The company I choose for my final project is Procter & Gamble the reason I picked this company is because it has so many brands that it owns. The options are endless on what brand you can pick that they own and the type of product. The brand im going to choose from Procter & Gamble is Herbal Essences they specialize in hair care products. The reason I am choosing them is because personally I struggle with trying to find a drug store shampoo and hair care products that actually work for me and do what im looking for. Things that are on the rise now a days are custom made hair care products that are formulated to your needs. Certain ingredients are added to help with frizz, shine, color protection, scalp issues, and other needs. The down fall to this is it can take any where from one – two weeks for these type of products to come in and then there is no guarantee that the product will work. I think it can be a big market for the drug store line of hair care products. My product would be a generic base shampoo and conditioner that you can purchase additives to mix in to customize it to your current hair needs. You would go to the Herbal Essences website take a quiz on the current state of your hair and what you are looking to for in a shampoo and conditioner. The quiz would than tell you what additives to get to mix in with the bases to acquire your hair care needs. The site will give you the closest location of the products making it easy to find in stores. This way consumer can make their own customer shampoo and conditioner with out the wait of shipping.

For the market research I will look into the sales of company that already currently do this but they only have the option to have it shipped out to you. I want to see how their sales have been since they started and if I can find it what their return rate is. I want to use both primary and secondary research.

The primary will be reaching out to consumers who have left reviews or promote the products to see if this is something they would be interested in. Leveraging social media influencers to promote the product or have them help us by having their followers taking quick surveys on Instagram to see if they had this option of customer drug store shampoo would be something they would try.

The secondary research would be looking into the sales of other companies who offer this product, set backs they may have had, and also successes they have found. Also doing research on the sales of hair care products, what are consumers looking for do they want clean ingredients, certain scents, and top hair concerns.

A retail brand I think is socially and ethically responsible is Walmart. Walmart has strong rules on giving their employees proper breaks, they compact and recycle all their cardboard, they also separate out all plastic and recycle that also. They released a new dress code last year that allows employees to wear clothing they feel comfortable in. They are also big on giving back to local communities they will have events in the summer bringing in local law enforcement to meet with the kids. They will have cooks outs durning the summer also to help local charities and during the holiday season they partner with local shelters to help kids in need receive Christmas gifts.

Back in October of 2019 Walmart was sued for not giving the apporiate accommodations for a deaf employee. The jury ended up finding Walmart guilty of breaking EEOC act and the employee was awarded 5.2 million dollars. They have also been in the news in the past for gender discrimination against woman they won their case in 2011 but just recently had a new one filed against them in February of last year.

Personally I think Walmart is green for profit and the environment. They do a lot to make sure the business they run is helping the environment not hurting it for example their recycling practices. They are also out to make a profit, they need too to keep their doors open and the company operating.

The two brands I choose was Apple and Microsoft, the top dog is Apple and the underdog is Microsoft. They both have completely different stategies they use to bring in customers. Apple’s strategy is to offer exclusive high end products, their products have the best software and performance. Microsoft on the other hand tries to put itself into as many devices as possible, they are in HP, Dell and even Samsung. Apples branding tends to be more classy their ads are very sophisticated and they tend to show the quality and design of their products. Microsoft tends to be more colorful and full of art to show the capabilities of their tablets and operating software.

Things Microsoft can do to help them surpass Apple is create a software that is more secure right now Apples software beats them out in that category. They can make choosing a model or computer easier to purchase for the consumer. Right now it is confusing and their are so many combinations of things you can choose. Apple makes this a very simple task with fewer models making it easier to pick which one you want. They also can make it easier for customers to get their computers repaired, right now consumers have many options of places they can go but each has different prices and turn time making that difficult for customer to find. Apple on the other hand all you need to do is bring your product into any Apple store and they can fix it for you and the price is the same across the board.

Personally I think people prefer Apple over Microsoft because all Apple products work well together they can all be connected and you can share data among devices without having to connect them with cables. Apple also has a certain look to it and has been known as the best product you can buy. Personally I like Apple better I own almost all their products from a laptop, cell phone, and headphones. I wouldn’t switch over to Microsoft because I love how simple the user face is with Apple.

In March 2013 Under Armors rival Adidas was ranked second in the U.S. sportswear market. At this time Under Armor sales were primarily coming from male athletes, out of their $2.3 billion dollars in sales only $500 million of that was due to women’s apparel. After watching Adidas try to target their female market and fail Under Armors CEO Kevin Plank knew he had to do something to break into this female market segment. Plank launched a $15 million dollar campaign called “I Will What I Want” using a Concentrated Niche Segmentation. This campaign featured women who had struggled in their careers to be successful or had critics knocking them down, in the end the women had become successful. The campaign took off and ended up bringing in a 28% increase in women’s sales and 42% increase in traffic to Under Armors website.

4 important things to remember when implementing segmentation strategies:

• Consumers preferences may vary, so you need to focus on segments where the majority would be and not focus on the minority consumers that may like something completely different. If you target your larger market the campaign is likely to be more successful rather than focusing on smaller segments.
• You want to keep in mind the risk of cannibalization which is when a company has products that are similar to each other that you end up making them compete against each other. This can be bad for a company when they have two many selections of a certain product, sometimes its better to simplify the product line and only stick to a certain amount of options.
• Sales-cost trade-off is when a segmentation increases which makes sales increase because what you are offering aligns with more consumers. The trade-off to this is costs also go up because you are using a multi product strategy which is more expensive than focusing on one project.
• Differentiated Segmentation can work if you are trying to target multiple market segments with the goal of sharing the market in each of the segments.

A new market segment that I have recently noticed is companies running quick ads on a new popular app called Tik Tok. It is an app when kids, adults, and celebrities make 15 second videos typically dancing or acting out certain lines from movies. Walmart used the app during the holiday season to promote their in store app that will let you know where things are located making your shopping trip faster. A segmentation strategy I would use is reaching out to the influencers on the app and have them use the product in one of their videos. I think using someone who is popular on the app opposed to a celebrity will bring more success because they already have this fan base. When these influencers endorse something all of their followers feel the need to than rush out and pick it up. I know when I see someone on their using a new beauty product and in 15 seconds seeing the result it has I am quick to than go and purchase it.

What type of consumer are you? – I am an individual consumer since when I purchase things its to satisfy the needs and wants of myself.

What influences my buying decisions and how? – If it is something I truly need and can afford. I will price check household goods like toilet paper and paper towels to find who sells them for the cheapest price. If most of the goods I need are cheaper at one store verse another I will tend to buy all my items at that one location instead of shopping at multiple stores.

Which stage actually leads to your purchasing decisions? – The need stage is what leads to me purchasing something or adding it to my list of things I need to get.

When making a buying decision, how are you influenced by marketing research and marketing design? – When it comes to daily purchases like food and general needs I don’t tend to base my decisions off of how the packaging is marketed or how the product is advertised. On the other hand when it comes to spur of the moment purchases like an ad I see on Instagram for a new foundation or blanket something I don’t purchase regularly the way the product is marketed if it is in a sleek intriguing way I am more likely to purchase it or look deeper into the product. The same goes with large purchases like a new TV or video game, if they market it in a way that makes me feel like I am getting my moneys worth I am more likely to purchase it.

Do you experience any post-purchase behavior? – If I bought something spur of the moment and a couple days later regret I will tend to return the item this typically happens when I didn’t budget that expense. If its a product I purchased and really liked it will continue to repurchase that item. If its something I didn’t like I tend to just throw it away and never purchase it again and find something else that may work better.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.