Kea Case study Essay Example

Kea Case study Essay Example Kea Case study Essay Kea Case study Essay Kea Case Study- Marketing issues and future recommendations Subsequent to my study of Keas case, below Is a brief description of the marketing issues that I have observed and my recommendations for future. 1. Kea has this brand image of low cost modern furniture. Though this brand perception is great for value conscious modern families, this perception might not be helping Kea in gaining greater traction with the high income people. Kea has still not been able to come out completely of Its image as a European brand. Infant some of the challenges that It aced Initially while entering American market Is a testimony to that. Initially when It entered American market, the Sales were relatively low because the furniture and Its dimensions were more appropriate for European customers. Later when it started designing and dimensioning furniture and other accessories per American tastes, the Sales shot up. Therefore it is important for Kea to continue to design its furniture and accessories keeping in view local cultures to be able to effectively meet their needs. Secondly Kikes business model is different from traditional furniture places. One Is expected to pick up these large flat modular furniture boxes at the store, drive them home, inbox them and then assemble the pieces. Now this can be psychologically burdensome for a lot of customers who are not good with assembling and with the tools. This could potentially discourage quite a segment of potential customers. Recommendations: Understand the local demographics and culture more closely to be able to more effectively design the marketing campaigns. Low cost sometimes can create this Image of low quality products. And so I would also commend to Kea to Incorporate strict quality control mechanism with Its suppliers to make sure the quality of its products doesnt go down. I would recommend Kea to highlight in its marketing campaigns both -value as well as quality of Kikes products. Secondly, for the people who may get scared at the very thought of picking up the heavy boxes, unfixing them and then assembling them, my recommendation would be to come up with staggered delivery and assembly options for the customers for an additional cost. Also If Kea can replace written assembly Instructions with DVDs, I hint that would be a very smart move which will bring down the furniture returns and thus improve companys bottom line. 2. While offering low cost good quality furniture is one of the strengths of Kea, it can also lead to concerns and a perception of not long lasting products because of the low prices. And while the cost of the products has been going down consistently primarily as a result of Kea bringing more local suppliers on board, It still depends on European suppliers to meet Its International supply chain obligations. As competition with other low cost furniture tillers becomes fierce, Kea may be at a disadvantage if it continues to source material from Europe. Recommendations: I would recommend Kea to target young demographics and highlight its low cost leadership, good quality and modern attributes In Its marketing campaigns to further reinforce and consolidate Its brand postponing for the long and open up more local manufacturing facilities to lower its dependence on European imports to further drive down its prices as the competition with the other local retailers heats up. Keas has been mainly promoting its products via distribution of product dialogues. And they seem to distribute these within surrounding areas of the store. Now, furniture is a high involvement product in my view and people might be willing to travel some distance to buy if they can it at affordable prices with good quality. Secondly, Kikes products seem to cater to value conscious young modern people and to that segment of the population it doesnt seem to market aggressively enough. This segment of the population is definitely more active on social media on the internet and so if Kea is not using the social media platform more effectively in its advertising forts that would be a problem. They also have not signed up any celebrities to be the brand ambassadors of the products which might not be working out for them. Recommendations: I would therefore recommend that the catalogues be distributed among the target segments (students, young modern value conscious families) in areas little farther from the stores as well. They can take advantage of the college/ university campuses and sporting events to distribute those catalogues to promote their brand. I also recommend incorporating social media marketing campaigns as one of the marketing strategies. Kea could also promote their brand more aggressively in print media and especially in the magazines catering to value conscious modern families and students. And finally they could sign up some celebrities to be brand ambassadors of their products. 4. Kea stores are generally located farther from the main business centers or the population hubs. They are also few in numbers. This may be a problem since they are not conveniently located to encourage people to drive by and check out their products. On top if Kea is also not aggressively marketing to get those people to visit the stores that will sure become a robber in gaining incremental market share. I also observed that Kea faced long lines at times in their stores which the customers are not going to like. Recommendations: My recommendations would be for Kea to sign up more franchises to expand the distribution, build more stores in strategic areas complimenting companys overall business model and strategy. Kea could possibly consider tie-ups with other furniture brands/outlets to increase its reach and presence. Kea should continue to innovate, improve their store designs, expand on the payment methods and integrate more technology to improve its store operations.

The Founding of the North Carolina Colony

The Founding of the North Carolina Colony The North Carolina colony was carved out of the Carolina province in 1729, but the history of the region begins during the Elizabethan period of the late 16th century and is closely tied up with the Virginia colony. The North Carolina colony is the direct result of British colonization efforts in the New World: it was also the place where the first English settlement was built and mysteriously disappeared. Fast Facts: North Carolina Colony Also Known As: Carolana, Province of Carolina (combined both South and North Carolina)Named After: King Charles I of Britain (1600–1649)Founding Year: 1587 (founding of Roanoke), 1663 (official)Founding Country: England; Virginia ColonyFirst Known Permanent European Settlement: ~1648Residential Native Communities: Eno (Oenochs or Occoneechi), Chesapeake, Secotan, Weapemeoc, Croatons, among othersFounders: Nathaniel Batts and other colonists from VirginiaImportant People: The Lord Proprietors, King Charles II, John Yeamans Roanoke The first European settlement in what is today North Carolina- indeed, the first English settlement in the New World- was the lost colony of Roanoke, founded by the English explorer and poet Walter Raleigh in 1587. On July 22nd of that year, John White and 121 settlers came to Roanoke Island in present-day Dare County. The first English person born in North America was settler John Whites granddaughter Virginia Dare (born to Elenora White and her husband Ananias Dare on August 18, 1587). John White returned to England shortly after its founding, and apparently, the colonists also left the area. When White returned in 1590, all the colonists on Roanoke Island were gone. There were only two clues left: the word Croatoan that had been carved on a post in the fort along with the letters Cro carved on a tree. Although much archaeological and historical research has been attempted, no one has yet discovered what actually happened to the settlers, and Roanoke is called The Lost Colony. Albemarle Settlements   By the late 16th century, Elizabethans Thomas Hariot (1516–1621) and Richard Hakluyt (1530–1591) were writing accounts of the Chesapeake Bay area exhorting the beauties of the New World. (Hariot visited the region in 1585–1586, but Hakluyt never actually made it to North America.) The mouth of the bay opens up at the northeastern corner of what is today North Carolina. In an attempt to discover what had happened to his colony, Walter Raleigh sent several expeditions out of his Virginia colony at Jamestown into the region.   The first charter to include North Carolina included part of Albemarle County and was given by Charles I to Robert Heath, the kings attorney general in 1629. That parcel, from Albemarle sound to Florida, was named Carolana after Charles I. Although there were repeated efforts to establish colonies, they all failed until 1648, when Virginians Henry Plumpton of Nansemond County and Thomas Tuke of the Isle of Wight County purchased a tract of land from the local Native Americans.   First European Settlement The first successful settlement of what became the North Carolina colony likely dates to around 1648, by Plumpton and Tuke. A 1657 map of the region between the Chowan and Roanoke Rivers illustrates Batts house, but it probably represents a small community perhaps including Plumpton and Tuke, not just Batts. Captain Nathaniel Batts was a wealthy man, know to some as the Governor of Roan-oak. Other Virginians moved in over the next decade or so, either purchasing land from the residential Native Americans- Chesapeake, Secotan, Weapemeoc, and Croatons among others- or obtaining grants from Virginia. Official Founding The Carolina Province, including what are today North and South Carolina, was finally officially founded in 1663 when King Charles II recognized the efforts of eight noblemen who helped him regain the throne in England by giving them the Province of Carolina. The eight men were known as the Lord Proprietors: John Berkeley (1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton); Sir William Berkeley (Governor of Virginia); George Carteret (Governor of Jersey in Britain); John Colleton (soldier and nobleman); Anthony Ashley Cooper (1st Earl of Shaftsbury); William Craven (1st Earl of Craven); Edward Hyde (1st Earl of Clarendon); and George Monck (1st Duke of Albemarle). The Lord Proprietors named the colony in honor of their king. The area they were given included the area of present-day North and South Carolina.  In 1665, John Yeamans created a settlement in North Carolina on the Cape Fear River, near present-day Wilmington. Charles Town was named the main seat of government in 1670.  However, internal problems arose in the colony, leading the Lord Proprietors to sell their interests in the colony. The crown took over the colony and formed both North and  South Carolina  out of it in 1729. North Carolina and the American Revolution The colonists in North Carolina were a disparate group, which often led to internal problems and disputes. However, they were also heavily involved in the reaction to British taxation. Their resistance to the Stamp Act  helped prevent that acts implementation and led to the rise of the Sons of Liberty.   These irascible colonists were also  one of the last hold outs to ratify the Constitution- after it had already gone into effect and the government had been established. Sources and Further Reading Anderson, Jean Bradley. Durham County: A History of Durham County, North Carolina, 2nd ed. Durham: Duke University Press, 2011.Butler, Lindley S. The Early Settlement of Carolina: Virginias Southern Frontier. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 79.1 (1971): 20–28. Print.Crow, Jeffrey J. and Larry E. Tise (eds.). Writing North Carolina History. Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press Books, 2017.  Cumming, W. P. The Earliest Permanent Settlement in Carolina. The American Historical Review 45.1 (1939): 82–89. Print.Miller, Lee. Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. Arcade Publishing, 2001Parramore, Thomas C. The Lost Colony Found: A Documentary Perspective. The North Carolina Historical Review 78.1 (2001): 67–83. Print.