Goodwill Industries – Marketing to a variety of customer types
Assignment Objectives
1. Learn to recognize the various types of customers a company may have.
2. Understand what creates value for different customers.
3. Appreciate how consumer buying behavior may vary by type of customer.
4. Recognize how changes in the marketing environment affect a company’s marketing efforts.
5. Recognize how a company using marketing tools to appeal to its various customers.
6. Demonstrate effective writing skills.
Course Concepts
1. Creating and Capturing Customer Value (Chapter 1)
2. Analyzing the Marketing Environment (Chapter 3)
3. Characteristics affecting Consumer Behavior (Chapter 5)
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?
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?
5. Impact on Goodwill’s Marketing strategies and tactics. How does Goodwill’s recognition of consumer behavior principles affect its marketing mix
Be sure to edit your work and submit your best effort into your assignment folder by the due date noted in the course schedule. Refer to the grading rubric and note that points will be deducted for grammar and composition errors. Be sure to use an appropriate style guide for writing and referencing.
Your written assignment, including proper citations and references, must conform to standards of formatting and documentation found in an acceptable college-level writing guide, such as the Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, the Chicago Manual of Style, or UMUC’s Online Guide to Writing and Research.
Your written assignment must
- be at least 3–4 pages long
- be typed in 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced, with margins no wider than one inch
- have footnotes or end notes with correct citations
- have a bibliography of sources formatted as specified in one of the style guides noted above
- be prepared using word-processing software and saved with a .doc, .docx, or .rtf extension
- be uploaded to your Assignments Folder by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on the due date
Written Assignment Grading Criteria
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Level
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Start Range
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Description
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6
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90 % or more
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Student demonstrates superior understanding and application of the marketing principles outlined in the assignment description. Student demonstrates superior college-level writing skills and use of external resources to support critical thinking.
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5
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80 % or more
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Student demonstrates a good understanding of the marketing principles outlined in the assignment description. Student should strive to add more depth to question responses, using examples to illustrate a higher level of understanding and application of the marketing principles. Student demonstrates good college-level writing skills, but may want to spend more time editing work before submission to correct minor issues with grammar and composition.
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4
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70 % or more
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Student demonstrates an average understanding of the marketing principles outlined in the assignment description, but could be improved with additional insight into the concept, less reliance on paraphrasing textbook definitions, and use of examples to illustrate student can apply the marketing principles to the subject of the assignment. Student demonstrates average college-level writing skills, but may want to spend more time editing work before submission to correct issues of grammar and composition. Student demonstrates elementary critical thinking skills but doesn’t fully defend or support conclusions.
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3
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60 % or more
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Student demonstrates a poor understanding of the marketing principles outlined in the assignment description. Needs significant improvement in application of the marketing principles to the assignment subject. Student relies on textbook paraphrasing for content, does not demonstrate significant original thinking, and may be off-track on some of the questions addressed in the assignment description. Student may want to seek the assistance of the UMUC writing center to improve composition of writing as well as development of critical thinking skills.
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2
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50 % or more
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Student does not demonstrate and acceptable level of understanding of the marketing principles outlined in the assignment description. Student should seek help with writing skills through UMUC’s Writing Center.
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1
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0 % or more
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Student did not submit the assignment or submitted work nonresponsive to the assignment description
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