Month: November 2010

After reading through Abriel Chan’s blog (https://blogs.ubc.ca/abriel/), it made me wonder about KFC’s overall reputation. KFC use to be very popular but recently, many stores are closing down because they don’t get enough sales. They aren’t developing strong loyal relationships with customers and therefore have trouble remaining open. I love KFC’s popcorn chicken because you can’t really get it anywhere else, but their prices are quite expensive. Compared to McDonalds, KFC doesn’t hold a sustainable competitive advantage in the fast food market. I know for a fact that in the states, Popeye’s (a fast food fried chicken restaurant), is one of the most popular places to eat at. I completely agree too because when I went to San Francisco – I loved it!

All fast food joints will have problems related to what is in their food. But most loyal customers don’t mind because they continue to consume on a regular basis. I agree with what Abriel said – that it could be the situation the 2 year old was in, but it also portrays the kinds standards KFC has. I already thought that KFC was going downhill so the incident doesn’t really bother me.

What I really wanted to talk about was the DOUBLE DOWN. Newly introduced by KFC. Here’s a link to a blog about what to eat and what not to eat: http://eatthis.womenshealthmag.com/blog/kfc-double-down-update-double-downer.

Check out their description of the Double Down.

“My stomach began to feel like a brick. I wanted to quit after a few bites but I soldiered on, ignoring my increasingly intense stomach pain. The Double Down did to my gastrointestinal system what Sherman did to the South, leaving a scorched-earth trail of destruction in its wake. After the initial flavor burst of herbs and spices faded, I was left with a series of stomach-turning pairings, the most horrifying being really bad pepper-jack cheese—school-lunch cheap and school-lunch nasty—and odious bacon.”

I personally have not tried the double down yet, but my younger brother has. He was very excited to head downtown to try out this new “sandwich”. When he came back he didn’t say very much. I asked him how the double down was, and he said his stomach hurt afterwards and he felt really disgusting inside. He said it was the fattiest food he has ever eaten and it didn’t digest well in his stomach.

I suppose what my brother had quite the similar experience as  the blog site stated.  With such great advertising and success in causing a hype for this new product, it really does cause an upset stomach.

Let me know if you’ve tried the Double Down and how your stomach digested it! 😀

As I was watching TV, the Merry Pringles commercial comes on and it immediately catches my attention.

Here it is:

I absolutely love this commercial because of the music, the colours, and the positive energy it gives off. Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year because it’s so festive and joyful. The music in this commercial instantly reminds me of Christmas. Without even having to think twice, I can tell already that it is near this time of the year. When the pringles fly through the air and someone picks one and eats it. The “crunch” noise gives me a tingly feeling inside and it makes me feel happy. It’s quite a quirky noise, but it’s catchy and it happens  3  – 4 times during the commercial. The commercial carries a beat in the background that really makes the commercial more interesting to watch.

I get a very positive, happy, vibe from this commercial but I don’t really think about the product itself. I like Pringles and everything, but this ad didn’t force me to feel like that I need to go buy some now. The ad makes me correlate positive feelings and Pringles. Because, now whenever I think about it, I ask my friends, “Did you see the Pringle’s Commercial?” — Raising more awareness to the product itself. The Christmas joy also connects Pringles to a happy time of the year. This demonstrates what we talked about a few classes ago, how companies can cause their customers to have certain feelings and then always correlate those feelings towards the product.

I went to Best Buy on Cambie Street the other day to buy a lap top case. As I walked in, I was looking for the giant sign that said “Computers”, which should be hanging from the ceiling. I look around and finally see it. I walk over towards the many aisles and walk through them all. I finally find the area marked Lap top accessories. I go straight to the 13inch lap top cases and contemplate about which one I really wanted and which one valued the most to me. I compared the prices and the qualities of each case, but ended up asking a sales person about which one they would recommend. Once I grabbed the lap top case that I wanted, I walked towards the check out aisle.

On my way out, I remembered that I wanted to look at the Ipods. I looked up again towards the ceiling for a sign that would lead me towards Mp3’s and such. I looked up at the signs and saw  “Cell Phones and Ipods”. I was really surprised to see that a section was labelled Ipods and not something more broad. It just shows that Ipods have taken up such a large part of the market, and therefore can hold its own section. I assume that Best Buy knows that Ipods make up a large chunk of their sales, and therefore they put a sign on its own for the convenience of their customers. Automatically, customers will know the exact location of where they can find this popular product.

This relates to the second definition of merchandising. We learned in class that the organization of the way products are displayed is part of promotion. Best Buy’s category signs are labelled specifically and hung a certain way to attract customers. The were probably set at a certain height that they figured consumers would best react to.

Meinhardt is a high-end organic grocery store, similar to Choices and Capers. Meinhardts has two locations, one on South Granville and one on 16th and Arbutus. I work at the one on South Granville. The location of this store is in the heart of many shops. The shops range from shoppers drug mart to William Sonoma to American Apparel. The neighbourhood is quite busy and there is a consistent flow of customers that shop along the streets. Meinhardt is a small local grocery store, but they sell products that are of “high-quality” and rare to find at competing stores. Certain products are imported in and cannot be found anywhere else. Customers make the effort to go to Meinhardt just to find specific items.

In my opinion, Meinhardt prices are much higher than Safeway or Superstore. The atmosphere of Meinhardt stores is more elegant and luxurious. The soothing music, warming environment, and the smell of baked goods bring in customers that live nearby. They exhibit qualities of premium pricing. Premium pricing means that firm deliberately prices a product above the prices set for competing products to capture those customers who always shop for the best or for whom price does not matter. Customers at Meinhardts know that the prices are expensive compared to Superstore, but they still shop there because of how they value their products and services. Meinhardt is somewhat like a brand. Many customers that I help mention that the prices are very expensive, yet I see them come in the store every day. The customers may keep coming back because of the location and convenience of the store, but majority are there because they are loyal to the brand and Meinhardt’s represents a certain status or class.

While working at Meinhardt, for an entire week, we gave out free discount cards to customers. Customers responded in many different ways. Some who purchased a lot declined the discount card because they either didn’t care, or they thought there are other costs involved. Some customers responded with “it’s about time they did something like this”. It seemed to me as though the customers were reluctant to shop there but they continued to on a regular basis. And then when Meinhardts introduced this new discount card, the customers were more inclined to shop there. I think it was a very smart marketing strategy.

I found it quite interesting to see how customers reacted to promotions in the store and the newly introduced discount cards. Also, Meinhardt just began giving out cookie samples and they are testing to see how effective having cookie samples are in relation to their sales. I heard some customers say “ I deserve a cookie sample for the amount of money I spend here.” I get a lot of mixed feelings towards different aspects of the store. I pay much more attention to what goes on around me in the store in terms of supply chain, management and promotions.

Buy one get one half price. Everything under $10. Everything 50% off. Spend $50+ and get a free gift.

I have always been attracted to big bright signs on the windows of my favourite shops saying, “Buy one get one free” or “Buy one get the second for half price”. I use to feel that these promotions were very good deals because I would gain more for the amount that I have to give up. I felt that I had more consumer surplus over the producer surplus and thus therefore must be happier because of my discounted purchase. These promotions somehow always resulted in me purchasing more than I intended to from the start.

This was around five years ago, I was shopping for Christmas presents at Metrotown by myself. I went into Ardene’s to buy my little sister a pair of earrings. I walked into the store and they had promotions EVERYWHERE and the prices were quite low. I knew the quality of the products weren’t that great, but I was young and I had no money, so I decided to shop there anyways.

I remember going to Ardene’s with my mom when I was even younger, and they had these surprise packs. Inside the surprise packs were a variety of different accessories. The surprise packs were priced at two for five dollars. How could I turn down such a great deal? Over a few occasions, I received or bought more and more of these “surprise packs” and accumulated more accessories. I soon realized that I had a full shoe box worth of these accessories and maybe used one out of the twenty. Thinking back now, I realized that I wanted the surprise pack for two reasons. It was a surprise and you paid $2.50 for a bunch of items that totaled to $15 (I added up all the individual prices of each item).

Anyways, so I was looking through the unlimited choices of earrings and accessories and I finally picked out a set that I liked. I brought it to counter and the total was $14. Immediately the lady says “If you pick out one more pair, you’ll get one pair for half price!” I thought to myself, I guess that makes sense — I’ll go pick out another set. So I looked around for a little longer and then come back with another set. When I finished making the purchase, my receipt said $21. I thought to myself again, I didn’t really want the new set, why did I buy it? I ended up spending $21 compared to $14.I just picked out any pair because it was a “good deal”.

From that day on, before I make any decisions involving promotions, I ask myself, “Do I really need the second one or that extra unit or something?” Even though I am gaining more for what I give up, I end up spending more than I would originally spend. Long story short, promotions can get inside your head and are intentionally there to get you to spend more.

Busy Weekend. Halloween Fun.

Back to Marketing Reality.

A few classes ago, we began the discussion on the first “p”, product. I use to always think that a product was either a good or service because that was the way we were taught way back when concepts had to be simple. Tamar mentioned that anytime she says the word “product”, she could also be referring to things that are intangible, such as a new ideas and political aspects.

As I stand at the check-out counter at Meinhardts Grocery Store, I think about how being a cashier covers the four aspects of a service.

Intangible – The service I provide as a cashier is to scan the items being purchased and complete the payment transaction. For example, swipe the credit or debit card, or receive cash and give back the correct change. As my job is categorized as a customer service job, it is intangible. Intangible is a characteristic of a service; it cannot be touched, tasted, or seen like a pure product can. Because I am serving customers and assisting them in their procedure to purchase groceries, I am a service and my service cannot be physically touched or purchased in any way.

Variable – At the moment, all purchases must be made by cashiers and therefore by humans. Recently, a few Safeway’s have implemented self-checkout counters. But at Meinhardts, we currently still have person to person customer service. The more humans are needed to provide a service, the more likely there is to be variability. Variability is a quality that may vary because it is provided by customers. Everyone is different and everyone displays different levels of customer service. It can depend on your mood, attitude, on the situation, etc. With customer service, if things go wrong, it’s too late to change it. For the most part, I give excellent customer service, although I have a few days on the tired and gloomy side. Everyone is allowed to have a bad day once in a while.  

Inseparable – As a cashier, the customers bring all the items they want to the check-out and I process the order and receive payment. Therefore, the consumption of the goods is present and the service needed to complete the process is present. Inseparable is another characteristic of a service; it is produced and consumed at the same time, that is service and consumption are inseparable.

Perishable – As I deal with the same or different customers, I can never store my service for another day. I’m either there helping customers, or I’m not. Perishable means that the service cannot be stored for future use. Customer service is more of an on-the-spot kind of thing. We immediately respond to the situation and react with the appropriate response. We are there to help make your visit more pleasant and satisfy all the needs of the customers at the moment.

After a busy day at work, I know I’ve got marketing stuck in my head!