Category: Weekly Posts

Last Friday, Apple held an online sales promotion, named Black Friday Sales for all its products which averaged out to a discount of approximately 8%.

It was one of the few sales promotions that Apple carried out each year. This is considered one of its very effective strategy as Apple realises the pros and cons of carrying out sales promotions. It takes into consideration the impact of the discounts to its current and future customers.

It is critical for Apple to care about the thoughts of its current customers in specific as it is building up its strong and loyal consumer base. In the war against PCs, Apple strives to maintain its prestige as a higher end products but with a reachable price range. It totally masters the psychology of its consumers that its consumers are more than willing to pay a higher price to get a PC than to get a Mac.

Apple does not provide a high discount on its products worldwide as they aim to minimize the post purchase dissonance of its customers who just bought its products just before its sales. A relatively low discount and a relatively short period sales make the current users feel good as they cannot save a lot from waiting till the sales period to buy the products. For the consumers who consider buying Apple’s product before the discounts, they act fast so that they would not miss the sales as it is very rare for Apple’s products. They are offered special incentives which is cash in this case, that facilitate their speed buying decision.

Its sales strategy is very effective and thoughtful as it works well to maintain its status and its sales. Frankly speaking, most of the consumers using Apple’s products are not really price sensitive. The demand is relatively more inelastic in this case. Apple is aware of the fact and that it develops plenty of sales strategies that works best for all customers.

As a result, Apple is able to not affect its long run benefit as it won’t allow its customers to stock pile their products. It can then carry out sales promotions that results in higher marginal benefit. All these thoughtful marketing strategies help to push  its image and position ahead of other competitors in the field.

As a future marketer, I need to be exposed to and know lots and lots of new, creative ideas that appear in the market nowadays which can contribute to my future success. Thus, creative advertisements are part of the tools that will be critical in my career.

As I was looking at some marketing blogs, I saw an interesting Youtube video of the opening ceremony of H&M store in Amsterdam last Monday.

Wow, it was pretty amazing! I was impressed by the power of technology. They chose to adopt the 3D projections together with music during the opening of their flagship store that the 3D effect looked so real and impressive. The building acted as a screen to be projected on and that the people passing by the store will be deeply attracted to stop and  little did they know, they realized the existence of the store.

This is actually the first step to advertising, to catch the attentions and raise awareness of the public. The opening ceremony did very well as it served as selective demand orientated advertisement. At the end of the show, they showed the clothes being unbuttoned from the building that built a strong connection in the mind of the public regarding the products that they are retailing. For some people, who are their previous customers, the opening ceremony acted as a reminder advertising that will help boost up their sales as it facilitates repurchases.

The video shows how strategic H&M is in competing in the fashion industry that they need to and they are able to be ahead of the trend which can be shown in the way they organized their opening ceremony.

This week lectures focused on the place (distribution) part of the marketing mix.

The first though that popped up in my mind was the brand, Dell. Dell is doing so well in their supply chain management that they are able to be the world’s third largest supplier of personal computers.

Dell has an effective distribution strategy that they can perform business-to-business transactions as well as business-to-consumer transactions that boost up their sales in this highly competitive market. In selecting specific channel to secure and expand its business, Dell took into consideration the product factors that particularly focuses on the need to customize and exclusivity. They thus allow the customers to mix and match the parts online their PCs.

However, the modern strategy failed to address the market factors of customer expectations that they would want to have physical outlets to create a sense of security in their products. The importance of integration of the online and offline marketing strategy was well notified in Ben Bartlett’s blog post. He criticized Dell’s strategy of only focus on developing strong web presence and failed to fulfill customers’ expectations. In addition to that, he reflected the limitations of online business and revealed the fact that 92% of internet searchers end up purchasing offline.

To be honest, what Ben said is very true and that Dell has started to open up showrooms in certain selected places to remain competitive in business. With their current effective marketing channel, they still strive to expand its business both sales and models. In this way, they can facilitate the purchase decisions of their customers that contribute to their overall success. Now, the customers have the choice of either ordering and customizing their PCs online or to make a purchase at the store with standard specifications of their PCs. This in return secures Dell’s competitive advantage of having an excellent distribution channel.

I have always been in love with the Mercedes Benz. I like the brand as they symbolizes prestige and wealth. From time to time, I look at the reviews regarding their products in specific, the C-Class. The C-Class represents the compact executive car or for us as customers, it is the entry-level offering by Mercedes.

The review that I read, from The Car Connection, wrote quite an honest and unbiased review about the C-Class.

In the review, the first thing that they look at is the price. According to the review, the price of C-Class is in line with its rival sedans in the same category that includes the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4. The review looks at the worthiness  of the car in the aspects of features, performance, design and safety. To be honest,  the review of C-Class falls short of my expectations that its performance is relatively less impressive when compared with its rivals.

Nonetheless, why Mercedes still wants to charge a price which is as high as its rival and high when compared with the other regular brands? The intention is clear here, Mercedes Benz obviously adopted the customer-orientated pricing strategy which set a premium price to target a segment of consumers who highly value the benefit of the product. As the leader in the luxury automobiles category, Mercedes Benz understand their positions well that they focus on high end product with high price range in order maintain their reputation and image. Most of their customers are loyal to their brand that they only consider the different models of Mercedes when they shop for cars. In the pricing of the C-Class, perceived value plays a vital role in making sure that the product receives good feed backs from the customers. Once the consumers perceive the value, then purchasing decision will occur shortly after that.

As I was looking through the blogs in our section, I got caught up by my group mate, Liam’s post that surrounds the theme of brand = trust.

After reading his post on Nestle, unconsciously I found myself looking through the different product categories in the product lines and chose those that I have tried before. Just like Liam, I’m quite familiar with Nestle as their ice-creams and Kit-Kat are so popular globally. Although Nestle only offer certain stock keeping units in my home country, their success in the ice-cream and chocolate bars market has helped to build a firm customer base  as well as the trust developed towards the brand.

I totally see the point that line extension and brand extension are useful in the differentiation process. However, in comparison, I think brand extension is a more persuasive tool in speeding up the buying decisions of consumers. The presence of the brand, Nestle on whichever products that they are retailing is the key point to getting the deal done in speed of seconds.

In this case, Nestle has developed depth in its product line of chocolate bars, which include Aero, Big Turk, Coffee Crisp, Kit-Kat, Turtles, Rolo, Mack Toffee and Smarties. In all the products mentioned, Nestle has their brand printed on the packaging which utilize the trust of consumers towards their brand. In marketing and advertising, I think this is an effective approach in maximizing the chances of success in selling the products. Customers will not be reluctant to try a different stock keeping units since they are under the same brand.

Their marketing strategy is clear; they want to have big market share and huge volume generated under the name of Nestle. They stand a position in my evoked set while shopping for food. I bought their ice cream, Carnation chocolate drink, Kit Kat,Smarties, Nescafe and my favourite drink, Milo. One of the most salient reasons of me purchasing the products is that they are all Nestle’s products and it must be good. They have earned my trust in this case. Like what the textbook mentioned, brands facilitate purchasing and establish loyalty besides reduce marketing costs.

As the organizer of the competition, I would like to introduce the top three finalists.

As the organizer and the judge, I will evaluate based on the values and benefits of the products, their pricing strategy, promotions and distributions. In short, those are their marketing mix.

Based on the product perspective, they have done well in their branding strategy that they can impact the market value which directly affects their prices. However, Sony Vaio and Macbook have created strong perceived value, brand awareness and  brand associations that link to their laptops. Macbook introduces their Macbook Pro that associates prestige and high quality to the laptop. Their logo successfully attracts the attention of consumers and position their products ahead of the trend. To compete with Macbook, Sony Vaio E series adopt a different approach to appeal to the market. E series offer a wide variety of colours to allow the consumers to stand out while using their products. Their designs are parallel with their slogan of “Stand-Out Style”. When compared with these two brands, Dell appeared to not do enough in its product design part. The new Dell XPS seems to offer the best features out of the three brands but guess what, like what Professor Tamar said, “Consumers do not based their buying decisions mainly on features.” With that said, the overall perceived value of the product conquers the overall buying decision.

On the other hand, on the pricing side, Dell has done the best job. They offer the most reasonable prices for the consumers who are made up by 80% students. Most of the students have limited budget o spend on durable items. Thus with this price, it will lead the consumers to based their decisions on decision heuristic. In this segment, Sony Vaio and Macbook suddenly loses it competitiveness.

In the promotions and distribution aspects, three if these brands have done a fairly good job in attracting their customers. Their offer free delivery on online purchases, and also free antivirus softwares that last for a year. Except for Dell that only operates online only,  Sony Vaio has their Sony Style and Macbook has their Apple stores across Canada besides online stores. That creates a lot of convenience for the consumers who want to try the product before buying to ultimately minimize postpurchase dissonance.

After going through the marketing mix, based on the higher weight placed on the product part followed by the price, promotions and distribution, Sony Vaio E series, particularly the green one, defeats the Macbook Pro and the new Dell XPS by few points difference. Therefore, I’m proud to announce that the new Mr Laptop is the Sony Vaio E series (Green).

How do car manufacturers position their products in the market? Where they put their dots on the positioning map?

Out of curious, I went on to google images to search for images of positioning maps of cars and above were what I found. In this post, I want to specially position some different brands and models of cars. The brands that I’m interested include Mercedes Benz (My favourite brand), BMW, Audi, Toyota, Honda and Nissan. I guess they are few of the most popular brands of car in the world.

In all these six brands, they divide or position their models of their sedans into three significant category that are determined by the size, comfortable level, price, quality, and status that their cars represent.

Mercedes Benz: C-Class, E-Class, and S-Class

BMW: 3 Series, 5 Series, and 7 Series

Audi: A4, A6, A8

Toyota: Yaris, Altis and  Camry

Honda: Fit, Civic and Accord

Nissan: Sentra, Altima and Maxima

For all the brands, I have ranked them in ascending way based on the size, comfortable level, price, quality, and status of the specific models. All of the brands positioning their products in 3 main categories. This act aims to target the different segments of consumers across Canada. The below average class consumers, middle class consumers and finally high class consumers. However, Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi seem to be targeting the below average, middle and high class people in the rich people category as their prices are at least 50% above the prices of normal cars. The Japanese brands on the other hand, target the different income level of consumers in the middle to above middles classes of consumers.

This makes the purchase decision of different classes of consumers easier as they only consider the alternatives that they can afford. However, this positioning strategy makes the models in the middle sell more as most of the consumers neither want to have the best or the worst. They are trained to choose the ones on the middle. This scenario is well understand by most of the firms who supply consumer goods. To make their sales better and have a higher market share, they usually set the price in the middle especially the new players in the market. As time passes, and once they build up a stronger consumer base, they tend to position themselves at the higher end of the sector. This is important in creating larger economic profit. So, where you want to position your products?

Marketing of banks

Marketing of Banks

I read my friend, Xiang Rong’s blog and would like to extend his topic of banks’ marketing as I had became one of TD Trust’s customers after they offered the promotion of “Free Money” of $50. It was interesting and attractive to me as I’m a realistic customer.

As promotion is a tool to convey the value of product and services to the consumers, the “Free Money” is an effective tool to attract a large number of university students who are going to be out in the market in few years time. The promotion works well to anchor future potential customers who will be depositing maybe millions of dollars to their selected or favorite bank.

Once the students are finished with studying they go on to work, they will need more services from the bank. As more customers accepted the promotion, they will start using the bank’s services and they might get attracted by the quality of services of the bank. For me, I personally like their operating hours which closes at 8pm. This means that workers who finish their work at 5pm do not  need to worry that no bank will be open to serve them.

What they expect for is that students who accepted the offer will turn to be their lifetime customers who will develop brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is so powerful in the marketing world as it can strengthen the consumer base and increase the market share to be one of largest financial institutions. So, this is just their way to invest on us to create  huge potential returns in the future. But, I don’t mind because I want my “Free Money”. :->

Hi guys,

Do you want to be rich? If you are not interested in being rich, ignore this post. However, I believe most people want to be rich, not only rich but filthy rich.

The question arises now, ” How can you be rich?” Come on guys this is already 21st century, lottery companies are the answer to your questions. Their products are intangible which is HOPE. Their marketing strategy is to make everyone dreams of being rich without putting any effort. Luck is all you need. It may seems ridiculous but for some people, they believe in the theory of free lunch.

Lottery companies like LottoMax in Canada, are very successful as over the years, they have attracted a wide range of customers. They are able to market their products, and create a huge crowd of regular customers who are willing buy their marvelous product, hope. Lottery companies are very powerful as they do not need any factor that develops customer loyalty but yet they have done it so easily. They are considered very special industry which can be successful without the role of marketing.

Therefore, to everyone out there, if you want to be successful  or be rich, you can consider the lottery industry. (Just joking.)

What are you looking for in a packet of chips? Chips of course. Nowadays, the market is full of competitions in which there are lots of different brands which provide the similar kind of products. For this case, you can buy either Lays, or any other brands. But what differentiates them? Is it packaging, price, or is it taste?

In food business, what is more important to create loyal customer base is not merely good marketing, but it is the quality of food, which is mainly the taste. A special taste that is highly acceptable will attract huge number of consumers and then help to establish a huge crowd of regular customers. It’s one of the sustainable competitive advantages that will secure the success of a food company.

Old Dutch’s design or packaging may not be very classy or perfect but every time when my friends and I go for shopping, we will grab a packet of Old Ducth Sour Cream and Green Onion chips each from the shelves to enjoy it at home. We are very loyal customers who never consider what other companies provide. We all agree that the reason is that the taste offered by Old Dutch is definitely the best one as it suits us very well. In deciding whether to buy or not, the price, packaging are not really being considered. The only question is, “To buy or not to not buy?” The special taste has attracted us and makes us so addicted that it changes from a want to a need.

Therefore, in order to be successful in food industry, company needs to be very sensitive in determining the taste of a product besides the ingredients used and price. Because, once the customers are attracted and addicted to the taste, they will demand for the product in increasing volume and more frequently that will help to boost the sales revenue of the company. However, if they are not attracted by the taste then it will be difficult for the company to compete in the market.

In short, tackle the desire of the consumers and that any company can succeed in the world of business regardless of the number of competitors in the market.