Wild Oats: Promotion of Wild

Wild Oats: Promotion

Promotion of Wild Oats Markets

Objectives of promotion: reminder, persuasive, or informative?

The promotional material of the natural, organic chain of supermarkets known as "Wild Oats" is clearly persuasive in its objective. Obviously, the promotional objective of any advertising for a commercial product is primarily to persuade the consumer to buy the product, although it may use information or seemingly innocent reminder-type strategies to draw a consumer's attention to its promotional material. The slogan of Wild Oats on its official homepage reads: "Better Food, Pure and Simple." The promotional material found on the site attempts to convince customers that Wild Oats is superior in quality to more ordinary local supermarkets, as well as other national grocery chains similar in their target audience to Wild Oats, such as Wegman's, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Markets. ("Wild Oats: Home," Official Web page, 2006)

On the Wild Oats homepage, there are 'reminder' type advertisements that conceal the persuasive intent of the promotion to some degree, such as advice that summer corn is in season. There are also innocently informative messages, such as reference to a study that athletes stay better hydrated with sports drinks (presumably drinks bought at Wild Oats) ("Wild Oats: Home," Official Web page, 2006)

Types of salespeople used

Although Wild Oats functions as a traditional grocery store, some of its dry good products such as cookies and mixes are available for sale through Amazon.com. Sales of Whole Oats products thus take place in real life and through the web. ("Shop for Wild Oats at Amazon.com," Official Web page, 2006) Salespersons are also responsible for giving information to customers about the products such as where they come from and where they are sold on the floor of the store, as well as merely stocking or ringing up goods. This is because Wild Oats as a company is committed to sustainable agriculture and fishing, and using local produce whenever possible. "At Wild Oats, our commitment to the environment starts in the organic fields where our produce is grown and continues in the pristine water where our wild-caught seafood is harvested," one blurb reads on the section of the website devoted to "Community." ("Wild Oats Natural Marketplace: Community," Official Web page, 2006)

Field trips are also available for local schools at all Wild Oats stores. This is a community service effort that has obvious promotional possibilities, as it may encourage the parents to later shop at Wild Oats, after the field trip has whetted the child's taste for the product.

Types of mass advertising and specific media channels used

Wild Oats thus deploys a mass advertising promotional strategy through its web page, which gives consumers information about the product, and uses Amazon.com to increase the sales as well as the visibility of its product on a national level through the web. However, within the local stores themselves, Wild Oats makes use of community outreach through schools, by selling and promoting local products, and by engaging in other efforts through the stores themselves to increase local visibility, such as advertising the farms from where its products were purchased. Finally, by offering purely informational material on its Internet site, it draws additional traffic from web-surfers who may be looking for information regarding the benefits of 'going organic,' and after becoming persuaded about the general superiority of such produce, decide to make their next grocery store trip at Wild Oats.

Types of sales promotions used

Like most grocery stores, Wild Oats pulls customers into the store through the weekly promotion of different, popular seasonal items. One blurb on the website reads: "What's on sale." Click onto the link, and the web-surfer can type the zip code of his or her local store, and find out what is on sale. Also, Wild Oats offers consumers weekly email notifications of popular sale items, usually on seasonal or locally grown produce -- but also on vitamins and natural body products. The fact that customers also can type in their store's location, as different locations may have different offers customizes this feature that is generically offered to all Wild Oats shoppers.

Types of publicity used and for what purpose

Thus Wild Oats uses traditional on-site promotions, such as sales and short informative blurbs about their foods, but it also combines these real-life strategies with Internet promotions, such as the Wild Oats email newsletter and the website's informative articles about the advantages of organic products, buying local produce, and other information designed to subtly convince the customer of the superiority of Wild Oats' specialty goods. Wild Oats also makes use of non-threatening sales pitches like increasing the health IQ of children by offering factory tours. These do not specifically promote the business, but increases the number of positive associations parents will have regarding the market.