RE: UKNM: Boots online strategy?

[Lucky Dunne]

<snip> . . . They also had this weird point of view where they wouldn't

discount anything on-line for fear of cannibalising their offline offering .

. . <snip>


Unfortunately, that is an all-to-common held belief. Easyjet discounts only

£1 or £2 when you book online. It seems the idea of loss-leader or 'fish

food' has not caught on in the UK marketplace. Give stuff away free, and

people will come. Offer them something of value up front. Real value. Not a

list of Chinese restaurants in your neighborhood in exchange for completing

4 pages of cgi registration forms!


Imagine if BT just started giving away WAP phones, free to everyone from

trucks parked on every high street. A huge investment up front, but it would

kickstart the installed base of users (a la Netscape).


This illustrates a fundamental economic approach in the UK. "I'll keep my

prices high, so as not to erode my profit margins." Sure, but you'll have a

lot more stock sitting on the shelves a lot longer instead of flying out the

door.  Look at high street retail. Two major sales/promotion cycles a year,

August and Feb. Look at http://www.gap.com. A new sale/promotion every six

weeks.


If you don't take the risk, then I guess you don't want the reward ;-)



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