My Dog

1. Companies use a variety of supply chains to reach their consumers when selling snowboards. Retail stores are certainly used, ranging from more mainstream stores, like MC Sports and Dick's Sporting Goods, to specialty stores around the nation. Stores like Wal-Mart and Meijer also sell snowboards, although these are of the much cheaper variety and do not compare to the quality of the more popular brands, like Burton. In fact, Burton is the world's market leader in the manufacturing of snowboards. The "snowboarding" market is now said to be over $400 million dollars. Burton claims to own a 30 to 40 percent share of this market, and sells two thirds more boards than the nearest competition. This is proof that the more specialty brands of snowboards, like Burton and K2, are the market leaders; NOT the snowboards found in Wal-Mart Meijer.

Catalogs, magazine, and websites are also used extensively by snowboarding companies to reach customers. For example, Burton releases an annual catalog that has become extremely popular with snowboarders that includes its many products. However,

with so many different supply chains, which is most successful for all brands of this product?

I was to consider a "Custom Wide Burton Snowboard" for my Logistics analysis, so I will assume that the other brands of snowboards being considered here are also of the custom variety. Therefore, the most successful supply chains for reaching consumers for all brands of this product would be the internet. More specifically, the most effective supply chain for custom snowboards would be each company's official website. Nowadays, companies like Burton and K2, offer many different combinations and attributes for their snowboards. Things like color, length, type, bindings, weight, and design can all be customized to the consumers liking. As a result, these companies have created user-friendly systems on their websites that allow consumers to quickly customize their snowboards. This is much, much easier to do than going to a store to customize your board or doing it over the phone with an employee. As technology advances, the internet will continue to become more and more relevant when purchasing products, ESPECIALLY if they are to be customized, like snowboards.

There are no notable legal constraints that would affect the sale of snowboards in any of these supply chains.

2. I was given a "custom" Burton Snowboard, so any potential consumer looking to purchase this snowboard would be making a "specialty" purchase. The consumer must search out what he or she wants, and then customize it accordingly.

The channel selected will be using an exclusive distribution. I am using a custom snowboard, so I can only assume that the consumer will be looking for something extremely specific. This is a rather extreme form of selective distribution, although it is what works best for this product. If my product were less customized, I would look to use a form of selective distribution. In the area of Mount Pleasant, the only place that could possibly sell Burton snowboards is MC Sports. However, this is not the type of store that would offer consumers intense customization. As a frequent snowboarder myself, I and many others like me are much more likely to either drive to a specialty store to see the customization possibilities, or use Burton's website to customize our product ourselves. A store like MC Sports would not have employees who have the know-how to inform customers about these snowboards. MC Sports DOES offer Burton snowboards, but there selection is extremely limited. In other words, what you see there is what you get. A snowboarder looking to customize his or her Burton snowboard would not go to MC Sports. If they did, the process would be long and tedious.

The channel structure that is going to be used is going to be direct. I have chosen to use the internet (www.Burton.com to be exact) for my product, as it offers the most effective