Big Skinny Wallet Case

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Online Marketing at The Big Skinny |

IT Management, Monday 7:15 – 9:45 |

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Esther Kim |

9/22/2014 |

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Nature of Situation

The Big Skinny specialized in manufacturing small, thin, durable wallets for both men and women. The company had increased business and sales through more traditional marketing methods such as word-of-mouth and print advertising, but Kiril Alexandrov, the founder and CEO, wanted to explore different online marketing strategies and establishing an online presence to help propel sales even further. The main reason why he wanted to rethink his online marketing strategy was because Catherine Alexandrov, his wife and marketing director, had informed him that although they had sold 4,000 wallets through their online store, a glitch in the promotion made it so that most of the wallets were being given away for free.

The Big Skinny wallets were normally sold at street fairs and in stores, but online sales were proving to be more difficult, which was another reason why Kiril wanted to explore his options for increasing online marketing and the company’s online presence.

Problem

From a business perspective, Kiril wanted to increase The Big Skinny’s online marketing presence, but did not know which alternative would be the best in terms of increasing sales and ROI (return on investment).

From a technological perspective, there were different limitations and risks involved with the alternatives, and they would need to be considered carefully and factored into the decision making process of choosing the best alternative for The Big Skinny.

Solutions

Draw New Customers through Search Engines:

The first solution is to increase sales and business by attracting new customers through the use of advertising through search engines. This solution had two different options for Kiril to consider. The first option was an algorithmic search method, where the company could try to attract customers by appearing as one of the top...