Ch. 18 - Sales Promotion and Personal Sales

In order to discuss ESPN and Sales Promotion and Personal Sales we must "read between the lines" as they used to say in fourth grade.  We've all gotten the point that ESPN is a sports broadcasting network, and while yes ESPN is a brand name to be marketed, it falls short on sales.  So between the lines we go.

As discussed in the global marketing chapter, ESPN's prime product is their mobile product line.  A little refresher, ESPN had launched apps to keep every sports fan up to date on their favorite team / sport up to the very last second.  As well as being a top of the line "fantasy sports" provider.  How does this all tie into Sales Promotion and Personal Sales?!?  Well the biggest thing for ESPN is media awareness seeing how they're ratings are the main source of income because they get to charge more for advertisements on their network.  What also helps is if their mobile apps are widely used, retailers will pay to advertise there as well.

With all that being said, ESPN doesn't promote sales much because its more of a close door deal with retailers to promote via ESPN.  However, in order to have 97% media awareness they must promote a little.  I'm sure any sports fan watching professional games or even just ESPN for highlights has seen examples of ESPN's use of consumer sales promotion targeting their ultimate consumer for their mobile apps.  Which in turn works as a double winner for the brand known as ESPN!

As far as Personal Sales, ESPN plays the opposite roll as they do for Sales Promotion.  If you go here you can see ESPN's shop.  They do offer regular sporting goods and ESPN gear but their primary products sold are player and league attire from all major US professional sport leagues.  They even go as far as having a "Hot Zone" for players who seem to be the hottest at the moment.  Coming back to my point, ESPN itself does NOT have the rights to privately sell these items.  However, they obtain the right to personal sell them.  Upon researching I couldn't figure out if ESPN receives any push money or if they just personally sale these leagues products as a trade allowance.

Tricky huh?  ESPN isn't much of a retailer therefore there isn't any need for Sales Promotion or Personal Sales; however, they are indeed a business and a brand name therefore they will follow the number one rule, make money!

Ch. 15 - Retailing

Ok, so retailing.  To better discuss retailing we must first explain what retailing entails.  By the book, retailing is all the activities directly related to the sale of services and goods to the ultimate consumer for personal, nonbusiness use.  Basically, retailing is the art of hustling!  My company for this blog is ESPN, being that ESPN is a sports news broadcaster, I didn't have the option to visit and ESPN retailer.  So I went with option B, which was to go to any retailer and write about my experience.  Luckily for me, I was in the market for a new computer.  Allowing me to share with you my experience of shopping at an Apple retail outlet!  Arguably, one of the best retailers out there.  With that being said, this was a destination store because I, the consumer, purposely planned to visit Apple.

APPLE!  Where to begin.  First, I'd like to share a moment of silence for the mastermind Steve Jobs, may you rest in peace and watch from above as your company slowly takes over the world...

Ok, were back.  As soon as you walk in, you are blown away by the technology that Apple has to offer.  So blown away, you don't even recognize the little cute girl in a blue employee t-shirt greeting you and asking if she can help you.  The atmosphere screamed come in and play with my toys!  A prime example of product offering, because the variety of products Apple has to offer for the consumer.

Moving on, after the atmosphere took me away, the cute girl in the blue shirt brought me back.  I told her I was here with the intentions of purchasing a MacBook Air.  She brought me over to one of their iPads and had me type my name in and told me to wait while an assistant would come get me.

Not 30 seconds later, Sabastian from Poland, rocking the Apple blue employee shirt came and shook my hand.  A brief FYI, when I shop, I've already done my research and I'm on my mission to get in and get out.  I'm a firm believer in getting in and getting out!

Back to the experience.  Now I have my own personal Apple assistant in my quest for a laptop.  I immediately inform Sabastian I'm in the market for an Apple MacBook Air, 13 inches.  He puts a request in his little iPhone the Apple employees carry to have the MacBook Air brought out to us.  While waiting the full 2 minutes for my laptop to come from the back I asked Sabastian what the difference was between the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air.  For the most part, its just the size, the Air is slimmer and has a slightly better battery life says Sabastian.  While the Pro is your more typical laptop but has more power for more programs.  I'm still dead set on the Air.

The MacBook Air arrives.  I asked Sabastian about programs and he filled me in without hesitation.  At this point I'm interested if I can stump him with something he doesn't know the answer for.  I got him!  I asked him why I couldn't switch my Apple ID from one email to the next.  So he walks over to another Apple employee and he shoves the answer out like it was nothing.  I was completely impressed with the knowledge Apple's employees obtain about their products.

Now, I'm almost ready to checkout, when Sabastian say's, "Mr. Keller, would you be interested in buying an external CD player because the MacBook Air doesn't have one internally due to the size of the device."  WOW, hang on a second, you mean theres no internal CD player?  This is an immediate turn off and he says this is why we at Apple sit the customer down and explain EVERYTHING to insure all customers have the best product to suit their needs.  I've been hustled!

Now, I've changed my mind and go with the MacBook Pro.  Surprisingly, I was calm and not irritated at all.  At this point in more stores, I'm fed up and just walk out.  Once again, the atmosphere was remarkable.

To sum, it all up, I purchased the MacBook Pro, which was another awesome experience.  Remember the iPhone I talked about earlier that the Apple employees have?  Well he takes my credit card, swipes the card under the iPhone and, BAM, I've paid for my purchase.  No lines, no hassle, no receipt(receipt was emailed to me!!!!).  So quick and painless I hardly even realized I had just spent nearly 1,500 bucks!

Lastly, after I had completed my purchase, Sabastian walked me over to another table where we opened my laptop and set it up.  This was extremely awesome because all the required stuff you must do prior to playing with your new laptop was done, and done properly by an Apple expert, who I know completely trust.  So as I get home, I bust out the laptop and fire away.

All in all, my experience with Apple's retailer in Menlo Park Mall in New Jersey was hands down remarkable.  Their employees where knowledgeable, their atmosphere was modern yet inviting.  Evaluating Apple through the Retailing Mix with the six P's goes as following.

Product - Apple's products cover all needs and wants a consumer requires.  Not to mention the innovative products that completely redefined technology, which makes people believe they need these products.

Place - Apple is good at putting their stores where their huge target market resides, however, I had to drive 30 miles to get to the closest Apple store.  My assessment, more stores couldn't hurt.

Promotion - It's Apple.  Enough said.

Price - Yes, their prices are fairly high.  However, the durability and reliability allows the fairly high price to go unnoticed.

Presentation - Excellent.  Apple's layout, modern with sense of organization of products.  The atmosphere, welcome and inviting.  And soothing, where in the past I would have gotten irritated and walked away, I was come and decided to stay.

Personnel - Excellent.  Apple's employee's swarmed the store with their bright blue shirts, yet weren't invasive or rude.  While, everyone of the Apple employees I spoke with, had knowledge beyond belief of their products that Apple had to offer.


If you haven't experienced shopping at an Apple retailer yet, it is one shopping experience you won't get any where else other than Apple.

Ch. 6 - Consumer Decision Making

For marketers to even exist in a world where they don't know all the information on or about their market is like a blind man shopping for contacts.  Absolutely useless.  Even more so, it is critical to understand the consumer and the consumer behavior.  If you can predict how the consumer makes their decisions, game over, YOU WON!  For a company such as ESPN, consumer behavior isn't about purchasing decisions.  Its more about how the consumer uses their services.  ESPN being one of the primary sports broadcasting networks, their service would be to report sports news.

With that being said, the consumer decision making process is a useful tool.  Some parts of the process can be applied to ESPN and their consumers decision making process; yet given the type of service ESPN, the decision making process doesn't apply as it would for most consumer behavior.

The consumer decision making process starts with; need recognition.  Need recognition hands down is the most applicable part of the decision making process for ESPN to understand consumer behavior.  The consumer might not NEED to watch ESPN to catch up on their sports but a majority of ESPN's consumers desire or WANT to.  This behavior is triggered for most consumers by an external stimuli.(Best example of an external stimuli for those of you who don't read the marketing chapters is; someone saying "Did you see Lebron's dunk last night?" and it urges the other to go watch his dunk, via ESPN).

As far as the next couple parts for the consumer decision making process; information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and purchase evaluate, they could apply in minor and randoms ways.  However, for the most part, ESPN's consumers display, routine response behavior.  They frequently get their sports news from ESPN, especially because ESPN has a media awareness of 97%.  While most watch ESPN for the dependability and ease of making the decision of  "where to get my sports fix!"