Direct marketing to school children

>> Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A few days ago my sister showed me a set of activity workbook her daughter just bought in school, or perhaps I should use the word ‘paid for’. Her schoolteacher distributed the books to each students, citing, “It’s not compulsory to buy these books. Just take it home today to have a look. If you don’t want to buy it, just bring it back tomorrow (in pristine condition, of course).” This is an ‘opt out’ rather than ‘opt in’ method.

I consider this marketing strategy by the publisher of the books pretty aggressive. I bet the teacher also received some sales commission as an incentive. I disagree with such aggressive marketing method directly targeting children (as opposed to their parents) because young children are naïve and easily manipulated. Another example of similar tactic which I disagree with, is placing sweets, chocolates, and toys at children’s eye level at the cashier. In my opinion, the school administration need to be more sensitive to this issue. Rather than distributing the products to each student, thereby putting the pressure on them to buy, the parties interesting to market their products to children should just be given a booth at the school compound (perhaps someplace where parents can view the products).

Note: The Bahasa Malaysia version of this post is published in my other blog, Mesra Buku. Both areas of my interest happened to overlap in this post :)

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A notched chair

>> Saturday, June 25, 2011


When my brother saw this chair with the notch, he wondered, “What is that for?” When I saw this chair, I thought, “Brilliant!” I guess ladies are the ones usually with (all kinds of) bags and would appreciate this kind of little ‘help’.

This chair was spotted at Muzdalfa Fried Chicken in Bangi when I went to lunch with my siblings sometime ago.

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Appreciating a helpful sales assistant

>> Friday, June 17, 2011

Recently, my husband and I went to a chain store to survey some electrical appliances for our home. A sales assistant spent the better part of an hour entertaining our questions. We didn’t buy the goods there and then because we need to think over our choices first.

But when we did go to the shop again to make our purchase, we specifically asked for the same salesperson (I noted his name in the first visit). I believe that the company has some sort of sales commission as incentives for their sales staffs, so it’s only fair that the person who helped us with our purchase are rewarded accordingly.

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Small Ikea goods

>> Tuesday, June 7, 2011

I wouldn’t say I’m an Ikea fan, but I think that some of their products are really well designed – the functions, I mean, not the the looks. Though the look is usually pretty pleasing, too. Moreover, the prices are sometimes very reasonable, especially their bestsellers. I’ve been using the plastic bag organizer from the Rationell line (which costs only RM9) for quite some time. And more recently, I bought and used a duster from the Lodder line. It’s bendable, hence can reach into difficult spaces. It’s easy to wash, hence easy to maintain. It’s only RM12.90.

Image source credit to Ikea.com

In Malaysia, there is only one Ikea store, which is in Mutiara Damansara. I know of many people outside of Klang Valley who occasionally include Ikea in their itenaries when visiting KL for other reasons. Ikea delivers to all locations in Peninsular Malaysia (but not their market hall goods), I’m not sure about East Malaysia though. But they don’t offer online purchases, it’s not part of their business model.

What if, someone who lives near enough to Ikea, is willing to help buy & ship Ikea stuffs for a reasonable fee? Would there be demand for this kind of service? I mean only the small & reasonably light things from their market hall. In other words, this person, who’s totally independent from Ikea management, offers Ikea goods (selected based on feasibility and popularity) but mark-up the price to compensate for his or her time and efforts to procure them. For example, the Lodder duster can be sold for RM16 (excluding postage). If he aims to make one shopping trip to Ikea per week, and for each trip buys say 20 pre-ordered items which he can immediately posts, is it feasible ad worth the time & effort?

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Quick service

>> Friday, June 3, 2011

I took notice when the cendol seller at a stall that I went to some time ago, packed my order really really quick, even though there is no one else queuing behind me. What that made me feel, is that my time is valuable, and he’s not wasting it by taking his own sweet time. While the truth may just be that he’s used to that kind of speed, I still appreciate such gesture a lot.

The second time I went to his cendol stall, he was just as quick, if not quicker, and this time, I figured I should acknowledge it. “Sangat cepat,” I said (“That’s really fast.”). He smiled.

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