I scream, u scream, we all scream for ice cream. - Sukhda Dhal FT13177

When I had gone out to Chennai my marketing research for getting customer feedbacks, I came across this captivating blue and pink board. I could read it from a distance and could not help but go in and pamper my taste buds. For those of you who still cant relate to the blue and pink – I am talking about Baskin and Robins. Incidentally I met the store owner in the parlor and in the marketing mode that I was I struck a conversation with him, asking him the details.

                Baskin and Robins come under the premium quality stores. For a normal middle class man, it is rather expensive. So I asked him whats so special that the store is still making so much of profits even in developing countries like India.

·         The target customers are very clear

·         They do not look at the quantity of the customers, for them quality matters

·         Customer retention is the basic policy – They have a huge fixed customer base, families who usually visit the store atleast once a week

·         Time to time schemes. They also have a flavor of the month( slightly low priced)

·         Its not just a store, it’s a café. So they have certain value adds like shakes, polar cake and sundaes

·         The specific feature of getting a chance to taste before you order.

What poked my marketing researcher brain was -

·         The appetizing ambience, the wall papers and the pink and blue soothing and appetizing color scheme.

·         The appealing slogan – ‘We make people happy’. Which clearly shows the brand image the company wants to carry. They want people to perceive their parlors as a place of celebration and rejoice.

·         The symbolic use of the number 31, representing the number of flavors they serve.

·         The uniformity among the staff and the warm welcome.

·         They had flavors to appeal to all the age groups. Like cotton candy was the favorite of all the children.

·         The teenagers had a variety of chocolate options

·         Enough of variety for the elderly like the fruit and nuts flavored ice creams.

·         The Value –Add services of freshly baked cones, fresh fruit toppings gave this ahin of ice cream parlors, an edge over the others.

·         Mostly the customers were families of 3-4 or young couples in the age group of 25-35 years.