teachthe4ps.com » Place

“P&G Makes Push in India”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:39:59 +0000

This short Wall Street Journal article, “P&G Makes Push in India” describes P&G’s efforts to make inroads in India (June 22 – note that this requires a subscription, my link takes you to a search result which provides a backdoor to the article). India is the world’s second largest (by population) consumer market — and it is growing at 12% a year. Yet P&G faces tough competition from well established Hindustan Lever.

News Video: “The Gap: Inside America’s Favorite Stores”

Joe Cannon — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 13:45:09 +0000

One more in the Good Morning America series “The Secrets of America’s Favorite Stores.” This one takes us into the Gap – an iconic name hat has struggled in for the last decade or so, “The Gap: Inside America’s Favorite Stores,” (4:14. Good Morning America, March 31, 2010). You can find an article and a video with this story. More so than the others, this particular video references marketing research and consumer behavior insights that guided marketing strategy planning. The stories both describe market research the gap did to better understand consumer behavior — although it is probably not best as an assignment for market research. I recommend using it with retailing or consumer behavior.

BusinessWeek “Customer Service” Issue Hits the Web…

Joe Cannon — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:57:56 +0000

BusinessWeek’s “Customer Service Champions” issue (February 18, 2010) has its usual set of interestin stories. This year’s list includes the usual cast of characters – see “World-Class Customer Service” for links to all the articles. This year’s issue highlights L.L. Bean and USAA –plus you can find a slide show and the “Top 25.“ Many great examples to use when discussing customer service and retailing.

“Warehouse clubs scream ‘bargain!’”

Joe Cannon — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 19:28:41 +0000

I just listened to an interesting report on American Public Media’s (radio) Marketplace Money show – “Warehouse clubs scream ‘bargain!‘” Click through to listen – or simply read the text of this story. It highlights how warehouse clubs understanding of consumer behavior drives their marketing strategy. Would probably provide a good example in discussing retail or consumer behavior.

“China: Where Retail Dinosaurs Are Thriving”

Joe Cannon — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:18:39 +0000

Another example from China — this one looks at retailing there. Just published in BusinessWeek, “China: Where Retail Dinosaurs Are Thriving” (January 21, 2010). This might be useful when talking about consumer behavior in other countries, in retail, or international.

“In France, a Drive-Up Grocery Takes Off”

Joe Cannon — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 21:27:31 +0000

People have long predicted that online shopping and home delivery of groceries would change the market. Another wrong prediction (see Webvan go down in flames) — and of course they said no one could sell shoes online (tell that to Zappos). Anyway, I digress. This January 14, 2010, Wall Street Journal article, “In France, a Drive-Up Grocery Takes Off” (subscription may be required - for “back door” see here) describes a French retailers hybrid version — online order then pick-up. Would this model work in other cultures? Or is it uniquely French?

Coca-Cola: “Happiness Machine”

Joe Cannon — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 23:46:58 +0000

This is creative — and a lot of fun. Check out the video. Coca-Cola and its interactive marketing agency, Definition 6 put this “special” vending machine on a college campus. The unsuspecting students got a lot more than just a bottle of Coke. The promotion fits well with Coke’s recent positioning around happiness and directly targets an important target market of college students. Of course students are more likely than most consumers to check out YouTube and pass along a viral video. My bet is that this will climb into the viral video top 10 in no time. In class it could also be shown when talking about Place, if you are looking for a fun example of vending machines. Enjoy.

“Wal-Mart Uses Its Stores To Get an Edge Online”

Joe Cannon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:50:38 +0000

The Wal-Mart vs. Amazon battle continues to become increasingly intense (see “Price War Brews Between Amazon and Wal-Mart,” New York Times, November 23, 2009). These two competitors have already engaged in price wars over toys, books, and DVDs this holiday season. Now Wal-Mart is cleverly using one of their strengths relative to Amazon — their physical stores — to their advantage. This a nice example of competitive advantage, SWOT, and logistics. Check out “Wal-Mart Uses Its Stores To Get an Edge Online” (see The Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2009 – subscription required, or search the net using the article title).

“Comparison Shopping With New Apps”

Joe Cannon — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:56:11 +0000

“Comparison Shopping With New Apps” (Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2009). This video might be nice to show in class while talking about information search and consumer behavior or in retailing when discussing strategy for retailers. The straightforward question is how will this change in consumer shopping behavior impact marketing managers? The discussion might look at the retail level, but could also consider consumer packaged goods companies.

A new generation of apps for the iPhone and other gadgets can help make shoppers smarter. WSJ’s Geoffrey Fowler and Dow Jones’s Mike Casey explain how they work and why some retailers aren’t happy with the new tools, in the News Hub.

Blockbuster Adds Kiosks – But Redbox Adds Video Games

Joe Cannon — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:56:18 +0000

Redbox continues to stay one step ahead of Blockbuster. Just a few days after Blockbuster announced it would kiosks would debut at Duane Reade stores (copying Redbox’s successful vending strategy), Redbox appears to be ready to start renting video games as well.