Analysis of marketing business "Smartbox"

Résumé du document

Every organization operates in an environment and no organization can exist in a bubble of its own. All companies obtain raw materials, labor, information and other diverse resources from the environment. Most of the strategists confirm that a thorough understanding of the environment is necessary for businesses to develop an effective corporate strategy.

As elements of the environment change, the organization has to adjust its corporate strategy accordingly to sustain competitive advantage. Hence, it is essential for an organization to be familiar with the environment in which it operates or which affects it in some way or the other.

As a consultant commissioned by the company, Vision Consulting Group has been assigned the task of evaluating the business environment of Smartbox. By doing so, it becomes indispensable to explore the environment in which the gift box market operates.
We think that the Smartbox philosophy is actually effective, and with these methods, which we advice, the company will acquire goals according its strategy.

Extraits

[...] Managing director Worldwide: Axel Bernia, graduated by HEC in 2001, began his career at Mc Kinsey like consultant employees worldwide kinds of employees: - Employees with controlling abilities to evaluate the services' suppliers. Skills: capacity for assessment of partnership. (70 employees in France) - Employees for the customer service. Skills: Capacity to heard and satisfy all the customers' expectations. - Commercial staff. Skills: Abilities to vend new partnerships to extend the product offer. There are employees in all the countries working in offices. [...]

[...] The “Escape gifts” and the “Entertainment gifts” are in this same category. - The “Adventure gifts” can be considered as “Cash cow”. This business unit has a high market share in a mature market. The business units in the same category are the “Culinary treats” and the “Escape with dinner”. These business units are cash providers because they don't need investments and they are profitable. - The trend gifts” are a business unit which can be categorised as “Question Mark”. [...]

[...] The gift market is booming in recent years. This relatively new concept allows consumers to provide a benefit to others while leaving the choice of provider and place of delivery. This convergence has led to our current market which is the gift box market Market & Competitors 2 An emerging market SMARTBOX knows since its launch a huge success. We must emphasize that the bulk of turnover of SMART&CO is achieved by the gift boxes "Weekendesk" for online reservations and with Smartbox gift boxes. [...]

[...] However, “Smartbox” should improve its customer after sales service which is often busy in order to not let them dissatisfied with the service when they have a problem Key stakeholders Employees: 600 worldwide. Three kinds of employees: - Commercial agent to vend new partnerships. - Controlling staff to assess the partnerships. - Customers service to satisfy all the customers' expectations. Shareholders: Philippe Bodson holds 20% of the capital, and Pierre Edouard Sterin is the main shareholder. The company has some ongoing loans, notably with BNP Paribas Bank. Customers: Smartbox has two kinds of customers: B2B & B2C. B2B: main target: Work council, Board of directors, Sales management. [...]

[...] Euphorie: luxury version of gift boxes. The SMART&CO group use SMARTBOX to take advantage of an emerging market. The market was latent: it means that individuals felt a latent need that did not exist as a product. SMARTBOX products had been designed as products which answer to preference area in the market of gift. It was a niche Strategic gap. This product correspond to the averages preferences of the market. They launch different products corresponding to the different markets segments, they use a strategy of multiple niches with their other brands SmartHoliday (Booking), Smartexperience, Smart&GO, Euphorie. [...]