Class Questions

This week my questions came from a few different sources, and I'll go through them below.

The first one came from 'Deliver Extraordinary Customer service' as it discusses the use of technology to be able to understand customers better and be able to cater to their needs.  My question was what about the companies that cannot afford such high tech software as companies like Amazon (of course they are known for their incredible technology) or other large scale retailers.  Should smaller businesses try to compete with such large businesses on the technology scale or should they find their own ways to wow the customer?  I think that to an extent companies need to keep up with the times of technology, but some companies will not be able to offer the same level of technology. 

The latest new tech idea I have seen is Lowe's where they are now storing past purchases.  I think this is a great idea because I always go in there with a lightbulb and try to match it up in the aisle every time one burns out - this would make this easier for me.  Although this is an incredible idea, I don't believe some of the smaller hardware stores will be able to compete with Lowe's on this level.

My second question came from 'Consumer Insight - Moment of Truth' that discussed customer movement throughout the store.  I was wondering if anyone else thinks there may be stores tracking who is currently shopping and sending along coupons as customers are shopping in their stores.  This could be used to bring customers potentially from one side of the store to the other as they are in there, and also lead to impulse purchases because they just received a 'good deal' in their email.  I think apps like FourSquare are already beginning with this idea where people can check in where they are and get a free appetizer at the restaurant they are in or something similar.  Actually this relates a lot to my first question with the use of technology to get more spending.

And my last question came from 'Analysis from marketing planning'.  There is a lot of detail about information collection and how companies can use it.  We use focus groups at the company I work for so my question was whether anyone thought that focus groups are more skewed toward in a company's favor if it takes place on company grounds as opposed to a more neutral location.  I would think that I would feel more amiable toward a product if I was at the company's headquarters (if they were nice) than compared to getting asked about random products in somewhere like a mall.  Does anyone else think that it would have an impact on them?

Class Discussions

We briefly talked in class about loyalty programs and I just wanted to comment on that here.  I think that most consumers that use loyalty programs regularly have high expectations for these programs.  I know we have gotten some feedback that older loyalty users want more than new users as they feel like they have been loyal to the loyalty program right along and want to make sure they are getting all the benefits for that.  When new users get similar offers, more consistent users become more unhappy.  These loyalty programs seem to be about striking a balance between 'insider offers' and brand loyalty.

Another topic was purchases that you did not intend to buy.  This immediately lead me to think of Groupon.  I'm sure everyone has heard about this, but if not check out www.groupon.com  to find deals in your area.  Many times there are things you don't need at all but you can get it for half off!!  There seem to also be more and more sites like this that keep popping up to get customers to purchase quick - there is a time limit - and on the impulse of a sale rather than thinking about it.

Pharmasim

This week I added a new product to my line!  I decided on the 12-hour cold capsule to add.  I used the report 'Symptoms reported' to see what lead people to buy cold medicine.  I also looked at the report 'Brand Formulations' to check and see if the market was already saturated with 12-hour cold medicines.  There was really only one other capsule like this (Extra) so I decided to go for it.  I moved some point-of-purchase and coupon promotion money from my regular product to this new one and added advertising to most consumers.  Unfortunately, I did not see the best results to the new period where my stock price dropped by about $3.  I'm wondering if this product was competing with my original product and maybe should have picked something completely different like a child medicine to avoid that.