WalMart's Tropickle

Retailers and brands are needing to come up with unique products like the WalMart Tropickle to keep the competition going between competitors. This way if a product is so special and unique that only one company sells it, people will go to that store to buy that one specific product that is found no where else. This in turn will get more people into their store and once someone is in a store for one item, they tend to buy many other items while they are there as well. This will keep the sales volume up and in turn the revenue as well. WalMart is developing unique products in response to the every increasing competition from their competitors, like Whole Foods and Amazon. This will give them a leg-up from their competitors and they are hoping it will help their company become popular and well-known for their interesting products.

My thoughts on this interesting new product is that it is very unique of WalMart to come up with these creations, and the name really fits the pickle well. I am really curious to try it and other unique products and foods that WalMart creates in the future. Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods is so threatening to others in the marketplace because they are two strong, well-known companies, so people feel threatened because they are now coming together and uniting as one. This can be dangerous to other companies out there (like WalMart), because they could overpower the industry and create even more competition for the other companies to deal with.

Product/Service Management

Product/Service Management in marketing is when a product or service is maintained, developed, or improved in response to market opportunities. Airport security has become faster because the market for traveling has grown. More people are traveling now then ever, and in order for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to do the security checks for all of the flyers, many improvements in the service have been made over the years. Without these changes, it would be much more difficult to get through the amount of people needed to smoothly get everyone to their boarding areas in a timely manner. If changes and improvements are not made, people will become frustrated and less people will travel because of the hassle security can be. Therefore these changes were absolutely necessary to keep the flow of people fluent in and out of airport security.

As new innovations and improvements in technology are made for personal devices, airport security technology has evolved as well for the better. According to Travel Market Report, overall airport security satisfaction hit 67.5% this year, up from 63.6% last year, and the percentage of travelers dissatisfied with airport screening dropped from 17% to 14.9%. Part of this improvement is the fact that there is an increase in the number of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff. This is a huge improvement because the traveling market has grown greatly so in order to keep up with the demanding market, change was needed on the behalf of TSA. Many people get frustrated with the amount of time it takes to get through baggage screening. Recently there has been an airline investment in more modern screening equipment, allowing faster and more efficient processing of passengers at check-in. The TSA says that they have made more room in their budget for more overtime and part-time help, especially during the peak seasons with the massive crowds. These peak seasons are the biggest market opportunities for airplane companies and security. This incorporates product/service management because TSA is improving their security in response to market opportunities.

As well as this, the Transportation Security Administration has been working with the AAAE and the ACI on a widespread assessment of airport security. The associations and airports themselves are providing detailed information and suggestions as part of the effort to improve airport security. Doing this is another way for the TSA to strengthen their processes and improve overall as a widely used service. This product/service management is being used in TSA through their increase in workers, investment in more modern screening equipment, and researching and doing everything they can to develop, maintain and improve their airport security service, in response to the growing market opportunities.