Family Furniture
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
A. Competitors’ Strategy
A look at Family Furniture’s competition requires us to take a look at some primary and secondary threats. Primary threats to Family Furniture include Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and IKEA. Secondary threats include independent furniture stores, big box stores, Costco and Sam’s, and the Internet websites.
Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn are similar in their market strategy and target audience and both have locations in the area Family furniture compete in. Both sell higher end contemporary furniture and have great name recognition as a national chain and portray an image of providing good service, high quality products, and sell a lifestyle. They are extremely successful in portraying their product in a lifestyle of casual sophistication that their target audience aspires for and is drawn to. Their weakness tends to be in the form of price, especially with college students, recent grads and first-time homeowners. I have heard of a number of people who visit these stores to get ideas and go elsewhere to purchase something similar for a substantial savings.
IKEA is also viewed as a primary threat by Family furniture, despite being 125 miles away. IKEA’s are so large, catering to families with children’s play areas and food courts that it is an “event” to go there. People are willing to travel great distances to purchase furniture and Cheryl, the owner of Family Furniture, has learned that some of her customers have been driving to shop there. IKEA caters to a large group of people and their vision, per the IKEA website, “is to create a better everyday life for many people…by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.” Their biggest weakness reside in their distance from where Family Furniture competes and because they target the masses with low prices they may be viewed as having lower end and lower
A. Competitors’ Strategy
A look at Family Furniture’s competition requires us to take a look at some primary and secondary threats. Primary threats to Family Furniture include Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and IKEA. Secondary threats include independent furniture stores, big box stores, Costco and Sam’s, and the Internet websites.
Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn are similar in their market strategy and target audience and both have locations in the area Family furniture compete in. Both sell higher end contemporary furniture and have great name recognition as a national chain and portray an image of providing good service, high quality products, and sell a lifestyle. They are extremely successful in portraying their product in a lifestyle of casual sophistication that their target audience aspires for and is drawn to. Their weakness tends to be in the form of price, especially with college students, recent grads and first-time homeowners. I have heard of a number of people who visit these stores to get ideas and go elsewhere to purchase something similar for a substantial savings.
IKEA is also viewed as a primary threat by Family furniture, despite being 125 miles away. IKEA’s are so large, catering to families with children’s play areas and food courts that it is an “event” to go there. People are willing to travel great distances to purchase furniture and Cheryl, the owner of Family Furniture, has learned that some of her customers have been driving to shop there. IKEA caters to a large group of people and their vision, per the IKEA website, “is to create a better everyday life for many people…by offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them.” Their biggest weakness reside in their distance from where Family Furniture competes and because they target the masses with low prices they may be viewed as having lower end and lower