The More You Buy, The More You Save!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27893462/
I hear a lot of advertisements that promote sales where “The more you buy, the more you save.” I hate those ads...however, this mindset is especially true this holiday season. The article, from MSNBC, is about the discounts many retailers are being forced to offer. Sales were forecasted to be low for these months, so retailers cut back on orders. However, even their modest forecasts have been too high, forcing retailers to take on hard-to-sell inventory. This has put all the power on the buyer. The buyers are able to negotiate for lower prices to compensate for the current financial crisis. The article seems to focus on the bigger ticket items while still stating that apparel will also be discounted. Items like baseball tickets, luxury hotel rooms, cars, HDTV’s, and overseas flights. Electronics are doing the same thing now that the iPhone and PS3 had to do earlier and that is cut price. With the iPhone and most electronics, consumers are more hesitant to by once it gets past the $400 barrier. However, once below that number, consumers let down their guard. Much like the way $1.99 sounds more attractive and seems like a better deal than $2.00, electronics experience the same phenomenon. With the rise of smaller manufacturers of HDTV’s and other electronic devices, we may see price points in the range that hasn’t been seen before.

The Pasta of Italy

I was just sitting here when some Barilla pasta commercial came popping into my head. I remember the ad saying “Barilla…the pasta of Italy.” That brought back memories of this summer when I actually went to Italy to study abroad. I remembered going to the grocery store and buying noodles, and it’s true: Barilla is the only brand name pasta I can remember seeing. That being said, I still did not see that much Barilla. Instead, I saw box after box of private label brands and generic noodles. So, when Barilla says they are the pasta of Italy, they are technically not lying. It’s just that brand names don’t always have the same power overseas. There are no Meuller’s or even a large private label like Spartan, but rather a bunch of different private brands.

Real Mexican Food

A couple of weeks ago I had an assignment in another class (MGT 355 - Diversity) to go somewhere I would be the minority. Somewhere like a African-American church or go to the mall in a wheelchair. Well, as evidenced by the title of this blog, I chose Mexican food. This does not mean Qdoba, Adobe, or Taco Bell. Instead it was a place that I could not pronounce or even remember the spelling. There was no ethnic memorabilia, no caricatures of what Mexican life is like on the walls, and no crunch wrap supremes. Instead, the menu was in Spanish and it was almost empty except for two paying customers sitting together and the four daughters of the owner. The man was the waiter and the wife cooked in the back. I would probably not see 4 children of a Taco Bell employee encouraged to jump around, playing with coloring books and watching movies right with the customers. It was a very different atmosphere than I was used to. All the people in the restaurant (total of 9, until the two paying customers left 5 minutes after I arrived) were speaking Spanish for the most part, but they could switch back and forth to English seamlessly. The radio was also on a Spanish station. I ended up having a great, inexpensive meal and had a fun time talking to the owner who explained the menu. Granted, his attention paid to me could be attributed to me being the only paying customer for at least an hour, but either way it was completely new experience that may just bring me back there soon. I wish I could tell you where I was so you could go there, but all I know is that it is somewhere down Division on the east side of the road…Taqueira something….

Jude's Barbershop

In the past 2 years, I’ve had my hair cut twice. Before that, I used to go every 3-4 weeks to get my hair cut. I went to a barber shop as a kid with my Grandpa for the first 16 years of my life. After 16 years of having my hair butchered, I would go to some salon where I felt uncomfortable the whole time I was there. The walls were pink, it smelled of hair products or nail polish, and there was not one masculine thing about the place… not even me, it felt. Obviously, I wasn’t in their target market, so they didn’t cater to my needs. After a couple years of this torture, I ended up having a friend cut my hair, and then she got a job at another very feminine salon so I was back to being uncomfortable. I painted this sad, pathetic picture to show you how much I now love Jude’s barbershop. I already consider myself a loyal customer after one visit. The atmosphere is not barbershop and not salon, but a hybrid of the two. People were having conversations like any other barbershop and lots of other ambient noises were going on, but I didn’t see or smell any nail polish, not one inch of the wall was left bare, and the hairdressers’ kits are Craftsmen toolboxes. All of this helped me feel a little more secure about getting suckered into buying a massage and a shampoo. Even though I lost my $2 off coupon (because I was a first-time customer) I’ll be going back to Jude’s when I get my haircut next year…

The Costs and Benefits of Being Proactive - IKEA

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/25/news/companies/gunther_ikea.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008112609
I recently read an article about Ikea’s sustainability efforts. I had known for awhile that they operated in a socially responsible manner, but I did not know just how proactive they have been. I have never shopped at IKEA, so I know very little about the store other than it’s a Swedish company that sells affordable and modern furniture. What I did not know was that IKEA has always been selling products in boxes and required assembly done completely by the customer. This saves money not only in terms of extra labor, but also in transportation. By only “flat-packing” their products they can cut down on the number of shipments and the amount of wasted space. As IKEA's president and CEO Anders Dalhvig says, "We must stop transporting air." They have recently stepped up sustainability efforts by pledging to purchase more and more of their wood from “sustainably managed forests” as well as using fewer raw materials. Other efforts include the use of solar panels at some stores, the non-use of plastic bags in the US, and substituting wood veneer products that are just as attractive and functional as solid wood. IKEA had been using 70 million plastic bags in the US and eliminating the bags cut both waste and emissions.
One area in which IKEA is acting as the leader in sustainability is the company’s efforts to change the lumber industry. IKEA has been buying some of their wood from forests that are certifiable by the independent Forest Stewardship Council. In the future, IKEA wants to use all FSC-certified lumber in its products, but it currently sits at 5% due to pressures to keep costs down by buying from low-cost producers in Russia, eastern Europe and Asia. Acting with the World Wildlife Fund to help owners of timber land in those countries (Russia, China, etc) improve their practices and achieve certification.
One quote that typifies the market today is from Dalhvig, saying he no longer has to persuade them (employees) to work to make the company sustainable, adding “Today, the pressure is from underneath. They want us to do more.” IKEA has been proactive in their sustainability efforts, building up their reputation in the market and building brand loyalty and awareness.