Spain has strong assets

Although Spain has been on the news for the economic crisis for the past 2 years, there are some fundamental reasons Spain is not that bad. Actually, nowadays it has not bailed-out yet and the GDP forecast for 2012 has not been as bad as predicted. Foreign investors are recovering the trust in Spanish debt (last week sovereign debt had the highest demand in a very long time).

Besides that, tourism sector which brought 57 million visitors (Spain has a population of 47 million), it has huge companies with business across the world like OHL, Abertis, Santander and many others. Spain is also a world-class reference for solar energy, fashion industry (Zara successes quite popular as case study every business school)

On top of that Spaniards are nice people (first organ donor ratio), we have great food and generally have a great mood.

However the brand "Spain" has been a little damaged for the past months, it still have strong assets. To prove it I wanted to share this video with you. Enjoy.

Starbucks mobile payment strategy

Everyone knows that Starbucks serve coffee.A lot of people also know that Starbucks have some add-ons like:

• Customized coffee made of good quality coffee
• Innovation in products, like Frapucino (frozen coffee)
• Free Wi-Fi when ordering products
• Nice ambience: music and sofas all around the store.
• Service to companies: with leasing of coffee makers and more.
• Shop online
• Coffees for occasions such as Thanksgiving coffee
• Special Events: coffee tasting and concerts.
• Marketing Mobile: They have apps and ways to pay coffee with the cell. (link to apps).

So, regarding to Mobile Marketing, Only a few have realized that Starbucks mobile payments strategy is one of the best on the market by now.  Instead of trying to implement splendid NFC (Near Field Communication) solutions, Starbucks have chosen QR basic codes that are built in both for iPhone and Android through apps. It is like having Starbucks money into your cellphone. 

Maybe it is not the best solution in the long run (where probably NFC will become the standard) but by know the solution they have chosen works great and everyone with an iPhone /Android can use it. Just remember that by now (November 2012) only a few people own a device with NFC.

Starbucks is trying doing great marketing (remember the adds on just listed above) and also is deeply integrated the new technologies that are present nowadays. We all have many things to learn from Starbucks, even small and medium companies.

To really see what I have explained about mobile payments, watch this video on how easy is paying for a coffee in Starbucks. It's really cool!

8 reasons why Primark is cheap

Primark, the Irish clothing retailer that serves cheap fashion has become a business success. Let's review 8 facts that explain why they have an inexpensive price for their clothes.

1) Supply Chain: Like it posted a couple of weeks ago in Zara vs. Primark, Zara delivers fashions while Primark deliver clothing.  The irish company delivers clothes as a commodity so they do straightforward desings with cheap materials that does not lenght a lot. They do not have repeteated collections. What they have in stock its what they sell. This reduces stocks costs.

2) Low Running Costs: Primark stores are usually located in the outskirts (with some exceptions like Barcelona L'illa store) so the local rent they pay is relatively low.  

3) Low advertising costs: No commercials, no TV, no magazines. They save money. Dont worry they just work with the word of mouth.

4) Human resources: lots of unexpensive workers that are usually tidying up the clothes tables and on cashiers. They do not need a lot of management. 

5) Huge stores: in europe where all the sizes are smaller than in the US, Primark stores are noticeably bigger than their competitiors. They can earn more money through volume more than by margin. 

6) Supermarket techniques: like loss leader. They have products by almost nothing. By the sum of those cheap articles plus some others that are not that inexpensive is how Primark do business.

7) Quality/price not bad at all.  Stores are usually full of non-resident families.

8) Customer deal perception: with 20€ you can buy many items that really look great. The client's feeling after purchasing at Primark is usually as follows:

Happy customer #1: "Look what I bought for 20€! What a bargain!"

Happy customer #2:  “Wow! For less than 30€ I got new shoes and a new dress for tonight party!”

The positive sensation helps the customer to keep coming back in the near future and also to recommend the retail clothing store to his/her friends to buy. As you can see, neuromarketing is quite powerful and it applies to this concrete situation.

Low cost marketing and neuromarketing have a clear presence into Primark marketing strategy.

How do you feel when shopping such a nice deal?  And what about when you buy something rather expensive that and the end you don't even need?

  

Please, let me know how do you feel when shopping right bellow on the comments section!

Primark is a clothing retailer that sells cheap 

Zara vs. Primark

Want to dress clothing fashion for a low price? Let's review two of the largest and most successful retail apparel stores of the moment: Primark and Zara! Several categories will be reviewed and compared against each other in the following versus analysis:

Typical Primark retail store in a shopping mall

- Pricing strategy: Primark is much more affordable than Zara. Specially in the US, where Zara is not positioned as low cost. In Spain (where Zara is headquartered) Zara almost double Primark's prices.

- Corporate Strategy: Zara belongs to Inditex. Primark does not belong to any group. It just have other brand name for Ireland (Penneys is how they call it in Ireland,  their home market).

- Fashion: Zara has much more fashion than Primark. In fact, the shelves are renewed every two weeks.  In Primark you can find the same things for months. 

- Location: Primark is usually located in the outskirts and Zara is usually located in the best street of the city.   In fact, Zara has much more stores within the city but Primark is usually in situated in a shopping mall.

- Ambiance: In Zara you can breathe an elegant and polished atmosphere vs. Primark crowed and "big supermarket" environment with busy  corridors. 

- Positioning and clients perception: while Zara tries to "democratize fashion",  Primark is perceived as  "the clothing supermarket" where you "grab" item as you go.

Zara store

- Product range:  Zara sells clothing (including shoes), perfumes and accessories. Well, they also have a sub-brand named "Zara Home" with stuff for houses like candles, sheets, pillows, etc. On the other hand, Primark has almost the same but in one place. (maybe Primark sells more accessories than Zara).

- Number of stores: Zara has 1,671. Primark 242 (figures by November 2012)

- China: Primark is more focused in European markets. Zara has gone to China already.

- Lines: both have a long one,  but Primark ones are longer but also they take advantage of it by displaying items that are on sale. 

After this "versus analysis", do think Primark is under the "market follower" strategy? Will Primark be as success as Zara? Leave comments bellow and let's discuss it!

Disney goes to the Dark Side

The Walt Disney Company has bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion.  This is such a nice move from Disney than now will have in it portfolio both Star Wars and Indiana Jones legendary and series.

The motivation for George Lucas (owner of Lucasfilm) to sell Lucasfilm is to manage the company transition during his lifetime. From his point of view, Disney was the main candidate to do the operation because their solid expertise delivering experiences. In my opinion, the money George Lucas was asking for could not be paid by many others but on top of that he made the right choice. Let’s see why.

From the consumer point of view, we will be delighted with a new movie episode of Star Wars (in fact 3, but the first one is planned for 2015) of Star Wars. New amusements will be set up for the theme parks and people that have already gone to Disney World will have to go again to enjoy the "dark side" of the Parks.

Besides that,  Disney has become even a greater player in the studio entertainment sector with the acquisition of Lucasfilm that now share the business unit with Pixar, Marvel, Touchstone, etc.

As I posted about Disney strategic planning a couple of years before, Disney has a diversification strategy, and one major tool they use to execute it is growing through acquisitions.

So what is your opinion on Disney recent purchase? Use the comment box below!

Darth Vader walking out a Disney Castle

3 marketing lessons we can learn from Obama

1) Use Internet and social media effectively

Obama uses Social Media wisely. In his web he has a section that it works as a blog, it has links to his social networks, a Facebook app to remind your friends they have to vote and a "I have voted already app" for example. Keep in mind he has 21 million followers on Twitter!

His web is very clear and it has a nice structure focusing on the main topics he want to fix and the comparison against his competitor.

2) Simplicity

Even if you do not like politics you can still remember his 3 main words during the campaign: CHANGE, HOPE and "Yes, We CAN."

He also have a clear and straightforward sentence to support his idea behind the program. Here are some examples (topic + statement)

• Innovation: create jobs of tomorrow here at home
• Taxes: reform tax code to create jobs and pay debts
• Education: Lead the world in college graduates by 2020 
• Health Care: Expanding access and lowering costs for families

Simple and direct statements will last much more than than complex ones. 

 
3) Data mining

We all know the information is power and if databases are used to do a clever segmentation the conversion rates into lead and/or sales will be higher for sure.  Look up your database and exploit it!

Just to clarify, maybe this third point is a little unfair about politics but this post explain what marketing lessons we can learn from Barack Obama, NOT politics.
He is the president of the United States, so he has certain information that his competitor Mitt Romney does not have.

Obama Web screenshot on 11/06/12

The cloud is a physical place and looks great

If you are a little new in the whole internet world, you may think that the "cloud" is a new web functionality that enables online storage but... it has been with us almost since Hotmail, Gmail and other emails providers were cloud based. Think!: you could send a email to yourself with your resumé and get it whenever you had internet connection.

Marketing is now more influencing in technology than it was before and a lot of cloud services have started to become quite popular. Some examples are: Dropbox or Box where you can upload  any kind of file; Google Music or Spotify for music management and a long list of services available.

Google has recently unveiled their data center (where they keep your stuff including emails, photos, files, etc.) and it seems to be safe and clean! So the "cloud" is a physical place and it looks great! Watch it now!