Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

hi mind_freak,

have a look at the coke website. www.coke.com then go to there websites that are set up for different countries.

look at the different lay outs for different countries, they are different because different consumer have different needs.

like Rachel said coke does not just make coke, they also make fanta, water, L&P (specific to New Zealand), water (Pump)
they make energy drinks (Lift plus).

the question you need to ask is why did they make these products?

what are the thing consumers need to make there lives easier?


example:

lift plus is sold at the university of Otago one shop, there is also a vending machine that sells coke just around the corner beside the library.

why did they choose to put a vending machine beside the library?

the answer:

students a tried when they go in to the library, or when they come out. they need something that will give them the energy to study for an extra hour while keeping wake.

if they had to walk for an hour to get the same drink then they would not buy it.

another example is that shoe company in the usa was selling shoe polish in south america. they had very high sales. they were the market leaders.

then one day the changed the formula of the shoe polish to make it a better shoe polish. they thought this would help the customer.

then a month later the sales of the shoe polish plummeted they lost market share and were losing lots of money.

they tried everything but could not find what the problem was.

finally they sent some one to the country to find out what was wrong.

it turns out that the local people how used to buy the shoe polish were using it to light fires. they would buy the shoe polish to start fries in there home because it was much cheaper than buying the alternative.

the problem was that the new formula did not catch on fire and was of no use to the people. so they stopped buying it.

the lesson here is that consumers dont always use the product in the way in which it is meant to be used. some people in different cultures have different value.

other example would be Mc Donald’s in India, they dont sell cows in there burger, because in India the cow is a sacred animal, instead they have lamb burgers.

New Coke would be another example ( i will leave that one for you to research)

In New Zealand everyone expects to have a university education, but in china a university education is very valuable.

in Japan parents tell there children when they dont eat there dinner "think about the man how made this nice meal for you, he will be offended if you dont eat it"

but in New Zealand they say "think about the starving children in Africa who dont get enough to eat"

if you need more help email me and i will see what i can do for you. (just sign in and click on my name)

hope this helps

Carl Crawford