Receiving Emails

    When shopping, often times stores ask for a personal email upon checkout; most popularly, clothing stores. One clothing store in the area that does this is Garage. Garage will sign you up online while checking out, and you will receive emails greatly focused on in store savings via coupons.
    Although the emails can sometimes be beneficial, they are not personalized, beyond sometimes having the recipients name in the first line. These emails are generated by computer systems and sent out in batches to reach as many customers as possible. By inserting the consumers name, the company does try to personalize the email to some extent, however, the purpose of the email is to advertise everything store wide versus exactly what the shopper goes into the store for. Personalizing the emails further would be possible, however, it would be a large task.
    To further personalize, there would be the option to advertise more about what the consumer last purchased at the store if such records were kept upon purchase. This would allow the consumer to get an email focused on their wants. With this, there would be more time and computer processing involved in order to ensure that each consumer gets the email focused on the proper products.

Image from Google Images.

    The option to get an email is highly encouraged by staff, but there is also the option to unsubscribe. This allows the consumer to opt out of the option from home at any time if they do not want the emails. By doing this, the consumer wouldn't get the advertising from the particular store, however, they then also wouldn't get the coupons that typically are attached.

Odd-Even Pricing

    I believe that it is always a good strategy to stand out from your competitors in the market. Some do this by the products they carry, and the look of such products, but there are other ways to stand out. For example, I feel that A&W stands out from their market in the way they price their products. A&W's competitors often use odd-even pricing, whereas at A&W they do not. This would allow consumers to feel a difference between the products, and thus be drawn towards A&W. A&W has also been around for several years, so by having the continuous theme through their pricing, they would set an image for themselves. This would increase loyalty and allow those loyal consumers to entice others to take part in the franchise.

Image from Google Images.

Struggling Retailer

    Many companies that we see in Canada today are based out of the US. This can cause many problems for retailers, between shipping, costs and various standard control systems. One company that is current seeing a struggle in today's economy is Sears department stores. Today, there are a large variety of stores offering similar products as Sears. This allows for great competition in the market. Although Sears is known as a higher end department store, more and more people are finding themselves looking at purchasing at lower price ranges. With this, Sears will not be getting as great of sales due to the fact that consumers can go elsewhere for similar products at less cost. Having competition in relation to styles and prices puts Sears at a great risk.

Image from Google Images.

    Sears needs to reevaluate their company and find a way to change the image they carry. One way Sears could readjust their company is by targeting to a different target audience. Many people in today's society don't have a lot of extra money to spend, and if they do, they're likely going to a higher end store versus Sears. Sears needs to take this into consideration and either adjust their products to go down with cheaper products, or to reach up to these higher end clients. If they decide to reach up, it may be wise to limit the amount of articles they are selling in order to specialize and find a new niche. Another consideration for Sears should be the fact that people who grew up with the company, baby boomers, are also getting older and slowly are passing on. This leaves their target dwindling slowly. If they do not readjust their focus, there target market will be greatly decreased within the next decade.

     Although a company like Walmart sells different products, several people will look at the price aspect and purchase where they can easily afford at the time they are currently there. Sears needs to keep this price point in mind if it plans to become successful again in today's market. Sears is currently fighting against new, up and coming companies, and they need to change their target and strategy to fit this, before it causes them to go under.

Eye Catching Advertisment

    As we near Christmas, there are more and more advertisements coming out for various products. Recently I saw an ad for perfume on TV, and I was enticed to see what the product was about and the qualities that were being portrayed. The ad was created to look very sensual and alluring, in order to attract a women's attention. It showed that by using the product, the woman would feel great about herself and attract the attention of others. While attracting the woman's eye, it would also attract a man's eye for a few reasons. He may be interested in helping his partner feel highly of themselves as the commercial displays. Also, he may like the feeling the commercial portrays, so be interested in the product for the overall feeling that it could bring. With both of these in mind, the commercial was definitely effective. Although the target audience was primarily for a woman, it would also catch a man's eye. By creating this feeling, the producers of the ad have allowed for any potential viewer to be interested in the product.

     Below is an example of how these traits would be demonstrated, similar to that of the TV commercial I saw.

Image from Google Images.