Bundling products for sale

There have been many times I have gone to the grocery store and had a strict limit on how much money I was going to spend. But the second I walk through those sliding glass doors, its a whole new ball game. I am a victim of any deal that arises. For instance last week I went to Market Basket and wanted to grab some things for dinner, when I came along the rice and pasta sides I was looking for I began searching for the right flavor. Although I only needed two packets I ended up purchasing five. The reason is the deal was five packets for $5. There are so many deals like this throughout the store and I have to constantly remind myself to stay away from these deals because I end up with a surplus of food in my cabinet.

Why do you think so many consumers such as myself fall into the trap of bundling?

Response to Colin Raaberg's Post on T-Mobile

Companies that deceive customers risk getting found out which means they may have to pay back their customers, lose customers, and damage their public image. Why then do companies risk it?

Unfortunately I am a T-Mobile customer who owns a phone with an annual contract which sucks. I believe companies like this do this as part of there strategy to lure in customers. I know when I bought my phone I had to sign an annual contract which is why I have yet to switch to an iPhone.
When companies use false advertising in order to sell a product it really affects how consumers look at that company and value them as a seller. Companies risk this because they want to keep a customer base and stay competitive in the market.

Would a company such as Apple or Verizon perform a tactic such as T-Mobile?

Social Media and Marketing

Social Media has been taking over in recent years, and it seems like almost every day some new social media website or application is coming out. Facebook and Twitter are the two most prominant social media feeds but others include instagram and vine. Even games like scrabble have an app where you can chat with your friend(s) while you play. Almost everyone today uses Facebook for something whether it be connecting with old friends or trying to meet new people in your current area. Another form of social media is YouTube. This website is the largest video website there is to date and is constantly being used around the globe. Social Media has come to a point where most times I hear of breaking news its from Facebook.

How often do you use social media in your day-to-day life?

Response to Tammy Chou's question on John Smith

Do you think there is a benefit over laying off employees as opposed to cutting wages? If you were the owner of a company, would you have more than one plan? What would it be?

I think there would be a large benefit of laying off the employees over cutting wages because either way your going to effect the workers. You dont necessarily need a large number of employees. In todays world managers and owners are more likely to lay people off than to cut wages, its just the reality. If I were owner of the company Im not sure I would have a plan for such a small company. I would definitely deny the offer of selling my employees names to the car company. I think it breaks the laws of ethics.
Are ethics as important in todays business world as they once were?

Marketing Research

As explained in chapter 9 marketing research objective is the specific information needed to solve a marketing research problems; the objective should be to provide insightful decision making information. Marketing research enables companies to check how a product is faring in the market and if it needs changes or touch-ups. Because we live in such a technology dominated worl the internet plays a huge role in marketing research. More than 90 percent of America's marketing research companies conduct some form of online research. It has even replaced computer-assisted telephone interviewing as the most popular form of data collecting.

Why would online focus groups be advantageous to a marketing research company?

Response to John Smith

I believe that this is a very commen dilema in todays world. Every industry is becoming so competitive with the economy suffering. Smaller businesses are struggling to compete with the large corporations who are beginning to take over. When businesses are in need owners will go to extreme lengths to make something happen. If the business was running smoothly, I would say the owner wouldnt be doing anything wrong by selling the names, but because the business is struggling taking that money wouldnt be beneficial to these employees because eventually the business would crash. Taking the money would only create a temporary fix for the lack of revenues.

Response to Nicoles question on infomercials

I think infomericals are very annoying but I too get sucked into them most times. I find myself watching them and thinking how stupid they are but then I realize that they succeeded in trying to garner my attention. When infomercials come on I usually change the channel because I think they are a waste of time . Although they usually annoy me, sometimes the products they are selling are pretty funny.

What is your favorite or least favorite commercial?Why?

Social Media and Promotion

Promotion is a very important part of selling the product/service. There are many different ways a company can promote its product to the public. I think that social media is the most effective way because it isnt as aggressive as say a survey would be. With todays world being dominated by social media this gives companies an opportunity to connect with many potential customers on a consistent basis. People are constantly on their phones and laptops so this constant reminder of a product or products gives the companies promoting their products through social media a competitive advantage in the market. Contests are also a great way for a company to promote its product and with consumers online all the time this gives companies a chance to combine these two promotional strategies into one. This may not be as successful because for me personally when I see a contest online I ignore it, assuming its spam or some kind of virus.

Although social media is a great way to promote a product, in what ways would it be unsuccessful?

Response to Jonathan Tomachicks question

Do you think Television Stations may go too far in the future in regards to the viewer-voting competition shows, similar to "Survivor", "Big Brother", and the new ones to come?

I think that TV stations have already gone too far with these competition shows such as survivor and big brother because they arent as popular as they once were.  It is hard for us to truly think that these people are really "surviving" the harsh conditions of an island with dozens of cameras all around at almost every angle. For me I think that these shows are more of a nice vacation for people as they get to go to beauitufl islands and "face the wild".It was only the first couple of seasons that were really popular for survivor and it has been struggling for viewers ever since. I think our generation is more likely to watch the viewer-voting competition shows for music such as American Idol, or The Voice which has become really popular in the last year. Just like when survivor became popular, shows like American Idol or The Voice will become more mainstreem.

Why do you think Americans cling to shows that are competition related?

Pricing Strategies

Chapter 19 talks about pricing concepts and strategies. There are many different options for pricing strategies including:
Penetration Pricing- Start off with a product with a low price, and as customer base increases you can jack up the price.
Optional Pricing- A company would sell optional products with a main product to help with sales.
Premium Pricing- A price is set very high in relation to aa luxury product.
Competition Pricing- Setting the price of a product to that of your competitors.
Bundle Pricing- A company bundles together multiple products to sell together at a discounted rate.
Skimming Pricing- A product starts off at a high price and goes down over time to reach a larger market.
Psychological Pricing- The seller decides the price based on what they think a consumer will pay for the product.

Some real life examples of these definitions include:
Penetration pricing- Dish Newtwork will offer a satellite dish to its customer at a low rate, and then once the market increaed for there product, they would increase the price for the cable or satellite channels.
Competitive Pricing- In most retail stores such as Target and WalMart you will see adds about having the lowest price. Some even have little print that says "Compare to Targets price at $X.XX".
Skimming Pricing- When XBOX and Playstation come out with the Xbox 720 and Playstation 4, the prices are going to be very high. But as time passes the product will start to fall in price. For example when the PS3 came out it cost around $500, and today you can purchase a PS3 for around $250.

When thinking about all of the pricing strategies, one jumped out at me. Psychological pricing seems like a companies best way of making a profit. Companies price things different to get the consumer to have a different reaction. A company would market something for $10 but price it a $9.99. For some reason this makes consumers want the product more because it is cheaper, when really it is not. Why do you think psychological pricing is so successful in todays market?

Response to Kaley DeBoer's question about commercials

I think the most rediculous commercials are the state farm commercials with the jingle followed by a wish and it coming true. These commercials are advertising an insurance company and the commercials insinuate that when in a bad spot you can teleport with your insurance agent completely goes beyond the point of trying to convince a consumer to buy your insurance. Another commercial that came to my mind with this question was the toyata commercials that were able to push a car up the mountain or do snowboard tricks, and even help a plane land.

Why do you think a company would make a commercial that completely ignores the product its trying to advertise?

Supply Chain Management

In Chapter 14 the key processes of supply chain management are pinpointed. There are eight critical business processes that are identified which supply chain managers must focus on to obtain success: Customer relationship management, customer service management, demand management, order fulfillment, manufacturing flow management, supplier relationship management, product development and commercialization, and returns management. Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption.

Which of the eight processes are most important to the supply chain management?

Response to Katie O'Hurley's AT&T question

I think that Budweiser did that a while back with the "Wazzup" commercials. I think that they were a huge hit with consumers and people who watched TV thought it was funny. I dont know if there were any numbers revealed that can back that but I believe its pretty similar to what AT&T is doing but also to a completely different target market. I personally loved the Budweiser commercials and think the new AT&T ones are hilarious.

Why do you think commercials like these are so effective, especially when they dont have anything to do with the product?

Marketing Channels -Airways

Marketing Channels connect producers with consumers for a product. The main point of marketing channels is to make the product available for consumer needs.Marketing Channels is involved with one of the 4 P's of the marketing mix and is a useful tool for management. Marketing channels affect promotion as well as advertising. For an Airline they can have many different channels to get the plane tickets to the customers inclduing: travel agents, calling the airport/airline, airline offices, online websites(ex. kayak), or at an airport. In the airline industry these marketing channels are extremely important. You see a lot of commercials advertising airline tickets, not necessarily specific companies but different websites such as kayak or expedia. A main advantage that an airline company would have is that the marketing channel doesnt take nearly as long to get from the producer to the consumer because the company usually directly sells the tickets to individual consumers.

Marketing Channels are a very important part of every business.Which one of the above listed marketing channels is the best for an airline company? Why?

Response to Drews Phone Question

Do you think you would be able to live without technology now that we depend so much on using it? How often do you use your smart phone? Daily? Hourly? Every minute?

I feel that in todays world people rely very heavily not only on their technology but on their cell phones. People are on them nonstop all day. In my case I always have my phone on me and check it about every hour, although there are times when I can be on my phone for hours. I could live without it but it would be hard to communicate with friends/family without it. Since obtaining a smart phone Ive only had to go without it a couple of times with the longest being two weeks because I was out of the country. I would say that it was pretty easy without it but only because I knew that it did not have service, therefore it was useless. If I were to be without it for two weeks while at home I think it would be a lot different and weird in some ways. With how much technology is being put into phones its not hard to see why people fall in love with them so quickly.

With the iPhone dominating the smart phone world, and Tmobile recently adding its own version, do you see a monopoly of the product coming?

Advertisings effect on the market

Seeing as St. Patricks day just passed, I figured I would talk about the importance of advertising for specific companies. Companies such as Anheuser Busch or MillerCoors advertise especially hard for instances such as New years, the Super Bowl, St Patricks Day, and The 4th of July. The reason is these four dates are known for partying and the companies see this as a prime time to market there product and hit a larger audience by commercials, flyers, posters, billboards, and even free merchandise. (Ex: Bud light beads for St pattys day) Advertising has become a major competition in recent years as the markets have been fighting for the consumers. Todays day and age is all about the social networks and companies have taken advantage of this with ads on virtually every website that you go onto while on the internet.

People tend to have their own tastes and generally stick with that. Do you believe advertising a product in the beverage industry influences a consumer enough to purchase a product?

Response to Will's post on Spring Break

Do you think the idea of spring break is marketed to students?

The idea of spring break is constantly marketed to students. With the technology and social media that is present in our society today, it makes it even more of a big deal. With facebook, twitter, and other social media networks all marketing the perfect spot for spring break such as cancun or even southern florida. I agree with Will when he states that this has become treated almost as a national holiday with companies and organizations banking in on these students who are willing to spend large amounts of money in order to party and be in the warm weather exclusively while being with a group of friends and/or family. I have personally gone to Florida twice now for spring break and both times I have gone the prices of alcohol as well as food have been substantially higher during spring break than in any other week. The reason being is the bars and restraunts know that spring break is a high demand week and no matter what the price is, the consumers will buy it with the idea that "hey its spring break".

What marketing techniques should these bars and restraunts use to be more effective?

Corporate Branding taking over America

This article was very interesting and made me really think about what I look for when purchasing a product or service. The world as a whole has come to be all to familiar with popular brands as we buy what we like. The example about the coffee shop that Starbucks had opened up was good evidence that people buy (or dont buy) products because of a certain brand name. If that starbucks had its name on the front it would have lost some customers, but also it would have gained a bunch more due to its popularity. I believe that even if some of the most popular brands and products used this strategy, there wouldn't be a significant change in the sales because people are already familiar with the product and already know whether or not they like it. In America anything with a popular brand or logo on it will sell. Some of the most successful companys have the most popular brand names or logos. Nike has the "swoosh", Gatorade has the "G" symbol with a lightning bolt, and Red Bull energy drinks have the two bulls going head to head at one another.

What do you think the results would be if a smaller company such as Dr. Pepper would try a strategy like this?

Response to Nicoles Dr Pepper entry

I agree with your statement that clearly the target market for this product is men because the promotional side of the product has been pushing to TV stations as well as magazines that are more masculine based. I also agree with the notion about people not wanting to drink diet as opposed to the real thing because studies have shown that diet soda is in fact "worse" for you than regular soda. In general, men are more likely to drink soda than woman so in that regard I believe Dr. Pepper is marketing to the right people by trying to create a product just for men. I don't think its a bad thing to target just men in this scenario, however to market that the product is only intended for men is going to hurt them.

What would happen if Dr. Pepper introduced a product that was "for women" or "not for men".

Product Concepts

As discussed in chapter 10 of the book, there are many ways for a company to "brand" a product to the market. The most common way would be individual branding which would mean using different brand names for different products, but within the same company. For example Nike makes several different sneakers under different brand names such as, Nike Air Force, Nike Air Max, and Nike Air Huarache. There is also family branding in which a company markets several different products under the same brand name, example being Apple which uses its brand and logo to help consumers find its product easier. The last branding strategy would be co-branding, when two or more brand names are on a single product. An example of co-branding would be a box of Betty Crockers brownie mix, which markets that every box conatains hershey's chocolate syrup.

Which of the three discussed forms of branding would be the most successful in a target market for Generation Y's?

Response to Matt Sobocinski's post

In what scenario would a customer get the product or service and not be happy with it, but then there are satisfied with the company?

My first reaction to this question was that there is virtually no scenario where a customer would be unhappy with a product/service but then be satisfied with the business/company in which it was provided by. However I believe that there is a small window of businesses and companies that can provide products or services to consumers that may not meet the consumers values, wants and needs. I believe that Hotels and Resorts are an example of where this could be true, as well as Disney World.
Think about all of the complaints you here from consumers about waiting in lines all day in the scorching heat of Orlando, but yet you rarely hear of people saying that their particular experience in Disney was a fail or did not meet their standards. Im not saying this is true of every consumer but I do believe that a consumer can be satisfied with a company even if the product or service did not necesarily meet the wants/needs of the consumer.
Think about this question flipped around.
Do you think a consumer can get a product/service that they are satisfied with, but then not be satisfied with the company/business?

Response to Evan Millers "Can you think of how customer value and satisfaction can be used in producers business plan rather than the consumers idea of price, quality, and need?"

Can you think of how customer value and satisfaction can be used in producers business plan rather than the consumers idea of price, quality, and need?

Most producers business plans are going to focus on the consumers wants and needs. This will definitely vary considering the target market they are after, or based upon which product(s) or service(s) they are trying to sell. Most every business most important aspect is the consumer. One way I think that customer value and satisfaction can be used is by introducing new products that can be beneficial.

When consumers purchase a product and/or service, they have predetermined expectations for what that product/service will be like. In order to achieve customer satisfaction, you must know what exactly the customer values. This will vary based on the target market you select. I believe that there are ways these two can be used in business plans rather than the main marketing idea of the four P's.

Which one(s) of the four P's do you consider the most important when it comes to selling a product/service?

Do you pay for the food or the atmosphere when you go out to eat?

Going out to eat is can be considered a luxury, however I believe in the U.S. it is more of a norm than anything else. When going out i fully believe that you pay for the atmosphere rather than the food. For example if your picking between to steakhouses, one is located in a city, and the other located right on the beach. There is no doubt in my mind that your bill will be quite a bit higher if you chose to eat by the beach. The reason being is the setting, the relaxtion. I believe that in our country people dont go out to eat for a good meal, but rather a good time. Going out gives people a chance to leave their stress from home or work behind for the night. Another example could be going to the same restraunt such as Applebees or Longhorn but in different locations, you would certainly pay more money going to one of these restraunts in New York City as compared to Keene.

Why wouldnt people being paying more for the food than the atmosphere?

Product RED

Do you think a partnership with Product (RED) can improve Gap’s image? Is it a sign that they are making a commitment to corporate social responsibility or do you agree with critics who say their involvement is an attempt to spit-shine the company’s image while continuing to do business as usual?

The Product RED launch is a great idea for a company to invest in to improve its reputation, however I believe that Gap is too far in the hole already. Because of all of the reported labor laws that the Gap factories violate, this is going to reflect on them for quite some time especially since the company has failed inspections as recent as 2005. Although the image may not be completely clean, the revenue this product has created for the Gap is unmatched, with the Product RED t-shirt being the best selling item in the company's thirty-five year history. From the company's point of view I believe the decision to join a partnership with Product RED was for a dual purpose; to spit-shine the company's image, and also improve the company's revenues and profits.

What else could Gap do to help improve their image?

Response To Rolands post

How do emotions factor in your buying decision?

 

I believe emotions play a huge factor into most buying decisions, especially when what you are considering is a personal product. Most people are annoyed by commericals or dont even bother to pay attention to them but they are meant to cause a reaction in an individual whether it be positive or negative. When a person has a particular interest in an item or product there is a general sense of excitement about the product. The example that first comes to mind when I think about this question is when you go shopping and are having an inner-debate with yourself about whether or not to purchase the item. If you do not purchase the item you second guess your decision once you leave, thinking to yourself "I should have gotten that", or on the other hand you purchase the item and have a sense of happiness that arises from the purchase. In our era of technology I believe our emotions have a lot to do with anything we purchase because there are always "newer" and "better" items that arise causing an emotional reaction.

 

Whats more important in a buying decision, emotional value or price?

Are customer satisfaction and customer value interdependent or mutually exclusive?

Customer value and customer satisfaction are interdependent. Although a product or service might be necessary for a customer where it would be considered "value" doesnt mean that the customer will be necessarily satisfied with the outcome or final product. In order to obtain customer satisfaction, the seller must focus on the customers wants/needs to be successful and/or profitable. To obtain customer satisfaction, relationship marketing would be a very good strategy to use. Relationship marketing is a marketing strategy that emphasizes customer satisfaction and retention, rather than focusing on sales transactions.