Jones Blair Case 1

JONES BLAIR COMPANY

1. How might one characterize the architectural paint coatings industry and Jones Blair’s trade area? Is paint a durable or non-durable good? What are the implications of being a durable or non-durable good? Is it a new, growing, or mature industry? Why? How is competition? Where is it coming from? What is happening with pant companies? How do companies compete? Do they use product differentiation, price, and/or service differentiation?

One may characterize the architectural paint industry and Jones Blair’s trade area as a very narrow market, with little yet stiff competition. Paint is a durable good, meaning that once purchased it will last for a long while, and therefore will not be purchased often. For the consumer this is great because it is a purchase you don’t have to make very often. However, for the organization selling the paint, it’s obviously not so good!

The Paint industry seems to be a mature industry that has already undergone from a lot of competition and over time shrunken down to only a few strong national competitors and a few localized ones. The competition for Jones Blair’s organization is low-end discount paint used by contractors, or high-end nationally recognized brands like Sherwin Williams. These companies compete in regional areas based on the agreements they have with their distributers. Sherwin Williams is sold in Sears, whilst Home-depot and Lowes have their own brands.

Smaller stores i.e. lumber and paint supplies stores also compete. And there are a few different consumers of the paint. You have you contractors; industrial applications, OEM applications, and the growing do it yourselfers.

The products differentiate themselves by quality and price. Most do it yourselfers prefer high quality, long lasting paint. Contractors on the other hand, prefer inexpensive paint because of cost effectiveness on a large scale.

2. How might the Jones Blair market area be characterized? Is it following the same...