2008년 6월 13일 금요일

New Tide of Retail Industry


Summary

June 6th, Lotte Shopping opened online supermarket. Customers can buy groceries everyday in http://www.lotteimall.com/ conveniently done with one click. This online shopping is give two advantages. One is a cheap price. Customers find discount goods easily, and they can save shopping cost like a gas fee for car and other transportations. Second advantage is saving time. Internet shopping is easy and simple. It doesn’t need time for moving, parking and finding.
Lotte has a distribution network across the whole country, so this new system is possible. It will offer free home-delivery services on all purchases, without having to spend a minimum, to households near a Lotte Super outlet. Free delivery will be provided even for the purchase of one bottle of water.
There are 89 Lotte super, and internet offer same products and price as the offline. This local online market is a unique position, and it creates synergy other major retail lines.

My opinion

Marketing is a creating value. I think the marketing strategy of Lotte Shopping creates value for customers. One is a convinience and the other is saving costomers’ time and cost. It is a kind of innovation.
This strategy is a good for long perspective. Nowadays, 40 to 50 housewives don’t know well about internet and internet shoping, but 20 to 30 housewives are different. They already know about internet, and enjoy internet shopping. Besides, the young doesn’t want to marry early, so they don’t have enough time to go shopping for groceries. Therefore, this strategy will be more popular in near future.
However, I worry about a cost structure. Surely, their cost will increase. In Korea, large discount stores are popular. Housewives want to buy in a discount price. If this strategy higher the cost, it would lower the number of customer. Especially, free delivery system is a big risk. However, if they can realize economies scale they can success.
I can’t be sure about this strategy. However, this kind of technological change will make many other kind of strategy continuously.

References;Author: By Yoo Soh-jung Title: Lotte internet mall to open supermarket, The Korea Herald. June 7, 2008

20300174 Nah Kilwoong, Entry - 14

Kia Lotze Innovation unveiled

Summary>
Kia Motors Corp. revealed the Lotze Innovation, the upgraded version of the mid-sized sedan Lotze. The Lotze Innovation is the first car from a local carmaker to be equipped with an ECO driving system that alerts the driver when the car is operating under the most efficient conditions in terms of fuel economy. Also, it is fitted with button ignition and smart key systems.
The car is equipped with a 2-liter engine that puts out 163 brake horsepower, the highest output among domestic models in the segment, or a 2.4-liter engine that has a maximum output of 179 brake horsepower. Both trim levels have a fuel economy of 11.5 kilometers per liter for vehicles fitted with automatic transmissions while the manual transmission version of the 2-liter trim can travel 12.8 kilometers on a liter of fuel.

Opinion>
Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. put their products’ names in Best Bet of Car Book, leaving out their competitors. But, its proportion has gone down, from 46 percent in 2001 to 29.3 percent last year, although North America has maintained its position as the largest importer of Korean cars. The reason of decrease in sales is that Kia Motors Corp. don’t have any distinguishing mark. Toyota has JIT(Just In Time) system, Audi has sporty and luxury image, Benz has dignified image. What is the image of Kia? Another reason is that the shortage of advertising.
Recently, High gas prices created a demand for more fuel-efficient vehicles. Lotze Innovation equipped of the highest trim levels will meet the needs. Also, it will gain an image of eco-friendly car. But, Kia Motors Corp. is lacked of advertising. The company planed to make sporty car so, it advertise with sporty-image star. And, the company need to build brand recognition through various promotion

References;
Author: Choi He-suk
Title: Kia Lotze Innovation unveiled June 13, 2008
http://mail2.daum.net/hanmail/mail/ViewMail.daum?MSGID=0000000000005Yq&FOLDER=%ED%9C%B4%EC%A7%80%ED%86%B5&mpage=1&KEYTYPE=&KEYWORD=&_top_hm=w_read

20600613 13th entry