Delivery services are frequently overlooked when it comes to the Customer Journeys in retail stores. As marketers, we often discuss about awareness, consideration and the conversion part of the journey and the support, retention and advocacy steps after the purchase.
This is why I particularly appreciated the rent a trailer service at Praktiker Greece. There is nothing more frustrating than delaying the handyman’s work because the delivery service should be scheduled during the following day or the materials purchased cannot fit in your vehicle.
True to the nature of their Customers (avid DIYers ), with minimum investment and a clear communication, pricing and procedure the Retailer managed to increase Customer satisfaction and… nail this!
How many times have you encountered that familiar phrase, only to find a rare gem of an example that truly brings it to life? Couple this with some skillful copywriting, and… voilà! You’ve got a compelling point of sales communication!
During a leisurely wait before my flight at Athens International Airport, I stumbled upon a clever bookshelf encouraging passengers to select a book based on their flight duration.
Next time you find yourself at the Greek capital’s airport, ensure you “book” your flight according to your anticipated time in the skies. As George R.R. Martin once eloquently expressed, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one.”
Solution Marketing POS messaging @ Athens International Airport
Every time I unwrap a luxury item (actually not very often) the amount of packaging waste really blows my mind. The higher the price/volume ratio for a product, the more the packaging waste…
Speaking of this, while shopping in a personal care and beauty shop, I noticed the below “fountain” device from Mugler Fragrances where customers can refill their favorite perfume. It immediately stroke my sensitive ecology chord…
Photo: Mugler Source
A bit of background to the story… as I later read, Mugler perfumes Angel and Alien have been around for quite some time, with Angel launching back in 1992 (yes that is prior to the millennium!!!). It is considered an iconic fragrance as at it was the first “gourmand” fragrance (= a perfume consisting primarily of synthetic edible/gourmand notes, such as honey, chocolate etc.) that shocked the perfume industry with this innovation. Current annual sales estimates of Angel along with its companion scent Alien account for approximately €250 million!
I asked the salesperson about the price difference between purchasing a 50ml bottle or refilling one. The answer came as a surprise to me. Purchasing a bottle would cost ~€73 while refilling one would cost ~€39 (both options were on discount at that moment). This is a great deal of saving for either a loyal customer or a younger, cost conscious person who is relative new to the franchise.
Could it be that solutions like the above, hit two birds with one stone? On one hand with such small actions, Mugler Fragrances show that they care about the environment and on the other hand, that they provide to their customers a more cost efficient way to enjoy the brand (and finally stay in the Mugler franchise).
On a closing note, one thing is certain to me… it takes more than offering a great, even breakthrough at a time, perfume to stay relevant for 28 consecutive years.
The most luxurious shopping mall in Athens is probably the Golden Hall. Most of the tenants are shops on the higher end, which offer their premium merchandise in there. In general, for a brand to sell something on a premium (ie. to “decommoditize” it) the marketers usually tell aunique story about the product/brand, so to generate demand for the item and justify the price premium.
Once Johan Cruyf had said “Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple”. This can’t be more true in many aspects of life, ranging from engineering to building a relationship.
I visited a couple of days ago a Stamou dairy shop in my neighborhood. Stamou is a dairy company established in 1964 and growing ever since. They are mostly known for their milk based desserts and sweets and since they are integrated producers, their products are considered to be very qualitative.
Before checking out in the cashier, a salesperson approached me and said “we would like to inform you that all custard filled pastry (in Greek: γαλακτομπούρεκο) are made today and the ones made yesterday are always in half price discount”. That simple… In a single sentence the salesperson tackled two important issues: freshness of end product and stock management.
Selling is simple, but it is difficult to sell simply.
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,000 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 17 trips to carry that many people.
It’s only few weeks after the terrible terrorist strike in Paris on the 13/11/2015. This has been an attack that shocked the entire western world as we know it and spread sadness to everyone. Paris, similarly to New York have been terrorist targets not only because they belonged to France and the USA, but mainly because they are iconic cities with landmarks widely known to the world and synonymous to the western way of living. This is exactly the same reason these two cities have been vastly used in marketing campaigns of several products.
Few days after the attack, I visited my neighborhood’s supermarket for the weekly grocery shopping when I saw a perfume product display with the promo message #myriseparisi (translate from Greeklish: #smellslikeParis).
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