Increasing Sales Volume of Neck Pillow by Using New Fabric.doc

increasing sales volume of neck pillow by using new fabric论文摘要东隆是宜家家居在大中华区最大的纺织品供应商，每年宜家从我司采购的产品过亿，由此我们十分关注每个产品的销售量。另外宜家每种产品都会有四到五年的生命周期，但是宜家要求每个产品相应的每年都需做价格改进，优化产品竞争力，紧跟潮流趋势。此款颈枕就是我负责的产品，近期发现销售量一直有下降的趋势，所以要求立即做出整改。基于对销售数据的分析，本论文提出假设，认为颈枕的销售量与单价和符合市场的潮流趋势密切相关。怎样降低单价，推出符合市场的产品，所以本论文通过对天鹅绒面料（本产品价值最高的原材料）进行改进，在不影响产品的手感和舒适度的基础上，天鹅绒面料成份由原来的80%棉，20%涤改成100%涤的面料来降低成本，降低单价，并且面料的颜色由原来的单一黑色改成红，黄，灰，白，蓝五种颜色来吸引顾客的眼球，期望拉动销售量。本论文前期通过目标客户的分组试验，swot分析法等研究方法找出问题解决方向。中期在订购原材料和生产制作过程中，通过项目执行进度表等形式来检查和保证设计内容得到及时调整和如期完成。后期颈枕销售阶段，主要采取前后营业绩效的对比来进行评估。经过前期仔细的调查分析及切实可行的设计，中期合理生产和后期客观评估，本论文设计的颈枕得以成功销售，不但价格实惠，品种多样，而且销售数量快速增长，收入和利润均获得了预期的效果。实践证明，修改工艺，减少成本，符合市场的发展潮流，也是提高销售的关键点。关键词: 新颈枕; 销售量; 市场趋势; 成本abstractdong long is the biggest home textile supplier in china and obtains over a million of purchase amount from ikea, so we are concerned with the sales amount of each product. in the mean time, each product in ikea store has 4 or 5 years life cycle, we need make price development and optimize the product to improve the product competition, catch up with the current market trend. neck pillow which i follow up is dropping in sale, i need action immediately.it is hypothesized that the new neck pillow material is changed from 80% cotton, 20% polyester to 100% polyester, the color is updated from a black color to 5 colors. it can serve current markets and meet customers needs and wants. a two-month project was launched to design and produce new neck pillow. scientific research methods of customer survey, such as focus group and swot analysis were used in the identification and analysis of the problems. flowchart, time plan and other methods were also adopted in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project. with the efforts of all our project members, we achieved our final goal successfully. the sales amount of neck pillow has increased a lot and multiplied out of our expectation. the results of the project demonstrates that to improve technique, to reduce cost and to meet the market trend are the key points of improving sales amount.key words: new neck pillow; sales amount; market trend; costtable of contentspages1. introduction .12 summary of the preliminary research2 2.1. problem .2 2.2. problem analysis.2 2.2.1 situation analysis of neck pillow2 2.2.2 needs of neck pillow3 2.2.3 swot analysis. 43. project objective and hypothesis.43.1.project objective43.2. project hypothesis44. project rationale55. project design65.1. planning activities65.1.1 activities with time-scale.65.1.2 critical path analysis5.1.3 people involved and responsibilities 9 65.2. costing95.3. risks analysis105.4. management and control116.project implementation116.1. general introduction of time, place of project implementation.116.2. the working steps of implementation126.3. monitoring .127.project findings and discussion.137.1.results137.2.discussion148. conclusion15bibliography16appendix i: feedback of home testing17appendix ii: time plan of neck pillow18appendix iii: the comparison of sales history record between 2011 and 2012 192119 (increasing sales volume of neck pillow by using new fabric in dong long)1. introductioni am a merchandiser in shanghai dong long feather manufacture co., ltd which is a home textile company and mainly responsible for the whole products traceability from the production to the sale status for ikea s product. in the mean time, ikea is a famous furniture retailer. dong long is the biggest home textile supplier in china.neck pillow which was sold in ikea store has produced for 3 years in our factory, the sale amount during the past three years reached 900000 pieces per year. the neck pillow cover is made of velvet fabric with quilting technique, the content is 80% cotton and 20% polyester, a tpu bag inserts into the cover. both shapes like the moon, this kind of design inspiration is origin of the neck shape, put it on your neck, it can keep your neck warm, help sleep quickly and protect your neck health.however, i found the sale quantities was continuously dropping recently from . 3 specialists in ikea and i discussed this problem, the conclusion was that color was invariable and the price overpassed the consumers psychological value. how to change the color, how to reduce the price, this was a problem which we need solve. our solution is that the color is change from a black color to five color (white , pink ,dark blue, yellow-orange, grey) and the main fabric content( velvet) was changed from 80% cotton and 20% polyester to 100% polyester.based on the hypothesis that revised new neck pillow can increase the sales volume through changing the fabric color and material content. a two-month project was designed and conducted during january 1st 2012 to february 28th, 2012. a series of activities was planned and carried out, such as kept close contact with the client, let fabric hand touch and color was approved, pushed the client to give neck pillow order and signed approved sample, placed the material order to fabric and accessories suppliers, and so on.before putting the plan into practice, i also devised some measures to control and manage potential risks.the outputs of the project were new neck pillow could stimulate the consumers purchase desire for different colors and better price.the total cost of the project was rmb209500.00. it included do home testing, purchasing fabric and accessories, transportation cost and etc.in the whole process of this project, i adopted those helpful techniques and methods which zhang li introduced in his book “price war (2004)”. scientific research methods of customer survey, such as focus group, time-scale, ikea sale history record and swot analysis were used in the identification and analysis of the problems. flowchart, project framework and several other methods were also adopted in the design, implementation and evaluation of the project. 2. summary of the preliminary research2.1 problem the problem i am facing is that the sales volume of neck pillow is continuously dropping for the color and price.2.2 problem analysisto better understand how to increase the sales amount, we conducted a swot analysis, comprised of a situation analysis of neck pillow, a needs analysis of the key factors for neck pillow, and a swot profile summarizing its advantages and disadvantages.2.2.1 situation analysis of neck pillowl financial statusthis product ran 3 years, we earned about rmb5.46million and reserved a percentage of its revenue for product improvement .the budget for this project is rmb 54.6thousand and will be used to revised the fabric material and develop a variety of colors, of course ,the budget also covers the home testing.l human resourcesthere are 3 specialists in ikea who help develop this product, one person is business developer for improving the product price ,the second person is technician who is familiar with the technique of product and improve it. the third person is supply planner for controlling logistics and statistics sales volume. in our factory, there is 20 workers for making this product, a director distributes materials for it. in the mean time, in the mean time, my role is to bridge ikea and the manufacturer and to balance their relationship , whatever the production or sales status.l information resourcesikea owns 210 stores in 24 countries based on the statistic in 2006, the turnover amount to $1730 billion, if neck pillow is sold one piece per day in each store, the daily sales volume would 210pcs. the needs are very huge.l pest analysisikea is a famous furniture retailer, the store opens in the center of the city, the slogan is that provides the best price ,special design ,fine quality and the home feeling when you are shopping there, so its has a great loyal customer group and comfortable shopping environment. with the rapid development of economy and the living standard improvement of people all over the world, people starts to pursue the life quality, it greatly increases the purchase quantities. as a result, we are facing a great opportunities.to increase the sales, we must take actions to attract the consumer eyesight. otherwise, it would be left out of this market share.2. 2.2 needs analysis of neck pillow home testing looking for factors how to attract the consumer must narrow the research problem through a needs analysis of different ages. under the premise of not affecting hand touch, a home testing will judge if we can change 80% cotton, 20%polyester to 100% polyester to reduce the cost. if we change a black color into five colors, there are dark blue, grey ,pink, off-white and yellow-orange. after making 30pcs neck pillows, then we dispatched neck pillows and formed to 3 different age groups to do home testing, they were 5-20 year-old group,20-40 year-old group and 50-80 year-old group. in two weeks later, 30pcs forms were returned me. they were sorted and then analyzed (see appendix 1: forms of home testing)the result showed out that 85% of candidates didnt mind the material, but cared about the color. in their 50-80 year-old group, they didnt care the velvet material and color, just kept soft and comfortable to use and expected have a best price. in their 20-40 year-old group, they would like best price under the premise of purchase the soft and comfortable quality and liked colorful products. in their 5-20 year-old group, colorful products were the first choice of them, didnt care the material. in short, the feedback is that the consumer care about the soft and comfortable touch and like a variety of colors based on the best price.2.2.3 swot profilebased on the results of situation analysis and needs analysis of neck pillow, i came up with the following swot profile: strengthsweaknesses specialist team to manage good sales channel great production capacity matured supply chain home testing within budget dropping the sales volume invariable color surplus workers surplus production capacity opportunitiesthreats famous furniture retailer-ikea increasing living standard of people large number of loyal customers for ikea investment for neck pillow affecting the profit margin the competition of other ikea supplier the competition of other retailer similar product this projects ultimate goal is to overcome the decrease the sales volume. to achieve this goal, we needs to deal appropriately with all of its weaknesses as well as some threats. if we can make good use of its strengths (excellent specialist team, good sales channel, great production capacity, matured supply chain), grasp some golden opportunities (increasing living standard of people, large number of loyal customers for ikea) avoid the threats (fierce competition from rivals and other retailer similar product) and overcome its weaknesses (invariable color), its sales volume will definitely improve.the immediate objective of this project is to define the key factors causing neck pillow present problematic situation. home testing seems to be a good start. based on the results of the needs analysis conducted among different age groups, the project will focus on providing colorful products, having a soft and comfortable touch and best price based on excellent quality. 3. project objective and hypothesis3.1 project objectivethe problem i am facing is that the sale volume of neck pillow is dropping because the cost is higher than targeting costing and the color is tedious, cant attract the consumer attention. the goal of my project is expand our shop to an e-shop and attract more customers. the objective is rapidly pulling the sale volume and selling out 1.1 millions pieces per year, so that i can get more commission.3.2 project hypothesisrevised the product technique is a necessity of reducing the cost and increasing the product color, there are reasons for a considerable rising in the number of customers. it is hypothesized that the velvet fabric content changes from 80% cotton ,20% polyester to 100% polyester and the color is increased from a black to five colors , the sale quantities increases from 17000 pieces per week to 21000 pieces per week based on reducing the price and changing the color within two months.4. project rationalefirst, we should give best price to stimulate purchase desire of consumer .the necessity of reducing the product cost is not only practice in reality but also it has lots of theories to underpin it. according to home testing and forms, we can see all group would like the best price ,just as price war (2004) states, becoming the king for the enterprise must have three strategies, one of them is the cost , applying cost advantage is compete with rivals, get the market share ,get the consumer. in the mean time, the price already ran for 3 years, the consumer thought the price overpassesd consumer-price, they wouldnt purchase it for ever, one day ,they find the price is better than before , do you think they want to buy it ? just as marketing research and forecasting (2007) states, the price level have an influence on the sale volumes, if you have a best price, it will be increase the purchase quantities. second, why we need provide 5 colors? by referring the coloring concepts on the skill supermarket layout and commodity display (2009), different environment coloring will come into being wonderful imagination and impression, stimulate the consumer potentially purchase desire, so providing a variety of colors neck pillow is a must.in short, do home testing and return the form is a good way for solve this project, because it explained that each experienced person had different needs and wants, this gave us the direction of improvement the product. the reason why i use home testing is stated as follows: marketing mode (2007) state that experiential marketing based on the side of the consumer sense, feel, think and act defines it again. moreover, the brochure of restaurant boss (cai wan kun 2008) also described that doing market data analysis is useful ways of collecting information what you really need, it can involve a great many people to give reaction to a limited set of questions, which is easier to get a generalization of them for above reasons, i decide to do home testing and forms as a market research in this project. this way can reveal shortcoming on neck pillow and how to solve it.5. project design5.1. planning activities5.1.1 activities with time-scalethere are a series of activities planned to take place:1) arrange lab dip with the 100% polyester velvet fabric for five colors2) get the approval for the fabric hand touch and color from the client3) get the order from the client and sign purchase agreement with client4) place the fabric & accessories order, sign contract with fabric & accessories suppliers5) arrange the bulk production6) inspect the finished products7) delivery the goods to ikea store8) fill shelves with new neck pillow in store9) sale the neck pillow and record the sale volume.5.1.2. critical path analysisfirst of all, i arrange lab dip with the 100% polyester velvet fabric for five colors. after then, i show lab dip to the client and get the approval for hand touch and color and i get the order from the client, and then place the order to fabric supplier. i can not process the bulk production until all materials have been dispatched to our factory.after finishing the bulk production, i arrange the transportation, fill shelves in store and record the sale volume.it will take seven weeks to implement the project when it has been approved. and the activity flow chart with time-scale can show how these activities are arranged.it will take seven weeks to implement the project when it has been approved.in week onearrange lab dip with the 100% polyester velvet fabric for five colorsin week twoget the approval for the fabric hand touch and color from the clientget the order from the client and sign purchase agreement with clientplace the fabric & accessories order, sign contract with fabric & accessories suppliersin week threeall materials must been dispatched to our factory.in week fourprocess the bulk production in week fivedelivery the goods to ikea storein week sixfill shelves with new neck pillow.by the end of week sevensale the neck pillow and record the sale volume.week 1week 2week 3week 4week 5week 6week 7arrange lab dipget the fabric approval and orderall materials must been dispatched the factoryprocess the bulk productionfill shelves with new neck pillowsell the neck pillow and record the sale volume.inspect and delivery the goods to ikea storeplace the order related to supplier.5.1.3 people involved and responsibilitiesmany people involve in this project, business developer is responsible for the neck pillow approval, technician inspect the goods and supply planner arrange the transportation a