Saturday, May 13, 2006

Business Marketing Interview – Tropical Fish Store

In an attempt to learn more about retail marketing, I’ve embarked on a series of interviews with local businesses. Here is what I discovered from one such interview.
Neon tetras! I had missed seeing them for years. For me, there is little in the natural world more beautiful than a school of neons. That alone was worth a visit to this store. It was a very modest store, small by tropical fish store standards. There was a single owner and no employees.

He had been at this location for over a decade. Most of his business came from the phone book, walk-ins or word of mouth. On occasion he advertised in bulletins at a local school. He was very reluctant to talk about his business.

One product he sold was uncommon – koi. Koi are large and require an unusually large tank that most stores don’t have. If I had been in his position I might consider working local home and garden shows or advertising in koi magazines. He might already be doing that.

He was not a very good ambassador for his store.

Technorati tags: / / /

2 comments:

Kelly the little black dog said...

Was it clear as to why he didn't want to talk about his store. Was it just that he wasn't gregarious?

Anonymous said...

We offer the only marketing engine "Fish Market" specifically tailored for the Tropical Fish Store owner. The tropical fish industry is a VERY unique industry that requires very specific data to execute marketing effectivly. You can drop me an e-mail if you are interested in learning more about it. sales@LFSLocator.com

Cheers,

Clay