A short while ago I attended Whistler’s annual Turkey Sale, a massive ski and snowboard sale with supposedly great discounted prices held on Thanksgiving weekend. As I pushed through crowds and waited in lineups, my business-oriented mind couldn’t help but critique several of the profit based flaws I was observing. What better way to share this grief, then through my blog? So, Here are a few of my observations of a Turkey:

1. Huge lineups to get into a relatively small space. Lining up early and rushing in to find the best deals may be part of the fun, but only for the first hours of the sale. After that, normal people want to be able to go in, take there time finding the raddest and best fitting pair of pants for a reasonable price, while having the space to do so.

The Turkey sale experience: rushed and crushed by all the people and product surrounding you.

Here, all I could see was lost opportunity for all the people walking away simply because of endless lineups to get in, to try on, and to buy the products themselves. Even with these conditions the sale is still very successful, but I can imagine the possibilities beyond if they expanded into a larger, more compatible space.

2.Far too much reliance on the computer for important sales. Usually, I can go into Whistler guest relations, take my picture, and buy my season’s pass; it’s simple and effective. However, this year the only place to buy the student pass was online. Lo and behold, as I have experienced before, is a faulty system, wasting hours my time just trying to buy a pass. Luckily for them, I love skiing so much I will spend whatever amount it takes to get my pass. But for many, I see this just being a frustrating bump that would stop consumers from buying a product online, and thus not at all. Again, a flaw that leads to money just walking away.

3. Lastly, I noticed the Salomon store: currently under renovations. Could there have been a worse time? Here you have one of the busiest buying weekends before ski season booms, and one of the most popular stores, but no one is able to buy anything.

I  will still be an avid attendee of the Turkey Sale, looking for all the extreme sports toys I already have. But you won’t find me standing endlessly in the lineups; I’ll be up on top of the mountains observing as the little turkey’s run around below.

Mallomars – Chocolate covered marshmallow treats manufactured entirely in Canada, although most Canadians have probably never heard of them. Sold exclusively in the United States, the brand presents an interesting selling concept similar to Cadbury’s Easter Mini Eggs: the treats are sold only from from September to March during the colder weather. Originally, such limited cookie sales were due to technology restrictions, with warm weather leaving consumers covered in melted chocolate. Yet now, even with new possibilities, the brand upholds its differentiation by keeping its selling dates unique and highly looked forward to.

Such a concept interests me, what could be the benefits of having these limited sale options compared to just keeping them on the shelves all year? How exactly is this profitably feasible for the company?

Using Porter’s Generic Strategy Table, at least part of these questions can be revealed. The product can be categorized by its uniqueness and narrow market into the focus strategy of differentiation. With this, it has the potential to be sold at a higher value because of an increased specific consumer desire as well as a better, more focused on product.

As well, an assumption could be made that they are produced in Canada but only sold in the U.S. because of smaller production costs and popularity. This directly benefits Canadians as there is greater opportunity for employment, but it would be interesting to figure out how they employ staff for extra production during the Mallomar season.

Unfortunately for us up north, our disadvantage is that if were lying on the beach mid summer craving one of these sticky treats, we will just have to settle for a Canadian Nanaimo bar instead.