Chapt 18 Sales promotion & Personal Selling

In order to give their companies an edge companies like to give promotions to their costumers sometimes it seems small sometimes not so much. IBM can be considered as one of those companies that has TONS of respect but just isn't in the market for the average everyday consumer. Here I quote IBM for one of it's promotions "For a limited time only, for approximately $25,000, you can acquire a fixed configuration that includes:

• two (2) eligible new IBM Real-time Compression Appliance STN6500s,
• two (2) eligible new IBM Real-time Compression Software licenses that each support 25 terabytes of data storage, and
• two (2) 1-year Software Maintenance registrations for the IBM Real-time Compression Software licenses.

In order to qualify, all components of the configuration must be acquired as part of a single transaction, and appear on a single order submitted to IBM. This represents a 79% savings off standard prices."

Underlined in the promotion states that what your about to buy cost $25,000... Bravo for being upfront about it most companies just give you a percentage discount. It also states that you only get a 79% discount if you buy it all at once, Like a bundle. Now the promotion says it'll reduce capacity of your system by 50%-80% while maintaining high performance. IBM does market to Banks & big Corps.that need mainframes etc. and it's understandable why a product would be $25,000.


Now for the average consumer IBM teamed up with Lenevo to provide full costumer service & support to their clients with Thinkpads & Desktops. A Lenovo ThinkPad X201 Tablet 2985 - Core i7 2.13 GHz - 12.1″ - 4 GB Ram - 320 GB HDD cost about $1900.

Chapt 17 Advertisement & Public Relations

Companies spend millions maybe even billions to advertise. When the economy got tough after 2008 consumers got smarter; The IBM Global Business Services report, “The End of Advertising as We Know It.”

 IBM analyzed how much advertising for different categories have increased throughout the years. It's amazing how much effort and money companies put into shoving unneeded propaganda in consumers faces. The graph also shows how modern tech like the internet & mobile ads are used to grab the attention of everyone/ anyone with a smartphone/or a phone with internet.
Advertisers lose a lot of consumers due to all the new toys consumers have like DVR/ Tivo that allow you to skip commercials or Online shows that give less then 10mins of commercials compared to watching t.v for an hour with 20mins of commercials alone.

*For more info/ facts: http://www.marketingcharts.com/television/ibm-end-of-advertising-as-we-know-it-2329/ibm-end-of-advertising-as-we-know-it-global-ad-spend-growth-by-mediumjpg/

Chapter 15 Retailing

Nowadays everyone's on the GO-GO. They want to be somewhere faster. Shorter lines. IBM seen as a specialty store, which in definition means that it has high service & prices moderate from average to expensive.
IBM retails to a lot of different consumers. IBM has been working on a smarter self checkout called IBMs 'Self Checkout System 6.' Its seen as "a modular self checkout system that can make checkout smarter for both the shopper and the retailer." Any business with a booming amount of costumers and long lines would consider investing in the checkout. Self checkouts have slowly put employees out of work and many consumers don't like it because they simply don't understand it. Giant businesses like Target, BJs, have invested in self checkout machines through-out the years. Personally I like self checkouts they're probably not meant for the consumer who has a cart full of merchandise, but it is for that consumer that walks in and just has a couple things and doesn't want to wait 45mins on line to purchase a T-shirt and jeans. A self checkout machine is just convenient.
IBM also has a line of POS (Point of Sales) machines used by retailers. A POS terminal manages the selling process by a salesperson accessible interface. The same system allows the creation and printing of the receipt.

Chapt 6 Consumer Decision Making

What makes a consumer choose a product from another? Espicially when theres so many to choose from? Well deciding is a 5 step process with the consumer. 
1. Recognition
2. Information Research
3.Evaluation of Alternative products
4.Purchase
5. Post-purchase behavior
Aside from that the consumer has to identify the difference between Needs and Wants and then they fall into habits depending on what they're purchasing.

IBM has been around for so long that consumers trust it. Everyone has a techy friend that loves computers and own every new item that comes out on the market. I ask Randy, a friend what he thought of IBM. He replied with "IBM makes long lasting laptops I mean I still have mine when I was learning how to fix them and It still works [laughs]." Randy is 21.

IBM admires itself on its trust, values and changing the world with its innovation. For some that may not be enough to purchase IBM products but for most it is. I mean how many companies can say they've been a part of sending the first man to the moon.