Month: November 2010

I came across Brian Solis’s blog about the power of having advocates.

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/10/the-business-case-for-facebook-your-homepage-for-the-social-web/

Studies how that customers who follow or become a friend with a particular company through social media are more likely to recommend the the company to friends and family.  Companies motivate consumers to join their social network by giving these “now members” exclusive promotions and discounts. With the power of social media companies can create their memberships and community like environment where consumers feel like they are important and there leads to consumers being advocates.

Last night I had to shop for some personal hygiene products and I decided to go to Shoppers Drug Mart. It was close by and it was one of the only stores open pass 11pm. As I was going throught the prices for different hairgels and bodywashes I noticed that the Dove bodywash brand that I always used was $2 off. What I didn’t know was that I had to have a Shopper’s card.  I didnt have one and I didnt want to spend time appling for one. 

Almost every other product had a discounted price if you had a Shoppers Card.  I could definately tell that Shoppers was trying to do two things

1. Have a data base for customer’s shopping habits for market research

2. Creating customer loyalty by rewarding customers with points and discounts for having the card.

It was very fustrating not having a card. I wish that Shoppers was like Safeway where you just give them your phone number and never have to carry the card with you.

This week in Marketing class we learned about pricing strategy.  Ever since I was old enough to learn how to use money I always made my buying decisions based on price. I always wanted the best so to find out which product was the best I always choose to buy the most expensive product. I’m not the only person who does this but many others in the world think exactly the same way as I do. For example, car dealerships such as Lamborghini and Ferrari know that if they price there cars higher it will not lose demand. They are pricing to target people who want the best. Lowering the price will only take away from the value and prestige therefore they keep their prices high.  Some people may disagree such as the people who wrote this article:http://www.sub5zero.com/auto-news/top-10-overpriced-supercars-cheaper-alternatives-part-ii

They claim that these cars are OVERPRICED. These supercars are priced so high because attact buyers who want the prestige of being one of the only few people who can afford them.

Having a high price is actually what buyers want.

Hi everyone,

I woke up one morning and was rushing to look for a snack to bring to school and I found this!

Its no ordinary banana. Its REPACKAGED and targets a whole new segment.  Relating to our class last week, we know that banana are in the MATURE product phase of the cycle. What does has done here by packaging the banana is MARKET DEVLOPEMENT. Dole is trying to expand their markets by reaching consumers who want to have easy to take snacks. Dole is not competing not only with other fruits but other direct substitutes such as graloa bars and canada easy to go snacks. Utimately, the demand for the banana product itself is not growing and one of the only ways to increase sales would be to perform market devlopment.

Now I dont know if i could ever go back to eating banana’s if they are unpackaged.