Marketing Miss - Target

Sadly, I have to report Target as a marketing miss. This past weekend I was shopping for draperies for my bedroom, and didn't want to spend a fortune on them. I found some at Target that were priced right for me at $19.99 a panel (yes, they were faux). I bought the drapery panels, the one I could find, at the Target near my home, and then drove to another Target about 7 miles away, where I purchased one more. I still needed 2 more drapery panels for my bedroom, so I asked for other store locations and determined that I could find the last 2 I needed at a Target approximately 8 more miles away. I was okay in knowing that inventory is often limited per store, so I was fine with making the needed trek to additional Target stores. What I was not fine with, was being told I had to pay $4 more dollars a panel at the Target 20 miles away from my home. Now, this might not sound like a big deal to you, but I was actually quite upset, especially when I asked the Target store manager to honor the price difference. (This was after producing my receipt to her, and product, reflecting the lower price at two other Target stores on the same day). The store manager admitted that it was out of her hands, and her direct quote was, "I get this same exact issue at least four times a day." She also handed me a card with a 1-800 number on it for me to call Target headquarters to share my experience. I intend to do just that, but I wanted to share this first with all of you on what I intend to say, "Dear Target, if you know direct store-to-store price discrepancies make your customers unhappy, why would you continue to infuriate them with it at least four times a day?" Obviously, this was a marketing miss on Target's part and a grand display of poor customer service. My recommendation for Target is to try and make your customer's happy to ensure repeat business, and to lessen the inevitable poor word-of-mouth that will result of not doing so.

Marketing Hits or Misses?

Share your marketing hits and misses that you have witnessed either at work (heaven forbid!) or through your daily encounters as a consumer. I would be interested to "hear" it...

Marketing Hit - Zagat

Just received the Zagat Wine direct mailing packet. After reading through the enclosed material, I'm seriously contemplating joining to receive a case of wine (at about $6 a bottle; it is a discount of about $110 for the case) and being able to give my feedback on each bottle consumed to the masses. What an ingenious concept, following the success of Zagat's restaurant rating system, to make selecting a bottle of wine less intimidating and more user-friendly. Also, kudos to Zagat for making me feel that I was one of the "chosen ones" to help launch this new wine rating concept through their effective marketing messaging - exciting stuff!

Purpose of Marketing Maven Blog

The purpose of this blog is to share marketing "hits" and "misses."

-The first marketing "miss" that comes to mind is Starbuck's recent Via tasting challenge. I went to three Starbuck's in one day to test the execution of marketing's Via launch. The first Starbuck's gave me a taste in a small dixie cup, but nothing to compare with (in other words, not their regularly brewed cofee). Also, no coupon was given for a complimentary coffee. The second Starbuck's gave me a "true" taste challenge, where I had two different coffees to compare with. However, one of the coffees I tried was bottled and cold, which was naturally the Via - not really a "challenge." But to their credit, I received a coupon and was able to use it immediately for a free coffee. The third Starbuck's was more of a free-for-all, with dixie cups set up on a counter for people to grab and taste - where was the "challenge?"

From what I observed, Starbuck's marketing execution of the new Via was not very consistent, which is a shame considering the amount of advertising dollars spent on commercials to get customers into the store. Inside store/sales training is crucial to flawless marketing execution. Companies can spend years developing a new product, but it can "all be for not" if it appears that the staff doesn't care, or is unsure of what to do. Companies should spend the time on orchestrating a flawless execution - especially when setting up customer expectations, as in the case of the Starbuck's Via launch.