Week 8 EOC: Final

"The Kroger Co. is an American store founded in 1883 in Ohio. It reported 90.4 billion in sales for fiscal year 2012. It is the country's largest grocery shop, its second-largest general retailer by revenue, and fourth-largest retailer in the world. In 2010, Kroger operated, either directly or through its subsidiaries, 3,574 stores."

"Thinking of Eating Better? It’s Simple.

Simple Truth™ and Simple Truth Organic™ products provide an easy, uncomplicated solution to the challenge of simply better living. “Free from 101” artificial ingredients and preservatives, they’re available exclusively at Kroger!"

"As well as stocking a variety of regional brand products, The Kroger Co. also employs one of the largest networks of private label manufacturing in the country. Forty plants in seventeen states create about half of Kroger's nearly 20,000 private label products. Similar to most major supermarket retailers, Kroger uses a three-tiered private label marketing strategy. One private brand emphasizes no-frills products at the lowest possible price, another is intended to be comparable to leading national brands but a better value, and the third is a premium, often organic, brand."

"Like any other brand, retailers need to have a clear vision that drives the branding strategy and all other activities. A retail store plays various roles in the life of any product brand. Retailing is the core of any distribution channel; it is also a communication tool. In addition, it is instrumental in monitoring consumer trends and behavior as well as gathering market data. There are many types of stores, each with a different market focus and strategy, so it is essential for every retail venture to determine the suitable retail concept and business model that fits its philosophy and strategic goals. However, all models share the basic principle of creating the right experience with the right merchandise and service, at the right price, and for the right consumer.”

I chose the sparkling water by Kroger because it is an amazing product to drink. It doesn’t have any calories or anything bad with it. Unless you leave it in the sun, then it will taste pretty gross. The Kroger’s sparkling water is supposed to be a substitute for those who are trying to quit carbonated drinks. I love sparkling water, and Kroger’s is cheap and has a great taste to it if you’re trying to substitute it for the real thing. You can get Kroger at any participating Smith’s. Even though that’s the only place I know that would carry Kroger. It is more of a grocery store brand anyway. Sometimes I think that sparkling water COULD be, meaning that it has some potential to be a luxury item. I sometimes see a lot of celebrities drinking sparkling water like by bucket full. It's more of a status thing if you think about it. It's like soda without the carbonation. 

Week 7 EOC: Final

“UP was designed to fit seamlessly in people's lives. Real life. It's a thoughtful combination of engineering and design, custom-made for how we live.”

“UP is both flexible and strong. Sometimes UP needs to slide smoothly under sleeves or bend to accommodate an active lifestyle. Other times it has to be strong enough to stand up to a snowball fight without a problem (or more likely, a few thousand showers). Day and night, UP is right there with you.”

“UP™ is a system that takes a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle. The wristband tracks your movement and sleep in the background. The app displays your data, lets you add things like meals and mood, and delivers insights that keeps you moving forward.”

I chose one of Apples product; it is called the UP Wrist Band by Jawbone. Jawbone and Apple came together to create a really cool product called UP, and no it’s not the movie, it’s a lifestyle. UP is an innovative wristband that tracks your sleep cycle, caloric intake, how many steps you’ve taken, how many miles you’ve walked in a day, and many more. The only thing with the band is that you can’t see how much many steps you’re walking, or how much calories your burning. The only competitor to really do this technique would be the Nike fuel band. The Nike fuel band is completely different in the fact that it will show how many calories you’ve burned. The downside to the Nike Fuel Band is that it will only count calories if your arms move.  Whereas is you get the Up band, the counting is more accurate, and it actually tells you your idle time on your idle time and how long you’ve been sitting. Eventually it will tell you to get on your butt and tell you, you need to start walking. Another really cool thing about the UP band is it tells you how much you’re still burning even if you’re sitting, or standing. To my knowledge the UP band only works for Apple products, mostly the iPhone. It says you can connect it to your iPad, MacBook pro, and etc. Another cool thing about the app is if you take a picture of certain foods you and it will log it for you, you can also scan a barcode and it will easily log your meals for you as well. Overall I think that the UP wristband is a really good investment if you really want to be or go into a healthy lifestyle, that way you can track what you eat, when your suppose to eat, how you sleep, or how many calories you burn. There are many possibilities you can do with UP, you can also activate it with an alarm which is another cool feature of the gadget. One more thing before I leave, it is one of the best lifestyle products I have ever bought and I don’t regret it because it is a good fashion statement and great lifestyle choice. 

Week 4 BOC: Final

“Several years of close collaboration with the German Sports Institute of Cologne resulted in revolutionary running shoes using natural motion. BIOM, as the shoe was called, became an immediate success.”

“We constantly strive to reduce the environmental impact of our operations while increasing the positive impact we have in our global communities. We have a responsibility to be an environmentally responsible neighbor and conserve resources for future generations through sustainable development.

ECCO owns and operates the production of leather, the production of shoes and retail stores worldwide. This enables us to fully integrate best environmental health and safety practices and design into all our businesses and operations. We can develop new initiatives and implement sustainable solutions efficiency throughout our operations.

“Running, interval and jogging. Light weight; appreciate the integrated tongue design that only opens to the outside. These are literally the most comfortable shoes that have ever been on my feet.”

I chose ECCO Retail LLC as one of my other brands. They started the company in 1963 but didn’t establish the company in the U.S. until 1990, which is 23 years in the making. Ecco is a lifestyle brand only made for a particular type of customer that would spend money on quality and not quantity. With their innovative European style, and color choice, they’ve made the breaking point of combining a fashionable shoe with comfort. As far as competitors go, they haven’t ad anyone match the product, most of these competitors are; Clarks, The Walking Company, Rockport’s, and Aerosole are some of their competitors, but non of them can compare to the way they make and produce the product. The product that I chose within the brand is the ECCO Biom technology, which is short for biomechanical. The idea of the shoe is that it is a performance shoe. Meaning that you can use it for running, walking, jogging, and any other athletic sport you can think of, even golf. What makes Biom so special is that they put so much research into the shoe that they actually scan 2,500 pairs of feet to get the right fit for the shoe line. The shoe was made to fit anatomically to fit your feet, and has a low to the ground profile so that you were made to feel like your wearing no shoes, or you’re barefoot. Studies do show that walking barefoot is good for you because you create more balance for yourself, and you aren’t confined to a shoe where it grips your foot and you’re dependent on the shoe for comfort. While using Biom you depend more on your feet than the shoe, creating the motto, which is the shoe, should always follow the foot. Biom has been a great feat for Ecco, and is one of the best selling shoes in the stores around the U.S. Not only is it a great shoe, but also it is designed very well with great materials such as Yak Skin, and Polyurethane. This brand goes to show you that you don’t need to be extravagant to be well known, you just need to be very minimalist and fashionable.