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This piece seems to miss a lot of basic info about Trader Joe's, starting with the supply chain. Trader Joe's is basically a direct discount operation, like Wal
by mapgrep 11y ago
This piece seems to miss a lot of basic info about Trader Joe's, starting with the supply chain. Trader Joe's is basically a direct discount operation, like Wal Mart but with two crucial differences: It deals in spoilable goods and relabels upmarket products as generic.
If you live in an area with a TJ's and least one high quality artisanal baker, for example, there is a very good chance the bread stocked at Trader's is from the high end baker but covertly rebranded as generic. If you pick up some well-aged Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano at $10 or $12/lb, I guarantee you it was not curated by some Trader Joe's affineur in Europe but by an Italian cheesemaker that normally sells at closer to $18/lb and wants some marginal revenue growth without diluting the original brand.
Another important question to ask is "Does Trader Joe's have sales or coupons to promote" and the answer is "No." The company says on its website that it considers sale "a four-letter word". The article spends all this time talking about how discount grocery chain Aldi has a big social media presence without noting that Aldi DOES have weekly sale specials to advertise on social media (they traditionally use newspaper but seem to have some sales on Twitter now). In this light the different social media strategies make sense.
Basically TJ does not have the usual retail things to gain through social media but it DOES have things to lose (like questions/speculation on identities of its covert generic conversion partners). Not to say they won't ever do it but you have to look at specific possible motives instead of intellectualized theories like "it seeks to generate brand loyalty through its silence" (what?) and "Trader Joe’s is counting on capturing successive generations of its target consumers by being the choice for no-choices" (WHAT?).
- DaveWalk 11y agoExcellent points: thanks for the cool splash of water on the article's subjectivity. Trader Joe's marketing is what causes the author to say saying something like "the lines and packed lots themselves can be reassuring, that you have come to the right place." But it's Trader Joe's business model that makes it come across as a "low-priced gourmet-cum-health-foods store" (original owner's words). It doesn't seem to me that social media has anything to do with it. On a side note, does anyone actually think Trader Joe's "Frequent Flier" handout is useful? It looks to me like an amateur, Microsoft Publisher-designed handout. They could use some modernism in that department. Unless it's ironically bad as the point?
- mrspeaker 11y agoIt's a great flyer... only one in my entire life I've ever read, then made a point of buying one of the items the next time I went. I know it's fabricated to feel neighbour-hood-y and quaint - but it worked. If it was "modernised" I wouldn't have even picked it up.
- CalRobert 11y agoIt's good fun to read! It always reminds me of my favorite catalog from my youth, American Science and Surplus. In fact, they'll still mail you a printed catalog with hand-drawn illustrations and product descriptions sprinkled with humor if you request one at sciplus.com
- Animats 11y agoTrader Joe's flyer is a direct descendant of the flyer from survival food manufacturer they picked up years ago. They just continued the format, and apparently it works for them.
- mixmastamyk 11y agoAre you sure? I remember getting the TJ's flyer in the early 80's and enjoying them as a kid (in Southern CA). Same format!
- mturmon 11y agoYou make a lot of good points about what TJs is doing strategically. Here's a better article than the OP: https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/the-trader-joes-experience/ https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/the-trader-joes-experienc... Excerpt: "...The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between organizational culture and business strategy that has propelled TJ to extraordinary success. The article also offers a model for readers to consider in creating a culture within their own organization that provides a defensible competitive position by incorporating value, rareness, inimitability, and non-substitutability." There are some nice points about the way TJs tried to maintain its UX while adopting modern supermarket trappings like checkout scanners.
- quadrangle 11y agoAs much as this is all accurate mostly, I'm sure that the artisan breads are not the local high-end bakery per se. I mean, sure it might be some local bakery, I don't know the details. But Trader Joe's artisan breads are like the "artisan" breads from the local generic grocery. They are not like the really nice expensive breads from the actual local artisan bakery.