Chapter 4: Consumer and Retailer Convenience Is Critical

Overview

In today s world, convenience is more important than ever. People want it to be easy to buy a new product and to return it if something goes wrong. It s not that we have become lazy; it is just that marketers have spoiled us in many ways by making it very easy to buy their products and services. It is easy to fall in love with your own inventions . The temptation is to think that what you have developed is so great that everyone will want it, no matter how hard it is to find or buy. Don t you believe it. People have a lot of options, and they will not do business with you unless you make it very easy for them.

The importance of convenience is paramount from a trade as well as a consumer standpoint. When you are selling in retail stores, you must make it easy for retailers to carry your product. You must then make it easy for the consumer to buy from those retailers. If you are selling directly to end users, you must also make it easy for them to buy from you.

In the fall of 1969, the Hanes Corporation completed a historic marketing-plan covering the selling of women s hosiery products in supermarkets and drugstores. The strategy was to make it easy for women to buy hosiery by selling this high-volume product in these conveniently located stores. There were no major brands of hosiery in the supermarket and drugstore channels at the time. These stores sold only private-label or unbranded hosiery. No brand had more than a 4 percent share, and pricing was the main form of competition. In short, the keystone of the strategy was convenience. This was to be the only widely available, premium-priced, heavily advertised brand of hosiery in these stores.

This new brand of one- size stretch stockings and pantyhose became so successful that it has lasted more than thirty years and today is the largestselling brand of pantyhose in the world. The brand is called L eggs. The revolutionary marketing plan was based on the application of packaged goods marketing, sales, and distribution techniques to a degree that had not previously been attempted for women s hosiery. The marketing plan created such strong points of difference and benefits to the consumer and the trade that it skyrocketed to national prominence. Its success proved the critical importance of consumer and retailer convenience.