My feet ache. I was wearing a skirt to work on Thursday. So whenever, I wear that skirt, I will match them with my white heels. And then later in the afternoon, Fredrik decides to take Haakon and myself to visit the '6th Malaysia International Gift & Premium Fair 2007' at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The place was so huge and we walk from one end to the other end and my feet ends up with pinkish blisters :( We were given samples, exchanging business cards, grabbing catalogs, inspecting merchandizes and I walk out from the hall with 3 big full paper bags! I’m glad that Fredrik brought me along. It was nice to leave our cubicles, mingle, practice our social skills and meet new people we would not have otherwise met :)
There were so many local trade companies who participated and set up their booths at this year fair; with many of them displaying common items, only a few which have brought in some unique merchandizes. We were looking for merchandizes that comes with a low cost price tag but with a high perceive value in the market :) Redemptions, gifts and premiums are a niche market. Unlike BonusLink and RealRewards programs that reaches the masses, our clients consists of Banks and Oil & Gas companies who reward their members exclusively. But I find some companies who are doing redemption just for the sake of doing it because every competitors and players in that industry is doing it. I browse through some of their catalogs and many of the feature merchandizes can even be bought more cheaply in the hypermarkets. These redemption points are easily earned as when consumers spend a certain amount in a single receipt, consumers are entitle to earn certain points. For example, when Guardian was running a promotion for its Winnie The Pooh Series – every purchases of RM25 and above, consumers is entitled to get 1 sticker. Consumers must collect all 25 stickers to get the soft toy of their choice. Meaning that if I were to get my hands on the Piglet, I have to spent RM25 x 25 = RM625 to get the toy. With that quality, I think it’s cheaper to buy it at Toy R Us :) But for some consumers who tends to buys a lot from Guardian will just think it’s free and it’s just simply rewarding for being a loyal Guardian consumer. I think it’s a psychological thing :) Making a purchase, swap the card, collect the points and voila – redeem the desire item from the catalog and it’s free! Whether the points are perceived as free or not, I’m not going to waste away the points that I have collected because it comes from a hard-earn purchases :) People in this industry think that redemption is a way to reward loyal consumers, enhance the customer relationship, communicate to consumers on a daily basis – partially its true but I also think that the Merchants are the one who eventually gains more because I know of some consumers who spend crazily just to earn points to redeem the item that they wanted when that item can be purchase reasonably at somewhere else. Why make more transactions when you can buy the item where the selling price is less than the purchase transactions? And these points cannot be accumulated and bring forward. If the points are not sufficient to redeem something, the points will be burn off. And there are consumers who will make purchases to make-up for the loss points. It’s like making consumers spending unnecessarily. Of course Merchants have come up with a genius idea now where customers can top-up with cash so the points will not be wasted :) I missed M13. There was so much of bargaining power back then. We are talking by the thousands. Here the volume is embarassing. It’s skill not scale.
On another thought, as I was standing, peering through the high glass window – the Petronas Twin Towers was standing majestically before me. But this time looking at the structure, it evoked a different kind of emotion. In a single moment I thought of life before city lights. The millions of people who have looked up at that very same sky. And the very same millions of stars looking down on people passing by. People who weaved stories about the world they don’t understand. A world of eternity - existing and evolving, hovering above me and my family every evening. At this point of my life – where I am standing right now, I don't seem to feel anymore. Or maybe it's because I don't want myself to feel, because it's all too much trouble. And there was also a sense of pride glowing in me – the structure reminds me that comes 31st August this year, my country will be celebrating 50 years of nationhood :)
Thierry Henry – Good luck in Barcelona. Arsenal will miss you. And so do I :)
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