Hi from Brisbane.
Well, we finally got our air conditioning put in, but can you believe two of the guys that installed it fell through the ceiling!!
It was very similar to an RACQ Insurance advertisement going around here but believe me very real!! So as a result we are now waiting for the plasterer to come and fix our hole so still don’t have air conditioning and it’s 36 celcius today!!!
So how is your Christmas shopping going? I’ve done mine now phew! So now I am ready for the silly season to begin.
Scanning the shops for presents!
I wanted to tell you this week about a new marketing craze that has hit the shops targeting children for Christmas. I don’t know if they are doing it in the UK but the offline wish list craze seems to have really taken off here in the form of scanning. See this article for more info
Children can now go racing round the toy departments of stores zapping away the barcodes of the toys that they want for Christmas! Why didn’t they have this when I was a child I wonder – it would have saved lots of ‘thank you’s’ for jumpers and clothes I just really didn’t like!!!
But I think they may be onto something. Children are so switched on when it comes to media, consumerism, spending and computers that it’s the perfect way for a business to ensure that children get to choose what they want and in the form of their products rather than just pointing something out to mum or dad that they will probably forget down the line.
Is it a good thing?
I guess there are the sceptics that say – what about the surprises and the element of Christmas itself, but children don’t really think like that – for some it is still about Santa and for others it’s about what they can get. Like the article says it saves the hassle for aunts and uncles who think they have it right but don’t. I guess the only down side is for those parents that don’t have the disposable income to spend much on their children for Christmas, therefore the element of disappointment.
So I guess at some point some clever store is going to roll out a scanner for adult gift lists. I mean you can already do it online, and in the form of wedding gift registry’s so why not for birthdays and Christmas…..Gone is the element of surprise!
Santa bringing the shoppers in ….ker ching!
Talking of Santa though, maybe I have been out of the loop too long but I could not believe how much it costs to see Santa! I remember when I was little being dragged into some bright red igloo type thing by a scary looking elf to sit on some fat mans knee and being given a tiny toy all for £1.50. Nowadays the shopping centre marketing for Santa is huge just like in the UK. I think the cheapest was $17.50 to see Santa and have a picture taken with him, but of course there are the Santa ‘bonus packages’ which cost anything up to $50!
On a business front, I am sure it works, pulling customers in who might also wander around the shops and buy at the same time and after all; Santa was a part- creation of Coca Cola in terms of colours…..