Tags
If you wanted a bargain on a Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) premium driver assistance program—well, you’re a few years behind. …
06 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
If you wanted a bargain on a Tesla Full Self-Driving (FSD) premium driver assistance program—well, you’re a few years behind. …
23 Friday Sep 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inI’d like to buy the world a Coke … but it’s gotten too expensive. In a bold move, Coca-Cola executives say they intend to keep raising their prices—even while inflation-shocked consumers are looking for places to save some bucks. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics finds the average cost of a 12-ounce can of soda, in a 12-pack, has increased by 45 percent in less than four years. So how can Coke get away with it? In short, because despite the higher prices, customers keep buying the company’s fizzy drinks. In July, after Coca-Cola posted higher than expected second quarter earnings, its chief financial officer noted, “We continue to see resilience and a lot of demand not just in the U.S. but across the world.” Then he offered some theories for why this resilience persists—including pent-up demand for going out to theme parks and movie theaters, where a Coke is part of the experience. Another hypothesis is that there just is not a satisfactory lower-cost alternative. Whatever the reasons, it seems lots of people are going to keep having a Coke and a smile, at any cost, and perhaps just cut back elsewhere.
Source: Elizabeth Crawford, “Coca-Cola Co. Considers Additional Price Increases Ahead of Potential Recession,” foodnavigator-usa.com, April 26, 2022; Jeff Gelski, “Coca-Cola to Keep Passing through Costs,” Food Business News, July 27, 2022; Kelsey Davis, “Will There Be an End to the Soda Price Increase? Not Likely. Here’s Why,” The Repository, September 9, 2022; Connor Hart, “Coca-Cola Posts Higher Quarterly Sales Despite Price Increases,” The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2022
30 Tuesday Aug 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
iRobot, the company that makes Roombas, has agreed to be acquired by Amazon for $1.7 billion. According to a joint …
12 Friday Aug 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Dear smokers: Take a deep breath. The Food and Drug Administration—which regulates the manufacture, import, packaging, labeling, advertising, promotion, sale, …
26 Tuesday Jul 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
For the second year in a row, the nation’s oldest grocery chain invited local and regional growers and producers to …
15 Friday Jul 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inThis gallery contains 1 photo.
Looking to buy a new set of kicks online, but wish you could see what they’d look like on your …
27 Monday Jun 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inIn the 1998 movie You’ve Got Mail, Tom Hanks plays the owner of a big-box bookstore, threatening to put Meg Ryan’s indie book seller out of business. At the time, book behemoths like Borders and Barnes & Noble were seen as the enemy of the littles—and perhaps of reading more broadly. But a lot has changed. Borders went under a decade ago, whereas Barnes & Noble instead has emerged as essential for readers and an unlikely ally to independent bookstores today. Its role is unique, in that its demands require publishers to continue investing in physical products for physical stores. It also gives readers easy and wide access to new titles. These two benefits are critical in the face of disruption by online retail (read: Amazon!). Accordingly, even if it may seem surprising, Barnes & Noble is thriving in the face of the pandemic years and the constant threat from Amazon. Book sales shot up by an unprecedented amount during the pandemic, which meant good numbers for Barnes & Noble. Furthermore, after James Daunt became the company’s chief executive in 2018, he empowered store managers to make more independent decisions tailored to local conditions, like how many copies of a certain book to order and which books to promote. Despite these positive assessments though, industry analysts remain cautious. As the pandemic ebbs, tougher days may lie ahead for books sellers, in part because people who are no longer forced to remain sheltering home might read less, but also due to the same challenges that are pressing every industry today, like rising costs and supply chain disarray. Even if overall book sales are unlikely to grow though, customer traffic may increase in brick-and-mortar bookstores. So even in this strange economic time—with one more nod to You’ve Got Mail—all the bookstores are not becoming Baby Gaps just yet.
Source: Elizabeth A. Harris, “How Barnes & Noble Went from Villain to Hero,” The New York Times, April 15, 2022; Yuki Noguchi, “Why Borders Failed While Barnes & Noble Survived,” NPR, July 19, 2011; Lisa Fickenscher, “The Pandemic Has Sparked a Book Craze—And Barnes & Noble Is Cashing In,” New York Post, September 19, 2021; Jim Milliot, “Print Sales Likely to Fall in 2022,” Publishers Weekly, January 28, 2022
13 Monday Jun 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Love the one you’re with, and when that doesn’t work … try to make the one who was once with …
23 Monday May 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
In what it widely assumed to be its response to Amazon Prime, Walmart introduced its Walmart+ subscription in 2020. The …
13 Friday May 2022
Posted Marketing Tidbits
inTags
This gallery contains 1 photo.
Age discrimination is illegal. Usually the enforcement of these laws involved older workers, but what happens when a manager or …