Seattle’s Zero-Emissions Last-Mile Delivery Hub

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Earlier this month, the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its latest report on the climate. It was not encouraging and clearly points to the need for the world to limit carbon emissions. Many cities and businesses are stepping already trying to do just that.

One opportunity for lowering emissions is the so-called “last mile” for online retail. This is the delivery to customers’ homes and businesses. This is seen as lower hanging fruit. So the city of Seattle is experimenting with some low-cost options, including cargo bikes, electric vehicles and pallets, and food trucks. This opportunity is leading to some innovation around delivery.

This Fast Company article describes “Seattle’s new zero-emissions delivery hub is an experiment in slashing e-commerce emissions.” This video (also shown below) describes some of that innovation. In Essentials of Marketing, we discuss innovation as a benefit of marketing (Chapter 1) and as part of new product development (Chapter 9). And of course this topic is relevant to distribution (see chapters 10, 11, and 12) Our textbook also covers sustainability in chapters 1 and 19.

How Can Supply Chains Reduce Climate Change (#M4BW)

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As regular readers of this blog know, the recently published 17th edition of Essentials of Marketing includes several examples each chapter of companies, brands, or practices that demonstrate “Marketing for a Better World” (#M4BW). Marketing managers are not always looking to do the right thing for society — but many are finding ways to increase profits and make for a better world. This article “Supply Chains as a Game-Changer in the Fight Against Climate Change” (BCG, January 26, 2021) includes lots of practical advice you might share with your students.

Mattress firms creating value (?) with financing deals…

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The mattress industry is a pretty crazy (check out “The Great Mattress Conspiracy: Why Are There So Many Mattress Stores?” on Endless Thread, podcast and story). You might check out the podcast for a fun example when you cover retailing. Or ethics. You might also check out one of our previous posts, “The Gray World of Online Reviews” (Teach the 4 Ps) — tags include ethics and online reviews.

Onto our story of the day and we are back in the retail mattress industry. With the emergence of new mattress products designed for easy shipping, online mattress stores (Casper, Leesa, Tuft & Needle), this market continues to be very competitive. Retail brick-and-mortar store Mattress Firm has closed 700 stores and is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Now they are competing on financing. In fact, Mattress Firm will give you six years of 0% interest on a mattress purchase of up to $3999. Financing is certainly one way to create value for customers — and the automobile industry has done it for years — but does it make sense for buyers of mattresses. We will see. Learn more reading “6-year, 0% loan for a mattress? Intense competition continues to grip mattress industry,” USA Today, October 25, 2019.

Delivering convenience and high quality meat from a vending machine

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Students don’t often think about how Place and choice of distribution channel can differentiate a product or deliver value (often through convenience). And not too many of us think about vending machines as a channel of distribution for much more than snacks and soft drinks. That is why this example, where the Applestone Meat Co. offers self-serve vending machines stocked with vacuum-sealed packages of meat, including everything you might expect to buy at a high-end butcher shop: Porterhouse steaks, rack of lamb, sausages, and ground beef. You can read more, and perhaps clip an image to drop into your slides when you cover Place in Chapters, 10, 11 and 12.

As an aside, if you, like me, didn’t get the “Horn & Hardart” reference in the article’s title, check out this Wikipedia entry and learn a little history.

Snap Kitchen’s Healthy and Convenient Meals Gain Foothold

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packagingSnap Kitchen is trying to find that sweet spot many consumers want — tasty, convenient and healthy food at a fair price. There is a good sized target market that wants a healthy grab-and-go meal. And if it’s tasty, they might even pay a premium for it. This is the target market that Snap Kitchen is finding. The fast-growing chain now has 44 stores and also sells through 5 Whole Foods Markets stores. You can read more in this Bloomberg Businessweek article, “Forget the Salad Bar. A $50 Million Startup Best on Healthy Grab-and-Go Meals” (August 25, 2016).

This article might be useful in a number of places in the introductory marketing class. In chapter 3 we cover social cultural trends – and more Americans are seeking healthy food choices. The article sets up a potential discussion of consumer behavior and competition. How can Snap Kitchen keep out the competition? Especially from grocery stores that seem to be trying to move into that same upscale grab-and-go food market with fresh in-store sushi and deli counters. There are also distribution questions (consider Place chapters 10 — introduction and 12 — retailing).