Expansion of Consumer Products Inc.

Introduction

There was a recent conversation with CPI's Chief Financial Officer on expanding the company within the U.S. This discussion included different opportunities, what it would take for the company as well as the employees to make this endeavor successful, hurdles we would face as a company, the different retailers we would propose our products to, who our target market(s) would be, as well as the economic and financial considerations of this expansion. This paper will address this discussion and everything it entails (Colorado Technical University Online, 2012).

Expansion of Consumer Products Inc. (CPI)

Opportunities

Consumer Products Incorporated (CPI) has reservations about expanding throughout the U.S. with our products; with good intentions. Our company is a reputable one and has been for the last 50 years; successfully (Colorado Technical University Online, 2012). But in order for us to thrive in today's economy, we need to expand. Thus, we will need to utilize our managerial economics skills. According to Keat and Young (2009; p.2), managerial economics is "the use of economic analysis to make business decisions involving the best use of an organization's scarce resources". What this means is we need to research within the U.S. how citizens shop, where they shop the most, who buys our products the most, and use this to incorporate our expansion ideas, and organizational and business decision making skills in order to successfully expand our company.

With the proposed expansion, there will be new opportunities that will become available for CPI as a whole as well as our employees; bigger ones for our current employees, great ones for our new employees, and more market value for our company as well as more target markets. We already sell products that appease to women and men baby boomers. This expansion would open up a world of opportunities for us. One opportunity would be partnering with major stores; such as Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Walgreens. This would be a major economic boost for CPI. Not only would partnering with these major stores be a big opportunity, but branching out to less developed cities would be as well. But what would it take in order for us to successfully do this? That is explained in the following discussion.

What It Would Take For the Company As Well As the Employees to Make This Endeavor Successful

We all know we need to invest money in order to make money, but in order to make money we need to make a brand for ourselves. Our brands as of now are Shades of Youth, Super Clean, and Super White. Just imagine us selling our products in other retail stores. But there are things that need to be done first and foremost. According to Virtual Advisor (2009), there are 10 important steps to take in order to have a successful expansion; however, CPI only needs to worry about 7 of them. They are as follows:

Identify Potential Markets

Do Your Research

Niche Markets

Begin With Limited Offerings

Ramp Up to Full Offerings

Expanding Promotions

Monitoring Success

Our market is baby boomers; those who are retired and wanting to stay young-looking-which is our niche market. Many of them live in retirement communities and states; such as Florida and Arizona. So, the best places for us to expand are the ones where retirees live; this is found out by doing our research. We know we cannot go off halfcocked in our expansion, so we will need to take it slow and take one step at a time. We need to expand one state, or region, at a time; this is what is meant by begin with limited offerings. Once we have made a name for ourselves and our products in this area, we can go further.

We can then ramp up to full offerings; which could include more manufacturing venues. With the profits and success we will have from this expansion, we will be able to promote our products more and better. We could add some of our coupons in the weekly newspaper or coupon book. We could start placing ads on the television and radio. All the while this is going on we would need to monitor our success; which could be done by surveys, comment cards in the store, our website, etc... With everything that has to happen in order for our expansion to be successful, the employees will have a hand in it as well (Virtual Advisor, 2009).

The employees will be the ones conducting the surveys; whether on the phone or by mail. They will also be the ones collecting all of the information and deciding how well our company has done in the market; as well as find out what it is our customers want and what needs to be done or changed in order to make our products, service, or company better. If the company and the employees keep a continued communication and relationship going in this direction, this endeavor will succeed; and be able to increase into other areas as well.

Hurdles We Would Face As a Company

While there are opportunities and feats we may accomplish and overcome, there are hurdles and obstacles we will face as well. Some will be minor and small, but some will be major and big. Some of these hurdles, according to My Own Business (2012) consist of "uncontrolled