Cross,Promotions,and,Freebies, marketing Cross Promotions and Freebies
Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t
How many times have you beenapproached by someone offering a free gift or a special discount when you buy acertain product? They might offer you a nice bowl with the purchase of anexpensive set of knives. Or they might entice you to buy a bigger box ofcereals for you to avail of a free gallon of milk. Free gift with purchase appears tobe the in thing in the marketplace today. Most of the time, they are offeredwith a colored printed brochure of what you will get for free. In a popularmall, for instance, this brochure, using a fullcolor printing process,is handed to you by the cashier as you pay for your purchase to entice you tobuy more. These free gifts are likely to be offered when selling cosmetics,travel packages, every day groceries, among others. Researchers at the University ofCalifornia in Berkeley, however, do not think that thisstrategy is a winning one. Although most marketing textbooks preach thatpromotions improve short-term sales, the study discovered that offering a freegift with a purchase can make consumers belittle the value of the free product. In other words, a free offer mayindeed increase the sales of the promoted product but it may impinge on thesales of the product being offered as a free gift. The research also noted thatthis negative perception about the free gift can trigger disdain on the productthat they may become hesitant to buy the product at all in the future. The study found out that consumerstend to look down on the free gift or they value-discount the product, to bemore precise. This free gift idea devalues the product and may, in time,associate it with something that has little or no value at all. Hence, mostconsumers are now unwilling to pay for it or pay more for it. This inferencesresearchers also found out, is carried over not just to the brand being offeredas a free gift but to other brands in the same product category. The thing is, you have to be verycareful when allowing your product to be given as a free gift in a jointpromotion. While the product being promoted may enjoy short run increase insales, you face the risk of being branded as a product with little or no valueat all.
Cross,Promotions,and,Freebies,