Marketing strategies

GR011165

Week - 9

NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE

Marketing Strategies - 202146 - CRN105 -Clarke

Date: 08/29/2021

The 4 Ps for your product/service

Product

Macy’s as a departmental store a wide range of products. It has apparel for women, men, kids, and juniors inclusive of plus sizes. The company also has bed and bath products such as beddings, linen, mattresses, home essentials, etc. They also offer beauty products, hair, and cosmetics, fragrances, etc. Additionally, Macy's provides handbags and accessories, watches, and jewelry. The company even has gears and strollers for babies, costume party wear, backpacks, games, and toys for kids. They have kitchen essentials, furniture, dinnerware, luggage, and home furnishings. They offer personal stylist services that find the perfect looks for each occasion which particularly focuses on women which enhances brand loyalty. Macy’s products contain the most popular brands such as Adidas, Calvin Klein, Levi’s, and Gucci (Bhasin, 2019). Even with the expanded E-commerce platform, Macy’s will be offering the same products.

Price

Macy’s has diverse products and thus the price strategy will vary as part of the company’s marketing mix. However, the prices will be quite reasonable to go along with the high-quality products and services offered. In addition, the e-commerce platforms will provide our customers with numerous clearance sales, discounts, daily deals, coupons, and specials. They will also offer customers the benefits of shopping apparel for kids by prices such as under the categories of under $25, $20, etc.

Place

Macy’s already has numerous stores across different states in the U.S. It also has a robust distribution channel that is inclusive of corporate offices, partially-owned stores, and fully-owned stores, leased stores, and a great logistic network. Since we are focusing on expanding the E-commerce platforms, we propose a reduction of Macy's physical stores. Therefore, some of the stores especially those in remote areas with few customers will be closed down, or leased out. This will focus most of the company's efforts on building a strong e-commerce channel that can reach the target audience via the internet.

Promotion

Macy’s should aim at promoting its products using marketing emails. With online registries, it implies that Macy’s has sufficient details about some of its customers. The company can therefore pioneer highly personalized product recommendation emails based on the past order value, purchase history, age, location, on-site browsing, and gender of the customer.

Macy’s should also ask customers to review and rate their products. This will help recommend the products to other people and it will also help make improvements on the ones with low ratings. This will be a great strategy since most people are influenced into buying a product based on its ratings and reviews. In addition, Macy’s should incorporate a points-based loyalty program that is linked to reviews. Also, the review writers can be entered into raffles or they can be offered a small discount or coupons for their work.

Macy’s account holders should receive rewards for hash tagging or sharing photos, following Macy’s on different social media platforms, referring their friends to Prime membership, etc. Through the provision of incentives for such actions and managing to connect all customers to prime accounts, Macy's can collect more user data, experience more customer engagement, and increase the rates of purchase as well as the average order values.

Promotion Mix Currently in Use

Macy’s has an effective promotions strategy for its products and services via the internet, print media, radio, and TV. It has a vivid vision and mission that focus on the delivery of a great shopping experience with fashion brands, unique merchandise, involving online sites, and interesting stores, etc. on its website. Macy’s employs various promotion modes such as customer activities, advertising, public relations, and merchandising in an attempt to increase brand awareness and increase profitability. Additionally, Macy's can maximize its online presence by the use of the electronically available consumer services in its websites such as store maps, online registries, and demonstration of its entire product line. Macy’s also holds an annual thanksgiving parade (Marshall & Morreale, 2017, p. 41). 

Impact of the Pandemic on the 4P’s

Covid-19 has influenced many businesses across the globe and Macy's is no exception. According to Seetharaman (2020, p.102173), "Most countries of the world have imposed restrictions on social congregations or even people working close to each other". Macy’s has been forced to shift to online marketing and it is currently using an Omni-channel technique. The product marketing mix has not been affected much because Macy’s still provides the original products. However, this is subject to future changes depending on variations in consumer needs and preferences. Also, with a new focus on millennials, products may be produced to better suit the people aged 16-34 years of age. In terms of pricing, Macy’s seeks to stick to the same prices but with certain offers especially because customers tend to think that a price reduction is caused by a reduction in quality. For place marketing mix, Macy’s will focus more on building a bigger online platform and gradually reduce the stores because of the set rules about social distancing. For promotion strategies, Macy’s will concentrate on increasing online awareness about their brand through different techniques such as email marketing. The shift to e-commerce demands other means of advertising unlike in the past where it heavily relied on print media such as magazines, radio, and TV advertisements. People especially millennials are more hooked to the internet and social media and all promotional strategies should be confined within those areas.

I believe that these changes in the promotional mix are here to stay and can only intensify with time as new technological innovations emerge. Macy's should move ahead with E-commerce and let go of some of its stores. If anything, the stores should mainly act as pick-up points for ordered goods. Concerning consumer buying behavior, it is also subject to change because changes in time present changes in people's tastes and preferences. Macy's should be ready to embrace any change that comes along and thus flexibility will be mandatory.

References

Marshall, P. D., & Morreale, J. (2017). Advertising and Promotional Culture: Case Histories. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Seetharaman, P. (2020). Business models shifts: Impact of Covid-19. International Journal of Information Management, 54, 102173.