We Know You’re Interested

My buddy Mike from Vexxt shared this great email from 1-800-PROFLOWERS:

Every Day Is A Winding Road

I consider myself an astute student of retailing so was surprised to discover a very cool concept I knew absolutely nothing about.  The name of the company is The Unclaimed Baggage Center.  Unfortunately, they don’t retail online but you must go check out unclaimedbaggage.com and see their press coverage here.

The Trouble With $3 Jamba Juice Smoothies

Retailers are working extra hard these days.  On my afternoon walk I saw two guys standing near the station selling $3 Jamba Juice smoothies out of a white box.  I know Jamba Juice wants to drive sales but I think this is a penny wise pound foolish strategy for three principle reasons:

– Brand dilution: I thought the unique selling proposition of Jamba Juice was that one could walk up to the counter, order a smoothie and have the juice expert prepare it right in front of us?

– Authenticity: How do I even know if this is a legit setup? The guys were wearing Jamba Juice tee-shirts but there was no specific branding on the box itself.

– Price point: Is $3.00 for a Jamba Juice smoothie too high or too low? The only people who could really answer this are Jamba Juice regulars.  So, in effect, this promoted price means little to non-customers.  The whole idea of setting up a stand on the street is to get non-customers to try your product once.

Here is what I would have done:

— I would have made a nice little Jamba Juice banner, slapped Jamba Juice stickers on the box, slapped another sticker on the smoothie itself and given customers an authentic proof of purchase receipt.

— Instead of saying “$3 Jamba Juice Smoothies” I’d say “Pedestrian Special 25% discounted Jamba Juice Smoothies for only $3.00“