Tag packaging

Made in the USA: The ‘Secret Sauce’ Needed for Success?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, brand, market research, Package, Packaging, Product, retail Tagged with advertising, brand, market research, package, packaging, product, retail March 11th, 2013 @ 8:00 am

Two years ago, I attended an AMA South Florida event in Miami, Florida. While the speaker was interesting, it was something that an attendee from either Central or South America had mentioned to me that is still stuck in my head.

He had mentioned that people in his city love the United States so much so that, in that city, products that are made in America fly off the store shelves.

This is the kind of insight that I think businesses could use in some way.

The Value of ‘Made in America’

In an article on Inc.com, Eric Schurenberg writes, “Think of the label “Made in America.” What brand images come to mind? Odds are, you’ve conjured up a picture of one of two scenes.”

“First, there’s that rugged, sturdy (if underappreciated), no-frills, American quality,” writes Schurenberg. “It’s the stuff of Chrysler Automotive’s much-praised “Imported from Detroit” ad, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” If you buy this two-fisted version of “Made in the USA,” you also likely buy American because you’re patriotic. You don’t care if elites would rather buy a BMW.”

“The other Made-in-America vision embraces an artisanal, moral, locavore sensibility,” continues Schurenberg. “Think of Whole Foods, or, in apparel, Brooklyn Industries. In this vision, you buy boutique American goods because they’re holier-than-corporate and show off your elevated taste (not to mention your ability to afford such taste).”

However, if one of these two images comes to mind, Schurenberg thinks you are probably selling “Made in America” short.

As he writes in the article, “The label still has far more international cachet than Americans are likely to give it credit for. Even in the United States, buyers have proven that they’ll pay considerably more for some kinds of American-made goods–simply because they expect them to be a better value.”

In the remainder of the article, Schurenberg makes a great argument for the value of “Made in America” and how the label can bring with it a serious competitive advantage.

A recent Ad Age article written by Lauren Sherman provides information that supports Schurenberg’s viewpoint.

In the article, Sherman writes, “Not since the 1970’s has “Made in America” been such a hot way to market your product.”

Sherman points out that, “In a September survey of more than 1,000 Americans by the Boston Consulting Group, more than 80% said they preferred U.S.-made goods, and that they would pay more for said goods. The same questions were asked of 1,000 Chinese consumers: 47% prefer Made in America.”

However, Sherman also cautions brands that “Made in America” only goes so far. She says that it often comes down to quality vs. a deal. As she states, “When American-made goods deliver both, it works.”

Final Thoughts

In some geographic markets, the fact that a product is made in America might be more important than you think.

Therefore, brands might want to highlight the fact that their products are made in America—even when they are selling them to consumers abroad.

In some cases, it might be as simple as making the “Made in USA” label larger so that it can be conspicuously displayed for all to see.

However, businesses need to keep in mind that other areas of the world don’t share that love of our country or hold American-made products in such high regard. In those parts of the world, the fact that the product is made in America probably shouldn’t be highlighted as clearly, if at all.

The key is to do the research to find out whether or not the fact that the product is made in America has a positive or negative effect on purchase decisions among potential customers in a given geographic market and then test to see if different marketing techniques or product designs increase sales.

Photo credit: kenny_lex on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Marketing analyst and strategist, freelance writer, content curator, applied sociologist, and a proud UW-Madison alumnus. My goal is to help businesses achieve their marketing objectives and business goals while gaining additional experience in the exciting world of digital marketing. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge. Please feel free to contact me anytime at: chadjthiele@gmail.com.

A Look at the Aging of America From a Retail Perspective

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, Package, Packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends Tagged with advertising, app, case study, market research, mobile, package, packaging, retail, shopping, target marketing, technology, trends January 31st, 2013 @ 3:00 pm

Andy Rooney once said, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

This could be partially due to the fact that either through design or disregard, the products and services that brands offer tend to cater to younger consumers.

However, as times goes on, older consumers are going to be harder and harder to ignore.

As the baby boomers reach retirement age, the number of older consumers continues to grow. (It is worth noting that there will be more older consumers in the near future because there were higher birth rates from 1946 to 1964 and because older consumers who reach the age of 65 are projected to live longer lives in the future.)

While brands do intentionally target different consumers when they advertise their products or services, there are also some decisions that brands are making that may unintentionally exclude older consumers from making a purchase.

If You Can Read This You’re Too Young

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill explains how retail will be transformed in the near future as a result of the aging of the population of the United States. In fact, he devotes a whole chapter to this topic.

According to Underhill, by 2025, we are going to need a whole new world when it comes to retail.

“What’s wrong with this world? For starters, all the words are too damn small,” says Underhill. “See this sentence? How could you? Too damn small. How about the morning paper? Forget it. Too damn small. The directions on your jar of organic herbal laxative? Too. Damn. Small. And you’re not even going to try squinting. (It causes wrinkles.) If you can’t read it, by gum, you just won’t buy it. And if you don’t buy organic herbal laxative, nobody will. And if nobody buys it… well, you see where this is going.”

“Human eyes begin to falter at about age forty, and even healthy ones are usually impaired by their sixties,” Underhill continues. “With age, three main ocular events take place: The lens becomes more rigid and the muscles holding it weaken, meaning you can’t focus on small type; the cornea yellows, which changes how you perceive color; and less light reaches your retina, meaning the world looks a little dimmer than it once did. The issue of visual acuity, already a major one in the marketplace, will become even more critical—not just in some far-off future, but from this moment on.”

Is he making too big of a deal about the eyesight of older consumers? You can decide that for yourself, but first you might want to read some of the examples that Underhill provides as evidence.

“One of our fast-food clients realized that diners over fifty-five were their fastest-growing demographic, despite the fact that the menu boards used type that was almost impossible for older people to see well,” reports Underhill. “The company redesigned the menus using large photos of the food, and even though it meant listing fewer items, sales rose.”

Underhill also points out that, “The main market today for drugstores is older people, and that dependence will only increase. Certainly, of all the words we are required to read in the course of our lives, few are more important than the labels, directions and warnings on drugs, both prescription and over the counter. For instance, we have found that 91 percent of all skin care customers buy only after they’ve read the front label of the box, bottle or jar. Forty-two percent of buyers also read the back of the package. Clearly, reading is crucial to selling skin care and other health and beauty items.”

It is also interesting to note that the type on products that are frequently used by senior citizens (e.g., aspirin, a host of other common analgesics, cold capsules and vitamins) is often smaller than the type on products that are targeted to teenagers.

Can the Problem Be Fixed?

This sounds like an easy enough problem to fix. Just make the type bigger and the problem is solved, right? Not so fast.

You see, part of the problem is that many consumers rely on information in order to make purchase decisions. Therefore, brands need to provide a sufficient amount of information on their packages.

However, on a small box or bottle, there is a limited amount of real estate. Therefore, the choice is to either make the package bigger, provide less information or make the type smaller. It appears that many brands are choosing the third option—to the dismay of older consumers.

In the book, Underhill offers some possible suggestions that might help fix the problem, including package redesigns, better signage in retail stores, increased use of graphics on the labels, and tech solutions including sending additional information to our mobile devices.

In the end, he suggests the correct solution might be a combination of these and other possible fixes.

Final Thoughts

As Paco Underhill points out in his book, the aging of the population of consumers in the United States is going to provide numerous challenges to brands and retailers in the very near future. (These challenges include issues that I haven’t mentioned in this post.)

However, as with any challenge that is presented to the business world, they also provide an opportunity for businesses to profit by stepping up and finding ways to meet the needs of this important demographic.

As Paco Underhill sums it up, “Older shoppers are more important than ever, if only because there are more of them, and they have a lot of money to spend and time to spend it. Their presence will transform how products are sold in the twenty-first century.”

With this in mind, the question is: Is your business ready?

Photo credits: nicubunu.photo and bartsz on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

The Power of Packaging

By Chad Thiele Filed in Malcolm Gladwell, market research, Package, Packaging, shopping Tagged with Malcolm Gladwell, market research, package, packaging, sensation transference July 27th, 2011 @ 3:00 pm

Every day, consumers walk through the aisles of grocery stores all over the world looking for the ingredients needed for the perfect meal, the perfect snack or the perfect thirst-quenching beverage.

Given the current economic conditions, companies that make these products need to do everything in their power to ensure that consumers choose their products over those of their competitors.

This means that companies need to make sure that are effectively communicating and delivering their brand promise each and every time their customers interact with their brand.

As I mentioned in a post last week, making a better product is definitely part of the process.

However, there are times when a brand can lose market share even though its product meets the needs of consumers better than its competitors’ products do.

When this happens, every possible explanation should be examined.

In some cases, the solution might be as simple as changing the design of the package or container that the product is sold in.

Sensation Transference

In his book, “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” (affiliate link) Malcolm Gladwell gives an interesting explanation about how the package or container that a product is sold in can influence sales. The concept that he is talking about is “sensation transference.”

“This is a concept coined by one of the great figures in twentieth-century marketing, a man named Louis Cheskin, who was born in Ukraine at the turn of the century and immigrated to the United States as a child,” writes Gladwell. “Cheskin was convinced that when people give an assessment of something they might buy in a supermarket or a department store, without realizing it, they transfer sensations or impressions that they have about the packaging of the product to the product itself. To put it another way, Cheskin believed that most of us don’t make a distinction — on an unconscious level — between the package and the product. The product is the package and the product combined.”

In examining this topic, Gladwell gives several real world examples of companies that made changes to the packages that their products were sold in, in order to increase sales.

Gladwell pointed out that the consulting firm that Cheskin founded, Cheskin Added Value, demonstrated a particularly elegant example of sensation transference when they studied two competing brands of inexpensive brandy. Their client, Christian Brothers, wanted to know why they were losing market share to E & J, even though their product wasn’t more expensive or hard to find, and they weren’t being out-advertised.

After several studies, they concluded that the reason that Christian Brothers was losing market share to E & J was due to the fact that E & J had a more appealing bottle. After the tests, Christian Brothers redesigned their bottle, and, sure enough, their problem was resolved.

Another example that Gladwell gives involves the color of the container that 7UP is sold in. When Cheskin Added Value tested the color of the container, they found that when they added fifteen percent more yellow to the green on the package, people actually reported that the taste experience had a lot more lime or lemon flavor. The product was the same, but a different set of sensations were transferred from the bottle. And, some people actually got upset about it.

Malcolm Gladwell gives a few more examples of sensation transference in his book. Fortunately, he gave J.D. Roth the permission to post an excerpt of the book that deals with sensation transference on getrichslowly.org. I suggest that you take the time to read it; it’s interesting stuff.

You can find more information about this topic when you look up Louis Cheskin on Wikipedia. You also might want to visit the Cheskin Added Value website.

Conclusion

There are many things that you need to consider when you are looking for ways to increase sales of your product or service.

In order to maximize sales, everything needs to be considered — even the design of the package that your product is sold in.

I think that “sensation transference” is an interesting concept. I definitely plan to learn more about it in the future. And, when I do, I will be sure to blog about it.

Photo credit: nickgraywfu on Flickr.