Ryobi is a company that makes various power tools including wood-working tools and lawn tools primarily for the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) market. Ryobi's "Expand-It" system allows buyers to buy one "PowerHead" that holds the battery and the motor and then supplement with multiple attachments to tackle different jobs around the house, yard, and garden.

Ryobi has recently made the PowerHead more resilient and durable, in order to withstand heavy duty use with the addition of a 40V model. Past versions of the 18V PowerHead suffered from performance issues including poor battery recharging and engine failures. With this product line extension, Ryobi now offered three versions of the PowerHead system: 18V, 40V and a gas-powered version.

Ryobi has a broad line of available accessories that use a "universal connection." A universal connection is a standardized fitting between the PowerHead and the attachments --this allows any attachment from any company to fit onto Ryobi's base - and vice versa. On the off chance Ryobi doesn't make an accessory customers are looking for, they can use any universal connection accessory with the Expand-It system.

Customers purchase the PowerHead for $159 and then add attachments:

- String trimmer ($59.97) - Edger ($69.97) - Blower ($69.97) - Hedge trimmer ($74.97) - Pole saw ($99) - Brushcutter ($79) - Cultivator ($89.97) - Snow thrower ($107)

You should assume that the Ryobi Expand-It PowerHead and attachments are sold through the brick-and-mortar retailer Home Depot stores. In exchange for being Ryobi's only (i.e., exclusive) brick-and -mortar retail channel, Home Depot trains its employees on the Ryobi product line and instructs them to recommend it first to customers who come in asking for help.

According to the investment site, the Motley Fool, about 45% of Home Depot's customers are in the professional segment (i.e., customers who purchase power tools for business use such as small commercial landscapers, contractors, or property management companies that maintain the building and grounds). The Home Depot has 2.290 locations and 2019 revenue was $111 billion. By comparison, 25% of Lowe's (a competitor of Home Depot) customers are professionals served by its 2,004 locations with 2019 revenue of $73 billion.

Question 1.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Based on the case presented, if Ryobi used behavioral segmentation, they might choose to focus on customers who

O age 35 - 50 O have purchased grass seed and fertilizer from Home Depot. O want to have the tidiest lawn in the neighborhood O are men

Question 2.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Given the segments described below, which would you recommend Ryobi targets to drive market share?

O Segment A: Loyal do-it-yourselfer (DIY) home owner, price sensitive, seeking a flexible tool to tackle many lawn and garden projects O Segment B: Status seeking, somewhat inexperienced user, willing to experiment, looking for the latest technological advance O Segment C: Potential new user, inexperienced new homeowner, happy with current solution O Segment D: Small commercial user, provides lawn care service to 25 customers per week

Question 3.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Which of the following is a positioning statement for the "do it yourself" (DIY) homeowner segment.

O Ryobi Expand-IT is the preferred lawn and garden tool for DIY homeowners O Ryobi Expand-IT has the most attachments of any universal connection system which helps DIY homeowners O The Ryobi Expand-IT system is the best qulity tool system O Ryobi Expand IT is the lawn and garden tool, that offers the most flexibility and utility because of the range of attachments available.

Question 4.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Ryobi's Expand-It line has a universal PowerHead, which means it accepts attachments from other manufacturers like Milwaukee and Dewalt. This adds (fill in the blank) value to the core product.

O emotional O symbolic O experiential O functional

Question 5.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Ryobi's marketing department is collaborating with Home Depot on the campaign, "Fall with Ryobi." The campaign is timed to coincide with fall cleanup in September and October on the East Coast. Ryobi will provide personnel for in-store demonstrations and a contest to incentivize Home Depot associates to sell multiple attachments with the Ryobi PowerHead system. Ryobi has also identified Home Depot customers that shop frequently for various home improvement and lawn care products. These customers will receive a 20% off coupon from Ryobi via email and targeted messages on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. Based on these details, which of the following statements is accurate?

O Ryobi is engaging in push marketing with the 20% coupon to Home Depot customers. O Ryobi is engaging in pull marketing with the contest for Home Depot associates. O Ryobi is engaging in pull marketing with the customers targeted to receive promotional discounts. O Ryobi is engaging in push marketing with the targeted digital ads.

Question 6.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

Ryobi faces increasing competition in the lawn tool and power tools industry from many sides. In contemplating its response, Ryobi is considering investing significant resources into R&D to develop technologies that it could patent that would give it a competitive advantage. This anticipated intellectual property would include a system for a new, fully-automatic robotic lawn mower for homeowners. The "RoboMower" would mow a customer's lawn effortlessly. Assuming no one else develops this capability, and Ryobi is awarded a patent on it, what pricing strategy would you recommend for Ryobi?

O Bundling; bundle this new innovation with their other lawn tools. O Cost-plus pricing; determine the cost to produce the RoboMower and add its standard markup to yield the best price O Penetration pricing; getting market share quickly will determine the winner in this market where network externalities exist. O Skimming strategy; their intellectual property creates value for customers that will keep competitors out and allow Ryobi to earn higher margins.

Question 7.

Currently, Ryobi's Expand-It is exclusively sold through Home Depot stores. The product manager of Expand-It is interested in growing the reach of the line but is very worried about creating channel conflict. Assuming each of these channel policies would yield about equal reach, which would do so while minimizing channel conflict?

O Open a direct-to-consumer sales channel through Ryobi's website, in addition to its current channel O Sell Expand-It through Amazon, in addition to the current channel, Home Depot O Sell Expand-It exclusively through Amazon. O Sell Expand-It through rival Lowes, in addition to Home Depot

Question 8.

(Refer to the Ryobi case and choose the single best answer.)

On her first day on the job, the brand new Ryobi CMO sent an email to the entire marketing organization explaining that "our professional segment customers care about durability and toughness in their tools and therefore our brand image has to be associated closely with these ideas. Is it? Please let me know your thoughts."

Which of the following is the best response to this email?

O Yes it is. In our latest blind test, our tools were shown to be, by far, the toughest and most durable on the market. O We can't know the answer to this without asking customers. O We can't know the answer to this until we do perceptual mapping O Absolutely! All of our ads and collateral are about durability and toughness.

Question 9.

(Choose the single best answer.)

Even though Home Depot may remain the exclusive distributor for Ryobi's Expand-it products, it would still be beneficial to drive potential customers to the Ryobi website in order to provide them with useful information. Imagine you were hired to serve as an SEO consultant to Ryobi as part of this effort. Which of the following would NOT likely be a top priority in your work on this project?

O Studying the incoming links from other websites to the Ryobi site O Defining a set of useful and important keywords that Expand-it shoppers might use while searching O Studying the keywords on which Ryobi's competitors rank well in organic listings O Collecting data on the average rank of Ryobi's paid search ads

Question 10.

(Choose the single best answer.)

There has been some hesitancy on the part of consumers in the deep south about buying the Ryobi 40V Expand-It System. For instance, in the rural areas of Georgia consumers seek assurance that their tools will perform as advertised. These folks tend to gravitate toward Stanley Black & Decker because this rival offers product warranties. To address this shortcoming, Ryobi is contemplating offering its customers the following coverage plans: 10- year full warranty ($49); 5-year full warranty ($20); 3-year full warranty ($15); and 2-year full warranty ($10).

This proposed set of plans is an example of:

O Fourth-degree price discrimination O Second-degree price discrimination O Third-degree price discrimination O First-degree price discrimination