Question

Topic: Other

Innovative Sales Promotion Ideas To Sell Cameras

Posted by JONO on 12/29/2007 at 5:02 PM ET 250 Points
Hi,

I'm marketing manager for a leading & global camera manufacturer.

In 2007 our sales promotions - involving a free memory card and free carry case with all pocket cameras worked very well in some territoriories. Resellers initially asked for this promotion, but then on reflection saw it as a bad idea, as their sales of cards & cases obviously dwindled.

I'm now looking at innovative ways to improve sales in 2008 of pocket cameras -(ie digital stills cameras). I need to look at a promotional concept that offers consumers something for free, but must be an item that the camera reseller doesnt sell. - so margins wouldnt be affected

Would a free photograpy training course be a good tool to this type of user? We currently offer that with SLR cameras and that works well to the 'prosumer'. I'm also looking at free DVD rental vouchers given away with camera purchases.

Anyone any ideas of what would have made you purchase a camera over another brand..?

Important to note...>> We are one of the market leaders, with the best quality of biuld - but therefore not the cheapest.. price promotion is a difficult one for us.

We are looking at point of sale materials and other parts of the marketing mix to help too.

Thanks for your help - any thoughs would be apreciated.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by wnelson on 12/29/2007 at 5:29 PM Accepted
    Jono,

    You say you can't use "price promotion," but giving something away versus lower price is the same thing. Especially if you don't make the memory cards yourself. Net profit comes out the same becuase the cost of the given away product is part of cost of sales and takes away from your net profit. Yes, it doesn't count against product margin - but WHO CARES? stock holders don't care about product margin, just inappropriately measured product managers!

    Given this, why not do a rebate? Then your resellers can advertise PRICE: $199 and in little tiny letters: (after rebate). And, in fact, only a part of those people will actually follow through with the rebate so the impact is less.

    A variation - if they buy a camera AND the memory card, they get rebated the price of the memory card. Or some other accessories like case, tripod, printer paper, printer, etc. If you give away something that you make (don't know if you make printers too - probably), then the $79 price of the printer is actually only a$40 effect because you are only out the cost, not the price. This technique makes everyone happy because the reseller moves more merchandice.

    Or how about offering a BOGO - buy one, get a second one at half off. The effect of this is probably about 12.5% of the price. You can have a campaign associated with this about his/hers cameras, one for the kids. I see an ad with two people taking pictures of each other simutaneously, laughing and having fun. This works to double your sales - well, almost.

    I hope this helps.

    Wayde
  • Posted on 12/29/2007 at 8:28 PM Accepted
    I follow Wayde's logic, but I think anything that suggests that there's a price break on the camera itself (even a rebate) could jeopardize the premium image in consumers' minds ... even those who are not buying right now.

    I'd opt for a related item free by mail, preferably one not sold by the retailer. No need to get them upset with your promotion; you want them to support it enthusiastically.

    I kind of like the idea of a CD or DVD, perhaps with some stock photos on it that can be combined with live/real/digital photographs, or suggestions for improving the experience for casual/non-professional photographers. Or a rebate offer for a free or partial discount on on an electronic frame purchased at the same time. Or a complimentary subscription to one of the popular photography magazines.

    The idea is to stay away from anything that even remotely looks like a discount on the premium-priced camera itself.

    In the MarketingProfs seminar library, there's a seminar on Promotion that is pretty basic, but it actually lists 15 different kinds of promotions ... of which probably half or more could apply to your situation. It may be worth using that seminar to spark some novel/creative ideas.

    Good question, well presented. I hope you get some great responses from the folks here.

  • Posted on 12/29/2007 at 8:33 PM Member
    P.S. As an amateur photographer who is probably in your target audience, I might also like some photo-editing software or tools ... a la Photoshop. Anything to help me enjoy my hobby more.

    Have you done a focus groups among your target audience? If not, that might be a great way to identify promotions that would be attractive for them. If you need specific suggestions for that, let me know by private email.
  • Posted by wnelson on 12/29/2007 at 9:10 PM Member
    I agree with Sir Goodman of the Consumer Realm in every accord. Especially with respect to the Photoshop! That's a promotion that would be great. But not the silly free stuff - the real version! That would be a sweet deal and affect my decision.

    However: Perhaps examine why you are a premium product. Is it just because your costs are too high and you have to have a higher price to make reasonable margin? Besides self-perceived and self-touted quality - are there other reasons why your product is a premium product? Perhaps "brand image." Do you have other features no one does? If not, I'd wonder how much "quality" is a problem in the camera market. I have an HP camera, I've purchased Vivitar. I've seen Sony, Canon, Fuji, Olympus, Nikon, Kodak, and Polaroid. Then, the no-names. Certainly, I'm suspicious of quality of no-names. Fuji, Polaroid, and Kodak - they are mid-range. HP, Vivitar, Sony - they are a step up. Canon, Olympus, Nikon - well, they certainly know glass and they are exceptional quality. However, for electronics, I would say that they are less experienced than HP, Vivitar, and Sony, so I'd not give them any more quality points for a pocket digital. And I wouldn't pay a premium for the name. When I get up to the $800 range where I want glass with my digital cam, I wouldn't buy an HP or Sony or Vivitar. I'd buy a Canon, Olympus, or Nikon. But, then, this isn't a pocket camera.

    By the way, the quality difference I perceive for Kodak, Polaroid, and Fuji has more to do with the quality of picture I'd get and perhaps the features, and even more subtle, the menu system, user interface, and battery life. NOT the quality like it will not work out of the box or it will break quickly. I believe any of these brands (not the no-names) will work out of the box and will last a while. It's electronics, for gosh sakes! Electronic quality - especially in this type of electronics - is pretty well understood and quality/reliability is a given. I worked in the semiconductor profession and visited most of the places where these products are designed and built.

    The message here: Question your "premise" that you are a "premium" brand. Look at features closely and look at what the customers really want. You could be missing out in the mainstream market with your premium priced product and hanging a lot of "stuff" people don't really care about on your high price.

    If you want to test this, come out with a flanking product - maybe a new "brand" - that is less expensive with lower "quality" specs. See how it does. Your parent brand could carry it through and you could be in the mainstream market without eroding your premium product.

    Of course, as The Honorable Mr. Goodman suggests - do some focus group work! I'm just one customer. Get a few more opinions! BUT: Just don't go with status quo! Test the boundaries! Of course, this isn't a simple "How to do a promo" answer. This is product strategy and product management. But, hey, it's still "free" - and worth every penny! :)

    Wayde
  • Posted by LsuTigers on 12/29/2007 at 9:47 PM Accepted
    Many good points made so far. Recently leaving a national CE retailer as a DM I agree that use of memory card would not be a viable choice as option from the manufacturer. All retailers are in great need to accessorize the sale of CE products especially in the Imaging category to grow margins.

    Depending on style of camera you are asking about (DSLR or point/shoot) I would definitely recommend use of related product. As a consumer receiving a DVD rentals would not influence me in my decision; however a related item would.

    Here are a couple ideas:
    Partnering with an online photo storage provider offering free prints, photo editing software, memory card readers (most retailers are not successful in attaching this to their cameras).

    You have 3 key selling points by Summer, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Spring Break. Partner with a national restaurant chain offering free dinner coupons or free admissions to amusement parks, zoos, museums etc.

  • Posted by Harry Hallman on 12/30/2007 at 8:08 AM Member
    How about gift cards for getting free prints or a free photo book. Make a deal with Shutterfly or Snapfish. When Sony closed the image station the made some deal with Shutterfly to transfer all assets to them. Shutterfly offered a free photoook worth $39. It was a good offer and it made you try Shutterfly's service. I have since purchased 8 new books for Christmas.
  • Posted on 12/30/2007 at 11:08 AM Member
    I think you need to make your brand name, features a shout after in the market. try some innovative style to bring these people on your website.

    You need to build short term as well as a long term strategy for your product.

    whatever you did last year was a short term goal you may find something similar this year too but what about doing something for long term so that you need not to ask the same question once again.

    A short term goal can be exchange offer on old cams with some high priced cams. Believe me there are so many individuals who want to get rid of there old cam due to features and want to upgrade it with the latest cam. But they dont know what to do with the old one.


    For long term goal just plan to create some database of users and cam that they are using and approach them.

    Don't know how to do it try some online marketing techniques or online contest wanna know more email me sometime at [Email address deleted by staff]
  • Posted by michael on 12/31/2007 at 11:31 AM Member
    JONO,

    Are you sure YOU need to come up with something? Why not offer an incentive program (Canon has been successful with this) to dealers and let them think of their own way of winning the incentive?

    I just bought a Sony. Did the PCMag research online and shopped for the best price. Does that help?

    Michael

  • Posted by JONO on 1/2/2008 at 6:09 PM Author
    Many thanks for all of your valuable comments.

    In reply to Jim - this is indeed a serious query and no I'm not trying to waste my time or other members!

    Just to clarify - we are a premium brand and a market leader...at a premium because we offer the best quality of build & parts, QC process, feature rich, understand user behaviour and anticipate their needs and innovate etc. As a result when people buy our products an extremely high proportion buy them again and again...

    So our problem in my territory - which is outside of the US is how to communicate the USP's, quality etc to justify the price premium. We are working on instore presence pos, press communication, PR and so forth.

    We already have price promotion, controlled by our HQ, and that works with the obvious spikes...and highlights as Mr Goodman suggests that we are expensive in the first place.

    Price meddling is out of our control because of our internal transfer pricing scheme, and in addition to this, our prices are set by resellers and we have no control over these.

    What i can control is non direct price related sales promotion.

    To address some of ur promotional ideas:

    1) photoshop - we already bundle a great software tool that is well regarded by photographers - but not always communicated in our messaging.

    2) Photo books, Memory card readers & prints - all novel ideas - but our resellers already sell these items - so this would hurt their margins.

    I will definitely look further into some of your other suggestions though of:

    1) Sales incentives
    2) products free or at 1/2 price i.e. one of our own printers
    3) free magazine subscriptions
    4) Themed seasonal promotions i.e. fathers day gifts
    5) ON pack promotions with other FMCG mfrs
    6) Loyalty/incentive scheme
    7) Photo comps
    8) photography training

    Thanks for you feedback guys + do let me know if you do get any additional promotion ideas.

    Thanks

    Jono
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