Build-a-Bear Case Study
Build-A-Bear Workshop Case Study
1. Which of the marketing management concepts covered in this chapter best describes Build-A-Bear Workshop?
The marketing concept within the marketing management concepts is the one that best describes Build-A-Bear. The marketing concept, which is the “marketing management philosophy which holds that achieving organisational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively than competitors do” (Kotler, 2011), best describes the Build-A-Bear Workshop because they are focused on the needs of their customers and by creating and building relationships with their customer base. This is evident, as Maxine Clark, Founder & CEO, says ‘our concept is based on customisation’ (Kotler, 2011) and puts herself on the ‘frontline’ and asks her customers to email her with ideas and concepts that they have and believe could improve their product, while trying to answer to all the emails she receives.
2. How does Build-A-Bear contrast with traditional toy shops and what accounts for their sales growth in the face of declining toy sales generally? What new skills will Soren and his employees have to learn if they are to develop the Build-A-Bear operation?
Build-A-Bear contrasts with traditional toy shops because they are a business within the toy industry that allows their customers to ‘personalise’ the bears that they build, whereas traditional toy shops would sell toys and electronics which are pre-designed and made. The Build-A-Bear also offers their customers an ‘experience’ by allowing their customers to be able to design and personalise their bears to what they want, which has become an ever growing trend for all sorts of toys and gadgets. The fact that they offer their customers the ‘experience of building and customising a toy’ (Kotler, 2011)can be seen as accounting for their sales growth, while the rest of the industry are facing decline because
1. Which of the marketing management concepts covered in this chapter best describes Build-A-Bear Workshop?
The marketing concept within the marketing management concepts is the one that best describes Build-A-Bear. The marketing concept, which is the “marketing management philosophy which holds that achieving organisational goals depends on determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively than competitors do” (Kotler, 2011), best describes the Build-A-Bear Workshop because they are focused on the needs of their customers and by creating and building relationships with their customer base. This is evident, as Maxine Clark, Founder & CEO, says ‘our concept is based on customisation’ (Kotler, 2011) and puts herself on the ‘frontline’ and asks her customers to email her with ideas and concepts that they have and believe could improve their product, while trying to answer to all the emails she receives.
2. How does Build-A-Bear contrast with traditional toy shops and what accounts for their sales growth in the face of declining toy sales generally? What new skills will Soren and his employees have to learn if they are to develop the Build-A-Bear operation?
Build-A-Bear contrasts with traditional toy shops because they are a business within the toy industry that allows their customers to ‘personalise’ the bears that they build, whereas traditional toy shops would sell toys and electronics which are pre-designed and made. The Build-A-Bear also offers their customers an ‘experience’ by allowing their customers to be able to design and personalise their bears to what they want, which has become an ever growing trend for all sorts of toys and gadgets. The fact that they offer their customers the ‘experience of building and customising a toy’ (Kotler, 2011)can be seen as accounting for their sales growth, while the rest of the industry are facing decline because