Ticketmaster to Tie Prices to Demand

The Wall Street Journal
April 19, 2011
By Ethan Smith

Ticketmaster is implementing a dynamic pricing strategy.  As we have learned, this means that Ticketmaster will adjust the cost of sports and concert tickets according to demand.  This is a technique airlines and hotels have used to maximize profit, but it has never been done in this industry.  The timeline on when this will start is still unknown, but it looked like sports teams will adopt the system first.  One goal of this is to revive concert ticket sales, which have been declining for years now.  One challenge that will be faced is dividing up profits among the many entities involved in a concert tour.

Cheaper Kindle in Works, But It Comes With Ads

The Wall Street Journal
April 12, 2011
By Stu Woo

Amazon plans to release a less expensive Kindle, but users will be forced to view on screen advertisements.  It will cost $114, $25 less than the current version.  This is an example of product line extension, as we have talked about in class.  Personally, I think this could be very successful as long as the ads don't annoy readers.  It appears that ads won't be present while the user is reading, but they will appear on the homepage and screen-saver.  Amazon will put their own ads on the Kindle.  It will be the same model as the current Kindle.  Experts believe people will think the new model is a good trade off.  Kindle, a product in its growth stage, has not said how many they have sold.  Experts believe the number lies around five million.  Will the future have product placement in the books?

Fox Networks Targets Hispanic Audience

The Wall Street Journal
April 4, 2011
By LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER

Television networks are trying to get a piece of the growing Latino population in the U.S.  Fox is adding a third Spanish-language network.  This will form Fox Hispanic Media.  Fox is responding to advertisers who say their budgets are increasing for Hispanic spending.  This is an example of target marketing and segmenting by demographics.  The number of Hispanic households that are new to television grew by 3.1% in the past year.  The overall number of households new to television was only 0.9%.  Ad time on Spanish-speaking networks costs almost half the amount on similar English speaking networks.

NCR to Install Blockbuster Express Kiosks in RaceTrac Stores

The Wall Street Journal
March 31, 2011
By MELISSA KORN

NCR Corp. will begin placing more Blockbuster movie rental kiosks in its RaceTrac convenience store throughout the Southeast.  With already 200 installed, another 8,000 will be up by June.  The company also has some located at Walgreen's and Sheetz.  It's rival, Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox has over 30,000 kiosks.  NCR has recently begun a campaign to vend certain movies the same day they're released for sale.  This could be a big advantage to the growing company.  The idea of renting and selling DVDs and Blu-Ray discs from a kiosk is a good example of place utility.  Customers are more likely to rent a movie if they can grab it quickly and easily has they exit a supermarket, rather than make an extra trip to the video store or wait two days for it to arrive in the mail. 

Networks, Advertisers Call New Plays Amid NFL Strife

The Wall Street Journal
March 28, 2011
By LAUREN A. E. SCHUKER

The recent NFL players lock-out has caused networks to begin preparing alternate programming in the event that games are cancelled come September.  Advertisers, who spend around $3 billion a year on football, have already bought commercial spots on new networks.  Golf, college football, and prime-time dramas are attracting extra attention from advertisers planning ahead.  Networks that rely heavily on football, such as Fox, NBC, and CBS, will have to get creative.  Spike, whose target market is 18-49 year old males, is looking to take advantage of cancelled games.  They are considering Sunday night boxing matches and a football comedy show to get some of the fresh market share.  In my opinion, a business must always look for opportunities.  Spike conducted a SWOT analysis and decided that advertisers might have to move their spending and Spike would be a good place invest.

Metro AG Cautions That Japan, Middle East May Hurt 2011 Sales

The Wall Street Journal
March 22, 2011
By HILDE MESSER

More on Japan today: global retail powerhouse Metro AG cautions that the devastation in Japan may weaken the economy.  Analysts are still waiting to see what the effects will be, but they know the situation is beyond anyone's control.  The current turmoil in the Middle East just makes thing worse.  Metro has benefited from strong global positioning.  Last year they entered new countries and opened up 100 stores.  More than 60% of their sales come from abroad.  Not the direct effects, but the indirect effects of these current events may pose problems for Metro.

In Tokyo, Responses Vary in Tony Shops

The Wall Street Journal
March 21, 2011
By MARIKO SANCHANTA And CHRISTINA PASSARIELLO

Tokyo's fanciest retail sections were open for business this past weekend, with streets less crowded as usual after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.  Many European shops were closed.  These luxury shops are in trouble in the short-term aftermath of the destruction.  Actually, over the past few years luxury items in Japan have been on the decline as the people who once cited high prices with good quality are more concerned with value.  before the earthquake many thought the worst was over for luxury shops, but now that appears to be wrong.