Https www ioffer com shopping_carts

Smarthinking Tutor Response Form

Your tutor has written overview comments about your essay in the form below. Your tutor has also embedded comments [in bold and in brackets] within your essay. Thank you for choosing Smarthinking to help you improve your writing!

Hello Ronald! My name is Joyce F. I look forward to working with you on this Grammar and Documentation Review to improve your writing today. Let's get started!

*Writing Strength:

Your paper relies on many credible and current sources. You have blended in your research/support effectively.

Now, let’s look at tips for revision. Word Choice:

First, strengthen your communication by editing repetitive diction. Unnecessary or “echoed” words weaken your points. Examine this key sentence:

“Virum as a large apparel retailer will have an advantage over smaller competitors as the company will be able to get a better pricing from suppliers and manufacturers because the company can buy large quantities of apparel at a lower price which will be reflected at the company’s product prices.”

You repeat “will” too frequently here. Restructure this statement and aim for one usage of “will”. For example:

Smith Company will have an edge over younger corporations since they recruit consistently from all colleges and profit from a massive candidate base. Grammar & Mechanics:

Next, find and fix any subject-verb agreement errors for accurate grammar. If subjects are plural, use the plural verb form. If a subject is singular, use the singular form. For example:

Singular subject and verb: The professor earns a large salary.

Plural subject and verb: The professors earn a large salary.

In this case, the third person singular subject’s verb takes an “s” for the present tense. The third person plural subject does not.

Use that model as a guide and revise this verb error from the draft:

“Promotions begins with the discount of 10% off the customer’s first purchase”

Check all verbs for agreement. Documentation:

Finally, revise APA citation errors for precision. First, make sure parentheticals include only the last name of the source creator. For example:

(Smith, 2013)

Check the parentheticals for Nikitas. Those now include the first name.

Additionally, make sure any source referenced (even in a general way) is properly cited. For instance:

“According to the Boston Consulting Group, the internet is a contributor to more of the American economy than that of the entire federal government.”

Is this source on the reference list? Is there a particular author or just the group? What year was the source containing this general point published?

If you need any help with refining APA citation issues, check out this Handbook section:

Documentation (Chapter 2: Section 3, Lesson 9)

APA Style

Summary of Next Steps:

· Edit repetitive diction.

· Find and fix subject-verb agreement errors.

· Check for APA citation precision.

Thank you for submitting your essay for a review. I enjoyed helping you with this step in the revision process. Have a good day, Ronald!

Joyce F.

You can find more information about writing, grammar, and usage in the Smarthinking Writer's Handbook.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Please look for comments [in bold and in brackets] in your essay below. Thank you for submitting your work to Smarthinking! We hope to see you again soon.

Apparel Sales Online

Virum will have five men’s apparel distributions channels: 1. iOffer.com; 2. Amazon.com; 3. Rakuten.com; 4. eBay.com; and Virum website via Shopify.com. [For consistency, add the fifth number.]The company will also utilize Facebook and Twitter to build name recognition and drive sales. High-end brand names like Joseph Abboud, Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, and Elei Tahari, draws the attention of the company’s target market. [The verb “draws” needs revision to agree with the plural, third person subject (names). Check all subject-verbs for agreement for accurate grammar.] High resolution of images of the products that customer intend to order help them visualize their preferred professional image. Virum uses multiple online tools that help drive consumer engagement in the apparel category. Online marketplaces like eBay.com, Amazon.com, iOffer.com, Shopify.com, Rakuten.com, and Sell.com have all launched a number of new tools that are proving to improve the apparel shopping experience.

Through the use of such sites as eBay, Amazon, iOffer, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for advertising, promotion, and giveaways, the company is able to develop its presence in the online market. Although the company uses multiple online marketplaces to sell men’s apparel, the long-term strategy is driving new and repeat customers to the company website. This will reduce cost, increase profits, and promote the Virum name and brand.

Virum is focused on promoting its name and brand in the fast-growing men’s apparel e-commerce market. Their e-commerce distribution channels will continue to develop as companies such as Amazon and eBay reach their 23 and 22 year anniversaries and new companies enter the cyber market. E-commerce is the process of Transacting or facilitating business over the internet and is the new standard for how retail companies manage and conduct their business. According to the Boston Consulting Group, the internet is a contributor to more of the American economy than that of the entire federal government.

Fig. 3: internet economy

The internet accounted for $684 billion, or 4.7% of all U.S. economic activity in 2010, Boston Consulting Group found. By way of comparison, the federal government, contributed $625 billion, or 4.3%, to the nation's output. (Censky, 2012) According to eMarketer’s forecast of retail sales in the U.S. ecommerce accounted for a significant portion of that growth and future forecast put retail sales at $ 5.339 trillion, a 4.0% growth by 2017 and $ 5.552 trillion in 2018.

Fig. 4: U.S retail sales

Value Proposition

Virum’s target group has an average annual salary of $42,000. “Millennials are now earning a median-wage income at age 30. They may be currently struggling, but Gen Y is still very optimistic about their financial future. Nearly 90% of those 18-34 believe they have enough money now and expect that they will have even more in the future.” (Stephen Nikitas, 2014) According to Javelin Strategy and Research, in 2015, Gen Y income will exceed that of Baby Boomers. “By 2020, their income is projected to exceed that of both Baby Boomers and Gen X. By 2025, Gen Y’s combined income is expected to account for 46% of the nation’s income. Gen Y consumer spending is expected to grow to $1.4 trillion annually and represent 30 percent of total retail sales by 2020. So, while Gen Y might not have assets or a lot of spending power today, they will. And unless you go after this crowd now and get them firmly entrenched, you’ll miss a huge opportunity” (Stephen Nikitas, 2014). [When you directly quote more than 40 words, create a block quotation, indenting the entire “chunk” ½ inch from your left margin. See the APA Handbook section I mentioned in my comments before the draft for a visual aid.]

The disposable personal income of the target group is expected to increase within the next 5 years. The expenditures on men’s apparel will be directly related to the increase in disposal income. The target group has the desire and income to look great in every situation. To improve profitability, many companies are restructuring to create leaner organizations and adopt new technologies.

Virum marketing model is focused on quality, service, and price. As mentioned throughout this marketing place, Virum’s target market of men ages 20 to 40 choose to shop online because of: increasing time-poverty, changing lifestyle, convenience, flexibility of shopping and because the company offers free home delivery. Virum offers brands which are an increasingly significant factor in men’s apparel. The target customer does not have time to drive to the local store or department store. They are looking for time-saving ways to spend their disposable income. Th exposure to online shopping and established brand names, with their quality image, make the shopping experience convenient, simple and faster for many consumers. [Proofread carefully and revise simple typos. Look at the first word of this sentence.]

Virum offers these brand name, new apparel at heavily discounted prices with free home delivery. Their focus builds on consumer loyalty, which translates into repeat business.

Virum purchases new close out, job out, and store stock from major department stores and manufactures at $0.10 to $0.16 on the dollar of the retail price from their suppliers. Virum’s low-cost purchase savings creates a diverse competitive edge, giving the customer the opportunity to purchase Virum products at less than 50% off of the retail department store price.

Promotions begins with the discount of 10% off the customer’s first purchase; therefore, encouraging and increasing the potential of return customers. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram helps the increase in sales, productivity and increase in advertisement tactics and expansion. Pricing strategies include the cost of production where all products are purchased from suppliers with the option to purchase custom apparel for business teams, i.e., embroidered company logos on business shirts or sweaters. The price point is listed reasonably which translates to a reasonable and promising selling advantage.

Pricing Strategies

Virum uses both the value pricing which incorporates both budget and luxury segments. Their value pricing strikes an important balance between cost and quality. The Virum customer want products that are made of high quality material at a reasonable price. They do not sacrifice quality for extremely low prices or sacrifice cost for poor quality products. The pricing of Virum apparels compared to its competitor’s price is ranged averagely and may also reflect a high price based on unique designs. Virum as a large apparel retailer will have an advantage over smaller competitors as the company will be able to get a better pricing from suppliers and manufacturers because the company can buy large quantities of apparel at a lower price which will be reflected at the company’s product prices.

Price has been described as the most important factor affecting the online purchasing decision by about sixty percent of all online shoppers globally (Aryasri, 2009). Being an ecommerce company, Virum will apply various pricing approaches which will be used as marketing weapon and a conversion rate optimizer. The pricing of various products was based on the competitive landscape, the product type and consumer preferences. The company will be flexible in pricing the product, in cases where a luxury product is in demand and customers are ready to pay out a premium fee, the company may increase the price but at a rate which will still maintain its competition. The company will also use its market intelligence and analysis skills through automated price tracking solutions to ensure it doesn’t drop prices all the time but the company be able to adjust various prices to be competitive while still maintaining profitability.

Sales and Marketing Strategy

Through the social media channels, Virum undergoes constant updates and newsfeeds to help regulate the current trends in fashion. Marketing is currently done through online channels of using Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to showcase all of its designs and products. Facebook and Twitter are meeting the requirements for online sourcing while Instagram helps with the tagging and hash tags. The collaboration of internet and social media will guide most of the marketing and advertising efforts. Along with the use of social media, within the Virum website, a company newsletter will be offered to every customer at the company landing page as well as within the checkout and order confirmation page where the customer will have the opportunity to subscribe to weekly, monthly, and yearly updates and product clearance and seasonal promotions. The delivery tool of choice will be by email. This tool will also feed the customer database for potential questionnaires and surveys to assist in performance measures and customer satisfaction metrics.

Market Communication Plan

“The new wave of consumerism coupled with increasing urbanization and burgeoning middle class with paradigm shifts in their demographic and psychographic dynamics have driven consumers frequently to use retail websites to search for product information and/or make a purchase of products.” (Prasad & Aryasri, 2009) Virum intends to use a broad-based internet marketing campaign that includes search engine optimization, pay per click marketing, and affiliate marketing programs that will drive traffic and sales to Virum's multiple online distribution channels. They will develop continuous online advertising and promotional campaigns throughout the year. Virum plans to increase its use of e-commerce sites to achieve market penetration and name recognition.

As with all businesses, Virum relies on conventional and electronic communication to reach all new and existing customers. A strategy for combining conventional and electronic communication used by Virum will be advertising via industry newsletters and published industry-wide clothing magazines. Publications, such as magazines and newsletters are considered tangible media. Tangible, visual advertising serves as an instrument to enforce intangible influences such as believability, prestige and quality. These forms of media are considered non-intrusive; hence, customers will appreciate them above more aggressive in your face media advertising.

The growing competition in e-commerce is inducing more and more companies to seek the satisfaction of consumers, which, in turn, reflects the continuity of the relationship, in loyalty, favorable attitudes and positive word-of-mouth advertising (Bachion, Rodrigues Da Silva Tamashiro, & Monforte Merlo, 2017). Virum online has a customer service center that deals with queries or problems regarding their products, orders, and returns. The sales are also managed on this site via a shopping cart, where the customers can place their orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Payment of the products is done online through debit cards, credit cards and Paypal. All orders will be automatically confirmed via email, back to the customer; which also fulfills revenue recognition. On the confirmation of the payment the order will be processed and delivered to the customer destination within 3 business days.

References

Bachion, Ceribeli, H., Rodrigues Da Silva Tamashiro, H., & Monforte Merlo, E. (2017). Online Flow and E-Satisfaction in High Involvement Purchasing Processes. Base, 14(1), 16-29. doi:10.4013/base.2017.141.02 (pg. 16)

Censky, A. (2012, March 19). Internet Accounts for 4.% of U.S. economy. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/19/news/economy/internet_economy/ (pg. 12)

eMarketer, Total US Retail Sales Top $4.5 Trillion in 2013, Outpace GDP Growth. (2014, April 10). Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Total-US-Retail-Sales-Top-3645-Trillion-2013-Outpace-GDP-Growth/1010756 (pg. 13)

Group, T. N. (2014, May 01). The NPD Group Reports 5 Percent Growth in U.S. Men’s Apparel Market. Retrieved from https://www.npd.com/wps/portal/npd/us/news/press-releases/the-npd-group-reports-5-percent-growth-in-us-mens-apparel-market/ (pg. 4,10,11)

Li, S. (2015, March 15). Millennial guys keen on style are reshaping the fashion trade. Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-menswear-boom-20150315-story.html.

(Pg. 2)

Marano, H. E. (2008). The STYLE Imperative. Psychology Today, 41(5), 78. (pg. 5)

Menswear in the US. (2014, March 11). Retrieved http://www.live-pr.com/en/us-menswear-market-reported-3-growth-r1050496870.htm (pg. 5)

Plunkett, Jack W., Plunkett, M. B., Steinberg, J. S., Faulk, J., & Snider, I. J. (2016). Internet Users by Demographic Group, U.S.: 2015. E-Commerce & Internet Industry. Retrieved May 27, 2017, from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com. (figure 3, pg. 9, 10)

Prasad, C. S., & Aryasri, A. R. (2009). Determinants of Shopper Behaviour in E-tailing: An Empirical Analysis. Paradigm (09718907), 13(1), 73-83. (pg. 16)

Stephen Nikitas, S. S. (2014, February 13). Generation Y Millennials: Why They’re Worth a Second Look. Harland Calrke: (pg. 13)

Wang, L. (2014, June 17). No Sings of Slowing in the Global Menswear Maket. Retrieved May 16, 2017, from Businessoffashion.com: https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/fashion-show-review/signs-slowing-global-menswear-market