Monday, March 1, 2010

Sell to Values, Not Just Value

Retailers in the early 1950s wondered why sales were so poor for the new vacuum-processed freeze-dried instant coffee products. Was it because the flavor failed to be as rich as the fresh-brewed? Yes, that was a factor. However, the biggest reason had to do with the values of the shoppers. The purchaser of coffee at retail was usually a housewife. Market research in the 1950s found that housewives subconsciously thought purchasing instant coffee threatened their valued view of themselves as being capable homemakers.
     Things did change over the decades. But coffee still intersected with values at retail. In the late 1980s, researchers at California State University-San Bernardino and Virginia Tech found that an advertising appeal to flavor fared better than an appeal to status. Coffee shoppers really liked “The delicious, hearty flavor and aroma of Sterling Blend coffee comes from a blend of the freshest coffee beans.” They weren’t as excited about, “The coffee you drink says something about the type of person you are. It can reveal your rare, discriminating taste.”
     But as I say, things change. One value among coffee drinkers at retail now is keeping it natural. So in 2010, Peet’s Coffee and Tea profits with the slogan “Handcrafted Since 1966,” and Seattle’s Best—a subsidiary of Starbucks since 2003—enthuses “Choose Organic!”
     Another value of consumers these days has to do with value in another sense: Getting value for the money. That value has been around for a long time, but it became especially important with the economic downturn, and most consumer psychology experts predict consumers will continue to attend to value for the money even as their personal economy improves.
     The meaning for you? Whatever products and services you carry, sell to a sense of value, but also be selling to the other values.

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