The case depicts a scenario in which Rick Fire an enthusiastic national sales manager for a consumer goods company comes up with a new idea to sell a new product in the market. The company manufactures and sells consumer goods with department and superstores the likes of CostCo, Wal-Mart, and Zellers. The product which is the focal point of the case is Fresh an innovative odor remover. The odor remover is relatively new to the market, while working along with the same principles of a deodorizer, it is still unique and a different product for the market.
The problem that has been highlighted in the case is the rejection of the product by the company Footlocker which was approached by Rick Fire to promote and sell the product as a sports essential accessory to footwear. The objections that were raised by the representatives of the Footlocker were on the lack of market research conducted by Rick, the lack of background material and evidence to support the success of the product in the mainstream market, and the abrupt sales proposition made by Rick Fire to the company which seemed ill-founded and not realistic.
The reasons which led to these issues being raised were due to the fact that Les the head of the alternative channels was kept unaware of any developments on the project which was being pursued by Rick Fire. Moreover, Rick Fiore also kept his colleagues and other stakeholders from his company in the dark about his project which resulted in a clash of ideas and numerous doubtful questions that needed to be answered at the final presentation. Rick Fire however was not expecting such retribution and remarks about his proposition and therefore was unable to support himself or his product offering, This has resulted in weakening the position of Consumer Brands with the Footlocker company, which has refused to test out the product in the Ontario market.
The changes that can be made to make the deal with Footlocker and salvage the relationship that the company can have with Footlocker pertain to Rick Fire taking drastic steps. Rick fore should take Les as well representatives of the Footlocker company into intimation about the research that he has conducted for the product Fresh. Moreover, he can also create a relationship pf understanding with Footlocker, whereby he could take into account the problems, and issues that Footlocker has with his proposal and replay back in time with the customized service offering that he can make for the company.
Aside from bringing his alternative distributions head as well as the representatives of the Footlocker company up to mark on the development of his proposition and the research that he had conducted, Rick Fire can also present a guideline for further research that can be conducted along with experimental sales testing in the selected region to identify the realistic result of the proposition. A smaller test sample can be taken while selling the product online to gather customers’ feedback on the product. Rick Fire can use this to further support his proposition and from the solid ground for selling the product Fresh with Footlockers.