Satisfy the Retailers or the Consumers?

Clique Pens Assignment                                                                 Kirti Adlakha

My Recommendations:

Satisfy the retailers or the consumers?

Can satisfy both the retailers and the customers.

Satisfy the retailers by avoiding empty pegs, not handling the inventory tightly, provide Just in Time (JIT) delivery of inventory. The case specifies that there were many inconsistencies in promotion and pricing in different retail stores and Clique can standardize the approach which fits in well with all kinds of retailers.

Satisfy the customers by differentiating its products through product innovations/attractive packaging.

Can we implement a price increase as Logan Chen (Marketing, VP) outlined? If not, can we deploy funds that allow us to gain market share by providing discounts directly to the customer, but still allow the retailer to make acceptable profit? And is it that the advertising does nothing to help in this war?

As per the case Clique used social media but the low consumer interest in this category made it a very minor part of the marketing effort.

Only 1.3% of consumers used Coupons lower than most of the consumer products.

Product Innovations and Changes in packaging increased the cost of production by 10%

Salespeople were making their own separate deals with the buyer to gain an order.

I think Clique pens need to allocate more funds towards acquiring another brand and thus creating Barriers of Entry in the market so as to gain Market Share.

Right now it seems that the Supplier is the King but having a Monopoly would help Clique to gain a high market share and will take the control out of the supplier’s hands.

Will customers really perceive higher value benefit from lower price? Can value difference be discerned with the crazy pricing out there – one competitor with three pack for $2.56 versus two pack at $1.78?

As per the case it seems that the customers are not very price sensitive and they did not shop around. Only 1.3% of customers used the coupons. It seems that the customer do not perceive higher value benefit from lower price but are motivated by attractive product packaging and product differentiation.