Chapter 7- Business Marketing

      While the main purpose of Tiffany & Co. is customer consumption, another aspect of the company is business marketing, or the marketing of goods and services to individuals and organizations for purposes other than personal consumption. Tiffany's uses some business-to-business commerce, mainly ith other retail stores to expand their sales. Their website also allows a lot of other business marketing. A concept known as stickiness is used to measure a website's effectivness by multiplying the frequency of visits by the duration of a visit by the number of pages viewed during each visit. Despite being numerous Tiffany & Co. locations to shop at, the company's website still makes up for a large amount of the profits. Many business like aspects including any major equiptment, accessory equiptment, raw materials, etc. make up the many elements that make the business marketing of Tiffany & Co. a success.


                        

Chapter 8: Segmenting and Targeting Markets

   Market segmentation plays a huge role in marketing. It is by definition, the process of dividing a market into meaningful, relatively similar, and identifiable segments or groups. By doing this a company is able to focus more on a distinct group or segment and more effectively meet consumers' specific needs. Tiffany & Co. uses segmentation by focusing on its key demographic, which often contains wealthier females, ages 27-54, who usually have high interest in fashion and luxury items.

  

     With the development of the company, the demographics have greatly expanded. New lines of products and merchandise have been added, designed for new focus segments including men and young adults. Wallets and watches for men have become very popular, along with more young adult appropriate jewelry, both in style and affordability.

                                             

Chapter 11: Developing and Managing Products

One of the most important factors that make up a company is its products. Products are goods or services that are created or manufactured for sale. The products a company sells determines sales and initially the amount of money the company takes in. That is one of the reasons products are such a crucial element in marketing. They can literally make or break a company.

One way a company can keep on top of the selling of its products is to make sure that the customers are never bored with the product or. Companies can accomplish this my using a tactic known as product development. This is when a company either improves on an existing product or creates new products for the market. Tiffany & Co. often comes out with new line of jewelry, holding the consumer's attraction and attention. One of Tiffany's newest additions to the collection is known as the "Tiffany Locks" collection. Tiffany & Co. describes this new collection as "Charming yet dignified. Vintage-inspired yet completely contemporary. And above all, efforlessly chic."

Tiffany & Co. Holiday Campaign 2011

These are two of the photos from the Tiffany & Co. 2011 Holiday Campaign.




For the holidays, Tiffany & Co. has also released a brand new line of holiday charms which can be viewed at this website:
http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/CategoryBrowse.aspx?cid=288216&mcat=148204&hppromo=THPC71

Chapter 16: Integrated Marketing Communications

                                 

    In many company, a major factor in sales is promotion. By definition, promotion is communication by marketers that informs, persuades, and reminds potential buyers of a product in order to influence an opinion or elicit a respose. There are many forms of promotion including advertising, public relations, and personal selling. Tiffany & Co. is said to use only about 6% of revenues on advertising and while this may seem like very little, the rest is certainly made up for in other promotion areas.
    As stated before Tiffany & Co. makes personal selling a main priority in their stores. Sales associates are constantly around to create an atmosphere of comfort and satisfaction for customers. The goal of sales associates is to give their customers the ultimate "Tiffany's Experience." I once observed this exact "experience" taking place while I was visiting Tiffany's store on %th Ave. I witnessed a couple that picking out either engagement or wedding rings together. While at many jewelry stores the sales associate would help the couple with their purchase and send them on their way. However, at Tiffany's, this type of purchase is made into a more grand occasion. The couple was taken into a side room off the sales floor where they were given champagne and congratulated on their engagement. After that the sales associated explained all there was to know about their purchase and helped them find the perfect ring for them.
    Seeing this happen was a nice experience for me and it made me realize the amount of care and effort Tiffany & Co. puts into the satisfaction of their customers.


                                

Chapter 10: Product Concepts

      One of the most important elements of a business is a company's products. They can determine the success or failure of the company, which is often why product offereings are the key factor in marketing. There are two different categories when classifying products; business products and consumer products. Knowing these two types of products one could easily categorize the products made by Tiffany & Co. as consumer products, or products bought to satisfy an individual's personal wants. Products made by Tiffany's can also be considered as a shopping product, which is defined as a product that requires comparison shopping because it is usually more expensive than a convenience product and is found in fewer stores. The products that are made by Tiffany & Co. consist high end jewelry and luxury items. With items such as rings, necklaces, and handbags, a consumer would certainly spend time to shop for the product, making it more than a convenience product, but may also accept substitutions, which makes it less than a specialty product.
       While Tiffany's full collection of products offered by the company would account for the product mix, there are more specific product lines. Being a company highly involved in fashion, it is no surprise that in order to keep up the constantly changing trends in the fashion world, the company must put out new lines of jewelry and other products quite often. This would account for the Fall and Spring lines that are pushed every year. Each of these lines have unique elements that make that line differ from the next. Often Tiffany's selects a specific designer to host that season's line or a portion of the line.

http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/CategoryBrowse.aspx?cid=288189&mcat=148206#p+1-n+12-cg+viewPaged-c+288189-s+5-r+-t+-ri+-ni+1-x+-pu+-f+

Here is a link that leads to a portion of the Tiffany & Co. website which shows the collection of featured designer Paloma Picasso. There are many other sections of the website displaying the works of other designer's work from Tiffany & Co. product lines.

Another thing Tiffany offers is a Full Lifetime Warranty. A warranty is a confirmation of the quality or performance of a good or service.

http://www.tiffany.com/Expertise/Diamond/Certification/Promise.aspx

Here is the link of the description of the promises made by Tiffany's within their Warranty.

Chapter 18: Sales promotion and Personal selling

        There are two different kinds of sales promotion: consumer sales promotion and trade sales promotion. Consumer sales promotion is sales promotion activites targeting the ultimate customer, and trade sales promotion is sales promotion activities targeting a marketing channel member, such as wholesaler or retailer. Tiffany & Co. more often is involved with the second of the two types of sales promotions. While Tiffany's is involved in sales activities dtargeted to customers, very seldom does the company offer promotions such as coupons, rebates, or premiums. More often, Tiffany & Co. relates to trade sales promotions. They mostly do this in terms of Tiffany & Co. retail. With their many store locations along with Tiffany & Co. outlets, the company is able to promote sales through their stores.
       As mentioned before, personal selling is of high importance to Tiffany & Co. They consider building a relationship with their customers as a priority. This would be a example of relationship selling. Each salesperson that works at Tiffany's follows a sales process when selling their products. This process allows the salesperson the maximum possible of making their sale. One part of this process that Tiffany & Co. really takes into consideration is following up. After a purchase is made the company allows customers to come in at any point for any sort of problems, adjustments, or even cleanings. For Tiffany's, it isn't just about making sales to get the money, to them it is really about customer satisfaction.

Chapter 17: Advertising and Public Relations

Communication plays an enormous role in marketing. By using tactics such as promotion and advertising, companies are able to inform consumers of products in order to create sales. Advertising is a key factor in the success of many companies. Without advertising, it may be difficult for a company to get their name out and draw in consumers. Types of advertising often used are billboards, ads in newspapers or magazines, commericials on the television or radio, etc.Tiffany & Co. often advertises with billboards and posters, as well as a few commericals.




Here is one of Tiffany & Co.'s Billboards

Personal selling is a big deal to Tiffany & Co. Personal selling is a purchase situation involving a personal, pais-for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other. Sales associates that work at Tiffany & Co. are trained in a way that allows them make maximum sales. Knowing the product they are selling as well as, in a way, being persuasive are factors that can help sell their products.
In my opinion Tiffany's uses institutional advertising. Very seldom do they advertise for a particular item, rather they promote the entire company.

Chapter 15: Retailing

           In today's society, the retailing is one of the largest and most important industries known. By definition retailing is all the activities directly related to the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumer for personal, nonbusiness use. As it has become more and more known and convenient, retailing has increasingly enhanced daily life for people everywhere. There are many different types of retailing, including different types of stores, outlets, and markets, each contributing many factors in which many have become accustomed to.
          Of the many forms of retailing, some of the most common are supermarkets, department stores, and convenience stores. Each of these provide a specific level of service, product assortment, and gross margin. Tiffany & Co. is an example of retailing. Tiffany's started off in 1837 as an independent retailer, owned by Charles Lewis Tiffany. Over the many years, the store has progressively expanded and with its flourishing success grew into a chain store. Chain stores are owned and operated as a group by a single organization, where most of the administrative tasks and business is done at the chain's home office. In Tiffany's case, this would be at the flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York.
         With so many technological advancements in today's era, many people look for new and more convenient ways of shopping. Because of this, different types of retailing has been developed including nonstore retailing, direct retailing, automatic vending, and telemarketing. The most well known of these new ways of shopping is online retailing, or e-tailing. Shoppers with personal computers and access to the internet have the ability to view products and make purchases online, with the luxury of staying at home. Tiffany & Co. has also jumped on the internet bandwagon and created a website allowing e-tailing.
         In retailing, there is something known as the six P's; product, place, promotion, price, presentation, and personnel. Each of these six contribute to the overall success of a company's sale of goods and services to its consumers. Tiffany & Co. pays very close attention to each of these elements in order to remain successful. Product offering, also known as product assortment and merchandise mix, is the different products offered to the consumer by the retailer. Tiffany & Co. has a large variety of jewelry and luxury items available to consumers. With the seasonal development of various lines by different Tiffany & Co. designers, product assortment is constantly changing. Tiffany & Co. consistently makes sure to maintain its high end products but also its high end service. That includes personnel, with customer service, presentation, with its quality atmosphere, and place, with its placement of store locations. Tiffany & Co. makes keeping customers happy a main priority, along with maintaining its prestigious reputation and in doing so continues to progress as a leading retailer.


Here is a link of Tiffany's online "e-tailing" website. It shows the collection of products available to consumers to purchase online.

http://www.tiffany.com/


Recently I visited the Tiffany & Co. flagship store located on 5th Ave. in Manhattan. Immediately I was greeted by a very nice doorman saying "Welcome to Tiffany's." This is nothing new to me because being one of my favorite stores, I do like to visit there often. However for a first time visitor of Tiffany's, the extremely friendly and welcoming atmosphere may come as surprise, especially in New York. Upon entering the store you'll find numerous glass cases filled with the compnay's well known high end jewelry. Behind the cases are sales associates who are eagerly waiting to assist you. It is rather quiet in Tiffany's and everything is very clean. You almost get the sense that you're in some sort of museum, and with the prices of some of the items in the store you may as well be. The store has six floors altogether. Four of these floors are for jewlery, with one specifically for their trademark engaegement and wedding rings, one floor for gift items, and an entire floor dedicated to customer service. Looking around the store is a great experience even if you aren't making a purchase.

Chapter 6: Consumer Decision Making

      One of the most important parts of marketing is having customers buy your product. Not only are there many factors that are involved on the marketer's side, but equally as many on the consumer's side. Despite what many people may think, in the simple process of purchasing a item, large or small, the process involved contains many elements. Whether making a larger purchase such as deciding on what car to buy, or buying something like cereal at the supermarket, both purchases contain many details influenced by the marketer and the consumer.
     The consumer decision-making process contains five steps which are used by the customer when purchasing goods. In following these steps the consumer is able to evaluate their purchase and end up with the correct item that they want. Things such as determining if the purchase is a want or a need, internal and external stimuli, and information sources are all factors involved that affect the customers decision on making a purchase. Today few consumers realize that the majority of purchases made throughout the day are greatly affected by all these things because making purchases have become so second nature. For instance, as mentioned before, something as simple as going to the super market to buy cereal would be seem by many to be a very simple task. However, people overlook how much actually goes into that one purchase. Things such as what brand to buy, what size box, price range, etc. are often taken into consideration rather quickly. This is because buying cereal is a type of routine response behavior. However when making a purchase that is on a much larger scale, like buying a car as mentioned earlier, the decision making process becomes much more complex. There may be more at risk with this type of purchase therefore the consumer wants to know he or she is making the right choice.
        When it comes to Tiffany & Co. there are a some differences when it comes to the consumer's decision making process. Mostly it will depend on what the consumer is buying from Tiffany's. One of the items sold most by Tiffany & Co. are their engagement and wedding rings. When a consumer goes to Tiffany's to purchase an engagement or wedding ring the decision making process can become rather complex; therefore deeming it either limited or extensive decision making. The many elements and factors as stated before all become part of the consumers decision. Some factors pertaining specifically to Tiffany engagement rings that are considered would include ring type, setting, karat size, price range, and ultimately whether the ring wearer will like it or not. All these types of things are just parts of the elaborate action of the decision making process with ultimate goal of the consumer's satisfaction in his or her decision.

Chapter 5: Developing a Global Vision

             In today's society, it is nothing out of the ordinary for a company to have markets in more than one place. Often it can be close by, however, more frequently companies are branching to completely different countries. Marketing that targets markets all over the world is known as global marketing. Having a global vision is imperative for a company's success in global business. This will allow the company to be aware of the specific market, including opportunities, strategies, and threats, of the country or area in which the market is. There are many specific factors involved when taking part in international business.
            Tiffany & Co. is an example of a company that takes part in global marketing. Other than the original and flagship store located on 5th Ave. in New York, Tiffany & Co. 64 stores in the U.S. and over 104 stores worldwide. Other than North America, the company owns store in Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea; Australia; and in Europe including Austria, Belgium, the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and more. Having so many store locations allows the company to expand its audience of customers, as well as increase sales. However with having so many international markets comes certain responsibilites, which are essential for the company's overall success.
             When a company has a variety of markets all over the world, it needs to be aware of each individual business location. Thsi is because each location will most likely have a different marketing environment. This may include different types of customers, cultures, pricing and distribution qualities, ect. Knowing these factors will allow the company to determine effective marketing, advertising, and promotional strategies for each location. Tiffany & Co. has been able to adapt their sales tactics and stratgies with great success in order to maintain their worldwide sales. One example of a way they have adapted in order to accomodate for differences in business locations is that on the Tiffany & Co. website is a feature in which you may choose from the different countries which the stores are located and gain specific information and see everything in that country's language. This allows international buyers to shop with ease without any types of cultural barriers. Tiffany & Co., along with other companies with global markets must pay very close attention to international details specific to each location in order to succeed in global marketing.

This is the part of the Tiffany & Co. website which allows you to chose between each international location:

http://www.tiffany.com/International.aspx

Chapter 4: The Marketing Environment

         In order to succeed in a business, a company must be aware of its marketing environment. By definition a marketing environment referes to all of the factors outside of marketing that affect a company or business' ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. In an environment, as time goes on, many aspects of the market can change. A company must identify and follow the environment of its market and customers in order to continue to profit. The demography of a certain environment also plays a large role in the company's marketing choices. Tiffany & Co. pays a great deal of attention to its marketing enviornment which could be one of the reasons for the company's success.

         Tiffany & Co.'s key demographic is often wealthy females aging usually from 27-54, often with high interests in fashion and luxury products. However, by incorporating environmental management, many efforts have been made to increase that demographic to draw in new customers. By expanding certain product lines and adding lower priced products, Tiffany & Co. has been able to expand its target market; adding more young adults and even men to their audience. By adjusting parts of its marketing strategies, the company has been able to create more customers.

          A company also needs to be aware of the constant changing of its specific environment. These would include changes in trends and in advertising strategies. For Tiffany & Co., one change the company has gone through in order to adapt to its environment change would be the increase in online shopping available. In the past, limited items were available to be bought online. One of the reasons for this was because Tiffany & Co. often felt the importance of a shopper's personal experience at Tiffany's. However with the changing of the times, the company realized its need for the change and adjusted, adding more items available to be bought throught the website, in order to advance its sales. Also, by producing new lines almost yearly, the company is able to remain on top of the latest fashion and trends.

Another way Tiffany & Co. is trying to stay ontop of the latest sales techniques and promoting can be viewed on this website:

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/4096.html

Tiffany & Co.'s marketing environment plays a very large role in decisions made by the company. All of them for a specific reason but with a main goal of contiuing its overall success.

Chapter 3: Ethics and Social Responsibilty

            Ethics plays a huge role in businesses worldwide. The ability for a compnay or organiztion to maintain morals and be able to make ethical decisions is essential to the company's success. To Tiffany & Co., maintaing proper ethics is very important. The company has a Code of Conduct which provides the directors of the company, the CEO, the CFO, and all other officers of the company with a list of principles which they are expected to follow. Some of the priciples within the Code of Conduct state that all must comply with applicable law, promote honest and ethical conduct, report any code violations and suspected illegal or unethical activities to the company directors, responsibly use and control all company assets, and that they must not use their company position for personal gain or benefit. This code contains many more priciples which are all to be followed for the business's success.

            Corporate social responsibilty, or CSR, is a business's concern for society's welfare. In order to protect our society and preserve it, it is imperativie that companies accept their social responsibility. Tiffany & Co. is an example of a company who accepts social responsibilty and makes a point of paying close attention to it. Within the company, there is a committee known as the Corporate Social Responsibility Comittee. The committee is made up of at least two independent directors and one employee director. According to the company website the purpose of it is to "review and evaluate the management's goals, initiatives and practices for social responsibility and to recommend goals, initiatives and practices for social responsibility to the Board of Directors." The commitee is given many duties and responsibilities. Some of these include identifying issues that may affect the business's operations, brand image, or reputaion of the company and to provide an oversight of the company's social resposibility to customers, the nonprofit sector, industry partners, and shareholders. Tiffany & Co. is aware that with the changing of the times comes changes in responsibilities, and in so doing allows there to be some flexibilty within its terms.

           Tiffany & Co. is a very well known company which prides itself on its prestigiousness. By strictly adhering to its Code of Conduct and its knowledge of its social responsibilty, they are able to maintain its reputation. This allows the company to hold on to its much valued customers and continue to progress.

Chapter 2: Strategic Planning

       For a company to be successful, strategic planning is a must. The definition of strategic planning is "the managerial process of creating and maintaining a fit between the organization's objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities." Being such a large-scale and successful company, Tiffany & Co. must rely greatly on their corporation's strategic plan in order to continue to flourish. Marketing plays a huge role in the success in any company. Tiffany & Co. uses a marketing plan specific to its company so it can set goals in which to make maximum profits. Implementation is used to turn those plans into actions in order to achieve those goals. Product development is used quite frequently at Tiffany & Co., not only to attract customers but also to provide a wide variety of new jewelry and trends to its customers. Tiffany & Co. prides itself on being the highest quality of jewelry available on the market. This would entail that the company not only have a product differentiation competitive advantage, which gives them something that is unique and valuable to buyers, but also having a sustainable competitive advantage, which is an advantage that cannot be copied by competition. Every company's planning and marketing strategies vary depending on things such as audience, products, customers, ect. The manner in which each company executes these plans will be one of the many factors determining their success.

Marketing Chpt. 1-Overview of Marketing

Today, one of the most successful companies in the jewelry industry is Tiffany & Co. Founded in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany and John F. Young, the store originally called Tiffany & Young, was created to sell costume jewelry and stationary. In 1853, Tiffany bought out his partner, deeming his company Tiffany & Co. Throughout the years, the company greatly expanded, adding timepieces, silverware,  perfumes, and many other luxury items to their sales, with its primary customers being wealthy Americans. 

By 1919, the company had made nearly $18 million and, with the death of Charles Lewis Tiffany in 1902, had been taken over by his heirs where the company's shares were sold to Hoving Corporation.  In 1940, the store was moved to its present Fifth Avenue location in Manhattan, New York. The Hoving Corporation expanded Tiffany & Co., adding numerous store locations including Houston and San Francisco. By 1987, with the owner of the company now being William Chaney, the company went public, adding over 30 retail locations worldwide.

Over time, Tiffany &Co. flourished. Its high quality products allow the company to continue to expand and profit. According to the company's website, Tiffany & Co.'s mission is to be the world's most respected jewelry retailer, with one of its mission statements saying, "Tiffany & Co. ensures the highest quality of diamonds, ethical sourcing, lifetime warranty, affordable price options, and that they'll always be there for you." While maintaining a personal connections with its customers, Tiffany & Co. has established itself in the industry as the one of the most prestigious jewelry companies known today.