Goodwill Industries - Marketing to a variety of customer types Overview
Since 1902, Goodwill Industries has funded job training and placement programs through its chain of thrift stores. While selling used clothing, furniture, and other items may not seem like big business, for Goodwill, it amounts to over $3 billion in annual sales. You might think of thrift stores as musty, low-class operations. But Goodwill is putting an end to such perceptions by focusing on concepts of consumer behavior. Like any good marketing company, Goodwill recognizes that not all customers are the same. This video demonstrates how Goodwill caters to different types of customers by recognizing the cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors that affect how customers make buying decisions. In this manner, Goodwill is able to maximize customer value by offering the right mix of goods at unbeatable bargains.
Your Task: You will be demonstrating that you understand the above--noted course concepts by applying them to the Goodwill Video Case Study (found in MyMarketingLab).
Directions
• View the Goodwill Industries video, which can be found in Mymarketinglab under Chapter 5.
• Think about your own experiences with shopping at Goodwill. Have you bought items at Goodwill? Why did you shop there? What did you buy? What influenced you in your decision to buy that item?
• Ask about other people's experience with shopping at Goodwill. Ask your family and friends about their experiences purchasing items at Goodwill. What did they buy? Why? What motivates them to shop at Goodwill? Is it the same reason every time or does it vary-and if so, how does it vary? What is their image of the Goodwill?
• Review the requirements for written assignments and the grading rubric in your course syllabus under project descriptions.
• Prepare your three-- to four--page written assignment by addressing each of the following questions in order.
Questions
1. Goodwill customer types. Describe the three customer types mentioned in the video. What is each customer type looking for when they shop at Goodwill? What is most important to each customer type? 2. Value offered. What is Goodwill's value proposition and is it the same for all customer groups. 3. Factors affecting Goodwill consumer behavior. How do the four sets of factors affecting consumer behavior affect the buying behavior of Goodwill's customers? Which of the four sets of factors affecting consumer behavior do you believe most strongly affects consumers' purchase decisions from Goodwill? 4. Changes in the marketing environment. What environmental trend(s) does the video discuss that significantly impacts Goodwill's performance?
2. What two "metrics" (key factors Goodwill tracks determine how well business is doing) are affected and why does this affect how Goodwill markets its retail goods?