There is no retail market for soap. It’s true. You might ask, “how can that be, millions are spent each week advertising it – hundreds of linear feet in supermarkets are dedicated to it and the reinvention of brands and products is constant, no?” No.
We use SoftSoap (Registered trademark of Colgate-Palmolive Company) at our house. We have for many years and we really like the product a lot. I recommend it for your own personal hygenic needs. However, at the moment the good people of SoftSoap’s product development group have alientated me. But in doing so, reminded me of a lesson. There is no retail market for soap.
SoftSoap recently changed its packaging. They made the bottle a little bit bigger. However, they kept the tube that feeds the pump despenser the same shorter length as it previously was. This results in the last quarter to half an inch of SoftSoap in the bottle being “un-pumpable”. I don’t know but I suspect this is intended to motivte you to buy the bulk refill bottle of SoftSoap. By keeping some of the soap unavailable you are more likely to refill the bottle to get at the soap than throw it away and potentially start with a new brand and their dispenser. I really have no idea why they did it but that is my speculation because I cannot come up with any other economically rational reason to do what they did.
So how does this stand for the propositon that their is no retail market for soap?
There is no retail market for soap, there is only a retail market for stuff that gets your hands clean.
The soap in the container is fine – in fact it is great. We have used it for many years. However, the real thing that we were and are in the market for is not just the soap per se, it’s the use of the soap to clean our hands. The real market is for a product and a service, not just the product.
In changing the pump dispenser, they continued to provide me the product that they wanted to sell (SoftSoap) but not the one I wanted to buy (stuff to get my hands clean).
The change that Colgate-Palmolive Company made didn’t change the product but did lessen the value of the allied service for me. I think they missed the market that they really compete in. In doing so they put at least this customer at risk.
In doing our work – do we really understand the true nature and characteristics of the markets that we compete in. Do we compete in a market for the “best mechanical engineering skilled talent” or the market for “mechanical engineering talent that wants to work here in Toledo, OH creating zero defect door hinges”? Is the market that HR competes in within the company to “keep us compliant”, or “to avoid litigation and regulatory sanction”.
Or, maybe you disagree and think that there really is a retail market for soap.
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Thanks for the comment over at Training Marketer, we enjoy reading all the great advice you have over here at Human Markets.
To answer your question, I think HR should first compete in the market that will “keep us compliant,” but also add value to our work-lives. Get the job done, but give me some added value (training, career development, recognition) to keep me coming back everyday.
Regarding your soap issue: You could always go the super-cheapo route and add a little water to the remaining bit at the bottom of the bottle. Good luck with the dispenser dilemma.
September 30th, 2008
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