Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Give and You May Receive: Sears tries to out-lowball the competition in hopes of raising trial and sales
Driving home the other night I happened to listen to an MPR report on the state of big-box retailers and book prices. The basic gist is that everyone is trying to horn in on pre-orders in an attempt to make up for margin in volume. It all started with Wal-Mart dropping prices to $10, which Amazon matched. Wal-Mart then went lower and Amazon followed until Target got in on the action and threw out $8.99 for a hot, best-seller.
This was all blasted to smithereens by Sears.
Yes, that Sears. The one you know for boilers, washing machines and a recent history of having trouble making ends meet. They went ahead and dropped the prices on new releases as low as they could: $0. With the launch of their “Keep America Reading” promotion Sears has made a noticeable entrance into the battle for books. Or has it?
The way the whole promotion works is that consumers can buy certain books at Wal-Mart, Amazon or Target and submit the receipt online for up to a $9 credit on their next purchase of $45 or more. So just what is Sears’ game and how do they expect this to work? Clearly Sears isn’t known for being a bastion of literary influence, so how does this whole book credit thing work to their advantage?
My opinion is that they have a three-fold goal in mind: 1) Awareness, 2) Trial and 3) Purchase. Simple, right? But there’s more to it so let’s explore each step piece by piece.
First, Sears is attempting to rebuild its brand as evidenced by their current campaign. Once a cornerstone of the American department store scene, Sears fell into decline and still hovers around going off the deep end. Their new brand, “Life. Well spent.” aims to reintroduce the company as a source of dependability and value in today’s economic trials. This book play directly acknowledges both the economic reality of our times AND makes potential customers aware that Sears has more to offer than they might think. The media coverage that came out of the move undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows but chances are good that people might just pay attention and become aware of Sears as a viable alternative to the usual suspects. To that end I believe that Sears has achieved their goal.
Second, the goal of any promotion is to drive trial of product. The interesting aspect of the “Keep America Reading” campaign is that Sears isn’t aiming to become the defacto source for cheap, popular books. Instead, they are becoming a SOURCE FOR VALUE by asking consumers to simply proclaim their interest in purchasing certain items (sounds like free consumer research to me) and tell Sears about it. In return Sears is giving those consumers some free money as long as they take a second or two to explore what Sears has to offer. In a smart move, Sears isn’t asking consumers to actually travel to a brick-and-mortar location. Instead, they are simply asking consumers to take a trip on the world wide web. Easy, direct and abound with opportunities to demonstrate product offering and other ways that Sears can help potential consumers life a life well spent. The question is whether these potential converts see anything worth staying around for, which brings us to our next point.
Finally, purchase of product is the end goal of Sears’ promotion. As I mentioned above, Sears is giving people money for buying product elsewhere. While some might view this as simply a discount move, the real thing to take away from the plan is that by giving customers a credit THEY ARE NOT DISCOUNTING PRICES. Instead they give potential customers a perceived value for even considering Sears as a viable alternative. This allows Sears to avoid being the lowest bidder and instead the largest giver of value. Smart.
My assumption is that we will see Sears online traffic explode in the next few days (maybe even weeks). By taking stock of how that traffic maintains itself I think you will get a good glimpse into general consumer opinion of Sears and their offering in the marketplace. Should consumers like what they see, a few of them will stay around and continue to look to Sears for value. Should they look around and see that they can still get merchandise of similar or better quality for similar or lower price, you just might see this as the end of Sears relevance (with the possible exception of their appliance and electronics sections).
Either way, it’s a hell of a move at a hell of a time and it will be interesting to see how it ends for Sears. Stay tuned.
Pax vobiscum,
Andrew
PS I wonder if Sears has considered running book-specific promotions? “Zen and the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance” and $20 off a 42” LCD TV, “A Brief History of Time” gets you $10 of an alarm clock. It might give them a chance to speak to specific markets (via some well placed online advertising) and showcase specific, value-laden product. Just a thought.
This was all blasted to smithereens by Sears.
Yes, that Sears. The one you know for boilers, washing machines and a recent history of having trouble making ends meet. They went ahead and dropped the prices on new releases as low as they could: $0. With the launch of their “Keep America Reading” promotion Sears has made a noticeable entrance into the battle for books. Or has it?
The way the whole promotion works is that consumers can buy certain books at Wal-Mart, Amazon or Target and submit the receipt online for up to a $9 credit on their next purchase of $45 or more. So just what is Sears’ game and how do they expect this to work? Clearly Sears isn’t known for being a bastion of literary influence, so how does this whole book credit thing work to their advantage?
My opinion is that they have a three-fold goal in mind: 1) Awareness, 2) Trial and 3) Purchase. Simple, right? But there’s more to it so let’s explore each step piece by piece.
First, Sears is attempting to rebuild its brand as evidenced by their current campaign. Once a cornerstone of the American department store scene, Sears fell into decline and still hovers around going off the deep end. Their new brand, “Life. Well spent.” aims to reintroduce the company as a source of dependability and value in today’s economic trials. This book play directly acknowledges both the economic reality of our times AND makes potential customers aware that Sears has more to offer than they might think. The media coverage that came out of the move undoubtedly raised a few eyebrows but chances are good that people might just pay attention and become aware of Sears as a viable alternative to the usual suspects. To that end I believe that Sears has achieved their goal.
Second, the goal of any promotion is to drive trial of product. The interesting aspect of the “Keep America Reading” campaign is that Sears isn’t aiming to become the defacto source for cheap, popular books. Instead, they are becoming a SOURCE FOR VALUE by asking consumers to simply proclaim their interest in purchasing certain items (sounds like free consumer research to me) and tell Sears about it. In return Sears is giving those consumers some free money as long as they take a second or two to explore what Sears has to offer. In a smart move, Sears isn’t asking consumers to actually travel to a brick-and-mortar location. Instead, they are simply asking consumers to take a trip on the world wide web. Easy, direct and abound with opportunities to demonstrate product offering and other ways that Sears can help potential consumers life a life well spent. The question is whether these potential converts see anything worth staying around for, which brings us to our next point.
Finally, purchase of product is the end goal of Sears’ promotion. As I mentioned above, Sears is giving people money for buying product elsewhere. While some might view this as simply a discount move, the real thing to take away from the plan is that by giving customers a credit THEY ARE NOT DISCOUNTING PRICES. Instead they give potential customers a perceived value for even considering Sears as a viable alternative. This allows Sears to avoid being the lowest bidder and instead the largest giver of value. Smart.
My assumption is that we will see Sears online traffic explode in the next few days (maybe even weeks). By taking stock of how that traffic maintains itself I think you will get a good glimpse into general consumer opinion of Sears and their offering in the marketplace. Should consumers like what they see, a few of them will stay around and continue to look to Sears for value. Should they look around and see that they can still get merchandise of similar or better quality for similar or lower price, you just might see this as the end of Sears relevance (with the possible exception of their appliance and electronics sections).
Either way, it’s a hell of a move at a hell of a time and it will be interesting to see how it ends for Sears. Stay tuned.
Pax vobiscum,
Andrew
PS I wonder if Sears has considered running book-specific promotions? “Zen and the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance” and $20 off a 42” LCD TV, “A Brief History of Time” gets you $10 of an alarm clock. It might give them a chance to speak to specific markets (via some well placed online advertising) and showcase specific, value-laden product. Just a thought.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rum gets the drop on research
In my experience as an advertising person, the one thing we always wished we had was information on how actual people feel about things. How nice it would be to zip out a question like, "How do you feel about X?" and actually get a response.
Well, it looks like Don Q rum has actually figured out how to do that. And while I'm not sure how it benefits their brand, it could definitely have implications for other brands.
They (and what I assume is their agency) have put together a little thang called LadyData. The basic premise seems simple: Ask a panel of Ladies questions and then allow them to provide a response. It seems to me that their goal is kind of Mystery Method in nature and that they not only boost your male aura as a fancy rum drinker but boost your means of seducing the feminine sacred by being a Don Q drinker.
Whatever their goals, what they have succeeded in putting together is a fairly interesting little program that allows you to view those responses, the specific ladies that voted and filter said information by age, location, education, etc.
A smart agency would try to sell this to other clients as a real-time research tool.
Well, it looks like Don Q rum has actually figured out how to do that. And while I'm not sure how it benefits their brand, it could definitely have implications for other brands.
They (and what I assume is their agency) have put together a little thang called LadyData. The basic premise seems simple: Ask a panel of Ladies questions and then allow them to provide a response. It seems to me that their goal is kind of Mystery Method in nature and that they not only boost your male aura as a fancy rum drinker but boost your means of seducing the feminine sacred by being a Don Q drinker.
Whatever their goals, what they have succeeded in putting together is a fairly interesting little program that allows you to view those responses, the specific ladies that voted and filter said information by age, location, education, etc.
A smart agency would try to sell this to other clients as a real-time research tool.
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