Borders Group Inc
Borders Group Inc. ... Executive Summary This marketing plan was developed for the recently hard hit that Borders Bookstores took due to their online partnership with Amazon. ... Even though Borders saw a huge success in the online operation, it caused a negative effect on their brick and mortar stores net income. Understanding the change in technology, and people’s knowledge of this technology, Borders has to implement a plan that will incorporate the online and brick and mortar operations into one. ... Borders will begin to try advertising in a different way in hopes to achieve the evening out of their two business operation strategies. ... The External Environment Competitive Pressures: Borders major competitors are Barnes and Noble for the retail book industry, Tower Records for the retail music industry and Blockbuster for the retail movie industry. ... Blockbuster’s main strength is their ability to reach a large group of people in their mailing advertising. ... The headquarters for Borders is in Ann Arbor, Michigan where the economy is about the same as it is all over the U. ... Political, legal, and regulatory issues: Currently there are no strict laws against the products that Borders distributes and sales. Due to the recent escapade during the half-time show at the Super Bowl, the government is cracking down on things that are televised, which includes movies so that would be the only regulatory issue that Borders would have to deal with. Changes in technology: The increase in the functions that technology can perform has been a positive change for Borders. ... The alliance between Borders and Amazon.com was a huge business decision for Borders that would have not been possible if the Internet did not exist. ... I feel like Borders could do a better job in utilizing the in-store kiosks to inform their customers to what is available to them. The only part of technology that could be potentially threatening to Borders is the opportunity for consumers to download a magazine for example over the Internet without the purchase of a hardcopy, which would be purchased in a store or online. ... This has caused a huge craze of buying how-to books in Borders stores. ... Financial responsibility: Many people have the potential to pay the bill for the purchases made either in the brick and mortar stores or on Borders. ... What the customers do with the products Purchase quantity and combinations: Most consumers want to buy only one of the products, unless they are buying them for instance, for a Bible study group. Heavy users: The heavy users of Borders products are those who have such an incredible passion for reading and for music, and will buy the product to satisfy this passion in about any way. Light users: Those who do not buy Borders products frequently tend to do more price shopping than that of a heavy user. Firms where products are purchased: Borders have a brick and mortar operation along with an online operation. These are the two ways to purchase Borders products. ... These relationships are reinforced with their Borders Group Honors Program for outstanding employees. ... Borders is one of the leading companies in the book retail industry due to their sophisticated inventory management system that has amazing capabilities. The centrally controlled expert system uses artificial intelligence that is capable of forecasting sales and recommends inventory levels for each book in the store (placed in each Borders store). ... coms advanced search capabilities, personalization, and One-Click™ ordering, plus links to store information, interviews, and other Borders content. Although when Borders. ... Strength 5: They offer strong customer-oriented strategies such as “Title Sleuth” This allows customers to check the availability of a product within the store or even in neighboring Borders and it will display a store map indicating the location of the item in the store or in a neighboring store. ... This allows Borders to cut down on advertising because many consumers already have such a strong knowledge of the company. ... This causes many consumers and business people to miss the opportunity to have the Borders experience. ... Borders stopped putting as much emphasis on their stores and put the majority of it on the new alliance with Amazon.