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Marketing tips, observations & philosophy, plus a few rants and random musings - from those who practice, preach and teach marketing, research, advertising, public relations and business strategy.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Furniture Chain Co-Opts the Employee Pricing Promo

It was bound to happen. Really, it was.

First, it was GM with its sales promotion (aka, price war) in which everyone gets the special employee-discount pricing. Then, Chrysler and Ford glommed onto the concept, as previously noted here.

This weekend, a regional furniture and appliance superstore chain announced its very own "Employee Discount" special. "You pay what we pay," touts the Big Sandy advertising campaign.

One thing that irks me is that this is totally lacking in originality. Hmmm, let's see. If automakers are offering employee pricing, maybe we should, too, since we're in the furniture and appliance business!

To make matters worse, this company already owned the market position of low-price leader. What can Big Sandy possibly hope to accomplish by futher slashing its already-low prices?

1 Comments:

Blogger Jen said...

My position on this is that so many businesses look at a process, promotion, or "gimmick" that works for another company or industry and assume that it will work in their company or industry. All things don't work for all people.

I have no problem using ideas from others to inspire my own (as you know!), but I think that tailoring to your business/industry is the key.

Low price is nice, but quality and exceptional customer service is great, too. I think that lately companies have focused on the price rather than the other important factors into successful sales/business.

One last thought...every time that I see another auto company, or any other company for that matter, my first thought is, "How desperate are they?" It makes me feel that the company is not stable. I am not sure why it has that affect on me, but that's my two cents.

8:09 AM

 

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