teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

Internet entrepreneurs in Vietnam are figuring out how to overcome challenges posed by the country’s infrastructure.  Among Vietnam’s 88 million people, there is growing interest in the convenience of online shopping.  There are now more than two dozen Vietnamese sites copying Groupon’s “deal-of-the-day” concept.  These companies adapted the strategy used in more developed countries.  So for example, few Vietnamese consumers have credit cards or PayPal style accounts.  To over come this, at least one of the Groupon copycats NhomMua, relies on a team of more than 100 moped-driving couriers that deliver vouchers directly to consumers and then collect cash.  Read more in this Bloomberg Businessweek article, “Vietnam’s Dot-Com Boom” (January 19, 2012).  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

The examples here might work well when you cover Place, retail, Price, or Promotion and want to provide an example of how a concept is adapted in international markets.

A couple of interesting stories about how retailers utilize high-tech analytics to better understand customer shopping behavior.  I heard “The secret life of discounts” (Marketplace radio, December 16, 2011, link to listen or read the transcript) as I drove to the airport last night to pick up my daughter who was coming home from college.  There are some examples about how stores use analytics to try to remain profitable with consumers conditioned to buy only at a steep discount.

In “Big Brother is Watching You Shop” (Bloomberg Businessweek, December 15, 2011), you can read about retailers using in-store video cameras and tracking your cell phone to better understand how you move through a retail store.  Analyzing video from a Miami store allowed Montblanc managers to more strategically locate merchandising, signage, and salespeople.  The result — a 20% bump in sales.  Other retailers follow customers’ cell phone signals to track and map movement through stores.  This of course is raising privacy concerns.

These two stories can be useful examples for marketing research (where we cover dashboards and marketing models), retailing, and in discussions of privacy.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

This article, “Philly Cream Cheese’s Spreading Appeal” (Bloomberg Businessweek, December 12, 2011) is a great example that has many classroom uses.  Sometimes I like to describe an extended case study — to help students integrate the marketing strategy planning process — this article is that type of example.  Sales of Philadephia brand cream cheese were pretty much flat (mature or decline stage of the product life cycle) for most of the last decade.  Then Kraft researchers (market research) noticed that heavy users of the product were using cream cheese as an ingredient in their cooking — not simply as a spread for bagels.  Starting in Europe back in 2008, Kraft’s brand managers tapped into social media and the Internet to gather and share recipes using Philadephia brand cream cheese, they promoted it on cooking shows and with contests (Promotion).  In the U.K. the share of customers using cream cheese as an ingredient (effective repositioning) has almost doubled to 37% — and sales are up 20% in Europe (data – it is nice to show case studies in class with real results).  All of this in a mature product category.  What a great example of how to revitalize a brand.  Check out the article for more details on the strategy.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

The drive to enhance customer value with more efficient and effective distribution systems leads many warehouse and distribution center managers to various forms of automation.  In our books we refer to this as the physical distribution concept.  Kiva Systems has created a warehouse automation system that relies on robots and software, and yes some human beings, to achieve these objectives.

The video below provides a short (3:20) overview and demonstration of Kiva’s robots in action.  Sorry about the :30 commercial up-front.  An accompanying article “Robot workers take over warehouses,” (CNN Money, November 9, 2011) addresses Kiva’s roots and start-up challenges.  The article might be more useful background material or it could be assigned if you emphasize entrepreneurship in your marketing instruction.  The video is a good fit when you cover physical distribution.

Sanitation is a huge problem in many emerging markets.  The World Health Organization estimates that 37% of the world’s 7 billion people do not have access to hygienic toilets.  Entrepreneur David Auerbach smelled an opportunity (literally as the inspiration came from a particularly nasty bathroom in China).  Auerbach’s new company Sanergy, is using a franchise model as it starts out in Kenya.  Local entrepreneurs pay $500 for a Sanergy toilet (often using local microlenders).  They charge $.05 per use, and the toilets are emptied daily, with the waste brought to fertilizer plants. Read more at “Cleaning Up:  David Auerbach’s Sanergy” (Bloomberg Businessweek, October 13, 2011)

This provides examples of entrepreneurship, franchising, sustainability, and international (developing) markets.

Food distributor Sysco touches all of our lives.  We have an extended example about Sysco in the latest editions of Basic Marketing and Essentials of Marketing.  Sysco is a progressive distributor and you can read about how Sysco addressed a surprisingly difficult challenge from Michigan State University’s food services.  MSU wanted more local produce — supporting local farmers and theoretically helping the environment.  This short article “Sysco’s Produce Division Makes Room For Local Farmers” (Fast Company, October 19, 2011) includes a graphic that you might be able to squeeze onto a PowerPoint if you want to show a very current example when you teach channels of distribution.

I have been reading a lot of articles this week about the new line of Amazon Kindles.  The most intriguing of these is the Kindle Fire which appears to provide a worthy competitor to the Apple iPad.  While more limited, the Fire is also less than half the price.  The best article I have found on the new Kindles is from Bloomberg BusinessWeek, “Amazon, the Company That Ate the World” (September 28, 2011).  This article, while long, really digs into the marketing strategy angle from Amazon’s perspective.  It also provides a nice compare and contrast of the marketing strategies of Amazon and Apple — two companies that are bound to have a big impact on American business for many years to come.  The article is also very relevant given our recent post titled “Tablets Drive Online Shopping” (September 30). The article also provides an update to the case scenario on Amazon that opens chapter 3 in each of our books.  We have also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

This article provides examples you might find useful when you cover price, competition, marketing strategy planning, new product development or retailing.
 

Recent research finds that consumers enjoy online shopping on tablets (like the iPad) more than they do on their standard PCs.  All kinds of measures — from conversion rate (orders divided by visits) to order size — are showing this trend.  This knowledge is driving online retailers to invest in optimizing the online experience for the tablet shopper.  This Wall Street Journal article, “Tablets:  Ultimate Buying Machines” (September 28, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here).  We also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps.

This example suggests some interesting ideas to bring up in class.  For example, the customer market continues to fragment for retailers, many now aim (at least) two segments of online shoppers — PC users and tablet users.  And retailers are adapting their marketing strategies to each target market.  The article provides some good examples of the types of online retailers are using to better address tablet customers.  While many retailers initially invested in apps specifically for their store, research shows that most tablet shoppers still prefer the browser interface.

I am not sure this really counts as subliminal — but that is the term that ABC News used — so I have an excuse for being sensationalistic as well.  Technically subliminal means “a sensory stimuli below and individual’s absolute threshold for conscious perception” (see Wikipedia – Subliminal stimuli).  The subject, and its effects, remain controversial — see the Wikipedia link for more information.  I digress, no matter the title, our students will enjoy the topic.

The video below (direct link to video:  “Grocery Stores Using Subliminal Marketing,” ABC News, September 23, 2011) addresses how supermarkets merchandise and display products to influence consumer choice.  People are typically conscious of these stimuli — but may not recognize the role of each in getting us to open our wallet or pocketbook a bit wider. I used this video today as an example of psychological variables that affect  consumer behavior.  The video will also work for retailing or promotion for point-of-purchase.. The video is only 2:08, but you do have to put up with a :15 advertisement at the start, so you might want to cue it up before class.

‘Tis the season to sell, sell, sell.  Retailers, and marketing managers more generally, are always looking to give the consumer a reason to buy.  So today we have a couple of articles that show how that works.

First, an article in the Wall Street Journal that describes how retailers create 13 (or more) shopping seasons as a way to encourage more impulse shopping.  There are a lot of great examples of retail promotions in “A Season (or 13) for Shopping” (August 17, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here).

My second article on seasonal promotions taps into the recently ended Islamic holy month of Ramadan.  International examples are always nice to add as class examples — and I don’t see many examples from the Middle East.  This article in BusinessWeek is short and offers taglines and explanations for campaigns from McDonalds and Tang among others.  See “Islam’s Holy Month:  A Time for Self Promotion” (August 25, 2011).