If I were the type to head off into the entrepreneurial wilderness to start my own business venture, the first thing I`d do is build a shrine to Sir Richard Branson and follow in his footsteps to realise my own dreams of world domination through commerce.
Virgin companies have consistently wowed the industry and consumers alike with their product and service innovation, marketed and delivered with an 'elan long thought lost to the grim reality of the latter day business ethos.
Basheera Khan, UK contributor, ITWeb
Well, perhaps the Virgin Group falls short of complete world domination, but even a casual browse through the list of Virgin businesses operating in various markets across the globe will indicate that this brand shows no signs of retrograde where business expansion growth is concerned.
In fact, Virgin companies have consistently wowed the industry and consumers alike with their product and service innovation, marketed and delivered with an 'elan long thought lost to the grim reality of the latter day business ethos.
And to answer your immediate questions, no, I`m not accepting a thickly stuffed envelope under the table from a Virgin representative, and yes, I do know about all the bad press Virgin has had in the past - from the Virgin Trains rail service which provoked commuter wrath when it bypassed one of its regular stops in order to keep on schedule, to the unfortunate passenger on a Virgin Atlantic flight who was compensated for damages to the tune of lb13 000 after the flight crew were unable to prevent her from being squashed by a neighbouring obese passenger.
Indeed, it`s entirely possible to dig up the dirt for each of the 30-plus Virgin stores in operation; after all, even the best intentions can falter before obstacles when filtering down through the chain of command.
But then one hears the news of a simple yet elegant cross-selling practice which certainly has me paying attention. Virgin.net, the Internet service provider of the family, began marketing its broadband service a while back, and in addition to a competitively priced offering, an incentive was added to sweeten the deal to prospective customers - three bottles of champagne to each of the first 1 000 activated customers.
That in itself is hardly groundbreaking stuff - but the incentive is offered through sister company, Virgin Wines, and it`s structured so that every time a customer makes a purchase, such as exchanging the voucher for three bottles of champagne, he`s then provided with a further voucher promising a discount on the next purchase of a specified value made within a limited time frame - and each time a purchase is made, another voucher is issued.
It`s a very simple but very effective way to encourage repeat purchases. What`s more, that model can be modified to offer general vouchers to be used at any Virgin store, in an effort to track trends among its vast customer base, and then follow up on that information with precisely targeted advertising and shrewdly structured special offers.
Though some might scoff, and think to themselves, "Duh! It`s like, only obvious!", I would suggest a friendly reminder that too many companies still rely on convoluted plans to get customers in the door - take Sainsbury`s as a prime example of this.
Virgin.net`s incentive illustrates a simple idea with far-reaching potential, and it makes me wish that more companies were as creative when planning their product innovation and customer retention strategies.
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