samedi 28 février 2009

Is Leader Price victim of usurpation?

According to the website LSA, a commercial website recently created, Leader Price Media, would use illegally the low price distributor’s brand Leader Price. By carrying out some research on the owner of the domain name, it seems to be a contractor of Bouches-du-Rhône in South of France. The phone number associated with this person is not allocated any more by France Telecom. We have thus the right to ask us questions about the legality of this Internet site.
As a precaution, I want to repeat that it is an information to be taken cautiously but it is true that all this appears suspect.

As you can see it on the two brands logo, they look like the same but the copy remains coarse.

Moreover, according to LSA, Leader Price refutes any link with this commercial Website and would conduct an inquiry in order to understand this situation and to see whether there is brand usurpation.
In any case, the commercial site Leader Price Media made a success of his objectives which were to be confused with the logo of the true store Leader Price, thus creating a feeling of brand awareness.

Source: http://www.lsa.fr/exclusif-lsa-un-site-pirate-utilise-illegalement-la-marque-leader-price,104124

mercredi 25 février 2009

Threats on Carrefour

Carrefour has been the victim of serious threats for weeks now. Cards with skeletons on them have been put among the goods in the supermarkets. But today these threats are getting more and more serious, a a woman brought a letter to the shop settled in Venissieux, France. This letter asked for 800 000 euros, or some people would bring poisonned food in the shop.
Carrefour is absolutely not making fun of the threat, as they increased the number of people to monitor what is going on in and around their supermarkets.

I tried to reach someone at the HQ, but no one wanted to answer any of my questions about this issue. Indeed, an enquire is on tracks, so they will let us know the result, but nothing before the official stuff!

lundi 23 février 2009

A barely concealed attack ...


This week in the French daily press, a publicity of Mousquetaires INTERMARCHE entitled "It’s enough! " occupies a whole page. This ad denouncing that some of the competitors of this retail group, who, in order to win the race of low prices, don’t hesitate to cut prices just the time of the survey exercise.

Main competitor targeted by this ad is the distribution retail E. Leclerc and his website http://quiestlemoinscher.com comparing prices between large areas (see article on this site of December 25th 2008).

Therefore once again that the consumer makes his own opinion without relying on the accumulation of misleading advertisements.

lundi 16 février 2009

The Packaging


Given that the majority of purchases are made in supermarkets, the packaging is used to differentiate one product (brand) of its competitors. Beyond its technical functions (facilitating the conservation, storage, transport, ...), the packaging is a marketing function. According to a recent survey, the attraction to a product in a booth has caused:

- For 35.5% of the packaging
- For 26% the price
- For 20.5% reminiscence (recall in memory)
- For 18% by a particular aspect

Therefore, the packaging is more impressive, the more it attracts. But at the expense of adverse effects to the environment because today, 700 million over 6 billion inhabitants consume fifteen times more packaging than the rest of the planet. In addition, the packaging leads to an increase in prices.

Faced with this, large retailers would have an influence to their suppliers to reduce this harmful practice. The consumer and the environment would be better.

mardi 10 février 2009

The fair trade hypocrisy (2/2)

Last week, I had written about the fact that fair trade was not as equitable as it claims to be.
To review this article, please click on this link : http://retailcore-en.blogspot.com/2009/01/fair-trade-hypocrisy.html

Today I decided to approach fair trade by the retailers view. As you know it now, a product with the fair trade label is on average 10% more expensive than a traditional product. Moreover, these products are a growing success today. The retail sector needed to benefit from this occasion to make even more margins and profits.

Indeed, if the products resulting from fair trade are so well positioned in the departments in stores (approximately in middle height), it is because they are more expensive than the traditional products and especially because they bring back more margins. We should not seek further: increasing turnover and margins = increasing profits for retailers.

Distributors own brands (DOB) also try to benefit from this label. It is particularly the case of Monoprix and Casino, which are very present on this sector for all kinds of products. Let us take the example of the chocolate: Monoprix, Auchan, Champion, Carrefour and Casino have each of them chocolate with the label "Max Havelaar". Let us not seek hypocrisy further.

Unfortunately, one should not make us believe that the retailers worry about the margins of producers. It is of course a strategy to make even more profits. Moreover it is the goal of each company. So we cannot blame this.

Guadeloupe facing the economic crisis


The island has been on strike for weeks. The organization Lyannaj kont pwofitasyon (LKP) is leading the protest, and the strikes are getting more and more violent. French government member in charge of the issue, Yves Jego, was sent to the island in order to solve the problem, et flew back to France on Sunday, which surprised the population. Therefore, he promised to cut the price of a hundred of “goods of first necessity” by 10%, and works on the revendication to raise the minimum wage of 200 euros.

Since he left the island, the movement has gotten tougher, and all the stores were closed on Monday, day of “dead Guadeloupe”.

Retailing is also being a victim of these protests: stealing, vandalism, destruction, occupation of the stores… French TV news talked a lot about that. These retailing companies have closed since the crisis was triggered, around January 15th, and only little stores are still on tracks.

There are many explanations to the problem. First of all, on the cultural point of view, Guadeloupe has always been reluctant towards France and the French people, wishing for more autonomy. Then, prices in the DOM-TOM are far higher than in the main land while wages are not. The government cannot practice the same prices on the main land and on the islands, as the price of transport has to be taken into account. But raising the minimum wages does not seem to be the best way out of the crisis, as bosses will have to raise their prices in order to pay their employees… Maybe the whole thing would start with a valorization of local products, if local producer can handle it.

mardi 3 février 2009

When a European law?


While suppliers are forced by the supermarket brands to accept to sell their products at low price, consumers are not expected back until the prices continue to rise. Retailers can afford as they are a monopoly and at a national level, Carrefour, Auchan, Casino, Leclerc and Intermarche have split the market. This phenomenon is not exclusive to France, the 27 EU countries are concerned by the effects of the concentration of supermarkets.

Therefore consumers expect a response from European bodies. Although a survey was conducted by the European Commission, the findings of this study expose comfortable margins that distributors agree to the detriment of suppliers and consumers. But for now, no concrete measure, no regulation has been proposed to protect consumers and producers of the dominant position of retailers. It is both to bring the legislation to fit the mass distribution.

lundi 2 février 2009

The "mottainai", the Japan's food answer to the crisis.


Background

Japan is a country of gourmets, renowned for knowing how to obtain bottles of wine and the foreign products to gold price, and its adaptability to the economic difficulties facing Japanese homes are facing.

Indeed, the Japanese are also affected by the global economic crisis. This has a direct impact on their consumption. Motr the country is falling into crisis, the less the Japanese consumers are concerned about the quality of products.

The first to have identified this change in consumption in the Japanese families are local shops. They have developed a new product called "mottainai" which means "it's wasteful".

The new concept of "hard discount", the mottainai

Local shops selling dusty cans, soda bottles with visible deposit , or food, most of which have been removed from sale in the mass distribution (supermarkets, hypermarkets, etc.).. In these stores, they offer all kinds of products for about 60 yen (50 euro cents).

The characteristic of this concept is that foods exceeding the recommended date of consumption but not expiration.

In Japan, the company Itochu, which specializes in mottainai on the Internet, hopes to generate 10 billion yen (83 million) turnover in three years with his site.


This concept is anti-adaptable it in France?

=> Impossible

I wonder if the causes of this impossibility of thinking rather come-immutable - French consumers too attached or too accustomed to their quality of life of French laws on product quality.

Nevertheless, this kind of initiative in France, before even thinking about the legal dimension, or the response of consumers, surprised many.

And you, do you think we can see a days such goods in France? Will you use this kind of products?