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Black Friday Sales & Online Shopping – Marketing Blog

Last weekend was United State’s thanksgiving and the yearly ritual was for everyone to line up and shop on the Friday.  Black Friday is the name which the Philadelphia Police Department has given to the Friday following Thanksgiving Day because of all the traffic jams and over-crowded sidewalks that always occur on that day.

People have started to line up on the Thursday night for stores to open up on midnight because the products are sold on a first come first serve basis.

This year’s black Friday was not as exceptional as black Fridays’ that occurred in the mid-2000s.  It is hard to say that Black Friday was not a success because sales have risen from last year, but have not risen enough only by a 0.3 percent increase.  The small increase in sales is due to the fact that there was a heavy discount in stores at the beginning of November to provoke economic spending.  As a result, people to have less affordable cash to do shopping their shopping.

Another factor that has affected this year’s Black Friday sales is the recent online shopping trend.  This has become one of the greatest shopping trends in the world today.  Retail markets in the world, have taken this to account and have started online shopping services.  On black Friday, online merchants saw a 16 percent revenue spike, and on Thanksgiving Day, there was a solid increase of 33 percent of online spending spike.

Moreover, PayPal reported an increase of about 27 percent in payment volume on Black Friday compared with last year.  The eBay Inc, did not release its sales revenue for that weekend yet, but it can be imagined that sales has also increased.

Wow! The new apple advertisement for its new macbook air is unbelievable.  After watching it, I really wanted to get one.  The new macbook air comes in two different forms.  One is the regular 13” model which it had before and the new one is the 11” model.  The 11” is unbelievably light, weighing only 2.3 pounds but only has a 1.6 GHz.  The 13” model has made its improvements.  It now comes with two USB ports which is absolutely stunning for such a thin laptop which only weighs 2.9 pounds.

Check out the video everybody!! This gadget is ridiculously magnificent.

It is crucial to know consumers’ price sensitivities when setting up the price of one particular product. Price is the consumers’ perceived cost, such as money and cost. Marketing strategies should be made according to the price sensitivity and products perceived differences.

The model above is helpful when you choose the marketing strategy.

• A commodity strategy : Efforts should be exerted to increase the firm’s market share thereby lowering marginal costs.
• A transitional strategy : Emphasize the quality of your product, but be ready to respond to competitor product improvements that attract customers
• A hybrid strategy : You should avoid price wars and talk quality.
• A specialty strategy : You should initiate or continue efforts to differentiate your offering.

Have you ever been bothered by the loud music in store or restaurant? Today my friend and I went to a restaurant.  The music was too loud there. It is hard for us to talk with each other. So we finished as soon as possible, and went to a desert place, where played the soft music. We stayed in the desert place for much longer time, even we just had one piece of cheesecake.

Is there a relationship between the volume and type of music with consumer behavior? Yes,there is!!!

Research indicates that music volume negatively affects shopping time. “Sale per minutes are much higher when music is played loudly than with soft background music.”

If you are the boss of the store, and your store is small and crowed, will you turn up the music and rush your costumers? I think there is a risk. If consumers shop and leave quickly, the customer turnover may be large, you may get more customers served. But there is a doubt whether the customer loyalty is high in this condition. If the customer is bothered by the loud music, will they come back and shop again? Make the decision wise.

A lot of people today own an apple product, whether it is an iPod, Mac, iPhone or even the latest gadget, the IPAD!  Apple has become a consumer technology dominator in almost every market.  Its iPhone, for example, is the most commonly used smartphone in the world! They have such dominance in the smartphone market which even the giant computer software company, Microsoft, envies their success.

It is said that Microsoft is coming out with its new Microsoft 7 Phone OS system that will rival the iPhone.  Rumour even has it that Microsoft is trying to acquire Adobe in order to improve their system so that their plan on defeating iPhone will be a success.  However, it is also true that Microsoft has already lagged behind in this smartphone industry.  Companies such as Google and RIM, which produces the Android and the Blackberry OS respectively, has already taken a share of this market.

If u want to know more about this, read it:

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/microsoft-and-adobe-chiefs-meet-to-discuss-partnerships/?ref=technology

Chanel was one of the first to create a fashion application for Apple mobile. Apple mobile device users can download the Chanel application at the Apple store for free. They are able to easily enjoy pictures, runway videos, and the entire Chanel Collection by clicking on the Chanel application on their iPhone, iPod or iPad. There is no doubt that Chanel’s application strategies identify with its fashion icon image and improve the brand’s exposure. As the one of first fashion applications, the Chanel application has drawn enormous attention and been selected as one of the best 1000 applications . Based on the user review ratings, most users favor this application, especially Chanel fans.

Other fashion brands such as Gucci, BOSS and Ralph Lauren have already created their Apple applications as well. More functions are now available in fashion applications. Users are also able to get the latest brand and fashion trend news and also download pictures though these applications.

It is not difficult to build an application for the Apple mobile platform. Brand name is able to outsource application development to AdMob, one of the largest application developers. However, the larger challenge is promoting the  application among 6.5 billion other applications and retaining long-term user loyalty. It is not wise to only follow or copy other corparations’ strategies. Novelty and multifunction are crucial elements to being the best. Besides the runway video, brand news and fashion trends, more interactive features seem to be necessary. For instance, a review and rate function would allow application users to rate the  collection. Implementation of this feature will help brand name to collect feedback from consumers, and will also involve consumers in the collection’s design. Another feature that could help the application stand out is a pre-order function that allows consumers to pre-order their preferred products with the local retailer through the application. This feature will increase the frequency that consumers check their brand name application and, in doing so, improve brand awareness.

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There is a big good news for UGG and Jimmy Choo fans. UGG and Jimmy Choo collaboration will be introduced in October. The limited-ediction collection provides both best designers. Will Jimmy Choo make UGG more hot and fashionable? There is still a question. However, it is no doubt that their collaboration has drawn great attention. The design is pretty cool, but the price seems not to be reasonable. Will you buy a $795 UGG? Or will u give up the hot high-heel and buy UGG because of it is designed by Jimmy Choo?