mba-560 - business plan

Anything, Anytime, Anyplace – Business Plan

Anything, Anytime, Anyplace

Business Plan

Thomas McDonald

Southern New Hampshire University


Executive Summary

Macy’s is currently one of the industry leaders of the traditional department store

industry. However, Macy’s still had some challenges in reaching customers Macy’s sought to

bring to their stores and ecommerce operations. Initial analysis determined that younger

customers, particularly Millennials and Younger Generation X customers were shopping less.

To unlock these issues and make products available regardless of location and even having

inventory in stores is the basis creating a new marketing concept to focus on this growing market

segment called Anything – Anytime – Anywhere.

The focus of the proposed business plan for Macy’s is to focus on our target customers by

gathering information through social media as to the items they are looking to buy and utilize

Omni-channel merchandising concepts to maximize store efficiency. In order to create a

marketing plan that successfully meets the business needs of the company, the branding, needs

and the financial aspects of the concept meets Macy’s Corporate Strategy.

As determined by analysis, Macy’s is well positioned to implement this Business Plan.

Macy’s core contingencies allow us to relate to the growing technological savvy of today’s

consumer, regardless of generation. As the customer changes their priorities in their shopping

needs and habits, changes to products and services will be needed in order to achieve goals to

this plan. By the periodic, continuous refining of this plan, marketing teams can set measurable

goals for our marketing plan, allowing it to evolve as feedback resets our priorities according to

based criteria.


Context

Initial Features of the service – Anything, Anytime Anyplace will implement social media

advertising of products and services that Macy’s provides from latest in today’s fashion to home

décor even items such as Furniture and Fitbits to social media savvy customers. Then in the

social media provides promotions such as sales can link the customer to the Macys.com site

where they can have information on how to buy it online and how they can use Buy Online,

Pickup in store to get the merchandise without having it shipped if the products are available in

the store. Or give the shopper an option to come to the store and shop (Walls, 2015). It can also

provide these customers with services like the bridal and baby registries and the Tuxedo Shop

(Macy’s, 2016). The key will be that these customers on select social media promotions get a

code and get a discount for utilizing the Social Media promotion that acts much like a coupon

discount. It will present this plan in a broad spectrum of social media sites from Facebook to

LinkedIn where retailers, their employees and their vendors along with celebrity endorsements

can allow our retailer to use social media and advertise to their followers.

Fit- Anything, Anytime, Anyplace will give Macy’s the best fit to a customer Macy’s is still

trying to reach successfully, these customers are in age 16 to 35 in particular those who

technologically savvy. Times and technology are beginning to change changed who actually

shops at Macy’s (Walls, 2015). In order to for Macy’s to receive the greatest benefit, the key is

that this business plan works both with other Macy’s promotions including seasonal promotions

like Thanks for Sharing during the Holidays and the Plenti multistore rewards program (Macy’s

2016). This will allow any Macy’s customer to utilize the benefits of this plan as well as the

Customer brought to Macy’s through this plan will be exposed to all the customer service


benefits Macy’s can offer (Macy’s, 2016). This will fit with Macy’s Customer Centric Corporate

Strategy (Macy’s, 2016). This allows Macy’s to gear business closer to a younger customer that

is more diverse and pricing savvy however marketing has to be better directed toward this new

consumer so they can utilize every service Macy’s has to offer while maintaining the long

standing Macy’s Customer Base.

Effectiveness – There are two main objectives that Anything, Anytime, Anyplace attempts to

achieve in creating customer confidence. The first, is to be able to allow the target consumer to

access Macy’s products geared through the use of social media and technological develops

geared to market products which our target customer will desire. The second is by utilizing the

Omni-channel merchandising strategy to acquire these products by using both the logistical

networks of the retailer but also those of the suppliers who can ship products directly. Macy’s

through the use of visual and virtual presentations create the evoked set of characteristics to

enable the consumer to make the consumer make purchase decisions that will enhance our

probability to return and continue using our services. (Perreau, 2015). The conclusion of the

augmentation of the idea is to be able to obtain the ability to provide products and services

beyond what any other retailer by means of utilizing all logistical channels available to get

merchandise to the customer regardless of time, or location (Rigby, 2011).

Defining Need

Target Market - Macy’s has had a long standing branding of being where people can able to

find affordable luxury and will be able to acquire their wanted merchandise through the use of its

Omni-channel merchandising strategy. The objective of implementing these capacities in the end

are to provide Macy’s the ability to have a competitive edge in its industry (Macy’s, 2016). The

utilization of the services and prior marketing plans has led to enhancement of sales with


established and more mature customers that have been the target customer for Macy’s for the

past twenty years. However, it has been noticed, in 2015, that sales had slowed (Moin, 2015). It

was apparent that two factors were involved in the slow down. Visitors and millennials have not

been shopping as much as they hoped for. With a tighter discretionary spending budget older

millennials and generation X customers who now have the largest buying power and needs were

spreading their shopping dollars based on their ability to shop effectively (Walls, 2016). These

customers are not coming to the Macy’s stores and online as much as believed. The objective

then needs to made to change the corporate mission towards the utilization of social media as an

effective marketing platform to create a new business plan with Anything, Anytime, Anyplace.

The objective will be to demonstrate to our new target customer through the utilization of social

media that the looks and substance of shopping at Macy’s fits their image and values which

means Macy’s can satisfy their needs.

Other Targets- In order to fulfill Macy’s Corporate Strategy, any business plan that has a

specific targeted customer must also be accessible to everyone that is marketed in the business

plan. Not only can any business plan anticipate customer buying metrics by a targeted customer,

but can help detect changes in buying in order demographics as well as the company as a whole.

As Macy’s is a company to which gift giving is a key part of the store business. Plan

accessibility to all customers is essential to promote the plan general success (Macy’s – 2016).

Needs - This part of process of identifying the customer needs and expectations. The situation

can be either a fulfillment of a functional need or being able to satisfy a social need. With our

Target Customers there are some of the most complex set of needs and wants often they will

have both the need for purchasing a needs items for function but will also want an item that is

popular by vendor branding or peer recognition (Perreau, 2015). We have a college bound


graduate student looking the latest Buffalo Jean to wear in class that they saw in magazine and

are looking to find before they go off to college. Macy’s places a social media ad on Instagram

advertising Buffalo Jeans and a discount if they mention the advertisement with a promo code

which greater satisfies the value criteria and reinforces the evoked set of preferences (Perreau,

2015). Often these same customers draw heavily on celebrity endorsement so if for example a

celebrity is a spokesperson for the INC line. Macy’s can adapt their advertising campaigns and

this could get our customers attention and provide an incentive for that customer to buy (Lea-

Greenwood, 2013). Anything, Anytime, Anyplace then takes that customer to Macys.com where

they can then locate the items and then possibly pick that item up at their local store. This social

interaction in the end results in increased customer satisfaction (Rigby, 2011). The result also

leads to increased positive eWOM (electronic word of mouth) which increases positive attention

to the retailer (Barnes, 2015).

Why - The main purpose behind the current Omni-channel and proposed Anything, Anytime,

Anyplace concepts are to be able to provide the shopper with as much opportunity to purchase

Macy’s products and those of their leased vendors at a time of their choosing then make

purchases electronically anyplace they like and set up deliveries based on when they need the

product and the location they wish to receive it at (Perreau, 2015). The customer that requires to

have versatility in their shopping choices which many customers today need will enjoy this

matter of convenience that allows them to utilize these services for products they use regularly

(Perreau, 2015). Then they have a further option can turn around and go store shopping as a

means to explore and discover new merchandise. For the retailer, this is the perfect and ideal

scenario that plays out currently with many Macy’s shoppers (Lisanti, 2012).

Strengths and Weaknesses


When seeking the potential of a business plan, we seek to be able determine the plans viability

by means of analyzing that business organization, its industry and the business environment it is

currently in. The analysis looks at both the organization and in our case the method of marketing

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threat to the success of the plan and the sustainability of

the organization.

Strengths

• Experienced Empowered Workforce - Macy's will be able to successfully augment the

Anything, Anytime, Anyplace, have to and are successful providing the full length services

involved in today's customer service environment throughout all of its retail channels through

having one of the most experienced workforces in the retail industry. The success of this

business plan will be the ability of company to train their associates and management in

providing these services and inform customers of their choice and provide the customer with the

best information available to make the best informed decisions (Vaux Halliday, 2010). These

same employees are empowered to make decisions to assist the customers in getting the best

quality and best value for their merchandise and services they purchase. The employees of

Macy’s are an integral part of improving on the perceptions customers have about the retailer

(Mullins, 2013).

• Making Better Connections – One of the aspects of this Business Plan is taking the

benefits Macy’s already gives to social media customers and give a sharper definition with the

Marketing of Anything, Anytime, Anyplace to the plans target customers DeMers, (2014). The

result of a focused social media campaign showing the products, services, amenities and the

those who shop at Macy’s will result in building better relationship with Millennial and

Generation X customers. Take this with positive interactions with staff and positive experiences


with the products Macy’s sells and you create a connection with the customer (Perreau, 2015).

These customers will in turn a give positive Word of Mouth will help the company’s bottom line

and give an endorsement edge over the competition (Halczak, 2015).

Weaknesses

• Extension of Sales Associate Duties- Associates can also lessen the effect of a

marketing plan, there are several causes for inefficiencies to happen, these include not enough

training, though Macy’s does do 3-5 hours of associate and manager training every year

(Gremler, 2008). The lack of knowledge and the lack of confidence associates had in a utilizing

all of the services Macy’s cab provide. The ability of Macy's employees to successfully perform

their duties can be limited by the inexperience of newer employees unaware to the extent of the

services they provide and the product knowledge needed to assist customers and create the

rapport necessary to complete and even enhance the customer shopping experience (Gremler,

2008). This is especially the case during peak sales periods, including Christmas where

temporary staff are hired for holiday sales. The amount of time employees may need to perform

logistical duties inside the store. The stress related to the requirement for associates to multi-task

despite managers telling associates to the contrary (Vaux Halliday, 2010). This concept requires

more focus on the products and services Macy's provides and will need better trained and

educated Managerial and Sales staff to make Anything, Anytime, Anyplace successful.

• Is it really working? – One of weaknesses of any marketing campaigns based on Social

Media is how is it really working and is anyone really see the tweet and Facebook ad and come

to the website or store and buying. The issue comes down what is a real percentage of viewers of

a Social Media ad (Whiting, 2014). A Facebook ad from Macy’s may be seen by millions but

you may have a very small amount of buyers that will actually buy those products. This could


give the impression that the ads are ineffective. However, the utilization of an effective Search

Engine Optimization (SEO) analytics will allow you to track the effect ad are having (Whiting,

2014). It is important note with Social Media, that more people who see your ad will provide

more opportunities to sell. Even a percentage of 1 of 2 percent of viewers of a Facebook ad

featuring a Trina Turk handbag could result in 250 to 500 units sold over the week of a

promotion that were not sold prior (Vaux Holliday, 2010). The key at least with those items we

can discount through a promotion is use the promo code use as a tracker and it will indicate to us

the actual effect of any placed advertisement on social media.

Affect (Opportunities Through Anytime, Anything, Anyplace))

• Making Macy’s a Place to Visit – One of the keys to a retailer being able to demonstrate

in this world of E-commerce and sales by click is that a store should not be just a place to just

buy. That going to a store can also be an event. (Loeb, 2016). Anything, Anytime, Anyplace can

help Macy’s transform even individual stores into places people can visit. This provided Macy’s

follows through and make their stores look more like a collection of individual shops. They can

do this from Fit Bit kiosks. The reintroduction to Coffee Shops, Blue Mercury boutiques.

Hosting special events like fashion shows. This business plan will need to let customers know of

the changes. Anything Anytime, Anyplace will cover those changes as well (Loeb, 2016).

• Competitive Advantage over Competition - The increasing competition in the national

as well as global marketplace are the largest threat to the success not just of this business plan

but of Macy’s itself. The fashion retail and the department store industry are becoming much

more competitive going into 2016 (Loeb, 2016). There two major factors involved in creating

this threat. First, is particularly the case with the amount of discretionary income reducing in

most customers’ cause of minimal increases of income and the increased numbers of products


and services they can buy (Macy’s, 2015). Anything, Anytime, Anyplace through the changes in

the social media presentation can demonstrate Macy’s capacity to get better value merchandise

and personal customer that all retail channels can provide that Ecommerce retailers like Amazon

cannot provide (Whiting, 2014). Then followed by the increasing amount of shoppers of all ages

buying online and going to stores that can fit either sensory sense of fulfillment or a value sense

of fulfillment (Loeb, 2016). Anything, Anytime, Anyplace can help meet those challenges by

showing the changes that Macys is working to improve the shopping experience as part of

marketing strategy.

Ethical Considerations

Customer Privacy – One of major issues when utilizing social media in case of a retailer

utilizing social media is retaining customer privacy of those who utilize social media as an

access to purchase goods and services. When used properly, it is a highly successful method for

consumers to research and then link. It is often the case where customers will express their likes

or dislikes about the retailer’s products, services, even pricing. However, when it comes to any

individual purchase, the quantity and the items purchased there is a need to maintain

confidentiality. Instances of adding customers’ information to media use and the sale of sales

data to private companies often leads to a compromising situation. But when that information is

hacked or voluntarily comprised in order to provide a third party selling information the breach

of contract caused can lead to customers being scared off and a long term loss of business

(Vinjamuri, 2011,).

Core Competencies


Omni-channel - Since 2012, The foundation for Macy’s as to their setting up their promotions

and setting for their marketing plans is the Omni-channel merchandising concept. It allows the

retailer to access merchandise from anywhere in the chains logistical network (Macy’s, 2015).

The potential to apply it to our Business Plan gives us the ability to acquire any item available

regardless of location. Macy’s is still in the learning process as to how to full provide the full

capacities of Omni-channel (Halczak, 2015). Our business plan will rely on the ability to

generate sales from all of Macys retail channels to which the utilization of Omni-Channel is vital

to the success of any future business plan (Halczak, 2015).

Business Partnerships – Macy’s has a long standing history of being able to partner with many

of the industry’s leading business and with a vary of specialty retailers in bring them in to sell

products (Macy’s, 2015). From vendors such as suppliers like Phillips-VanHeusen, Vanity Fair

Corporation and Peerless Clothing provide multiple brands and even provide direct from the

supplier merchandise on order allowing the retailer to maintain inventories for Brick and Mortar.

Specialty Retailers like Sunglass Hut, Finish Line, Lids and recently Best Buy operate shops

inside most Macy’s which allows Macy’s to utilize their supply chains to generate greater family

of business sales (Halczak, 2015).

Customer Engagement – Macy’s is able to begin a dialogue through the use of social media as

well as through their more conventional forms of marketing through media and through Emails

of being able to obtain information through the customer (Gasca, 2014). The result of this is

create a dialogue with the customer in order to ascertain their needs and determine the level of

satisfaction the customer has with the company. This competency has been increased due to the

ability to reach out to their customers via social media (Ashfar, 2014). Positive electronic word

of mouth (Ewom) about any product or service this retailer provides can allow to grow the


business of the retailer in terms of the products and services as well as level of customer

engagement the retailer provides (Whiting, 2014).

Brand Management- Macy’s has a great history of being able to create some of most well-

known Private Label brands in American retail; notwithstanding, Macy’s has a great history

bringing in fashion labels and iconic brands that establish Macy’s as the great American

Department Store (Macy’s, 2015). Macy’s Merchandising Group is responsible for great labels

like INC and Hotel Collection, Partnering with celebrities like Madonna for Material Girl, Thalia

Sodi for Thalia and Greg Norman for Tasso Elba. Then being a company through Bloomingdales

that introduced the world to Ralph Lauren, Exposed Tommy Hilfiger to a greater audience, and

brought into their kitchen specialty food retailer Stonewall Kitchen (Macy’s 2016). These and

other brands Macy’s is able to utilize them as both brands that are iconic brands but is also able

to bring in brands that can transcend style and practically that our target customer will utilize.

Pricing

Costs- For the average Corporation, there is monthly cost associated the use of individual sites,

for example Facebook charges $20,000/month for a marketing package that includes the tools

needed to set up everything Macy’s would need. It is needed to utilize several Social Media sites

like Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram even LinkedIn where individual employees within an

organization can customize information sharing tailored to their local stores (Barnes, 2015). An

initial monthly cost for a major retailer to market on social media will cost around $60,000 to

100,000 a month. Macy’s currently has principal exposure on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and

Twitter. It would be suggested to expand to career oriented sites like Linkedin and sites

frequented by this age group like Snapchat may serve Macy’s with this business plan. For a

Company like Macy’s though individual stores could market on their own to keep the marketing


centralized would have a dedicated marketing department dedicated to social media, and the

utilization of Social Media Marketing (SEM) (Lea-Greenwood, 2013). Search Engine

Optimization tools may already be in place tools like Google Analytics, but tools like Mooz and

Raven could help further develop an effective Marketing Strategy. This fixed cost between

companies vary. It would be estimated that cost would be about one to two million dollars

annually and would go under the marketing and promotions budget. Some costs can be absorbed

by the Vendors that can link their social media advertising with Macy’s especially those that use

celebrity endorsements to add prestige and personality draw but can cost the company more

depending on celebrity.

Pay- With a revenue stream of 28 Billion, even an additional investment of 4 to 6 million one-

time and an annual budget of 2-3 million in marketing, technological advancement and associate,

management training still requires a return in investment (Appendix A). The short term gains or

losses will be supplemented with the ability to obtain customer information about what the social

media customer is buying and how they may be spending. This is will determine future

investment towards social media. Though with some of Macy’s promotions such as Thanks For

Sharing and Shop for Cause where fee is incurred to give proceeds to charity for example our

program will require no additional cost to join.

Pricing – Most pricing in the department store fashion retail industry is generally based of retail

pricing set forth by those vendors who provide the retailer with the retail price which most lay

people will refer to as the regular price (Poloian, 2014). These prices set up what is called high-

low pricing strategy that is very similar to economy pricing strategy but uses in some cases as its

foundation high end retail pricing is based on a luxury pricing strategy (Mullins, 2013). With this

social media marketing plan, there would be no deviation for this. The key is to expose the social


media savvy to all of Macy’s promotions and the use of a special discount as an incentive driver

like Macy’s Wow Pass, or promoting Macy’s Credit and give a use your card pass is an

extension of pricing policies Macy’s has in place (Macy’s, 2016). Though depending on the

target customers and their perceived values of the products can vary depending on the product

and that products own target customer (Mullins, 2013).

Strategies - The main promotional strategy Anything, Anytime, Anyplace has two options. The

first will a company centric strategy that ties in with Macy’s regular promotions including

private events. The other is a vendor-customer centric strategy that ties with new vendor

promotions and with events that the customer may have in plans from vacation trips to weddings

to furnishing a new home or apartment (Poloian, 2014). The final result will most likely be a

combination of strategies to satisfy the needs of all parties involved the marketing and

purchasing processes. The result in the end will allow the Millennial and Generation X

customers to feel as though Macy’s is in tune to their wants and needs and gives them their

means to find and allocate their purchasing needs with our retailer.

Refinement

Criteria

After some preliminary analysis, we determined that the primary focus for our Anything,

Anytime, Anyplace strategic marketing campaign and business plan would concentrate primarily

on the use of social media for practically all of the advertising while leaving other media

campaigns to concentrate on promotions and events (Odden, 2012). Unlike many strategic social

media marketing plans, this plan focuses on those older millennial and generation X going from

school to career to creating homes and families.


It was decided in order to make an organizational fit we would concentrate all our media

expenditure for this campaign to focus on the one media the vast majority of our target customers

typically see most of the marketing directed towards them (Fontein, 2016). In order to be able to

determine the success of our campaign we must follow a certain set of guidelines to determines

first where our strategic plan starts as to the current amount of impact our target customers

already have in the company and all of their current sales and inventory metrics for the company,

store and even department (Kumar, 2012). What we are involved in is the creation of a strategic

monitoring system that will determine what marketing metrics we will have for this marketing

plan.

Depending on what publisher or trade magazine you read there can be five or as much of seven

different steps of the continual evaluation of marketing performance. Basically it is how we can

successfully monitor and evaluate our marketing performance (Mullins, 2013).

• Setting Standards – Think of this basically as where you set the goals for your Marketing

Plan to gain strategic control of our plan. This is where your objectives for where your marketing

focus is on for your target customers (Panagopoulos, 2008). Time frames are created based for

both financial as well as other Key Performance Indicators such as Customer Service to create a

balanced scorecard to measure success versus measurable goals (Mullins, 2013).

• Specifying the Necessary Feedback Data - The information needed to determine to what

extent our strategic marketing plan is successful. Data can include quantitative data that includes

daily and weekly sales statistics as well as daily ad views on social media. Qualitative daily

information can include likes on social media as well as surveys generated through social media

and email communication (McDonald, 2011).


• Data Acquisition - Collecting the information concerning of all sales, especially those

that are impacted by the response to our strategic marketing plan, Anything, Anytime, Anyplace.

This includes Data analytics can be generated to produce reports to measure store wide results

including balanced scorecards and demographic results to indicate the effect on product and

service sales (Mullins, 2013).

• Data Evaluation and Assessment - explaining the gap between and given standards of

performance over time and from the inception of our plan. This will give a measurement to

degree of impact our plan has had to all company metrics.

• Taking Corrective Action - creating changes to the plan in order to improve results, this

includes changing campaigns and promotions in development (Mullins, 2013).

In setting standards, we set up performance data, dashboards are set up to monitors daily

progress of that performance data such as daily sales this year to last and gross margin. With

social media, statistics like likes are counted for each ad placed in social media. Comments are

also recorded and categorized based the level of customer recognition (Fontein, 2016). The key

here is also to monitor the number of followers using discount codes from our social media ads

and monitors customers’ confidence data. The primary measurement will be the profitability of

the return of investment (ROI) of the plan as the amount of the increase of sales versus the

increases of costs, including any additional training and cost of new software for example

(Kumar, 2012).

To what is specified as necessary feedback data we look at metrics such a sale by

quantity, items sold, as well as where these items are being sold locations, from surveys and

from customers’ commentaries on social media to determine the level of service being received


and what products that the company are not providing are being desired by our customers

(Mullins, 2013). Obtaining the needed data, we will utilize our My Client Customer Relations

Management system as well as other analysis engines including Neilsen which gives the retailer

information pertaining to those who live in their local trading areas. For the use of social media,

we can utilize the analytic applications which the various social media sites like Facebook and

Twitter provide to their business customers (Odden, L., 2012).

The evaluation of this data includes the impact of the social media marketing by means of search

engine optimization which monitors. The result of this is creation of a quarterly report detailing

resulting results. From these results an action plan as to what modifications are going to be mode

to the marketing plan and if any contingencies had to be followed. Everything from evaluating

sales by category, the products we were selling to our target customers, to the impact that various

social media are having on our campaign face evaluation (Rogers, 2012). With every season and

any special events, the information provided on the impact the marketing plan. Once the action

plan is confirmed then the process marketing evaluation is renewed.

Feedback Loops

The key to be able to successfully determine the long-term success of any organizational plan.

Both Marketing and Business plan requires multi-level evaluations in order to determine the

amount of success the company is in improving store metrics including Key Products indicators.

The Key Product Indicators (KPI) include sales, customer satisfaction of product and satisfaction

of customer service Our plan will examine and evaluate the effectiveness of this strategic

marketing plan based on several criteria that cover all aspects of a balanced scorecard.


Time – Time based evaluations can give us the broad picture of how any marketing plan is

having towards the financial benefits it brings in improving or effecting the company’s bottom

line other Key Performance Indicators (KPI). They can also determine the effect on key families

of business that this program could effectively target itself to. Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly

and Seasonal reports can allow Macy’s to reset our Marketing Plan based on all data collected

over each type of period (Mullins, 2013).

Promotion- Each sale that Macy’s promotes is often standardized to their marketing calendar.

Any Sales Evaluation can look at the impact our Marketing plan has to each sale both in sales but

in the level of customer services as well. This type of loop may not produce immediate change

especially to sale that occur in a monthly basis but quarterly changes can be made to improve

plan performance based on this criteria (Odden. 2012).

Family of Business- One of the key evaluations that can take place is to monitor the effect on

families of business within an organization that could face changes due to the marketing plan.

These families like Home Goods and Furniture for example would be looked at closely to see if

our target customers were increasing their shopping habits cause of the campaign (Rogers,

2012).

Product- Evaluations that are when it comes to products can take on both physical sales as well

as product quality. The effect these have on the bottom line can be measured both by actual sales

as well as by customer service survey and social media comment analysis. Key word searches

from Google will dictate how the product is received by our customers as well as allow us to

follow up if any product issues arise (Rogers, 2012).


Customer Service – The most qualitative of market analysis we monitor when it comes to our

marketing plan. Periodic evaluation of any marketing plan will include the positive and negative

impacts of customer service. The ultimate success of this or any marketing plan in contingent on

the both the acceptance of the plan with Sales Associates and their ability to be motivated to

succeed (Panagopoulos, 2008). Customer Feedback that is analyzed on quickly as a daily basis

can give the retailer the ability to monitor their associates motivations on this marketing plan.

The key with a social media based marketing strategy is that we begin with listening to our target

customers by providing them a place to reach us (Mullins, 2013). We then can suggest choices

based on the initial feedback our customers who then influence both those who follow and listen

to them as well as influence us in our product assortments. We can then develop a great

consensus of the products our customers are looking for. As we monitor customer perceptions

then we can succeed with continuous evaluation (Ryan, 2012, Chap 8-9).

Other metrics-

There are two other factors which we should follow in order to get a complete picture

both deal with the location of the customer. These metrics refer to where they live and to where

they purchase, including which stores are performing well and receive the product this is will

allow us to see the impacts of the Omni-channel merchandising concept has on our marketing

plan and allow us to adapt our marketing plan towards the changes occurring in our buying

public and focus on improving all retail channels (Ryan, 2012).


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Appendix A:

Financial Analysis and Fiscal Projections - Income Statement (2015-2018)

Income Statement FY 2018 FY 2017 FY 2016 FY 2015 FY 2014

Sales and Interest Income $ 28,153.02 $ 27,466.36 $ 26,993.96 $ 27,544.86 $ 28,107.00

Cost of Goods Sold $ 17,250.00 $ 17,000.00 $ 16,441.43 $ 16,863.00 $ 16,863.00

Other Expenses $ 8,200.00 $ 8,000.00 $ 7,900.00 $ 8,250.00 $ 8,442.00

Total Oper Exp. Ex Dep and Amor $ 25,450.00 $ 25,000.00 $ 24,341.43 $ 25,113.00 $ 25,305.00

EBITDA $ 2,703.02 $ 2,466.36 $ 2,652.54 $ 2,431.86 $ 2,802.00

Depreciation and Amortization $ 1,075.00 $ 1,050.00 $ 1,020.00 $ 1,010.00 $ 1,036.00

Earning before interest and taxes $ 1,628.02 $ 1,416.36 $ 1,632.54 $ 1,421.86 $ 1,766.00

Interest Expense $ 390.00 $ 365.00 $ 325.00 $ 350.00 $ 395.00

Earning Before Taxes $ 1,238.02 $ 1,051.36 $ 1,307.54 $ 1,071.86 $ 1,371.00

Taxes $ 825.00 $ 775.00 $ 740.00 $ 605.00 $ 864.00

Net Income $ 413.02 $ 276.36 $ 567.54 $ 466.86 $ 507.00

Earning Per Share $ 5.30 $ 4.65 $ 5.25 $ 4.70 $ 4.30

Dividends PerShare $ 1.31 $ 1.22 $ 1.14 $ 1.10 $ 1.19

Book Value Per Share $ 20.59 $ 19.53 $ 18.35 $ 16.35 $ 19.07

Stock Price $ 64.20 $ 56.50 $ 50.00 $ 40.50 $ 59.41

Shares Outstanding $ 322.50 $ 330.00 $ 335.00 $ 345.50 $ 355.20

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