Ch 7 'Bleak Friday'

Summary

The recession appears to affect the way shoppers are buying their products. Most consumers are now shopping online and abandoning bricks and mortar to purchase their goods. This year general merchandising stores are going take the initiative to get them back, this Black Friday. E-commerce is increasing as it allows people to compare prices across a variety of retailers, sometimes avoid local sales taxes and even free shipping once in a while. Online sales now account for 6% of all retail stores in America and are expected to reach 8% by 2013. Amazon and eBay, two e-commerce giants, have been prosperous throughout the recession. For instance, eBay's listings have surged so quickly that its website briefly crashed on November 21st. Consumer-goods companies, such as Procter & Gamble (P&G), are now encouraging the sale of things such as diapers and laundry detergent online. All of these are major concerns for brick-and mortar retailers, whose prices are often higher, since they must bear the extra expenses of running stores. Conventional retailers are now trying to double their own efforts online. Saks, for example, saw online sales rise 9% in nine months to the end of October while sales in its stores fell by 19%. Retailers are now trying to make shopping more fun by using tactics such as "pop-up" stores, which appear for a short time before vanishing again. Apple has attracted many customers by encouraging them to try out their products in its stores. Another way retailers are trying to lure customers is by offering services that are not available online. For instance, Best Buy now sells music lessons along with its musical instruments and Lululemon athletica, a sport clothing store, now offers free yoga classes.

Connections

General merchandise retailers are facing issues as more and more people seem to do their shopping online. It seems as if non-store retailing has began to steadily increase as the recession goes on. Many consumer-goods companies are also integrating their channel of distribution. Procter & Gamble (P&G), a producer for example, is now starting to sell they products directly online to the consumer while eliminating the process and need for wholesalers and retailers. Even though online sales are increasing major general merchandise retailers such as Wal-Mart are getting a vast majority of sales on the infamous "Black Friday". As online sales are on the rise and look to increase in the future, many retailing companies and corporations look to increase their amount of profit whether it involves going online or increased service in stores.

Reflections
This article really shocked me because I thought that online retailing would account for a lot more than 6% of all retail sales America. The way the article describes e-tailing makes it seem as if it is going to take over the retailing market but to be at such a low percent really astounded me. Another thing i did not know was that you could buy groceries online. Also the idea of Best Buy giving free music lessons with the electronic musical instruments they sell ,was a really creative idea because it is a benefit you cannot receive from any online retailer. All in all even though online retailing its not as successful as I thought it would be there is still a lot of room in the future for it grow and prosper.

'Shockvertising' spreads to cut through media clutter

Summary:

A woman is suing Toyota Motors after thinking that she was being stalked an harassed by a stranger. In their defense, Toyota said that this was a part of their new marketing campaign to attract customers. The women is suing for 10 million dollars after receiving numerous emails, videos and even being followed which had left her in emotional distress. SFU professor Lindsay Meredith states that as technology continues to advance it makes up for a lot of information. This causes people and companies to be different just to be noticed even if it means being annoying. This method is refered to "shockvertising or "terror marketing" and is being used by companies such as Diesel Clothing, MTV Canada, Boost Mobile and Aylmer pasta sauce. Advertisements went from Diesel showing a women breast feeding a piece of rotten meant to MTV showing a political ad of young adults urinating. Vice-president of development for SDI Marketing, Oliver Gleeson, says that it is good to be different and he likes the idea.However he is still perplexed about how you can have thousands of supporters for your new campaign but one person can change the whole operation.

Connections:

One of the connections I had seen between the article and the textbook was how Toyota was breaking their right to freedom. Although they did have the freedom to run their marketing campaign as they wish, they ended up ruining another person's freedom. They did not know that she would react to their campaign this way and getting sued for 10 million dollars. Another connection that all these companies face is how they were able to target narrow groups of people. This is called niche marketing. Although these companies had bizarre ideas to advertise their products they were able to attract certain groups of people.

Reflection:

In my opinion some of these campaigns were funny, weird and most importantly, different. The Diesel clothing campaigns seemed to bizarre for me to be interested but the MTV advertisements were kind of funny and a clever way to get peoples attention. . I think it is important for companies to be different but there is a line between advertising and invading someones personal space. For example, the lady filing a lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp. 10 million dollars for emotional damages. That can be a serious issue for "Shockvertising" because it can give companies a bad name and they may lose business in the future.

Ch 1 "This Is the Future"

http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/14290409/2/c_14292723
Summary

Drugstore goliath Walgreen Co. shows that it is great to be in the pharmacy business. Regardless of the recession this $59 billion dollar drugstore chain is on a good momentum to try and expand its earnings by 7% in fiscal 2009. Walgreen Co. is giving the routine-merchandise part of its nearly 7,000 drugstores a brand new look that includes shopper friendly shelves and a wider selection. However the big change is the fact that they are now opening walk-in health-care clinics in its drugstores and in businesses across the country. Over 700 have been launched so far and hundreds are to be expected, so to speak. Walgreen Co. has also hired a new management staff such as naming Wade D. Miquelon as CFO in May of 2008 and also hiring a new CEO, chief marketing officer, chief merchant and head of health-care services. As you can see Walgreen Co. is making big changes to survive during these economic downfalls and going in competion against other drugstore chains and big companies such as Wal-Mart.

Connections

The first thing I noticed when I read this article was that Walgreen Co. has a very interesting Channel of Distribution. Aside from the standard pharmacy procedure they also mail and ship there products, have a stable expanding online business and have drive-thru pharmacies as well. They also handle lost of hospital pharmacies and work-site pharmacies. This relates to chapter because Walgreen's Channel of Distribution would have to be an integrated channel because they perform more than duty as a business. For instance they retailers because they do give there prescription drugs directly to the consumers but in addition they are also wholesaling and retailing their prescription drugs to other hospitals and pharmacies.

Reflections

In my opinion I think that it was a smart business decision for Walgreen Co. to redecorate their

pharmacies to try and improve business. Although there are no Walgreens in Canada, it is good to hear that there are some businesses prospering from the recession unlike a lot of unlucky people in the United States. Walk-in health clinics are a smart idea because you can keep up on your checkups on a weekly or even daily basis instead of struggling to make specific appointments for doctors every once in a while. In conclusion the drugstore collosus Walgreens has managed to get through the recession and continues to grow as a successful Corparation.