Tag Archives: direct marketing

by | Wednesday, November 2, 2022 · 8:48 am

General Mills Adds Brand Loyalty Program

High prices and inflation are big issues for consumers these days. Food inflation reached a 43-year high in June. As inflation keeps prices going high, many consumers are switching to lower-cost store brands instead of higher priced name brands.

To help keep loyal consumers, and to gain new ones, General Mills has launched its first-ever brand loyalty program called Good Rewards. The program includes special offers and points for consumers that can be redeemed for products, gift cards, and more, helping families stretch their grocery dollars.

The program gives consumers rewards every time they purchase General Mills products. Consumers scan receipts after shopping to get rewards, including one percent back on all General Mills purchases.

Good Rewards is part of the popular app Fetch Reward. With roughly 15 million Fetch users, it is the top downloaded shopping app for iPhone and the second most downloaded app for Android users. General Mills has a goal of 1 million consumers to use Good Rewards within a year; in less than a month the gained 350,000 users.

Rewards programs also offer brands a detailed look at consumer behavior and purchase habits. The better companies are at understanding their customers, the more opportunity exists to offer personalized rewards.

Get rewarded!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Start with a discussion about loyalty and rewards programs and their use in marketing.
  2. Have students count up the number of different rewards programs they participate with. Who has the most?
  3. Show Good Rewards website: https://www.generalmills.com/news/stories/introducing-good-rewards
  4. Show Fetch Rewards website: https://www.fetchrewards.com/
  5. Discuss setting SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound).
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop five SMART objectives for General Mills Good Rewards.
  7. Discuss the objectives. How would the objectives change if a different strategy was used?

Sources:  Johnson, B. (5 August 2022). General Mills adds loyalty app. Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | Tuesday, July 20, 2021 · 7:37 am

Netflix Launches Netflix.shop

Movies have long generated revenue from sales of merchandise related to the shows (think Disney). According to trade group Licensing International, sales of licensed products tied to shows was roughly $49 billion in the U.S. in 2019, and $128 billion globally. That’s a big number and one that has attracted Netflix to enter the market with its own merchandise line and shop.

Not content to have us all streaming entertainment constantly, Netflix now wants us to shop on its platform, too. Netflix has launched an online store with items that are highlighted in its shows. While Netflix holds a dominant lead in streaming, it also needs to have new sources of revenue in order to expand. Competitors such as Hulu and HBO Max charge streaming fees, but they also show commercials to generate additional revenue. Netflix does not have that revenue stream.

The new online store will sell apparel, merchandise, and collectibles from favorite shows such as “Stranger Things,” “Lupin,” and other shows. Limited edition street wear and action figures based on “Yasuke” and “Eden” (anime series) are now available. Lupin merchandise includes baseball caps, shirts, hoodies, throw pillow, and even a side table. All of the Lupin products were designed and produced in cooperation with the Louvre Museum. Future products will be based on popular series including “The Witcher” and “Stranger Things” along with Netflix logo apparel.

This isn’t Netflix’s first foray off screen. It has previously created video games based on popular shows and has agreements with department stores to sell products as well.

What will you buy?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students: What movies and shows can they list that have licensed products for sale?
  2. Have they purchased items related to these shows?
  3. Show Netflix’s new store: https://www.netflix.shop/
  4. Discuss the various promotional tactics that can be used for marketing a product. Have students come up with tactics and list all the tactics on the white board (ex: billboards, print, direct mail, etc.).
  5. Divide students into teams. Have each team outline a marketing plan for Netflix.shop and have each team select three different tactics. For each tactic, explain why it was selected and how it will be used.
  6. How can this plan be expanded to new geographies outside the U.S.?

Source:  New York Times; Reuters; other news sources

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

by | Wednesday, December 23, 2020 · 8:13 am

Digital Commerce Continues to Grow

More than any single factor, the pandemic has impacted virtually all industries, but it has most impacted how consumers shop. Prior to 2020, consumers may have shopped online for many different products and services, but since mid-2020 buying habits have changed significantly. Consumers now feel more comfortable buying what were once in-person purchases such as cars, food, and medical or health care needs.

A recent survey by McKinsey & Co. highlighted that since the pandemic began, three out of four people have tried new shopping and delivery methods. More than half of the consumers surveyed intend to continue to use curbside pickup or delivery services after the pandemic ends. Roughly 70% of those consumers intend to keep buying online. Among the changes are increases in online streaming, grocery delivery, restaurant curbside pickup and delivery, and store curbside pickup. Consumers are going online not just for shopping; they now go online for medical appointments, fitness classes, tutoring, and more.

While these changes are good for digital commerce providers, they are not so good for traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. This year will likely see a record of store closings, bankruptcies, and liquidations. And, retailers have had to shift how they deliver services, including more online experiences such as digital events, contactless payment methods, virtual online services, and curbside pickup.

Overall, ecommerce in the U.S. rose to 16.1% from 10.8% a year ago. New shopping habits also extend to a decline in cash and an increase in credit and debit card use.

To quote Bob Dylan, “the times they are a changing.”

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. As class begins, poll students about their shopping.
  2. What are the last three websites they visited? Did they buy anything? Why or why not?
  3. How have their shopping habits changed this year?
  4. Do they have new online shopping habits?
  5. Will they keep these new habits once the pandemic is contained?
  6. Show video about how pandemic has changed shopping habits: https://www.wsj.com/video/the-future-of-retail-how-will-the-pandemic-change-how-we-shop/526ADB88-F6D1-4B77-AA97-BAA323496D4D.html

Source:  Wall Street Journal

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , , , , ,