Shapen the Focus

Have you ever thought about jeans and the different target markets that the many jean companies cover? There are many brands such as Levi, Apple Bottom, Seven, Diesel, Gap, True Religion, Carhartt, Dickie, Fubu, BKE, Abercrombie and many more. I am just looking at the "demographics" of the demographic age. I mean to break up who buy jeans by demographics but only for the demographic of Generation Y (age).
There are distinct groups such as gangsters (ethnic), red necks (income, occupation, or family structure), emo's (education or occupation), skater punks (education or occupation), and the popular white kids (ethnic or income.
The gangsters where brands such as Fubu, Apple Bottom and Rocawear. These brands have jeans that have big logos and flashy stitching all over them. They appeal to the gangster people who want to look mean.
Next you have the red neck kids who wear outdoor jeans that are made for blue collar working men such as Carhartt, Dickie, and Wrangler. These jeans are made to fit well and are durable for blue collar jobs. The people who like these jeans are all about being a tough, outdoor type of a person.
The emo group of people like tight fitting jeans such as Levi's. These jeans are supposed to be skin tight to make them look really skinny. The emo people want to look like punk rockers such as Blink 182 and Hawthorn Heights.
The skater punks have their own skateboard companies that make them jeans such as DC, Hurley, and Billabong. These jeans are supposed to be slightly baggy but comfortable to wear while skateboarding.
Finally you have the popular white kids who buy expensive and exclusive brands such as Seven, Diesel, and True Religion. These people want nice looking jeans with the special small logo stitch on the jeans so other people will know that they buy expensive jeans. This group of people even claims that the jeans have a magical fit and that's why they spend 100's of dollars on them.
After looking at jeans I realized that there are a lot of companies out there with very specific target markets. Looking at the jean companies I realized that there are even brands with a wider target market such as BKE and Gap who are worn by skaters, emo's, and popular white kids. Now I am not a jean expert so I don't know if it is better to have a more focused market or not but jeans are a pretty big industry!

B2B and My Job

When I think about business to business I think of suppliers. I work at a manufacturing company where I work with suppliers. Many of these suppliers only sell to other businesses. When Park and Restroom Structures started it used “The Business Buying Decision Process.” 1. The company recognized the problem that we needed specific parts to build our concrete restrooms. 2. The company searched for companies that sold precast concrete products that met our specifications. 3. The company then sorted through the list of suppliers and considered price, quality, and the amount of different products they could sell us so that the company would make fewer trips to pick up parts. 4. The company selected the suppliers that were best suited for our needs. 5. The company evaluated the suppliers and over time the company continually received bids from other suppliers that wanted our business and the company changed a few of the suppliers due to better deals that came in the future.

Consumer Behavior

In class we talked about consumer behavior and how company's use blogs to sell their products. I was searching for information on product blogs when I came across a blog called Sleek Hair. My "perception" at first was this is not a blog...it is a web site where you buy products. After taking a closer look I noticed that it is a blog for the company on their own web site. I looked at the comments and noticed that every comment was about how great their products are. I then looked to see who had been writing these blogs. I found out that every blog was written by "SleekHair Professional HairCare Products." The company was the one posting about it's products and to top it off no one else is allowed to post! There is nowhere on the page where you can comment back. This company must assume that their consumers are oblivious and just buy whatever the company tells them they need. This company must be an amateur at marketing.
My second blog I looked at was www.Coca-ColaConversation.com. This blog is a blog dedicated to Coca Cola. The first thing I noticed about this blog was that the company posts the blog topics but there are consumers who comment on the posts. All the comments are good comments so it makes me wonder if Coca Cola pays people to post good comments. I then realized that this blog wasn't about how good Coca Cola is, it's about Coca Cola collectibles. Overall the site was much better than the Sleekhair blog; it made me interested in reading all about Coca Cola and actually made me thirsty thinking about their products. Coca Cola seems to respect their customers and understand their consumers behavior.