by | Thursday, February 22, 2024 · 11:41 am

The Latest in Drone Deliveries

Distribution, environment, innovation, retail, services, sustainability, technology

Ready for deliveries via drone? It’s been a lot of talk, and testing since we saw Amazon first demonstrate drones in 2013, but it seems that little has been done to implement drone delivery for the average consumer.

Well, that’s about to change. That is, if you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth right now, you are in luck. Walmart has announced it is expanding its drone delivery program to millions of people in 30 municipalities around the geography.

Why drones? They are a great way to deliver fast service for small packages. Drone delivery lowers carbon emissions, but does add some noise to the environment. For Walmart, it can impact the scale of its delivery fleet in the U.S. – 80,000 trailers, 12,000 drivers, driving 1.1 billion miles each year. Drones weigh 400 times less than cars, run on electric power, and can make a delivery in less than a third of the time.

Delivery time is roughly 30 minutes, but works best in places with open areas such as suburbs. Drones can fly at speeds up to 65 miles per hour and hover several hundred feet above the ground. Customers can watch the progress on an app which includes time and precise delivery location. The drone hovers about 20 feet above the ground, then disengages the package from a long wire system.

The company uses drones from Zipline and Wing (an Alphabet company) and has made hundreds of thousands of deliveries testing the deliveries.

However, the service is not free and not all items are eligible for drone delivery. The delivery fee for this service is $3.99 and the order can weigh up to 10 pounds. Walmart stated that the top-selling item at one of its current hubs isn’t an emergency item – it’s Hamburger Helper (ok, that might be an emergency if it’s dinner time). Products delivered tend to be a last-minute purchase or forgotten ingredient, plus medicine and treats.

Give it a try!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Poll students: What are their opinions about using drones for supply chain and deliveries? Have they seen or used a drone service?
  2. Show Wing website: https://wing.com/
  3. Show a video using Wing for delivery: https://youtu.be/xfaMJgHX_4E?si=CbTn6buiixf9adJH
  4. For schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (or other areas using drone delivery), consider assigning a project whereby students order using drone delivery. Have them evaluate the service.
  5. In teams, have students develop a promotional plan for the drone delivery service.
  6. Who is the target market for drone delivery?
  7. What is the key message?

Source:  Birch, K. (16 January 2024). Walmart: Reducing emissions with drone technology. Sustainability magazine; Nassauer, S. (9 January 2024). Walmart expands drone delivery in Dallas as it races Amazon. Wall Street Journal; Shankland, S. (9 January 2024). Walmart expands Dallas drone deliveries to millions more Texans. CNET; other news sources.

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by | Tuesday, February 20, 2024 · 7:46 am

Super Bowl LVIII Sets a Viewing Record!

Winter may be cold, but the Super Bowl game always pumps up the heat! The thrills, the chills, the excitement and surprises – and that’s just the advertisements! The Super Bowl has become one of the premier venues for marketers. And, according to Nielsen and CBS, this year’s event broke a viewing audience record at 123.4 million. (The Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce romance certainly helped to increase female and youth viewership.)

At a cost of a $7 million for 30 seconds of air time, the Super Bowl is also the most expensive advertising placement of any event or show. Add to the air time the costs of designing and producing ads, plus the integration into other marketing tactics, and a company can easily spend upwards of $8 million on a single day.

However, the ads aren’t limited to just the Super Bowl viewers; 39 brands released their ads in advance of the game as well. There were also a number of new brands making their Super Bowl debut, including Starry (owned by PepsiCo), Etsy, SNAP, Nerds, Lindt, and more.

Love them or hate them, Super Bowl advertisements have become a talking point before, during, and after the game. More than 50 brands took out ads designed to help them stand out to consumers, many with high-profile athletes and celebrities such as Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Jennifer Aniston, and Michael Cera.

While the metrics for sales linked to Super Bowl ads won’t be available for months, many respondents watching the game stated they would be open to purchasing products by Doritos, M&Ms, and Budweiser. Ads also led to increased global YouTube views with Booking.com, T-Mobile, and Beyonce’ (of course) generating the most engagement and social mentions.

Commercials were all over the place with top ads as ranked by viewers going to State Farm, Dunkin’, Kia, Uber Eats, Dove, and NFL. And for animal lovers, the Budweiser Clydesdale horses made an appearance and were in fine form.

Which ad is your favorite this year?  

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show one of the Web sites that have all the Super Bowl ads: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/2024/02/12/best-super-bowl-2024-commercials-ad-meter-rankings/72538932007/
  2. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a Super Bowl ad to analyze and present in class.
  3. What is the target market, key message, and offer from the ad?
  4. How does the ad integrate with a company’s other promotions?
  5. Are the messages integrated with a company’s Web site and social media?
  6. As a class, after each commercial have students assign one to five stars for the advertisements.
  7. Which advertisement won the class vote?

Source:  Koblin, J. (12 February 2024). Super Bowl viewership rose to 123.4 million, a record high. New York Times; Nerkar, S. (6 February 2024). $7 million for 30 seconds? To advertisers, the Super Bowl is worth it. New York Times; Schultz, E. J. (12 February 2024). Super Bowl alert: Big game ad winners and losers. Ad Age Daily; other news sources.

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by | Saturday, February 17, 2024 · 11:40 am

Vending Machines Evolve

Distribution, food, global marketing, innovation, market segmentation, merchandising, packaging, retail, shopping, supply chain

Vending machines are everywhere – and we do mean everywhere, and selling virtually everything possible. There are in stores, hallways, dorms, offices, laundry mats, gas stations, train stations, airports, and more. And now we don’t even need coins or cash to make a purchase – we can use phones and credit cards.

One might think that not everything can come from a vending machine, but they neglect to factor in how creative people can be, as well as products consumers want as convenience items. In Las Vegas, one can buy comfortable shoes from a vending machine. In California, hospital workers can get lab coats and masks (free). In Tennessee schools provide access to basic hygiene products (also free) to students. And that is just scratching the surface; there are vending machines that dispense pizza, eggs, fresh food, ramen, underwear, and even gold.

Recently The Donut Trap, a bakery business in Minneapolis, spent months with vending machine manufacturers to come up with a vending machine that keeps homemade donuts fresh, and serves them without smearing or smushing the donut frosting.

Vending machines can also serve the public good. For example, many cities are now deploying Narcan vending machines to help keep people from dying due to drug overdose. Free of charge, the Narcan kits provide doses of Narcan (naloxone) in risky areas.

According to the National Automatic Merchandising Association, the vending machine industry accounts for $34.9 billion in sales. And it’s growing in size, shape, and purpose. Called Micro Markets, vending provides retail areas where consumers can pick up products, review nutrition information, and more as they shop open coolers, use self-checkout and cashless payment.

But perhaps no geography has as many vending machines as Japan, with an estimated total of 5 million machines nationwide (out of 17 million machines worldwide). They carry something for everyone – from bananas to flying fish soup!

Now that’s convenience!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:  

  1. Poll students: Where are vending machines? What do they buy form vending machines? Why buy from vending machines?
  2. Show video about wild vending machines (this is long, so make sure to preview it and select the video section to show in class): https://youtu.be/4CTZXG6_Qqs?si=mkE70k8HASU1rJin
  3. Show the National Automatic Merchandising Associate (NAMA) site: https://namanow.org/
  4. Show video about Narcan vending machines: https://youtu.be/LVTVzS4t6S8?si=GY1VKbrSB-vlS9Qh
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a concept for a vending machine.
  6. Develop a marketing plan for the new vending machine. What will it stock? Where will it be placed? How will it be promoted?

Source:  Gibbs, K. (31 January 2024). Hygiene vending machines offer a fresh start for students in Rutherford County schools. News Channel 5  Nashville; Kovanis, G. (19 January 2024). 100 Narcan vending machines coming to Wayne County. Detroit Free Press; Williams, N. (22 December 2023). Vending evolution. Minneapolis Star Tribune; other news sources.

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