Red Lobster’s parent company, Thai Union Group, disclosed earlier this month that the seafood chain took an unexpectedly large loss in the third quarter of the year because its $20 shrimp promotion wasn’t very profitable and was more popular than the company anticipated.
Click here to read the story at nbcnews.com.
Discussion Questions:
- What is price?
- What factors influence price?
- Why is price an important part of the marketing mix?
- What are the other components of the marketing mix?
- What is promotion?
- Why do businesses and brands offer promotions?
- What is the promotions mix?
- What are the different types of promotion?
- Why would Red Lobster offer an unlimited shrimp promotion? What do you think the company’s goal was?
- Why do you think they underestimated how popular the promotion would be?
- If the promotion was more popular than they thought it would be, why would they want to change it?
- According to information from this story, why wasn’t the promotion profitable?
- A Red Lobster spokesperson called the “Endless Shrimp” promotion iconic. How does that explain why they chose to keep it on the menu, despite the fact that it was not profitable?
- Do you think the promotion will continue to be popular despite the price change? Why or why not? Be prepared to discuss your answers in class.