Coming soon to a store near you

"Sobey's Dollar Days" sign on the door of Safeway, New Westminster

In June 2013, Sobey's bought Safeway Canada. 

I saw this sign for "Sobey's Dollar Days", inside a Safeway store on January 29, 2018. 

Does it make sense for Sobey's to continue to maintain two different brand names for stores that are not appreciably different in market position? Probably not, and if this sign is any indication, probably not for much longer.

I predict that the Safeway name will be replaced by Sobey's within two years.  

Picking a second language

Bilingual advertisement for Telus, SkyTrain, Vancouver

I saw this advertisement at a SkyTrain station in Vancouver.

Given the high percentage of Mandarin speakers in the Vancouver area it is not at all surprising that the second language that Telus picked for its advertisement was Mandarin.

In Richmond, a Vancouver suburb with a high percentage of Chinese residents, there has recently been some pushback over unilingual Mandarin signs at some retailers.

I have not heard of any complaints being lodged with Telus, but I would suspect that if that was happening Telus would keep quiet about it.

The packaging is the product

Hershey's Hugs

Hershey's Kisses - Candy Cane flavour

I recently saw these packages at Safeway. I like it. The package looks like the product. A simple and quite clever idea to reinforce what make the Hershey's Kiss, and Hug, different.

Not the most space efficient packaging, but retailing in the consumer packaged goods segment is all about standing out on the shelf and making the sale. These packages seem to succeed on both counts.

Even fans must have their limits

Campbell's soup with Star Wars shaped pasta

I like Star Wars, but really! Who asked for this? Limited edition chicken noodle soup with pasta in the shape of Yoda, R2D2, Darth Vader, and a Storm Trooper.

And of course the soup was more expensive that the regular chicken noodle soup. But why? It is a licensed product and Disney's percentage must be added to the price.

Will it sell more cans of soup? Not to me, but I'm sure that Campbell's did their research and are expecting a sales boost.

Enjoy biting off Yoda's head.

Great idea, I'll think I'll borrow it!

Sign on earphone display Miniso, New Westminster

If you are going to spend your hard-earned money on a set of earphones it is nice to be able to give them a "test drive" first.

Sign on earphone display, Miniso, New Westminster (Detail)

And the important thing is how they sound, not how they look, or how you'll look using them. So this sign with a silhouette of a person using the earphones is a good way to promote the product.

2005 advertisement for Apple iPod
(Source: https://naotw-pd.s3.amazonaws.com/images/iPodposters.jpg)

It is just a bit of a shame that the Miniso sign is exactly the same concept as this 2005 advertisement for the Apple iPod.

They liked my idea so much they adopted it

Oil Pastel display, Miniso, New Westminster (January 15, 2018)

I was visiting the Miniso store in New Westminster and noticed this display for oil pastels. The packaging has a rectangular handle at the top. When displayed using a single peg the packages hang at an angle.

Oil Pastel display, Miniso, New Westminster (Original on the left, re-merchndised by me on the right) (January 15, 2018) 

I thought this looked a bit odd and so I changed one row over to use two pegs and thus hang straight.

Oil Pastel display, Miniso, New Westminster (January 18, 2018)

The staff at the store must have thought this was a good idea, because when I returned to the store three days later all of the merchandise that had a wide handle on this rack had been changed over to hang from two pegs. 

Perhaps I should get a job with the firm advising on visual merchandising?.

Not the pinnacle of reputation, but still pretty good

Perugina Chocolate packaging

Perugina Chocolate packaging (Country of origin)

There are some countries known for their products. Switzerland for watches, Japan for cameras, France for fashion, and Germany for automobiles.

For lovers of chocolate the two default countries are Belgium and Switzerland. But as with any category, in addition to the countries that are the consumer's first choice, there is a second division.

For many people, if they can't find a chocolate from Belgium and Switzerland, then Italy is generally acceptable. For most of us Italy is not quite up to the standards of the top producers, but still an acceptable second choice.  

Labelling to limit information

Miniso multi-bit screwdriver set

Miniso multi-bit screwdriver set (Reverse)

Miniso multi-bit screwdriver set (Detail of label)

I need to disassemble a Macintosh computer to extract a disc from the DVD drive. According to my cursory examining, and instructions that I found online, I will need to use three different sizes of Torx screwdrivers; T-6, T-8 and T-10.

This small multi-bit screwdriver set included all of the sizes that I will need. The problem is that the list of all of the sizes include in the set is obscured by a sticker that lists the names and addresses of the Miniso distributors in Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai.

Why does the packaging for a product sold in Canada need to include the names of distributors that are located halfway around the world?  

The Olympics are coming, but we're pretending to ignore it

Mondelez "Medal Mania" point-of-purchase display, Safeway

Mondelez "Medal Mania" point-of-purchase display, Safeway (Detail)

The Olympics are coming, and if a company wants to use the Olympic terms or logo a considerable fee is payable. But lots of firms try to tag onto the Olympic coattails without paying for the privilage. Mondelez is  a sponsor of the Canadian Olympic Team, and can use the Canadian Olympic Team logo. But only the official Olympic "partners", firms like Coca-Cola, GE, Samsung, and Visa, can use the Olympic name and logo. 

No one else is going to be handing out medals to the Canadian Olympic team, and consumers will make the connection. But Mondelez saves the not insubstantial sum that the International Olympic Committee collects from all of the official sponsors.

Mondelēz Canada's medalmania.ca website
(Source: https://medalmania.ca)

A standard size that we just can't be bothered adhering to

Sample certificate from wooden frame, Dollarama 

I recently bought a wooden frame from Dollarama. (My daughter wanted a frame for a birth certificate that she got for one of her bears from Build-a-Bear Workshop.)

The certificate from Build-a-Bear was standard letter size, 8 1/2" x 11". And what size was the space in the frame? 8 7/16" x 10 7/8".

Just a little bit too small to be actually useful. I had to cut down the certificate to make it fit the frame.

Just another example of the stereotypical poor quality from China. It looks like something that you recognize, but it just doesn't  perform that way.

Cables so good you only need one instead of five.

Advertisement for Prime Cables on YouTube
(Source: https://www.primecables.ca/)

When photographing products for advertisements the art director has a couple of choices; photograph the product as it is really used, or photograph it as it looks best.

In this case, although there is room to attach five speakers; two front, one centre, and two surround, the photograph only shows one speaker attached.

Perhaps the speaker cables are so expensive that I won't be able to afford to buy five sets all at once. Or they're so good that I won't need to attach the other four speakers. At least the polarity of the cable is right, assuming that the other end is attached correctly to the speaker.

A fundamental lack of logic

Daily planner at Staples 

Weekly planner at Staples

Daily planner (left) and weekly planner (right) at Staples

Normally there is some sort of relationship between the cost of a product at its selling price. As the cost of production goes up the selling price goes up. A book with lots of pages costs more to produce than a book with fewer pages.

There is a fundamental lack of logic in the pricing of the two products. The daily planner has twice as manny pages and the weekly planner. So why is the daily planner priced at almost $2.00 less than the weekly planner?

Ambush marketing in Aisle 7

Point of purchase display for Mott's Clamato juice at Safeway

The Nation Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl is coming. And there will be lots of parties as people watch 11 minutes of action in a 60 minute game spread out over about four hours of television.

And while Mott's wants its customers to buy lot of Clamato juice for their Super Bowl parties, Mott's has no interest in actually paying to be part of the game. Customers will make the obvious connection between a drink being "Always a touch down" and the Super Bowl, Mott's will get more sales, and the  NFL will get nothing.

They're coming soon!!!

Valentine's Day Display at Dollarama

Easter display at Dollarama

I was in a Dollarama store just after Christmas. All of the Christmas  products had been removed from the shelves and the staff were in the midst of converting the shelves over to Valentine's Day and Easter merchandise.

The pace of this change is pretty remarkable and entirely predictable. Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Canada Day, Back to School, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, and then it start all over again. Miss out and you leave thousands, or even millions, on the table.

Retailers like Dollarama depend on rapid merchandise turnover and can't miss a day of potential selling.

This party is well and truly over

Fidget spinners at Dollarama (December 23, 2017)

The fidget spinner was a fad. It was the quintessential fad. It came out of nowhere, grew in popularity very quickly, and then died even faster. 

One way to extend the duration of the product life cycle is to offer an upgraded version, add features, improve the quality, reduce the price, or license a desirable brand.

But in the case of the the fidget spinner licensing was too little too late. And so I find these licensed "Transformers" fidget spinners on sale for $2.00 at Dollarama.  Not even a brand as popular as "Transformers", or a toy company as powerful as Hasbro, could continue to make these desirable. My daughter, who has a dozen fidget spinners and was a huge fan, didn't even ask for one of these.

I hear a landfill calling for these.

Why start at zero?

Customer Survey for Science World

I am intrigued by surveys. Some of them are very confusing. Some don't collect enough information, or offer the respondent enough reporting options. This survey seems to suffer from the opposite problem.

Customer Survey for Science World (Detail)

This survey, on the other hand, seems to offer too many options. Do customers really break down their likelihood to recommend Science World into 11 levels? Is the zero (0) really necessary?

Too few options is a problem in surveys, but I think this one goes too far in the opposite direction. Five or six options would probably be just fine.

Of course they go free, because they can't go by themselves

"Kids Go Free" coupon for LEGOLAND 

"Kids Go Free" coupon for LEGOLAND (reverse)

"Kids Go Free" coupon for LEGOLAND (Detail)

When I ordered some Christmas presents from LEGO in 2016, I received a coupon for a free kids' ticket to LEGOLAND, with a paid adult ticket.

The logic is pretty clear. Kids generally won't go to LEGOLAND on their own, a parent or parents will accompany them. And while the kids will be clamoring to go to LEGOLAND, the parents will often merely tolerate it. But once the kid sees this coupon for free admission they will be bugging their parent until either coupon expires or the parent relents. 

Given that the other spending associated with a park visit; food, parking, gifts, and souvenirs, will often exceed the cost of admission, this is a very smart piece of marketing.

Pointless gender segmentation

Tag on "Pajamas for the Whole Family", Walmart

Tag on "Pajamas for the Whole Family", Walmart (Detail)

Tag on "Pajamas for the Whole Family", Walmart (Detail)

These pajamas are sold as a boys' garment. Why?

The design has a pizza slice fashioned as a Christmas tree on the top and pizza slices and Christmas lights all over the pants. Why is pizza the sole domain of boys? (My daughter loves pizza.)

This sort of needless and pointless gender targeting really gets on my nerves.  In the 21st century I have no idea why big companies like Walmart still do it. Are they just sexist and lazy? A bit sad if that is still the motive.

A sweet piece of sourcing

Box for Milk Chocolate Caramel Thins from Walmart

Box for Milk Chocolate Caramel Thins from Walmart (Detail)

Companies put information on their packaging if they think that it will help increase sales.

In this case, Walmart tells consumers that the chocolates are a "Product of England". England does have a reputation for producing good sweets, and many people prefer the English version of bars such as the Cadbury Dairy Milk over the sweeter US version. (The first ingredient in the US version of Dairy Milk is sugar.)

And as long as consumers vote with their wallets for products made in England, brands will put the Union Jack on the front of the box.


PS A tiny and rather pedantic aside. The box says "Product of England", while the flag is the Union Jack, the flag of the United Kingdom (UK).  The United Kingdom, or more fully the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland" includes England, Scotland and Wales. The correct flag for England on its own is the cross of Saint George. (See below.) But most people outside the UK would have hard time identifying the English flag. and if the consumer does not make the connection then the good will is wasted.

Flag of England (Cross of Saint George)
(Source: http://piggottsflagsandbranding.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/shutterstock_159434009.jpg)

It's good to know your customers

Sign for Santa at his Park Royal home, Christmas 2017

Like most years, in 2017 Santa was everywhere. He managed to make an appearance at every major shopping mall, not to mention his Christmas Eve visits to deliver presents to all of the good girls and boys.

At the Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver the sign promoting visits to Santa give a clear indication of the demographics of families the mall is hoping to attract.

The interior design is by Urban Barn. And you don't have to settle for some ordinary candy cane, you get a real Lindt chocolate. Also no worries about waiting in line; West Vancouver parents' time is valuable so they can schedule a visit in advance using Santa's Fastpass.

The Fastpass system was developed by Disney to manage the lines for attractions at the firm's parks. And I would imagine that many of the families in West Vancouver have been to one of the Disney parks are familiar with the benefits of the Fastpass system.

So, unsurprisingly everything about visits to Santa at Park Royal are a fit with the demographics of the target market, parents and children from one of the richest municipalities in the country.

Just going through the motions

Label on "Husky" brand parts organizer, Home Depot

Label on "Husky" brand parts organizer, Home Depot (Detail)

Recycling is generally a good thing to do. And most manufacturers encourage their customers to recycle packaging to minimize the amount of stuff that end up in landfill sites.

But this is worse than useless. The label is printed on some sort of plastic material. In order for this to be recycled the material must be identified with one of the codes shown below. 

Plastic resin codes
(Source: http://www.plastixportal.com/recycling_of_plastics.html)

With no code on the plastic it can't be recycled and will therefore end up in landfill site, or be burned. Neither of which are the desired outcome. 

So, it looks as if Husky and Home Depot are doing something good and encouraging recycling, but they are not actually doing the one thing that would make recycling possible.

Why can't you be bothered to update the default values?

Sodexo Receipt

Sodexo Receipt (Detail)

Sodexo runs lots of institutional dining facilities. I was at one and saw this at the top of the receipt. Why can the management be bothered to update the default value to something that is useful to the customer?

Laziness? Apathy? Training?

Regardless, it is an unprofessional effort from a multi-billion dollar company.

Mainly metric, or not.

Sign for Catenary Arch  display, Science World, Vancouver

Science tends to be the domain of metric measurement.

Sign for Catenary Arch  display, Science World, Vancouver (Detail)

But even if not everyone who attends Science World is fully conversant with metric measurement, metric is generally the only measure on offer.

Unit of measure on sign for Catenary Arch  display, Science World, Vancouver

In this case the inside height of the "Catenary Arch" is listed as 7 feet, rather than its metric equivalent of 2.13 metres. 

Everything else I see at Science World uses metric measurement. Why this one aberration? Inconsistent and confusing for the public.

A growing market with specific needs, and a product designed for the market

Advertisement for Doro 824C mobile phone, Vancouver, BC

There are now more mobile telephone accounts than people on earth. And as the penetration of mobile telephones has increased, firms have realized that one size does not fit all.

It seems that this phone is specifically aimed at older users, with features such as;

• Larger, easy-to-tap icons
• Hearing aid compatibility
• Dedicated emergency button

Are those feature enough to attract older users? Doro, the maker of the phone, certainly thinks so.

"Doro offers value-added consumer solutions for seniors in the form of easy-to use phones with functions that facilitate everyday life. We also offer services that further enable and improve the quality of independent living for seniors and their families. Innovation is driven by in-house product development teams with in-depth knowledge of our target users, enhanced even more by the acquisition of Caretech AB in 2015. Our comprehensive offering spans from phones and smart devices, to software and support services, with a strong focus on ease of use." (Source: https://corporate.doro.com/doro-group/vision-mission-and-strategies/doro-in-brief/)

Doro Website
(Source: https://corporate.doro.com/doro-group/vision-mission-and-strategies/doro-in-brief/)