Contents

Group Case Study

Assignment
Yankee.ie

II

Contents

Contents
1

Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 The Macro-Environment analysis: SLEPT or PESTEL ...................................... 1
1.1.1 Social ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1.2 Legal and ethical ........................................................................................... 1
1.1.3 Economic ...................................................................................................... 2
1.1.4 Political ......................................................................................................... 3
1.2 The Micro-Environment analysis: Porter five forces .......................................... 3
1.2.1 Power of suppliers ........................................................................................ 3
1.2.2 Bargaining powers of customers................................................................... 3
1.2.3 Threat of substitutes ...................................................................................... 4
1.2.4 Threats of new entrants ................................................................................. 4
1.2.5 Extent of rivalry between competitors .......................................................... 4

The Marketing Mix.................................................................................................... 5

2.1

Product ................................................................................................................. 5

2.2

Price ..................................................................................................................... 6

2.3

Place .................................................................................................................... 6

2.4

Promotion ............................................................................................................ 6

2.5

People .................................................................................................................. 8

2.6

Physical evidence ................................................................................................ 8

2.7

Process ................................................................................................................. 9

Recommendation and Future Outlook..................................................................... 10

3.1 SWOT analysis .................................................................................................. 10
3.1.1 Mobile App ................................................................................................. 11
3.1.2 YouTube ..................................................................................................... 12

Appendices .............................................................................................................. 13

References ............................................................................................................... 15

III

1 Analysis

1 Analysis
1.1 The Macro-Environment analysis: SLEPT or PESTEL
1.1.1 Social
In 2013, 54,10% (2,583,806) of the Irish population was between 25 and 64 years old.
The median age was 35.1 years for male and 35.8 years for female. The population
growth rate was 1.16 %. 1
According to a study made by Eurostat in 2013, 82% of Irish households have access to
the Internet, which is used of 62% of the population every day.2
1.1.2

Legal and ethical

In Ireland, both Irish and European laws protect consumers rights. Those laws try to
ensure minimum information about the price and the quality of a product or a service
before buying it. The Sale of Goods and Supply of Service Act, 1980, protect the
consumer contracts. The Consumer Protection Act 2007 protects consumers from false
or misleading claim about goods. 3
The European directive about online business (2000/31/CE)4 rules online commerce.
Companies have to provide the consumers with a lot of information like name, address,
email address and company registration number.
The Distance selling Directive (Directive 97/7/EC) protects the consumers from online
fraud. Consumers have the right to change their mind, to have clear information, to ask
to refund for delayed or non-delivery as well as to redress in case of faulty goods. The
sale of Goods and Associated Guarantees Directive 99/44/EC assures that the goods are
in conformity with the contract of sale. 5

Cf. CIA World Factbook

Cf. Urhausen 2013, S. 1
3
Cf. National Consumer Agency
4
Cf. Official Journal of the European Communities
5
Cf. European Consumer Centre Ireland
2

1 Analysis

1.1.3

Economic

The unemployment rate dropped from 12.4% in December 2013 to 12.3% in January
2014.

Figure 1 Ireland unemployment rate, percentage of the labour force 6

In 2013 the Irish GDP rate was 1.5%, 0.50% higher than in 2012.

Figure 2 Ireland GDP growth rate 7

During the second semester of 2013, Irish consumers have spent 21 EUR million more
money than during the first semester. 8

Cf. Trading Economics

Cf. Trading Economics
8
Cf. Trading Economics
7

1 Analysis

Ireland business confidence is 14% higher in the fourth quarter of 2013 than in the third.
This is a helpful tool to anticipate the future consumption.

Figure 3 Ireland business confidence

1.1.4

Political

The ministry for jobs, enterprise and innovation launched on Friday, 31 May 2013, a
175 million Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2013-2018. 10 The idea of the plan is
to help Irish companies to create export sales and to generate jobs.

1.2
1.2.1

The Micro-Environment analysis: Porter five forces

Power of suppliers

Candles are composed by wax, a wick and for some of them of a glass jar. Yankee
needs several suppliers to produce those parts of the candles. The row materials used for
the candles are not subject to high increases of their prices. Therefore suppliers have
limited power over Yankee.ie.
1.2.2

Bargaining powers of customers

The power of the consumers is higher than ever before. Consumers can both, visit
online and offline stores, to compare the products and the prices. They can try and smell
the candles in the offline stores and buy it on the website, if it is less expensive.
9

Cf. Trading Economics

Cf. Eileen Banks

10

1 Analysis

Moreover consumer can easily compare the Yankee candles with candles from the
competitors.
1.2.3

Threat of substitutes

If the threat of substitutes has significantly increased online for some products as books
or films, it is not really the case for candles. No digital technology is able to replace the
smell or the light of a Yankee Candle yet. The substitutes might be lamps, perfume
diffuser etc.
1.2.4

Threats of new entrants

Thanks to Internet, there are less and less barriers to entry. Companies do not need
physical stores to sell physical products.
1.2.5 Extent of rivalry between competitors
While searching for Candles on Google.ie, Yankee.ie is the first result of the list. The
second company is Thecandleshop.id. The following are Amazon.co.uk, Ikea.com,
Candlesonline.ie, Torccandles.com, Keepsakecandles.ie and Kerrycandle.ie.

2 The Marketing Mix

2 The Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is a helpful tool to plan a marketing strategy as it gives a checklist of
decisions and points, marketers must beware. The 7Ps of the marketing mix, Product,
Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical evidence and Process serve to concrete
implement a companys marketing approach (see figure 4 of the appendix).
In the following section, the digital marketing strategies of Yankee.ie shall be analysed
and assessed with the help of the 7Ps marketing mix framework. This includes the
companys steps while handling the key challenges of an increasing digital
environment. Digital marketing can be defined as: Achieving marketing objectives
through applying digital technologies.11

2.1 Product
The first P Product is all about adding value to the customer in order to give them the
experience of Yankee Candle products. In the wide range of candles and accessories,
customer can order products in various colours and sizes. Apart to the traditional
candles, Yankee.ie also offers car fragrances as well as wedding and other event
favours.
The website enables free delivery of their products with orders over 39 in 2012 and 49
in 2014. The charges for European delivery service are dependent on the destination
area and starts with charges from 9.95 . The returns policy so called no quibbles
guarantee allows the consumer, to return the product within 30 days if he isnt satisfied.
Defective Items can also be returned to Yankee.ie.
To generate digital value to the customer, Yankee.ie focused primarily on immediacy,
interactivity and faster delivery for the customer, who buys online. Furthermore, the
visitor and potential buyer gets more information online, not only from Yankee.ie but
also from other clients experiences, which are listed under the field Testimonials. As
the shop of Yankee Candles isnt situated directly in Dublins city centre, the online
store provides a simple way for collecting information as well as buying products, not
only for Irish, but also for all European consumers.

11

Chaffey und Ellis-Chadwick 2012, S. 10

2 The Marketing Mix

2.2 Price
With a high price transparency, Yankee.ie publishes all of their prices including
delivery fees and product price-list on the website. Since buyer compares prices, the
company has decided to offer same prices in offline and online stores.12 Retail prices for
small jars are starting from 11.50, for medium jars from 21.50 and for large jars from
26.50. The promotional offers, weather online and offline are adjusted to each other to
maintain the uniform business model from Yankee Candles. In order to integrate new
pricing models, Yankee.ie uses the payment tool Realex payments to generate a
securely and easy payment for the customers.13

2.3 Place
In connection with the P Place, it should be mentioned, that the company currently
opened their fifths offline store in Killarney. The stores are open 7 days a week.
Of major significance for an effective digital strategy is the alignment to the companys
business strategy in the way of same initiatives, goals and priorities. Online and offline
stores, so called multi-channels for distribution, serve to enlarge the companys
awareness level to as many ideal customers as possible.14 There are the offline stores for
the traditional purchasing consumers, who prefer to go in a real store and having a
social interaction with the staff while looking for goods. On the other hand, the
opportunity to have a quick look on the online store to make a fast shopping, often
appeals the younger generation.
The company is responsible for a warm, inviting home and a personal relationship to
their customers.15 However the people favour to shop offline or online, Yankee Candles
are widely represented to be available for different groups of customers.

2.4 Promotion
While visiting Yankee.ie, the customer receives a coloured, user-friendly design which
operates self-descriptive (see figure 5 of the appendix). The navigation goes across the
12

Cf. Chaffey und Smith 2008, S. 65

Cf. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd
14
Cf. Chaffey und Smith 2008, S. 71
15
Cf. Yankee Candle Europe Ltd 2014
13

2 The Marketing Mix

top and left of the page and includes an interactive postcard banner, which presents new
season products and offers. The open search field, as well as the customers personal
account and shopping card, are placed at the upper right of all pages. The utility
variation, at the very bottom of the pages, constitutes the lower end. According to Jakob
Nielsen16, a user prefers to work with a page in the same way, as all the other sites he
already worked with. 17 The difficulty in this approach lies in the point, that companies
want their websites to be unique, to stick out of the mass. On the other hand,
standardized functions and a recognition factor are hugely important. Yankee.ie not
only infuses the norms of standardization, but also gets personalization with constantly
product and service updates. Moreover the customer can make evaluations in a live chat
on the webpage, or changes to Twitter and Facebook, where Yankee Candle is already
represented. To be eligible for a free newsletter of Yankee.ie, the visitor has to sign in
online with his email address and can therefore stay informed about new offers, events
and discount campaigns.
Yankee.ie entered into Facebook in March 2011 and has over 25.985 Likes, as well as
962 ratings.18 Besides their website, the company uses this social media to promote their
products and services in the same way, as it informs the customers about their shops and
opening hours. While analysing the page, it comes up that Yankee Candles posts weekly
newsletters, short stories as well as videos on their page to awake and hold the
customers interest. The target is to grow the audience online while appealing the crowd.
Yankee.ie is also well represented in Twitter, with over 99 Tweets and 176
followers.19
One way to build the customers loyalty is to reward them. Yankee.ie makes use of the
Yankee Points Loyalty scheme, which gives points to customers at each time they
purchase from the website. For 1 spent, the customer receives 1 point and is able to
exchange the minimum of 200 collected points for a 12 gift certificate.

16

web usability consultant born 1957 (five quality components of "Usability Goals")
Cf. Chaffey und Smith 2008, S. 259
18
Cf. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd
19
Cf. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd
17

2 The Marketing Mix

2.5 People
30 employees strive daily to improve the business of Yankee.ie, especially 3 of which
working on the online store. Twice a week, one person is in charge of doing Search
Engine Marketing (SEM) as well as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The need of
optimization arises from the constantly increasing competition for the companies to
present their products and services more easily, visible and frequently. In addition,
Yankee.ie replaces their banners on the website every 2-3 weeks to keep them up to
date.
On the other hand to import a digital marketing strategy, it is necessary to know exactly
who the audience is and how they use digital media. With the help of customer traffic
patterns and site usage, the company is able to improve the concepts of the stores to
create more value for the customer and respond to their demand. In this context, web
analytics software like Facebook insights and Google Analytics, are often used to get a
detailed overview about user performances on different websites.

2.6 Physical evidence

The signs of a serious website can quickly be recognized. First main characteristics are
a high quality design as well as an easy handling of the website. The terms &
conditions, the company registration number or the privacy policies are all integral parts
of the websites physical evidence. To provide reassurance, Yankee.ie uses the secure
payment tool Realex payments (see above) as well as it provides support via phone,
email or directly in store, not only for their customers, but also for anyones questions
about the Yankee Candles.
The customer value proposition needs to be internalized as well as communicated to the
customer.20 Therefore the company offers product back-up, the guarantee that an item
can always be exchanged if it no complies with the customers requirements. The
consumer can rely on the value of the candles, as well as on the service he will get
before, during and after the sale. Moreover he can check the comments of further
consumers directly on Yankee.ie, Facebook or Twitter.

20

Cf. Chaffey und Ellis-Chadwick 2012, S. 14

2 The Marketing Mix

Besides the price and the picture, a prospective customer gets a review of the selected
candle in terms of a maximum of five stars which can be scored for the product.
All of these points provide the visitors of Yankee.ie the impressions, of a comfortable
and secure variation to shop online. As a further cue for reassurance, Yankee.ie was a
finalist in the Retail Excellence Ireland award 2012 in the category website of the
year.21

2.7 Process
Contrary to the most popular policies for hybrid companies, Yankee.ie is specialised in
online sales. To generate availability of products the concern practices picking systems,
as well as it has separated stocks for online and offline products. This policy enables to
have 95% of the 800 items listed on their website in stock. Through Yankee.ie, the
customer can check availability and the exact number of the selected item in stock.
Unfortunately it is not possible to find out when a product will be available again if it is
out of stock.22
The default carrier for deliveries in Ireland is An Post with the advantages of the
drivers local knowledge. Cross border deliveries are handled by DPD, which enables
customers to track the location of their order all the way from ordering to delivery.
Orders are usually shipped within 24 hours to their customers. As a result of the web
server updating, Yankee.ie can now handle 20,000 orders in one day.

21
22

Cf. Retail Excellence Ireland 2013

Cf. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd

3 Recommendation and Future Outlook

3 Recommendation and Future Outlook

The business concept of Yankee Candle, selling premium priced candles and
accessories, is easy but successful. The reason is the specialisation in online sales as
well as their high motivated staff, picking-systems and separated stock to the stores.
Nevertheless the company must be further improved and developed to keep operating
effective in the competitive marketplace. The recommendations take place in the
opportunities part of the following SWOT analysis. Two main opportunities will be
described in more detail in 3.1.1 and 3.1.2.

3.1 SWOT analysis

Strengths
Peter Mc Auley : 20 years

Weaknesses
Underrepresented

in

experience in the gift and

different

social

media

online/offline retail trade

channels

like

social

Dedicated Yankee Candle site

publishing zones or social

Premier online retailer of

entertainment zones

Yankee Candle products &

Few

or

no

traditional,

accessories

2011: 1,2 million euros in

Excessive delivery fees

turnover. 1,6% of Yankee

No overview when out of

printed marketing

Candle European sales

stock candles will be

Website updated on a daily

available again

basis
-

The mixology (consumers can

create their own fragrance)

Opportunities
Population growth

Purchasing power growth

Entry in new digital markets

Threats
The barriers to enter the
market are low

Competitors

like

Dunnes

10

3 Recommendation and Future Outlook

and

social

networks

like

stores, Penney, Ikea also sell

candles cheaper candles

Flickr, Pinterest, YouTube,

LinkedIn, Google +

Increasing power and claims

Create an Mobile App

of customers as they have an

Making posts on different

extensive selection of online

platforms more frequent +

as well as offline shops

reply to individual comments

offering candles

on

Facebook

more

interaction with customer

3.1.1 Mobile App
One new tactic to entre in the zone of social blogging is to build a Mobile App of
Yankee.ie. Nearly every website has a separate mobile and tablet app to response to the
customer needs. These days consumers want to have it as simple as possible in the
way of purchasing new goods. According to the market research The state of the global
mobile consumer, 2013 of Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu Limited, more than 2 billion
smartphones and 300 tablets are expected to be in use globally by the end of 2013.

23

The potential is tremendous for implementing a Yankee.ie App, which is still available
from the American counterpart Yankeecandle.com.
To achieve a uniform public appearance and to increase the recognition value, the
mobile/tablet App should be work and look like the online store. The customer, who is
familiar with Yankee.ie, can handle the different steps from the first visit to the final
purchase easier. He would be able to have access from anywhere, even without a
computer. Besides the offerings, the consumer could get information about Yankee
Candles offline stores locations, as well as create his own account and wish list (see
figure 6 of the appendix).
In order to transfer these from theory to practice, the company has to take decisions
about their internal resources, responsibilities and personal skills.24 As in previous
challenges shown, Yankee.ie has the industry expertise and can draw on their digital
marketing experiences to develop independently a Yankee.ie App. To promptly
23
24

Cf. Calugar-Pop und Lee 2013, S. 3

Cf. Chaffey und Ellis-Chadwick 2012, S. 199

11

3 Recommendation and Future Outlook

establish the App, the company has to start as soon as possible with the developing and
the following marketing.
Following the introduction, it is of great importance for a successful market presence to
monitor the performance. This includes researches about how well the App is accepted
by the market, as well as how competitors react to them.
3.1.2 YouTube
Another tool to win additional customers is YouTube, according to Dave Chaffey, a
photo and video sharing platform which enables social streaming.25 Currently Yankee.ie
neither has uploaded videos, nor does it have its own individual channel. But especially
videos can give customers the feeling of a cosy atmosphere, which they will get with
Yankee candles.
The videos dont have to be in long length, as well as produced in a perfect high quality.
It is all about being present in different digital marketing platforms. Once again,
Yankee.ie can take another Yankee website as an example. Yankeecandle.co.uk has an
own channel with 228 followers and 20.084 views.26
Twice a week, Yankee.ie could give a quick overview about their new offers, events
and special sales campaigns in the form of short clips. This could be compiled from
pictures, customer interviews or short extracts from offline stores. Furthermore, new
product campaigns can be spread much faster, as YouTube is almost known all over the
world.
A number of features allow user to give a feedback, not only to each video, but also to
the candles in general. With direct connection to Facebook and Twitter, the videos can
be shared with other consumers and friends.
The success of an own Yankee.ie YouTube channel can be easy measured with the rise
in the number of followers.
This provides an ideal opportunity to develop a cheap and promisingly new digital
marketing strategy, as well as it generates new jobs.

25
26

Cf. Chaffey
Cf. yankee.co.uk

12

4 Appendices

4 Appendices

Figure 4 Keys aspects of the 7Ps of the classic marketing mix 27

Figure 5 Yankee.ie

27
28

28

Cf. Chaffey und Smith 2008, S. 51

Cf. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd

13

4 Appendices

Figure 6 Mobile App Yankeecandle.com

29

29

Cf. The Yankee Candle Company

14

5 References

5 References
Calugar-Pop, Cornelia; Lee, Paul (2013): The state of the global mobile consumer,
2013. Divergence deepens. Hg. v. Deloitte Touch Tohmatsu Limited.
Chaffey, Dave: Digital Marketing Radar. Hg. v. Smartinsights.com. Online verfgbar
unter
http://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Digital-MarketingRadar-SmartInsight-2010.png.
Chaffey, Dave; Ellis-Chadwick, Fiona (2012): Digital marketing.
implementation and practice. 5. Aufl. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Strategy,

Chaffey, Dave; Smith, P. R. (2008): eMarketing eXcellence. Planning and optimizing

your digital marketing. 3. Aufl. Amsterdam, London: Butterworth-Heinemann
(Emarketing essentials).
CIA World Factbook (Hg.): Ireland Demographics Profile 2013. Online verfgbar unter
www.indexmundi.com/ireland/demographics_profile.html.
Eileen Banks: New 175 million Government Seed and Venture Capital Scheme targets
high-growth Irish companies - Minister Bruton. Unter Mitarbeit von Enterprise and
Innovation.
Online
verfgbar
unter
www.enterpriseireland.com/en/news/pressreleases/2013-press-releases/new-%E2%82%AC175milliongovernment-seed-and-venture-capital-scheme-targets-high-growth-irish-companiesminister-bruton.html, zuletzt geprft am 23.02.2014.
European Consumer Centre Ireland (Hg.): Shopping Online. Online verfgbar unter
www.eccireland.ie/popular-consumer-topics/shopping-online/.
National Consumer Agency (Hg.): Your rights as a consumer in Ireland. Online
verfgbar
unter
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer_affairs/consumer_protection/consumer_rights
/consumers_and_the_law_in_ireland.html, zuletzt geprft am 23.02.2014.
Official Journal of the European Communities (Hg.): DIRECTIVE 2000/31/EC OF
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL. Online verfgbar unter
www.eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2000:178:0001:0016:EN:PDF,
zuletzt geprft am 23.02.2014.

15

5 References

Retail Excellence Ireland 2013. Hg. v. Retail Excellence Ireland 2013. Online verfgbar
unter http://www.retailexcellence.ie/, zuletzt geprft am 20.02.2014.
The Yankee Candle Company, Inc: Mobile App.
Trading Economics (Hg.). Online verfgbar unter www.tradingeconomics.com/ireland,
zuletzt geprft am 23.02.2014.
Unlimited Fragrances Ltd. Hg. v. Unlimited Fragrances Ltd. Online verfgbar unter
www.yankee.ie, zuletzt geprft am 10.02.2014.
Unlimited Fragrances Ltd. Hg. v. Facebook Inc. Online
www.facebook.com/yankeeireland, zuletzt geprft am 10.02.2014.

verfgbar

unter

Unlimited Fragrances Ltd. Hg. v. Inc Twitter. Online

www.twitter.com/yankeeireland, zuletzt geprft am 10.02.2014.

verfgbar

unter

Urhausen, Julia (2013): Internet access and use in 2013. Hg. v. Eurostat Press Office.
Online verfgbar unter http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STAT-13-199_en.htm,
zuletzt geprft am 23.02.2014.
Yankee
Candle
Europe
Ltd
(2014).
Online
verfgbar
www.yankeecandle.co.uk/en/uk/page/about, zuletzt aktualisiert am 11.02.2014.

unter

yankee.co.uk.
Hg.
v.
L.
L.C.
YouTube.
Online
verfgbar
www.youtube.com/user/yankeecandlesuk/about, zuletzt geprft am 21.02.2014.

unter

16