Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Jul 20, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Jul 20, 2009 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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eWorld
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Marketing Columns - Come Again! In site, out of store My friend N has the knack of ‘finding’ products before the company decides to release them in the market. The day typically begins with his finding a product in a Web site. Next is a phone call to our friendly neighbourhood dealer. The conversation goes like this: “Do you have Vado?” “What?” “Vado — V-A-D-O” Then we explain what it is. The dealer makes a few phone calls and gets back. “No, Sir. It is not available in India.” “I saw it in the company’s Indian Web site.” “But sorry Sir, may be it is in their Web site, but it is not available anywhere.” We thought the problem was with the particular company, till N ‘discovered’ another. “Do you have MP860?” The dealer tried to correct us: “Do you mean MP850?” “No. MP860.” The poor guy manages to contact the company dealer who flatly denies the existence of any such product. One day, we actually found Vado in a store and decided to confront our dealer friend. He immediately rang up the company’s main dealer only to be told it “was not available.” Then how come it is found in just one store? It turned out that the store sold only gray market goods and the Vado on display had no bill or warranty. N’s ‘discoveries’ apart, what makes us wonder is that companies appear so lackadaisical about marketing. They don’t realise that once a product is advertised, people will look for it. And there are products such as Microsoft’s Zune which is yet to see the light of day in India though it hit the stores years ago in the US. N’s discoveries continue. And they will remain futile till the companies tune up their marketing.
R. Dinakaran More Stories on : Marketing | Piracy | Come Again!
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