Throckmorten Furniture Essay Example for Free

Throckmorten Furniture Essay Question # 1 Before the customer buys a product that is very important to him and is quite expensive he will go through a process. This process commences when the customer feel a sort of deprivation, a motive to buy that commodity. Once that motive becomes more intense it becomes a drive and forces him to take a course of action as to attain the product. So now the customer’s starts gathering information about the good he wants to buy. After that he will weight the pros and cons of all the alternatives he could think of as to decide upon the best possible alternative. After he is confident about his decision, with the support of his findings, he will actually make the purchase. The process doesn’t stop quite yet the consumer will also experience a post purchase satisfaction or dissatisfaction as per his experience with the product he bought. If he feels that his money spent was well spent then he will spread positive word of mouth about the product and where he got it from and hence become a loyal customer. Else, he will provide negative publicity for the company and its products and this in turn will stain the image of the company. Likewise to the above stated process our consumers who buy furniture will also go through the same experience. The need to buy the furniture can be aroused from many sources like a magazine. If the consumer sees a magazine in which there is a living room which is so nicely decorated he might feel that his own living room isn’t good enough and feels that he also has to upgrade. Nevertheless the drive to get new furniture could also be building up in the consumer for many years but due to the fact that he couldn’t afford it, the barrier coming in between him and his purchase. The need arousal for the furniture can be countless depending on the personality types of different consumers. After the urge to get the new furniture is strong the customer will go to various sources to collect information on the furniture type. He will pay more attention to advertisement which emphasizes the benefit of a particular type of furniture material. He will also seek advice from friends and family as he feels that their advice is more â€Å"original† as there is nothing in it for them if they recommend a particular furniture type. Whereas if the sales person of a particular store recommends the same thing to the customer he would look at it with more skepticisms as he feel that there is something in it for the sales person a commission or a bonus. Hence the customer always looks towards friends and family for the best possible advice. At times some of the members in the family are opinion leaders who the consumer thinks knows everything and will help him make the right decision. Nevertheless, the internet is also a very popular source for seeking information in this present day and age. With just a click the consumer can get all the possible information about the best raw material, the best prices, etc. the reason why the consumers goes to such a length to seek information is that he has no idea about furnitures. He wants to make the best decision but for this he first needs to educate himself. The consumers will evaluate furniture of varying stores keeping in mind the image of the store, the image of the brand, sales of the furniture piece, comparative advantage of the brand with competition, etc. After the various brands have been compared the time comes to make the final decision. It’s logical to assume that the consumer will select that brand which has the highest rating on the criteria’s that are most important to him. After this the consumer will realize how good or bad his decision was after the furniture’s being used. If he feel that the furniture looks and feels good and friends and relatives has showered him with praises on his decision then he will be delighted with his judgment. Else he will just be stuck with something because he spent a lot of money on it. Question # 2 Throckmorten Furniture has established itself as a unique designer and expensive store. It aims to cover the upper –middle class. Its furniture is expensive but nevertheless it enhances the prestige of the customer. The furniture is meant to satisfy the consumer’s emotional desire of having a unique one of its kind product. Throckmorten Furniture provides its consumers the benefit of its products uniqueness and exclusiveness which is provided by the furniture fabulous shape and design and durable quality. The consumers know that if they buy the furniture from this store they will be getting something more than furniture and that very fact becomes their motive to buy from Throckmorten. Furthermore, the services that Throckmorten provides to its consumers have given it the edge of retaining and further attracting consumer. Throckmorten Furniture feels that the consumers are the most valuable asset which they have to take care of that is why they have always stayed proactive and hired a well equipped sales force which knows how to treat their customers. The corporation follows the marketing principle that is why it makes the furniture types that the consumers would like to see in their houses. Their constant endeavor to strive for excellence has provided them with an edge that makes it so popular. Throckmorten Furniture is able to provide this unique value to their customers by continuously focusing on the quality of its products, may it be raw material, work in process or finished goods Throckmorten has always tried to make the process more efficient by reducing wastages but in that attempt not compromising on the products quality. Quality is very important for this company and it knows that very well that is why they have quality control at each part of the process. Throckmorten Furniture provides the service value to its consumer by spending a lot of money in hiring the right salesperson. They have places a handsome amount of money in the training of their sales staff as well. Question # 3 Throckmorten can offer its customers guarantee for their furniture. The customers can get a money back or exchange for their furniture if they are not satisfied. This will decrease the fear that normally creeps into consumers’ mind when they buy such expensive furniture that â€Å"they would be stuck with it even if they don’t like it†. This would be a unique value that the company would be providing to its customers and would definitely give them an edge as far as competition is concerned. Doing this will be a bit more complicated as now the corporate would have to examine the furniture to see that’s it not damaged and will also have to tackle fraudulent claims by some customers who want to misuse this facility. This after sales service would prove to the customers that Throckmorten is very confident about its products. Not many furniture companies would be willing to take such a step and that is the very fact that would lead to positive publicity for Throckmorten. Question # 4 Promotion of the product is very important for the furniture industry as the consumers have little knowledge about varying furniture types they maybe scared of making a purchase decision. So it’s the job of the industry to educate them of the specification of this industry. As various survey indicate the customers likes the experience of shopping for furniture they find it enjoying but nonetheless when the point comes to make the final decision they just feel that they aren’t ready for that. The loss they would experience is too immense, so this is why the furniture industry has to show the consumers how easy the task really is. The home furnishing council print advertisement was a fantastic way to put the consumer at ease. After reading it the consumer feels that buying new furniture isn’t that difficult or scary. Hence the company should focus on promoting the product. The more the customers see the print advertisement, the more familiar they will become with the brand. This will lead to the creation of a sort of bond that would compel the customer to buy from that particular store as they feel that the brand has to be good as they have â€Å"heard† of it a lot. For instance, if the customer seeks unique design in exclusive magazines if they like it they will be bound to buy it. Hence the power of mass media should not be under estimated. The company should therefore promote its furniture in all the right places, as it tend to fulfill the requirement of the upper class it cant just advertise in any magazine but only exclusive ones which their target audience views. The same goes with TV ad’s the advertisement should be placed in between those TV soaps that are viewed by the target market. Additionally Personal Selling of the product should also be focused by training the sales person as to how to interact with clients. The salesperson shouldn’t pressurize the client yet he should give them the time and space they desire. The placement of the furniture, the store layout and environment should also be given due consideration as these are the elements that are self speaking prompting element for Throckmorten Furniture. But, the marketer should always remember that they shouldn’t overdue their promotion efforts. If they flood the consumers with varying sorts of promotion efforts than that would just lead to the waste of their efforts as they wouldn’t notice them. Moreover, nowadays   with the TiVo and other digital devices the consumers can easily block the marketers efforts hence they need to be more clever in making a promotional appeal that is short yet effective, that’s the key to success! References: Kotler , Philip , Armstrong, Gary (2007). Principles of Marketing,.Prentice Hall; 12 edition. Schiffman , Leon , Kanuk, Leslie (2006). Consumer Behavior .Prentice Hall; 9 edition . Blythe , Jim (1997). The Essence of Consumer Behaviour (Essence of Management Series) . Prentice Hall PTR.