Monthly Archives: December 2011

The distribution strategy as stated in class is to get “the right product to the right place at the right time”. These words are much easier said then done. Companies are spending millions of dollars to make sure that they know a close approximation as to how many units will be sold so that they will know how many to produce, and then spend more money on market analysis to know where to sell the product will help them get the highest profit, and then the crucial part would be able to deliver the products on time. To know how many products and where to sell a company would have to do market analysis, but this can be done internally, however the hard part would to delivering the product to certain places within a specific time. Most companies do not have their own shipping system so they have to rely on other companies. Because of this, shipping and delivery times are out of their control. Many incidents may happen during shipping times and delays could happen, which could affect customer view on the company in which a huge loss of revenue could occur, therefore finding a  trustworthy, reliable shipping company is hard and worth it.

One example, I can think of right now is my HR textbook.  Because the bookstore for obvious reasons, don’t want extra copies of the textbook in the store they decided to order fewer textbooks than they should’ve. So first of all the number of textbook demanded was not accurate. Then for place, they couldn’t have gotten that wrong, since the only place to sell this textbook was at the bookstore. However even after the professor urged them to purchase more textbooks, they only purchased 20 copies when over 80 students needed this textbook. When they finally did a second order after the 20 copies one, everyone was already required to have purchased them online or by some other method. The bookstore was told they would get the shipment before the a certain day, however for some reason the shipment was late due to a lack of miscommunication and now the bookstore is stuck with piles of HR textbooks that hopefully studnets will buy for the next term. This incident clearly demonstrates how the lack of communications between the two parties and how important it is to create a clear, reliable way of communication.

In class we were shown the video made by Greenpeace about KitKat chocolate bars using palm oil and disrupting the homes of the orangutan. When the man in the advertisement opened the package I knew that something like the finger of a orangutan would appear, but never did I though “blood” would spew out when he ate it. I don’t consider myself to be easily disturbed, but that was really gross and distrubing. Of course, seeing how Nestle was forced to make a statement of how they would change their ways shows how successful this advertisement was.

My point of view: Yes, these types of commercials are extremely effective, but should groups like Greenpeace make these advertisements? I have mixed feelings about this question. I consider myself as a environmentally-conscious and animal-conscious person. I care about the environment and how animals are being treated. On one hand, I am very happy that the marketing campaign was very successful and forced Nestle to stop what they’re doing, but on the other hand, I don’t think it was necessary to create such an extreme advertisement. It was wrong to replace the KitKat bar with a finger and especially with fake blood inside it. I think morally, it was wrong to do so, but I can also see how people can argue that it was because of these two factors that made the campaign so successful. In conclusion, advertisements like these do draw a lot of people’s attentions, but those who were already involved would’ve been aware of these types of problems long before. If these groups could spend more time educating the public, then they would have more long-term support than those one time marketing advertisement successes.