I never really looked down on sales associates for their job, but I also never thought that they make a difference on the sales of the retail store they work in.  Having read Eliza’s post, Just a Sales Associate? Customer Service Makes a Difference!, made me realize that sales associates do in fact make a difference through providing excellence customer service. However, sometimes it gets out of hand.

Just recently, I went to Garage to return a pair of jeans (which were too small) my mom bought for me. I was only planning to have it exchanged to a bigger size, but I ended up buying more that I originally planned for just doing one thing—talked to a sales associate. I initially approached her to ask if they still have the size I want. I was happy that she was able to find a pair of my size, but I was quite surprised that she offered other kinds of jeans that I might like without me asking for it.  I was surprised because the sales associates I have seen so far just leave after answering a customer’s question. I then thought that this associate was very accommodating. At first, I was really impressed with her customer service and so I tried on a number of jeans she offered, which I eventually bought. However, after a while, she started offering other Garage products. I was fine with it, until I felt like she was being a bit too pushy already. This is when I realized I needed to leave before she starts offering literally all the Garage products she could possibly recommend to me. At the end of the day, I was somewhat contented with the jeans I’ve bought, but somehow, I also felt that I didn’t want to go back to Garage if that associate was there, even if I thought originally that she was accommodating.

Going back to Eliza’s post, she discussed that sales associates can make customers want to go back to their shop. What she failed to mention is that, sometimes these associates can also make customers not want to go back to their shop even with ‘good’ customer service.

As technology continues to advance, most people are now more interested in spending their time in front of their computers rather than do an outdoor activity and enjoy a sunny day. Likewise, some people find it much more convenient to just shop online rather than drive to a mall and shop. Thus, online marketing has never been more needed than today.

I check fashion blogs daily and once in a while, I would see these bloggers write about products they received or host product giveaways from new brands, such as Brand X. At first, I didn’t really understand why these companies would give their products for free, especially for giveaways. I couldn’t see what it would benefit to the company; until I realized that giveaways get so much attention that Brand X actually get “free” publicity. While it’s not exactly free, it’s a LOT cheaper than paying for a 30-second-airtime ad on TV. This made me realize that this is their way of marketing, precisely online marketing.

An article from The Marketing Blog discusses more in depth about other online marketing strategies. It says that there should be a balance between online and offline leads to optimized profit, which I certainly agree with. It’s not only new brands who give free products online through bloggers, well-known brands, such as Neutrogena and Nikon, also participate in this and they do actually generate more sales from it. Some blog readers, who didn’t get the freebies, would comment that they went to buy it from the store because they really liked the product after seeing it online. I find this very interesting, as consumers don’t seem to be aware that they are already under the marketing spell of these companies.

Sustainability has now suddenly been the focus of many companies for the marketability of their products, such as Starbucks (recycled cups) and Toyota (developing fuel-efficient cars).  Consequently, numerous companies are now investing heavily on green marketing. I’m not saying it is a bad thing, but somehow, I can’t help but doubt companies’ real motives behind going green. I feel that some of the companies are just hopping onto the going-green bandwagon just because it’s the mainstream these days.

Furthermore, according to Jack Huang’s blog post, companies nowadays don’t have a choice but to go green. This made me think that companies who produce eco-friendly products may actually not be environmentally concerned. This could just be a way for them to survive in this continuing changing economy.  Since consumers are starting to be more aware of their environment, they tend to buy or support certain brands that hold up to their eco-friendly campaign.  Unfortunately, if companies don’t adapt to this change in the market, like Jack said, they won’t survive. With all these said, I guess I don’t really have the right to judge if companies have the right or wrong motives behind going green. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is that they are helping make our world a better place to live in.

Personally, marketing never really sparked an interest for me. Somehow, marketing gave me this impression that its objective was to rip people off their money―fooling consumers to buy products that may be of no use or value to them. Marketing also seemed like it was all about making profit for a company. Once a product gets sold, it’s done―whether or not the customer was satisfied with the product, marketing managers don’t care anymore.

 However, I was pleasantly surprised when I had my first class for Comm 296- Introduction to Marketing the other week.

My first marketing class started off with the professor showing us commercials of certain products, which was quickly followed by a class discussion on what marketing is. I was waiting for the first person, or at least someone, who was actively involved in the class discussion to define marketing as an all-for-profit process, but nobody did. All I heard was that marketing was about value for customers and building relationships with them; this gave a whole new meaning of marketing to me.

I never really thought that marketing had more depth into it- that it wasn’t just all about the money. It never crossed my mind that marketing and value for customers could both be in the same equation. Although, I think marketing can still be sly at times, wherein marketing would be focused more on misleading consumers to buy unnecessary products.  Nonetheless, it is always good to know that being a marketing manager does not necessarily mean being the villain, figuratively speaking. And truth be told, due to what I have learned from my first marketing class, I am presently considering to major in marketing.

All pictures posted here are © Rachel C. Yu, unless stated otherwise.

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