Retail Tech Giants Man Up

In a story that surprised me, I just read that not all adopters of the ill-fated HD-DVD technology will spend eternity on a couch next to a stuffy man smoking a pipe and flaunting his contrasting elbow patches while they try to get at the root of abandonment issues caused by Toshiba pulling the plug after a short-lived, much-hyped battle with Sony over the next generation of home video. Despite it being 30 years full of bombs since the Walkman was introduced, Sony was bound to have another hit someday. Unfortunately for Toshiba and HD-DVD purchasers, Sony won with Blu-ray technology. So what’s an early adopter to do? Take a leap ala the stock brokers in the 1930’s?

Well, some will learn their lesson—though most won’t. However, if they bought their HD-DVD player from Best Buy, they’ll be able to get $50 on a gift card to soothe the pain of those who bought before the guillotine dropped. Granted $50 isn’t the $200 or $400 these people spent to get the player, it is a very smart move by Best Buy. Through credit card purchases, RewardZone records, or any other data trail they can sort through Best Buy will mail out $50 gift cards. Circuit City is extending its return policy to 90 days also (refund will be in the form of store credit). Certainly this isn’t as big. It tends to help those few who used their Christmas cash to buy HD-DVD, and it handsomely helps them big time. Though the early adopters are left holding the bag—and to be completely fair, they knew it was a risk of being an early adopter.

Best Buy and Circuit City are certainly trying to clean up their image a little and I think it’s a great PR move. I was actually strongly considering both purchasing an HD-DVD player as a gift and one for myself this holiday season. (Although the best prices I could consistently find were on Amazon.) I ended up doing something else for the gift and getting a steal on an upconvert DVD player for myself. It’ll last me until I get a Blu-ray player. I just hope prices will plummet in the next 6-18 months as more are bought (economies of scale—not demand).

A lot of people hate Best Buy and Circuit City, but like I said, I think this is a good move for corporate image. Does anyone see this as a bad thing? Any shareholders out there like to comment? Any HD-DVD buyers getting in on a refund?

Create A Successful Promotion – Part 4

Today I wrap up my 4 part series “Create A Successful Promotion.” Over the first 3 posts, I introduced Promo-smart, PMRT, which are the keys to a successful promotion.

1. Product
2. Message
3. Recipient
4. Timing

I already explained the first 3, and in today’s final installment I’ll cover the last one, Timing. For a quick recap, in the first post, I said it’s not enough to have a good product, you have to have the right product for the person you’re trying to reach. In the second post, I let you know that an effective message isn’t your logo alone; rather you must include a call to action. And in the third post, I gave you an example of how targeting specific groups to deliver your message is the most effective way to do a promotion. The final essential is:

4. Timing

What’s the difference between the latest, hot tech product and a piece of junk? Timing. It wasn’t long ago that we carried around floppy disks to transport our files. Now there are online storage sites, flash drives, portable hard drives, and even Blu-Ray burners. And in a few years Blu-Ray will be laughed at by the next generation they way you laughed as you used your Tandy, Apple II, or Commodore 64 while your parents did their resume on a typewriter.

Timing is also vital to your promotion. Sending out a promotion that doesn’t arrive at the right time is a waste of resources. Think about a floral shop. A promotion in June might not be very effective since Mother’s Day is in May. On the other hand, a promotion in January might give them a chance to get husbands and boyfriends to place orders for Valentine’s Day. The florist can better forecast what resources they’ll need to meet demand and the men don’t have to worry about picking up wilted flowers from a gas station on their way home from work on February 14th.

I’ll give you another example. A car dealer wants to sell more service. Knowing how much mileage the average driver puts on their car in a year, the dealer can offer promotions to get people to bring in their car for the expensive regular maintenance, such as the 30 and 60,000 mile check ups. If a promotional product shows up when you’re at mile 55,000 you’ll likely be a lot more interested in a 60,000 mile service than if you’re at mile 80,000.

“Better late than never” isn’t always true. A Christmas card from your insurance agent in March will actually make you think twice about keeping your business with that agent.

As always, feel free to comment. I’m sure you’ve all done something with bad timing, so I won’t ask you to relive the embarrassment.