Impulse Buying

Our book, Marking Express, defines impulse buying as an unplanned buying behavior resulting from a powerful urge to buy something immediately. When I first read this I questioned how certain companies advertise their product to make it become something that someone would buy impulsively. I then realized that I do not think it is necessarily the promotion of the product but other parts of the marketing mix that are more important. For example aspects like price and place. For me the majority of my impulse buys seem to depend upon where I am. For example if I am in a store grocery shopping I hardly ever consider going down the candy isle. However I often find myself upon check out picking out a pack of gum or a candy bar that is easily accessible and putting in on the conveyor belt to be purchased. This is often times impulsive for me because the candy is so conveniently place. I do not need to take more of my time to get this item, I am already standing right there and my items are already being checked out. Along with the physical place of something I noticed price is a huge factor of impulse buying for myself. I find myself often times seeing something I have seen before for more money and picking it up not necessarily because I need it but because I feel as if I may at some point need it and it is too good of a deal to pass up. I think impulse buying adds a difficult aspect to marketing. Companies cannot anticipate these purchases and in turn this makes them extremely difficult to market. There is a lot of money to potentially be made or lost in efforts to predict these purchases.

Impulse buying also helps out retail stores rather than just the actual companies supplying the product. How and where items are placed within a specific store can have a significant impact on sales. For example I did a remodel for a retail store and in doing so I set up planograms which are essentially blueprints for what item will go where on a shelf. However, space on the end caps of each row was saved for only the top selling items in each particular section. With this being a new store and people not knowing the lay out it made it easier for them to find certain items or it acted as a reminder that the product was there. This is an interesting thing to pay attention to as you go into stores.

What factors most heavily impact your impulse buying? Do you think companies can predict impulse buying, if so how? If not what can they do better to predict them?

Online Profiling

Online profiling consists of collecting information about consumers by tracking or observing their actions as they browse the Internet. This can be done simply by tracking what links the consumer clicks on, what websites they visit most often, or even the amount of time they spend on each website. In doing this companies are able to collect valuable information about consumers and in turn use this information to target specific audiences by placing ads on specific websites. Online profiling is a great tool for businesses to get to know their consumers. However, many people are concerned with this profiling interfering with their personal privacy as well as question the business' ethics in doing so.
Many privacy advocates claim these companies are creating profiles and using them to figure out political, religious, or even sexual orientations and then selling this information unethically. However, the companies that are collecting this information claim they are making consumer's lives easier. They claim these profiles are saving their customers time so they do not having to look around at multiples sites, they also claim they save their customers time by saving previous information so they do no have to retype it into frequently visited sites.
For me personally I am a little bit weary of online profiling. I know for a fact that certain sites I visit partake in it. Multiple sites that I visit regularly store my information and allow me to stay signed in, for example Facebook and even my Yahoo mail account. I have also noticed banners on sites that mention specifically my hometown and I have wondered how they knew this information. I think a lot of people have the false notion that because you are on the Internet no one is watching and this in turn gives them a false sense of security.

Do you think this profiling is helpful or hurtful to consumers? Do companies take advantage of unknowing consumers or is it the consumers responsibility to know what they are making known to the public?

Trash Talking in Marketing

At this point all of us are very familiar with the rivalry amongst AT&T and Verizon. In prior years this rivalry may not have been at the forefront of our attention. However, more recently it is nearly impossible not to turn on the TV without seeing an ad that appears as if one of the companies is directly attacking or saying something poorly about the other. Rivalries to a certain extent can be healthy and keep markets competitive. However, I feel as if these ads are taking it too far, and actually becoming quite annoying. For me these ads make me less interested in the product being advertised and are almost distracting me from what the product or service actually is. Sure the ad is effective in the sense that I can remember it, but certainly it is not effective in the sense that I want to support or remain loyal to that product or service.

I have also seen this type of marketing in other settings. For example the other day I was driving down a street in which McDonald's and Wendy's are next to each other. On one of the company's large signs where they advertise their latest deals the sign instead read, "Fresh beef sold here, frozen patties next door." I feel as if these direct attacks are being more and more common. Lately I have also seen commercials for Clorox talking badly about Tide, and even a commercial where on pizza company claims another pizza companies ads are false.

Do you think this is effective marketing? Do you think this type of advertisement actually has an adverse effect on these companies?

Here is a link to a commercial that Verizon made against AT&T around Christmas time...

John Smith Questions

Not knowing the exact details and the guidelines in which he conducts these surveys makes it hard to determine if these names should or should not be sold. If John conducts these surveys under the confidentiality that the information he gathers will not be shared with outside parties, then absolutely he should not. An example of this from the AMA's statement of ethics is mentioned under the terms of fairness. Under these terms it states that a professional organization should avoid knowingly participating in conflicts of interest, and should seek to protect private information of customers, employees, and partners. For John to sell this information would be to betray the trust of his customers and in turn create a conflict of interest. John would neglect the agreement he made with his customers to better himself and his company.

On the flip side if John were allowed to sell this information he could actually use it to help out his customer base. The AMA's statement of ethics mentions responsibility and as part of responsibility a professional organization must strive to serve the needs of customers. John is selling information about people who are likely, or very likely to purchase cars; he is not necessarily troubling people who have no intentions of purchasing cars. Having a car dealership contact these customers may actually be a step in the right direction to get them started in purchasing a car where as maybe before they didn't know how to go about this.

Can you think of any terms under the AMA's statement of ethics that could apply from the perspective of John's employees, or his customers?

In response to Robert McCarthy...

Rob asked... Are there any other types of advertisement that you feel has run its course by now? Why aren't they effective?

When I think of advertising and where I most commonly see advertisements I immediately think of broadcast advertising which consists of the television, radio, and Internet. I think this is because technology is such a large part of my life, and the lives of younger audiences. When I think of methods of advertisement that have run their course I consider certain types of print advertisement. An example of print advertisement that I feel has run its course includes fliers. For me there are many reasons why these are not effective. One major reason I feel this way is because personally I think fliers are a huge pain. To walk through a parking lot and see nearly every car with a flier on its windshield really just annoys me. Also I find they rarely ever contain something I am interested in. There is also no personal interaction with fliers, I rarely meet or talk to the person handing them out. To me this makes me feel as if the person is just doing a job and doesn't actually care for what they are trying to promote. I also feel as if society has helped this method run its course. In today's society many people are all about "going green" and to hand out paper that is likely to just be thrown away is not viewed as being socially responsible.

Despite technology becoming a large part of many people's lives I also feel as if there are types of advertisement that pertain to technology that are being phased out. A specific example of this includes pop-ups. When I first started using the Internet I was intrigued my nearly everything so for me a pop-up was new and exciting. However, now that I use the Internet more I absolutely cannot stand them and have now learned to close them so fast I can often do it before the ad even loads. With technology becoming a huge part of many people's lives I feel as everyone wants everything done ten minutes ago. With this being the case I think a lot of advertisement types that take up people's time are now being perceived as a burden and because of this they are being phased out and ineffective.

More and more types of advertisement methods are becoming ineffective. With this being the case what are some new methods you would suggest and why? What older methods do you think will withstand the test of time in the ever-changing world we live in?

Text Messaging Costs

When is the last time you sent or received a text message? For many this probably less than an hour ago. Text messaging is something that has quickly become second nature to cell phone users. However, how much do you really know about text messaging? In 2008 about 2.5 trillion text messages were sent. Text messaging takes up no extra resources for the phone company and essentially piggybacks on what they already offer. For a text message to be sent it cost the phone company about 1/3 of a cent. In turn if texting is not part of your cell phone plan they charge anywhere between 10-20 cents for 160 character text. If texting is included in your plan it costs anywhere from $10-15 per month. Without doing the exact math it is still very easy to see phone companies are making a killing off of text messaging.

Nearly all of this information was news to me. I had never given much thought to how much it actually costs phone companies to incorporate texting into the services they offer. Despite this I had heard numerous stories of outrageous cell phones bills do to people sending extreme amounts of text messages. This made me wonder about how texting came about how it was marketed in such a way that actual costs were hidden from the public. For me I think it was the pricing aspect that blinded people. I know for me personally with my first cell phone plan it did not include texting so nearly every month I was cautious of how much I was sending out, despite this I almost always went over the amount that was in the price range I wanted to spend on texting. So when my phone company offered unlimited texting for only $10 a month as part of me plan when I was almost always paying double or triple this, it was an easy decision. I think the act of charging for a single text or instead offering a set amount for an unlimited amount of texts is what distracted people. People became blinded by the deal the thought they were receiving instead of concentrating on the killing phone companies were making.

Multiple companies offer deals for buying in bundle or signing up for contracts with them, can you provide examples of any? Do you think phone companies are taking advantage of their customers? What marketing techniques do you think cell phone companies used to make texts become so popular, and what techniques could they use to possibly make even more money from this service?

In response to Ryan Berridge...

Ryan asked... " How do you see advertising changing within the next 30 years and do you believe that direct mail will still be around."

When considering direct mail, I feel as if this will always be a used method and because of this it will still be around. I feel as if there are many strategies off direct mail that allow it to be a valuable source for advertising. One major feeling I have pertaining to this use of advertising if the way it allows certain companies to relate to their customers. I think this bond and type of respect amongst employees or businesses and their customers is one that is fading quickly possibly due to e-marketing and how it has shaped the way we live today.

When considering marketing in 30 years I can only imagine how it will change. It is hard to even believe the things that are possible today. One example I read in an article recently talks about how certain shoe companies are inserting a type of chip into their shoes. This chip can then be tracked and linked to you to show companies where you are going or how much you are traveling and allow them to adjust their marketing this way. This chip can also be read by certain censors as you walk into stores in which you will then a text message will be sent to your phone which tells you of deals or discounts in the certain sections that you tend to shop in. These profiles are becoming more and more popular. With this being the case, in 30 years, I think the possibilities are endless.

What do you think of marketing for the future? Do you think new types of advertising invade privacy? Can you provide any examples of this, or what you personally do to try and avoid these profiles from being created?