Michael Hill Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Michael Hill - Assignment Example Furthermore, the report also provides a break-even analysis emphasizing on the cost/price and volume relationship. Lastly, the report examines the control in place in the firm’s operation. Most of the information comes from the firm’s website and financial statements, as well as other reliable secondary sources. The report has four parts: situation analysis, marketing strategy, break-even analysis, and controls. Situation Analysis Market Summary Market Demographics Michael Hill engages in jewellery manufacturing and retailing. The firm sells both men and women watches and diamond jewellery. Essentially, the company operates in the highly priced diamond jewellery market. The firm operates retail outlet stores for watches and jewellery under the major brand name: Michael Hill. Moreover, the firm provides other services, including jewellery inspection, cleaning, and repairing. The firm also offers customized services to its clients by designing the chosen diamonds for jewe llery. Through a chain of 240 jewellery stores, the company and its subsidiary operates in New Zealand, Australia, United States, and Canada. However, the headquarters is in Queensland, Australia (Gray, 2011). The diamond jewellery market is a rather delicate and emotional sector, just like the clients. Clients in the jewellery market have different characteristics. However, all of them are well above the poverty line, as the products and services offered by the company and the market in general are relatively costly (Kotler, Burton, and Keller, 234). In other words, the diamond jewellery market appeals to the elite societal class with a taste for fashion and glamour. Market Needs At the time of establishment, the jewellery market had a stiff and formal atmosphere attached to it. Hill, the entrepreneur, sought to establish a new philosophy in the market that would make jewellery buying more accessible to the entire public and less intimidating. Therefore, Hill introduced a new produ ct mix strategy, subsequently removing the store clutter of giftware such as imported glassware, Chinese ornaments, and cuckoo clocks. The window display of the stores was simple, exhibiting around five enticing items changed regularly. This, combined with the attention-grabbing advertisement, significantly enhanced the attraction towards the stores. What the jewellery industry required at the time was a reconsideration of the service aspect, as the products are largely emotional. Realizing this, Hill quickly designed a marketing strategy that would meet the needs of the customers to their level of enthusiasm and passion (Hill, 2012a). The Market and Trends Based on a 1996 statistic report, New Zealand, the headquarters of Michael Hill, had 550 retailers, 153 wholesalers, and 293 manufacturers operating in the jewellery industry. As with many other New Zealand business settings, these ventures are principally small businesses, privately owned and operated. Among the 293 jewellery ma nufacturers, only three had more than two outlets. The report also shows that fifteen of the major retailers have more than three stores, and only four specialist jewellery chains having more than twenty stores were present at the time. These were Michael Hill, Pascoes the Jeweller, Kleins, and Gemtime Jeweller. Nonetheless, jewellery was also available from a number of other outlets, including fashion and department stores, antique, craft, souvenir, and catalogues shops (Gray, 2011).