chiyuihui

Our generation has become literally attached to our phones, not any type of phones but smart phones. Do you catch yourself even a minute away from your phone? No matter what environment we are in, we have our phones. This includes during class sessions, meetings, on the bus, waiting for food, eating lunch, and even going to the washroom. Probably, the only time we are away from our smart phone is when we are taking a shower, which is thirty minutes. Ironically enough, even when we are sleeping and unable to use our phones, we have it right near us and maybe right on our pillow ready to wake up any second there is a text message or a phone call. Why have we become cell phone junkies? The answer is simple. Similarly to computers, we are addicted. But cell phones are now identical to computers,they differ in size and memory capacity. Hence, we are all walking around with a mini computer with functions to connect to the internet, email, games, msn, social networks, and photos.

I’m writing about this because I’ve never been so addicted to my phone until I’ve experienced using the I-phone. It is amazing. I would have it everywhere with me, and the games are very addictive. I have played one single game from the walk to the bus loop and onto the bus and out of the bus to home for a total of 1.5 hrs. No other technology has held our interest for 24 hrs in a day than smart phones. What I find an unbelievable experience are touch screen technology, it brings us physically closer to our phones. Many would find this funny, but a relationship is built between a human and a phone. Many have even called their phones, “baby” , because these phones are affordable to majority of the people, its market will never close in until they have a better replacement for a cell phone.

I would say haagen dazs is my favorite icecream out of all.  Although it is sold at a premium price, I love the relaxing feeling of holding a small cartoned icecream and enjoying the taste while watching a movie. Its’ perfect size and creaminess of the icecream makes it an incredible one moment dessert. All the flavours of the icecreams taste excellent. Because, it is sold at a premium price you would not buy them too often and will not beable to try all the flavours. Therefore, very suitably, haagen dazs created a new product line of “little favourites” which are mini cups of haagen dazs. This is very popular in China because the issue of being fit is very important, this mini dessert delight is very successful. Also, in Japan haagen dazs creates more flavours such as green tea and sesame also in mini cups.

This company has grown large enough that it has its own icecream stores globally. I remember living in Hong Kong and walking into the mall and it had a haagen dazs icecream store, I was amazed. Not only are they on the shelf icecreams, but they are so tasty they have become an icecream store like gelata where you can enjoy premium icecream while chatting with your friends. Haagen dazs keeps meeting new consumer needs by increasing product depth and breadth making it very competitive. There are now “haagen dazs five” product line where the icecream where is it an all natural made with five ingredient icecream which is great for the healthy and organic social trend, http://www.haagen-dazs.com/products/five.aspx. If you’ve never tried this icecream, it is definitely worth the try and you will be in love with it! It’s packaging makes it convenient and cute!

I bought my first pair of lululemon pants a month ago, and I’ve been wearing them at least once a week.  I am not a yoga person but hey! I love these pants. First of all they are extremely comfortable, easy to match, great for school, they look good, and it keeps you equipped for any potential physical activity in the daytime. Although they are a little expensive, but they are really durable.  I’m definitely not the person to say this, and the public agrees.  In this article is talks about Wilson, founder of Lululemon reaches the Forbes list of billionaires, http://www.vancouversun.com/news/news/4413295/story.html.  Wilson hard work has paid off when Luluemon first started in Kitsalano and has now made its way to the Opera show, mentioned in the article. I believe Wilson’s success is not onlyfrom his inspirations but his analysis and timing of the product. In this generation and future generations yoga is going to be the next biggest sport. If you ask any girl in 2010 if they take part in  some sort of yoga, five out of ten would probably say yes. And if you were finding a place for yoga clothing and equipment, Lululemon would probably be the first brand that comes up in your mind. Lululemon has already won all the minds of yoga individuals. Already has it created strong brand awareness for the current generation its impacts the generations afterwards by creating future brand loyalty. I think lululemon is an incredibly successful company, I see this brand as a healthy role model. In the Lululemon site, http://www.lululemon.com, it has so many things you could involve yourself with from blogs to watching videos of Wilson talk about goal setting. I would buy his clothing because of how he takes part t of lululemon and shares his stories and experiences.

I was reading a blog focusing on  marketing online,https://blogs.ubc.ca/irfandhanani/, where I read a topic on “Business, Social Media, and Management.” It talks about how companies use the internet to attract new customers and engage existing customers. I’ve always been distracted by the advertisements on the side of a website or a social network. Currently, companies buy shelves space from retailers to get their products reachable to customers. But now, companies will buy an online advertisement space on websites with high traffic. This ensures that their product or brand is being exposed to new customers. Once, someone opens that advertisement it will link it to the original website.

Another strategy is to make use of social networks and with the help with phones like apple and blackberry which has access to internet, students and highschool students are always on these social networks. On these networks, there are tons of advertisements, and  fan pages benefitial for businesses. Online users can comment and invite others to these product pages which expands the popularity of the product or service.Another very effective social network for businesses are twitter, where they can post tweets and new updates of their product.

With being accessible to internet wherever we are, finding your product or service is really easy!

Almost every company now has an online website, where businesses can engage not only local customers but customers overseas. Having a strong supply management chain allows distribution to the right customers and at the right time. Therefore, the web allows companies to expand recognition and attain a larger market share.

Businesses say thank-you to social networks because without them, exposure to new customers are very limited. We will still be in the world of only posters, commercials, and radios for advertisements which are very costly! Advertise effectively and with low costs!

The first time in a while I picked up a bag of sun chips I was amazed how much noise it made. Then I turn to the back of the back which  says it is so LOUD but  it is the first 100% compostable bag. But hey, although it is loud I love it! I’ve always loved sun chips because I think it does a really good job in targeting their market. Their advertisements  focus on “all grain”, healthiness, smiles, and liveliness.I will always associate sun with feelings of healthiness and happiness. That is exactly what sun chips aim for.

sun chips

In 2010 they decided to emphasize on not only the goodness in food but the goodness to the environment by making a eco-friendly packaging. Here is a new sun chips advertisement.

sun chips commercial

This commercial shows the process of the sun chips bag, it literally 100% decomposes back into Earth. Because their target market are people who CARE about their health they probably care about the environment they live in. They want to live in a clean and healthy environment. If I were an eco-friendly consumer, the benefits of purchasing a bag of sun chips is a lot greater than any other bag of chips. First of all, it tastes good, second of all it’s healthier than other chips, third of all we are taking part in saving the world. Although the bag has a loud sound to it, I find this a differentiating factor. You will be curious into wondering why it is so loud, it will give a strong impression and a stronger curiousity. The only reason why I analyzed the bag so much and looked at the back of the bag was because it was so loud. Then the word of mouth begins and it spreads!

There is currently a growing popularity for online coupons. Some online sites are groupon.com, walletpop.com,coupons.com and etc. On these sites there are daily deals and all you have to do is print out the coupon. Emails are sent to address you of the daily specials so you do not have to go on the site itself, and the discount is usually 50% or more.  These emails are not spams, since they only send one per day because they only have one big deal per day and these are emails that you would look at because you can save a lot.  These coupons vary from categories of food, trips, clothing, spas, movie tickets etc. If you do not have plans for the day or is finding an affordable place for special occasions these are the sites to go.

This video talks about the popular coupon sites and how much you can save.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4853575n&tag=mncol;lst;10

With coupon sites like these, instead of having a stack of paper coupons that you do not need or do not even look at, we only carry the ones we need even before we go to the store. Coupons mean a lot more to us now and are used more often with these sites knowing that we are actually saving great amounts. From the video, we know that we don’t need to use color printers, regular printers will just be as good.

These sites are great for families, friends, and even couples. My brother and his girlfriend constantly goes onto these sites to find places for dinners and places to go during the weekend. A lot of the deals are for two such as dinners and movies. This way both of the people can save and includes more people into the deals also expanding its market and recognition.

In a current time poor society, online shopping poses a great benefit  in situtations when we have piles of work to do, tight schedules, or maybe even a broken down car. You can just be a click away from buying a birthday present, christmas present, valentines present, mother day’s present, or any special occasions. Reading from Ruth’s blog https://blogs.ubc.ca/ruthirmawidjaja/2011/01/27/e-shopping-trend/ online shopping is a huge trend at the moment. Everyone is doing it because of more discounts, sizes, and styles. Although many will say, but you will have to pay for shipping and shipping is quite expensive. Or they will ask, what if I don’t look good in it and I don’t fit it? Now companies have recognized the reasons behind  shoppers reluctancy to buy products online and have developed many strategies to reduce this attitude. They have come up with free shipping over certain amounts, or free shipping special days, and after purchase services such as returns and exchanges.

I myself is a supreme online shopper. I would search all categories from clothes, bags, accessories, technology, to dog clothing, dog toys and etc. Online stores provide all the information you need except for the fact that you can not try them. In addition now that shopping not only is local but you can buy products over seas at low prices and find the styles that you can not find or is very expensive in your country. Competition in markets are far more than just the local stores but online stores which are vast around the world. Therefore, to stay competitive you must either

1) Have fascinating styles and qualities

2) Also supply an online cite for local shoppers or global shoppers and develop a global brand.

All ages love costco. Why is this? The first people I encounter as I walk into Costco are greeters who give you coupon discounts, who wouldn’t like that? Costco provides a diversity of products and services: technology, food, jewellery, clothing, optical centers, make-up, bakery, photo center and etc.  Costco as a wholesale targets food businesses, because everything is in large packages at a low price, restaurant owners find this an excellent place to purchase inventory. That is why you would look at the shopping cart beside you and see five stacks of coke packages or a whole cart of bread loaves. This allows families of all ages, consumers of all genders, businesses of all types to purchase everything they need together at the lowest prices. However, one negative aspect of Costco is the crowdedness and the long line ups, but this is unlikely to affect a consumer because not very often is it a consumer lining up for fifteen minutes for one item, but instead for an overloading cart of items.

Since I was young and until now, my favorite part of Costco are the in-store demonstrations. The employees also do a wonderful job in  educating you with the advantages of the food,   how to cook it well, and to tell you the price and etc. This was very effective in persuading my parents to purchase the item. Therefore, not only do they entice us to buy the food but they make my shopping experience at Costco even greater,because who doesn’t like food? Lastly, by the time you are tired from shopping and would like to rest, there is a food area for you and your family to enjoy an icecream, burgers, poutines, pizzas, and more at low prices and great taste. By the time one exists Costco, they will always come back.

This is a nike and ipod shoe that acts as a perometer,. Lately we have been discussing about marketing mix: product, price,place, and promotion. This product measures the distance that a runner has  ran, provides suitable music, and records the runner’s progress online.

The product is a shoe with an ipod perometer  inside that vocally informs the runner of their progress  instead of reading their progress while running. In a running mode, there are driving tracks chosen to add an extra push indulging the runner in their motions. Lastly, this ipod can link to a site where runners can join groups and share their progress making running an interpersonal sport.

The price of this product is $29 but a specialized shoe is required of $100. Consumers may wonder, do they really need the shoe and is it really worth the price, when what they want is the pedometer itself. Nike could in response, change the shoe so that  it has enhanced features in appearance, comfortableness, studiness, and unique soles to make running more enjoyable. Alternatively,they could maybe increase the price of the pedometer and decrease the price of the shoe.

The place selling this shoe is in Nike stores where the company can expand into sport stores  that sell Nike such as sportchek, sportmart, and maybe even apple.  As for promotion, this product has been out for awhile now but it is not that popular. There needs to be increased advertising, posters, and having this nike+ipod shoe as a prize given for a draw? Both Nike and Apple are two very influential brands but must attract runners that trust and value both the brands. Some questions need to be answered. How could Apple attract runners?How could apple reach out to athletes? Maybe by using influential athletes in advertisements, sponsoring marathons and etc.

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