Monday, 14 January 2013

The Knock-on effect: Kettle sales lose steam as coffee machines grow ever more popular

With kettle sales dropping by over 7% in five years, it might appear that kettle decline was due to a combination of the global financial crisis, people 'making do' with what they have, and a direct result of cutting back, when in fact our loss in sales may be caused by demand switching to another delivery mechanism, a new consumer-taste via a different appliance (22% of households in Britain now make their own espressos, lattes and cappuccinos). In other words, we are the knock-on effect of other peoples actions.

In practice, management-ego can cause us to assume that the knock-on effect is a result of our actions, rather than caused by others....

This means that direct attempts to stimulate demand can be a waste of promotional funds, when in practice we need to reassess fundamental demand for our product, re-examine its competitive appeal and then invest appropriately in maintaining the share-of-pocket our brand deserves...

And, just-in-case, perhaps diversify into coffee-making machines...?

More on home-coffee developments here

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