After looking around the Vermont Teddy Bears website I think the target consumers would be loved ones and friends that live apart from one another or who could not make it in person to a special occasion. This website has bears for any occasion you can think of from a new baby, to holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and just to say I miss you.  The needs that are being met by this company are giving consumers a chance to personalize a gift for someone who for what ever reason can not make it to a milestone in someone’s life, or who doesn’t live in the same area; such as someone in the military.  In a store you get what you see, there is no option to change or add to what the bear is wearing.  With Vermont Teddy Bears you can decide what they will wear, have as accessories, and you can even decide to put on a tattoo.  The benefits that the company offers are the chance to customize a bear, you can even design your own bear to look how ever you want.  The cost on some of the bears is higher than the normal teddy bears that you would find in places such as Wal-Mart and Target, but I feel that the benefits far out weigh the cost.  Vermont Teddy Bears offers a lifetime guarantee for the bears, so that if anything happens you can send in the bear in and they will fix the bear.  On the website this is referred to as the bear health care insurance plan and even mentions the teddy bear hospital.  I know that Wal-Mart won’t take back a teddy bear that lost a battle with the family dog, or didn’t make it though the experiments by a little brother; so having to pay a little extra for this type of customer care to me it worth it. The kind of customer care that is offered is what keeps your customers coming back for business and also referring their friends as well.  The marketing mix for the Vermont Teddy Bears is one for the product because of the versatility and flexibility of the design of the bears. For the pricing I would rate that a two because the price is higher than a normal teddy bear, but still worth the price because of the lifetime guarantee.  On the distribution I would rate that as a two as well because they can’t ship all over the world, however they can ship to the military APO boxes, so you can still send a bear to someone who is over seas in the military. The promotion for this company I would rate as a four because they don’t advertise all year long.  The only time that I really see anything about the Vermont Bears on TV is when it gets close to holidays, so I would say that they should advertise more during the whole year instead of just holiday times.  

I would consider buying a Vermont Teddy Bear because it is a new way to show someone how much you love and appreciate them.  If you think about it, flowers wilt and die with time, and candy always gets eaten, so the gift is enjoyed for the moment, but never really lasts a lifetime.  With a Vermont Teddy Bear a person can always look at the bear and remember who it came from and smile, and always have a memory of the significance of the bear and why it was given.