On his Marketing & Strategy Innovation blog, Matt Rhodes discusses the imperative of differentiation at retail during an economic downturn. Compounded by the fact that the internet makes price comparison has become significantly easier than ever before due to transparancy on the internet, price wars are bound to happen during such a downturn. As such, it becomes even more imperative to give your brand a story, to differentiate it among consumers to maintain any sort of loyalty. The post calls attention to a number of online communities that are making strides at adding value to the customer base of each respective brand.
For instance, Wal-Mart inaugurated the blog Elevenmoms, where eleven women would blog about their lives and provide tips about saving money. The popularity of the site has grown, and the number of bloggers has grown with it to 21 women. Through this small site, Wal-Mart provides its key customers with a degree of accessibility and approachability not normally expected from this company. For Wal-Mart, often perceived as a faceless company, a reluctant necessity due to its unmatchable low prices, the brand is capturing loyalty now so that as the economy recovers and people regain the ability to trade up, these customers may not defect because the brand has built a connection and initiated a conversation. For a brand like Wal-Mart, initiating such a dialogue could prove to create a sustainable competitive advantage.
-Jennifer Rogers
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