Airport version of Bulk Price

I am always interested and appreciative when I see cross pollination between businesses.

Recently, I captured in London's airport these pictures: I like the point of offering an extra benefit to the prospect (a lower price on the books) if they purchase a quantity higher than one copy.

As usual, business is a numbers' game: even if just a fraction of the prospects will take the establishment up on the offer, it is going to be extra profit flowing directly to the bottom line for no risk and no additional investment.




Smart ideas can be found at every corner, even at airports...

Mau in Austin

Remind me, remind me, remind me

ciao,

today we have an example of smart business idea from my recent trip in Italy.

Some words of introduction: in Italy, it is fairly common to purchase extra credit for your cellular phone account via calling cards, similar to those that AT&T or MCI sell in the US. There is a hidden code on the back, you scratch the card, call a special number and get your cell phone account boosted by the amount purchased. So far, so good.

Now, I am at a supermarket cash register and I notice that on the little metal separator, used to distinguish my stuff from the other persons' shopping items, there is written (see picture)
"Buy here your cell phone credit".



This is very smart! Pure profit added to the bottom line for the supermarket, all with a simple writing on the little metal object.

Does it work? It certainly does: I needed to recharge my cell phone and it surely did the trick for me: I shelled out my hard earned, cold Euro cash and got my cell phone fat with credit.

For me: convenience. For the supermarket: extra profit at no extra cost.

All in all, a pretty good idea,

Mau in Taiwan

Liked the Food? Buy the Accessories

I was very intrigued by an article on the Wall Street Journal (here is the link for subscribers), published a couple of months ago, where the author described a recent strategy of some restaurants to increase their share of the wallet of their guests.

Let's see few lines from the article:

"At Chicago's Tru Restaurant, diners can pay $65 to $185 to get eight varieties of caviar in a foot-high, winding glass staircase.

Or they can order the staircase itself as a home-décor item (sans caviar) -- for $395.

Some restaurateurs are trying to leverage their signature dishes into another source of revenue, by selling unusual housewares they're served in. From polymer boxes for cooking fish to test tubes for mini-servings of soup, eateries are starting to make the items available in restaurants, stores or on the Web. "

What an interesting idea: it allows a business to increase its sales AND make the clients (or guests) even more satisfied.

And the idea can be easily extended to a variety of other occasions: flower shops could sell the vases where they hold their flowers; hair salons could sell not only the shampoos but also the professional tools they use to take care of their customer's hair; on a cruise, the cruise company could sell a souvenir from the cabin that hosted the guests (how about the number on the cabin door?)

As usual, imagination is the most important resource we have: let's keep using it.

M in Taipei

Book Review: “Priceless”

All,

today I want to start something new: a book review corner.

Actually, it is not a formal book review: for that, I know you can just go to Amazon and access great reviews. Instead, I will share what I found interesting and what I jotted down in my personal notes from the book I just finished.

Today's book is “Priceless – Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences” by Diana LaSalle, Terry Britton.

The reference is to the MasterCard commercial, that uses the word "Priceless" to indicate those experiences that we can enjoy when we purchase the right products in the right moments. The underlying question of the book is: why so few companies take the pain to study how to make our interaction with them and their products "Priceless", meaning unforgettable, fantastic, life enhancing etc.

The book is a complement to “The Experience Economy”: it adds to it, but definitely it cannot replace it. If you have not read “The Experience Economy” I strongly encourage you to do so before reading “Priceless”

Here are my notes, in semi-random order:
Everybody just try to sell products; providing memorable experiences is still the realm of the few.

Memorable experiences on the other hand are those that create barriers against competitors and that allow to charge more. They are also the best line of defense against the biggest of evils: commoditization – the process through which a product becomes so common place that differentiation becomes difficult and the lower price rules.

Without a real experiential difference, people will flatten you to a price dimension. To have a more holistic, vivid impact, you need to provide a different level of service: personal, memorable and positive.

Companies still take the features/benefits view: almost never the experiential view: and in today’s market, providing memorable experiences is great business.

Don’t look at consumers as logical thinkers who make purchasing decisions to solve problems –someone needs to open a can so she buys a can opener – but look beyond the product to how it impacts consumers’ lives. For example, a professionally prepared tax return isn’t about complying with government regulations; it’s about peace of mind.

Delivering features/benefits impacts just the rational part of our minds. Moving to the experience level impacts the emotional (and less rational) side of the prospect. In this space, money is not that important… people very seldom remember how much they paid to enter DisneyWorld, but they know how much a pizza costs…

People will pay any price for something of incredible value. But only the customers can decide the value of something, not the manufacturer…

Even basic products like a candle or gasoline yield excellent opportunities to increase margins, by moving to an experience level. For instance, Illuminations (www.illuminations.com) is able to charge 8$ for a candle that is just a fraction more expensive to produce that the one we can buy at Wal-Mart. But because Illuminations focuses on the experience, rather than the mere feature/benefit dimension of a candle, it provides an experience to the shopper, that gladly pays 400% more for a that item.

I hope you got some value out of my note taking...

Mau in Taipei

Flying out to Taipei

yep, your Italian hero never stops travelling...

Tomorrow I am on my way to Taipei, so black-out for the blog for a couple of days...

Thanks for your understanding,

Mau in Austin for few more hours

Here’s your dry cleaning, Sir. Would you like carpet cleaning with that?

Kill the competition! Destroy your competitor! Become master of your marketplace by annihilating your enemies! This is the business mantra that most of companies practice and that they teach to their employees. Sad… so much energy, emotions and imagination devoted to destroying instead of creating…

I am a big fan of alliances, of creating value by putting together complementary services and products, and by inventing new markets instead of fighting to steal a slice of the pie from your current competitors.

Alliances… your imagination can run wild on this field. Let’s look at some basic principles behind how to harness the power of alliances.

Every time a service is rendered or a product is purchased, other products/services in related fields or in complementary fields can be offered to increase the satisfaction level of the client. For instance, when we go to a supermarket, a lot of other businesses (dry cleaners, key copies, etc) might be hosted in the same building to give us complementary services – it’s a great alliance between the supermarket and the smaller shops.

Another example: the company that does my dry cleaning has my good will. They render me a valuable service; they are very punctual and give a very honest price. Why don’t they forge an alliance with a complementary businesses and propose them to me? The first one that I can think of is carpet cleaning: I would love to receive a coupon for a discounted carpet cleaning from a company they trust and endorse. They could make a percentage of the deal and every body would be happy. Or how about lawn mowing or shoe repair? In the same way, the person running a lawn mowing service, after cutting the lawn, could propose a company to clean my pool, or check for termites…

Bottom line: there are more ways to grow sales and acquire new customers, excluding hating and fighting competitors: By using your imagination you can create alliances with complementary businesses and exchange referrals, with mutual benefit.

Mau in Austin

back in Texas, ready to start blogging again

All,

thank you for your patience: after a 10-days cure of Italian food made by the loving hands of my mamma, I am back to my blogging duties.

Look for new stuff in the next days.

To your success,

Mau in Austin