Final Customer Purchasing from an Intermediary of the Product
Use Steps: Use steps include all the Final customer's activities to find the appropriate product category at the Intermediary, to choose among the alternatives to the product and to take delivery of the product.
B.
Resources: Reduce resources required for the use of the product
2.
Time: Reduce the time the customer must spend with the product
A. Reduce steps the customer must use with the product
Bring products closer to the customer
Offer current products to current customers in non-traditional purchase locations
Add products where customers purchase other products
| No. | Year | SIC | Note |
| 1 | 2003 | 5311 | Sears, Roebuck & Co. recently decided to open temporary BD Toy shops in 600 of its stores for the holiday season. The move is one similar to those many department stores have been making lately in an effort to compete with such discount superstores as Wal-Mart who are detracting from department stores' business during the holidays. |
| 2 | 2004 | 5731 | Radio Shack announced a deal to offer its mobile phones at kiosks in 542 Sam's Club warehouse stores. Radio Shack is offering Sprint PCS, T-Mobile and Cingular Wireless phones and service plans at the kiosks, as well as accessories. |
| 3 | 2005 | 5943 | As part of a test, Staples is selling office supplies in nearly 20 Kroger-owned supermarkets in two states. It also sells the supplies in 60 of Royal Ahold's Stop & Shop stores in 10 states. It's part of Staples' push to make it easier for consumers to buy office supplies. Offering Staples' goods in supermarkets presents an opportunity to sell to people who don't shop in office supply stores. Results have been so positive that Staples announced that in July it will roll out the program in all 550 Stop & Shop and Giant Landover stores. |
| 4 | 6021 | Banks, such as Washington Mutual, have begun to open branches with coffee shops in or near the facility. Starbucks has at least 18 locations that are part of bank branches or adjacent to banks and other coffee retailers have begun testing the concept. This pairing is an attempt to place new emphasis on branches after the closing of locations and addition of teller fees that took place in the 1990s in response to automated banking innovations. With more and more branches being opened, banks seek to differentiate themselves from competitors, luring in cafe patrons and promoting their services. As many as 700 people walk into the average Starbucks daily. The average bank customer visits a branch just 2.9 times a month. The banks often lease unproductive space to the coffee chains; each gets added exposure and traffic. |
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