clarachi

I am quite sure many people are aware of the plasticizer scandal going on in Taiwan. As a Taiwan citizen, I feel ashamed about the manufacturers who are responsible because it is usually China that’s known for these type of scandals, and Taiwan hates being related to China as it claims to be an independent country. This scandal has made many Chinese people alert about Taiwanese made products. Last week, my friend told me that her mom threw away everything they owned that was made in Taiwan. I must admit that the scope of the affected products is so broad that almost everyone in Taiwan must have consumed at least one item that was contained plasticizer. And yes, that includes me because I go to Taiwan every summer. This summer though I will be extra careful…
One thing that Tivona didn’t mention is the impact of consuming plasticizer. Studies have found that plasticizer shrinks the size of a man’s genitals. In Taiwan, a mother who claimed to have consumed at least one drink from the tea shops during pregnancy, carries a 28 week baby boy who has “agenitalia only 0.2 cm long, less than the average newborn baby boy one-tenth the length of the genitals.” How unethical can manufacturers get?

China is notorious for their unethical products. In 2008, some retailers started selling live fish key chains at the marketplace. Despite the negative response for this product, there were still many consumers who were interested in it and bought it. They were told by the retailers that the fish would live for half a year inside the key chain. Really? Who would believe that? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised how ignorant people can be after the riot today in downtown. [Do they live in the wilderness or something? What uncivilized people! Or shall I say, animals?] Anyway, the fish inside can in fact only live up to 15 days if the consumer does not cut the key chain open and release the fish. How many consumers do you think will actually do that? If they had the conscience to buy such a product, I don’t know how good their morals could be.

Relating to the previous post I made, I want to discuss the brand, Sigma, that positions itself as an affordable brand which offers quality makeup brushes. There are many people who have an impression that it is a copycat brand of M.A.C, and some people will defend that statement. Yes, this time I am quite confident to say that it is a copycat brand  and I have reasons!

Sigma offers a variety of makeup brushes and accessories such as mirrors and makeup bags. When the brand first came out, they named their brushes with numbers exactly like M.AC. brushes. Moreover, they looked extremely similar. In the picture below, the top brush is called MAC 118, and the bottom brush is called SS118. They are both duo fibre brushes and they look almost exactly the same except the Sigma version is longer. The MAC 118 costs $34 USD while the SS118 costs $14 USD. However, does the low price convey poorer quality? There are numerous Youtube reviews because Sigma sends their brush sets to popular Youtube gurus to review their product. This is also why some people are well aware of biased opinions about the Sigma brushes on Youtube. Moreover, another one of Sigma’s marketing tactics is that they offer a discount code to popular makeup gurus or bloggers to share with their readers and subscribers. The truth is, the quality of Sigma brushes vary. Some measure up to M.A.C brushes quality but some are far very far off. Nevertheless, the cost of the brushes are worth their quality. A lot of the times it is true that you pay for what you get.

Sigma later launched other brushes that do not look like any of the M.A.C brushes. Some of them have great quality and are well worth for the low prices. Also, they changed their brush names. The SS188 is now called F55 (F stands for face). I’ve bought a few of their brushes but they are the less important ones. I must say I am quite satisfied with my purchase. Now that they are launching more products with their own designs, they are still in the growth stage of the product life cycle. 

Coach was found in 1941 and has expanded to over 400 stores in the United States and Canada today. They offer a variety of products with revenue generated from mainly handbags and accessories. Coach has become especially popular among teens in high school. This is because they position themselves as a luxury brand for consumers with medium income. In particular, the way they decorate their stores and design their bags convey the luxurious feeling and image of the brand. The first time I heard about this brand was perhaps two years ago. I remember the hype that was going around in my high school, many girls started buying Coach bags and bringing them to school. Everyone was like “I LOVE Coach!!” … However, I am not in one of Coach’s target segments. I personally detest the brand. Why? It’s simply because my impression of Coach is that it’s just a cheap “wannabe” high-end brand. I can’t say they use a copycat approach, but I personally see a noticeable similarity between the Coach purse and Gucci purse in the pictures I’ve attached. This is also why Coach bags give off the feel of a luxury product, because they remind me of actual high-end brands. I can’t remember when I started disliking the brand, maybe it’s when I started seeing so many people on the streets wearing it, especially young girls. Even though I see it everywhere, it’s not one of the products that trigger my desire to own one too. It’s just like the TNA track suits that were so popular back in high school. Everyone wore it like they were a school uniform. I hated it. All in all, the marketing mix of Coach bags really does not appeal to me at all. How special is it when so many young teens are wearing them around the streets?

External Post: http://goingglobal.corante.com/archives/2005/09/28/mcdonalds_scores_with_mcrice_burger.php

When I went to Taiwan a couple years ago I was totally fascinated with the McRice Burgers! Actually I’m always excited every summer when I go back to Hong Kong and Taiwan because they always come up with new products on the menu. Unlike Canada, the menu rarely changes. Boring!

McDonald’s uses geographic base and segments by countries. Moreover, they create line extensions that satisfy the compatibility factor so as to accelerate the rate of adoption in that particular country. For example, Taiwanese people are used to eating rice and there is a part of them that do not like hamburgers simply because they’re too westernized. This line extension of replacing buns with rice successfully connected with the local consumers, selling 5 million units of rice burger in the first six months. However, the major challenge of this product is to maintain the quality of the ricer burger because every employee cooks the rice differently. Some “rice buns” may look more deformed, some may be greasier and some may be more burnt. All in all, the rice transformation made the burger seem like a kind of Chinese food more than Western food.

In India, MacDonald’s launched the “BigSpicy Paneer Wrap,” which is a typical street food in India. In addition to the paneer wrap, the spicy aspect is also compatible with the Indian food culture.

In Hong Kong, McDonald’s launched the taro pie and red bean pie. Red bean definitely fits more into the Chinese culture than apple. In fact, red bean is a common favorite among Chinese adults, which includes me!

Every time I go back to China I’m excited to try the new desserts and other fascinating items on their menu. I can’t wait to go back this summer!

I’ve never heard of the Kellogg’s Special K 2 week challenge until yesterday when I watched a Taiwanese variety show. The trend in Asia is beauty = skinny! And being skinny in Asia, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, is different from North America. Taiwanese variety shows always discuss how celebrities try various unhealthy methods to lose weight. Some say “any methods you can think of, I’ve tried.” One of the most ridiculous methods I’ve heard was that one celebrity would starve for the entire day and eat around midnight when she got off work. Moreover, the kind of food she ate was deep fried whether it was vegetables or meat. Of course, they don’t encourage girls to lose weight that way, but the media always talks about losing weight.  

The girl in the picture is a Taiwanese singer/actress. Her figure is what Asians consider skinny and beautiful. Therefore, I’m not surprised when my friends tell me that they feel like they get unpleasant stares from people around them when they go to China. With this skinny trend going on in Asia, Kellogg’s took advantage of this opportunity and created the Special K Challenge. Their target segment is psychographic based, with variables being self-concept and life-style.

• Self-concept: people who have an ideal image of being skinny and beautiful
• lifestyle: people who live a healthy lifestyle

The Special K Challenge is eating two meals that consists of any Special K cereal, protein shakes or protein meal bars, one normal meal, two Special K snacks and unlimited servings of fruit and vegetables. They claim that one will see the results of weightloss in fourteen days. This challenge has become extremely popular in Taiwan in particular. There are many bloggers who keep track of their process and talk about their results. Moreover, different variety shows also recommend it for weightloss. Reviews of the product are mostly positive as their cereal is tasty, filling, nutritious and low-calorie.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/elainepoon/2011/05/19/not-%E2%80%98born-this-way%E2%80%99-but-%E2%80%98plan-this-way%E2%80%99/

There’s no doubt that Lady Gaga has become one of the most influential celebrities, who marketers seek to use as a reference group to influence consumer purchasing behavior. When I went to Hong Kong to visit my relatives last year, even my 13 year-old cousin was familiar with Lady Gaga and sang her songs at Karaoke. Personally I’m not affected by her advertisements because I’m not a fan of hers. However,  I’ve bought one product that she advertised for — MAC VIVA GLAM gaga lipstick. She has collaborated with M.A.C for two consecutive years and launched a pink “Gaga” lipstick and lipgloss in he first year, and a nude colored “Gaga” lipstick  and lipgloss this year. Initially it was the whole Lady Gaga campaign that stirred my curiosity, but I bought the lipstick because I liked the color. Nevertheless, all the revenue from M.A.C VIVA GLAM goes toward the M.A.C AIDS fund, which provides ‘shopaholics’  an excuse that  they are just making a donation and getting something in return. Even so, some consumers may actually be in the psychographic segment who value making donations.

What’s next? Starbucks Goes GAGA!
Lady Gaga has teamed up with Starbucks to launch an online scavenger hunt for Gaga’s fans with ticket prizes to her upcoming concert. This event not only helps her promote her new CD “Born This Way,” it also helps Starbucks increase its customer base because they are broadcasting exclusive Gaga videos at Starbucks.

Attitude
Cognitive – exclusive Lady Gaga videos at Starbucks; ticket prizes to Lady Gaga’s concert

Feel – satisfaction with Gaga’s music

Behavioral – Customers participate in scavenger hunt and watch Gaga videos at Starbucks, who will most likely make a purchase

There are many cosmetic stores in the market, but there is one that everyone knows about: Sephora. I remember back in high school, my friend was really excited about Sephora coming to Canada. On the other hand, I knew nothing about Sephora so there was nothing for me to get excited about. Nowadays, when people talk about make up shopping, the first store that usually comes up is Sephora. Sephora opened their first store in Vancouver at Pacific Centre in Downtown. With many existing cosmetic stores out there, how did Sephora manage to become so successful in Canada only in a couple of years?

Sephora’s success contributes to their exceptional customer service and product differentiation.  Sephora carries numerous brands, many of which are exclusive. These brands include Urban Decay, Tarte, and TEMPTU. Urban Decay launched a product last year that has become extremely popular, called the Naked Palette. Ever since it came out last year in June, it is still out of stock until today. The only way to gain access to it is to sign up for the waiting list. For a product like this, only Sephora can offer to customers. When it comes to customer service, I must agree that they do better than all the other cosmetic stores that I’ve been. They have a self-serve system which they surround different products with stations that provide cotton pads, make up remover and other tools that allow customers to try on any products they want. This self-serve function is something that Sephora does better than their competitors. There is one aspect that I absolutely get frustrated with some stores. I almost never ever shop at stores where the sales associates follow me wherever I go, as if I’m going to steal something. A lot of the times I just want to look around without any particular item in mind. However, sometimes they just insist in following me and comment on EVERYTHING I touch. One time it made me so angry that I just wanted to scold at her and stomp out of the store. Yes, I was that angry. I never encountered someone like her.

Sephora’s success is demonstrated in its expansion of two addition locations in Richmond Centre and Metrotown. I believe Sephora will continue to flourish with its competitive advantages in future years.

http://www1.shoppersdrugmart.ca/en/Shoppers-Optimum/All-Optimum-Offers/Gift-Card.aspx

I receive quite a few e-mails from Shoppers Drug Mart about their current promotions, but I do not unsubscribe to it like I did to other company’s newsletters because it is one of the places that I shop at the most. Its point reward system is amazing because you can earn up to $170 worth of points with a free Shoppers Optimum Rewards card. The Shoppers Optimum Rewards program has five point levels with the lowest being 8000 points, which his worth ten dollars. 8000 points means that you have to spend $800 in order to save $10 on the next purchase. Spending $800 at Shoppers is achievable but spending $1,700 to earn $170 worth of points seems impossible. Therefore, I wait for their special events, which is why I signed up for their newsletters. Even though they modified their point system last year so that it is harder to earn points, I still prefer to shop at Shoppers when possible. They have different promotions and they take place one after another. The most recent one is that you get a free Shoppers gift card when you spend $50 or more. For gift card promotions you do not need the optimum rewards card. I usually ignore these gift card promotions unless I am in desperate need of something because there are better promotions that give more value. So far, their best promotion is that you get $18,500 points when you spend $75. This is better than 20 times point event because with 20x points event, you only redeem 15,000 points for spending $75. Also, redeeming a gift card means that it would be impossible to accumulate optimum points to save more on the next purchase.  The optimum reward program is an effective strategy in retaining Shoppers’ customers.