Listed below are five major companies that could be on the verge of dying without major restructure to their brand and business model. It is a bit surprising as all of these brands are household names, but keeping your brand fresh, unique and successful can be hard, especially in a highly competitive market.
1. Quiznos – Founded in 1981, this brand set themselves apart by toasting all of their sandwiches, but once every other sandwich chain started to follow suit, Quiznos couldn’t keep up with the competitive prices that Subway offered. Quiznos is currently working to restructure its nearly $600 million dollars in debt.
2. JC Penney – One of America’s largest mid-range department stores was highly successful until it started to incorporate outside companies, such as Sephora and Seattle’s Best Coffee, into its stores in order to offer a diverse customer experience. Unfortunately, by adding those companies, JC Penney lost its identity and moved away from its target market – trying to appeal to a higher-income clientele. As a result, the retailer will be closing 33 stores this year and cutting 2,000 jobs.
3. Red Lobster – While it is still one of the only and the largest American casual dining restaurant dedicated to seafood, Red Lobster, like many sit-down restaurant chains, is struggling. The problem stems from the birth of a variety of new and different fast-casual dining establishments like Panera, where they offer a similar price point on food items without the added cost of tipping your waiter. In fact, its parent company, Darden Restaurants announced that it had intentions to sell Red Lobster or even spin it off into its own company. Its fate still hangs in the balance.
4. Blackberry – It is no surprise that Blackberry, or “crackberry” as it was called in 2007, is struggling to compete with iPhones and Droids. Blackberry thought that the phone’s keyboard would attract more professional and business-oriented people, but when that failed, they took too long to adapt and change to meet the growing demands of its customers. Their sales have crumbled and in September 2013, they pre-announced their second-quarter earnings, reporting that they had missed estimates by nearly 50 percent.
5. Volvo – Once deemed the epitome of safety – Volvo appealed to parents wanting to protect their inexperienced teenage drivers. Now the company has too much competition with mid-luxury cars, from Toyota and General Motors, and with lower-priced high-end cars from Mercedes and BMW. Demand for Volvo has lowered significantly only selling a total of 427,840 cars in 2013 as compared to Volkswagen who delivered 9.5 million cars and commercial vehicles.
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