Bait and Switch

December 2, 2010

T0: Mr. Harris, Supervisor Princess Cosmetics

From: Denise Roberson, Marketing Manager

Subject: Aroma Shampoo marketing strategy analysis and recommendations

After careful analysis of your request to create a marketing strategy for our Aroma shampoo I am writing to present my marketing analysis and proposal. I think you will find my suggestions are in the best interest of our company and will give us the highest probability of customer retention and profit margins.

The primary goal of this marketing strategy is to attract consumers with our budget aroma shampoo, capture their interest in our product, and up sell to the high end version of the aroma shampoo. Albeit effective, this approach, known as the bait-and-switch, presents some ethical issues we need to address in order to develop a solid strategy that promotes our product without potential harm to the company’s reputation and customer base.

First let me present some examples of bait-and-switch campaigns used by other companies to help illustrate the strategy behind this approach. In 2005 a complaint seeking class action status was filed against Dell when a customer was charged $1,352 for a computer that was listed at $599 with an $89 printer while another customer complained of receiving lower quality merchandise than what he purchased online (Spooner, 2005). More widely known is the bait-and-switch tactics of car salesmen. Chandler Phillips worked as an undercover salesman for Edmunds.com (Reed, n.d.). He learned the advertised vehicles are the most stripped-down version of the model available while suggested payments are given using A+ credit ratings to reflect the lowest possible payments (however this information is not provided to you). Once on the lot they switch you to a different vehicle, and if questioned, they claim the advertised vehicle has been sold (Reed, n.d.).

With all of the examples listed you can surmise the overall customer...