Why is it that despite the burden we carry, we still have the strength to carry on with a smile?
Marketing wizards like those from Unilever Philippines and other consumer products makers help Juan and Juana dela Cruzes survive during hard times. The Tingi-tingi practice in commerce in my view is a source of strength for our people. With little or no disposable income, families of wage earners cope with the escalating costs of living.
One can go to stalls in public markets and find all the produce and items one need. One can buy by the kilo or by half kilo but such is not the prevailing practice. Instead, one walks throughout the public market and adjoining streets and alleys and finds vendors selling by tumpok of whatever commodity one desires-- tomatoes, onions, garlic, vegetables, fish products, fresh or dried, etc.
Housewives (as well as house-husbands) buy these products by the tumpok or in bunches, obtaining enough ingredients for the familys food requirements for the day (the logic being tomorrow is another day to be faced courageously).
High-end stores (supermarkets, groceries, community stores) display the same practice in commerce and distribution. Rows and rows of brightly packaged goods can be seen but the remarkable thing about these is that they are in miniature sizes.
In the beverage section, mini-packages of energy drinks, yoghourt products, and juices of all flavours, coffee and tea in powder form can be had in small quantities. (My perception is that the humungous cola makers are slow to adapt to this mini-package trend.) Smart sellers that the supermarket owners are, they bundle these products often in fours or sixes or in such multiple quantities so as to appeal to the consumers sense of getting a bargain.
One moves to the home and personal care section and one is faced with rows and rows of sachets of soaps, detergents, shampoos, and hair and skin care products. Of course, these products, especially name brands, are likewise available in large glass and plastic containers.
Yet, according to marketing wizards at Unilever Philippines, these large packages are not the ones that draw the consumers.
Sachets with their low cash outlay allows the consumers to access to so-called high-end name brands without having to shell out large sums for them, i.e., the mass consumers are afforded the reach to the highly-advertised brands, completing the aspiration for highly desired goods.
I have talked to many marketers and they are one in affirming what is contrary to the classic economics told in Economics 101 that large packages provide 10% -20% savings. (That theory is true and valid, especially if one walks about in a Los Angeles or New York grocerywhere one sees nothing but huge packages of whatever products we desire).
But back home here, such large packages have very low turnover because of the generally low disposable incomes. This is the main reason why leading consumer product manufacturers like Unilever convert their packaging to small quantities.
Sachets, I am told by these whiz kids, use less plastic per ml. of product and even less ml per use. Ergo, the consumers pay for the product, not the packaging. Indeed, sachets are very cost efficient packaging, compared to existing alternatives.
Going back to the public markets, when I see consumers (or fellow house-husbands) buying by the tumpok, I dont look down on them. On the contrary, I give them credit---they know how to cope and survive. Neither am I surprised we have gone through a lot of crisis.
