Build A Bear Case

Build-A-Bear Workshop is facing an obstacle trying to increase revenues in order to expand and sustain its competitive advantage. Revenues have been declining since 2008 mainly due to the declining of the economy, rise of competition, and sociocultural change. Many competitors have entered the interactive experience market and kids nowadays are more attracted to electronics instead of playing with toys. In order for Build-A-Bear to remain competitive and continue to dominate the interactive experience market, they must adopt new strategies such as allowing customers to order and customize personalized bears from their website and target a different demographic market by offering products such as human sized teddy bears and add-on products.
Currently in Build-A-Bear’s websites, they only allow customers to shop for bears with different pre-made designs that people might or might not like and customers have no other options but to choose from those bears. These options defeats their business model where they are known for allowing customers to …show more content…
Customers would have an option to receive their customized bear either shipped to their premises or delivered to the nearest Build-A-Bear store for pick up. Build-A-Bear’s main target market are children of ages 1 to 14, which represents 80% of their revenues and since this age group shifting their preference in the online environment, they should sell products to other generations in order to continue to expand their business model. Having human sized teddy bears available for purchase and customized through their website would unleash a new revenue stream that would attract older demographics. This new product would be perfect as a gift and would attract many customers especially during Valentine’s Day. Customers would be able to customize their