http://www.centives.net/S/2013/the-economics-of-zara/

Amancio Ortega, who transformed clothing group Inditex from a tiny family dressmaker into a Spain’s biggest company, briefly overtook Bill Gates on Friday to become the world’s richest man [1]. As one of the brands under Inditex, ZARA is the largest international apparel retailer, and its marketing strategies are very successful.

The first marketing strategy of ZARA is direct sales mode. Zara controls most of the stages on the chain supplying, designing, manufacturing, and distributing its products [2].

Another marketing strategy of ZARA is focus-cost strategy [3]. ZARA positions its goods as high-end products with low price.

The third marketing strategy of ZARA is positioning strategy [4]. ZARA introduces its products to the markets by using the brand of ZARA “made in Europe”. Many customers in developing countries believe that the goods made in Europe are high-end products. However, ZARA sells its products with a low price, which can easily attract the customers from the developing countries.

Successful implement of the above marketing strategies turns ZARA into the world’s largest apparel retailer. I would suggest that garment producers should use the case of ZARA as a reference for their marketing consideration. ZARA’s story interprets the successful application of marketing strategies by considering the direct sales, focus-cost and product and customer positioning strategies.

Reference

1. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/amancia-ortega-bill-gates-richest-1.3285976
2. http://edition.cnn.com/BUSINESS/programs/yourbusiness/stories2001/zara/
3. Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free Press.
4. Ries, A. & Trout, J. (2001) Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind. New York

Blackberry pushed out a new smartphone called Passport in 2014. However, the sales volume of Passport was not satisfactory.  The design of Blackberry Passport was based on the form of an actual passport. The gentle shape of the back cover is comfortable for user to hold in hand[1].The focused customer segment of Passport is the professional people who need to make important decisions with various occupations such as business men, pilots, doctors and designers. Besides, the theme of the Blackberry Passport is ‘work wide’.

According to Porter’s (1980) generic strategies, the focus strategy concentrates on a narrow segment and, within that segment, attempts to achieve either a cost advantage or differentiation [2],which suggests that Blackberry should specifically focus its customer segment on a certain profession (e.g. company managers) instead of vague focus on those people who need to make crucial decisions. Worse still, the Blackberry Passport is neither cheap nor convenient, comparing with other smartphones, such as iPhone 6 and Samsung galaxy s6.

Although Blackberry used to be the largest smart phone manufacturer in the world, the company has made mistakes about customer segment positioning in recent years. I think Blackberry should not develop new products that cater different consumers, but should produce products that are specialized for the people in a certain working area with specific functions. I also propose that Blackberry should exploit the markets in developing countries like China, Brazil and India and their market needs.

Reference:

1. http://ca.blackberry.com/smartphones/blackberry-passport/overview.html
2. Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and C New York: Free Press.

The Chinese government has published a series of policies that support the development of tourism in China. As one of the projects, Shanghai Disneyland Theme Park is being constructed. This is a business model canvas for Shanghai Disneyland to demonstrate its relative features.

This business model canvas illustrates both internal and external opportunities and strength of Shanghai Disneyland, as well as the prospect of the vacationland. On one hand, Shanghai Disneyland Theme Park has lots of reliable business methods to promise its business futures, such as investors, business partners, and strategies for sales. On the other hand, due to the improvement of Chinese economic situation and people’s living standards, more and more Chinese families seek for the theme parks for spending their public holidays, which suggests that the Shanghai Disneyland Theme Park will become an ideal resort for them, which is another promise for Shanghai Disney’s business future.
However, the culture gaps between China and America are quite apparent, and how American culture mergers with Chinese local culture concerning business operation and management are essential for the success of Disney’s business in China, yet Hong Kong Disney has already experienced lots of obstructs and hinders.
To summarize, the Shanghai Disneyland project will bring outstanding visible and invisible profits for both Shanghai government, investors and stakeholders, and its future values are tremendous.