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Published on June 01, 2012

Posted by Paul Christ

7-Eleven Finds a Niche by Adapting to Indonesian Ways (New York Times)

One of the underlying tenets of marketing states that marketers must fully understand that success will only be realized if an organization provides customers with something they truly want.  Understanding this is especially important since most customers are willing to try out new things either because they are naturally curious or because they have been influenced to do so by others.  The effect is that customer retention is often extremely challenging as customers want to explore other products.

While on this surface the need for understanding what customers want appears to be a pretty simple concept, in reality it is something that is very difficult to master for several reasons.  First, determining what customers want is among the most difficult tasks that face marketers.  For some, this is because they lack the research skills needed to find out what customers want.  But, more likely, it is difficult because customers are not always good at providing much information since they are often not quite sure what they want until they have it.

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Published on May 24, 2012

Posted by Paul Christ

For Oreo, Cadbury and Ritz, a New Parent Company (New York Times)

Following a long needed break to catch up on a number of projects, we are back to posting about marketing issues that are making news.  We resume our posts by taking a look at the importance of developing good names.  As we note in our Product Decisions tutorial, selecting the name for products is a critical decision for nearly all firms.  Among other things, an effective product name is an important element in how customers pass along information to other customers.  Yet, coming up with a name is not limited to products; developing a name for a company may also be important.

At one time, creating a company name was an easy process.  Many companies often took the simple approach by naming the company after the company’s founder or name it for the type of products/services they provide.  However, the simple approach to company naming is much more difficult these days for two key reasons.

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Published on April 26, 2012

Posted by Paul Christ

(R)etail (R)evolution (Trendwatching)

It has long been predicted that the future of retailing lives in the online world. Going back to the mid-1990s, when consumers started experimenting with online purchasing, forecasts offered by research firms, trade groups, academics and others suggested online retailing would quickly represent a major portion of all retail sales. However, the dotcom meltdown of the late 1990s and early 2000s, along with the recent economic slowdown kept a lid on online sales. Consequently, most predictions have not been met.

But now things are back on track, and just maybe the prognosticators will be right. As discussed in this story, e-commerce is surging around the world. And those who are in the business of making predictions are forecasting even greater growth to come. For instance, one statistic quoted in this story forecasts that by 2016 U.S. e-commerce sales will grow by over 60% while sales in Europe will increase by over 70%.