‘

Practical Business Solutions

Everett Stunz

May 1, 2015

This report is submitted to fulfill the requirements of

BA 404 - Integrative Business Analysis by:

Esmeralda Anaya

Julio Ascencio

Ana Franco

Christian Williams

2

Acknowledgements

This report was sponsored by the Small Business Consulting Center, a highly successful,

award-winning program that has served nearly one thousand small and medium sized

businesses in the San Diego region since its inception in the early 1970’s. In, addition, the

program has provided substantial learning and teaching opportunities to San Diego State

University students, Teaching Assistants, and Professors. The Small Business Consulting

Center would like to take the opportunity to thank the sponsors who helped make our program

and this report possible.

In addition, the student team would like to acknowledge the help and advice of Dr. John

Francis, course instructor; and Brandon McCann, Center Consulting and Course Teaching

Assistant

3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 6

Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 10

Company Description and History .......................................................................................... 10

Management/ Employees ........................................................................................................ 12

Background ................................................................................................................................. 14

Problem Statement ...................................................................................................................... 20

Project Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 21

Objective 1: Competitor Website Analysis ............................................................................. 21

Objective 2: Everett Stunz Marketing Analysis ...................................................................... 21

Objective 3: Demographic Analysis ....................................................................................... 21

Objective #1: Competitor Website Analysis .............................................................................. 22

Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 22

Results ..................................................................................................................................... 22

Objective #2: Marketing Promotions Analysis ........................................................................... 31

Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 31

Results: Traditional Media ...................................................................................................... 31

Results: Online and Electronic Media .................................................................................... 34

Objective #3: Demographic Analysis ......................................................................................... 40

Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 40

Results ..................................................................................................................................... 41

Research Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 46

Situational Analysis .................................................................................................................... 47

Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 51

1) Distinguish brand through unique shopping experience and branding techniques ............ 51

2) Modify store layout and product presentation .................................................................... 53

3) Establish partnerships with local businesses ...................................................................... 57

4) Develop advertising campaign theme ................................................................................. 60

4

5) Develop Advertising Initiatives .......................................................................................... 62

6) Online Initiatives ................................................................................................................ 68

7) Integrate social media profiles ............................................................................................ 77

8) Increase online advertising budget by using Google Adwords ............................................................ 80

9) Reconfigure website ............................................................................................................................................... 81

Action Plan ............................................................................................................................................................................ 84

References ............................................................................................................................................................................. 90

Appendix ................................................................................................................................................................................ 92

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Figure 1: Segmentation- Bed & Mattress Industry ..................................................................... 15

Figure 2: key ratios ..................................................................................................................... 16

Figure 3: Industry efficiency Ratios- Furniture Stores ............................................................... 16

Figure 4: Industry Profitability- Furniture Stores 15 .................................................................. 17

Figure 5: Product Benefits- Sleepnumber.com ........................................................................... 23

Figure 6: Product Benefits – Sleepnumber.com ......................................................................... 23

Figure 7: Williams Sonoma ........................................................................................................ 25

Figure 8: Williams Sonoma ........................................................................................................ 26

Figure 9: Restoration Hardware Source Books .......................................................................... 27

Figure 10: Restoration Hardware Luxury Sheet Sets ................................................................. 28

Figure 11 ..................................................................................................................................... 30

Figure 12 ..................................................................................................................................... 30

Figure 13: Giving Back Magazine Advertisement ..................................................................... 33

Figure 14: San Diego Magazine Advertisement, July 2006 ....................................................... 34

Figure 15: Alexa.com Analysis for "Everettstunz.com"............................................................. 36

Figure 16: Alexa.com analysis ................................................................................................... 36

Figure 17: So Cal Living Showroom .......................................................................................... 54

Figure 18: Urban Life showroom Example ................................................................................ 55

Figure 19: Store Layout with Showrooms .................................................................................. 55

Figure 20: Hotel Notecard .......................................................................................................... 58

Figure 21: Contemporary Design Group Contact Information ................................................... 59

Figure 22: Beauty Starts in Bed Advertisement Example .......................................................... 60

5

Figure 23: Product and Campaign Support Notecards ............................................................... 61

Figure 24: Magazine Advertising Concept (Beds/Linens) ......................................................... 63

Figure 25: Magazine Advertising Concept (Beds/Linens) ......................................................... 64

Figure 26: Direct Mail Postcard Promotion ................................................................................ 66

Figure 27: Example of Facebook Advertisement ....................................................................... 72

Figure 28: Instagram Hashtag Campaign Example .................................................................... 73

Figure 29: Instagram Hashtag Campaign Example .................................................................... 74

Figure 30: Promotional Email Example ..................................................................................... 76

Figure 31 Email Example Promote Social Media ...................................................................... 77

Figure 32: New Concept for Website ......................................................................................... 84

Table 1: Newspaper Readership Demographics ......................................................................... 44

Table 2: Social Media Usage ...................................................................................................... 45

Table 3: Highest Income Zip Codes ........................................................................................... 67

Table 4: Top 10 Keywords "Everett Stunz" ............................................................................... 81

Table 6: May 2015- 2016 Marketing Plan .................................................................................. 89

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: UTC La Jolla Mall Store- Front Entrance ............................................................ 92

Appendix 2 .................................................................................................................................. 92

Appendix 3 .................................................................................................................................. 93

Appendix 4 .................................................................................................................................. 93

Appendix 5 .................................................................................................................................. 94

Appendix 6 .................................................................................................................................. 94

Appendix 7: Everett Stunz Website ............................................................................................ 95

Appendix 8: Google Search Results "Luxury Bedding" ............................................................ 95

Appendix 9: Yelp Page ............................................................................................................... 96

Appendix 10: Competitor Analysis ............................................................................................ 96

Appendix 11: SWOT Analysis Table ........................................................................................ 97

Appendix 12: SDRS Psychographics ......................................................................................... 98

Appendix 13: MRI+ Bedding and Bath Goods- Bought in the last 12 months .......................... 99

Appendix 14: MRI+ Bedding and Bath Goods ........................................................................ 100

Appendix 15: MRI+ Household furnishing Mattress Amount Spent ....................................... 101

6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Everett Stunz is a luxury bedroom-furnishing store that has experienced success over the last 50

years of their existence. They are a small, family owned store that focuses on serving the La

Jolla market with top-of-the-line mattresses and luxurious bedding, pillows, and bath products.

Under new ownership, the last 10 years of business have seen little to no sales growth, as they

have been affected by the economic recession. Seeking to raise their sales revenue, Everett

Stunz is looking for help in their marketing, advertising, sales promotions, and electronic

presence.

This report is designed to first take a deep look into the current situation of the company

and will include industry, competitive, and demographic analyses to further our understanding

of the market that Everett Stunz competes in. This secondary data guides us along the way, as

all of the information obtained will ultimately allow us to develop strategies to assist Everett

Stunz in gaining new customers and raising their sales levels among current customers.

For Everett Stunz to experience success in their respective industry, they must first be

made aware of what it takes to establish a strong brand identity, in hopes of differentiating

itself from direct competitors as well as their indirect competition that pose a bigger threat-

larger companies with more resources that also sell bedroom products. Despite the fact that

Everett Stunz has been in business for 50 years, the overall level of brand awareness is low and

the company has not constructed a relatively strong brand identity. One way to accomplish this

is by having a strong online presence, due to the increasing popularity of ecommerce and

widespread Internet adoption rates.

7

Currently, Everett Stunz does not have any strategic marketing plan implemented by which to

guide their promotional efforts. Over the life of the company, Mr. Coller has attempted several

advertising methods to bring additional attention to his business. So far, he has advertised using

television, radio, magazines, social media, and has relied on word of mouth to increase his

clientele. By analyzing these previous marketing and advertising attempts, we can pinpoint

areas for improvement and further guide our recommendations for future marketing initiatives.

Future branding efforts need to accentuate luxury and exclusivity of products, as they are the

primary competitive advantages that Everett Stunz possesses over their counterparts.

Customers, especially since the recession, need a reason to justify spending large sums of

money on certain items, and making sure that shoppers feel special and in a unique

environment will assist in instilling confidence the in products being sold.

Through conducting customer analysis, we assessed relevant trends, purchase patterns, and

customer preferences for those customers in the target age segment. As mentioned early, the

market saturation for the La Jolla market paired with the long purchase cycle for mattresses (15

years) and high-quality linens (5 year) affect sales figures. Determining how to better market

these products to current and prospective customers will allow Everett Stunz to experience an

increase in revenue.

The information and data gathered was sufficient in helping us create a set of specific

recommendations to address the issues that Everett Stunz has been affected by. First and

foremost, we agreed that creating a strong brand name should be the first order of business, as

all other activities performed by the company need to support the overall brand. This was

8

addressed by developing a “unique, Everett Stunz shopping experience”, which makes sure that

visitors of the store receive unparalleled service that they only receive when shopping at

Everett Stunz. The second part of this was to change the store layout, which included adding

showrooms and theme rooms to better showcase products, and compliment this unique

shopping experience. In addition, we also saw this necessary to better promote linens, bath

products, and other higher-margin goods that Everett Stunz sells.

Raising awareness for the company by branching out into the community in any way

possible is beneficial to nearly any company, which is why we recommended that Everett Stunz

contact local luxury hotels and seek to develop a partnership with them, by either providing or

selling them products at a discount for use in their rooms. As part of these agreements, Everett

Stunz would be able to display a little notecard in the bedroom with a simple greeting for hotel

patrons in an attempt to generate store or online traffic. Next was to locate nearby chiropractors

or clinics that understand the importance of a quality bed, inform them of the benefits of the

DUX bed, and have them serve as a means of word-of-mouth for their clients.

As far as future advertising efforts, Everett Stunz has a campaign to follow along with,

as we have developed and laid the groundwork for the “Beauty Starts in Bed” campaign theme.

This will not only guide marketing, advertising, and promotional initiatives, but also pave the

way for employees and support the Everett Stunz brand as a whole. The “Beauty Starts in Bed”

campaign will be implemented in print, search engine, outdoor, and social media advertising

tactics.

9

We fully believe that the campaign we have developed can gain traction especially in

the social media and online realm. As the majority of Everett Stunz’ customers are in fact

women, the desire for beauty is something that they can relate with. The campaign will assist in

integrating social media efforts, through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest, and will lead to

heightened levels of engagement with posts on the various platforms utilized.

Online marketing will also be achieved through Google Adwords campaigns, primarily

outside the local market in hopes of reaching beyond La Jolla and into parts of North and East

San Diego County. As part of this, we want to ensure that the website is fully optimized and

prepared to handle additional traffic, as well as keep visitors engaged and involved when

browsing the Everett Stunz website.

10

INTRODUCTION

This report was prepared for Everett Stunz, a company dedicated to providing residents

of La Jolla, California, with the finest bed and bedding materials available on the market. As

the recession dramatically hurt furniture businesses across America, Everett Stunz also suffered

a significant loss in revenue. Unfortunately for them, the recovery from this occurrence has

been gradual. Paired with the economic downturn, profitability is affected by the long sales

cycle for high involvement products like mattresses, which generally covers a span of time

between ten and fifteen years. For a specialty mattress company like Everett Stunz, additional

marketing measures are needed to generate sales in this particular category.

COMPANY DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY

Everett Stunz, located in La Jolla, California, is San Diego’s premier bed and linen

store. They have been in business for 50 years, operating solely out of their flagship store in the

heart of La Jolla until last year when they opened a second store at the UTC mall, also in La

Jolla. Additionally, they have an exclusive selection of top-of-the-line adjustable and flat beds

that can be custom-made to each customer’s specifications. Their products are the highest

quality from all around the world, and they make sure to stay up-to-date with the latest designs

available. Everett Stunz staffs interior designers to assist with addressing the personalized

needs of consumers.

They are also one of the few California retailers who carry the exclusive DUX by

Duxiana bed, best known for supporting your body in a totally natural position so that the

11

muscles and joints are pressure-free. They also offer new eco-friendly products such as wood-

fiber sheets and bamboo towels. In addition to DUX beds, Everett Stunz sells Sharper Image

and Savvy Rest beds, which are not normally found in mattress chain stores. This exclusivity is

one aspect that gives Everett Stunz a unique competitive advantage within the industry.

Everett Stunz has a unique business model in the sense that they function as a one-stop

shop for luxury bedroom outfitting while also offering high-end bath goods such as towels and

bathrobes. Everett Stunz is a business that dedicates its focus to selling three brands of

mattresses that are difficult to find in most retail stores and also boasts a deep collection of top-

of-the-line bedding materials. They compete against mattress manufacturers, mattress retailers,

and other various furniture stores that sell similar products, though most of them carry distinct

mattress brands when compared to the other competitors. As the exclusive San Diego County

retailer of the Duxiana bed, and seller of the rare Savvy Rest, Everett Stunz offers a distinct

form of value to any wealthy customer that seeks to obtain the best mattress that they can buy.

Unfortunately, the customer base is very limited due to the high costs associated with

purchasing this type of product. At the same time, Everett Stunz faces intense competition from

local companies and operates in an industry that requires shoppers to undergo a high-

involvement purchase process. As a small company, Everett Stunz must find ways to convey

product benefits to any interested parties in order to generate additional sales.

While Everett Stunz currently has two stores in operation; one located in downtown La

Jolla and the other at the Westfield UTC mall, also in La Jolla, future operations will be

consolidated down into just the mall store with the original store in La Jolla shut down. The

12

main reason for this action is the heightened accessibility to visitors from outside the La Jolla

area, as the mall location is much more convenient and requires less travel time to reach upon

exiting the freeway. Another factor taken into consideration was the market saturation for

certain products in the small city of La Jolla, as sales within the area immediately surrounding

the original store have become stagnant, and Everett Stunz needs to expand the reach of their

operation into surrounding regions. The UTC mall store is set up in a simple yet luxurious

manner, a spacious showroom with a black-and-white color scheme throughout the store. The

beds on display are spread out liberally, making it easy for customers to move about within the

confines of the store. The signage in front is very imposing and conveys a message in itself.

The gold lettering and black background gives a feeling of luxury to customers while they pass

by. Upon entering the store, there is an exhibition of a DUX bed that has been decorated with

linens sold by Everett Stunz. The cashier desk is located on the right side of the store, about

halfway between the front and back of the store. There is always a sales associate available for

any questions or concerns the customer may have. Behind the cashier’s desk is a wall full of

6linens and bath products. This setup is advantageous because while the customer is making a

purchase, they can still notice an additional product to purchase, and may consider adding it to

their cart at checkout. Appendix 1 -6 capture the general essence of the store layout and product

displays.

MANAGEMENT/ EMPLOYEES

For about ten years Mr. Philip Coller has been the sole proprietor of Everett Stunz. He

is responsible for the overall management of the business, including areas such as marketing

13

and operations. He is the primary contact for any issue or question that may come to surface

and knows the ins-and-outs of not only the company, but also as the industry in which he

operates. He works at the UTC store location mostly all day Monday-Sunday. In addition to

Mr. Coller, Everett Stunz employs a staff that includes sales associates and interior designers.

Upon the closing of the downtown La Jolla store, all sales associates will move to the UTC

mall location.

14

BACKGROUND

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Everett Stunz is operating in the “Bed and Mattress Store Industry”, and as we can see from the

information indicated below, operates in an industry characterized by low profit margins, many

small players, and low growth levels. From these three factors, we can conclude that the bed

and mattress industry is in its maturity stage.

This number is broken down further into revenues based on types of products offered,

in which 49.3% of the $11.1 billion ($5.47 billion) consists of traditional mattresses, 23.1%

(roughly $2.553 billion) in specialty mattress sales, 19.0% frames and box springs, 8.6%

(approximately $955 million) is accounted for by ‘other’ products, including bedding/pillows.

As a specialty mattress retailer that also sells bedding, Everett Stunz is operating in a market

that brings in $3.508 billion each year, totaling the revenues from specialty mattresses and

‘other’. Segmentation based on various age groups can be seen in Figure 1.0 below.

15

FIGURE 1: SEGMENTATION- BED & MATTRESS INDUSTRY

Overall profit in this sector equates to $165.8 million, and as seen in many other mature

industries, the industry experienced a low growth level of 1.3% between 2009-2014, and is

projected to grow 2.1% from 2014 to 2019.

The furniture industry has shown a steady increase in return on sales since the recession

from 80% in 2009, to 180% in 2013 and continues to show a positive trend. The industry

average for revenue per employee has also shown a steady positive increase over the years. The

collection period has only increased slightly over the past 5 years from 14.4 days to 15.7 days.

Overall, the industry has shown increases in efficiency while profitability has remained

stagnant for the most part during this time span. (Figure 2, 3 and 4)

16

FIGURE 2: KEY RATIOS

FIGURE 3: INDUSTRY EFFICIENCY RATIOS- FURNITURE STORES

Industry Efficiency (Furniture Stores)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Return on sales (%) 0.8 1 1.6 1.7 1.8

Return on Assets (%) 1.6 2.1 3 3.6 3.6

Return on Net Worth (%) 2.6 3.9 5.3 6 6.2

17

FIGURE 4: INDUSTRY PROFITABILITY- FURNITURE STORES 15

KEY COMPETITION

“Furniture Stores” is a very vague term, as there are many different types of furniture

and various business structures that sell furnishings. The primary industry, “Bed & Mattress

Stores in the United States”, “Sells sleep equipment, including mattresses, box springs, cots,

bedding, pillows and waterbeds. The industry excludes wholesale furniture distributors such as

department stores or direct non-store retailers, as well as sales of other bedroom furniture.

Revenue from sales of sleep sofas, daybeds, futons and other dual-purpose furniture is not

included in industry revenue” (IbisWorld). As mentioned beforehand, the industry is highly

fragmented in nature, with the three major players, Mattress Firm, Select Comfort, and

Industry Profitability

(Furniture Stores)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Collection Period (days) 14.4 17.5 13.9 10.6 15.7

Sales / Inventory (times) 5.1 4.9 4.9 4.9 5

Assets / Sales (%) 45.4 47.6 48.7 46.5 45.1

Sales / Net Working

Capital (times)

4.6 4.4 4.2 4.6 4.6

Accounts Payable / Sales

(%)

3.9 3.8 4.3 4.2 4

18

Sleepy’s combining for 28.2% of the market share, while no one remaining firm accounts for

over 1.0% of revenue, meaning that the average revenue for the rest of the firms equates to

around $1.3 million. These facts prove true in the case of Everett Stunz, as current revenue is

very near this figure. Though the following companies addressed include both manufacturers

and retailers, they are considered direct competition to Everett Stunz due primarily to

geographic proximity.

DIRECT (INTERNAL) COMPETITORS:

Select Comfort (Operates in retail sector under Sleep Number), Sleep Train, Furniture

& Mattress Warehouse, Real Deal Mattress, and San Diego Mattress Man, Martha Smith, and

Between the Sheets.

Direct competitors are defined as those involved in mattress retailing and stores specifically

selling beds and mattresses, as well as similar types of bedding materials.

INDIRECT (EXTERNAL) COMPETITORS:

Macy’s, Nordstrom, Restoration Hardware, Williams-Sonoma, these indirect

competitors are those that do not specialize particularly in bed and mattress sales, but include

department stores and furniture stores that sell some of the same products in addition to many

other goods. We believe they pose the biggest threat to Everett Stunz.

Sleep Number, Macy’s, Williams-Sonoma, and Restoration Hardware find themselves

as the most threatening competition to Everett Stunz as the five of them all operate in the same

19

mall, Westfield UTC La Jolla. This is a mall never short of wealthy customers, as it is

strategically located. For Everett Stunz, it means that they must compete with a number of

other luxury-minded companies on a daily basis. Macy’s and Sleep Number offer economies of

scale in their production/ distribution models and both brands boast strong levels of awareness

for their goods and services. However, as Macy’s is a department store, they do not have one

particular main focus. This can work to Everett Stunz’ advantage through staffing a

knowledgeable workforce to stress benefits of their beds and bedding, as well as going the extra

mile to offer value-added services to customers. This ability to focus on a narrow product mix

also works to the disadvantage of Williams-Sonoma and Restoration Hardware, whom both

stock multiple product categories rather than simply beds and bedding. As a single store

operation, Everett Stunz needs to stress superior product knowledge and the best customer

service to complement their product offerings and use their strengths to their advantage.

There are two local competitors in the retail bedding industry, Martha Smith (La Jolla),

and Between the Sheets (Del Mar). There is not much differentiation between the three when it

comes to the products offered, and, even though Everett Stunz is positioned through their

tagline as “The World’s Finest Bed, Bath & Linens”, Between the Sheets is similarly

positioned as “The World’s Finest Since 1986.” The appeal and presentation are visually

similar on both websites, and from first glance, there is not much differentiation between the

two companies. (Appendix 10 Competitor Analysis Table)

20

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Following the economic recession in 2007, Everett Stunz suffered a significant decline

in sales revenues, immediately reducing their profitability as many consumers were cutting

back on luxury products. Like many other small businesses, recovering and returning to the

level that once was previously reached has proved to be an arduous task for decision-makers.

Customer purchasing habits have changed, and the strategies and tactics that once brought

people in to shop at stores are not proving to be as effective as they used to be.

By addressing the Key Business Issues (below) that Everett Stunz is facing, we can

assist them in adapting their strategies to stay competitive, specifically focusing on ways to

increase sales and better understand and reach out to new customers through marketing,

advertising, promotions, search engine optimization, and product mix analysis.

● Everett Stunz has not established a strong brand name or identity

Marketing efforts have not successfully promoted company outside the La Jolla area

● Long purchase cycles for luxury goods affecting profitability

21

PROJECT OBJECTIVES Based on our preliminary competitor and background for Everett Stunz, there are three

areas that need additional research in order to provide evidence for our future

recommendations. These three objectives will guide us in obtaining important information

necessary to implement any recommendations.

OBJECTIVE 1: COMPETITOR WEBSITE ANALYSIS

For this objective, we will be conducting website analysis for four companies that

operate within the UTC mall, which is where Everett Stunz will be solely operating after May

1, 2015.

Samples from websites will be taken and analyzed to help us recommend how Everett Stunz

could better design their website.

OBJECTIVE 2: EVERETT STUNZ MARKETING ANALYSIS

As creating and running effective marketing and advertising tactics have been an issue

for Everett Stunz, understanding what has been done and how it could have been done better

will help create a marketing plan to reach more customers.

OBJECTIVE 3: DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

The third and final objective is to perform in-depth demographic research for San Diego

County. Gaining an understanding of key segments and how to properly reach them will guide

future marketing efforts in hopes of receiving greater return on investment.

22

OBJECTIVE #1: COMPETITOR WEBSITE ANALYSIS

METHODOLOGY By taking competitors website’s and looking into and observing strategies used for

design, displaying of content, and how these support the overall brand, we will be able to

determine how companies differentiate themselves. We will look for what the competition does

well and use that to form recommendations that might give Everett Stunz a competitive

advantage in the marketplace.

Due to the fact that Everett Stunz competes with different companies on different levels,

we decided to take various category leaders to perform our analyses; Sleep Number will be

first, a nationally recognized manufacturer that poses a big threat to Everett Stunz’ mattress

sales. Next, we will take examples from Williams-Sonoma, a widely successful luxury

furniture retailer who operates a store in the UTC mall. After that will be Restoration-

Hardware, also a luxury furniture retail store that sells beds and bedding, and finally Macy’s,

the leading department store for mattress and bedding sales.

RESULTS

SLEEP NUMBER (SELECT COMFORT)

Select Comfort appears to pose the largest threat to Everett Stunz. They are a company

that has thrived in marketing their “Sleep Number” bed and have become a household name

across the nation in a relatively short time. They have a high-perceived level of quality about

them and it is reflected in their online media and television advertisements. To build this

23

strong brand image for themselves, Select Comfort engages in comparative advertising in an

attempt to prove the quality of their products, and posts results of clinical studies to support

their benefit claims, which can be seen in Figure 5 and 6.

FIGURE 5: PRODUCT BENEFITS- SLEEPNUMBER.COM

FIGURE 6: PRODUCT BENEFITS – SLEEPNUMBER.COM

24

From these two examples, we can see that Select Comfort clearly positions themselves

as the manufacturer with the premier product on the market, the Sleep Number bed. The

benefits are there, the studies support the benefits, and the prices are reasonably set, with retail

prices starting at $999.98, and ranging all the way up to $5,699.97 for their absolute top-of-

the-line set. From all this, we can see how the highly informative nature of their

communications, particularly online, has assisted them in developing a strong image among

consumers, positioned as being a great value and worth every dollar spent.

WILLIAMS-SONOMA

Williams- Sonoma is an interesting company, in that they have two main areas of focus,

kitchen and indoor/outdoor furniture. Similar to Everett Stunz, they sell beds as well as

bedding in their “Williams-Sonoma Home” line of products. Their selection of bedding is

limited and of lower quality when compared with that offered by Everett Stunz, and their beds

are more of a contemporary luxury appeal, considering the price range and the overall fit with

the company image. Pricing ranges from $595 to $6995 for their highest-end bed. One

advantage Williams-Sonoma has is the many options given to customers to customize the

fabric of their bed as well as the headboard coloration, in addition to other costly bedroom

furniture pieces that match with many of the beds, encouraging customers to shop their due to

ease of transaction and eliminating the need to visit various stores.

A wide selection of products and the options given to customers is seen as a strong

advantage for Williams-Sonoma, which has assisted them in becoming a national brand with

25

number of stores. An example of this can be seen in Figure 7 below, taken from a page on the

Williams-Sonoma Home website. Beds and furniture are displayed together on the same page,

and under each bed is a list of the color options (seen in the boxes left of +56 more and +59

more). Upon clicking on a particular bed, the customers can then select different colors to

view the product with various types of fabric. Another feature that stands out is the “Quick

Look”, which showcases the bed in a real-life setting, which allows customers to see the bed

with a certain personality rather than just the basic stock photo, and get a taste of what the

product may look like in their own home.

FIGURE 7: WILLIAMS SONOMA

26

FIGURE 8: WILLIAMS SONOMA

Figure 8, directly above, shows the page that displays when a particular bed is clicked

on. As the bed and headboard are sold together but as separate pieces, customers choose the

fabric, color, and price tier for each piece. Simply put, there is an impressive amount of

options made available to customers, but this comes at a price as well as a 6-8 week delivery

time frame.

RESTORATION HARDWARE

The brand image that Restoration Hardware is attempting to convey is made very clear

through their website. One would assume that they are attempting to be the destination store

for a classy and luxurious home. Everything from the construction of the store to the products

offered reflects this image in a strong manner. Another way in which Restoration Hardware

offers value to their customers while also promoting their products and taste is allowing

individuals to request “Source Books” from their website (Figure 9 below), which gives

design ideas for different types of settings. This gives Restoration Hardware a huge

27

competitive advantage in the marketplace, as they can showcase their complete line of

products in a somewhat personalized manner. Restoration Hardware promotes these source

books heavily, by placing them second on their website under a slideshow displaying some of

their new products. This makes it clear that Restoration Hardware is dedicated to helping their

customers make their homes beautiful by obtaining a certain look that they want relative to

their needs, environment, and style interests.

FIGURE 9: RESTORATION HARDWARE SOURCE BOOKS

“Bedroom Collections” feature beds and headboard sets with matching pieces of

furniture, with bed prices ranging from $805 all the way to $5395. Restoration Hardware

offers many different styles, colors, and finishes for their products, and the majority of beds

are closer to the low end of the price range than they are to the higher end. Bedding follows a

similar display method, as similar and complementary products are listed on the same page.

Though they do not compete in mattress sales, Restoration Hardware sells luxury bedding

items and are a very luxurious brand, seen in their store layouts, website layout, and overall

28

presentation of their brand. What Restoration Hardware does well here is allow customers to

see different products in different settings, similar to Williams-Sonoma. An example of this

was taken from the website and is pictured in Figure 10.

FIGURE 10: RESTORATION HARDWARE LUXURY SHEET SETS

As expressed in the “Key Success Factors” for bed and mattress stores, the ability to extend

credit to customers can be pivotal in securing a higher level of sales. At this moment in time,

Restoration Hardware is advertising a financing offer of as low as $44 per month at 5.99%

APR for customers that spend more than $3,000 or more in the store. As expressed in the

“Key Success Factors” for bed and mattress stores, the ability to extend credit to customers

can be pivotal in securing a higher level of sales, as offering financing can alleviate the

pressure coming from an expensive purchase.

29

MACY’S Macy’s is the competitor most unlike Everett Stunz by nature, but in terms of mattress

sales, they resemble Everett Stunz to a fairly close degree. As a department store, Macy’s

primary focus is not on mattresses and linens, though they still carry a fairly deep selection of

the two categories. Macy’s lists 40 products under the “Beautyrest” name, including

mattresses that range everywhere from $515 to $10,089 as well as a number of different size

adjustable bases to accommodate individual with specific sleep preferences. Beautyrest

mattresses are made in USA, which conveys quality and craftsmanship to American

customers, which can prove to be a significant factor in the consumer decision-making process

when it comes to high-involvement purchase decisions. Next are the Serta mattresses, which

market the “iComfort” brand through Macy’s, a top-of-the-line adjustable bed system, rivaling

some of the products sold by Everett Stunz in terms of design, material, and price.

Another benefit that a large retailer like Macy’s can capitalize on is their ability to offer

discounts and promotions to encourage repeat purchases and to gain new customers.

Macy’s.com has nearly every mattress discounted at this point in time, and an example of this

can be seen in Figure 11 and 12 on the following page.

Macy’s currently offers customers no interest on purchases of over $499 if the balance

is paid within 12 months, which is one of the key success factors that Restoration Hardware

also acknowledges and utilizes to gain customer consideration. This seems to be an advantage

that the larger companies have the power to take advantage of, and this must be understood by

30

Everett Stunz in order to adjust to the pressures that they face.

FIGURE 11

FIGURE 12

31

OBJECTIVE #2: MARKETING PROMOTIONS ANALYSIS

METHODOLOGY Our methodology for examining the previous marketing promotion activities will be

based on assessing the previous efforts and analyzing them based on how well they support the

brand, if they address the needs of potential customers, and how well they communicate the

value of their offering. To do this, we must locate previous activities used to promote the

company and determine what could have been done to make these advertisements more

effective. We will investigate both traditional methods, including television and print, then

assess the online and electronic marketing efforts by looking at the company website and

search engine results, social media platforms including Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and

other online profiles like Yelp. For traditional methods, we will look to the specific channels

used and how well the messages were communicated to customers. Real examples of previous

advertisements will be included in our research. Online and social media marketing will be

judged based on the engagement with followers, integration across various channels, and if the

communications compliment the brand and support other marketing efforts.

RESULTS: TRADITIONAL MEDIA

TELEVISION

In January of 2013, Mr. Coller was featured on a news segment held in the KUSI

studio, where he gave insightful information on beds and bedding, including what contributes

to a quality sleep experience and knowledge on linens, particularly thread count and different

32

types of materials used to make linens. La Jolla patch included this clip on their Facebook page,

but did not experience much engagement on the post, as the profile only has 1,041 followers.

This is a good example of free exposure, but unfortunately, beyond the news segment, the reach

was fairly low. The exact time that the segment aired is unknown.

Similar to the previous mentioned news story was another interview conducted in 2008

on Fox San Diego news. This interview featured both Mr. Coller and his wife, Nicki,

approximately a year after becoming owners of Everett Stunz. Having both of them in the

studio was a good way for anyone watching to get familiarized with them and created a family

feel, a positive way to relate to potential customers.

A recent television ad can be found on the “Philip Coller” YouTube channel, posted to

the channel on June 16, 2014. This particular advertisement shows a woman joyfully browsing

the selection in the store, getting into a bed, and waking up at home looking re-energized and

happy. The narrator goes through the categories and mentions some of the premier products,

including the DUX bed, comforters and pillows, and the beachwood and Egyptian cotton

linens. The final image presented to viewers displays the company name, company tagline “the

world’s finest bed, bath, and linens”, the two locations (La Jolla and Westfield UTC), and the

company website.

PRINT In addition to television, advertisements have been purchased in several magazines and

periodicals, such as San Diego Home & Garden, Giving Back, as well as in several local

newspapers. These magazine efforts gave the least measurable return for the company. Figure

33

13, shown on the next page, provides an example of an advertising placement in Giving Back

magazine. Aside from informing people about the business and the products offered, Mr. Coller

included informative data to build knowledge about the products. Another advertisement from

July of 2006 was placed in San Diego Magazine, and can be seen on the next page in Figure 14.

Here, Everett Stunz used a side-by-side, half page advertisement.

FIGURE 13: GIVING BACK MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT

34

FIGURE 14: SAN DIEGO MAGAZINE ADVERTISEMENT, JULY 2006

Here, we see the left side serving as an advertisement for the store and the right side showing

an advertisement for the DUX bed. The separate advertisements do not seemingly compliment

each other effectively. We see a combination of different color text, various advertisement

styles (informational vs. visual), and a lack of flow. Our evaluation of this particular spread is

negative, and criticism for it stems from the poor sensory appeal of the two advertisements

placed directly next to each other.

RESULTS: ONLINE AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA

The primary electronic communication tool that Mr. Coller uses is the company

website, www.everettstunz.com. The website has an elegant feel to it, and includes important

information such as hours of operation, links to social media platforms and blog, cart update,

promotions, and pictures of products (Figure 4.2 in the appendix). In terms of these areas where

35

Everett Stunz could make improvements, the blog needs additional relevant and informative

content added to it. Also, there is no mention of the actual physical location of the business

included in the website. In addition, they have a “reviews” section in the margin, but there are

no written reviews to be displayed.

Alexa.com gives us excellent measures to determine the engagement levels of website

visitors, by showing the bounce rate, daily page views per visitor, and daily time on site. From

what we can see in the images below, not much time is spent on the website, which is an area

that could use improvement and should be addressed immediately. With only 6 pageviews for

visitor, it is apparent that everettstunz.com is not able to effectively keep people engaged to

their website to browse through their selection, something very important for a company

looking to increase online sales. Inbound sites should be maximized, as this is a proven way to

increase traffic to a website. Figure 15 and 16, below, show a total of 22 websites linking in,

which is another area that should be addressed as soon as possible. Not only are these excellent

tools for gauging where a website stands, but these are all measures that can be observed,

documented, and tested for campaign effectiveness.

36

FIGURE 15: ALEXA.COM ANALYSIS FOR "EVERETTSTUNZ.COM"

FIGURE 16: ALEXA.COM ANALYSIS

GOOGLE AD WORDS

Mr. Coller has been using Google Ad Words as a search engine optimization tool to

drive more traffic to his website. While typing specific keywords related to the business, the

Everett Stunz website came in, at minimum, within the first five pages of results during the

37

majority of the searches; meaning that the website has been previously search engine optimized

and may be working to their advantage (Appendix 8). Currently, local searches generate

Everett Stunz towards the top of the search engine results pages, but Mr. Coller would like to

expand the company’s reach outside the San Diego region, especially for online sales.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is a tool that can bring a lot of traffic to the store and the website. Mr. Coller

has been using this platform for a while now and has been managing it himself. They currently

have four Facebook profiles, the “Everett Stunz” page being the most liked, though none have

more than a thousand likes and poor engagement associated with most posts. Profile posts are

performed on a daily basis, most containing an announcement of a new product or to inform

followers about something related to the business.

When used properly, Facebook can prove to be a very effective way to promote a local

business, considering the immense number of users this particular platform boasts. Currently,

Everett Stunz manages four different Everett Stunz Facebook pages: “Everett Stunz”, “Everett

Stunz Westfield UTC, “Duxiana La Jolla”, and “Duxiana San Diego”. The one profile that is

linked to his website is “Everett Stunz”, and this particular page also happens to be the one with

the most likes and engagement. Most of Everett Stunz Facebook posts are informative articles

about health benefits of their products or promotions and discounts on their products. Everett

Stunz also encourages customers to post company reviews to their Facebook profiles; they

currently have 11 reviews and an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

38

In terms of the format of the Everett Stunz Facebook posts, they are very textually dense and

followers do not engage as much. Most of their posts have between 3-5 comments and 5-10

likes. Lastly, they have 5 informative videos about their products and one about Mr. Phillip

Coller.

INSTAGRAM

Instagram is a very visual platform and is growing rapidly. Currently, Everett Stunz has an

Instagram profile with 33 followers and 112 posts. Mr. Coller is the manager of the page and he

posts very frequently (3-4 times a week). Unfortunately, the posts struggle to secure

engagement. Most of the images have between 3-5 likes and very few comments. The images

are not high quality pictures and there is no use of a consistent hashtag campaign. Most of the

posts are of the products in store and there are not any promotions, discounts or campaigns

running.

TWITTER

Twitter is a very useful tool to send short and strong messages about the brand to the

customers. It can be very especialy helpful when hashtags are properly utilized. In addition,

tweets with images linked have more engagement than do ones simply consisting of plain text.

Currently, Everett Stunz has 1089 twitter followers and 2,217 tweets. Most of their tweets do

not have linked images and there is not much engagement on their posts. They have Twitter

and Facebook linked together, which is a positive. On the other hand, the background picture is

39

a high quality picture of the storefront in UTC mall, which may bring more traffic to the profile

only by looking at it.

PINTEREST

Pinterest can be a very helpful platform for e-commerce businesses. Since its launch, it

has become one of the leading social media sites for shopping. Forty percent of the pins are

home-related pins, which is the second most popular topic on Pinterest. Women’s 25-34 are the

target market for this type of social media platform and they are generally looking for coupons

and information about a product.

Currently, Everett Stunz possesses a wide variety of pins in their board. Their content

encompasses a wide variety of activities and appears to be interesting to their followers. They

have a total of 46 boards ranging from the products they offer to food and decoration ideas.

There is not much engagement with their boards even though home related topics are the most

searched topics in this social media platform. In addition, not any of their posts have a redirect

link to Everett Stunz webpage

YOUTUBE

YouTube, when used effectively, can popularize a product, help a company get

feedback, and improve overall brand visibility while sending messages to the consumer. Everett

Stunz currently has multiple YouTube channels, under the name “Preeverett”, with four videos

on the profile. However, there is another YouTube channel under the “Philip Coller” name

with sixteen videos about Everett Stunz products, informational videos from other sources, and

40

an interview with Mr. Coller at KUSI news, which is the most popular video in the channel.

These videos are also shared on Facebook. An overarching theme among the videos that can be

found in these two channels, as well as other channels featuring Everett Stunz, are low amounts

of views, something that could be improved upon by finding new channels and profiles to

feature on.

YELP

The Everett Stunz Yelp page has six reviews; two of the reviews are less than two stars

and the remaining are five stars; the administrator has responded only one review. In addition,

they offer a voucher redeemable for $75 dollars at the store and also provide business

information such as store hours, business information, and background. Lastly, Mr. Coller has

posted several pictures of the store and products (Figure 4.6, in the appendix).

OBJECTIVE #3: DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY

For much of the company’s existence, the target market consisted primarily of local La

Jolla residents, as the only operating store was located deep in the city of La Jolla. This means

that the primary customers were those located close to the store, a segment consisting of mostly

wealthy, older individuals. At this point in time, with operations shifting to the UTC mall

location, the target consumer base can expand beyond its original reach, as the new location is

more accessible to those visiting the La Jolla mall from all around San Diego. In order to solve

41

this issue, we will perform research into our current target consumer segment, females between

the ages of 30 and 54, and develop an understanding of the most effective forms of media to

reach them with.

RESULTS

According to Forbes Magazine, San Diego is the fifth wealthiest city in the United States with a

population of 1,345,895. San Diego County, total population over 3 million, consists of a

primarily upper-middle class income, significantly above the national index (SRDR/Kantar).

These facts validate that San Diego truly is a good area to operate a luxury bed and bedding

store like Everett Stunz. Secondary research revealed helpful information that can help the

company better target its customers, profile their specific interests and visions, and address

them in the marketing efforts.

In our secondary research (based on psychographic information of the population of the

county), we found that San Diego residents prefer to buy in specialty stores because they feel

that they are treated in an exclusive manner. By visiting these kinds of stores, they are being

provided with better information from the employees since they consider them to have better

knowledge of the products being sold. San Diego residents also feel that specialty stores carry

better brands, which gives an advantage to a company like Everett Stunz, since they are a in

fact a specialty retailer. It is imperative that Everett Stunz puts emphasis on the expertise of

their personnel with respect to the respective categories that they sell. Customers in the area

show a specific interest in being informed on purchases they make. San Diego County ranks

42

above the national index average for people preferring specialty stores against department

stores (SRDS/ Kantar).

Another important aspect that stands out among the interest of San Diego residents is

that they feel compelled and responsible to take care of the environment. In the information

collected, San Diegans scored a higher index than the national average in preferring to buy eco-

friendly products. Everett Stunz carries natural environmental friendly linens, and this is

another aspect that could be emphasized to attract more customers to the store as well as gain

favor in the consideration of non-customers. In terms of their tendency to buy luxury and well-

known brands, residents of the county also score above the national index, once again

indicating that the greater San Diego area is a good fit for Everett Stunz.

We conducted secondary research on the customers’ buying patterns and also researched

demographic information on Mediamark Reporter (MRI+). There were interesting and useful

results regarding the industry and buying patterns among the customers in the United States. In

2013, 235,577 people were asked if they had spent more than $700 on mattresses, and from that

total, only 4970 said that they did (roughly 2.11%). Out of those 4970, most of the buyers were

identified as being female whom also graduated college. The age range rendering the highest

index score were for those that fell between the ages of 35-44. From this research, one can start

to get a better picture of our target market; educated, married middle-aged women. Consumers

with the highest inclination to buy luxury mattresses are those with a yearly income of

$150,000 and up.

43

Results for bedding and bath goods bought in the previous 12 months were very similar to the

results stated above. Women predominately were the decision makers and made most of the

purchases within the categories of products that Everett Stunz offers.

All tables containing MRI+ and SRDS data can be found in the Appendix.

In an article published in the LA Times, Meredith Blake highlights the shift in television

viewership, and explains the changes occurring by breaking the numbers down into age groups

and shows how television is changing to accommodate the high number of Baby Boomers

(Blake). The median age at the time the article was published, February 22, 2014, was the

highest ever at 54 years. TV networks are prompting advertisers to address who is referred to as

the “Alpha Boomers”, or those between the ages of 55 to 64 who are affluent and influential.

While at the upper end of our target segment, these individuals cannot be disregarded.

Primetime shows are becoming more focused on the older age group rather than the 14 to 49-

age segment.

San Diego newspaper usage is primarily between two different publications, the UT San Diego

and the San Diego Reader, which boasts circulation figures of 439,000 Sunday and 373,000

daily, and 115,000 weekly, respectively. For North San Diego County, the North County Times

is the newspaper with the highest reach, with 93,000 readers for both the Sunday and the daily

editions. While newspaper subscription and readership levels have been declining over the

years, we still see a fairly high number of those in the target age groups (35 and older) that read

the newspaper on a consistent basis. The statistics displayed in Table 1 below reveal that a high

amount of adults do in fact still rely on newspapers for information, perhaps because of the

44

novelty factor associated with it. Still, this shows that newspaper advertising could still be an

effective means of communication with the target customers(The Associated Press).

TABLE 1: NEWSPAPER READERSHIP DEMOGRAPHICS

Source: www.naa.org

Magazines are another medium under scrutiny, as many have spoken that traditional

journalism is dying, and that advertising through magazines is simply not worth it anymore.

While this may prove true in some cases, Seasons magazine, published for La Jolla and Del

Mar, have found a way to captivate the interests of the two markets that they serve. As a

quarterly and highly targeted publication, Seasons boasts 100% coverage in the markets that

they serve, which equates to 17,000 households in La Jolla and 5,000 households in Del Mar.

45

Social media use is another important component of our research, as advertising and

marketing campaigns on these platforms are effective, generate exposure and leads, and

sometimes come at little to no cost. Due to the growing popularity of various platforms,

developing an understanding of usage rates among key demographics is a vital measure. In

Table 3, relevant Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube user information is

displayed. The most important factors here are female, ages 30-49, College education, and

income over $75,000, as these all represent the target customers for Everett Stunz.

TABLE 2: SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

Male Female Ages 30-

49

Ages

50-64

College + Income

$75,000+

Suburba

n

Facebook 66% 77% 73% 63% 74% 72% 72%

INSTAGRA

M 22% 29% 25% 11% 24% 26% 26%

TWITTER 21% 24% 25% 12% 30% 27% 23%

PINTEREST 13% 42% 28% 27% 32% 34% 29%

YOUTUBE 58% 57% 60% 53% N/A N/A N/A

SOURCE: WWW.PEWINTERNET.ORG

46

RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS

In summary, our entire competitor benchmarking shows how each of these companies find

ways to accentuate their core competencies through their websites, all the while providing

support for their established brand image. The key word here is differentiation, or what they do

specifically to gain a competitive edge over their counterparts.

From the information gathered pertaining to branding, marketing, and the target

customer group of Everett Stunz, we were able to identify ways to assist Everett Stunz. Based

on their current market position, it is essential that Everett Stunz maximize their return-on-

investment when engaging in marketing and advertising activities, all the while finding cheap

and cost-effective methods to promote their brand and increase overall awareness for their

company.

Though much has already been done in attempting to market to customers, especially in

online and electronic forms of media, there is still a lot of room for improvement in these

regards. Everett Stunz has established a good foundation for social media marketing tactics, but

the execution, for the most part, has been carried out ineffectively, as engagement levels for

social media activity are low and messages are inconsistent across various platforms. Focusing

on building relationships with customers to create a distinct brand personality is one of the

most valuable benefits of having a strong social media and website presence, and this will be

one of the main focuses of our recommendations to Everett Stunz going forward.

47

SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS In order to properly determine where Everett Stunz is at as a company, we needed to

conduct a situational analysis to help us better understand the current state of the business, as

well as outside threats that may prove detrimental to the future success of the company.

STRENGTHS

We identified several factors that make Everett Stunz unique and could

contribute to a positive and convenient experience for its customers. The new location of the

store at the UTC mall gives Everett Stunz a competitive advantage over their direct

competitors, since it is in closer proximity to many other areas within San Diego County. At the

same time, the store has a strong location inside the mall, which can lead to increased levels of

foot traffic. The store is also located in an area where people who live near and visit the mall

fall within the target customer income level. Another strength for Everett Stunz is that they

carry unique products that are not easy to obtain at any other nearby retailers and certain

products found in the store cannot be purchased online. As a result, they portray a sense of

exclusivity in their offerings to customers. One example of this that was mentioned earlier is

the DUX bed, as Everett Stunz is the only retailer in all of San Diego County, and one of the

few in the state of California. Everett Stunz has been in La Jolla for almost 50 years, which

gives a sense of trust and credibility to its customers, as longevity of businesses usually proves

to be an advantage. This longevity can be used to build support for the overall brand name,

expressing that Everett Stunz has been providing its customers with the best products and great

customer service for five decades.

48

Another competitive advantage is that Everett Stunz provides its customers with

knowledgeable employees that can help a customer become properly informed of the

advantages of the products that are sold at the store. The group of interior designers is also

strength for the store, as it provides a personalized service for its customers.

WEAKNESSES The low reach of social media and the low level of brand awareness of Everett Stunz are

some of the greatest weaknesses that we have identified. In order to adapt to the new trends and

to reach the target market, Everett Stunz needs to alter its advertising methods to accommodate

the new digital era, which will effectively promote the brand among the target market. Everett

Stunz needs to have a strong digital presence where customers can engage in different forms of

media with their free time. Developing a strong social media and internet marketing plan would

be a great way to reach its consumers, and would be a cost-effective tool for Everett Stunz to

reinvent and reposition itself as a modern brand. We have located several Everett Stunz related

Facebook pages, and there needs to be a sense of cohesion and integration between all these

accounts in order to communicate the same message across these platforms. The low level of

brand awareness and identity would be another weakness that our marketing efforts could be

geared towards. We believe that in order to break through the clutter in the industry, there is an

absolute necessity to differentiate your company in order to establish a specific identity and

personality as a brand. This is an imperative element needed to effectively compete with

established department and retail stores. Along with the brand identity, the look and feel of the

store shows that there is not a strong sense of differentiation. Since Everett Stunz is luxury

49

linen and bedding store, it needs to have a stronger sense of luxury in the display and

showrooms to communicate a specific feeling that you only feel when you walk inside an

Everett Stunz store.

Another weakness would be that Everett Stunz doesn't have a well-developed

understanding of their target market supported by research and concrete evidence. In order to

reach their market they need to properly understand potential customers, know what they like,

how they like to be treated in the store, and what incentives would potentially bring customers

to the store. The company needs to understand their different targets thoroughly and how

different methods can be used to reach them. The saturated local market sales for the DUX bed

(which is their marquee product) and the infrequent purchase patterns for their products have

become major weaknesses for their business.

OPPORTUNITIES

Even though we described above a number of weaknesses that Everett Stunz

possesses, some of those weaknesses can be converted into opportunities through proper

execution. The lack of brand awareness can allow Everett Stunz to form a strong identity and

set itself apart from all their various competitors. Since Everett Stunz does not necessarily have

a strong social media following, we can exploit this opportunity to get attention from San

Diego County social media users who are currently active online. The new location at the UTC

mall opens up new opportunities to explore in the area like new advertising opportunities, new

partnerships with stores close by, or with luxury hotels or luxury apartment complexes around

the area. Also, it opens up to the possibility to reach different customers and reinvent Everett

50

Stunz in its new location, along with many more opportunities that the location change brings

to the store.

THREATS

Competition and customer perception of the store are the biggest threats we have

identified. Everett Stunz, as a retail store, is competing with direct and indirect competitors.

Their competitors are a wide range of local stores of luxury linen and bedding as well as big

brand name department stores and national bed retailers such as Macy’s, Bloomingdales,

Williams-Sonoma, Sleep Number, Sleep Train, etc., which boast greater marketing and

advertising budgets and higher awareness levels within the target segments. Everett Stunz is in

serious need of differentiation from all the other companies to provide a clear benefit for all its

customers. The perception of Everett Stunz from customers is another factor that affects the

store. People might see the store and some of products such as the DUX Bed as not as

innovative as some of the new modern mattresses that we see in the market. A perception that

they also fight with is that since they are smaller retailer, people might think that they have a

narrower variety of products. Everett Stunz needs to make it known that they carry a wide

variety of brands and products in the bed and bath categories. (Appendix 11: SWOT Analysis

Table)

51

RECOMMENDATIONS

1) DISTINGUISH BRAND THROUGH UNIQUE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE AND BRANDING TECHNIQUES

It goes without saying that it is imperative for Everett Stunz to be well

differentiated from their competitors. One simple yet effective way to accomplish this

differentiation is for Everett Stunz to create a unique shopping experience for their customers,

which should be made obvious to them as soon as they walk in the door. The first impression

that a customer forms upon walking through the door should be centered around unparalleled

service, friendliness, and of course, luxury. In order to establish a strong brand image and give

a distinct personality to the store, there are several changes that could be made within the store.

MISSION STATEMENT

We recommend that Everett Stunz creates a clear and concise mission statement

that matches the ideals of the store and it customers, coincides with the slogan to give a distinct

identity to the store, and portrays an image of the Everett Stunz brand. This will guide Everett

Stunz in keeping all their marketing efforts consistent across all channels of communication

that are being utilized. By recognizing three main points for differentiation, Everett Stunz has a

good starting point for fortifying their brand image in creating a mission statement, which

includes:

1) Eliminating the need for customers to make an extra trip to another store,

2) Offering exclusive, high-end beds that cannot be found at nearby stores, and

52

3) Employees that can accentuate product benefits and provide great service.

Making sure that the company is recognized for these three things will assist Everett

Stunz in becoming a favorable brand and help them gain consideration in the minds of

consumers.

CREATE UNIQUE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

By enacting unique methods to welcome customers, Everett Stunz should be able to

encourage shoppers to spend more time in their store. Having something as simple as food and

drinks to offer customers upon entry can help customers feel more at home rather than in a

store. As the majority of visitors are women, and research shows that it is important that

women know that they are being listened to, it is important to go the extra mile in welcoming

shoppers, especially when those shoppers are looking to make an expensive purchase that can

have a positive effect on their personal well-being.

Successfully creating a unique shopping experience will help in differentiating Everett

Stunz from competition. Treating customers in a manner that they would not experience if they

were to shop in a different store, such as Macy’s, would be a positive first step in building a

lasting relationship with customers, which is an important undertaking for any company that

relies on selling high-priced items to survive.

53

2) MODIFY STORE LAYOUT AND PRODUCT PRESENTATION

The idea of creating showrooms is one designed to mirror actions of some competitors.

Ikea has built a strong brand by showcasing their products in specific setups designed to mirror

how products would look in someone’s own home. Currently, the store layout in Everett Stunz

is simplistic and spread out, and while this may allow customers to roam freely, it may not

effectively make them feel like they are in their own home. Setting up separate themed rooms

and updating them seasonally will assist customers in visualizing products in a more favorable

manner while also displaying the latest products and color schemes that may be more suiting to

their moods.

A recommendation for implementing the concept of themed rooms would be to think of

various rooms in a person’s home, as well as certain cities that customers in the target market

enjoy vacationing and relaxing in. We recommend developing concepts that include themes

such as the “Urban Life room” which replicates the Downtown San Diego style apartments,

and a “SoCal Living showroom” to make customers feel as identified in how they want their La

Jolla beach house to look like. Recreating these settings in the store could compliment the

unique shopping experience we discussed earlier, potentially make them forget that they are

shopping, and instead focus on a positive experience they have had or desire to have. They

could experience and picture the products in their own homes. At the same time the showrooms

give the store a new personality and feel, making it more attractive to enter.

On the other hand, two of the main issues affecting profitability are the high costs of

inventory and the long purchase cycles for most of the products that Everett Stunz carries. The

54

current layout of the store has many of the bedding materials stashed away in cubbies around

the perimeter of the store, with a select number of beds and bedding items on display. If Everett

Stunz were to continually update their items on display, it would allow for heightened levels of

exposure for bedding that may spend the majority of time on the shelf. Figure 17 and 18 are

concepts for showrooms.

FIGURE 17: SO CAL LIVING SHOWROOM

55

FIGURE 18: URBAN LIFE SHOWROOM EXAMPLE

FIGURE 19: STORE LAYOUT WITH SHOWROOMS

56

These items carry a higher profit margin than mattresses, which is why it is imperative

to promote them as much as possible. Constantly decorating the beds on display may prove to

be a time-consuming task, placing more beds around the store would be a simple solution to

this problem, and could be a part of developing the various themed rooms.

There are some suggestions to the layout of the store that we like to mention, in

order to improve productivity and make it more organized. Our first suggestion would be to

implement our show room ideas and place them at the front of the store to make it visible from

the outside. Also, adding a bathroom showroom at the top right of the store will be a better way

to showcase towels and bathroom products that the store carries instead of having those

products spread all over the store. Another recommendation would be to place all the beds next

to each other so the customer can easily compare brands and models in order to make a better

decision. That way the customer can have a more complete understanding of the different

features each bed has. Also, another change that we consider important is to move the register

to an island to the center of the store and call it Service Desk. One of the benefits would be that

they would have visual access to all of the store’s showrooms. In addition, customers can have

access to sales associates easier in case if any question arises.

57

3) ESTABLISH PARTNERSHIPS WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES

The idea here is to create relationships with established and respected individuals or

companies that will give Everett Stunz free or cheap exposure and hopefully lead to an increase

of traffic. If executed successfully, this could be a win-win situation for any entities that choose

to partake in the partnering, but it is important to ensure that any partners share a similar vision

and focus on luxury and well-being to successfully reinforce the image of the Everett Stunz

brand.

Potential partners that stand out are specialty luxury hotels in the La Jolla area, costing

over $300 per night with a limited number of guestrooms. Three hotels in La Jolla that Everett

Stunz should consider partnering with are The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Pantai Inn, and La Jolla

Shores Hotel. Similar to the notecards displayed on products around the store, Everett Stunz

could create and supply notecards for these hotels that use their products, whether they are

mattresses or linens. Patrons of these hotels fit the high-income demographic, and making them

aware of the Everett Stunz name by including the website will hopefully lead to an increase in

online sales. An example of a notecard can be seen below.

58

FIGURE 20: HOTEL NOTECARD

Another way for Everett Stunz to create credibility and establish themselves in the

minds of consumers is to look for respected figures and organizations to endorse their store.

Chiropractors that understand the importance of having a quality bed can serve as spokespeople

for the brand, so encouraging purchases among respected health-figures and perhaps offering

discounts in an attempt to create word-of-mouth by trusted sources would be money well spent.

Chiropractors can be located by visiting “chiropractors.healthprofs.com”, and entering city

name or zip code. Everett Stunz should pursue specialists in different areas, including Dr. Bob

Johnson from Rancho Santa Fe, Erika Posenaer and The San Diego Integrative Spine Center in

Del Mar, and the People and Animal Wellness Chiropractic, Brandon Goldstein, and Raymond

Deters III, all three of whom operate in La Jolla. Also near the UTC mall is the Head Neck &

Spine Center of San Diego, a clinic that has been in La Jolla for over 30 years.

59

Two additional ways that Everett Stunz could increase their presence in the community

would be for them to create a profile on Houzz and list some of their products on

Contemporary Design Group. Everett Stunz should look to promoting products and providing

knowledge with the Contemporary Design Group. Contact information for a retailer to sign up

can be found in Figure 21 Signing up to become part of the Contemporary Design Group would

assist Everett Stunz in reaching more customers, as the CDG is a trusted group of professional

designers, manufacturers, and retailers that band together to help customers achieve their

design dreams for their homes. Their website also has a blog that Everett Stunz can post

content to. Houzz is a fairly new platform that is being adopted at a very fast rate. Houzz serves

as a social networking platform for interior designers, homeowners, and other professionals

involved in remodeling or reconstructing a home. Everett Stunz can include photos of their

newly created showrooms to promote their beds and bedding for local users after creating a

“pro” account, and will immediately be able to reach millions of users.

FIGURE 21: CONTEMPORARY DESIGN GROUP CONTACT INFORMATION

60

4) DEVELOP ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN THEME

To guide the marketing and advertising efforts of Everett Stunz, we decided to

create a theme for a new advertising campaign, “Beauty Starts in Bed”. As their customers are

mainly women, we assessed the values that women hold dearly and created the campaign

theme around their interests. The idea here is that sleeping well is key to living a healthy life,

and the products that Everett Stunz carries will help you sleep the best that you possibly can.

By having the finest products in your bedroom, your life will be better as a result.

FIGURE 22: BEAUTY STARTS IN BED ADVERTISEMENT EXAMPLE

The “Beauty Starts in Bed” campaign will help give an identity and personality to the

Everett Stunz brand; it will be an attention-getter designed to captivate the customers. The

campaign will be implemented across all of the platforms used. It will be constructed around

stressing the benefits that a good night sleep has on a person’s physical and mental health, as

61

well as demonstrate how Everett Stunz not only has solutions to this problem, but also

dedicates their focus as a brand to helping everyone achieve better sleep.

The campaign initiative should not only be implemented in their promotional efforts but

also inside the store. The attempts to implement the campaign inside the store should be very

subtle and elegant to keep the sophistication of the brand. A suggestion would be to add small

note card on top of the beds that are on display, similar to the tactic used for the hotel

partnerships, except containing for information. The notecard should either contain health facts

or benefits of sleeping to support the campaign. When the customer goes around the store

looking at all the merchandise, they will see the facts on the merchandise and will focus on the

benefits of the products rather than the costs of purchasing them.

FIGURE 23: PRODUCT AND CAMPAIGN SUPPORT NOTECARDS

62

5) DEVELOP ADVERTISING INITIATIVES

By understanding customers and their purchase patterns, we have a solid foundation by

which to build our marketing plan. To create and successfully implement this plan, we will be

explain the appropriate times to market different kinds of products, who we should be

addressing, which forms of media will best reach our target customers, and at what intervals

marketing and advertising should be done.

THEME

As women are the main drivers in the purchase decision for beds and bedding, Everett

Stunz must remember to design their advertisements to persuade women and appeal to their

innermost desires. As women report that they are “meaner and less friendly” when they do not

get a good night’s sleep, this ideal should be emphasized through marketing and advertising.

This is successfully reflected in our campaign theme of “Beauty Starts in Bed”. Next is to

determine the sales patterns for each of the main products: mattresses and bedding.

MONTHS TO ADVERTISE

From our discussion with Mr. Coller, we were able to determine the best sales for beds

were January, February, and the beginning of summer, while the worst months for bed sales

were October, November, and December (lowest). For linens, marketing and advertising should

be done as a new season approaches, considering that thread count and certain materials can

have different effects on regulating comfortable body temperatures, and thus are used during

different times of the year. In addition to the comfort factor, people often associate certain

63

colors as being “spring and summer colors” and others as more appropriate in the cooler

seasons, fall and winter. While linens should be advertised throughout the year, the change of

the seasons will call for increased advertising. Promotions will be modified depending on the

time of year.

Winter + Spring: Focus on Beds; Summer + Fall: Focus on Linens

FIGURE 24: MAGAZINE ADVERTISING CONCEPT (BEDS/LINENS)

64

FIGURE 25: MAGAZINE ADVERTISING CONCEPT (BEDS/LINENS)

65

KEY LOCATIONS AND MEDIA FOR ADVERTISEMENTS

Seasons magazine, serving both La Jolla and Del Mar, allow Everett Stunz a great opportunity to

reach customers that fit their target demographic in a cost-effective manner. With delivery to

17,000 households and 5 editions printed throughout the year, Everett Stunz can take this

opportunity to promote different items for different times of the year.

Advertising in the Sunday edition of the North County Times would help Everett Stunz

increase coverage to those who might be out of the local search range. With La Jolla and Del Mar

already covered by the Seasons publications, The North County Times would effectively reach

beach towns including Encinitas, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Solana Beach, and Cardiff by the Sea.

Outdoor advertising within the UTC mall is another helpful strategy for Everett Stunz to

employ. Marketing to mall shoppers is important here, as there is a considerable amount of

competition within the mall. Everett Stunz needs to set themselves apart by capturing the

attention of shoppers and appropriately directing foot traffic to their store.

Direct mail efforts should be geared towards existing customers, by sending out

promotional postcards to those already in the Everett Stunz database. Example of a postcard can

be seen below. Everett Stunz could expect to spend around $150 to print 5,000 postcards from

PSPrint.com. After bulk-rate postage expenditures, a batch of 5,000 postcards would cost around

$1,615 ($148+ $1465). As a result of the high costs of postage, we recommend that Everett Stunz

engage in postcard distribution during the slower sales months, either spring or summer.

66

FIGURE 26: DIRECT MAIL POSTCARD PROMOTION

COOPERATIVE ADVERTISING

Due to the high levels of competition and the strength of players in the industry,

cooperative advertising funding would go a long way to assist Everett Stunz in building their

brand image and promoting their products. Cooperative funding would be a win-win situation

for wholesalers selling through Everett Stunz, considering the low penetration levels for the

DUX bed in the San Diego region paired with the low level of brand awareness for Everett

Stunz means that there is plenty of room to reach new customers in the county. Everett Stunz

should request funding from their mattress manufacturers Duxiana, Savvy Rest, and Sharper

Image. The additional money brought in could be used for developing new advertising material

specifically for these mattresses. Carrying products that are not widely known about can have a

negative effect on a retailer, as brand name and recognition is important for consumers that are

67

looking to purchase expensive products. This will allow Everett Stunz to advertise these unique

products on a more consistent basis without having to worry about sacrificing expenditures to

promote their company alone. Funding gathered from multiple manufacturers would allow

Everett Stunz to send better targeted direct mail pieces, could be used to develop a seasonal

catalog for customers on their mailing list, and allow more opportunities to send direct mail to

neighborhoods and zip codes with similar demographics to La Jolla. Everett Stunz should target

the top 20 zip codes based on income per household. If Everett Stunz were to pursue the

catalog route, they would be looking at printing costs of around $1,100 for 5000 16-page

catalogs, through PSPrint.com, with an additional $2,500 for postage.

TABLE 3: HIGHEST INCOME ZIP CODES

Source: http://localistica.com

68

6) ONLINE INITIATIVES

We recommend that Everett Stunz place a lot of emphasis on creating and maintaining a

strong presence online like social media, email, blog, etc. As previously mentioned, the

company is already present in a number of different platforms, but we believe that there is a

great opportunity for improvement within these platforms. The low cost of using social media

paired with the high amount of exposure that the store can receive can prove to be very

valuable and profitable. To develop an effective social media plan, we determined which the

most beneficial social media channels would be to reach the primary customers of Everett

Stunz. As previously discussed, wealthy, middle-aged women are the ideal customers to target

through these channels. From our findings, women are the primary information seekers of the

family, and the ultimate decision makers in which linens and beds are to be purchased.

The most beneficial social media platforms for Everett Stunz to emphasize their

marketing efforts would be Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Even though we think is

important to be present in other platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube, we consider that the

company should place more emphasis on the networks that can generate the most exposure to

their target market. For our other online platforms we suggest to pay special interest in email,

online radio, and their website, since we consider that this platforms can provide Everett Stunz

with the biggest return on investment since the cost of using this platforms is very little

compared to others.

69

The Online Platforms of Everett Stunz need to provide their customers with the three

basic principles of the Internet, which are entertainment, community and information. We need

to position Everett Stunz as the leading expert in linen and bedding online.

FACEBOOK

Facebook is a great platform when used to engage with customers. It is also a great

medium to advertise and promote the company since our target market may be actively

researching and looking for information within this platform. By promoting and creating a

greater following on the page we can create a stronger image, nurture relationships with

followers, and raise awareness for Everett Stunz. Our objective would be to increase the

number of likes on the page in order to have a captive audience on the future promotional

efforts of Everett Stunz on this platform. A strong Facebook campaign would build a

community by sharing tips on how they can decorate their homes, showing the customers

interesting videos, posting useful articles, and engaging with followers by having a

conversation with them and answering their questions. We can achieve a community on

Facebook by introducing the Everett Stunz interior designers and showing some of their

previous work. This is an effective way to not only let the customers know about the interior

design service Everett Stunz offers, but also promoting the brand and differentiating from the

competition in a very subtle way. By engaging with the community online users will develop a

strong connection with Everett Stunz and it will also allow interested customers to learn about

each designer so they can decide for themselves if they wish to hire them. Later on the

70

document we would provide examples of contests, campaigns and improvements that can be

implemented in order to achieve the objectives.

FACEBOOK “BEAUTIFY YOUR BEDROOM” CONTEST

In order to increase the Everett Stunz following on Facebook, we need get their

attention and gain interest to the content shared on the page. We suggest to run a Facebook

contest in order to match our campaign we decided to create the contest called “Beautify your

Bedroom”, which consists of inviting followers to enter a contest in where they are asked to

answer the question “Why do you need Everett Stunz to beautify your bedroom?” The

contestants would be asked to answer the question and provide a picture of the bedroom. The

story with the most likes would be determined the winner of free interior design consultation as

well as all the bedding.

To execute “Beautify your Bedroom Contest” we suggest using a third party app to run

the contest in order to keep track of the participants in a more accurate manner. We suggest

using Wishpond which is an “All-in-one Marketing Suite for Retailers and Brands; including

over a dozen marketing apps for deploying Photo Contests, showcasing Pinterest Boards and

adding social commerce elements to ecommerce websites” (wishpond.com). Wishpond will

store the information obtained from the contest, which would be emails and names of the

contestants. In addition it will ensure that they like the Facebook page before continuing with

the contest entry. The app will also provide statistics and measures of the success of the contest.

The cost of using Wishpond is $100 per month. For that price, Wishpond claims that it will

help the page gain 100,000 legitimate followers.

71

The contest will require participants to:

1. Like the Everett Stunz Facebook page

2. Fill out a form with first name, last name, email address, and a short paragraph

of why they need Everett Stunz to beautify their bedroom

3. Submit the form

4. Tag the post with a hashtag #beautystartsinbed and share it with friends.

The contest will run for a month and the winner will a free interior design consultation

as well as all the bedding materials necessary to have the perfect bed.

FACEBOOK ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN

Launching an advertising campaign on Facebook would be very helpful to bring more

followers to the Everett Stunz profile. Facebook provides a great deal of advantages for small

businesses to advertise because it is economical, targeted and effective. Starting an advertising

campaign would be a great way to get likes and build exposure for the store.

Once the “Beautify My Bedroom Contest” is created it should be promoted by email

blasts, Facebook advertisements and on Everett Stunz website. The Facebook advertising

campaign should be the primary effort to promote the contest. Everett Stunz can choose who to

target and what characteristics such as age, location, and interest making the reach of the

campaign very targeted to the location of interest. The cost of running a campaign starts at

$5.00/day to $40.00/day depending on how many people you want to reach. It can be a cost-

effective and simple way to get people to enter the contest also would create awareness of

Everett Stunz. In the picture below there is an example of a Facebook advertisement designed

to attract people to enter the contest.

72

FIGURE 27: EXAMPLE OF FACEBOOK ADVERTISEMENT

ADDITIONAL FACEBOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

In addition, liking similar pages on Facebook, sharing their content on your

profile and having a connection with influential people of the industry through this network is

crucial. Also, it is recommended to provide followers with coupons and incentives and

influence them go to purchase products. These coupons and incentives should to be regular

(every month, every week) and a schedule should be developed to maintain consistency.

INSTAGRAM

73

For Instagram, we will implement two hashtag campaigns called #FactFriday and

#DesignerWednesday. They will work around the overall Everett Stunz campaign “Beauty

Starts in Bed”. The first campaign will be posted every Friday mentioning a benefit of having a

good night sleep. The sample below is an example of a potential Instagram post that mentions a

fact about sleeping well. The post should have a short portion of text that explains why sleeping

is beneficial and a relevant picture. It should also include the hashtag #FactFriday and the logo

of Everett Stunz. This is a great way to make people interested in the brand, a great way to

engage with customers and also inform them about why is important to sleep well.

FIGURE 28: INSTAGRAM HASHTAG CAMPAIGN EXAMPLE

The second campaign is called #DesignerWednesday and it will be posted every

Wednesday. The post will have a picture and name of the interior designer chosen that week. In

74

addition, it should include a picture that shows some interior design work that he/she has

previously done. This is a great way to get involved with the online community and have a

connection with them. Also, it will allow for interested customers to learn about each designer

posted so they can decide for themselves, which one they would like to hire, if so they wish.

Below is an example of a post that could be followed for #DesignerWednesda

FIGURE 29: INSTAGRAM HASHTAG CAMPAIGN EXAMPLE

PINTEREST

Pinterest is a great way to engage with customers throughout the Internet. Currently,

Everett Stunz has been doing a very good job with their Pinterest posts. There are some

improvements that can be done to involve the community even more. The first recommendation

75

would be to link every picture that is posted into Pinterest to the website

www.everettstunz.com. This is an effective way to build traffic to the website as well to other

social media platforms. Another recommendation for this platform would be to include photos

of other activities into a board with live photos of that specific event. This would build a sense

of community and trust with the followers. Also, it would benefit Everett Stunz to take a

selection of the most active followers in Pinterest and follow them, being sure to repin some of

their posts. Seeing what customers like or take interest in will give you some ideas of what they

are interested in and those things should be implemented into the pinning board.

EMAIL

By using an email marketing strategy can help Everett Stunz gain new customers and

retain the existing ones. We will use our email marketing strategy to gain new customers and

retain our current ones through promotions and brand advertising. We will obtain email

addresses of prospective customers from the “Beautify My Bed Contest” on Facebook and the

existing mailing list. We do not recommend buying email list from vendors since bought lists

are consider spam and are not acceptable in many online platforms. We recommend you to only

send emails to those people who have provided you with their emails. We also suggest using

constant contact since it is reliable and their emails hardly go to spam.

Implementing an email marketing campaigns is very effective way to increase traffic to

the website. In addition, we can use emails as an avenue to inform our current customers about

newly added and popular products to the site and about seasonal promotions. We suggest using

76

graphics in the emails to gain more attention and let the audience quickly capture the message.

Below we included sample email that can be send to promote other online initiatives such as

the Facebook contest, and to send discounts and promotions in the emails.

FIGURE 30: PROMOTIONAL EMAIL EXAMPLE

77

FIGURE 31 EMAIL EXAMPLE PROMOTE SOCIAL MEDIA

7) INTEGRATE SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILES

When analyzing the social media profiles of Everett Stunz, the most apparent issue was

the lack of integration across the various platforms. To create a strong image for the brand, it is

essential that the marketing efforts and content of posts are consistent with one another, which

will be done if Everett Stunz ensures that their posts promote and coincide with the “Beauty

Starts in Bed” campaign.

There are currently five Facebook pages related to Everett Stunz, which interferes with

the ability for customers to quickly find the correct profile that they are looking for, as they

may wonder which profile is the official one. It also divides the followers they have gained,

since they are spread out among the different pages. The information contained within the

78

Facebook page needs to have the right operating hours and location; in our research we found

inconsistencies among their profiles. The existence of multiple profiles makes matters more

difficult in maintaining and updating them, and complicates the ability to send consistent

messages to their followers. In order to avoid confusion and increase followers Everett Stunz

should only have one official Facebook page, and another for DUX beds that is heavily linked

to the Everett Stunz page in order to promote the brand more effectively.

There is the possibility to merge two Facebook pages together without any problem

only if they represent the same thing and have similar names. In our case we will merge both

“Everett Stunz” and “Everett Stunz Westfield UTC” facebook pages because they have similar

names and similar content. Also, the locations for both of the facebook pages must be the same

in order to merge them so make sure to edit that information before.

There are various simple steps that need to be followed:

1. Go to facebook.com/pages/merge

2. Select the Page you want to keep from the first dropdown menu, then select the

Page you want to merge from the second dropdown menu

3. If your Pages can be merged, click Confirm

Likes and check-ins will be combined, but posts, photos, reviews and ratings will

be deleted from the page merged. The page that is staying will remain unchanged. In

addition, the page that is merged will be removed from Facebook and it won’t be able to

be unmerged.

Another issue we found in analyzing Everett Stunz’ social media efforts is that the

messages sent to followers on different platforms are not consistent. Twitter, Facebook,

79

Pinterest should be similar; they should communicate the same message, at the same time

being properly adapted to the platform. There needs to be a careful and calculated balance

between the different platforms. With the implementation of the “Beauty Starts in Bed”

campaign, we expect to eliminate this problem and send consistent and relevant messages

throughout all of the social media platforms by adapting this theme to be suitable in every

platform. An additional recommendation to establish greater consistency and better

communication with customers would be to use the online marketing specialist hired to

handle all the electronic media accounts and to successfully execute the “Beauty Starts in

Bed” campaign. One person handling all of the accounts will prove to be an advantage

for Everett Stunz, since it will give a consistent voice to the company, help them keep

Everett Stunz in touch with the customer by answering questions and interacting with

followers, and bring a personal approach to the customers who are active on the

platforms. An expert will understand the proper use of social media and utilize the most

effective ways to present information, communicate with customers, know which content

would be successful to post, and ultimately increase the exposure of the profiles. Is very

important to have a strong social media plan and online presence, since it maintains a

good image of the company. Keeping up with the current trends on the internet and

finding new ways to get followers on social media can be a difficult responsibility at

times, which is why having someone in charge of it could benefit the company greatly.

Successfully executed social media marketing techniques will ultimately benefit Everett

Stunz by utilizing a modernized approach to get the Everett Stunz name out in the open.

80

8) INCREASE ONLINE ADVERTISING BUDGET BY USING GOOGLE ADWORDS

E-commerce has erupted in recent years, and spending within this industry is reaching

astronomical numbers. One of the issues Everett Stunz was having pertained to the amount of

sales generated through their website, and in order to increase this number from around the

current $75,000 annually, we need to find additional ways to generate high levels of traffic to

Everettstunz.com.

Local AdWords keyword campaigns need to be distinguished from campaigns designed

to reach customers outside the La Jolla area. For residents of Rancho Santa Fe, downtown San

Diego, Mission Valley, or Rancho Bernardo, a search for “luxury bedding” may render a

number of local companies, and who knows where Everett Stunz would show up on the search

engine results pages. Due to this fact, it is important to fully understand how search engine

optimization works, which is something that the new employee hired should be very familiar

with. Fully optimizing the website will allow customers from outside the La Jolla area, and

potentially areas outside of San Diego county, to locate Everett Stunz for their luxury bed and

bedding needs. Shipping policies may need to be reevaluated for beds if this is to be done, due

to the high costs associated with transporting them.

In addition to the new hire, additional expenses need to be incurred for appropriate

search engine marketing techniques, which is a necessary expenditure to increase reach in this

capacity. Included in the current marketing analysis were images containing current website

information in regards to bounce rate, time spent on page, and websites linking in to

Everettstunz.com. All these are aspects that need to be evaluated carefully, as well as

81

conversions from social media accounts in order to generate more traffic to the website. Along

with promoting the website itself, creating a higher level of awareness for the blog and getting

Everett Stunz mentioned on other web pages will all help increase the number of visitors to the

website, and potentially result in higher sales. Displayed in the table below are the top ten

keywords based on monthly search volume that Everett Stunz should be sure to include in their

webpages in order to maximize traffic to their website by reaching as many searchers as

possible.

TABLE 4: TOP 10 KEYWORDS "EVERETT STUNZ"

Rank Keyword Monthly

Search

Volume

Rank Keyword Monthly

Search Volume

1 Bedding Sets 823,000 6 Designer

Bedding 9,900

2 Bedding

Collections 135,000 7 Discount

Bedding 8,100

3 Bedding Sets 90,500 7 Luxury

Comforter Sets 8,100

4 King Size Bedding 60,500 9 Cheap

Bedding Sets 6,600

5 Shabby Chic

Bedding 49,500 9 Modern

Bedding Sets 6,600

9) RECONFIGURE WEBSITE

Having an updated website and maintaining consistency with their social media efforts is

essential for any business. By integrating social media together with their website, Everett Stunz

can prove to customers that they are active and current in their business methods. Staying up-to-

82

date with your website is also an important tool in attracting a greater reach, especially for a

retailer attempting to increase online sales revenue.

One simple way to integrate social media platforms into a website are to include social

media buttons on top or bottom of a web page, implementing only the platforms that are being

used by the business. Everett Stunz has this feature on the website, but there are certain ways to

improve accessibility. These buttons can be made more visible by moving them to the very top of

the website, so that they are viewed above the fold. Another recommendation is to have a new tab

open when a customer clicks on the social media buttons, rather than opening the link up in the

current tab and redirecting them outside of the Everett Stunz website. By having a new tab

opened, customers would remain on the webpage and be able to view the social media platform

that they selected at the same time instead of driving them away from the web page. Additionally,

we recommend Everett Stunz also keep their website content consistent with their marketing and

advertising efforts. By integrating promotions and messages posted on Facebook into the website

that contain information about Instagram photo contests, as well as having links to videos posted

on YouTube, their customers will be encouraged to become more active on social media

platforms. Active online and social media users will feel that Everett Stunz is up to date with every

channel of communication, and will reflect back on the company’s dedication to its customers.

Moreover, information pertaining to the store needs to be updated and current. There is

no visible information about the store address or hours of operation. This is vital information to

have posted on a webpage, as customers looking to visit the physical store may only need the

address, and presenting complete information may keep them on the page and result in them

finding a new product they want to purchase rather than leaving the website to find the address

83

somewhere else. In addition, La Jolla store information and UTC mall store information should

be both included equally into the website. Having a tab at the top of the website named “Store

Locator” with all the information needed such as stores ddresses, phone numbers, hours of

operations, social media information, and a map with both locations. This will add more

engagement into the website and make it more reliable and trustworthy because customers will

be easily directed to all the basic information that is needed.

Those that find themselves located too far away to visit the actual store will need to be

interested in staying on the site to browse the online selection, which is why we recommend an

overhaul of the website. We propose that Everett Stunz spends the money to change their

overall website design to reflect the luxurious image of the brand. The use of white background

makes it looks very clean and very classy, which is a strong point. However, having a

coordinated design for the website, meaning use of the same colors, font, type size, and high

quality pictures, will make the website more visually appealing to the customer. We believe

that the website would be more effective if there were pictures of the store included on the

homepage, with more interactive features to present the products in a more lively fashion.

Customers that have seen the store and go on the webpage later should feel like they are back in

the store and customers that see the webpage first should be enticed to visit the store.

Lastly, going over the technical aspects, such as fixing broken links (like the “Care

Advice” tab) is very important for the engagement with the customer at the time of navigating

the website, and presents the company in the most professional way possible.

84

FIGURE 32: NEW CONCEPT FOR WEBSITE

ACTION PLAN

85

In order to effectively implement these recommendations, we will provide a timeline for

Everett Stunz to follow. This will not only guide them in making the necessary changes, but

will also provide a way to benchmark their efforts and test for success as they look to increase

sales volume and awareness for their brand.

MAY 2015

Complete move of employees, products, and materials to UTC store.

With operations already being consolidated to the UTC mall store, Everett Stunz will be

able to dedicate their time, energy, and efforts to making this particular store the best in

can possibly be. Once the move is complete, Everett Stunz can begin to focus on

developing their brand.

Adjust budget for additional expenditures

Mall Advertising approximately $1,500 to $10,000 for four week banner ad

Employee Training: Bruce Clay training course advanced training- $1,195

(http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/prices.htm)

Website changes: roughly $50 an hour for a freelance developer

http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/calculate-hourly-freelance-rates-web-design-

development-work

UT San Diego Advertising: $41,152 for 25 color ads in North County Sunday editions

Establish mission statement to guide employees and future operations.

86

The first order of business after completing the move should be to create a clear and

concise mission statement that encompasses the overarching goals of Everett Stunz,

perhaps “Provide the great citizens of San Diego with the best sleep possible by offering

customers the most luxurious brands in the world while treating every customer as a

part of our Everett Stunz family”. Not only will this mission statement fortify their

brand image, but it will also is crucial for building future marketing initiatives that

communicate the objectives of Everett Stunz.

Create objectives for greeting shoppers, which include, welcoming them, getting

them to stay and browse the entire selection, and gauging interest level in

products.

Next order is to work on the unique way of welcoming customers into the store. In

addition one of our recommendations is to not only greet each and every customer that

walks in the store, but also ensure that they are treated with a personalized approach.

One way of accomplishing this would be to offer them a drink when they come in, a

simple drink such as lemonade or water could encourage them to stay at the store for a

longer period of time. Also, by using this approach, it would differentiate Everett Stunz

from some of their bigger competitors, chain retail stores that are not able to incorporate

this kind of initiative because of their sheer size. By implementing small changes like

this, we can expect to have a better reaction from customers towards the store in general

by associating the store with a positive experience that they may not encounter

87

elsewhere. Ultimately we expect to build a relationship and encourage these customers

to come back and feel special once more.

Implement support material for products around the store.

Explain the benefits of their products and show how they assist in getting a good night’s

rest. Notecards next to products listing their country of origin, brand name, materials,

and any other information should be created and placed appropriately around the store.

Train or hire an employee to handle website changes, social media marketing

campaigns, and search engine optimization

Everett Stunz should either locate an employee from within to be their online marketing

specialist, or look to hire a new graduate with a marketing degree. The new employee

will be able to launch the new Google Adwords campaign upon his or her hiring, and

begin to integrate the “Beauty Starts in Bed” campaign and prepare for the social media

contests.

Create mall banner advertisement

JUNE 2015

After creating ways to develop the unique shopping experience, focus can shift on

remodeling the store to showcase more products.

Modify store layout

Start to work on the concepts for different showrooms.

Partnerships

88

Create Houzz account, sign up for Contemporary Design Group, and start reaching out

to local chiropractors. Contact local hotels and look for opportunities to sell to them.

Begin to request cooperative advertising funding to develop a catalog and further

promote products with the “Beauty Starts in Bed” campaign

Explain to manufacturers the need for increased advertising, primarily Duxiana for the

DUX bed. Their beds can be the focus of the catalogs in exchange for 50% of the

catalog campaign cost. $1,800 should be requested for co-op.

Start to implement changes to website

Look for a freelance web developer to cleanup and give the website a fresh look. Have

the online marketing hire prepare a list of things to be done so they can guide the

developer.

JULY 2015

Address and implement any other recommendations

Begin to measure ROI for marketing efforts

Newspaper: New North County shoppers coming to the store?

Direct Mail: How many conversions for postcard promotion?

What products did they purchase with discount?

Facebook: How many people are signing up for contest?

Are followers talking about the contest?

89

TABLE 5: MAY 2015- 2016 MARKETING PLAN

90

REFERENCES

Blake, Meredith. "The Big Bang of Older TV Viewers." LA Times. 22 Feb. 2014. Web. 15 Apr.

2015. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-aging-tv-

audience-20140223-story.html#page=1>.

"Circulation Numbers for the 25 Largest Newspapers." U-T San Diego. 1 May 2012. Web. 15

Apr. 2015. <http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/may/01/circulation-numbers-for-

the-25-largest-newspapers/>.

"Everett Stunz Logo." San Diego and La Jolla. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.everettstunz.com/>.

"Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms." Pew Research Centers Internet

American Life Project RSS. N.p., 09 Jan. 2015. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/demographics-of-key-social-networking-

platforms-2/>.

Duggan, Maeve, Nicole Ellison, Cliff Lampe, Amanda Lenhart, and Mary Madden. "Frequency

of Social Media Use." Pew Research Center. 9 Jan. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

<http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/09/frequency-of-social-media-use-2/>.

"Industry Reports." Market Research Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015.

<http://www.ibisworld.com/>.

MRI : Welcome. MRI+. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://www.mriplus.com/>.

91

"Newspaper Readership & Audience by Age and Gender." Newspaper Readership & Audience

by Age and Gender. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2015. <http://www.naa.org/trends-and-

numbers/readership/age-and-gender.aspx>.

"San Diego Carlsbad San Marcos Ca." Highest Income Zip Codes in. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr.

2015. <http://localistica.com/usa/metro-area/41740-

san%20diego%20carlsbad%20san%20marcos%20ca/zipcodes/highest-household-

income-zipcodes/>.

SRDS/KANTAR Rep. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://next.srds.com>.

92

APPENDIX

APPENDIX 1: UTC LA JOLLA MALL STORE- FRONT ENTRANCE

APPENDIX 2

93

APPENDIX 3

APPENDIX 4

94

APPENDIX 5

APPENDIX 6

95

APPENDIX 7: EVERETT STUNZ WEBSITE

APPENDIX 8: GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS "LUXURY BEDDING"

96

APPENDIX 9: YELP PAGE

APPENDIX 10: COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

97

APPENDIX 11: SWOT ANALYSIS TABLE

Strengths

New location in UTC mall

Unique products with several benefits

Luxurious products

Eco-Friendly products

In-store interior designers

Credibility

Weaknesses

Poor use of social media

Low brand awareness and identity

Lack of cohesion with social media platforms

Misconception of ideal target market

Opportunities

Build brand awareness through social media platforms

New partnerships

New advertising opportunities

Reach new customers

Threats

Competition

Customer perception of brand

98

APPENDIX 12: SDRS PSYCHOGRAPHICS

99

APPENDIX 13: MRI+ BEDDING AND BATH GOODS- BOUGHT IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

100

APPENDIX 14: MRI+ BEDDING AND BATH GOODS

101

APPENDIX 15: MRI+ HOUSEHOLD FURNISHING MATTRESS AMOUNT SPENT IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS

$700+

102