Good Developing And Managing Offerings Essay Example

Introduction

At the entrance door of a Wal-Mart, there are two elderly women who work as product demonstrators that are giving away small cups of coffee to the store customers as they walk in. The brands of the coffee that are being given away as samples are Wal-mart’s generic store brand and Maxwell House. However, the Maxwell House coffee seems to be selling more than its competitor, Wal-Mart coffee. Despite the fact that both coffee brands are the same cost and taste almost the same. There are a couple of advertising methods one worker is utilizing that the other one is not. This is becoming a frustrating process for the worker selling the Wal-Mart product since whoever sells the most coffee wins a one hundred dollar bonus on their next paycheck and an extra vacation day that could be used by the winner whenever needed of this competition’s choice.
Throughout this paper, we will discuss the general marketing strategies in particular of each worker who are selling the coffee brands and importantly, the most effective strategies believed to be very successful at selling the most products in a retail setting.

Strategies to Introduce Products

Although, “store brands, such as the generic Wal-Mart brand as previously mentioned may have enjoyed tremendous success over the last two decades in gaining market shares at the expense of national brands. In an analysis of over 225 categories during the yearly period of 2005 to 2011, research has discovered that the average annual share of sales for store brands increased by 2.13%, while the average shares for the top national brands in each category fell by 0.20%. This may not include or consider the retailer’s role as a strategic player that can facilitate the success of store brands. The retailer has control over not only the marketing mix of the store brand but also the marketing mix variables of its competing national brands” (Sheinin and Wagner). Retail stores have to utilize various strategies for different products. First, we will begin with the worker who sold the Maxwell house coffee. The worker decided that it was essential to brand the product as efficiently as possible for the most sales. She utilized the power of word of mouth and a basic local newspaper advertisement. By utilizing this method, consumers who were already planning their daily shopping route to Wal-Mart were expecting a sample of Maxwell hot coffee. It was this expectancy that added to the contribution of her success versus the other worker who sold only the generic store brand. The worker relied on the fact that since her product was created by Wal-Mart, by giving away free samples, and displaying a basic “plan-o-gram” with several containers of the generic coffee that this was all she needed, but seeing how well her competitor, Maxwell coffee was doing. It is important to note that the competitor had on average a customer every 10-20 minutes, while the generic brand had a customer every other hour. It proved that branding a product in a retail setting is essential, and not just rely on the actual store brand by completing all of the marketing work for you. In the next section of our paper, we will discuss the effective ways in promoting a product.

Successful Strategies

In general, the most effective strategies have to be able to communicate to the customer exactly what the product is about. It has to be appealing enough to make the consumer want to open their wallet and spend money on your product. The price of the product has to be cost effective as well. However, successfully promoting a product in a retail setting consists of word to mouth marketing and directing marketing. Direct marketing could consist of “communicating directly with customers and prospects through newspaper advertisements, mailing lists, emails, etc. While word of mouth as the successful product demonstrator utilized means that is the passing along of vital product information from consumer to consumer by orally communicating. When it is a really good beneficial product, or something consumers may think taste good, then they are excited to discuss with anyone who will listen just how good these products are. The word of mouth method is one of the old ways people learn about what to purchase overall. Not to mention, it is one of the most successful. Today’s product marketers have to learn creative ways on how to create an authentic word of mouth process for their companies and the products they wish to sell” (Jeffrey).
In conclusion, regardless of the product being sold, branding it is essential to receiving a profit. As we reviewed in the previous scenario with the product demonstrators, the customers will come if you understand the process of how to effectively market a product in the settings of a retail store, whether if they are brand name or not.

References

Jeffrey, Scott. '52 Types Of Marketing Strategies'. Cultbranding.com. N.p., 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
Sheinin, Daniel A., and Janet Wagner. 'Pricing Store Brands Across Categories And Retailers'. Jnl of Product & Brand Mgt 12.4 (2003): 201-219. Web.