The company began in 1945 with a single store. Today, Mercury Drug has more than 700 stores. Even with a wide lead over competitors, Mercury Drug still aspires to reinvent itself. I happen to pass by Madison St. in San Juan Greenhills and was surprised to see a Mercury with a drive-thru.
A marketing strategy that you can employ is that of benchmarking. In order to be successful in your field, you have to benchmark. A benchmark is a standard of excellence or achievement against which similar things must be measured or judged. In other words, you look for the best company/person in your industry or field and study (improve and build on) their best practices. As we enter the “Creative Economy” age, benchmarking is no longer done in your own industry. You have to benchmark in other industries and combine it to your own.
Once you do that, you are creating a new industry. What do you call a drug store with a drive-thru? It’s not just a drug store…its a new creature in the drug store industry. And they definitely didn’t get the idea from other drug stores.
It’s obvious where they got the idea though. Here’s a hint…a U.S. food company boasts a clown for its mascot and the Phillippine version has a Big Red Bee. Anyone up for a pandesal drivethru?