http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6496.html
My first thought after reading this article was, why haven't more people thought of this? Clay Christensen thought up the concept that rather by segmenting merchandise by category such as age, weight, location, etc, companies need to focus more on the job that the merchandise will do and then segment accordingly. In simpler terms, he explained it by saying, "The fact that you're 18 to 35 years old with a college degree does not cause you to buy a product".
The "milkshakes" come in to play with Christensen identifies a fast food restaurant chain trying to improve milkshake sales. The marketing department started by asking who they thought were their typical milkshake drinkers as far as characteristics go, and then proceeded to ask these people how they liked their milkshakes (texture, flavor, add-in's). With no change in sales, they tried asking their customers WHY they were coming in for their milkshakes. Most of their customers being early afternoon milkshake drinkers, responded that they were grabbing one to go on their way to work. These milkshakes needed to be thick so they would last the whole ride, etc. Brilliant! When i think about the products i buy, such as trashbags for example, i look for ones that are heavy duty to hold pizza boxes, expired food, and empty shampoo bottles (just using this to prove a point! haha). I'm sure that Glad's first thought isn't that a 20 year old female college student would need a heavy duty trash bag. Im certainly not their "target market" but i am still a customer! This is just one example of how companies should not just use characteristics of a demographic but also WHY these bags are being used to help identify how they can increase sales!
1. What other products can you think of need to consider changing their marketing tactics from "what type of person" to "why a product is being purchased" to increase sales?
2. Do you think that this is an overall effective way to increase sales?
I would love to see a change in how things are being sold to us. I'm tired of hearing I need such and such because of my age, or not finding what I'm looking for at Lowes because it's not shelved with what I'd use it for.
ReplyDeleteI think cars should be sold for the job they do, not what age group they appeal to.
I don't know if it's an overall effective way to increase sales, but it sure sounds like it's worth a try.
Other products that can change from ‘what type of person’ to ‘the job’ of the product would be big screen TVs... You know high tech gadgets.... I think that most big box stores think that the ‘man of the house’ is the one who wants all the latest HD 3DTV, blueray DVD players, and Playstation3 video games.. But there are female gamers out there.... I guess they should switch the type of person who buy gadgets to what they do for us. Maybe beer is another one..... Its heavily marketed to the men....
ReplyDeleteI think that if companies think that can think though and wrap their head around this concept can use it to their advantage. And could increase sales.
Lovas
anna*