In response to Rob Bellavance's: Brand Loyalty

Rob asked, how much would it take before you switched brands? Are you loyal to one product only?

I would like to tell myself that I am not loyal to one product only but in all reality I do tend to favor certain brands over others. For example when reading Rob's post he mentioned Toyota and Hyundi it brought to mind my preference in cars. Right now I drive a Volkswagen and although it is not the nicest car I have come to really like Volkwagens. I have considered getting a new car but when I look I really only look at other Volkswagens and do not have an interest in buying another make. Although I would like to consider myself a little more open minded than this I do find that I have a strong preference for Volkswagens. I also find myself favoring brands other places as well. Recently I have been looking to buy a new rain coat and I have only looked at coats made by The North Face. I am absolutely positive there are other rain coats out there but I am sold on the fact that I want a North Face rain coat. With this being the case I would say that I absolutely find a product or brand that I like and it is pretty hard to change my opinion from there. Nearly every pair of shoes I have owned in the last 5 years have been Nikes.

However, although I do like to stick to these brands there are certain limitations I do keep in mind. Like many of my peers I am a broke college student and price is a huge factor on my buying capabilities and decisions. Although I would like to buy a new Volkswagen car I need to keep price in mind and they do tend to be pricey. With this being the case if it came down to it and I really needed a new car I would have to settle on the best deal for the money regardless of make or model. This is also the case with the coat I planned to purchase. I have not purchased a coat yet because all the North Face coats I looked at were more money than I wanted to spend. With this being the case it is likely I will find something in the meantime to hold me over and it is likely I will forget about the North Face all together. All and all price is really the only thing that limits me from purchasing brands I am loyal to. If I had excess money to just buy whatever I wanted there is no reason why I wouldn't buy the expensive Volkswagen or the expensive new coat, assuming the quality of the product did not change.

Price is my main concern and what ultimately makes me choose one brand over another. In an ideal world I would always buy the brands I preferred. What factors influence you? Or what in the past has made you choose one brand over another? Or what has caused you to become loyal to a brand or product?

Price Competition

Price competition deals with emphasizing price and matching or beating competitor's prices. In todays economy many people are struggling to make ends meet. With this being case many companies have become more aware of their prices and have adjusted them so they themselves can stay in business. Despite the economy weighing heavily on retail stores these stores need to also keep in mind the online markets as well. In today's society the internet makes almost any item you would ever need available to you in numerous ways and in each of these ways at a different price. Many people can even buy items they are looking for from web sites like Craig's List and Ebay rather than going to the suppliers themselves. Although these items may be slightly used they are still sold for significantly less. With this being the case it makes it extremely difficult for suppliers to compete.

A technique used by stores to stay competitive includes price matching. However, even some stores cannot keep up with online prices. I know, for example, the store I work at will not price match with online prices. This is because often times the online store's prices do not account for shipping and things like that that ultimately need to be factored into the price we charge in the store. The store I work at does price match prices from fliers of other stores and I have also been in numerous stores that say they will price match.

With the Internet being such a prominent force in the way we purchase our goods how can companies that are not online compete with these low prices? What are some other pricing techniques a company could use besides price matching?

In Response to Robert McCarthy: Color in Marketing

Have you noticed any other marketing techniques that are used to make people more likely to buy things? What industries are these techniques found in?

I think a very easy industry to immediately connect with as far as marketing techniques is the grocery industry. These stores sell items that we absolutely need and because of this we shop at them often. With this being the case it is very easy to look past or not pay much attention to certain techniques. Often times consumers know what they are going there for and get in and out without looking around too much. Grocery stores know this and place items in particular places to gain the attention of shoppers. A specific example of a technique I know a grocery store in my home town does is that they move their products to different isles every few months. With this being the case if you once knew where an item was you not need to look around for it and are more apt to come across items you were not initially going for but may buy anyways having seen them. The idea of out of sight out of mind sets up many companies marketing techniques.

I also have noticed techniques that online companies use. Numerous online sites that I use to shop from offer free shipping on orders over a certain amount. These companies also offer a free product if you spend a certain amount. This is effective because although someone may have been done shopping they may come to realize they could get an item for 5 dollars or they could pay 5 dollars on shipping. This ultimately leads to more money the company is making considering they probably pay a fraction for shipping in comparison to what they charge.

What techniques have you noticed are most effective on your shopping habits? Do you think you are always aware of these techniques?

In Response to Chad Brown's post: Cognitive Dissonance

Have you ever experienced this, and can you think of any companies that may be susceptible to this.

I have experienced cognitive dissonance probably more times in my life than I would have liked to, and probably will experience it a few more times. On one occasion I purchased a backpack off the Internet and the web site listed the dimensions of the back pack wrong so when I received it in the mail it was entirely too small to serve the purpose I needed it for. Ultimately I returned the back pack but still had to pay the shipping and wasted probably $10-15. More recently I purchased a mountain bike with plans to ride it a lot over the summer. However, when the summer came I was wrapped up with work and when I wasn't working it seemed to be raining. This bummed me out a little bit and made me think about my purchase and if I should have gone to a professional bike shop to buy an expensive bike as opposed to going to Wal-Mart and purchasing one for half the price, considering the amount of use it actually got.

I think there are multiple companies that are highly susceptible to cognitive dissonance. For example when thinking about my bike purchase it brings to mind the idea of exercise equipment. So often people purchase this equipment with high hopes to use it and after a few weeks or a month it serves a better purpose as a cloths hanger. Another example of companies that are highly susceptible to cognitive dissonance are computer and cellphone companies. There are always new computes and new cell phones coming out. With this being the case the price of the computer or cell phone you just bought months priors often times drops and there is then a newer version of your purchase.

How can companies that sell products that are susceptible to having consumers feel cognitive dissonance improve their products to have their consumers avoid this feeling?

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...