Japanese people, most of whom do not use religious principles for their daily life, are not good at deciding/defining the way of life and behaviors according to principles, while they are very good at following rules or are quick in changing decision depending on context or situations. Obviously, I am one of them, too, letting everything go is my way of living…
(Well, it begins with something not really about the Marketing, but bear with me for a moment.)
One day, say, you go to supermarket to buy coffee beans.
Then, you remember coffee sugar is running short so you are to buy that, too.
Question.
Where, which isle/shelf, do you think you can find coffee sugar?
(Maybe easy question for those who often go shopping and know the store very well.)
Answer: Next to Miso and Salt, in most stores. (Just in case, I went to 5 big supermarkets around. No exception, all had it there.)
In general, you cannot find it on coffee/tea/cocoa shelf.
Baby diapers are sitting in the corner with menstrual pads, paper towels, and tissue papers, and baby food is located in the canned food isle.
If you shout at yourself, “OK, today, I will fix very nice pasta!” and go shopping, you will end up having to grab spaghetti next to dried Ramen noodles, pick up anchovies and olives sitting with canned Saba (fish) in Miso soup, select olive oil next to Japanese sesame oil, put dried pepper into your basket in front of Hidaka Konbu… Off course, get fresh garlic from veges section. Ah! I need some cooking wine! But you cannot locate it between cooking Sake and Mirin. So you timidly ask store clerk, and he says “It is at the liquor section, (off course, don’t you know?)” What? I was there two seconds ago to buy some beer… You would walk good hundreds of meters even in a small store. If you are in big suburban store, you would have an intensive exercise.
By the way, many stores have “Store Percepts” or some sort, often found on the wall in the office in backyard, maybe above fax machine or next to a switchboard. It says “We strive for customer centric management. We always do our best to provide fun and convenient shopping for customers.”
And, dear customers are enjoying good exercise everyday.
What is it that makes this happen? It is for efficient stock management for stores and wholesalers. Store clerk is assigned to each section, so that one person looking after coffee section is not always same as one for sugar shelf.
It is not “customer centric” at all. They design isles/shelves for shelf stock management, “store centric” thinking.
If their Store Principles say something, they should decide how they behave accordingly, otherwise it does not make sense. Or, they should decide to put “Provide the lowest possible price through strict management of stock on shelf and backyard” or “Pursue profit improvement as a priority”, instead.
Excuse me, it gets very preachy.
Many companies and stores have statement/percept of purpose or principles, or some may have statement/story of founder’s wisdom/tips. And in the world of brand marketing, they have Brand Equity, Brand Philosophy, or Brand Story.
Many successful brands with consistent brand images and sustained business indeed implement behaviors=marketing plans that are surprisingly faithful to their equity. Louis Vuitton in any point in time keeps themselves very Louis Vuitton, yet always fashionable. Haagen-Dazs has always been “indulgence of ice cream for matured” yet you can always find fun seasonal flavors.
But, like the story of supermarket in the beginning, a lot of brand philosophy have been put on the wall to get sun faded, left unused. There are managers who think it is for sometime when they have time and money, but they have a lot more than that to coop with changes of the market and severe competition. Or, some go after what customer says in research, swaying here and there.
At the same time, they always say they suffer from the lack of distinctive positioning, “Hey, all look the same!” just like many super market chains suffer.
There must be some good wisdom or intent in or behind the statement of company principles, founder’s words, brand equity, philosophy, or history. Some lessons or laws that hold true still today.
So, put it off the wall and clean the dust, time to time.
There must be something good about applying “define what you do according to principles” not just to how you live but to how you manage your company or brand marketing.
Oh, any tips to do better shopping in supermarket?
Think about which wholesale industry is the product from, then you can find it quick. Paper products are from paper wholesaler. Dried food is from dried food wholesalers. Cooking oil is coming from cooking oil wholesaler.
Phew…
“O.”
