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.

C.
Experience: Enhance the experience the customer has with the product

2.
Associate the company or the product with an image to increase customer pleasure in using the product

B. Project an image of the or capabilities of the firm

Product specialist

No.	Year	SIC	Note
1	2002	5083	The CEO considers Tractor Supply an adjunct to giant chains rather than a direct competitor, so it sells something different so customers have an option when they're in the store.
2	2002	5200	Lowe's and Home Depot have adopted different styles and philosophies while vying for the number one spot in home improvement. Lowe's focuses on presentation, laying out the stores with wide aisles and targeting women who want to avoid traditional lumber shop environments. The chain offers higher-margin goods such as Laura Ashley paints and high-end bathroom fixtures. Premium goods have replaced products that can be found at discounters. Competitor Home Depot has relied on low prices, a large selection and sales to professional manufacturers who prefer low prices over fancy layouts.
3	2003	5251	Seigle decided in the early 1990s not compete with giant rivals Home Depot and Lowe's in the retail home-center market and return to being a supplier to home builders.
4	2004	5251	Tractor Supply's new store designs are intended to push products that separate Tractor Supply from rivals. These products include animal feed, milling machines, and carts with pneumatic tires and hydraulic lift systems.
5	2001	5621	Charming Shoppes Inc. specializes in plus-size fashion brands. The company recently acquired Lane Bryant line. Prior to the acquisition, about 57% of its revenue came from plus sizes; now it is at 72%. Its Lane Bryant customers are the trendiest with a target of females ages 18-54 with income between $40,000 and $75,000, with clothes similar to those of Express or Victoria's Secret. Its Fashion Bug/Fashion Bug Plus features more moderately priced retail with about half being dedicated to plus sizes. Catherine's Plus Sizes sells moderately priced career and casual wear to an older target group of customers.
6	2003	5621	The $443 million company Hot Topic is known to be one of the fastest growing companies of 2002. It specializes in larger sizes through its 31 store chain: Torrid. Hot Topic will add twenty more stores this year.
7	2001	5731	Tweeter electronics retailer maintains a narrower focus than lower-end retailers, keeping only three product lines: video, audio, and mobile (includes car stereos and cell phones), rather than branching out.
8	1990	5942	Borders offers intelligent salespeople: must pass a test about book knowledge.
9	2003	5944	Helzberg Diamonds stopped selling cheap bubble watches to confirm it's reputation as a fine diamond store.
10	2004	6022	Commercial Capital Bancorp does a good job of maintaining high-quality assets. It's had no bad loans to speak of and its focus on apartment buildings, which rarely go into default, helps.
11	2001	6211	Brokerage firms feel that their experience with the capital markets is advantageous in their competition against traditional private-wealth firms.
12	2004	6211	Barclays Global Investors, with its exchange-traded funds, has emerged from obscurity with a lineup of 97 exchange-traded funds, catapulting itself into the ranks of the largest and fastest-growing mutual-fund companies. Mutual-fund assets under management have grown from $2 billion to $87 billion, nearly half of the U.S. exchange-traded fund marketplace and the company has attracted investors to its iShares brand of ETFs.
13	1997	8082	Olsten provides health care services in home, medical facility, and business settings through its operating subsidiaries, Olsten Kimberly QualityCare and ABS Meditest.
14	1998	8082	Arden Courts' facilities (only 12 today) serve the needs of individuals with early to middle stage Alzheimer's disease or those with related memory impairment.

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