麻豆淫院

Bar code scanner apps turn smart phone cameras into a way for shoppers to receive instant, on-the-go, online price comparisons for any item with a Universal Product Code. Does this mean consumers are moving toward online purchasing if they can buy at a cheaper price?

鈥淎 brand鈥檚 value is a function of the benefits it delivers to consumers relative to the cost of acquiring those benefits. I challenge my students to think about enhancing benefits to increase value, rather than simply cutting price,鈥� says Associate Professor of Marketing Sheri Bridges. 鈥淧rice is the easiest marketing decision variable to change and the one that鈥檚 changed the most often. But the discount spiral is difficult to get out of once it starts, and if it鈥檚 easy for you to do, it鈥檚 just as easy for your competitors.鈥�

Students in Bridges鈥� class learn that good marketing is about providing the right value to the right customers. 鈥淒iscounting amounts to paying customers to like your brand. That鈥檚 rarely a sustainable long-term strategy.鈥�

In addition to teaching, Bridges is the faculty director for the University鈥檚 recently launched retail marketing center, which is working to find innovative strategies to capitalize on mobile technologies that benefit manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

A  found that 6 percent of the total mobile audience, scanned a QR code in June 2011. And 54 percent of those people who scanned QR codes have a household income of $75,000 or more. Mobile barcode scanning increased 1,600 percent globally during 2010.

鈥淲e are just beginning to incorporate smart phones into marketing strategies,鈥� Bridges says. 鈥淭his technology has the potential to change the shopping experience and provide added value to consumers that may help reverse the reliance on price reductions.鈥�

Examples of marketing trends that connect consumers and their smart phones with improved shopping experiences include a major retailer鈥檚 use of a 42-inch in-store touch screen where customers can shop a full online catalog and scan bar codes for extra information and product recommendations; and smart phone apps that offer location-based gaming, dispensing rewards to consumers for checking-in to stores.

鈥淲hen a brand goes on sale, it gives away part of the profit margin needed to invest in innovation and quality,鈥� Bridges says. 鈥淎s we look toward the future of retail, marketers must find alternatives to discounting. Companies cannot afford to develop the newer and better products we all want if we continue to lower prices and reduce profits.鈥�