Is Apple’s brand successful at Wal-Mart?

Earlier this year, discount retailer Wal-Mart started selling the iPhone. Starting to surface is the discussion on whether or not Apple will expand it’s product line on the retail shelves of Wal-Mart. Considering Apple has established it’s brand as the innovative, upscale brand and Wal-Mart is the biggest discounter, the pairing brings up branding concerns. The first concern is how the match up will effect the Apple brand.

From the beginning, Apple has successful established it’s brand to be unique. Everything from the product’s innovative designs, accessories, and customer service reps, aka Apple Genius, reinforce the Apple brand. Wal-Mart’s brand is known for low price guarantee, something which is not typically associated with Apple. The iPhone’s arrival to
Wal-Mart’s shelves is one of the higher priced items carried by the retailer.

According the AppleInsider, there are rumors of Apple selling it’s lower priced items in Wal-Mart stores. You won’t see the MacBook Pro, but possible newer cheaper items such as the Mac Mini. A part of Apple’s branding is the use of their own retail storefront and the Apple Genius. It will be interesting to see how Wal-Mart’s displays and associates will extend the brand of Apple which is prevalent in their own stores.

Of course, the bigger question is whether or not extending the Apple line with Wal-Mart will hinder the Apple brand. There are ways Apple can ensure their brand is well represented at the retail shelves. Brand strategy measurement tools include:

1) Visual Merchandising Audits: Photos conducted by a third party auditor can provide Apple a visual quality check of POS marketing and product displays.

2) Shopper Intercept Interviews: Intercept interviews are a great way to find out how the consumer views the brand in the retail setting. Apple can find out whether or not sales associates are knowledgeable on product line and helpful in ensuring a positive shopping experience. The interviews can reveal whether the pricing and marketing is effective with the brand’s consumers.

Measuring the consumer attitude and the merchandising would help Apple determine whether or not it’s brand quality is represented on the shelves of any retail storefront.

What do you think about the Apple expanding it’s product line with Wal-Mart? Do you think pairing with a discount retailer hinder’s the brand?

Customer Experience: Implementing Change

Since the beginning of this year, we have watched consumer shopping behaviors change. Measuring and collecting consumer in sight allows retailers and brands to make strategic changes with the changing trends.

Case #1: Wal-Mart’s Brand Initiative.
Wal-Mart spent a great deal in researching the competitiveness of the Great Value brand against leading competitors. In doing so, Wal-Mart was able to establish areas for the brand to compete and maintain a significant presence in the market share. In Business Week, Wal-Mart’s senior VP Andrea Thomas attributes the Great Value brand strategy to customer feedback. Collecting customer feedback provided ideas from packaging changes to ice cream flavors. If Wal-Mart didn’t ask the customer, they wouldn’t know what changes to make.

Case #2: Campbell Soups
Wall Street Journal reported long-time American favorite Campbell Soups is trying new pricing and in store promotions to attract consumers. Campbell Soups will be pairing coupons with in store displays and adding updated recipes to their website. Why? Campbell consistently measured the trend of their consumers. Campbell noticed coupons and recipe downloads numbers where up, which meant this was where they needed to address consumer demands. Pairing coupons and new recipes in a strategy is a direct response to measuring shopper behavior.

Campbell and Wal-Mart are only two recent examples of a brand and retailer using consumer metrics to develop a course of action. Consistent feedback and metrics of your customer’s experience provides the best information for strategic changes. It’s putting your customer experience measurement tools to work in the best way: implementing change.

Does Gen Y Really Impact Your Industry?

Generation Y is the largest workforce since the baby-boomers. They are also the economy’s replacements as the baby-boomers retire. It’s not a new strategy for retailers or brands to create specific marketing geared towards a specific generation. How much of an impact does Gen Y hold on a singular market such as food?

In an MSNBC article it seems that Gen Y’s eating habits are different than predecessors. In a report from the Center for Culinary Development and Packaged Facts, they conclude Gen Y wants food and beverage brands to be “customized” for their generation. The question is: “How will a retailer or brand know if their in-store marketing or branding campaign was successful with Gen Y?”

You could actually extend that question across the board to all marketing and promotion campaigns. What metrics are your company using to determine if the in-store promotion was effective? Is your packaging attractive? If Gen Y is going to push the envelope with the food and beverage industry, there will need to be some measurement of success to understand the generation’s impact on marketing.