Yellow sticker syndrome
Mark Ritson has staged an intervention against price promotions and given 10 reasons why he thinks they’re strictly for the birds.
“It is anti-marketing. You spend millions on advertising that says: think of me, I am special, I am worth it. And it says it while signaling the confidence of a company happy to blow a million quid saying so. Then you soil the whole thing with a special offer. Price promotions signal the opposite: we are just like everyone else. Worse, we got our price wrong, demand is down, we are wobbling and we have dropped our pants.”
All of Ritson’s reasons make a heap of sense, although escaping the doom loop after decades within it will be easier typed than done.
Free the toothpaste
Toothpaste sits entombed in plexiglass across the land, decimating both the retail customer experience and sales as a result. And now Danny Katch has written about the “corporate moral panic” that convinced the execs to tie their own shoelaces together:
“Now you ring a buzzer, wait for an overworked employee to unlock an item that costs $5.99, and navigate the emotional complications of feeling like both a suspected criminal and an entitled ass [...] Given how drastically locking up products impacted company bottom lines, you would think that this strategy must have been a response to a clear and obvious increase in theft. Incredibly, it’s not clear if there was any increase at all. Yes, we all know what we “saw” (on social media) in 2020 and 2021. But there are few accompanying statistics to back it up.”
The Oasis Index
The folk over at Deutsche Bank Research Institute have released their annual report mapping the cost of living, salaries, quality of life and everyday expenses across 69 cities.
Naturally I went straight to the serious stuff on page 24 and The Oasis Index which tracks the cost of 5 beers and 2 packs of cigarettes (sublime naming, by the way).
“Melbourne ($111.2) is the world's most expensive city for cigarettes and beer, continuing Australia's relentless application of sin taxes, with Sydney 2nd [...] Auckland and Wellington rank 3rd and 4th respectively. The UK also ranks near the top - London (5th, $63.9), Birmingham (6th, $62.8), and Edinburgh (8th, $60.5) - reflecting high tobacco duties. Dublin, Oslo and New York close out the top 10. Cheapest: Shanghai ($10.4), Rio ($11.7) and Cairo ($12.1).”
The Batman Effect
The sight of a person dressed as Batman nearly doubled the rate of subway riders giving up their seats to a pregnant woman. Rebecca Rolland has been explaining The Batman Effect and how to rig your own desk for the same effect:
“Most interestingly, 44 percent of the people questioned reported they did not even consciously register Batman's presence [...] Just like the subway Batman, placing a photo of someone you admire on your desk can prime you for focus or integrity throughout your workday. A picture of a calm, centered person might help you stay grounded during stressful moments. You're not consciously thinking about it all day, but the visual cue is working in the background.”
And finally…
30 of the rarest sales on AbeBooks and the stories behind each of them.
There are some serious crimes against the Y axis happening on this bar chart. Data visualisation lovers, look away now.
Now that Carl Martin has explained ‘The Gen Alpha Melody’ my ears can’t unhear it. Although if all melodic roads had to lead somewhere, at least it's to Anastacia's “Left Outside Alone”. What a banger.
Bon weekend,
Fran