What makes Sam Gor the king of the Mixian shop?
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Tam Jai Sam Gor (譚仔三哥) is no doubt one of the most outstanding Mixian (米線) shops in Hong Kong. Given that there are quite a lot of chain Mixian shops in the market, what makes Sam Gor a market leader from a marketing perspective?
First, Sam Gor has developed their brand language. For example, Sam Gor has a unique scale for the spiciness of their Mixian, from 10 mild spicy (十小辣) to Extra Hot. Customers can always find the most suitable spiciness for themselves. Other restaurants rarely provide such a huge range of spiciness for customers. Sam Gor often promotes this scale on their Facebook page and persuades customers to take on the challenge to try out their range of spiciness. The spiciness scale becomes one of the representations of Sam Gor. Sam Gor has created an efficient brand language, which successfully differentiates the brand from its competitors, since customers can only find the nine types of spiciness in Sam Gor, but not in other restaurants. They can enjoy a personalized bowl of noodles from Sam Gor and even tell the difference between Sam Gor and other shops. Sam Gor has occupied an irreplaceable position in the market, which is signified by the fact that their spiciness scale has become a common language among local youngsters (HK01, 2017). It is evident that Sam Gor is one of the TOP-OF-MIND restaurants when it comes to mixian and spicy food.
The unique spiciness of Sam Gor, from 10 Mild to Extra Hot. Sam Gor also gives some tips for choosing the spiciness.
Second, Sam Gor runs unique sales promotions which match up with social trend and festivals. For example, since Sam Gor positioned itself as a local brand selling economical products, it is hardly a good choice to dine at during Valentine’s Day. Realizing the shortcoming of their image, Sam Gor decided to try a limited-time promotion to attract customers on such a romantic occasion. By visiting any Tamjai restaurants on the evening of Valentine’s Day, customers (single or as a couple) can receive a pack of complimentary “10 mild spicy” chocolate (10小辣朱古力), which is only available that day. As a result, the chocolate boosted the sales of Sam Gor. Their success was not simply based on their strategies to distribute a free gift, but also how they made use of their brand identity to develop an effective sales promotion campaign.
As mentioned before, 10 mild spicy is the unique spiciness that could only be found in Sam Gor. By leveraging this uniqueness in developing a special gift, customers can easily recognize Sam Gor and build stronger level of loyalty towards Sam Gor. What’s more, Sam Gor deeply understands the characteristics of their target customers, i.e. young adults. They know that young adults love bizarre things, Sam Gor thus chose to use spicy chocolate as the festive present, which is something rare yet representative of the Sam Gor brand.
Sam Gor’s 10 mild spicy chocolate. The Facebook post receives 970 comments and 274 shares.
Sam Gor has done a great job in their promotion strategy. Despite the challenging social atmosphere, it is anticipated that Sam Gor will run more outstanding promotions in such hard times for businesses.
References:
Tam Jai Sam Gor’s Facebook Post (spiciness): https://www.facebook.com/tamsnoodle/photos/a.127957313927215/1282289495160652/?type=3&theater
Tam Jai Sam Gor’s Facebook Post ( Valentine’s Day):
https://www.facebook.com/tamsnoodle/photos/a.127957313927215/2161553867234206/?type=3&theater
HK01 (2017). 【譚仔賣盤】丸龜有種距離感 不能取代的單身食堂與「實小辣」. Retrieved from https://www.hk01.com/%E7%A4%BE%E5%8D%80%E5%B0%88%E9%A1%8C/91352/%E8%AD%9A%E4%BB%94%E8%B3%A3%E7%9B%A4-%E4%B8%B8%E9%BE%9C%E6%9C%89%E7%A8%AE%E8%B7%9D%E9%9B%A2%E6%84%9F-%E4%B8%8D%E8%83%BD%E5%8F%96%E4%BB%A3%E7%9A%84%E5%96%AE%E8%BA%AB%E9%A3%9F%E5%A0%82%E8%88%87-%E5%AF%A6%E5%B0%8F%E8%BE%A3