Friday, March 7, 2008

Too many Promotions?

The home computer market has grown tremondously in the last couple of years with the two biggest companies, Dell and HP at the top in sales. With new technology growing at a rapid pace, both companies are trying to edge each other out and become the dominant force. One marketing tactic that both companies use extensively is promotion coupons. Last december, both Dell and HP was offering multiple discounts on in computers. At first I thought those coupons were only for a limited time and only offered few times per year but the next month i saw the same dicounts being offered again. In my opinion, both companies are diluting their promotion strategy. When people see a promotion that is only offered once per year they will likely to value it much more than an promotion that is offered multiple times per year. Also people will 'jump' on the deal faster than vice versa, in fact multiple deals will cause people to hesitate and wait for the next deal in hopes of better prices. Instead of multiple promotions, Dell and HP need to limit their promotions so it becomes more valuable and more attention grabbing.