Marketing Case Study: Harlequin Financial Series

For Harlequin’s romance series, the product was significantly different compared with the traditional publishers. The content, length, artwork size, format and print were well defined and put together to ensure a finished product. Also Harlequin provided a prospective romance series to readers for the plot, style and length guidelines as pertaining to their high value. Their distribution channel was very rare. Readers could purchase Harlequin’s product in bookstores as well as supermarkets or drugstores. Furthermore, avid Harlequin readers got hold of the product delivered to their home every month through Harlequin’s direct mailing service with a low price because of their printing business which was a competitive advantage. Cost per series book were lower compared to the competitor’s costs. …show more content…
Moreover, it was very costly for the competitors to imitate what Harlequin’s was already able to leverage over their competitors with the market share that they had established. Harlequin series readers were brand loyal; four of five readers would continue to purchase their product from a survey conducted. The strongest advantage for Harlequin was that Harlequin’s series novels were not available on the back-list unlike other traditional single title books, so Harlequin retained these rights. Harlequin organized with a consistent quality product, standing orders, predictable retail patterns and was able to offer books at a low costs to customers. Overall, Harlequin retained a value, their unique distribution channel, and retained their rights that were hard to copy for competitors as well as having brand loyalty. With all these factors, Harlequin was able to have a consistent and sustained competitive advantage on the romance series