STREETWISE MARKETING
STREETWISE MARKETING
STRIP IT BARE – A PRODUCT RE-LOOK
By Evans Majeni
In marketing speech , it is called Benchmarking . Matching the best in their game . It is the only way marketers have perfected to outdo the competition . Simply better the best . Thus , keeping up with the Kardashians is the order .
If the competition offers tea in their banking halls , you counter with tea with biscuits . If they provide a radio in their public vehicles , you install a disco in yours and if they add a big window in their sitting room , you make a complete glass wall .
This craze to outdo the competition has veered marketers out of their tracks and driven marketing costs to abnormal highs while at the same time obscuring the needs of the consumer . Honestly we don ’ t go to banks to take tea neither to we consider public vehicles as alternative clubbing spots . Just because a glossy magazine was trendy doesn ’ t mean that we forget the prime objective of the publication-to deliver a valuable information to the reader .
It ’ s a new year and time couldn ’ t be better to re-look at our products and the value chain to establish whether everything we offer suits the customer or is it simply driven by the desire to out-do the competition .
Price
Is your price heavily tilted by the irrelevant extras you include to simply beat the competition ? Why , for example should you charge the customer for a camera when he
‘‘ It ’ s a new year and time couldn ’ t be better to re-look at our products and the value chain to establish whether everything we offer suits the customer or is it simply driven by the desire to out-do the competition .’’ simply wanted a phone for making and receiving calls ?
Why should airlines charge us for adding irrelevancies in their packages while all a customer wanted was a decent and faster transport from point A to B ? Do you as a customer know that you are paying for that loud irritating music in restaurants and in public vehicles ?
Place
Who said that the coming of the supermarkets was the end of shopping ? We still need to go for those romantic coffee dates in special restaurants not on top of a supermarket . And why should a butchery , a clothes store , an electronics shop and a furniture show room all be inside a supermarket ?
Back in school , we learnt about shopping goods . These are those goods that a consumer would gladly spare some time and effort to visit their premises to get indepth information before making a purchase . Surely these goods still deserve an isolated location . I still love my Apple store on its own not
08 MAL 16 / 17 ISSUE