Crisis Management: Walmart+ ‘not aggressive enough’ to take on Amazon

Posted by & filed under Retail Marketing, Supply Chain.

 Description: Yahoo Finance Canada’s Alicja Siekierska and strategy expert Mark Satov discuss Walmart’s new membership service and how it will stack up against Amazon Prime.

Source: Yahoo.Finance.com – video report

Date: Sep 04, 2020

Link: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/video/crisis-management-walmart-not-aggressive-194154877.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What does the report say about Walmart’s effort to launch a competing plan against Amazon Prime?
  • Do you agree with the analysis?
  • What would you recommend to Walmart in order to compete better against Amazon Prime?

Mark Cuban Says 3M Fails to Stop Profiteers of Masks

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Pricing, Relationship Marketing, Supply Chain.

Description: Billionaire Mark Cuban has been trying to do his part to help hospital workers get more protective equipment, working with a non-profit group and delving into the market himself to find gold-standard N95 respirator masks he could buy for medical personnel.

Source: Bloomberg.com

Date: Mar 28, 2020

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-28/mark-cuban-aiding-mask-effort-says-3m-fails-to-stop-profiteers

Questions for discussion:

  • What is the supply-problem uncovered by Mark Cuban?
  • How can it be easily solved?
  • How much responsibility should 3M take for the problem?
  • Do you think this information could damage 3M’s brand?
  • What would you advise the firm?

People are luring Instacart shoppers with big tips — and then changing them to zero

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Ethics, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Pricing, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: New York (CNN Business)In late March, Instacart worker Annaliisa Arambula accepted a grocery order that came with a big tip: $55. The store was just down the street, everything the customer wanted was available, and the order seemed to go off without a hitch.

Source: CNN.com

Date: Apr 09, 2020

Link: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/09/tech/instacart-shoppers-tip-baiting/index.html

Questions for discussion:

  • How should Instacart deal with this customer/employee relationship problem?
  • Does this situation damage the Instacart brand image?

Jamie Siminoff Didn’t Let His ‘Shark Tank’ Failure Stop Him From Building a Billion-Dollar Business With a Big Mission

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, Product Brands and Branding, Relationship Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: Here’s why he thinks success is a little bit like playing the lottery.

Source: Entrepreneur.com – video report

Date: Apr 09, 2020

Link: https://www.entrepreneur.com/video/345406

Questions for discussion:

  • What does Jamie Siminoff say is the mission for Ring?
  • What is the value proposition for the firm?
  • How important is branding in this industry, in your opinion?

Canadian restaurant sector laid off 800,000 in March, with wave of permanent closures expected this month

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Marketing Strategy, Relationship Marketing, Retail Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: An industry survey also found that 10 per cent of Canada’s 98,000 establishments don’t plan to reopen after the COVID-19 crisis

Source: FinancialPost.com

Date: Apr 02, 2020

Link: https://business.financialpost.com/news/retail-marketing/canadian-restaurant-sector-laid-off-800000-in-march-with-wave-of-permanent-closures-expected-this-month?video_autoplay=true#

Questions for discussion:

  • What has happened to the restaurant and related food services businesses because of the Covid – 19 economic shut down?
  • Do you think that consumers will return to these businesses within a short period of time after social restrictions are lifted?
  • How can restaurant marketers encourage the return of their customers?

Quibi Is Jeffrey Katzenberg’s $1.7 Billion Gamble

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).

Description: Jeffrey Katzenberg has nearly 50 years of entertainment experience and a massive war chest. Neither of those things guarantee success for his new mobile video service.

Source: INC.com

Date: Apr 03, 2020

Link: https://www.inc.com/matt-haber/quibi-mobile-video-jeffrey-katzenberg-startup.html?utm_source=incthismorning

Questions for discussion:

  • Do you think the business model will work?
  • How would you improve chances for success?
  • Who will be the primary target audiences, in your opinion?
  • Do you think this business presents a good investment?

Watch Tesla Design Ventilators Using Mostly Model 3 Parts

Posted by & filed under Global Marketing, Innovation, Product Brands and Branding, Supply Chain.

Description: Tesla posted a video to its YouTube channel that shows Tesla engineers working on designing ventilators out of mainly Tesla Model 3 parts. It’s pretty amazing to see how many existing Tesla parts can be repurposed into assembling a ventilator.

Source: InsideEVS.com

Date: Apr 05, 2020

Link: https://insideevs.com/news/408057/tesla-making-ventilators-from-model-3-parts/

Questions for discussion:

  • How does the publicity from this article and video enhance the Tesla brand and public relations?
  • What does it say about Tesla management?
  • What does this article say about the flexibility of engineers to solve manufacturing problems?

Airlines Refused to Collect Passenger Data That Could Aid Coronavirus Fight

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Global Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC), Relationship Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: Public health officials have been pushing airlines for years to gather more traveler data, but airlines have balked, citing cost and time.

Source: NYTimes.com

Date: Mar 31, 2020

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/31/business/coronavirus-airlines-contact-tracing-cdc.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What does the report say about the conflict over data collection, business competition and privacy issues?
  • Where do you stand on the issue of the need to control the collection and exchange of information about those traveling on airlines?
  • What should marketers in the travel industry do about this issue?

New services pop up to meet demand as telehealth market booms

Posted by & filed under Consumer/Buyer Behavior, Global Marketing, Innovation, Services Marketing.

Description: The use of video conferencing services like Zoom (ZM) and Skype (MSFT) has seen a boom as more look for easier ways to work and communicate remotely. Linguistics tech company Jeenie is looking to offer that same solution for those needing interpretation services.

Source: Yahoo.Finance.com – video report

Date: Mar 30, 2020

Link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/new-services-pop-up-to-meet-demand-as-telehealth-market-booms-122147300.html

Questions for discussion:

  • What is Jeenie’s business model?
  • Why is it important to focus on hiring capable translators, especially when it comes to telehealth services?
  • How does this service help everyone in the healthcare system?

YouTube Isn’t as Big as Most Analysts Thought—What that Meant for eMarketer’s Estimates

Posted by & filed under Ethics, Global Marketing, Services Marketing.

Description: US marketers allocated more than $7 billion in digital ad spending to YouTube last year, up 36.1% over 2018 spending levels, according to our estimates. That resulted in $3.43 billion in net ad revenues for the video-sharing giant, with most of the remainder going to content creators and owners.

Source: eMarketer.com

Date: Apr 02, 2020

Link: https://www.emarketer.com/content/youtube-isnt-as-big-as-most-analysts-thought-what-that-meant-for-emarketer-estimates?ecid=NL1001

Questions for discussion:

  • Describe the Youtube advertising revenue history and distribution with content creators.
  • How has the forecast changed?
  • Do you think it is a fair estimate?