Thailand Marketing: Promotions, Gift W/Purchase, Percentage Discounts, Free-Stuff. What's The Story?

[BaronOfThunder]

I have been here in Thailand for a short while.

I have not a clue about Marketing Strategies, such as discount tools, free stuff, and promotions, used by Thailand business, used by both retail and commercial trade companies to sell their goods and services.

1. From a retail customer's point of view, what do they need to pay attention to in order to get the best deal, and to not get ripped off or scammed.

2. From a retail companies point of view, what are the best strategies to use to sell to the retail customer, both throw away stuff, such as toothpaste and bubble gum and erasers, as well as long term use things such as Microwave Ovens, Mercedes Benz & Color TV?

3. If you go to a 7/11, the crazy promotion plans are very opaque, as to how much something cots. I often feel that they want me to pick up one can of Tuna, for example, go pay for it, then come back and pick up the second can, and then take the slip from the first can to the counter, pay for it, then stand on my head and fart. It is completely crazy. And, although I did not get into an argument with the nice 7 girls the other day, over the Tuna, still I think they actually allowed me to walk out the door without paying for the full amount on one can, because now when I go in they give me the hairy eyeball look, like I did something wrong. But really, I cannot know if I did or not, because I cannot understand these promotions.

So I need clarification, because I am thinking for selling some retail stuff either direct marketing, or some services, such as free lessons for a skill, and how can I plan a marketing campaign without understanding some bare minimum of the process.

Here in Thailand, these marketing strategies seem common to the local people but very foreign to the Farang.

[Mr Money Bags]

Have you given any thought to possibly trying to not sound quite so abrasive or crude?

It might help a lot...

You're welcome!!

[Gutenberg]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

[BaronOfThunder]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

The promotion at 7/11 is still ongoing !

It is for a can of TUNA

Tuna Steak, to be exact

This is the SEALECT brand, which usually sells for 46 Baht

But now I do not know what it sells for with the promotion. If you can figure this out, please let me know. And also the other questions. The can is blue in color, and is Tuna steak.

(I am not sure how long the promotion is active. Maybe it has reached conclusion. But last week, it was still confusing me)

Edited January 2, 2016 by BaronOfThunder

[Gutenberg]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

The promotion at 7/11 is still ongoing !

It is for a can of TUNA

Tuna Steak, to be exact

This is the SEALECT brand, which usually sells for 46 Baht

But now I do not know what it sells for with the promotion. If you can figure this out, please let me know. And also the other questions. The can is blue in color, and is Tuna steak.

(I am not sure how long the promotion is active. Maybe it has reached conclusion. But last week, it was still confusing me)

I only buy tuna if it's pale pink. Quality matters.

[BaronOfThunder]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

The promotion at 7/11 is still ongoing !

It is for a can of TUNA

Tuna Steak, to be exact

This is the SEALECT brand, which usually sells for 46 Baht

But now I do not know what it sells for with the promotion. If you can figure this out, please let me know. And also the other questions. The can is blue in color, and is Tuna steak.

(I am not sure how long the promotion is active. Maybe it has reached conclusion. But last week, it was still confusing me)

I only buy tuna if it's pale pink. Quality matters.

If pink, then probably salmon.

Thailand is a major exporter of tuna around the world, or at least to Asia.

In the USA, the Bumblebee brand used to be satisfactory.

However, what is with the strange promotions?

[BaronOfThunder]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

That is strange, maybe they were not condoms.

[mikebell]

In Thailand some promoters think it is great idea to hire a man & a van then drive around slowly all day whilst blaring out snatches of a message that no one can hear. To all those who have suffered this noise pollution and have been stuck behind these traffic impediments, I urge you to get your Thai partners to use FB & other social media to convince these promoters that not only does it not work, it dissuades customers to boycott their brand because of the inconvenience they cause to potential customers.

[mikebell]

Correction to above - ' it PERsuades customers ....'

[BaronOfThunder]

Correction to above - ' it PERsuades customers ....'

Yes, I noticed that, and I think that you might have stuck with "dissuades potential customers from visiting the companies who advertise with loudspeakers".

[onthemoon]

To the OP:

1.) From the customer's point of view, in order to avoid scams, buy only from reputable shops. This can be international chains, or the mom-and-pop store around the corner. it depends.

2.) In order to the retails company's point of view, it's not so easy that it can be explain in a ThaiVisa thread. You can make your master's about marekting strategies!

3.) CP All, the franchisee of 7-eleven in Thailand, is actually very professional. You can study about marketing at their university, the Panyapiwat Institute of Management. This would also help if you find their strategies opaque or otherwise not easy for you to understand.

If the staff in one or another shop are not trained well enough and would let you walk out without payment, you should bring it up to management.

[Gutenberg]

I visit 7/11 every day and I never encountered any 'strange' promotions.

One time there was a discussion like this about an ice tea bottle promotion which I didn't get by myself:

7/11 clerk: Here more.

Me: No, I don't want.

7/11 clerk: Free.

Me: Ok.

And once I bought many different boxes of condoms and the 7/11 girls were all having a great giggling time.

The promotion at 7/11 is still ongoing !

It is for a can of TUNA

Tuna Steak, to be exact

This is the SEALECT brand, which usually sells for 46 Baht

But now I do not know what it sells for with the promotion. If you can figure this out, please let me know. And also the other questions. The can is blue in color, and is Tuna steak.

(I am not sure how long the promotion is active. Maybe it has reached conclusion. But last week, it was still confusing me)

I only buy tuna if it's pale pink. Quality matters.

If pink, then probably salmon.

Try bluefin tuna. It's pale pink.

[geobkk]

Back to 7-11, I bought a Brand drink that was on promotion, but didn't understand how to get the discount. I asked one of the clerks and was told to get the discount, I needed to buy something for 45 baht first. When I took both bottles up to the counter, they put the 2nd item that was not on promo through first, then they scanned the receipt on that item that cost more than 45 baht, after that I was able to get a discount on the first item, which had the promo. The girls are not able to give the discount unless they scan a receipt, in this case for an item that cost at least 45 baht.

[BaronOfThunder]

Back to 7-11, I bought a Brand drink that was on promotion, but didn't understand how to get the discount. I asked one of the clerks and was told to get the discount, I needed to buy something for 45 baht first. When I took both bottles up to the counter, they put the 2nd item that was not on promo through first, then they scanned the receipt on that item that cost more than 45 baht, after that I was able to get a discount on the first item, which had the promo. The girls are not able to give the discount unless they scan a receipt, in this case for an item that cost at least 45 baht.

Yes, this is exactly what seems to have happened in my case, although it seemed extremely nonsensical. They are advertising this Tuna which is usually 46Baht, but when you take two cans to the counter, then no one can figure out how much to pay, unless they first run one through the machine, then you can buy the next one.

To me, this seems totally crazy and a huge waste of time because it is not the most efficient way of doing things.

I would buy a dozen, for example, if anyone could tell me in advance what I should pay. But they cannot. And I think that I made the girls angry with me for spending so much time trying to figure out the amount. In my case, 7-11 lost quite a few sales of Tuna, because I just said screw it and went to Tops and bought a half case for a much cheaper price.

At TOPS, it is much easier to understand the promotions, or you can ask someone and they do not get offended.

I think that the reason the girls at 7 get upset or offended is because they themselves cannot figure out what these promotions are all about.

[BaronOfThunder]

Also, I am usually pretty sensitive about being seen as not sensitive enough to the plight of local Thai people who are forced to deal with us Farang who do not know the language.

I DO NOT want to offend people.

And I do not want to be misunderstood, and have my meaning misconstrued, so that anyone would think that I expect service or performance with is not the usual, or could be considered to be "special" in any way.

This is why I have chosen to return to 7 as infrequently as possible. If you walk into that 7, you will see that the girls there must deal with about 60 percent foreigner, and half of those are Farang. So how can these clerks help but lump me in with the rest? Of course they will generalize, and that is only natural.

This is why I think it is important to understand these promotions, so that we do not rub the clerks the wrong way.

[Gutenberg]

I DO NOT want to offend people.

Maybe they were just offended by your mere presence and it had nothing to do with tuna? Could possible be, at all it is Thailand we are talking about.

[BaronOfThunder]

I DO NOT want to offend people.

Maybe they were just offended by your mere presence and it had nothing to do with tuna? Could possible be, at all it is Thailand we are talking about.

No, I am sure that this is not the case, since they had been very helpful up to the point of the Tuna Promotion Proclamation.

[skatewash]

I'm confused as to why you are confused about the promotion after the fact. Didn't you get two receipts? Doesn't the first receipt say that the can of tuna cost 46 Baht? What does the second receipt say the second can of tuna cost? Presumably, this second receipt answers your question about what the promotional can of tuna cost. I can understand your not understanding the promotion before buying it, but after the purchase can't you determine the cost of both cans of tuna from the information on the receipts?

One marketing strategy called Loss leader pricing "is an aggressive pricing strategy in which a store sells selected goods below cost in order to attract customers who will, according to the loss leader philosophy, make up for the losses on highlighted products with additional purchases of profitable goods." Ideally, the store would like to minimize the number of loss-leader products purchased by a single customer. This may be an explanation for the complicated promotion process.

[BaronOfThunder]

I'm confused as to why you are confused about the promotion after the fact. Didn't you get two receipts? Doesn't the first receipt say that the can of tuna cost 46 Baht? What does the second receipt say the second can of tuna cost? Presumably, this second receipt answers your question about what the promotional can of tuna cost. I can understand your not understanding the promotion before buying it, but after the purchase can't you determine the cost of both cans of tuna from the information on the receipts?

One marketing strategy called Loss leader pricing "is an aggressive pricing strategy in which a store sells selected goods below cost in order to attract customers who will, according to the loss leader philosophy, make up for the losses on highlighted products with additional purchases of profitable goods." Ideally, the store would like to minimize the number of loss-leader products purchased by a single customer. This may be an explanation for the complicated promotion process.

I absolutely do agree with you that I should learn Thai writing and reading and speaking and listening comprehension.

Also, i think that the promotions are poorly designed, and I am wonder what kind of promotions work best in Thailand.

[fred Kubasa]

The only effective maketing geniuses in Thailand are street vendors and bar girls ! The rest

couldn't sell water in the desert !

[elgenon]

I still don't understand using a loyalty card at Villa. No one speaks good enough English to explain it to me.

Anyone have an easy answer?

[Gutenberg]

I still don't understand using a loyalty card at Villa. No one speaks good enough English to explain it to me.

Anyone have an easy answer?

What about their website? Would be my first try before I ask about it.

http://www.villamarket.com/vplus-rewards/

[elgenon]

Well, if you want to be logical about it.

Thanks 5555