Queue and Wait Marketing and its implementation.

There are many different types of marketing such as digital marketing, direct marketing, advertising, social marketing, and so on. Any means to reach out to consumers would benefit any organization greatly. This article will draw a quick presentation of the Queue and Wait Marketing in China.

With various marketing techniques, wait marketing is one of the best among those; this marketing approach provides marketers an approach to create brand awareness and promotes their products and services. Derval (2008) states most companies around the world use this method to market their brand or their product knowingly or unknowingly. This marketing strategy consists of interaction with consumers where and when they are available and receptive as they are waiting for something. This form of marketing technique may take varies from visual advertisements, posters, videos and so on. This technique takes advantage of increased perceptiveness and unoccupied time that is available when customers are waiting. This marketing strategy uses contexts such as customers sitting in a waiting room, traffic congestion, browsing through social media platforms, waiting for public transport, or standing in a queue. Nguyen (2014) states, people tend to look for instant gratification, wait marketing allows the consumers to occupy their time in waiting periods. This is a powerful strategy used by many companies to suggest their products to their customers and create brand awareness; however, it is also used in areas such as train stations and bus stops to promote products that individuals may be interested in. Individuals would more likely pay more attention to these adverts as they are bored and waiting.

There are two types of Queue and Wait Marketing, which are:

Forced Wait Marketing

This occurs when ads are placed in such a way that individuals have to view it. An example, if a person would like to watch a video on YouTube, the person would have to watch video advertisements before having the ability to watch the original video

Simple Wait Marketing

This occurs when ads are placed in such a way that consumers may probably take a look. An example, when a person enters a train, the person can either pay attention to the ads that are displayed or the person could read a book or do what the person would like to do till he/she arrives his/her stop.

In China, agency uses this effective marketing tactic to help provide organizations to promote their brand and product in China; A few examples are listed below:

Put brochures, flyers, posters, etc. in the waiting room, conference room, bus stops, train stations, taxi stands whereby the visitors would most likely pick one and read it.
Have a video about the company culture, product, and events in conference/meeting rooms until all participants arrive.
Having ads either poster, flyers, videos in a train as people would most likely pay attention to it while waiting for the train to arrive at their stop.

China’s Queue and Wait Marketing

A country with a population of 1.38 billion in 2016; China’s population is equivalent to 18.72% of the world’s total population. This puts China as the number 1 on the list of countries by populations as stated by Worldometers (2016). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) states China is the world’s second largest economy by nominal GDP and is the world’s largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).

As stated above, Queue and Wait Marketing targets the audience when the individual is waiting for something. Generally, humans will tend to look around when they are waiting for something for uncertain or long periods of time. These individuals are more receptive and marketers are taking advantage of this time by pursuing individuals with ads at those times. Hagen (2011) states that, if the same ads are repeatedly shown over and over again for a long period of time, this will create a long-term effect in the memory of the viewer; thus, adding value to the awareness efforts.

As everyone has experienced waiting in line, whether it is at a restaurant, the doctor’s office, the subway station or the bank. With the dense population of China, there would be huge potential for a queue and wait marketing.

To know more about China’s market, contact us at dx@daxueconsulting.com

See also: