Build-A-Bear Swot Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

By being the first to venture into the untapped market for hands-on customization of teddy bears, Build-A-Bear has established itself as a market leader. Most importantly, it is also believed that the Build-A-Bear brand is a competitive advantage.

Build-A-Bear’s success is derived from its retail concept where customers create their own stuffed animals from choosing the outer casing of the stuffed animal down to stitching it up, and personalizing it. This new interactive experience brings out the creativity and individuality of the customers and at the same time, allows them to have fun. Build-A-Bear is family-oriented and does not have age restriction, hence is an ideal place for family bonding. There is also a high level of customer service, which differentiates Build-A-Bear from its competitors.

Weaknesses

Due to the nature of the Build-A-Bear product, Build-A-Bear’s products are priced relatively more expensive than its product category competitors such as Toys ‘R’ Us. Thus, Build-A-Bear may be inaccessible to the lower income market. However, given the nature of Build-A-Bear products, it would not be advisable to compete based on pricing. Thus, more efforts have to be spent on other areas such as product offerings and promotion.

Although the interactive retail concept has given Build-A-Bear its competitive advantage, it also has a drawback, which is the process is time-consuming and would not be suitable for consumers with time constraint. Impulse purchase is also unlikely to work for Build-A-Bear’s products.

Since February 2004, Build-A-Bear have utilized a fully integrated marketing program that includes direct marketing, online advertising and television advertising in the United States. However, there has been minimal advertising carried out in Singapore, leading to low brand awareness. Although there are both company-generated and consumer-generated advertisements placed on YouTube, the context may not be suitable for Singapore and does not emphasize the differentiating point of Build-A-Bear. For example, the company-generated advertisements showcase the American children playing happily with their stuffed animals.

In Singapore, Build-A-Bear currently has only four stores. As compared to other retailers, which have stores island-wide, there is a limited accessibility to Build-A-Bear’s products. To increase the customer touch points, the number of stores