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Q: Provide an Abstract or Exective Summary to the paper shown below:
Payless Shoesource is the largest specialty family footwear retailer in the Western Hemisphere. Founded in 1956 Payless mission was selling quality shoes at affordable prices. 50 years later their mission is still simple by "To be the Go To, Get More, Pay Less shoe store for our target customers." By offering a trend-right and comprehensive range of everyday and special occasion shoes and accessory items at affordable prices for every member of the family.
Payless is one of Jennifer Tucker-Barthol favorite stores to shop at. As a child and even now as an adult, she has never been interested in designer labels. Looking into Jennifer past as a kid, she notice all her friends were wearing name brand clothes. One day Jennifer expressed to her mother the desire to dress the same as her friends and my mother gave her the option to either go to Disney World or for her to buy Jennifer a pair of Jordan's. For Jennifer that was a no brainer, she chose Disney world and ever since then it's been her focus to be fashionable without breaking the bank. Payless has been Jennifer go to place for footwear since she was a child, which is her reason for choose their business to focus on her course project.
Being a lifelong customer of Payless, Jennifer able to better discuss the growth I've seen so far from the company and able to better point out what areas they need to improve on. When I mention Payless to other people, I discover most people have a very negative prospective about Payless. They consider the store very cheap, low quality, poor fashionable store. It's not till they see me wear my shoes or try when I buy them a pair of payless shoes on that they tend to have a change a heart.
During my pending research into Payless, my focus will be their marketing strategy and what forms of social media they are utilizing. Because in today's business world social media can make or break a business. Social media provides a direct line of communication between the customer and business owner. On social media allows business owners to advertise for free through their customers with videos, pictures, and customer reviews. But on the other hand, customers are free to discuss their criticism on social media as well. While researching, Payless I can examine how they handle the criticism and create a plan on improvements.
Payless Shoesource is North America's largest family footwear retailer and globally renowned retailer in shoes, bags and related products with offline and online presence in more than 30 countries. The company also offers international franchising available in Europe, Africa and Asia. So, it creates the ideal business opportunity of those who want to associate with Payless Shoesource and create value for the consumers. They have an assortment of nearly 4600 shoes and are already a success. Affordable shoes, wide selections of the latest styles, and convenient, self-service shopping experience had made it one of the most recognized shoe retailers in the United States. But to retain its position as a footwear industry leader, the company knew it would have to take advantage of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce channels to quickly expand its business into places brick and-mortar stores had not reached before. Following the legacy of its customer satisfaction, Payless ShoeSource developed a solution which is the online store offering the user, the best experience possible. Customers are still able to avail themselves of the same sales and promotions as those available at brick-and-mortar Payless ShoeSource stores.
To make the online version of the retailing effective, the company primarily added the following features to its e-retail portal. Easily searchable product catalog having 700+ product catalog. An easy-to-use website to have best shopping experience in line with its physical stores. The e-retail portal is supported by excellent customer service that mirrors the in-store shopping experience. It's also convenient, reliable and easy shopping 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Online shoppers can access a wide range of information, from store locations to special offers. They can avoid shipping and handling charges by using the free in-store delivery option. The customers has the added convenience of making returns or exchanges at any Payless ShoeSource store. Payless e-retail portal provides safe, secure, and fast payment gateways to ensure efficient commercial transactions, while also generating order status e-mail notifications to customers. Customers enjoy a valuable online shopping experience and get an extremely valuable commodity convenience. In the second phase, the company has scaled up the e-retail website and added more assortments. Different e-retail websites have been added for its subsidiaries operating in different countries.
With Vincent DeSantis promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Payless has been able to add those great features to their e-retail portal and much more. Via, Chief Executive Officer of Payless stated "Vincent's leadership and strategic insights over the past three years - particularly as we have developed best-in-class customer insights and successfully moved into new marketing channels such as mobile commerce and social media - have demonstrated that it's time to expand his leadership role to help take Payless to the next level," ( Payless ShoeSource Announces Promotion of Vincent DeSantis to Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. (n.d.)). In Payless recent Easter advertisement Vincent DeSantis stated "With the great improvements we've made in our products, there's more style than ever across the entire Payless line," said Payless senior VP and chief marketing officer Vincent DeSantis in a statement. "That's the message of this new campaign." He noted that the chain, which has more than 3,000 locations in the U.S. and many more globally, wants to attract new shoppers as well as loyal customers." (Pasquarelli., A. (2016, March 07). Payless Strives to Be Style Destination in New Spots.)
Payless has a visionary mission to offer the best quality with pay less ethos. It has made Payless brand to be household brands in all the countries where the company operates. In past news of Payless was accused for bias selling tactics and was sued because "it sells damaged goods in mostly black neighborhoods because of its security practice of bolting tags onto shoes to stop shoplifting." The Los Angeles-based National Association for Cosmetologists stated "Payless ShoeSource should stop bolting anti-theft devices to shoes sold in minority neighborhoods and publicize its policy of offering customers refunds for goods damaged thus." (Payless shoes accused of biased selling tactics. (2003, January 31)).
But Payless has resolved that issue and now people affectionately refer to Payless as their home. It is the degree of service, quality and value delivered by Payless to the customer. Payless gives dedicated attention to consumers with different needs. Whether it is a sports shoe or casual sandals, be it for kids or women, Payless has always something unique to offer. Payless brands such as Airwalk, American Eagle, Champion and Christian Siriano are the popular brands among people. Further, Payless also contributes towards the community development as part of noble intention to give back to the society. The company helps in a variety of ways to improve the quality of life of needy people. Moving ahead, the company gives aid to other non-profit organization who work for relief and crisis management activities in different parts of the world. By this way, Payless serves the community and realize their corporate social responsibility.
The foundation of the success story for this company is it offers a variety of shoes at very low prices. How this becomes possible for Payless? The reason is they depend exclusively on their self-service format, keeping it too cost effective and maintaining a good control over its inventory. Their customers are women ageing from 18 to 44 years with minimum household income. According to their data, it is estimated that annually 40 percent of the said group of women at least purchase one pair of footwear from payless store. And this exactly how they have captured the market and have a strong grip over it. They make an appropriate advantage of the social media too, by communicating their new product offerings and wide range of products to their target customers. Their online marketing also features the best merchandise available at the reasonable price which attracts the customers and lures them to buy.
The company's goal is to become the most successful footwear retailer in the world and they aim at achieving it by focusing on their core business of footwear and its accessories. It tries by acquiring new stores and improving the current store facilities. The company educates its employees in a way to improve their service behavior and make an effective interaction with the customers.
As compared to its competitors Payless' customer targeting is unique way to capture market. They have utilized their profits in expanding their business by opening new stores and entering new market like payless kids' outlets. And the company later went ahead to capture foreign markets and now they have 180 stores in Canada. Compare to competitors like Clarks, Woodland etc. Payless shoesoruce wisely use their online media for offers and promotions. Social media campaigns are run by special marketing teams and they analyze the effectiveness in every segment. Liquidation offers, new launch offers are communicated via short adv. across social media. Customer feedback, new employment opportunities are also managed /publish via social media sites.
Number of customers who respond to the product survey based on the links sent to them through social media like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc., Customer comments in the social media page with their like and dislikes patterns, text mining of the consumer comments to decide how market reacts, sentiment and sensitivity analysis. Based on word of mouth communication, brand ambassadors of a particular social media site. General survey questionnaire responsiveness etc.
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Social Media Metrics Comparison
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Media Platform/Company
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Metrics
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FaceBook
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Link to Social Media Site
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Likes
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Payless Shoesource
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1147919
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Clarks
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2079614
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Woodland
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3240624
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Competitor Average
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35600
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Twitter
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Link to Social Media Site
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Followers
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Payless Shoesource
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30800
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Clarks
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46600
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Woodland
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24600
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Competitor Average
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35600
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Instagram
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Link to Social Media Site
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Followers
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Payless Shoesource
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143
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Clarks
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2
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Woodland
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10
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Competitor Average
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8
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One of the social media related ethical issue is Data Privacy in Social Media Research. This is a problematic situation for the person who is researching the information and for the participant. The area or the space that is being browsed is it seen as private by the participants is the question to be pondered about. Are the users generally aware that they are being observed? What could be the role of the researcher here? Is everything appears the way it is seen? Are people who are being advertised for are they the original they claim to be. The multi-voting, commenting, sharing likes and dislikes, contributions made etc., How often these are all the actual and not simply added by the company themselves just to attract the consumers. How do we ensure that what researchers survey for is with anonymous participants? IP addresses are certainly traceable. Pertaining to Payless shoe source, they were into the controversy of people who play the role advertising their product in social media is the ones who originally did not perform. Some of the fake demographic details of participants or the users are posted by the researchers which lead to the ethical violation in the social media.
The one way that demographics, global presence, or diversity might impact Payless ShoeSource choices about social media use is through the fake demographic details of participants or the users which are an ethical violation in the social media per the users. They see this as infringement and the trust factor is likely to be at stake.
Payless shoe source is a retail chain effectively moving with trendy strategies. Regarding social media, they manage to run a good website with all product features to invite customers. In social medias like Facebook they have their own page where they advertise their products and new offers. They even promote many unique offers for the page likers with exclusive coupons and other lucky draw features. Thus, the company constantly drive their market through social media support. Product awareness, customer satisfaction and engagement surveys are conducted via online very efficiently. In Social media presence, their major goal is the following, promote their products in e-way, enhance the reach of their brands, make customer more interactive about the products and to get direct feedback, competitive edge, and analyze the trend requirement.
"Ethical problems, issues, and dilemmas occur for most people on a daily basis. Whenever we ask the question, "What should I do?" there is a good chance that an ethical issue or concern lurks in the background. In everyday life, such questions frequently arise as we make choices among different interests and commitments, such as career, family, community, church, society, prestige, and money." Shamoo, Adil E., and David B. Resnik. Responsible Conduct of Research, edited by Adil E. Shamoo, and David B. Resnik, Oxford University Press, USA, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central.
Information that may be necessary to decide the ethical nature of the situation of selling customer data includes: The nature of the data to be sold. Sometimes the data can be impersonal such as the number of clicks, the regional distribution of clicks, the time of customer's interaction, the comment of the customers (without identity) etc. These data can be used for analytics, and are not personal data. Hence sharing such data may not be unethical. If Payless Shoesouce has taken prior approval of a selected group of customers for sharing their personal data such as age, sex, country of residence and still not disclosing the identity of the person. In such a case, also the situation will not be unethical. "Privacy principles have generally not been implemented in ways that offer natural incentives to record keepers to comply. Few existing legal devices have proved effective in pressuring record keepers to take affirmative steps to meet privacy objectives." Agre, Philip E., and Marc Rotenberg. Technology and Privacy, edited by Philip E. Agre, and Marc Rotenberg, MIT Press, 1998. ProQuest Ebook Central, .
The IBM UK and Ireland Technical Consultancy Group (TCG) created an "ethical awareness framework" to help businesses develop ethical policies for their use of analytics and big data. This framework includes the following considerations before collecting, storing, and using the customer data:
In the case of Payless Shoesource would be in ethical violation of the policy if the data was aggregated, stripped of personal data, and then legally sold. There can be different opinions on this. One way of looking at this question is that the privacy statement says that Payless will not sell personal information to anyone for any purpose. So, if Payless is aggregating data so that to ensure that it will not directly or indirectly trace the identity and not include personal information and data of any individual on the company's Facebook's page, such an action of selling a data summary could be within the ethical boundaries. However, Payless must include a disclaimer or an initial note while users join their page stating that their data may be used for business analysis and improvement that may drive further revenue for the company. When we talk about ethics, it is advisable to be as transparent as possible with your audience and customers which will drive a long-term and a trustworthy relationship.
If Payless did not actually sell the data but instead shared it in exchange for a service such as mining of that data. Like selling, the shared use of the data in exchange includes a consideration in return and involves getting a service in return for something. Secondly, it exposes the data to a 3rd party without the prior knowledge of the user and if the company does it, it must ensure that the personal information is filtered out before any such action is taken. Subsection 5(3) of PIPEDA (The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) contains an over-arching requirement under the Act that cannot be waived by consent or any other exception it requires organizations to collect, use, and disclose personal information "only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider are appropriate in the circumstances." Kerr, Ian, Carole Lucock, and Valerie M. Steeves. Lessons from the Identity Trail, edited by Ian Kerr, et al., Oxford University Press, USA, 2009. ProQuest Ebook Central.
If Payless agreed to maintain the privacy of the customer not to be shared to other individual or third party then Payless, enter an ethical violation of the agreement if the data was aggregated or stripped of. If Payless did not actually sell the data but instead shared it in an exchange for a service, then also its a violation of the agreement between the company and the customer. At the end of the day this situation is ethically more acceptable if Payless provided they have informed customers that they are using the data to improve service offered to them. In such a situation, it could be a win-win situation for both parties assuming data security and confidentiality is maintained well.
Compare to competitors like Clarks, Woodland etc. Payless shoesoruce wisely use their online media for offers and promotions. Social media campaigns are run by special marketing teams and they analyze the effectiveness in every segment. Liquidation offers, new launch offers are communicated via short adv. across social media. Customer feedback, new employment opportunities are also managed /publish via social media sites. The SWOT analysis of social media that provides relevant information to Payless shoesource is as follows; Strengths are the company understanding what exactly their users need and user experience is excellent and billions of active users had connected. Weaknesses are customization features which are not there and user privacy is not there and very weak in handling user information. Opportunities is the company adding more resources for getting more revenues and expansion to other countries for open marketplace. Threats are increasing number of mobile internet users and weak business model and privacy issues.