Chapter 13: Marketing - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

Quirky: Making Inventors’ Dreams Reality

December 1, 2013

Although many people can think of a great business idea, not everybody has the time or money to see their product come into fruition. That is unless they’re lucky enough to have their idea produced by crowd-sourcing manufacturer Quirky. The New York-based company has built a $50 million business by turning user-submitted blueprints into marketable goods.

Each week Quirky receives more than 2,000 invention ideas from its community of approximately 500,000 members. Staffers then select the best ideas of the Continue reading →

Making Vending Machines Smarter

November 30, 2013

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People today are becoming less and less dependent on cash, though you wouldn’t know it from looking at most vending machines. More than 40 percent of American adults said in a recent survey that they could go a week without paying for something in cash. Meanwhile, many of the nation’s vending machines continue to accept only bills and coins. This reluctance to change likely led to the vending industry’s 18.3 percent drop in sales between 2007 and 2011. When Continue reading →

Distribution, Marketing, Product Development, Retail, Vending

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

Pleasing Everybody with Mass Customization

November 19, 2013

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For many image-conscious consumers, product customization provides a way to stand out from the crowd without searching high and low for something totally unique. At Big Shot Bikes, for instance, customers can choose the color and shape of up to 10 parts of the Colorado company’s fixed gear bikes. Once customers select their preferences, Big Shot assembles the bicycles and ships them to the buyers for under $500. With such a relatively reasonable price tag, the company wants consumers Continue reading →

Customization, Cycling, Manufacturing, Product Development, Retail, Transportation

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

Dates on Food Labels Cause Confusion

November 17, 2013

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The information that appears on food packaging is under more scrutiny than ever as many people carefully count their calories and regulators research companies’ health claims. However, there’s one line on nearly every item of food that bamboozles both consumers and producers alike: the “sell by” date. Or should we say the “use by” date? Whatever name it goes by on a particular package of food, misunderstanding of its meaning causes Americans to toss out more than 40 percent of Continue reading →

Food, Health, Packaging, Regulation

Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

The Growing Market for Guilt-Free Snacks

November 13, 2013

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As Americans become more health conscious, food companies have had to come up with increasingly creative ways to keep people snacking. In fact, just last month we featured an article in the newsletter about how smaller packaging can lead people to eat more than they normally would. But for a growing number of consumers, fatty snacks like candy and potato chips are to be avoided no matter how they’re packaged. That’s why a number of niche brands have popped up Continue reading →

Food, Health, Marketing, Packaging, Product Development, Snacks

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion

Smaller Packaging Leads to Bigger Profits

October 30, 2013

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Though it might not seem like it to the casual snacker, packaging plays a big part in the way we eat. Food companies spend a fortune studying the psychology behind our eating habits in order to discover the most effective pathways into America’s stomachs. Surprisingly, they’ve found out that perhaps the best way to keep customers snacking is through resealable packages rather than individually wrapped ones. For example, research conducted by Hershey showed that individual wrappers on items like candy Continue reading →

Candy, Food, Marketing, Packaging, Product Development, Snacks

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution

Velcro: More Than a Fastener

October 26, 2013

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Velcro Industries is a company in a peculiar situation. On the one hand, if asked to describe Velcro, nearly everyone in America could provide at least some kind of relevant answer. Perhaps they’d talk about the distinctive ripping sound or be reminded of their favorite pair of tennis shoes as a kid. But the fastener these people would describe isn’t exactly Velcro, at least not in the eyes of the company who uses that name. To Velcro Industries, the word Continue reading →

Branding, Marketing, Product Development, Product Lines, Velcro

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management

Pinterest Sends Shoppers to Stores

October 20, 2013

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For the last year or so, many of the articles about retail featured in this newsletter mentioned the perceived scourge of showrooming. This thoroughly modern phenomenon occurs when shoppers visit a brick-and-mortar business solely to browse before they ultimately buy a product for cheaper online. Fear over showrooming has gripped much of the retail world, leading at least one company to start charging people to look around their stores.

According to a recent Harvard study, however, the threat of showrooming Continue reading →

Fashion, Pinterest, Retail, Showrooming, Social Media

Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion

Walking a Fine Line with Creative Advertising

September 22, 2013

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When it comes to promoting a product, marketers usually have two routes they can take: either hype the item’s notable features or draw the audience in with something creative. Choosing the latter option is a much riskier endeavor, though. After all, it’s easy to forget a boring commercial. Advertising backfires worst when a company miscalculates the level of their own wit and unleashes a high concept disaster. For instance, last year a Pop Chips ad featuring Ashton Kutcher as a Continue reading →

Advertising, Creativity, Europe, Germany, Marketing, Pop Chips, Promotions

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits

Pepsi Expands Its Russian Empire

July 15, 2013

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Throughout Pepsico’s history, one thing has remained constant: the company’s flagship soft drink has always played second fiddle to chief competitor Coca-Cola. Known by name by billions throughout the world, Coke is not only the gold standard of soft drinks, but of branding in general. Although Pepsi and its umbrella of products certainly command a fair market share, Coca-Cola’s continued worldwide dominance is all but assured at this point.

Except in Russia, that is. Pepsi was one of the first Continue reading →

Food, Global, Pepsi, Product Development, Product Lines, Russia, Snacks

Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management