Online stationery retailers cross country analysis

MSC. INTERNATIONAL STRATEGIC MARKETING

INTERNATIONAL BRAND
MANAGEMENT
1104444s

Word count: 2743

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The study is about observing different aspects of online office supplies retailers. The objective of
the study was to analyse these brand from different perspective. Discussing their brand
architecture and analysing the brands in terms of theirsymbol, product and person, finding out
key points of parities and differences among them. The study also includes at the end some
recommendations for the brand with regards to improving their brand image in their markets.

Brand from different countries have been chosen for this study. The key idea behind this was to
identify the difference and similarities among the brand management styles in different countries
and markets. After observing these brands, their positioning strategies and other elements, some
key finding s have been made in terms of the ways different brand from the same industry, are
been perceived differently in different markets. Their brand management traditions and
communication plans differ according to the market in which they are operating.

Brand elements like their personality, their symbols and brands as product were studied. Findings
have been made regarding the ways a brand can be personified in different cultural
environments. Elements like country of origin, heritage background, recall-ability, protectable
etc. were found out to be important for a brand and how they are relate to the functioning of the
brand within its segmented market.

Online brand management gets really tough since it’s really difficult to target your strategies
specifically to you targeted group in the market, due to the extended reach of the web. Thus it
gets really important for a brand to present itself in a way that it sends a clear message and
image to the right segment of the market. The scope of the industry of online office supplies is
really wide and therefore it gets really difficult for a retailer without any physical store, to target
the right group it wants to serve.

In the end, it’s really important in today’s scenario to use the user generated content in a positive
way for a brand. It adds to the credibility of the brand. Using testimonials and customer reviews
on the website is really helpful and this was seen missing from these websites. That may be
because of the size of these brands. But to be competitive, it’s really necessary to bring people
together who are your supporters or are happy with you. That’s a really important aspect for a
brand management strategy.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................................................ 1
Selection of Retailers ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
Caboodle.co.uk ........................................................................................................................................................... 5
Brand Architecture ................................................................................................................................................. 6
Caboodle as Symbol…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8

Caboodle as Product………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9

Caboodle as Person………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….11

Huntoffice.ie ............................................................................................................................................................. 13
Brand Architecture ................................................................................................................................................... 13
Huntoffice as Symbol……………….………………………………………………………………………………………………16

Huntoffice as Product………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17

Huntoffice as Person………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..19

Officecart.in .............................................................................................................................................................. 20
Brand Architecture ............................................................................................................................................... 20
Officecart as Symbol………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..22

Officecart as Product………………………………………………………………………………………………………………23

Officecart as Person…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………24

Comoffice.com .......................................................................................................................................................... 26
Brand Architecture ............................................................................................................................................... 26
Comoffice as Symbol………………………………………………………………………………………………………………28

Comoffice as Product………………………………………………………………………………………………………………28

Comoffice as Person………………………………………………………………………………………………………………30

Positioning Comparison……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….31

Recommendations & Feedback……………………………..…………………………………………………………………….34

References…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………35

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SELECTION OF RETAILERS:

The retailers chosen within the office supply industry are from different regions around the globe.
Retailers and their country of operation are as follows:

1. www.caboodle.co.uk- United Kingdom
2. www.officecart.in- India
3. www.huntoffice.ie- Ireland
4. www.comofffice.com- Singapore

The key idea behind choosing retailers from different countries is to analyse the different brand elements
within these markets. Some key factors considered while selecting retailer from with different markets,
have been listed below:

- Scale of Operations- Retailers have been chosen on the basis that they serve customers within
their national boundaries only. Thus, Huntoffice from Ireland delivers within Ireland only. This
notion is same for rest of the three brands as well.
- Customer Reception- Unique number of visitors received by a brand’s website have been used as a
criteria as well. Instead of choosing brands receiving a similar range of unique visits in a day,
brands with unique visits different from each other were chosen. Hypestat.com, a website
analytics and statistics portal was referred to analyse brands. Results for the chosen brands were
as follows:
o Caboodle.co.uk – 1224
o Officecart.in- 658
o Huntoffice.ie- 885
o Comoffice.com- 197
The objective behind this strategy was to study online retailers with different scale of clientele and
brand awareness.
- Product Offering- Retailers have been chosen dealing in almost same type and range of product
offerings. However, there may be some unique set of products offered specific to a retailer,
depending on its demand within the operating country.

The key objective of proceeding with retailers from different countries is to figure out different brand
features and elements in their markets, draw comparison among different brand elements for the
retailers, and provide recommendation to retailers to adapt successful strategies used by a retailer in a
different country.

4

CABOODLE.CO.UK
ABOUT:

Caboodle is an online supplier of office supplies and printer consumable. The company operates from
Sheffield in United Kingdom. The online supplier offers a completely a fresh approach towards ordering
office supplies online and promising next day delivery, that even without any extra charge. It has a wide
range of products offered on the website which are listed in the upcoming sections.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE:

Caboodle has a product portfolio that includes many famous brands in categories like printers,
stationeries, printer useable like cartridges and toners, a range of products categorised as ‘Green Office’
referring to the environment friendly nature of these products, etc. It follows a multibrand products
brand strategy by offering different popular brands. The online retailer has endorsed brand architecture
as it endorsed many different brands through its own brand name.

What are we?
Caboodle’s competitive strength lies in the wide range of over 12000 office supplies and printer useable;
a promise of next day free of charge delivery and an on service helpdesk always available to assist the
consumer.

What do we do?
Caboodle provides online solution to consumers whether they are home-based or corporations with their
need of office supplies. Caboodle also offers green office supplies which are eco-friendly. The online
retailer provides a service to deliver the products the next day if the order is made within the stipulated
time period.

How do we do it?
The online retailer have a vast knowledge of the office supplies range, it completely works online without
having any physical retail outlet; which helps the retailer to focus completely on the orders received
online. It follows a set process to confirm the next day delivery. Orders received are cross-verified on daily
basis at a set time of 4pm every day. Successfully verified orders are then processed further to ensure
that they get delivered the very next day.

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Who are we?
Caboodle strives for providing customers with a hassle free online buying experience every time they buy
office supplies. It is focused towards providing consumer value by providing free next day delivery,
discount offers and market leading prices to consumers.
It also has been involved in providing sponsorships to the local sporting teams and providing vouchers.

Why do we do it?
The company’s mission is to help the customer find the right item for their office by offering a huge range
of office supplies and an extremely friendly shopping experience. The extensive range of over 12000
items offered, at a market leading price, to meet the dynamic needs of working class,and the friendly
buying experience inspires the customer to come back to the website.

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO:

Product Category
Office Supplies Ink Postal Technology Facilities Green Office
Cartridges Supplies
P + Laser
R Toners
O Accountancy Brother Envelops Audio + Catering Fairtrade
D Visual
U Business Books BT Mail Boxes Barcode Cleaning + Green
C + Cartons Scanner/Pri Janitors Cleaning
T nters
S Business Cases Canon Mailing Batteries + Fans + Green Filing
Pouches Chargers Heaters
Computer Citizen Packaging Binding Health + Green Labels
Cleaning Safety
P Desktop Dell Postal Cables + Security Green Papers
R Accessories Scales Adapters Equipment
O Desktop Digital Postal Calculators Green Postal
D Stationery Storage + Supplies
U Accessories
C Diaries + Epson Postal Tags Cash Green Signs
T Calendars + Labels Security
S Ergonomics HP Postal Tape Computer Green
Dispensers Accessories Stationery
Filing + Archive IBM Postal Computer Green Storage
Tubes Componen
ts
Labels Infotec Stamps + Computer Green Writing

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Inks Media
P Notebooks + Kodak Tagging Computer
R Pads Guns Networking
O Paper Konica Trolleys Photo
D Minolta Frames
U Post-In Notes Kyocera Twine + Extension
C String Leeds
T Presentation + Lanier Fax
S Conference Machines
Writing + Lexmark Label
Correction Making
Mita Lamination
Murata Printers
Newbury Scanners
Data
Oce Servers
OKI Shredding
Olivetti Software
Panasonic Telephone
+
Accessories
Philips Typewriter
s
Pitney Warranty
Bowes Services
Printronix
Ricoh
Sagem
Samsung
Sharp
Star
Tally
Genicom
Toshiba
Xerox

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Brand Essence:

Personality Caboodle is perceived as a key member of an office staff since the
brand is devoted towards providing world class solution to
consumers in terms of office supplies

Source The retailer thrives to achieve this image by offering extensive range
of branded office supplies with great deal of discounts and fastest
delivery in the industry

Difference Fastest delivery of products that makes the brand different from its
competitors

Functions It ensures fastest delivery by verification of orders on daily basis and
collaborating with UPS, leading logistic company in United Kingdom

CABOODLE AS SYMBOL:

For Caboodle, its brand name and the presentation of its website are the key symbols for it. The online
retailer uses its brand name “Caboodle” as one of its prime symbol. Caboodle means “a pack” or “a lot”.
Thus resembling with the range of products the website offers and the way its customers usually have
their requirement, i.e., in sets or packs.

Caboodle’s logo is the brand name only, i.e., caboodle, with a tagline “for all your office need”.The logo
uses number of colours as background and a very easy going font style, not sending a very professional
image. The website uses a combination of colours which is consistent with the colours used in the logo.

The key symbolising points for caboodle are the use of brand name and the combination of colours used
with the logo and on the website. They key features of caboodle’s symbol elements are discussed below:

CRITERIA BRAND
Logo

Colors Used The brand has used some really bright and live colors. These are
Green, blue, yellow, pink, purple. All of these colors have some
positive vibes attached to them some of them are of being fresh,
dignity, trust, faithfulness, etc.
Adaptability The brand name is easy to adapt to a family range

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Distinctiveness The logo does not use a very formal font style. Its creative and
depicts an innovative personality of the brand
Easily Recognizable The use of combination of bright and positive colors makes it easily
recognizable.
Protected The logo is a registered trademark by caboodle.co.uk
Familiar Though the brand name is quite unique. The tagline makes it
familiar to the product category. It relates the brand name with a
supplier of complete range of office needs
Positive Feelings Brand as a whole evokes positive feelings. The effective use of
colors and font style provides a fresh image of the brand.

Caboodle as Product:

Caboodle as a product is a combination of different elements. It’s an online portal to search products
related to office supply category. The friendly experience of shopping at caboodle is also a product
feature. The promise made by the brand to make a next day delivery is a positive feeling for a consumer.
The support service of the company makes the personal element of the service. Also, the delivery of
goods within the promised time slots works towards the physical feature of the brand.

LEVELS OF PRODUCT:

The core product of Embodied product It would be the next
caboodle would be would be the geeky day delivery service
the extensive range knowledge of the and the service to
of office supplies to brand about the return the products if
choose from office supply product any problem found.
EmbodiedProduct
Core Product

Augmented Product

line. Customers can Market leading
be benefited with this price, assurance of
knowledge in secure payments and
choosing the right transactions are also
product for right some of the
office augmented products
offered by caboodle.
Order tracking service
would also be an
augmented product

9

A SERVICE PERSPECTIVE:

Being an online retailer, without any physical retail outlet creates an image of a service for the online retailer. This
perspective inspires an analysis of the brand using 7 P’s of the marketing mix for services:

Marketing P’s for Services Caboodle
PRODUCT Caboodle deals with supplying online office
supply items
PRICE Due to regular discounts and special offers, it
provides a market leading price
PLACE The brand operates within United Kingdom
PROMOTION Caboodle has a well maintained website. It is
associated with sponsoring social events as well.
The blogs are also source of promotion for the
company with latest updates and
announcements been made there.
PEOPLE The customer service team of the company bring
the personals factor for the online supplier
PROCESS It has set processes to deliver its promises. The
process of verification of orders been followed
on daily basis. Similarly, set processes and
guidelines are there for returning goods as well.
PHYSICAL LAYOUT Company has a head office in Sheffield.

As discussed above, the online supplier carries aspects of both of a product and a service as well. Thus it has
features of both the category segments. Being an online retailer, the website of the brand works as the package of
its products. A consumers comes into the engagement with the package first and then the actual product. The
overall package of the brand caboodle is analysed below using an existing VIEW model:

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•The website is high on pageranks
•Easily searchable using the brand name
•Product categorisation done properly
VISIBILITY •good use of color combinations been done

•Extensive range of office supplies avaialble online. the product information and information about discounts and
special offers present there.
INFORMATION •blogs are also been used to share announcements about the brand charity activities and sponsored events.

•the charity work by the brand presented in blogs tries to establish an emotional bonding with potential customers
EMOTIONAL •also, offering eco-friendly supplies may triggers the emotional aspects of nature friendly peple
APPEAL

•the website is successfull upto a certian level. because of it s limite reach their is a need to be present on other social
media as well. this is one point where the brand is lacking right now.
WORKABILITY

CABOODLE AS PERSON:

The personality of any brand is strongly associated with the personality of people associated with it.
Caboodle has majority of its audience from the young men from the age range of 25-34 (Alexa, 2012).
The majority of audience that caboodle serve is quite young and active. The brand also maintains the
personality of a lively and fresh person. Even after being in a professional industry, the brand does not
present itself as a formal thinker. But it tries to cope up with the dynamics of today’s young corporates.

BRAND PERSONIFICATION ELEMENTS:

ELEMENT CABOODLE
GENDER Male
SOCIAL CLASS Upper-Middle class
VALUES To excel in whatever it do
NATIONALITY European
NETWORKS - This person has lots of friends and a
loving family.
- The strive for excel has brought few
enemies as well

HERITAGE The brand does not have a very powerful heritage

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background. It is more of a self-made man
DREAMS To provide world class products to customers, keep
them satisfied and happy.

DIMENSIONS OF BRAND PERSONALITY

Different aspects of the brand Caboodle can be identified from its website. These aspects can be
presented in the following manner:

Goal oriented
• caboodle as a person has
a clear goal in his mind
Creative what he wants to achieve
and how he would be
• he is not the conventional doing that
working person. he like to
think differently and
present himself in a
creative manner
Young Male
• this is quite eveident by the
• caboodle is a male way it manages the website
• the brand is relatively young.
Somehwere in his early 30s
-

Self Made
• He is a person who has
done hard work, is
knowledgable and has
been made by his own
efforts
-

12

Huntoffice.ie

ABOUT:

Hunt office is an online supplier of office items operating in Ireland. The retailer has over 20,000 office
products range to be offered under its belt. The retailer delivers only in Ireland. The website is committed
towards offering the lowest prices in the market and offers updated prices to customers on daily basis
which are checked against 20 competitor’s prices. The website has majority of its traffic of age range from
45-65 male, who browse the website mostly from their office. The website has a 91.4% reception of
internet surfers from Ireland only (Alexa, 2012).

BRAND ARCHITECTURE:

Huntoffice has an extended product portfolio which includes branded office furniture and breaktime
equipment as well apart from the regular office supplies, stationeries and printer consumables.
Huntoffice also has the endorsed brand architecture which seems to be common in this kind of business
model. The website has number of branded products under its own brand name. thus, the retailer
provides further marketing to them.

What are we?
Huntoffice is an online retailer of office supplies in Ireland. Its competitive strength resides in the huge
range of over 20000 products that it provides from a single portal. Also, it promises customers for the
same day dispatch policy followed by them.

What do we do?
Huntoffice brings a huge amount of office products together at a single platform. They provide products
for every single operation in an office. Products ranging from stationeries to health & security are being
supplied by the retailer.

How do we do it?
Huntoffice through its state of the art website, allows customers to surf through the wide range of
product offerings. It offers safe and secure online shopping and payments. It also provides a personal
interaction through its service team.

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Who are we?
Huntoffice is a 100% Irish owned company. The brand is dedicated citizen of the country. All profts of the
company gets reinvested in Ireland only.

Why do we do it?
The website is inclined towards making the process of comparing prices and shopping for office supplies
online, much easier for customers. It also provides assistance in managing office stock and ordering at the
right time.

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO:

Product Category
Ink & Paper Office Technol Machi Breakti Post & Clea Health Furnit
Toner Supplies ogy nes & me Packing ning & ure
Printe Security
rs
Broth Multifun Basic iPads& Office Drinks Packagin Toile Safes Office
P er ctional Office Tablet Printer & g t Chairs
Paper Supplies PCs s Snacks Supplies Paper
R ,
Tissu
O es &
Towe
ls
D Canno Laser Desk Laptops Office Canteen Address Soap Safety Filing
n paper Accesso & Shredd Equipm Labels & Signs Cabinet
U ries Noteboo ers ent Tissu
ks e
Disp
C enser
Dell Inkjet Office Camera Label Cutlery Business Hand First Aid Office
T paper labels & Printer & Envelops wash Desk
Camcord & Tablewa
er Suppli re
S es
Epson Copier Writing TV, Lamin Postage Bathr Fire Desk
Paper & Audio & ators Supplies oom Extingui Pedesta
Correcti DVD & Clea shers ls
on Suppli ning
es
Genic Recycled Noteboo Sat Nav Copier Mailroo Floor Snickers Home
om Paper ks & & m Clea Work office
Notepad Scanne Furniture ning Wear Furnitur
s rs e
HP Coloured Filing & Compute Bindin Suggesti Bins Workwe Office
Paper Archive r Storage g on Boxes Refu ar& Cupboa
Media Machi & Post se Protecti rds
nes Boxes ve

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&Supp Clothing
lies
P IBM Photo Account Laptop Cash Hand Wash Tools & Screens
R Paper ing& Bags & Regist Carts & ing DIY &
Analysis Luggage ers & Trucks up Partitio
O Books Suppli ns
es
Kodak Premium Business Calculato Paper Cutting Surfa CCTV Bookca
D Paper Books & r Cluster Knives ce ses
Forms Accessor s& & Blades Clea
U ies Trimm ners
ers
Konic Listing Presenta Batteries Teleph Wash Counterf Canteen
C a Paper tion & one ing eit &
Minol Equipme Chargers Electri Powd Detector Bistro
T ta nt & city er s Furnitur
Supplies Typew e
riters
S Kyoce Carbonle Maps, Digital Dictap Clea Security Office
ra ss Paper Atlases Photo hone ning and Furnish
& Frames & Cloth Safety ings
Dictiona Access es Mirrors
ries ories
Lexm Specialty Drawing Universal Disp Security Steel
ark Paper & Boards Charger osabl Locks Cupboa
Card & Aids & Power e rds &
Adapters Glov Shelvin
es g
Murat Plotter Legal Compute Disp Alarms Lockers
ec Paper Stationer r osabl
y Software e
Supplies Apro
ns
OKI Blank Pink Compute Air Clock in School
Business Office r Fresh Systems Furnitur
Cards Supplies Networki eners e
ng
Olivet Certificat CD DVD Com Torches
ti e Paper Storage puter
& Clea
Covers ning
Prod
ucts
Panas Iron Electricit Pest De-icing
onic Transfer y Contr Products
Monitors ol
& Prod
Accessor ucts
ies
Philip
s
Pitney
Bowe
s

15

RICO
H
SAGE
M
SAM
SUN
G
SHAR
P
TALL
Y
Xerox

Brand Essence:

Personality Huntoffice is perceived to be a mature citizen of the country motivated
towards providing world class services to its customers

Source The retailer thrives to achieve this image by offering extended range of
branded office supplies with lowest prices and fastest dispatch in the
industry

Difference Fastest dispatch of products that makes the brand different from its
competitors

Functions It ensures same day dispatch by verification of orders on daily basis and
collaborating with leading logistic company in Ireland

HUNTOFFICE AS SYMBOL:

Key symbol elements for Huntoffice would be the use of blue and green color on its website. Not using
much different color or logos, the brand’s website is dominated by these two colors. the name of the
website has been modified a little to form the logo for the brand. The logo also has the tagline “Where
Ireland Buys Supplies”

The key symbolising points for Huntoffice are the use of green and blue colorand the modified website
name. They key features of caboodle’s symbol elements are discussed below:

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CRITERIA BRAND
Logo

Colors Used The brand has used blue and green as the dominating colors win
their logo as well as the website
Adaptability The brand name is easy to adapt to a product family range. Though
sounds an outdated one.
Distinctiveness The brand uses the country specific extension in its logo
Easily Recognizable The brand is easily recognizable
Protected The logo is a registered trademark by Huntoffice.ie
Familiar The brand name is familiar more in its country of origin
Positive Feelings Brand as a whole has a very blant presentation. The use of colors
and placements of logos is not very attractive

Huntoffice as Product:

Huntoffice as a product is more of an experience for a customer to be dealing with one of the premium
office supplier online. The brand has on offering of over 20000 products. In terms of physical goods, the
brand provides has am extended product portfolio. It promises same day dispatch If order made within
the time slot conditions. The sales and service team of the retailer creates the personal aspect of the
online service.

LEVELS OF PRODUCT:

The core product of Huntoffice provide its The same day
Huntoffice would be customers an option dispatch
the extensive range to compare its prices service, choice of
of office supplies to with that of its payment options, 3D
choose from competitors. The encryption to use
Core Product

Embodied Product

Augmented Product

website update its credit cards would be
prices on daily basis the augmented
to provide an up to product it offers
date comparison to
the customer

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7P’s analysis of service marketing for Huntoffice.ie is as follows:

Marketing P’s for Services HUNTOFFICE
PRODUCT Huntoffice is the premium online office
supplier in Ireland.
PRICE Lowest.
PLACE The brand operates within Ireland
PROMOTION Huntoffice provides the major office item
brand on its website. Sales promotions and
free gift vouchers are also promoted through
the website.
PEOPLE The customer service team of the company
bring the personals factor for the online
supplier
PROCESS Clearly mentioned guidelines are there
fordeleivery as well as returning goods.
PHYSICAL LAYOUT (No Information available).

VIEW MODEL ANALYSIS:

•The website is relatively low on pageranks
VISIBILITY •Color combinations not used properly

•information available for complete offerings but in a very conjusted manner.
•No information avaialable on social media use or presence of the brand.
INFORMATION

•the brand is trying to connect with the Irish natives through using the country's name in most of its promotional
activies.
EMOTIONAL
APPEAL

•the website is witnessing 90% of its visitors from Ireland only who are spending on an average 4 minutes one the
website. These figures looks motivating.
WORKABILITY

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HUNTOFFICE AS PERSON:

Huntoffice has majority of its audience from the range of 45-65(Alexa, 2012). The majority of audience
that caboodle serve is the mature and on the older side of the age now. The brand maintains the
personality of a sincere Irish citizen. The brand explicitly calls itself 100% Irish.


ELEMENT Huntoffice
GENDER Male
SOCIAL CLASS Upper-Middle class
VALUES To provide greater service to fellow citizens
NATIONALITY Irish
NETWORKS Huntoffice as a person has a group of elderly active
people
HERITAGE The brand does not have a strong history
DREAMS To provide ease of operation to native citizens


Different aspects of the brand huntoffice can be identified from its website. These aspects can be

Patriotic
•the brand loves his
country and always try
Less creative to relate himself with
•the brand is aless that
ccreative and a more
orthodox kind of
person.
Mature Elder
•Huntoffice, would be a
mature business man of
the age of 50yrs or so

Competitive
•The brand is
competitve in terms
of providing its
customers best
service with lowest
price

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OFFICECART.IN

ABOUT:

Officecart is a supplier of office supplies in 5 states of India and growing with a goal to reach throughout
the country. The online retailer currently targets the small, medium and large corporations as well as
government offices for fulfilling their requirement for office supplies ranging from stationery to office
furniture.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE:

What are we?
Officecart is an online retailer dealing in office supplies with a greater commitment to the quality of
services offered to the customer in regards to price, product or the delivery.

What do we do?
Officecart even after being an online retailer tries to provide a personalised service to all of its usres and
tries to establish a long term relationship

How do we do it?
They do it by focussing on a single source promise. Thereby trying to gather most of the products from a
single producer and making the best price and quickest delivery possible.

Who are we?
Officecart is a young and growing online office supplier in the Indian market. Its their commitment to
each project that has brought them till here today.

Why do we do it?
The mission of the retailer is to provide a personalised service to its customers to as much extent as
possible.

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PRODUCT PORTFOLIO:

Product Category
Office Supplies Drawing & Art Furniture Our Services
Breakroom Graphic and Engineering Sofa Corporate
P Cutlery Drawing Instruments Solution
R Tissue Stencils
O Test Engineering Drawing
Instruments
D
Engineering Technical
U Pens
C Compasses
T Gifting Art Materials WorkStation Cost
S Colour Pencils and Management
markers
Art, Craft and Drawing
Paper
Other Colours
Art Storage
Canvas & Easels
Storage Media Paint and Brushes Desk/Tables eCommerce
CD/Rewritable
DVD/Rewritable
Pen Drives
Mail Room Supplies Drawing/Art Office Chairs
Envelops Drawing Paper
Business Envelops Compass
Protractor
Basic office Supplies
Clips and other
fasteners
P Labels and Stick-
R notes
O Correction Tapes and
D Pens
U Calculators
C Fax and cash rolls
Maps
T
Badges and Holders
S Adhesives
Tapes
Tape Dispenser
Gum/Adhesives

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Brand Essence:

Personality Officecart is growing online office supplier from India. The retailer is
highly committed towards providing a highly personalised service to its
customers

Source It aims to achieve this image by using its one single source premise

Difference o The level of personalised service that a customer can get at this
website

Functions It tries to get into a one to one conversation with the customer so that to
be able t serve them properly

OFFICECART AS SYMBOL:

The key symbolising points for Officecart are the use of blue and white color. The website also has a logo
which is trademarked. They key features of Officecart symbol elements are discussed below:

CRITERIA BRAND
Logo

Colors Used The brand has used white and blue as the dominating colors within
Distinctiveness The brand tries to relate with the online shopping phenomena with
its name
Protected The logo is a registered trademark by Officecart.in
Positive Feelings Brand as a whole has a very active presentation. The use of colors
and placements of other elements like customer service is very
attractive

Officecart as a product is a mixture of different features. From providing personalised services to its
customers to providing a dedicated service team, the retailer touches many aspect of a physical product.

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OFFICECART as Product:

LEVELS OF PRODUCT:

The core It’s the price The assurance
product of provided and of providing
Officecart the delivery great value
Core Product

Augmented Product
Embodied Product
would be the services that products from
personalised makes the some popular
service within embodied brands in
an online product for India is the
shopping them augmented
experience product for
them



Marketing P’s for Services OFFICECART
PRODUCT A growing office supplies online retailer
dealing in popular brands of India
PRICE Competitve prices offered
PLACE The brand operates within 5 states of India
PROMOTION The website is the only promotional tool
used by the company.
PEOPLE They provide a live customer service feature
PROCESS By maintaining a long term relationship with
their suppliers they serve their customers in
a better way
PHYSICAL LAYOUT (No Information available).

23


VISIBILITY •Color combinations used properly

•information available for complete offerings but in a veryrefined manner.
INFORMATION

•By emphasising on the personalised service fetaure of them .
EMOTIONAL
APPEAL

•the website is simple to use with clear tabs and self explanatory product details
WORKABILITY

OFFICECART AS PERSON:

Officecart is a growing online retailer for office supply. It can be assumed that it would be receiving many
small scale projects while working on few big scale assignments as well


ELEMENT OFFICECART
GENDER Male
SOCIAL CLASS Middle class
VALUES To provide greater personalised service to
corporations
NATIONALITY Indian
NETWORKS Officecart is working on building its networks.
Hence as a person it would be making more friends
HERITAGE The brand does not have a strong history
DREAMS To provide greater value to the customers

24


Different aspects of the brand Officecart can be identified from its website. These aspects can be

Young
• Officecart is a young
entreprenuer in his late
Enthusiastic 20s
• He is very passionate about
his business and ready to
explore as much
opportunity as possible.
Creative
• he is creative in a manner as
to identify what the
customers are actually
looking for.
• its the personalised service
promise that he wants to
target
Emotional
• thats a feature that
comes becuse of its
country of origin
• Beinf from India makes
him understanding the
emotional aspects
behind various tasks

25

COMOFFICE.COM

ABOUT:

Comoffice is an online office supplier from Singapore. The company is in this industry from past 20 years.
And has been listed in Singapore SME 500 ranking. It serves from home office to a large size corporations.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE:

What are we?
Comoffice is an SME online retailer for office supplies in Singapore. The 20 years of experience in the
industry has been the competitive strength for the company.

What do we do?
the company strives for providing abetter and easy buying experience to its customer.

How do we do it?
it is done by carefully working on differnet aspects of an order like the price quotation, timely delivery
and regular feedback.

Who are we?
it’s a senior member of the industry in its region who is growing in an attractive manner.

Why do we do it?
company’s vision is to achieve the contribution of 30% in B2B office supplies transactions in Singapore.

26

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO:

Product Category
Office Supplies
P Batteries Binding Systems Boards Calculators Calendar &
R Planners
O Card & Badge Holders Clips & Computer Correction CSH Box & CHQ
D Fasteners Supplies Supplies Writer
U Desk Organizers Dividers & Files & Folders Flags Flipcharts
C Indexes
T Glues & Adhesives Highlighter & HP- Ink HP- Toner Keyboxes
S Marker
Labels Laminators Mailing Mats Misc.
Supplies
Notebooks & Pads Pantry Supplies Paper Pens & Pencils Pins & Buttons
Printer Supplies Punches Rubber Bands Scissors & Sedia
Rulers Trimmers
Sharpeners Shredders Stamps & Pads Staplers & Tapes
Staples
Time Recorders Wholesales WS- CKK WS- GB WS- GL
WS- GU WS- JS WS- LN WS- YT

Brand Essence:

Personality Comoffice is a well established online retailer for office supplies

Source Its aim is to make the online buying experience for corporations much
easier

Difference The extensive range of products and their commitment towards providing
service

Functions By working on each order with greater care

27

COMOFFICE AS SYMBOL:

The key symbolising points for Officecart are the logo and the color combination they have used. They key
features of Officecart symbol elements are discussed below:

CRITERIA BRAND
Logo

Colors Used The brand has used white and blue as the dominating colors within
Distinctiveness The brand tries to relate with its target customers with the brand
name
Protected The logo is a registered trademark by Comoffice.com
Positive Feelings Brand as a whole has a very professional presentation. The use of
colors and placements of other elements like customer service is
very attractive

COMOFFICE as Product:

Comoffice as a product is a mixture of different features. From providing easy buying experience to its
customers to providing a dedicated team, the retailer touches many aspect of a physical product.

28

LEVELS OF PRODUCT:

The core The timely The zeal that
product of delivery and they promise
Comoffice an order to put behind
Core Product

Augmented product
Embodied Product
would be the dedicated every order
not so team is the
complicated embodied
online product
shopping
experience



Marketing P’s for Services COMOFFICE
PRODUCT An established online office supplier in
Singapore
PRICE Low prices offered
PLACE The brand operates within Singapore
PROMOTION The website is the only promotional tool
used by the company.
PEOPLE They provide a 24x7 customer service
feature
PROCESS By working together on different aspects of
online business. Online order making easy,
timely delivery, ease of payment, etc.
PHYSICAL LAYOUT It has its office on Seng Drive in Singapore

29


•Product categorisation not done properly
VISIBILITY •Color combinations used in an average manner

•information available for complete offerings but in a very Collective manner.
INFORMATION

•By emphasising on understanding and promising to work on all of the aspects of online shopping experience..
EMOTIONAL
APPEAL

•the website is simple to use with clear tabs and self explanatory product details
•but the collective nature of the information is a problem
WORKABILITY

COMOFFICEAS PERSON:

Comoffice is a well-established setup of online office supplies in Singapore. It can be perceived as a
mature member of the industry now. It has spent 20 years in the industry. Thus the know-how of the
industry would also be really good


ELEMENT COMOFFICE
GENDER Male
SOCIAL CLASS Upper-middle class
VALUES To provide greater great and easy buying
experience to corporations
NATIONALITY Singapore
NETWORKS A mature member of the industry now. It would be
having good networking skills
HERITAGE No heritage story. Still it has some good
achievements in the past
DREAMS To become industry leader

30


Different aspects of the brand Officecart can be identified from its website. These aspects can be

Mature
• it can be personified as a
mature meber of the
Professional society. a male into his
fifties.
• the brand is really
professional in his
approach.
• he has the know how of the
Less Creative-More buisness and know which
aspects are crucial to be
Active target
• the brand is not that creative
• rather it believes in doing its
service with utmost
responsibility

Aspirational
• the brand even at this
age of life is aspired to
become the industry
leader
• he is motivated by the
goals he has set for
himself.

POSITIONING COMPARISON

Caboodle Huntoffice Officecart Comoffice
Points of - Product range - Personalised - Product range - Personalised
Parity Service - Maturity level service
- Level of
maturity
Points of - Quality of - Product range - Personalised - Level of
Differenc delievery service - Level of service maturity
e - Technologically maturity - Quality of - Product range
updated delievery
service

31

PERSONALISED SERVICE
90
80
70
60
50
40 CABOODLE
LEVEL OF MATURITY 30 PRODUCT RANGE
20 HUNTOFFICE
10
0 OFFICECART
COMOFFICE

TECHNOLOGICALLY
DELIVERY SERVICE
UPDATED

All the four brands considered for the study are somehow similar to each other in nature. But there are
specific features that differentiate them with each other. They all are positioned as pioneer online office
suppliers in their respective markets. Still there are some positioning facts that create a separate identity
for each of the brand.

Caboodle.co.uk, a UK based online office retailer is of significant size in its market. The brand in its market
is positioned as the one focussing on providing quality in of order deliveries specifically. The brand is
young nd enthusiastic and technologically updated, which is really good because the market in which its
operating.

Huntoffice.ie an Irish retailer is a mature player of the market. It’s emotionally related to its country of
origin. The retailer has one of the biggest product range among the brands studied here. The brand is
positioned in the market as a patriotic guy, serving his country at his best, trying to contribute towards it
in some or the other way and focussed towards making life easy for the his native citizens.

Officecart.in, an Indian setup is a growing establishment. The brand is positioned as young, energetic, yet
a bit mature and focussed towards customer service. The brand has plans to grow to a higher level and
increase its size and reach in terms of market and customers. Currently, the brand is engaged with many
small level assignments and few government projects. Thus we can say that the brand is still in its learning
stage and getting mature day by day.

Comoffice.com is the online retailer from Singapore. The online firm is in this industry since last 20 years
and has won some awards as well. The firm Is positioned as a mature partner of the industry having a
complete know how of the market. The brand has its own plans of expansions and has set a goeal for

32

himfor the coming future. Focussing on the central notion of customer service, the brand is motivated by
establishing and maintaining long term relationships with partners and growing gradually.

ANALYSING BRAND ELEMENTS

CABOODLE HUNTOFFICE OFFICECART COMOFFICE
EASY √ √ √ √
RECOGNISED
MEMORABLE
EASY √ √
X X
RECALLED
DESCRIPTIVE √ √
X X
MEANINGFUL
PERSUASIVE √ √ √
X
FUN & √ √
X X
INTERESTING
RICH VISUAL &
√ √ X
LIKEABLE VERBAL X
IMAGERY
AESTHETICALLY √ √
X X
PLEASING
TRANSFERABLE WITHIN AND
ACROSS √ √ √ √
PRODUCT
CATEGORIES
FLEXIBLE √ √ √ √
ADAPTABLE
UPDATABLE √ √ √ √

LEGAL √ √ √ √
PROTECTABLE
COMPETITIVE √ √
X X

33

RECOMMENDATIONS AND FEEDBACK

CABOODLE HUNTOFFICE OFFICECART COMOFFICE

Target - Selecting a wide - Not much - Targeting - Requires a clear
Group range of a market information different target group
can be misguiding about the sectors within segment.
- A more specific specific target an industry, Targeting offices
target market group provided which is good is a broad
selection is for them statement.
required as per - Differnet - Specifying target
the brand image teams for groups will help
differnet in designing the
target groups marketing plans
can be useful and the required
brand image
accordingly
Changes - An interactive - An interactive - An interactive - An interactive
service on real service on real service on real service on real
time basis will be time basis will time basis will time basis will be
useful be useful be useful useful
Challeng - No customer - No customer - No customer - No customer
es Faced reviews available reviews reviews reviews available
available available
Overall GOOD AVERAGE GOOD AVERAGE
Feedback

34

References

Alexa.com (1999) Comoffice.com Site Info. [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/comoffice.com#
[Accessed: 22 Mar 2012].
Alexa.com (n.d.) Caboodle.co.uk Site Info. [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/caboodle.co.uk#
Alexa.com (n.d.) Huntoffice.ie Site Info. [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/huntoffice.ie#
Alexa.com (n.d.) Huntoffice.ie Site Info. [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/huntoffice.ie#
Alexa.com (n.d.) Officecart.in Site Info. [online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/officecart.in#
Avis, M. (2012) Brand personality factor based models: A critical review. Australasian Marketing , p.89-96.
Caboodle.co.uk (2011) Caboodle - Office Supplies, Office Products & Stationery Suppliers. [online] Available at:
http://www.caboodle.co.uk [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Caboodle.co.uk.hypestat.com (1970) Caboodle.co.uk - Caboodle. [online] Available at:
http://caboodle.co.uk.hypestat.com/ [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Comoffice.com (n.d.) ComOffice: Stationery | Office Products | Paper Products | Ink & Toners. [online]
Available at: http://www.comoffice.com [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Comoffice.com.hypestat.com (1970) Comoffice.com - Comoffice. [online] Available at:
http://comoffice.com.hypestat.com/ [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Huntoffice.ie (2006) Office Supplies Ireland - Hunt Office Supplies Ireland. [online] Available at:
http://www.huntoffice.ie [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Huntoffice.ie.hypestat.com (1970) Huntoffice.ie - Huntoffice. [online] Available at:
http://huntoffice.ie.hypestat.com/ [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Officecart.in (n.d.) Complete office | Office supplies | Artist supplies | LED lights | Chairs. [online] Available at:
http://www.officecart.in [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Officecart.in.hypestat.com (1970) Officecart.in - Officecart. [online] Available at:
http://officecart.in.hypestat.com/ [Accessed: 21 Mar 2012].
Zaichkowsky, J. (2010) Strategies for distinctive brands. Journal of Brand Management , (17), p.548-560.

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