It is not coming to the end of the term, and my group has just finished our assignment on Zara, the highly successful Spanish fast-fashion retailer. I have learned a lot about Zara, and I think that their business model is very interesting and creative, and they are really able to give their consumers what they want. I think that most companies should strive to have a supply chain as unique and efficient as Zara, and instead of outsourcing to cheaper developing countries, should keep everything local. Not only will this reduce production time and keep them more in tune with their consumers, but will foster more local business, and keep companies from taking advantage of developing countries for their cheaper labour but extremely poor and unethical working conditions.

After creating our video, there are several things that I think our group could have done differently. We spent a lot of time talking about how we wanted our video to look, and deciding what we should do, but when it came down to it, we realized that we did not have enough time to actually film anything substantial, and had to take a different route. If I were to go back, I definitely would have started this project earlier, and ensured that we had enough time to film everything we wanted and enough time for the editing process.

I was recently looking through a classmate Eddie’s blog, and came across and post about Wal-Mart that intrigued me. It outlined Wal-Mart’s recent decision to open up many ‘Wal-Mart Express’ convenience stores. This idea was very interesting to me. Wal-Mart has founded it’s success on its size, being able to offer consumers all of their needs in one place, at a discounted price, and driving Mom and Pop retailers into bankruptcy. Now, Wal-Mart is coming after dollar stores and convenience stores as well, and is going to be able to offer consumers everything they need, whether its a big shop at their regular locations, or a quick run into one of their express locations. I agree with Eddie that this will be a successful venture for Wal-Mart. However, I cant help but think that Wal-Mart will soon be taking over, driving out all of its competitors by using its known strategy of predatory pricing (see one of my earlier blog posts for more info on this).

Recently, a friend from out of town was visiting, and we were looking to go out for Indian food. While looking for places online, and found two Indian restaurants side by side on Granville street, and were wondering what the difference between the two was. After looking into it a little more, we realized that the two restaurants were owned by the same people, and the difference was the pricing of the menu. One restaurant was average pricing with dishes ranging from $8-$15, and the other was more expensive, with dishes between $20 and $30.

This got me thinking back to a lecture we had on cannibalization. The concept of cannibalization is when you give the consumer too many choices, you are essentially competing with yourself and your products are taking away market share from each other. However, I think the business model of these two Indian restaurants is a very interesting one with a high potential for success. The two restaurants are not competing with each other, they are appealing to two very different markets. When deciding which one to go to, we did not have to think very hard. One of them was clearly more in our price range (in case you weren’t sure, we were more $8/dish kind of people), and the other was totally out of the picture. By appealing to two different markets, the restaurant owners are able to capture the whole market, and one restaurant is not taking business away from the other.

If you are interested in these two restaurants, here are the websites for Vij’s and Rangoli, both located on 11th and Granville.

In the midst of the madness that is the Olympics, I recently came across a blog post on the popular advertising blog and website Advertising Age. Although short and sweet, it really got me thinking. The post showed the Google Doodle from the other day which was a protest to Russia’s anti-gay legislation prior to the Sochi Olympics. The blog said that Google now joined other large companies such as American telecommunications company AT&T and British cosmetics company Lush in publishing advertising in support of the LGBTQ community and in condemnation of Russia’s new laws. I immediately thought of this as an advertising opportunity for businesses. It is a chance for them to use their huge influence in the advertising realm and the millions of people they reach for social justice and to promote social change. Although many companies do not like to take a political stance because of the risk of offending/losing existing customers, I think that the risk is worth it for companies to let the public know that they stand for equal rights for all people, regardless of sexual orientation.

In case you missed it, the Google Doodle featuring anti-discrimination text straight from the Olympic Charter

Social Media has taken off in recent years, and the number of Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter users, among other sites has been skyrocketing. Many businesses have been taking advantage of this trend, and businesses that have not yet done so might as well just throw in the towel now and quit while they’re ahead. Here are 5 ways, in no particular order, that social media is revolutionizing marketing and bringing businesses closer to their consumers.

1. #Hashtags

Hashtags make it easy for users to search for their interests, and enable content to be seen by more viewers. Originating on Twitter, hashtags are also compatible with Instagram and more recently Facebook.

2. Geotagging

Geotagging allows users to tag the location of their posts, and is just one more way that businesses are able to gain publicity. After all, isn’t location everything?

3. Mobile Apps

Many companies are now coming out with apps that allow users to interact straight from the phone. For example, you  can now do your banking with TD Mobile App, or search for the BC Liquor Store location nearest you using their new app.

4. Millions of Users

The sheer number of users online and the speed at which information can be made available is a marketer’s dream. Its impossible for anything to happen in the world, and not see it on social media being shared or retweeted. This gives marketers the power to reach their consumers way quicker and way more effectively than ever before.

5. Interactive

The interactive aspect of social media not only allows for companies to present information to consumers, but through comments, retweets, likes, and sharing, allows for companies to interact with their consumers, and for consumers to interact with each other.

For these reasons, and many more, it would be foolish for any business not to take advantage of the surge in social media users over the past few years.

Predatory pricing is a pricing strategy exemplified by large businesses intended to drive out the competition. Large businesses such as Wal-Mart or Target will generally open in a new location and set their prices much lower than their competitors, since they can afford to do so. Once the competition is forced to close down since they can no longer compete, the large business will then raise their prices back up since they now have a pseudo-monopoly. This pricing strategy is extremely harmful to small mom-and-pop businesses as they can of course not compete with the pricing capabilities of Wal-Mart and Target, and puts a lot of people out of business who are then forced to take jobs at the same companies that caused them to be unemployed, companies that generally don’t have the best employee reputations.

A anti-Wal-Mart mural set up in Kensington Market

In my opinion, this is a very unethical pricing strategy. It completely disregards the lives of your competitors and also completely changes the business environment of the places they expanding to. This is also illegal in many countries, including Canada. However, despite being illegal, it still happens often and it is hard to prove that the company purposely lowered prices with the intention of driving out competition.

A recent example of this occurred when Wal-Mart tried to open a location in Kensington Market, a tight-knit downtown Toronto community full of unique specialty mom-and-pop stores. However, the community did not want to allow this to happen and mobilized together to stop it. Currently, the City of Toronto put a one year freeze on retailers on the strip, but it is still unclear of where this is going to move in the future. I think this is a really great thing that this community is doing to try and stop this, because they know that as much as they will still try to support local businesses, once Wal-Mart opens, it will not be long before all small business will be out of business. More can be read about this here.

A protest was held recently infront of the white house by a group who oppose the keystone pipeline. According to protesters, record temperatures have been seen all over the world, and emissions will only make the situation worse. TransCanada has said that the pipeline will create over 9000 much needed jobs, but the protesters say that it is not worth it and there is a much better way to create jobs and boost the economies of both Canada and the US. I think that the pros of the pipeline do not outway the environmental effects. The pipeline will destroy many environmentally sensitive areas in BC and the US, and there are many better ways that the government can create jobs.

Protesters outside the White House

In a recent lecture on environmental sustainability, we discussed Vancouver being the greenest city in Canada, and one of the greenest cities in the world. I thought this was quite interesting, and decided to do a little research on the topic, which is when I found an article on a recent project by the City of Vancouver to become even greener. The city uses its plastic waste, which is diffficult to recycle, and develops a material to add it to asphalt, saving on the cost to lay the asphalt, since it does not have to be heated up as much, and reducing greenhouse gas emmissions. The material is developed in Ontario, but Vancouver soon hopes to develop it locally.

This is a great way to use recycled materials that otherwise may not have had any use, and also reducing on fuel emmissions. This is something that would be especially useful in cities with harsh winters, that require a lot of construction on the roads once the snow melts. I think the City of Vancouver is doing an excellent job in becoming greener, and should pass on its techniques to other cities to help make the entire world a greener and more sustainable place.

I recently read a business blog from www.canadianbusiness.com on RIM’s recent marketing strategies. In response to Blackberry’s recent decline in popularity, RIM has decided that they need a new marketing strategy, and have taken the slogan “Blackberry by choice”, a slogan originally coined by the website www.crackberry.com, a fan site and forum for Blackberry users.

crackberry.com is even selling apparel with the slogan

.

The blog describes, and I agree, how this is not the best marketing strategy, and if this is how RIM expects to increase sales, it’s probably not going to happen. The slogan pokes fun at the fact that most Blackberry users have switched to iPhone or some other smartphone, and I think it is a successful slogan for publicity and marketing for the fan site and forum, but I do not think that it is a slogan that RIM itself should endorse. The slogan alludes to the fact that there is a reason most Blackberry users have now switched, and implies that the Blackberry users by choice are ill-informed and that is the reason they did not switch. I don’t think that this is a successful marketing strategy for RIM, and will not boost their sales.

I recently read a blog called Sparking Smart Meters Ignite Public Outrage in BC by one of my classmates, and I thought that the debate over the smart meters was very intersting. A lot of consumers are against the installation of BC Hydro’s new smart meters, which will track individual hydro usage, because they say that it is an invasion of privacy. In addition, critics state that it is a health concern, as the meters use radiation to track consumption, although BC Hydro says that it is no more cancerous than talking on a cell phone.

I come from Ontario, where these smart meters have already been introduced, and I see them as a good investment. They will help BC Hydro track power consumption more efficiently, and help them prevent power theft. This will lead to money saving for BC Hydro, and ultimately for consumers, as BC Hydro is a Crown Corporation. The smart meter program has been relatively successful in Ontario, and has helped Hydro One, Ontario’s hydro company, come up with time of use pricing to help consumers manage their hydro usage more effectively.

Time of Use Pricing in Ontario developed with Smart Meter System