November 23, 2005
Ask your consumers. They like cloth bags and are willing to pay for them
Just read an amusing blog by a lady who lives in California discussing the proposed tax on plastic bags there. Here is an excerpt:
“This is where the urge to slap someone comes in.
We really are the people with the greatest sense of entitlement in the world, aren't we? These bags have never been free; the cost has been factored into the cost of doing business. But obviously the costs are going up, and rather than spread the pain around to everyone equally, they've decided that those who use, get to pay for them.
And this is a problem because people don't get every damn cent back. I hate our society sometimes.
When I was in Germany almost 20 years ago (and I still haven't made it back, and now it's a different country, sob), bags cost 10pf. at the grocery. Everyone there (except the stupid American, who kept forgetting to reuse her damn bags) brought their own bags. It was No. Big. Deal. No discount for having brought the bags, merely a penalty if you didn't. Whoops, your bad, so you pay. I can't remember if this is Europe-wide—I think Denmark did the same thing. And in the article it mentions six nations—Australia, Bangladesh, Italy, South Africa, Taiwan and Ireland—levy taxes or have enacted bans on plastic shopping bags. It says that in Ireland, plastic bag usage dropped 90 percent in the first year after that nation imposed a fee of 15 cents per bag….”
Read the rest of her blog here http://www.nobody-knows-anything.com/2005/01/grocery_bags...
The interesting part is that every single comment she’s got (and she’s got plenty. Wonder how she does it) agrees with her that plastic bags ought not to be given away free.
Many of them talk about how expensive it is to get reusable canvas bags. In actual practice cloth bags are very economical. See how economical they can be at http://www.badlani.com/bags specially when an entire community makes a concerted effort.
The city of Fitzroy Falls in Australia did it. So have many other communities in Australia. They’ve bought calico bag in bulk and are distributing them amongst citizens at a really low cost. Some are even giving them to citizens free.
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November 22, 2005
Lessons from Harvard and Google
Harvard Business School has a wonderful resource for all businesses, large and small.
Access is absolutely free. I strongly recommend reading it regularly. Lots of useful stuff there. Here's the link http://hbswk.hbs.edu/index.jhtml
Read one article and it will make you think and grope in your mind for answers. But the next article may just answer those questions.
Professor Gerald Zaltman has written a book called “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market”. That, as we all agree, is the holy grail. That’s where purchase decisions are made.
The trick, says Professor Zaltman, is to look for relevant, basic emotions that have been overlooked by other brands in the category.
Hmmm, you might think, as I did, what would be the relevant emotions my business could look for, stuff that my competition is overlooking?
An article by Professor Mukti Khaire answers our question. She believes growth comes from by developing intangible social resources such as legitimacy, status, and reputation.
Kind of answers the question, doesn’t it? Now what can you do that would confer these attributes to your business?
I’ve always felt that Google answered this question best. Do stuff that benefits everybody; all your stakeholders which includes the community you do business in, be perceived as really good guys and keep it simple!
Plastic bags are doing untold harm to our planet and your stakeholders are fast becoming more aware of this. Making available reusable fabric bags in any manner – whether you give them away as premiums, distribute them at trade shows and events or even sell them at cost –will get you the positive image attributes Prof Khaire talks about.
Can you afford to do this? See how economical and attractive reusable cloth bags can be at http://www.badlani.com/bags
Can a simple bag achieve this kind of impact? Ask yourself what you think of businesses that do a lot of common good even while promoting themselves. That will answer your question.
So suppose you could afford just 1000 cotton bags, what visibility would that get you? Do the math. They get reused maybe 400 times each, and every time someone carries it around, it gets seen by a couple of hundred people.
That’s 200 x 400 eyeballs. Great branding value.
Talk to us. We’ll work with you to plan an affordable and effective plan for your business.
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November 21, 2005
Go ahead and tax plastic bags, say 55% of Japanese shoppers
An article in today’s Yomiuri Shimbun said 55% of Japanese shoppers want plastic bags to be taxed.
They voted to support a government plan to reduce garbage by having supermarkets and other retailers charge customers for plastic bags, according to the results of a Cabinet Office survey.
Only 22 percent disagreed with the plan, the office said.
Talk about a mature society. Contrast this with California, where a majority appear to be against a tax, and India, where people flout the laws against plastic bags every day.
One million plastic bags are being thrown away every minute of the day and night. This is endangering the lives of animals and marine creatures all over the world and putting an unbearable burden on our planet.
No wonder the Japanese succeed at everything they do. The world has a lot to learn from them.
Plastic bags offer a utility for just a few minutes and the cost of that convenience is way too high. Reusable cloth bags are the answer. See how economical and attractive they are at http://www.badlani.com/bags
07:50 Posted in Ecology | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this