California Has the Jobs but Not Enough Homes

California's Real Estate is Harming their Job Market

Summary of the article:

California has been growing over the last few decades, especially it's economy and population. With its growing economy and population, there is not enough real estate, causing the prices to increase. Many people can not afford to live in the state. Now companies are starting to see the effects of the high real estate prices. Many California-based companies are finding it harder to recruit people to work for their company. To many potential employees, the job was not worth moving to California because they would not be able to live comfortably as they may be doing so at their job currently. The companies are also finding it harder to expand within, as there are no incentives for the potential employees to come. Many companies, like startup companies, are moving out of the state to other, cheaper, states such as Texas. Texas, known for their cheaper real estate prices, are attracting employees and employers out of California. Many Texas-based companies are able to use their cheap real estate as a motivating factor as they are trying to recruit potential employees. 

How does this article relate to Marketing

Companies are now having to change their plan because of the increased competition in other states. By staying in California, they are limiting their talent pool and are losing more of them to other companies that are not based in California. To reduce the competition, they are having to consider relocating if they plan to keep employees as well as gain new candidates. In addition, in order to keep the current employees, they have to consider the external environment. Employees will consider leaving to another company if they are able to have a comfortable life somewhere else. They also have to assess their SWOT analysis. The Real Estate is one of their threats that they have to consider. 

URL:https://www.wsj.com/articles/california-has-the-jobs-but-not-enough-homes-11553007600 

"Target, Walmart Shares Take Hit After Amazon’s Move to One-Day Shipping"

"Retailers have invested heavily in supply chains in part to stay competitive with e-commerce giant"

WSJ Article published April 26, 2019 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/target-walmart-shares-take-hit-after-amazons-move-to-one-day-shipping-11556310486?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

Photo Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-prime-oneday-shipping-is-money-wellspent-analysts-111713723.html; AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

Analysis by Nancy Rodriguez

According to this Wall Street Journal article, Amazon's announcement to provide free one-day shipping to its Prime members simultaneously negatively affected its competitors' shares and increased their own.The author reported that both Walmart and Target, who only provide free two-day shipping, saw a drop in their shares. Amazon is investing $800 million to provide this fast shipping for everyone, which adds to consumer's preference to shop online. The article mentioned that last year Amazon increased their Prime membership by $20 to cover their costs and expansion in services. Although Walmart and Target have not announced one-day shipping, they have also spent money on faster shipping such as in-store pickup orders, which has cheaper shipping costs. As noted in the article, it is expected that one-day shipping could soon be a consumer expectation. 

This article relates to the marketing concept, because logistics, pricing and competitor analysis are addressed. Amazon's faster shipping may be costly, but their shares and their competitors' drop in shares are proof that one-day shipping will only increase Amazon's sales. However, I think by providing faster shipping, Amazon will have to use the money they are investing into this well, such as adding more warehouse workers, to ensure efficiency and quality. Their large increase in Prime membership pricing is also a way to ensure they can cover both their variable and fixed costs, especially if they intend to deliver faster everywhere. This is especially important, because Amazon is catering to a large target market; everyone likes faster online shipping. The article provided a competitor analysis of how although Amazon is well ahead of the game, Walmart and Target are not companies that will stay behind. Those companies will most likely and should observe how Amazon carries out this promise to customers and intend to do it better. 

I chose this article, because having one-day shipping from Amazon appeals to me as a consumer. Although all three companies mentioned in this article appeal to me, Amazon is a big competitor and is well ahead of the game. One-day shipping almost eliminates in-store shopping and further diminishes the online shopping problem of having to wait for a product. 

Nestlé Seeks To Diversify From Established Products

Major company Nestlé is seeking to diversify the products it offers for one main reason: with the new health conscious trend that is spreading through consumers, many are choosing to not buy Nestlé's over-processed foods. Because of this they are trying to expand into two markets that are growing fast: baby food and pet food. Making a deal in the water bottle industry is unlikely because the products they do have there, San Pellegrino and Perrier, are more niche and expensive to produce and ship. So that leaves baby food and pet food. While Nestlé has a large share of the world baby food market, it has a weak presence in the U.S. and China. To fix that they are looking for a merger with companies that have a more solid influence in these regions.

Another market they are hoping to break into is pet food. They already have brands like Friskies and Dog Chow that are operating above their target margin, so it obvious that they would want to further expand this section. One reason for the increasing growth in the pet food market is that people in developing countries are turning away from feeding their pets leftover food and instead buying food made specifically for pets. This will also lead to increased profitability in the future.

Nestlé is already a well-established company with large international influence. The resources and advantages that they currently have mean that whichever route they choose to pursue, whether it's pet food or baby formula, it is certain that they will be able to reach a larger audience than smaller brands that mostly operate domestically, allowing them to achieve a larger market share.

After Coffee, It’s Dinner Time at Nestlé

Say Goodbye to McDonald's Signature Crafted Burgers

          McDonald's is a world's largest fast food chain over 119 countries. It has been strongly developing because of its amazing marketing strategy. McDonald's know how to adapt and adjust itself into every country. For example, in Asia, the menu for burgers is very variety. It is from shrimp to pork, or even grilled pork with fried egg rice plate.

          However, there are some adjustments that are not suitable and meet the customer's need. In the U.S, McDonald's introduce the signature burger line which they hope that they can elevate their products as well as bring the new and better experience to the customer. The signature burger is made out of fresh beef patty. It can also be topped with "fancy" items such as guacamole, sweet bacon or Dijon mustard. Those sound very amazing, however, the fact is in the opposite. The transactions at restaurant open for at least 13 months have dropped 2.2%  in domestic market.

       
        There are many reasons that lead to the outcome, which McDonald's discontinues the signature burger line. First of all, customizing the burger would take more time for the kitchen which will lengthen the drive through time. Customers come to McDonald's because they want something quick and fast. Furthermore, McDonald's has been famous for being cheap. For instance, they usually have the bogo sandwich promotion. In contrast, the signature burgers are applied the "higher-priced, limited-time offers" to boost the sale and that did not go well. McDonald's tries to compete with other burger chain such as Five Guys or Shake Shacks. Unfortunately, McDonald's is not a winner in this competition.

by Thu Nguyen

Source: https://www.wsj.com/articles/mcdonalds-drops-signature-crafted-burgers-11555629655?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=8

Comcast Reaping Benefits Of Dying Business

The market for cable television has been in steady decline since the introduction of streaming services like Netflix. One of the companies that has been losing subscribers is Comcast, who has been reporting losses in every period since streaming gained popularity. However while others have not made a shift to increase revenue, Comcast has adapted to grow with the trend and has focused more on providing internet with branches like Xfinity. This area has been growing due to the increased demand by consumers for faster internet to keep up with increased streaming. While Comcast has been losing money from cable subscribers dropping them, the demand for faster internet has offset these losses.

Comcast has also invested in streaming services, such as Hulu, of which they own 30%. The combination of internet revenue and streaming revenue means that unlike other cable companies, Comcast has been expanding and growing. They have also recently acquired other streaming services such as Sky, a European pay-tv company.

By slowly moving away from dependence on cable and instead focusing on high-speed internet and streaming services, Comcast is not only increasing its share values but ensuring that if or when cable becomes obsolete and the market completely shifts to streaming, they will still have a future in the business.

Comcast Is Surviving Big Media’s Horror Flick

Microsoft Expanding Into New Industry Trend

Microsoft's new gaming system, the Xbox One S, will not be compatible with physical cartridges or discs. Instead consumers will have to download games onto the console and then play them. This represents a new move by the industry to push for eliminating the need to physically get games and instead stream them from online. This mirrors the current trend for movies, TV shows, and music.

Moving towards pure streaming in the movie and music industries has seen many companies go out of business. Companies like Blockbuster and Redbox have declined since this trend started gaining popularity. With this move by Microsoft, there are both benefits and drawbacks. On one hand, it will hurt game companies like Gamestop, whose profits mostly come from the sale of games. However on the other hand game companies who make games will be able to earn more profit because they would cut out middle men like Gamestop.

While the console can only hold about 6 games at a time, it has the option for people to store their other games in the cloud while they play others on the Xbox. The move pushes the industry further towards making physical games obsolete and replacing them with streaming only.

Microsoft’s New Xbox One S Won’t Play Videogame Discs

‘Avengers: Endgame’ Pulverizes Box-Office Records with $1.2 Billion Debut

Fans arrive for a costume contest before the first screening of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. PHOTO:FREDERIC J. BROWN/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Walt Disney’s movie, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ changed Hollywood’s opening history through a record $1.2 billion hit in the first five days. The record was set mainly in Canada and the US where about $350 million was collected. The superhero movie noted increased demand across China due to interconnected Marvel studio superheroes who have set Walt Disney on a winning streak for over a decade. The hit is currently 18th on the box-office chart and could break Avatar’s record of $2.79 billion in 2009. Markedly, the Chinese market has already garnered $331 million so far almost beating “The Fate of the Furious” record. Box-office has capitalized on international market receipts as the outside markets always account for most of the total gross.

Marvel superheroes have triggered one of the most admired sectors in entertainment. The movie business is mainly driven by character marketing. The superheroes are viewed as family among their fans in the global market. The success of Walt Disney's marketing of the series since 2008 has created one of the biggest market shares through customer engagement and creating value through what people want. With the opening weekend of the Endgame receiving an A+ rating from its fan base, the movie story provides competing studios such as Universal Pictures with critical marketing strategies, especially targeting the international arena through different products (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010). The release was prompted through incredible marketing and promotional campaigns with millions paid on advertising through social media and other channels. Therefore, the film is relevant in the studies on the role of e-marketing communication in business.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/avengers-endgame-pulverizes-box-office-records-with-1-2-billion-debut-11556467711