by Mr. 6 on January 7th, 2011,
最近看到一間超有趣的小店,這家位於美國北卡州的小珠寶店的老闆,不斷推出「免費」的促銷活動,珠寶怎麼免費,應該是騙人的吧?不,他是真的免費,而且驚人的是他的免費促銷竟是和「老天」在對賭,靠「天氣」來免費!
他對著Asheville市的市民們說:「各位,只要Asheville市在耶誕節那天積了3吋厚的雪,你買的珠寶就算你免費!」
不囉嗦,不是只有85折喔,就直接算你們免費!消費者只要在11月26日至12月11日的二星期的期間,買下任何一種珠寶,就可以玩這個「遊戲」,如果當天真的積了3吋厚的雪,老闆就會退錢給你。嘩!雖然消費者可能不會去看氣象報告才去買,但一聽到這樣的促銷活動,可能就覺得蠻有趣的,至少就先在Asheville市傳開了;另外有些人反正本來就想買珠寶,兩家一比較,這家敢這樣算免費,另一家沒有這種促銷活動,可能就直接選了這家店買了。
這實在很誇張!這老闆敢這樣說,客戶也敢買,這麼多客戶上門了,老闆賣了這麼多珠寶,難道不怕在耶誕節當天,真的給他下了三吋的雪,隔天他大概要申請破產、直接倒店了?
不,這個老闆太聰明,他使用了網路上的有趣工具,叫「氣象保險」──
是的,在很久以前曾經寫過這麼一篇文章,當時是兩個Google的員工出來創立了一間叫「WeatherBill」的公司,讓商家們可對氣象作保險,這種保險方式原本是要讓一些「靠天吃飯」的商家在使用的,譬如譬如在西雅圖賣傘的阿婆,每個月一定要碰到十五天以上的雨天才能獲利,到了三月的雨季,阿婆可向 WeatherBill買一張「西雅圖的三月有15天以上會下雨」的保單,假如真的下雨不超過十五日,阿婆就會獲賠一筆足以平攤她生意損失的費用。不料,這個做法被珠寶店老闆看到了,竟然也來參加「氣象保險」,他事先先查好,到底要保12月25日耶誕節下雪,要花多少錢?然後將這個「成本」,含在客戶的價錢裡面。消費者會以為老闆這麼好心,其實那個保險費已經含在珠寶的費用裡,再怎麼賣,老闆都不會賠錢,等到12月11日促銷活動結束,隔天這個老闆趕快去下訂買這些成交珠寶總額的天氣保險,或許珠寶業的利潤空間太大了,他永遠不會吃虧!
珠寶店老闆之前跑過的其他促銷,還包括看到一對客戶,要買新婚的戒指,他回到後面的電腦算了一下,就告訴他們,只要你們結婚的那天下雨,這個戒指就免費給你們!聽起來多有同理心啊,新人一聽,如果當天天公不作美,戶外婚禮辦不成,至少戒指免費,於是就興高采烈的買下這隻戒指了。這位老闆說,在業界其實不只他這樣買氣象保險來進行促銷,其實他之前也是學另一位在芝加哥的珠寶商,也是買了「天氣保險」後,和客戶打賭,如果芝加哥在某天積了6吋的雪,就算他免費。
珠寶店老闆之前跑過的其他促銷,還包括看到一對客戶,要買新婚的戒指,他回到後面的電腦算了一下,就告訴他們,只要你們結婚的那天下雨,這個戒指就免費給你們!聽起來多有同理心啊,新人一聽,如果當天天公不作美,戶外婚禮辦不成,至少戒指免費,於是就興高采烈的買下這隻戒指了。這位老闆說,在業界其實不只他這樣買氣象保險來進行促銷,其實他之前也是學另一位在芝加哥的珠寶商,也是買了「天氣保險」後,和客戶打賭,如果芝加哥在某天積了6吋的雪,就算他免費。
太妙了,竟然有這樣的促銷手法!
先前對於行銷便觀察到一個現象,許多B2C的賣家想做行銷,老是希望行銷活動的效益能直接、立刻、馬上的反應在當月的銷售上面,而不只是品牌形象提升、客戶溝通等等,不過我發現,大家儘管都希望在行銷上面發揮最大的創意、辦出各式各樣的有創意的活動,已經幾乎把腦子都搾乾了,但是到了銷售的這邊,就只剩下一種創意──
「折價」。
不然就是「送贈品」。
或是「折價」再加上「送贈品」。
目前的商家,都是仰賴著無敵創意的行銷活動,再加上千篇一律的銷售手法!你說你折價很多耶,折到幾乎都要折腰了,已經侵蝕掉幾乎所有利潤了,但消費者不一定這麼在意你的折價,而且總有一些比你更有利潤的其他競爭商品,永遠可以推出看起來差不多的折價,尤其當整個市場都在打折的時候,消費者已經見多不怪、麻木掉了,不再輕易被這些折價活動所影響,這時候,光靠傳奇乖誕的行銷創意,價格不變的情況下,不一定可以輕易的撼動大批的消費者。
這間珠寶商給了我們一課。它雖然是一場行銷活動,但這場活動是直接針對銷售的價錢來設計的,這種創意可說是珠寶店的「破壞式創新」。而這樣的「只要下雪就退費」的行銷活動,本身就充滿了魅力,畢竟最後消費者最care的還是價錢,任何和價錢有關的,只要夠驚人,可以直接影響掉他們原本大腦裡的決策。事實上,Groupon類的團購網站最棒的也是在價錢上面讓步至少一半,那麼,蛋糕店老闆可以故意做出某一種超豪華的二倍貴的新品蛋糕,讓它加入菜單,折價之後還是有利潤──請注意,像這樣的針對銷售來設計的行銷活動,需要「產品端」的完全配合。
甚至可說,它已經不是「行銷部」的事,而是「產品部」的事!
如果每次都是在訂價上面做些讓步,既痛苦、又無趣,或許,該有另一個部門來專門研發「次產品」,或者研究周邊和定價有關的工具譬如這個珠寶商所使用的WeatherBill,讓消費者看到的是一個完全不一樣的定價模式?
在行銷活動方面,賣家已經很會辦,但是在定價策略方面,許多賣家,只是剛開始而已,還有很多很多的創意變種是我們還沒想到的。
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Use WeatherBill To Bet On The Weather
Michael Arrington JAN. 2, 2007
David Friedberg, a former Googler, is set to launch an ambitious new site called WeatherBill, headquartered in San Francisco, in the next few weeks. WeatherBill won’t be a consumer site; rather, they are combining an ecommerce site with a complicated weather forecasting algorithm to sell weather insurance policies to individuals and businesses. And having a business isn’t a requirement to purchase a contract on WeatherBill – users can also use it to simply make a cash bet on the weather swings in a given geographic area.
Weather insurance is difficult to get and even harder to customize. Enron began to dabble in weather-related securities, who’s value would fluctuate based on actual weather down the road, but that all ended in 2001 when the company went bankrupt. Today, large energy companies trade weather policies back and forth to hedge against high or low temperatures, but everyone else is left out.
That’s where WeatherBill will come in. Anyone can buy an insurance policy for weather in a given area. Choose a weather station via a Google Maps mashup (see screenshot to right) and choose whether you want it to pay out for each hot, cold, rainy or dry day. Temperatures are set by the user by degrees, precipitation by inches. As an example, if I want to be paid $100 for every very rainy day (1/4 of an inch or more) in San Diego in March 2007, that policy will cost $370.64 and will pay up to a maximum of $3,000. Every option is variable, and so the user can decrease the amount of rain required, increase the maximum payout, etc., via an Ajax interface. A contract for a payout of as little as $1 can be created.
WeatherBill hedges their own risk via their weather algorithm, which Friedberg tells me they use to simulate 20,000 years of weather daily for each weather station. They also sell their risk on the back end to a number of hedge funds. The result is guaranteed profit for them, regardless of the weathler. All they have to do is sell policies.
WeatherBill may be useful for golf course owners, movie theaters, amusement parks and other businesses whose business varies significantly based on that day’s weather. I would imagine that having this built into things like Quickbooks and other online accounting software would be a great feature for many small businesses. The only requirement to purchase a policy is that the individual or business is an “accredited investor,” meaning they have a net worth of at least $1 million. The user has to certify this when creating an account, but no follow up is done.
WeatherBill is has raised a Series A round of financing from NEA, Index Ventures and a number of angel investors. Look for a launch in the near future. Additional screenshots below (note: these are from an early demo, and will probably change somewhat by launch).
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