Lately the economic barometer in my country is rather bearish. Not that things are all that bad, it just a feeling of sluggishness. Talk about a slow economy is on everybody’s lips. This is due to inflationary pressure caused by the increase in fuel cost, raised interest rates and recently announced electricity power rate hikes.
Of course the impact of all these increase will be felt, since these are basic necessities and will affect everyone sooner or later. However, I think that a significant portion of feeling malaise is just a state of mind. Why do I say that? I’m sure that some sectors of the economy are affected but not all. I just came out of Baskin Robbins ice cream store. BR was swamped by people. Being an imported brand, BR ice cream is rather pricey and it is not a store I frequent. To give you a better idea how much a premium they command, a hand-packed pint of Baskin Robbins cost over $21, versus home grown variety that cost anything ranging from $7 to $12 a liter.
BR was swamped today because on every 31st of the month, they have a promotion that sells hand-packed ice cream with a 31% discount! People there were buying ice cream as though there is no tomorrow. By my estimate, quite a number bought over $100 worth of ice cream!
I came to the conclusion that when people want to buy things, regardless of the economy. If they don’t want to buy something, then all the reasons in the world is not going to change that. I’d also say thumbs up to BR to come up with a smart marketing strategy like that. It is Win-Win. BR builds up a loyal customer base that will queue up to buy their products and customers are rewarded with a huge discount. Customers are also trained to come every few months at the end of the month, when paychecks are out!
Related Articles:
