Friday, December 11, 2009

Retail Magic

I am ecstatic lately. For once, I am at the receiving end of the marketing effect. With a great concept and minimal advertising, I stand to witness the remuneration in terms of sales and customer visits. I now am convinced that marketing is deadly.
We just inaugurated a small shop for gifts for men, Captain & Captain. The new shop is based on a new concept, for the first time in the country, shopping by personality. We offer a solution for men gifts hunting, with great ideas rarely found in the same place.
That said, advertising was limited to an advertising page and 1 press release in one single magazine, a few leaflets distributed in the neighborhood, and a third of a billboard double sided, shared with neighboring stores. In addition a PR opening event with around 500 visitors. Finally, a facebook campaign with small ads, a facebook group and an application allowing its users to discover there personality type and inciting them to get a matching gift.
A small survey was set along with the invoicing of all customers coming into the store, allowing us to find out the magnitude of the effect of our endeavors.
We soon realized that advertising in itself had a visible effect, but what's more is that word of mouth was spreading like wilde fire; and it's all about efficient marketing.
The reason? the campaign as well as the shop opening were set in the beginning of December, right before Christmas, thus answering a latent customer need to find suitable gifts. Moreover, the maverick concept came with another rare finding in the market, a shop completely dedicated to men. It was not hard to figure out that our main customers will actually be females buying gifts to their male friends/ lovers/ family members as most shopping is actually done by women. However, what we did not expect was males offering themselves presents and indulging in our offerings.
Add to these factors, a detailed attention to the packaging and presentation, as well as, salespeople acting mainly as a guide to help support and explain the products benefits to the customers.
A promising entrepreneurship initiative.

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