This week I am going to cover two laws in one post. The 10th law from the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is the Law of Division. It says that over time a category will divide and become two or more categories. Take computers for example, when it all started you had computers and main frames. Now there are mini’s, phones, tablets, phablets, laptops and the list goes on. Looking at our own industry and we can apply this one pretty easily. When I started in this business there was really only one category and that was the big bucket of mattresses. Later came pillow tops as a construction type and then specialty and most recently the hybrid which is obviously the most fun of the categories. Don’t agree? Do any of the other categories have their own rap song and music video?
Law #11 is the Law of Perspective and it says “marketing effects take place over an extended period of time…The long term effects are often the exact opposite as the long term effects.” Is alcohol a stimulant or a depressant? It depends on what time of the night you are in the bar doesn’t it? Early in the evening when you have had a few cocktails the volume level of the bar increases, the jokes get dirtier, and the evening gets a little crazier. Check back with that same group around 2 or 3am and what are you seeing? The depressant side of the coin unless of course you went to college with us at SFA, in which case we were just getting started, but I digress. 🙂
What is the short term effect of running big sales in the mattress industry? Sure it drives business for the holiday you are focused on, but does the consumer ultimately learn to wait to buy from you until the next big holiday? The largest retailer on the planet, Wal-Mart, is EDLP or every day low price so I am certain it works but maybe only for general merchandise? That’s not true either because there are some very successful mattress retailers out there that do a bang up job with EDLP price structures. If sales are the drug of choice for our industry, does that make financing the crack/cocaine of the industry?
The short term effect that sales and finance offers have on our business is easy to see as it relates to sales spikes. The question on the table is, will those short term gains ultimately have a negative impact because the consumer doesn’t like all of the BS that comes with it. Much of it is deceptive and that can only hurt you long term. Mostly in this transparent age of the internet.
What do you think about the Laws of Division and Perspective, have I missed it?