October 2013 – Amal Hatmi

Men in Kilts! But take them seriously….

This story is humorous yet touches upon very relevant business concepts. Men in Kilts, started out in 2002 as a window cleaning service and was started out on Metro Vancouver. This same business is now in cities across North America, and has a projected revenue of $6 million this year.

“You need to stick out from the crowd in this day and age. If I started Nick’s Window Cleaning, you wouldn’t be calling today”- says owner Nicholas Brand. Brand demonstrates how brand image is very important in the start-up business model, and contributes to success in most cases. Men in Kilts’ window cleaners arrive in tartan kilts worn by Scots in the Highland Games. The only thing missing is haggis and some bagpipes!

Apart from branding being an integral part of the model, it is also important to be true to your value statement. The window cleaning business aims to successfully deliver its promise to the customer: cleaning windows but also cleaning gutters upon request. The venture proves to be an entertaining yet impressive one.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Kilts+more+than+clever+gimmick/8994916/story.html#ixzz2h4AbpWQB

Is “quantity” truly ever better than “quality”?: TESCO re-vamps its image with “finest” foods.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/07/uk-tesco-finest-idUKBRE9960K620131007

This article struck me as particularly interesting this week, as I had spent at least an hour at the grocery store on Saturday trying to shave pennies and dimes off of my grocery bill. In unstable economic times in the UK a current trend in the UK is to minimize on grocery store expenditure, yet TESCO is spending its resources developing higher end products. Its shocking, however reflects an interesting move on TESCO’s part.

In the last 15 years, TESCO has developed itself as the “world’s third biggest retailer” behind Carrefour and Wal-Mart. This has however taken a toll on TESCO’s image domestically in the UK, where Sainsbury’s and Waitrose attract the more affluent clientele and TESCO is perceived as a less desirable brand. As a consumer when I visit England, I choose to shop at Sainsbury’s as opposed to TESCO, which is interesting because at its most basic level they each offer consumers the same brands and in their own products there is little differentiation in quality. TESCO has realized its economies of scale and offers these similar products for less, however there is a stigma of low value attached to TESCO. Brand image is a strong motivating factor it seems in TESCO’s decision to relaunch its “finest” collection which will be a range of expensive food products. It will be interesting to see if it succeeds in this endeavour.