more if this becomes a successful business. If Jane wants to have the radiators sold through a retail outlet in the United States, which type of outlet would be the best? Justify your choice
Shipping European Hot Water RadiatorsJane Whitman has spent her junior year in college in a study-abroad program in Germany. It was a frigid winter, and the large apartment she shared with five roommates was toasty for the whole month of February when the thermometer never climbed above freezing. The apartment was equipped with hot-water heaters that stood flat against the wall and looked like contemporary art, and at the same time, they did not intrude into space. Jane’s parents live in an old Baltimore neighborhood of Victorian-era homes, where they heat their home with heavy, ornate cast-iron radiators, which will soon need to be replaced. In Jane’s experience, the cast-iron radiators are not in any way superior to these more modern counterparts, which heat much faster. Jane decided to go to Baumax, a home-improvement warehouse in Berlin, and to her surprise, she found various brands of modern radiators selling for less than $50. In comparison, cast-iron radiators cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars, and they are available only in poor condition at architectural salvage firms that charge a lot for discarded goods that must be refinished. Jane hoped to find similar hot water radiators for her parents’ home through distributors in the United States for a comparable price. She searched the web and found that, indeed, there were radiant hydronic heaters selling in the United States. One of the most popular brands is Runtal Radiators, the world leader in this product category. They offer sleek and decorative European Style panel radiators in different formats: baseboard, wall panels, column radiators, and vertical panels. They claim to have invented the Euro panel radiator in Switzer-land more than 50 years ago. She quickly found a distributor for Runtal, but the prices they charged were around $700 for the radiator alone, without the hardware. She could ship the German off-brand (Baumax) radiators to Baltimore and the price for delivery duty paid would still be below half of what the Runtal dis-tributors charged. Her parents had talked to neighbors about Jane’s new venture: purchasing modern replacement radiators from Germany, and many indicated that they too were interested in this product. Soon, Jane’s order swelled to 122 radiators. Jane quickly came to the realization that this might just be the small business that she would like to be involved in during her senior year in college and, possibly, beyond. She quickly embarked on a study of shipping options and attempted to understand the industry. Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley/www.shutterstock.com 307307Part Three: Marketing Mix StrategiesChapter 10: Retailing and Channel StrategiesHer first challenge were to decide whether she should ship by air or by ocean freight. Airfreight was a possibility. Airfreight was growing, which meant prices were going down. But the cost was still high compared to ocean vessels. The new ocean container ships offered prices that were much lower, but also slower. However, using modern containerization did increase the speed of moving merchandise through various modes of transportation, such as rail, truck, and ocean vessels. Jane approached one of her roommates, a marketing major, with this information, and asked her for help with ideas on how to transport 122 radiators—and, possibly, many more if this becomes a successful business.
If Jane wants to have the radiators sold through a retail outlet in the United States, which type of outlet would be the best? Justify your choice.
Trending now
This is a popular solution!
Step by step
Solved in 2 steps
