Tag Archives: Margins

How should retailers deal with the new “frugal consumer”

Posted on October 5, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (Oct 4, 2011) describes the emergence of the frugal consumer who buys what they need, focus on promotion purchases, avoid premium products, clip coupons and combine shopping trips to save on gas. The impact of … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Cost, frugal consumer, Loyal Customers, Margins, Quality, Survival, Trends | Leave a comment

How did Amazon manage to price the Kindle Fire for $ 199 ?

Posted on October 1, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (Oct 3, 2011 edition) suggests that Amazon’s new Fire tablet’s amazing $ 199 price point may be related to its smaller screen but also subsidy from potential margins from sale of toys, diapers and electronics. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Amazon Fire, competition, Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, Growth, Margins, Retail, Service, Supply Chain | 1 Comment

Mishandled Missioni line at Target.com and Impact

Posted on September 15, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (Sept 14, 2011) describes the Target specific Missoni line offered at Target for a fraction of the price that it regular line is sold at Bergdorf Goodman ($ 40 vs $ 12,000). The … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Demand Surge, Design, Margins, Retail, Service | Leave a comment

Retailers compete by offering exclusive plants

Posted on April 28, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal (April 27, 2011) article describes exclusive plants offered by Lowe’s and Home Depot as they compete for customer spend. For every $ 1 spent on plants, customers are reported to spend an additional $ 3 on … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Loyal Customers, Margins, Retail, Service, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Apparel retailers masking price increases

Posted on April 23, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (23 April 2011) describes attempts by retailers to carefully choose price increases by type of apparel in an effort to manage the impact of cost increases. Some of the strategies listed include changing from 50 … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Apparel, Consumers, Cost, Margins, Retailers, Suppliers | Leave a comment

Brick and Mortar Retailers urge sales tax collection by etailers

Posted on March 18, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (March 17, 2011) describes a move by retailers such as WalMart and Target to force internet merchants to collect sales tax – a much needed source of revenue for struggling states. The move has resulted … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Ecommerce, Inventory, Margins, Service, Sustainable | Leave a comment

Electronic Component Suppliers for the iPad but OEMs too

Posted on March 4, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street journal article (March 4, 2011) describes an interesting global supply chain issue for electronic component suppliers like Toshiba, Samsung and LG Display (they supply memory chips or screens). These companies supply components used by Apple for their … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, Demand Surge, Global, Margins, Outsourcing, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

New retail outlets for book publishers – apparel, hardware stores

Posted on February 28, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 28, 2011) describes book publishers use of apparel retailers (Marc Jacobs, Kitson, Urban Outfitters), hardware stores (Lowe’s Pro Bass Shops) as outlets for book sales. The decline of Borders, and the increased focus on … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, Margins, Service, Supply Chain, Trends | Leave a comment

Commodity Trader Glencore’s role in the global supply chain

Posted on February 27, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (February 27, 2011) describes the role of Glencore, a commodity trading company. Glencore provides raw materials supply to OEMs (ArcelorMittal, Sony, Chevron etc) from raw materials suppliers, managing the risk of weather, price … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Global, Margins, Reliability, Risk, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Choosing the Apple option or the Google option – a quandry for publishers

Posted on February 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (February 21, 2011) summarizes two choices for publishers wanting electronic magazine sales – go through the iTunes store and pay Apple 30 % and get no consumer information, or go through Google and … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, Margins, Service, Supply Chain | Leave a comment