What we really need. Paying more at times just because. This is a way to scare off customers. You on get gouged between the hours of…fill in the blank randomly.
So much for price integrity.
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Just saw Goofy beat me to this. D’oh!
So, today, Wendy’s denies the system will be used to gouge customers. Bet WEN stock goes down tomorrow, because the Street like to hear about how companies will take more of a customer’s money, for delivering nothing.
Steve
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For an hour or so around lunch, the lines are long, and employees work as fast as they can. If you get a $1 discount for eating an hour later or earlier, will you change your schedule. What do you bet evening prices will be lower than at lunch time.
This seems like a reasonable experiment. You would think you could try it in a few markets before your roll it out nationally.
It will be interesting to see if this works out. It potentially can save labor costs and even out the work load. Hats off for giving it a go!!
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Depends on how they market it.
Dynamic pricing is a scary concept for budget-conscious shoppers.
There are early-bird specials.
But unless it is made folksome it will flop.
Which takes me back to the beginning. It’s all about the presentation, and I’m constantly amazed how tone deaf the JCs are about what they say.
The idea of menus boards that can change in a flash rather than having an employee stand up there with a bunch of letters in a box is likely a good idea.
But rather than present it as an opportunity to raise prices at rush hours, present it as “a way to give discounts at off hours.” We could offer “instant specials”! “We could change the board for St Patricks Day and put “Green Frosties” at the top of the board”. “It gives us so many new and exciting marketing opportunities…”
But no, the CEO and the market think in terms of “how can we squeeze another nickel out of what we already do, and juice our already existing customers one more time.”
Bah. Idiots, all of them. And now, I point out, backtracking idiots.
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Exactly. It’s astounding that nobody in the chain of command realized that. Absolutely astounding.
Ever see the Kurosawa film “Rashomon”? It’s all a matter of POV.
Initially Wendy’s CEO was marketing its plan to its shareholders. It was from the POV of pumping up the stock price with a focus on profits. He just didn’t realize that customers were also listening. That would require as you say a different perspective that focuses on value.
The CEO wasn’t dumb, just careless. He didn’t realize his comments to analysts were going to be leaked to the general public.
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In that case, he is both careless and ignorant (dumb?). Because that is literally what analysts do! They listen to all sorts of input from the company (financial reports, studies, executive comments, etc) and then present their conclusions and opinions about the company to the world (first to their direct clients, then to their employers customers, and then to everyone else). Not only that, but analysts crave publicity because it brings in business, so in today’s social media world, a clever analyst will use publicity as much as possible to their advantage.
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That is what the “clarification” issued by Wendy’s yesterday said, they will use the system to offer discounts at off-peak hours.
WEN was up yesterday, when the Street thought they were taking more money from customers for nothing. Lets see how the stock acts now that the company says the plan is to narrow margins by offering customers a discount.
Here is a five day chart. I first heard of the “dynamic pricing” on the noon news on the 27th, near the peak for that day. Then the price fell off. Then a larger run yesterday. Currently, the stock is up 1% for today.
Wendy’s needs to call it “Blow Out Savings”.
Or “Deal on a Meal Discounts”
“Playing with Fire Rewards” (cooks in the restaurant business go there)
They need to sell it.
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I don’t want to leave the impression that I am defending the CEO’s surge strategy. I don’t see it working, though I guess we really don’t know the details. I’m just saying the CEO was probably focused on getting a buy rating from analysts when he made those initial comments.
So the CEO’s strategy worked with respect to the analysts and shareholders. The question now is whether he can repair the unforeseen damage (if any) done to his customer base. These days, unless his comments went viral on TikTok I suspect very few will have noticed.
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I don’t know if it went viral, but ticktok made a “segment” out of it. Or whatever they call a custom URL over at tiktok.
That was obvious. He did it the wrong way in a destructive manner.
He was supposed to sell it to all parties to make it work.
It needs to be folksy. It also needs to tell the public they get a deal at Wendy’s instead of possibly being screwed.
That’s not how I remember it.
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What did it mean to you?
DB2
Looks like it has gone viral.
I find it kind of sad and counterproductive that we are giving Wendy’s new CEO so much grief for being (at least initially) honest and transparent. I find it ironic that folks here are suggesting the Wendy’s CEO should have spun surge pricing better while at the same time generally condemning CEOs for being devious and manipulative.
Coupons are common.
Playing with prices in a computer is scary to the public.
If the CEO does not know that much?
As has been pointed out happy hour at you bar or early bird pricing at restaurants has been going on for years. Why is the Wendy’s plan shocking or even news?
Must have been a slow news day.
I plan to boycott Wendy’s regardless. Which should be easy because I almost never eat fast food.