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46603589

http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-Mission-Statements/Costco-Stores-Mission-Statement.htm

The BlackBerry was a milestone in smartphone development, popularizing the QWERTY keyboard and holding a sizable market share throughout the mid 2000’s. By marketing the BlackBerry as a must have device for the business community and the ideal phone for text messaging, the BlackBerry was able to provide ample value to customers from a variety of market segments resulting in a significant increase in market share. However, their position at the top of the smartphone industry was challenged with the introduction of Apple’s first iPhone. The iPhone’s touchscreen became industry standard but BlackBerry founder, Michael Lazaridis, strongly favored the QWERTY keyboard and continued to push it onto the consumer.

After the introduction of the first iPhone “Verizon asked BlackBerry to create a touchscreen ‘iPhone killer’; however, the result was a flop, and Verizon turned to Motorola and Google instead.” Lazaridis’ unwillingness to adapt to changing consumer preferences caused BlackBerry to slowly become stale and out-dated. Had more resources been dedicated to the development of an “iPhone killer” after the release of the first iPhone then perhaps loyal BlackBerry users would have been more inclined to stick with BlackBerry rather than making the switch to Apple. Research in Motion’s (RIM) Inability to adapt to changing consumer preferences resulted in marketing strategies which were not well received by the consumer. Attempts at criticizing the difficulty of typing on an iPhone’s touchscreen vs. the BlackBerry’s keyboard were ineffective due to consumer’s preferring the benefits the touchscreen provided.

Ultimately, BlackBerry updated its own touchscreen product line but the result was underwhelming in comparison to similar products from its competition. The rise and fall of RIM shows that companies that fail to acknowledge and adapt to a changing market environment will ultimately be wiped out by their competition.

http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/487506f514b9b93c00f89fc2-480/thunderdownjpg.jpg

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/the-inside-story-of-why-blackberry-is-failing/article14563602/?page=all