Subscription models may offer unique marketing opportunities

摘要

More food and beverage companies are experimenting with on-line subscription services in an effort to generate sales and attract and engage customers. The programs shorten the supply chain and may allow marketers to achieve a level of interaction with consumers that is unheard of through more traditional on-line retail programs. The on-line model is just one more example of how e-commerce is altering the way many companies do business. Earlier this month, Keurig Green Mountain said it is launching a subscription-oriented service as a new way to engage its customers and sell its brewers. Through the company's Keurig Choice program, consumers may subscribe to the service, which allows them to buy a brewer and pay for it over a set period of time. In discussing the program, Brian Kelley, chairman and chief executive officer of Keurig Green Mountain, noted that how consumers are shopping for goods and services is changing, and consumer packaged goods companies like Keurig Green Mountain must keep pace. "To align with the changes we are seeing in the marketplace, particularly with the younger demographic, we are testing a number of unique Keurig system shopping and pricing models," he said. "They're designed to make it even more appealing for a broader segment of consumers to join the Keurig system."