NATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

AND ECONOMICS

ASSIGNMENT

CONSUMER BEHAVIORCONSUMER BEHAVIOR

TOPICTOPIC

NAME: JAMILA TANVEER BUTT (2093255) SYED ASGHAR SHAH (2093135)

ALI RAHAT (2093331)

SUBMITTED TO: SIR N.A.JAFFERY

SUBMITTED AT: 1ST August, 2011

Q1)Why do many consumers continue to buy and send greeting cards instead of writing a letter, sending an email, or making a phone call? Discuss your answer in terms of mean-end framework?

Ans: Hallmark is one of the best selling cards company in the world .people prefer more cards rather than making phone calls writing a letter or sending an email because each and word in the greeting cards are very touching and pure. The way of expressing is ones feeling is better in form of greeting cards. Emails phone calls and letter are also a part of expressing ones feeling but it is not as better as the greeting card.Most likely cards are purchased by young generations, especially women buy card mostly as it is one of the major Trend to express their feeling in the form of greeting cards. Men usually buy cards to present it to their sisters, mothers and friends. as they are way behind than women in card purchase.In western countries and increasingly in other societies, many people traditionally mail seasonally themed cards to their friends and relatives in December. Many service businesses also send cards to their customers in this season, usually with a universally acceptable non-religious message such as "happy holidays" or "seasons greetings".

………………………………………………

Q2) the typical decision making process for buying a hallmark card is likely to vary in different situations. Think about three different occasions of buying a card: a birthday, a graduation, a wedding. How would consumer knowledge and involvement vary across these situations? Discuss how problem recognition, search and evaluation might differ, what types or level of decision making would you expect in each situation?

Ans: Greeting cards have become a must now a day as it is one of the trends to present greeting cards to one another. By sending a card you show you show the recipient you thought of them and took the time to send a card. Selecting a card is faster than rather writing a letter. A consumer buys greeting cards for different occasions for example if the occasion is a birthday the card will have birthday contents on it as it will have birthday wishes on the card with lovely cake. If the occasion is a graduation then the card will consist of graduation contents which expresses happiness over ones graduation similarly if the occasion is wedding the card will have a cute wedding couple on it with lots of happy married life wishes. The evaluation differs as the three occasions are very different from one another so sometimes it is difficult to have the card of your choice.The decision would be to have a card that best describes the occasion as a nice card that consists of birthday wishes and a yummy cake will best suit to the birthday occasion, a card that consist of best wishes and would best suit for the graduation occasion similarly in terms of wedding the card which best suit is something which a nice wedding couple on it with lots of wishes for a happy married life.

…..…………………………………………..

Q3) Understanding how and why consumer makes store choices (i.e., buying a card in Wal-mart rather than in a Hallmark Gold crown store) is particularly important to Hallmark. Discuss how store choice interacts with and influences choice of Hallmark products and brands?

Ans: Since the launch of Hallmark’s new “retailer Customized Marketing”(RCM) platform, the time and cost for many local stores to produce brand relevant marketing campaigns has decreased and presenting the brand consistently across all tactics is no longer a challenge.

The increased personalization and targeting provided by mail print’s variable data direct mail system has also improved response rates. Local stores are achieving average response rates of 12.5% for birthday card campaigns sent to customers, 20% for holiday campaigns, 6% for standard promotional postcards, and 0.6% for email campaigns.“we needed to create a consistent branding experience for our customers between local and national marketing, while at the same time providing our local store owner with all the tools necessary for them to create and executive their own , unique marketing message”, says Carlos Corredor, program leader of Hallmark’s RCM program, “Mail Print’s integrated on-site production ensures that our direct mail and email campaigns are deployed quickly while meeting Hallmark’s exacting branding and quality standards”.At a corporate level the new RCM platform has given Hallmark much needed tracking and reporting helping them to continually improve their local stores marketing efforts. The flexibility and scalability of Mail Print’s system has allowed them to grow the RCM platform to meet more of their local owner’s needs.

…….………………………………………..

Q4) Do you think Hallmark should modify its in-store distribution strategy? What about the web strategy? What assumptions do you make about consumer decision making that leads you to this recommendation?

Ans: No Hallmarks should not modify its distribution strategy. For any company, the distribution strategy is of prime importance because without having an significant distribution network, a brand would not be able to make its inscribe in the mindsets of its target market no matter how important and meticulously planned and phenomenally executed the other marketing activities are.  Successful companies always ensure a smooth distribution network and Hallmark is no exception any.  Overall Hallmark has three chief brands of greeting cards.  Two of these brands bear the Hallmark name while the third brand does not own it.  The first brand is the flagship Hallmark brand, which has its distribution network covering the entirety of all Hallmark Gold Crown stories, card shops, bookstores and some selective drugstores.  

………………………………………………..

Q5) Marketing research estimates men account for only 15 to 20 percent of greeting cards purchases in United states. Further more, young consumers and those over 50 don’t buy as many cards as those in middle age. Why do you think this is so? What can hallmark do to reach these two segments?

Ans: The recommendation for Hallmark is to start a new cable television network aimed at children ages two-seven, named the Crayola© Channel. This channel could fill a number of Hallmark’s holes and hopefully give them a new market for growth. This network would stand out because it would be the only educational 24 hour children’s television network. This would beat out competitors such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, or KPBS because these networks shift programming based on the time of day. Morning and afternoon tend to be more children’s shows while later afternoon and evening aim at adolescents and nighttime programming targets adults. This leaves a large gap in the market because not every child goes to bed at four in the afternoon and parents today tend to use the television as there means to get things done. Fortunately for Hallmark, their competitors have not seen the need for children’s programming. Second, the Crayola© Channel would have the ability to gain long term loyalty from all ages. As of now, their target market for the Gold Crown Stores and Hallmark Magazine is middle-aged to retired women. If they could conquer the children’s market they would be able to keep those customers loyal for many years to come because their brand name is so reliable. Also, if parents trust the channel, they will be more loyal to Hallmark in other sectors as well. The television shows would be fun, safe, and educational which is why parents would trust it over other channels and other shows. To help pay for the new channel, advertising is essential. Advertising on television is still a very profitably market and children are the #1 demographic that marketing is aimed at. According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, children can be brand loyal by the age of two and recognize logos by the age of three. They also watch an average of 40,000 commercials a year and can not yet distinguish the difference between a commercial and television show so they do not realize they are trying to be sold something. In 2000 a study showed that directly and indirectly, children influenced household spending to the degree of $600 million. In total in 1997 $1.3 billion was spent

on advertisements aimed at children. This data proves that the market for children is huge, and advertisers would love a 24 hour children’s channel. A blessing for Hallmark is that they own Crayola© and Silly Puddy© so they could easily advertise on they channel and be the #1 sponsor.

……………………………………………..