Week 3 EOC...Making Money for Good

In doing research to find a company that donates part of their proceeds to help out a cause, I found the company called FleasKnees. They sell designer T-shirts with different expressions on them. Their sole purpose is to raise money for animal rescues and no-kill shelters. They are trying to have a voice for our furry friends that do not have a voice for themselves. Their newest line of shirts is imprinted with the phrase, “Puppy Mills Bite,” and for every one of these shirts they sell; FleasKnees will donate $5.00 to the Puppies Aren’t Products campaign. This campaign exposes the link between pet stores and puppy mills, and encourages people to adopt and never stop, for the dogs. This is close to my heart because I bought my English bulldog from a pet store in my neighborhood. My dog got deathly ill from the pet store, which cost me a lot of money in vet bills. After returning to her store many times to complain I realized that many of her dogs were sick and reported her to my vet. I later found out the owner was purchasing dogs from puppy mills. Since then she has been closed down thankfully. Modern Dog magazine writer and creator Mary-Jo Dionne supports this company especially after she wrote an award winning article titled, “Puppy Hell”, which was all about puppy mills (http://network.bestfriends.org/campaigns/puppymills/13698/news.aspx). The t-shirts made by this company are being sold at retailers from Vancouver, Canada to New York.  Animal lovers like Oprah, Jessica Biel, Martha Stewart and many other celebrities support the company FleasKnees and are involved in making it happen. Their goal for the New Year is to sell over 20,000 t-shirts. I personally went on their website to purchase a t-shirt. We all got to help out our furry friends that cannot help themselves.

week 3...EOC..My Demographics

I am a Generation Xer as they call us because for one I was born between 1965 to 1976. I personally was not one of the first latchkey kids, since my mother was a stay at home mom and my father worked. They claim that there is an increased parental divorce rate but, my parents did not divorce. They say, “Generation X seeks success, but is less materialistic: they prize experience, not acquisition.” (Pg.73 Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation).This I feel is very true. I tend to always be thinking of how I can succeed and have always prized the many experiences I have had along the way.  Generation Xers that are now parents think family first, putting children and their parents first and careers second. I personally have never had children but my siblings and parents come first. The book says we are a skeptical bunch when it comes to marketing and tend to research products before we purchase and prefer quality over quantity. This is completely me, I am always researching products first and I always am skeptical of what is being offered. We tend to be more educated which is true. I myself have two degrees and am working on a third. Most of my friends went to college and have continued on to further their educations in some way or another.  Like the baby boomers the Generation X is spending more carefully with the growing economic pressures. What Charles Schwab says about the Generation X being saddled with debt or living on tight budgets is completely true(Pg.73 Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). At this point saving for retirement seems unimaginable. I think our approach at this time is like what Charles Schwab suggests is by paying down student loans and trying to put our money in high yield accounts. Whatever it may be for Generation X to have a retirement plan is different than that of the baby boomers had and is going to have to be way different from the Millennials Generation Y).

EOC week 2 Boston Consulting Group- Video Games

The video game industry as a whole is down. After doing a BCG growth analysis on the video game market the top three front runners like the Nintendo Wii, the Microsoft Xbox 360, and the Sony Play station 3 all have plummeting sales. According to the NPD Group sales on the Sony Playstation 3 fell 59%(http://venturebeat.com/2009/07/16/video-game-sales-plunge-for-the-fourth-month-in-a-row/). Making it the dog.  The Nintendo Wii sales inflated but is it over(http://news.cnet.com/8301-13772_3-10396932-52.html). Making it a big question mark because it could come back. The Xbox 360 is suppost to boost hardware and software sales through the end of the year(http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/peripherals/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=227900618). Making it more of a cash cow. But all in all people are buying less games and playing their old ones because of the economy. The major players need to lower their prices of games.

Week 1 EOC....great customer service

My greatest customer service experience just happened. I went to the Apple store to check out the new iPad. I was in the store 15 minutes and no one checked on me and I couldn’t get anyone’s attention because it was so busy. I finally left because they were not concerned with me at all. I know the demand for Apple products is high but they should still care about the consumer. I drove to Best Buy and went in to their iPad display. I wasn’t in there two minute without being approached by a really nice sales associate. He spent a lot of time with me answering my many questions. I have always had this type of experience with them. “Obviously customer value and customer satisfaction are key building blocks for developing and managing customer relationships,” (page 7 Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). Every time I go to Best Buy I am always treated as a valuable customer and I leave feeling my needs are met. The guy even told me they are working on and marketing to the consumers needs from the moment they walk in the door. Guess what I did not plan on buying the iPad that day and I did!