in article [email hidden], PENMART01 at
[email hidden] wrote on 1/14/04 7:30 PM:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Cindy Fuller wrote:
We have our golden opportunity to get a Penzeys hereabouts! We no longer have to envy Barb, who
has three stores within short drives of her house. I just received my latest catalog. Penzeys is
running a contest to choose the next location for a store to open this year. The metro area with
the most postcards wins.
Now if that doesn't beat all, that's the dumbest way to choose a retail business location...
successful businesses choose an area based on demographics that indicate a location where people
earn and spend the most money.
Not really. When Penzey's first opened their Norwalk, CT store, I asked why they chose to open their
first store outside of Wisconsin or Minnesota in southwestern Connecticut.
At that time, it was a primarily mail-order business, and they noticed that there was a large
percentage of their mail-order customers who lived within a certain radius of Norwalk. (I don't
recall the specifics of the mileage requirement) They felt there would be enough demand for
their products here to warrant opening the store. And it's been probably 5-6 years that it's
here, thriving.
No business would open a store where there was no demand for their products. Remember that the
publicity for this contest is only going to people who receive the catalog and/or visit the website.
Their target market is their customer, first and foremost. And the potential customers their current
customers will bring in with them. They do not pay for any advertising, except via their catalog.
It's mostly word of mouth. I know this because when i sold radio advertising, I talked to the
manager of the store, hoping she'd advertise on my station. She explained that Penzey's doesn't
advertise as a rule. They prefer word of mouth.
They obviously prefer a more "homespun" approach to marketing themselves. Can't argue with their
success, they are certainly doing something right, since we give them an awful lot of
recommendations.
It's not that dumb of an idea, really. The demographics are proven. They know the address of people
who buy their products via mail order, and they know the address of people who "might" buy their
products, based on catalog mail lists. They can use demographic info to chose the exact location
within the market (Why Norwalk, in the entire NY market? Why not Northern NJ? Why not Nassau
County?).....downtown Seattle or in one of the affluent suburbs? Where would the store attract the
most foot traffic? Where there are a lot of fine restaurants, so you can get near where the foodies
go. That sort of thing, but using post cards from existing customers to chose the metro area is
actually not that bad. It's kind of like asking "If we put a store within driving distance of you,
would you come and spend your money? Would you bring your friends?" Not a bad marketing idea.
