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Author: Krikor

Live Life Light

By Posted on Posted in Brands No Comments
During my market visits, I drop by the major key accounts to check the displays and the visibility of my company’s products and on my way out I grab a copy of the promotional leaflets to check the latest offers and trends of the market.What was catchy to my eyes this time where the washing powders.
Oh my God the washing powders !!!
They are everywhere and it shows, below is a collage of 4 different catalogs offering the same brand Bonux, a Procter & Gamble extension to its global known brand Ariel. And the case is not only for Bonux, many others are in the same game, Ariel, Persil, Omo, Rex, Lenor, Colgate, Palmolive, Dalin, Always, Dove, Head & Shoulders, etc …

Different formats, different fragrances, different promotions, but one lost consumer inside the pages of the catalogs, for sure housewives are mainly loyal to one brand because it touches their daily life, but what is the purpose of having 14 powder promotions in the same catalog. It is the usual market share war going around and around since forever.



Ariel Bonux Persil Omo Rex Tide Surf Totals
Selgros

4

2

1

0

1

1

3

12
Metro

6

3

2

0

0

0

3

14
Cora

0

1

1

1

0

1

0

4
Carrefour

1

1

0

1

1

0

0

4
Totals

11

7

4

2

2

2

6

34


34 promotions on one single sub-family in the same category in 4 different chains, with an average of 4 per hypermarkets and 13 per Cash & Carry. I am wondering what the total number would be if I was able to get all the catalogs of all the key accounts in Romania.
Look at the price war and difference between the 6kg Bonux Active Fresh at Cora and the 6kg Bonux 2 in 1 at Carrefour, it is 0,01 Lei, equal to 0,0036 US$. Consumers will spread the word, Carrefour is cheaper ;-)

By Posted on Posted in Companies No Comments
You can not visit Romania without noticing the SENSIblu stores all over the country. A Romanian network of 190 pharmacies with 1,100 employees, serving daily 20,000 patients. Thus, while in 1997 Sensiblu turnover was 2 million Euro, in 2005 it reached 63.7 million Euro.Sensiblu’s development was a dynamic one, having an average annual growth rate of the market share of approximately 30%. This fact materialized in the increase of the number of clients that step in a pharmacy each day, from 161 in 1998 to 1000 in 2006.SENSIblu stores are not only pharmacies, they also offer a wide range of cosmetic and beauty products. Also their fidelity cards with multiple benefits honors 880,000 active members.



When you visit the shopping complexes and malls in Romania, you are also attracted to other store brands names carrying the same ending as SENSIblu, Miniblu is a baby cloth and accessories stores and OPTIblu is offering all types of fashion glasses and medical glasses.I have found these 3 stores in the same shopping complex, the Feeria.I have felt that the company behind SENSIblu and the other XYZ-blu stores which is A&D Pharma is trying to grab market shares in other different industries, business universes and categories, building their objectives and targets on the successful story behind SENSIblu, hoping such extensions will not be hurting the core business as branding history proved that not all “any-type-of-extension” are workable and doable!
When the first time I arrived into Romania a year ago and the taxi was driving me from the airport to my hotel and I saw the very first SENSIblu store on my way, the first thought and image that crossed my mind was the Bulgari perfume BLU that I used to use some time ago, which means that the Bulgari marketing team did the right job.
So what’s the next Blu is going to be in Romania, I would try to guess and say, maybe hypermarkets, supermarkets or minimarkets …

By Posted on Posted in Retail Distribution 1 Comment
Another trend of stores in Romania are the Do-It-Yourself stores.
I have visited the 1-week old Brico Store situated just next the Feeria complex sharing the same parking. Also Praktiker, the German chain is present in Romania.
These types of stores are offering the romanian consumers with all types of DIY, bricolage, hardware and home improvement products.
I believe that such stores will be jeopardizing the targets and margins of the non-food sections of the major retailers.

By Posted on Posted in Retail Distribution No Comments
During my visit to Romania, I’ve been to the 6th Carrefour hypermarket that opened last month in Bucharest.
This store of around 20,000 sqm and 57 check-outs is situated in the Feeria shopping complex in the Baneasa area.
Romania is one of the developped east european markets, with retailers fighting for market shares from all over Europe, as well local players.

Retailers in Romania:
Carrefour, Metro C&C, Selgros, Cora, Billa, Kaufland, Mega Image, La Fourmi, XXL, Plus, UniversAll, G Market, Artima, Rewe.

By Posted on Posted in Domain Names No Comments

When I bought this domain name some years back, I was not trying to copy or abuse any company, any online running business or any online failure during the dotcom boom. It was the “Double O” days and everyone wanted to sound like Google.com, Yahoo.com or Boo.com, even now everyone knows about Kazaa.com.


Kazagoo was the name of restaurant in Lebanon that used to sell sandwhiches, as they failed, they shut down the store after few months.

If I want to explain what does “kazagoo” mean, I will put it this way, “Kaza” in running lebanese language means “many”, as for “Goo” it is taken from the french word “Gout” that means “Taste”, so the overall mixture would be “Many Tastes”.

I was wondering how can I use this name to launch something online, would it be alone or as a joint with anyone carrying a potential idea.

Let me know what you have in mind.

By Posted on Posted in Retail Distribution No Comments
During my presence in Tunisia, I’ve visited the recently opened Géant hypermarket. On my way and while approaching the TunisCity complex where the store is located, I saw their outside sign and I really wondered if Géant did the right choice to open its stores under this brand name.To people who did not have any french education background, it is really hard to pronounce the word “Géant”, while also its translation into arabic is not really accurate phoenetically. Try to say in english “Jeeyan” or “Jyan”and this is what you get for the arabic word.

In countries like Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria for sure the name has no problem because people mainly living in these countries had a french education, while in United Arab Emirates and Kindgom of Saudi Arabia, the problem is obvious. Géant already operates in these 6 mentioned countries and for sure the expansion plan is on the way in this part of the world and I mean North Africa, Gulf and Levant.
  Géant translated into english is Giant.Another obstacle raised in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the presence of the Saudi chain of supermarkets Giant Stores owned by Al Muhaideb family. Known to be the biggest market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabian markets also includes other local chains such as Al Othaim & Panda, also international chains such as Carrefour & Géant. A rumor in town also says that the world #1 retailer, the american giant Wal-Mart have an office in KSA and is monitoring the market.

All Saudi nationals and mainly the largest ethnic groups come from an english education background, so the french name will be hard for them to pronounce and once they know its translation into english, they will try to find a way to differentiate it from the Saudi chain, maybe by adding another word to the initial name such as the “French Giant”

Is it acceptable that a huge retailer like Groupe Casino, do not pay attention that a one word translation might affect the image of the global brand and cause all this confusion on the short and long term?Maybe they still have the time to catch the mistake, if they dont, we won’t be far of seeing a new retail name raising from a mistake.

By Posted on Posted in Retail Distribution 1 Comment

When you visit Tunisia, to discover the retail distribution market and the players available there, whatever your business category is, you can not come back without thinking about the names of the retailers you have seen.

Magro, Promogro, Bonprix & Monoprix.

Magro: also known in Tunisia as “Les Magasins Générales” owned by the state, a rumor in town says they will be privatized soon and the new owner might be the french retailer Auchan.

Promogro: a local chain, operating under Cash & Carry concept.

Bonprix: another Tunisian chain of 44 stores, but was recently bought by the French giant Carrefour which will redesign these stores under the brand Champion. Champion is already present in Tunisia with 2 stores.

Monoprix: is the known french chain of supermarkets, which is part of Groupe Casino, also the owners of the hypermarket chain Géant.

Why all these retailers have almost look-alike names. Definetely the Tunisian consumer knows to differentiate between all of them and might be loyal to one name or another, but as we all know differentiation is important and it makes a distinction

By Posted on Posted in My Trips No Comments

I have conducted a market visit for my company in Tunisia from May 9, 2006 till May 12, 2006. The main purpose of the trip was to meet our distributor there, also I have visited the retail outlets to check our brand and products penetration, visibility and displays.

I will be posting during the weekend some naming reflexions I had during my trip. Tunisia Map, Click Here

By Posted on Posted in Private Label No Comments
To people not really familiar with what private labels are, these are products available inside a store carrying the name of the store or a sub-brand owned by the store. This concept was first introduced in France in 1976 by Carrefour, one of the largest retailer in the world. Usually these products are less expensive than the same items bought under a known brand.


In France, according to a survey carried out by the Secodip Institute in 2005, private label sales represent today in this country 27,2% of the sales in the retail industry (supermarkets and hypermarkets) against 18,1% in 1996. The multinationals reacted to this progression by lowering their own prices.
But today more and more we are seeing that retailers who are focusing on their private labels, are imitating the big boys, when it comes to packaging design and product presentation, leaving a very small differentation, so the consumer can make his choice, specially when the consumer is loyal to a multinational brand, he will buy impulsively, sometimes without paying much attention to the item and he will get disappointed once he reaches home and start emptying his bags.
Such behavior, might cause trouble to the private label brands, letting the consumer in an eternal question of loyalty to his brand and thinking that the retailer is trying to mislead him.
  Definetely we will see more and more development in private label brands in the coming years and mainly in the food sector, but for sure the multinational are putting this evolution on their priority list in creating brand extensions and products extensions, so they make sure the market share is not going elsewhere.I would love to see retailers being more creative on their private labels presentations, as if we go into a more close comparison we will see lots of products looking like ” Dolly the sheep “.

Casino, Carrefour & Cora are French retailers, retailing in France is better known by: “La Grande Distribution” or “Les Grandes Surfaces”.