Month: October 2011

Just few weeks ago, a couple days before Steve Job’s death, I wrote a blog about Apple app. Store.  Instead, now I have started moving my eyes on real Apple Store, this huge treasure that Steve Jobs has left behind.  I want to share  this blog “ Steve Jobs And The 4 Counterintuitive Business Strategies Of Apple ”here This blog has drawn me quite a few reflections about the marketing theories I have learned so far. Below are the four atypical strategies while the first three are marketing-based.

1. Control the uncontrollable
2. Forget the low end
3. Use partnership as a last resort
4. Obsess over the little things

Those sound very impressive as Apple is doing just the opposite thing against normal marketing.  The first one listed above states that Apple control more aspects of their product from development, usage to sales marketing and service. Apple designs their own store and developed a locked down software platform and ecosystem. They don’t even allow media access to the company, which is why we can’t even see the commercial ads of Apple on TV show.

Apple positions their products as “high end” and keeps consistent on it. Marketers usually follow the rules that when economy environment changes, customers buying power and spending patterns change as well, thus marketing strategies should change to adjust this outside change. However, Apple never lowered its status and “produced too many or compromise products quality” even in the tough period.

It is kind of funny when we first see the third strategy—the last resort is partnership??!!  Unbelievable! However, it’s true and moreover, Apple has already proved the success of this strategy. Isn’t partnership a good thing to marketing?

From my point of view, there are no certain rules for marketing operation, which is exactly the beauty of marketing—people oriented. As long as it works for customers, it is the right marketing strategy.

According to my experience, most people who go shopping in Costco are large families. However, my roommate, who does not have much interest in wholesale store shopping, loves Costco as well. When asked why, she answered, “Costco offers some unique purchases with high quality and I love them”.

Costco, the largest membership warehouse club chain and the third largest retailer in the U.S. with 81 stores in Canada(http://www.infomarketingblog.com/costco-index/), has a very clear target market and position:  It targets at large families and business and focuses on selling products at low prices as well as at high volume, meanwhile, maintains a high quality. How can Costco manage this?

I believe that each Costco customer has found that Costco doesn’t offer multiple brands or varieties  except when it has a house brand to sell, typically under the Kirkland Signature label which is introduced by Costco in 1995 “in order to indentify categories in which a private label product could provide brand name quality at discounted prices” (Wikipedia,  “Costco”). This results in a high volume of sales from a single vendor, allowing further reductions in price, and reducing marketing costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Costco management feels the wholesale price of a product is too high,they will refuse to stock the product. Costco once announced in 2009 that it would stop selling Coca-Cola products due to the soft drink maker refusing to lower its wholesale prices. Costco resumed selling Coca-Cola products on December 14, 2009. Due to the same reason, Costco ended relationship with Apple in December 2010.

 

 One customer strategy Costco has been implementing is that it is only open to members and their guests. All customers in Costco hold membership cards and pay annual fee. Besides, Costco encourage its members to purchase by “email marketing strategy as it send campaigns regularly, which means they stay in the front of their customers’ minds” ( Costco, http://blog.mailermailer.com/2008/09/costco-email-marketing/).

Membership Types

Email Newesettler