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
Serve current customers with new products, saving customer purchase time
Add products introduced by competition
| No. | Year | SIC | Note |
| 1 | 2000 | 5251 | After Home Depot's success had spawned many imitators that tried but failed to duplicate its formula, the giant chain now finds itself in the unfamiliar position of chasing after a copycat. It's making a big push into home appliances, about 45 years after Lowe's, the industry's No. 2 retailer, started hawking washing machines and refrigerators in small-town stores. |
| 2 | 2004 | 5900 | Today, Microsoft rolls out its MSN Music Store, directly challenging it's nemesis, Apple, which so far has ruled that business. Microsoft's offering is actually compromised of two products. One is its MSN service. The second is a music jukebox program Windows Media Player 10. |
| 3 | 2004 | 6211 | In response to the government's success with Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, seven companies including Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, have begun offering securities whose returns are also tied to the inflation rate. Around $2 billion of these notes have been issued during the past 12 months. |
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