HND大二市场学导论考试报告Case案例Day-Dream-Toy-Company

Day DreamToy Company—A casestudyBackground informationTheDay DreamToy Companyhas aworkforce ofover1,000based inthree differentsites in theUK.The companywas establishedin the early1990s and its marketingactivities arecoordinatedfrom itsheadquarters inChester.The originalcompany produceda limitedrange of wooden toysaimed at the pre-school market.Itsrange ofproducts wasoriginally limitedto wooden building bricks,simple woodenjigsaws andalimited selectionofwooden animals.As the company becamemore established,the product rangewas expandedto includedolls houses and woodentrain sets.In theearly days the companysold throughsmall,independent toysshops,but despitenumerousattempts,it wasunable topersuade any of thelarge chainstores to stock its products.Despite this,the companymaintained areasonable turnover,and itslowly expandeditsproductportfolio toincludea rangefor the5-8year oldmarket.Disenchanted byits inabilityto becomeaccepted byanyof the largerchains,the companytoyedwith theidea ofmail orderselling.A cataloguewas producedand distributedthrough someof theleadingSunday newspapers,and althoughsales increased,this wasnot a particularly successfulventure.Mail orderselling wasdropped afteronly ayear,but itdid serveto bringthe companysname totheattention of the public,and moreimportantly to the toyindustry.The companysimage ofhighquality toys,made fromnatural products,appealed to the increasinglyvocal environmentallobby,and atlast,a leadingdepartment storechain agreedtostock Day Dreamsproducts.This provedtobe alucrative agreementfor Day Dream,andithelped the company expandduring the late1990s.The companysbig break,however,came whenthe Welshlanguage TVchannel SC4introducedan animatedseries featuringan assortmentof animalcharacters collectivelyknown as theCountry Cousins\Against fiercecompetition,Day Dreamwon thecontract to make a limitedrange ofmerchandise featuringthe characters,and thepopularity of the seriesresulted insaleswhich wereway beyondDay Dreamsmost optimisticexpectations.Following thesuccess of Country Cousins5,ITV decidedto givethe seriesnational airing,and inthelead up to thenational launch,Day Dreamexpanded anddeveloped itsrange ofmerchandise.At thesame time,the companyalso introducedCountry Cousins9books and to thisend,itacquired anailing publishingcompany inExeter.This wasDay Dreamsfirst ventureinto publishing,but byretaining theexisting expertisewithinthe newlyacquired company,and throughits ownestablished distributionnetwork,this becameahighly profitablepart of the companysportfolio.The bookswere soldprincipally throughtoy shopsand departmentstores aspart of the overallCountry Cousins package,and byconcentrating onits establishedtoy retailersrather thanbookshops,Day Dreamdid not need toemploy anyadditional salesrepresentatives.This provedtobe asuccessful andcost effectiveapproach,which is still employedatthemoment.As the business continuedto expand,Day Dreambought overa softtoy manufacturerwhich wasinitiallydevoted to the productionofCountry Cousins figures.The Country Cousins phenomenonreached itspeak in thelate1990s,and althoughthe companyis still turningin reasonableprofits,there aregrowing concernsfor itsfuture security.The successofCountry Cousins\however,has givenDay Dreama footholdin the market,and havingfirmlyestablished itsbrand nameand identity,Day Dreamproducts arestill stockedby someof themajortoy retailers.Although thesales ofCountry Cousinsmerchandise aredeclining,the rangeisstillan importantpartof Day Dreams business.The rangecurrently includeswooden figures,cuddly figures,wooden play housesandscenery,a series of thirtyCountry Cousinsstory books,a CountryCousinsAnnual whichhas been produced eachyear since1996,Country Cousinsstationery,pencil cases,note pads,cards,etc andCountry Cousinstoiletries,including soap,shampoos,sponges,bath salts,etc.In additionto the Country Cousins range,Day Dreamstill producesits traditionalwoodenjigsaws,woodenanimals,woodenbuildingblocks andvarious otherwooden toysaimed atthepre-school market.A majorturning pointinthepopularity of the Country Cousins rangecame in2008when ITVdecidedto dropthe programmefrom itsschedules.The popularityoftheseries had been waningfora number of years,and itsdemise hadbeen inevitablefor sometime.In theyear followingtheprogrammes withdrawal,sales ofCountryCousinsmerchandise fellto40%ofthe2002peak.Along with the declinein demand,the company has had to changeits pricingpolicies.During theboom periodoftheearly2000stheprice ofthe CountryCousinsrangewas setat a9premium,but inorder tomaintain sales,the companywas forced to reduceprice toa muchmorecompetitive level.Retailers andother middlemen,realising thestrength oftheir negotiatingposition,have beenable toforce Day Dream toaccept theirterms andprices,and withthe declineindemand,Day Dreamhas hadlittle alternativebut toaccept.The companys30-strong sales team has been chargedwiththeresponsibility ofmaintaining goodrelationswith existingoutlets toensure theircontinued patronage.On occasionsthis patronagehasbeen hardwon,and inrecent yearshas involvedmore andmore price-cutting toensure thattheexisting storescontinue tostockDay Dreams range.The industryis becomingever morecompetitive,and withouta leadingproductrange,Day Dreamisbeing forcedto cutprices toretain itsdistributors,andtomaintain itsposition inthe marketplace.The reducedprice tothe retailer,however,is notalways reflectedintheprice chargedtothefinalconsumer.Although Day Dream isselling tothe middlemenat aconsiderably reducedprice,theretailers aretending tosell atprices onaparwith thosecharged duringthe heightoftheCountryCousins5boom.As salesof itstraditional rangehas declined,the companyhas becomeinvolved inthe ownlabelbusiness,and10%of itsoutput isnow suppliedtotheTor Toysretail chainwhich sellstheproducts underits ownname.The associationwith For Toys has been goodfor Day Dream,andthere isthe possibility that this relationship willbe furtherdeveloped inthe future.For Toysis anexpanding company,and althoughthisrelationshiphas beenvital toDayDream,ForToyshas forcedthe manufacturerto produce at lowerand lowerprices overthe years,andbecause ofa lackof ordersfrom othercustomers,DayDreamhasbeenforcedtoaccede tothesedemands.At thesame time,the productionof ownlabel9merchandise mayhave contributedtothe reduceddemand forDayDreambranded products.The decliningdemand forCountryCousins5has alsonecessitated otherchanges.Cuddly toysproduction,which waspreviously exclusivelydevoted toCountryCousinsfigures,has nowbeenadapted toproducearange ofmore thanforty different styles andtypes ofbears andothercreatures.Many ofthese areown labePproducts fbrToys stores.Other alterationstotheproduct mixinclude theintroduction oflarger toyssuch asplayhouses,climbing framesand slides.DayDreamis lookingto finda wayof gainingaccess topotentialbuyers suchas playgroups,nurseries andeven localauthorities aswell asits establishedconsumermarket.The publishingside ofthebusinesshas alsohadtoadapt tothe postCountryCousinsboom.Arange ofchildrens stationeryis availablein anumberofdifferentstyles,and this is beingcontinuallyupdated tomeet the changing needs ofthemarket.A newseriesofpre-school bookshasbeenproduced,including arange calledDolly theDolphin5fbr whichthe companyhas highexpectations.The companyalso hasplans forDolly theDolphin cuddlytoys.A newrange ofself-reading bookshas also been developed,and the companyhasbeen tryingtoencourage localauthorities tobuy themfor theirschools andlibraries.During theearly2000sthecompany didnotneed to investtoo heavilyin advertisingandpromotion asthe publicitygenerated bytheCountryCousins TVseries wassufficient tokeep thecompanysmerchandise inthe publiceye.In additionto thispublicity,the companyspromotional efforthadbeenprincipally aimedatretailers andother middlemen,and thishad primarilyinvolved personalselling throughthe salesteammaking regularvisits toestablished clients.It wasbelieved thatby targetingthe middlemen,and bygetting theproducts into asmany storesas possible,sales wouldinevitably begenerated.The emphasison thesales teamhasbeenmaintained,but inrecent yearsthis hasbeensupplemented byadvertising inchildrens comicsand magazines,and byalimitedamount ofadvertisingon ChildrensTV,particularly inthe runuptoChristmas eachyear.DayDreammust nowadjust tothe postCountiy Cousinsboom,and althoughsome changeshavealready beenmade,further developmentsare required.To dothis,it isnecessary todevelop thecompanysmarketing mix,but beforethisispossible,thecompanymust carry out someresearch todiscoverthe mostappropriate courseof action.To date,thecompanyhas notfelt theneedtocarryoutextensive marketresearch,and muchof itsdecision-making hasbeen basedon informalfeedback receivedfrom itssalesteam,and fromsecondarymaterial derivedfrom theindustry tradeassociation,and similarsources.Much hasalsodepended onthe marketingteams ownbusiness acumenand knowledgeofthemarket,and therehasalsobeena relianceon internaldata.DayDreamhas thereforereached avital crossroads,and importantdecisions mustbe madetoensure itsfuture survivaland prosperity.The companyisstillproducing reasonablyhealthy profitseachyear,but theseare muchreduced fromthe headydays oftheearly21st century,and ifthecurrent trendscontinue,there isa strongpossibilitythatthecompanywill notsurvive thenext10years.The timehas cometo takesome purposefulmarketing action.The companynow realisesthat itmustadapt tothechangingneedsofthemarket,and bygathering moreinformation aboutexistingand potentialcustomers andconsumers,it willbe ina positiontomakemore reasonedandinformed decisions.。