Comments on: Can You Help My Lemonade Stand?

By: Subash R

Subash R — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 17:04:39 +0000

Kids say that you make the best lemonade in town and .. kids don’t lie ..
So, ‘Modifying the product’ by any of the techniques which you’ve mentioned will probably degrade the quality of the lemonade.
‘Reduction of price’ might increase your sales, but you would barely even out. So simply out of question.
‘Promotion’- would help but considering the market economy, and its eventually parents who end up buying or rather paying for the kids, they would be going for cheaper substitutes and kids would be happy with 2 glasses of ‘not so good’ lemonade against 1 glass of ‘best lemonade in town’. But since the kids already know that you make the best lemonade, the ‘word of mouth’ option can help. Rewarding a kid, when he/she recommends a friend for the first time would help and would be easy on the pockets as well.
‘Expansion’-isn’t a bad idea, but if it doesn’t go well, and together with turbulent economic condition, it could spell doomsday for the lemonade business as well.
‘Reduction of staff’-will either lead to poor quality of lemonade or poor satisfaction owing to long waiting times or worse.. both of them. So would not really recommend this.
Other suggestions:
1. I guess, two varieties of lemonade can be introduced. One regular one priced at 22 cents and one cheaper one like ‘Just add water’ kind.
The investment would be low on the second one, and since you’ve already mentioned parents are preferring the ‘Just add water’ kind, they would be happy to let their kids have that cheaper version of lemonade in your stall. The more affluent ones can have the higher one priced 22 cents.
Thus, a combination of both would cater to a wider set of consumers.
2. Small variation in the glasses can be done without changing the selling price per glass. A taller glass, however, with a shorter diameter, and with definitely lesser volume than the original glass can be used. Kids would be happy to feel that they are being server more lemonade at the same cost.

By: HFB Advertising Agency

HFB Advertising Agency — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:54:52 +0000

That is to funny. Nice work.

By: Epicson

Epicson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:42:06 +0000

Do not buy Stickers from StickerNation.com.. He is a rip off, the stickers are not high quality and wear off easily. Total waste of time. Legal Scam? I’m posting this all over the net!

By: Paul Williams

Paul Williams — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:01:49 +0000

Dale…
I love that idea. It even has a nice ring to it… Pitcher Package.
Funny you mention people don’t like decaf in the afternoon… I spend a few hours debating this topic regarding Starbucks, to save money, is only going to be brewing decaf on demand…
More business to my lemonade stand!

By: Dale

Dale — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:43:02 +0000

Paul,
If there are other families in the neighborhood -and I’m going to take a big leap and assume there are… why not add a pitcher package for moms who carpool and have to do errand afterwards. You could include small cups for little kids.
Also, find out who works at home in the neighborhood and offer a special weekly lemonade break that they can walk over to – that way they get a walk in and a chance to relax with a healthy drink. You could add cafe chairs and create community.
Finally, I haven’t seen anyone notice the no-caffeine angle. Alot of people don’t want a caffeinated drink later in the day so…that’s another position.
This is fun!
Dale- Big Shoes

By: Paul Williams

Paul Williams — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:42:21 +0000

Srini…
Thanks for the neat ideas.
Kids love stickers! Heck, I still have a collection of Wacky Pack stickers I collected out of loaves of Wonder Bread when I was a kid in the 70s.
I visited STICKERNATION.com and may just buy your product for real.
You gave good advice, but you also wove in YOUR products in a relevant manner. Nice work.

By: Srini from STICKERNATION.com

Srini from STICKERNATION.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:41:54 +0000

Why, print STICKERS, not mere “flyers” of course. Custom stickers make marketing a lemonade stand locally EASY. Plus, the “ads” become highly sought-after limited edition permanent pointers to your lemonade stand that imply the advocacy and recommendation of the person who stuck it up somewhere. What better way to remind people of delicious handmade lemonade than a beautiful logo sticker stuck to the prospect’s fridge, almost taunting them into wishing for the “affordable luxury” you offer.
Here are my recommendations:
* Rebrand. Creating a logo and a new pyramid of associations costs nothing. Your advertising won’t work unless you rebuild your brand from scratch.
* Get PR. You’re an enterprising kid. I’d interview you – put out calls to your local daily commiserating with them about the economy or something.
* Print stickers and give them away with each glass. Heck, I’ll even print you bonus stickers (psst! use code BONUS10 on our website)
* Sell the lemon rinds. Possibly there is a local tea company, caterer etc. that might even consider your usage of the lemons as free labor. You might have to follow certain new regulations to do this.
* Pre-package the lemonade in bottles. Sell at Whole Foods. Put photo of selves on label. Profit.

By: Paul (from Idea Sandbox)

Paul (from Idea Sandbox) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:03:02 +0000

Karin… hmmm… perhaps there’s some synergy between my lemonade stand and *your* company?! If you’re interested in opening The Essential Lemon, let me know!
Thanks for the great breakdown and for your comments.

By: karin koonings @ The Essential Orange

karin koonings @ The Essential Orange — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:58:59 +0000

Hi Paul – since “The Essential Orange” is inspired by a citrus fruit, I have to comment.
There are already some wonderful ideas, here are a couple more:
Brand Differentiation
- Can you leverage the equity of a brand like Sunkist or go organic?
- Can you differentiate the product – what about ice cubes that have real pieces of lemon in them?
- Can you add some theatre to the approach of making the lemonade?
Deliver Tangible/Intangible Benefits
- Ensure your stand communicates refreshment & rejuvenation
- Is your stand in a shady respite from the heat ?
- Can you fulfill a broader need with complementary food items or flavours (and increase ADT too)
DoGood
- Can you tie a % proceeds to a local cause?
- Can you take your stand to events your not-for-profit is hosting and build new customers?
Engage/Awareness
- What story can you tell to create interest? A good story will get you noticed and spread WOM or even get you covered by a local paper
- Develop a Twitter following …. tweet when you have sampling specials
- Sample, sample, sample
- Recruit new customers through treat a friend invites
- Treat your customers well

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:13:55 +0000

This is all quite interesting, and I can see where I can use much of it in my business…
But I’d like to see something like this done for a pure service business? Much of the marketing here is all product and can’t easily be translated to service only, so if that could be possible for a future post?