Build-A-Bear
When a person thinks of their childhood, often times a person may think of the toys they played with as kids. Remember that one stuffed animal your mother or father gave to you on your birthday? Imagine creating that perfect stuffed animal, and made by you. That is what Maxine Clark created in 1996; a chance of a lifetime for children. Build-A-Bear demonstrates creativity, independence and an experience of a lifetime. To many, there is no price associated with experience. To ensure that, Maxine Clark allows her bear building experience to remain affordable to consumers.
The average bear prices at twenty five dollars, and a person gets more than just the tangible mass produced bear; they create a teddy bear. Maxine Clark has clearly taken Build-A-Bear to high levels of financial success by knowing and understanding the needs and wants of the customers. The best strategy displayed by Build-A-Bear fits the marketing concept more than it does the production, product, or selling concepts. As long as Maxine Clark continues to understand her customer’s needs, Build-A-Bear should remain a strong, profitable business.
It is important for Build-A-Bear to distinguish between needs, wants, and demands. Basic needs must be identified first. Then, other product offerings should be created with the intention of fulfilling the needs of the consumer. The company must then understand what it is that customers might want that is not being offered. Maxine Clark and her team have taken careful measures to understand the specifics of what customers are demanding: what is working in the stores, and what isnt. She does this by going into her stores and interacting with customers and having an online forum to interact with her customer base (children). She is always open to suggestions and doesn’t settle with mediocre.
There is always a chance in failure in any company starting out and Maxine Clark recognizes that. Toy fads come and go like most other products,