Direct marketing Essay Example

Direct marketing Essay Direct marketing has a long history. It was emerged in the 15th century when an Italian printer was using direct marketing to sell books. McGraw Hill did a research amongst retailers to find out why people lose customers: (1) 4% of customers were lost because some customers died and others moved away to other places. (2) 5% were lost because of other company friendships. (3) 9% were lost to competition. (4) 15% were lost because of indifference, no contact, taking the customer for granted etc. The foundation of direct marketing is based on understanding this insight into why people lost customers. Because direct marketing is a way of marketing. It is oriented towards finding getting, keeping and developing customers one-to-one. Direct marketing is an attempt to approach the customers directly. It a personal approach to customers. It is much more personal than mass advertising and so it can be a key part of the development of relationships with customers. Direct marketing is the use of direct media to reach a target audience. We will write a custom essay sample on Direct marketing specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Direct marketing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Direct marketing specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Meaning of Direct Marketing Direct marketing consists of direct communications with carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain an immediate response. It is the use of telephone and non-personal media to communicate product and organizational information to customers who then can purchase products by mail, E-mail or telephone. Direct marketing can be defined as any mode of initiating and closing sale by using one-to-one but not face-to-face communication. Dray Bird, Vice Chairman, O M Direct World wide, defines marketing as, Any activity whereby you reach your prospect they respond to you directly. In the words of Dick Shaver, Direct marketing is like opening a store in print and managing it. Most people tend to equate direct marketing with direct mail. It is as ridiculous as saying advertising is equal to a newspaper. On the contrary,, direct mail is just a part of direct marketing; only a means to the end. FORMS OF DIRECT MARKETING The major forms of direct marketing are catalogue marketing, direct response marketing, home shopping, Kiosk marketing, telemarketing and online marketing. Catalogue marketing: In this, an organization provides a catalogue from which customers make selections and place orders by mail or telephone. Catalogue marketing began in 1872, when Montgomery Ward in USA issued its first catalogue to rural families. Today were are over 7000 catalogue marketing companies in USA. The advantages of catalogue retailing include efficiency and convenience for customers. The retailers can benefit by locating in remoting, low cost areas, saving on expensive store fixtures, and reduce personal selling expenses as well as store operating expenses. However, catalogue retailing is inflexible, provides limited service and is effective only for selected set of products. Direct response marketing: This occurs when a retailer advertises a product and makes it available through mail or telephone orders. Generally a buyer uses a credit card, but other forms of payment are acceptable. Examples of direct response marketing include a television commercial offering a recording artists musical collections available through a toll-free number, a newspaper or magazine advertisement for a series of childrens books available by filling out the forms in the advertisement or calling a toll-free number etc. Direct response marketing can also be achieved by sending letters, samples, brochures or book lets to prospects on mailing list and asking that they order the advertised products by mail or telephone. Television marketing: This was developed with the advent of cable T.V. TV viewers tuning into a cable shopping channel see a show where products are demonstrated by a host. Consumers can call the host while the show is on the air to ask questions about the product or purchase it. TV home shopping offers several benefits. Products can be easily demonstrated an viewers are well informed. Moreover, the customers can shop at their convenience from the comfort of their own homes. Kiosk Marketing: These are information and ordering machine placed in stores, airports and other location. These machines provide information about products and customers can order any product or item he or she likes through it. These machines provide customers with a quick way to determine the size, color, and style of products to fit their personal preferences. And other feature of this machine is that customers can choose, a harmful and printout photos, prices, features and location on the stores lot. Car Max, the used-car superstore in USA uses a kiosk with a touch-screen computer to give customers through the vast inventory of as many as 1000 cars and trucks. Thus kiosk is different from vending machines, which dispense actual products. Telemarketing This is a non-store retailing concern. This is also known as telephone retailing. As the same suggests telemarketing means sale of goods and service by telephone. This is the performance of marketing related activities by telephone. It involves both data base management and personal selling. Advances in telephone technology are partly responsible for the development of telemarketing. With low-cost wats line and computer dialing systems, firms can economically deliver their sales message to a large from investment services to computer systems. The head of direct marketing and Sales Promotion (UK), Phil Mounsey says, Telemarketing is to achieve business objectives in sales, customer care, market growth, promotions, market research, database building and cash flow management. A well-known example where telemarketing has been the major contributor to a companys success has been Fast Direct (UK), which provides a complete, backing system without a single branch. We can see that 80% of the UK top companies today include telemarketing in their customer communication mix. Telemarketing is the fastest growing form of direct marketing in UK, increasing in value by 20% a year. In UK 90% of all press advertisements aimed at generating a response now carry a telephone number. Mail order companies in UK have found that almost 90% of their business is now carried out over the telephone, sending in orders by post or mail has declined dramatically. Customers have found that the use of the telephone benefits them by speeding up the process of receiving goods from the mail order company. Types of Telemarketing: Telemarketing can be broken down into two classes 1. Outbound Telemarketing: Outbound Telemarketing occurs when companies place cold calls to potential customers that have not requested a sales call. 2. Inbound Telemarketing: This establishes phone line for customers to call in to place orders. Outbound telemarketing can generate a lot of criticisms because it interrupts family or business activities and can even pose a threat to safety by trying up a phone line needed in an emergency. If we have been bothered during dinner or roused from a deep sleep just to answer the phone and listen to someones sales pitch. We understand the criticism. Advantages of telemarketing 1. The marketer can reach a great number of customers. 2. Some times telemarketing is used by it self; in other selling methods. 3. It saves customers time. Advantages of Direct Marketing (Importance) Direct marketing is considered to be the most useful weapon to retain customers and add new ones. It is estimated that a 2% increase in customer retention could be the equivalent of a 10% reduction in manufacturing costs. This can be achieved through direct marketing. It is one-to-one marketing that is profitable for the customer and makes business sense for the marketer. In the initial years, it was the service sector, which relied on this medium to reach the target consumer. Companies such as Citi bank, ITCs hotel and cigarette divisions found direct marketing ideal to build a consumer base. Ogilvy One Worldwide is the pioneer in the direct marketing concept in India. Several companies cut their advertising budget and increase the direct marketing budget. This is so because it offers a number of advantages. Benefits to Customers 1. Convenience:- What most attracts consumers to the direct marketing is convenience. 2. Saving in time:- Direct marketing saves time shopping at home, especially busy times as Onam, X-Mas provides undeniable attraction. 3. Choice:- It introduces customers a large selection of products. They can do comparative shopping by browsing through mail catalogues and online shopping services, then order products for themselves or others. 4. Product information:- Industrial customers can learn about available products and services without waiting for and tying up time with sales force. Benefits to Sellers 1. Reduction in operating costs: Sales person need not be hired, trained or paid. Often businesses may be located in rural areas or unattractive industrial parks. 2. Consumer relationship: Direct marketers can buy mailing lists containing names of almost any group (millionaires, new parents, college students etc). They can then personalize an customize their messages. 3. Customer relationship: The real advantage of direct marketing comes form its interactive nature; it asks for a response. This enables to build an ongoing relationship with each customer. It helps retain old customers, which is cheaper than finding new ones. It can turn the consumer into a brand advocate. 4. Privacy: Direct marketing provides privacy. The offers and strategies of direct marketers are less visible to competitors. 5. Evaluation of media and messages: Direct marketing permits easy testing of alternative media and messages. Johnson ; Johnson is one of the most dynamic users of direct marketing. Avon cosmetics, Eureka Forbes etc, also use direct marketing successfully. Cypla, the Mumbai based Pharmaceutical company uses a well sorted database of doctors to reach them directly though express packages. One of the most well known case studies of successful direct marketing is Readers Digest. This magazine depends almost completely on direct marketing to not only increase its subscription base but also retain its franchise. Automatic Vending It is the use of machine to dispense products selected by consumers when money is inserted. Automatic vending machine sell products automatically. Vending machine permits the buyer to choose the products directly by paying the money to the machine. This means that the vending machines are the coin-operated, self-service machines. Products sold through vending machines include soft drinks edible oil, tea, coffee, cigarettes, newspaper, milk, platform tickets, chocolates, T-shirts etc. When a coin is inserted in a newspaper-selling machine, the required newspaper comes out of the machine. There is a separate vending machine for each type of product. Salesmen are not required. Automatic vending is also called automatic merchandising or robot selling Automatic vending is one of the most impersonal forms of retailing Machine vending is becoming popular particularly in advanced countries of the world. In Japan a wide variety of products are sold through vending machines. In USA according to the estimates of the National Automatic Merchandising Association, sales through automatic machines rose form $4.5 billion in 1967 to $ 6 billion in 1972 and $ 16.5 billion in 1984. In USA there are some 8000-machine operators operating more than 1, million machines. There is a vending machine for about every 40 people in USA. In UK there are over a hundred operators having sale of 20 million pound per year. In India machine vending it catching up. Vending machines are placed in railway stations, in exhibitions and on other special occasions. Vending machines are widely used to sell tea, coffee, ice creams, milk etc. generally low priced goods are sold through vending machines. Now Horlicks and Boost are available from vending machines. Price is Rs. 5 per 100 M L cup. Advantages of Automatic Vending 1. It involves little running cost. So it is economical. 2. It is very convenient for customers. It is found in a variety of handy locations such as college dormitories. It is open 24 hours a day. 3. It can be located even on the top of a hill where it is not feasible to setup any store. 4. it is great use in-plant feeding. It provides access to factories or offices where for strategic or other reasons the establishment of a manned store is not permissible. It is said that automatic machines at the General Electric Companys Cafeteria in Massachusetts satisfactorily provide snacks and meals to its 13500 employees. 5. It eliminates the use of sales people. These require small space for their installation. 6. The machine doesnt get tired but provides faithful services round the clock. 7. The machine is best suited for selling small sized products, having low unit value and low margin of profit, which it is inconvenient and expensive to sell through regular stores. 8. The chances of pilferage are much less. It can be used as a supplementary outlet by locating it in busy store. Disadvantages of Automatic Vending 1. Separate vending machines are required for each product. The machines are costly. Hence huge capital investment is needed. 2. The product should be standardized. 3. The machine requires feeding from time to time. 4. They dont take back the products once sold. 5. The maintenance cost of the machine in higher. 6. Many varieties of products such as cloth materials, bulky machines, books of the choice and the like are unsuitable for automatic vending 7. There is no scope for bargaining. 8. The machine may stop running due to mechanical faults and cause nuisance to customers. 9. The customer has to procure the specific type of coin for inserting into the machine. This mant be always be convenient. Database Marketing This is a form of one-on-one marketing. It is the process of building, maintaining and using customer database for the purpose of contacting, and transacting with customers. A customer database is an organized collection of comprehensive date about individual customers or prospects, including geographic, demographic, psychographics and behavioral data. The database can be used to locate good potential customers, tailor products and services to the special needs of targeted consumers and maintain long term customer relationship. Meaning of Online Marketing Online marketing is a part of e-commerce. Online marketing is conducted through interactive online computer systems, which link consumers with sellers electronically. It makes products available between buyers and sellers through computer connections. Many retailers are setting up home page on the Internets World Wide Web to disseminate information about their companies and products. There are two types of online marketing channels commercial online services and the Internet, Commercial online service offer online information and marketing services to subscribers who pay a monthly fee. When two or more computers or other devices are connected together so as to enable them to communicate with one another, they form a network. The largest network used for computers in the world is Internet. The Internet is a worldwide collection of computer networks. The Power of Internet as the global access tool was realized with the arrival of World Wide Web. Web is a recent addition to the Internet. Meaning of Internet Marketing/Cyber Marketing (or E-Commerce) Internet marketing or electronic commerce simply refers to buying and selling goods or services through the Internet. In simple terms, e-commerce is a process of two or more parties making business transactions through computer and some type of network. It is the actual buying and selling of goods and services electronically online. Swass defines e-commerce as the sharing of business information, maintaining business relationships and conducting business transactions by means of telecommunication network. Applegate L.M, view that e-commerce is more than simply buying and selling goods electronically. It involves using network communications technology to engage range of activities up and down the value-added chain, both within and outside the organization.

Praxis Source Based Essay Sample

Praxis Source Based Essay SampleThe Praxis Source Based Essay Sample is one of the best-selling and most widely used essay samples available today. It can be downloaded for free and can also be bought for a small fee.If you do decide to buy the online version of the online-based essay, you should be aware that it does not necessarily contain all the essays that are offered as part of the online version. It includes only the portions that offer a lot of flexibility and options for editing. In other words, what you get in the online version is not an entirely accurate reflection of the original version of the same essay.However, the Online Based Essay Sample can still serve its purpose as a basis for a large number of essays and quizzes. The online based essay test is available on many different websites and it can also be downloaded for free. Because it can be downloaded for free, you should be aware that not every computer may be able to run the online based essay test.A few based es say sample programs have been created that are designed to be compatible with all types of computers. However, in some cases the online based essay will provide you with a limited number of font options so that you can decide what font format works best for your essay.For the best results with your online based essay, you should pick a program that provides you with a wide variety of fonts. This allows you to make the most of your essay and make it your own. You can use the online based essay test to test your knowledge and skills, but you will not be able to do this without using a wide variety of fonts.Remember that in the online-based essay, you will be required to turn your essay in at the end of the exam. Therefore, it is critical that you have the ability to customize your essay so that it matches the expectations of the examiner.You can find all the information you need about the online-based essay sample on the website that sells it. This includes information about the chara cteristics of the online-based essay sample. You will be able to see whether or not this essay can help you in the exam that you are taking.

Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis

The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj... Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis Free Essays on The Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban missile crisis was almost the start of a third world war. There were many events that influenced John F. Kennedy’s decisions. The reactions and results lead to a resolution. The United Stated learned that the Soviets were building nuclear missile bases on Cuba. The Soviet Union promised that they wouldn’t attempt to put nuclear weapons in Cuba, but they put them there anyway. They thought that the United Stated wouldn’t find out. They were wrong. The closest the United States ever came to a nuclear war was under President John F. Kennedy. The Prime minister of the Soviet Union was Nikita Khrushchev who secretly ordered the nuclear warheads to be placed in Cuba. Khrushchev had promised, revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, the protection of Cuba at all times of need. The United States feared that Fidel Castro would establish a communist regime in Cuba and because of this the United States implemented an embargo that cut off all forms of trade between Cuba and the United States. Cuba got aggravated with this and turned to the Soviet Union for aid. Before any of this happened, the United States placed several medium-range nuclear missiles in Turkey. The missiles were across the Black Sea from the Soviet Union and were in sight to Khrushchev. President Kennedy was told not to place them in Turkey, but did it anyway. In July of 1962, the United States found out that nuclear missile shipments were being made to Cuba. Khrushchev thought that the United States wouldn’t take any action towards them. Kennedy warned the Soviets about it. United States U-2 spy planes flew over the island and took photographs. They brought back reports and pictures of ballistic missiles and missile bases. The CIA found out that there were thousands of Russian military technicians that were in Cuba. As the days passed, the U-2 planes brought back more reports and photographs. The missiles that were photographed were placed within range of maj...

Personal Media Diary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Media Diary - Essay Example Over a period of four days, I recorded the time spent on the different form of media. After which I recorded the findings in a table below. Prior to this exercise, I had never contemplated on the amount of time I spent on different forms of media. I often listen to the radio as I drive but I had never assumed that I spent such an amount of time on the radio. I realized that I often use social particularly Facebook to keep in touch with my friend. This s mainly because I have quite a tight schedule and rarely get time to meet each of them individually. On the other hand, I realized that most of the calls I make are to my family members. The results for the four days were as displayed in figure 1 below Figure 2 is a chart representing the time spent on the different media. The vertical axis shows the time spent in minutes while the horizontal axis shows the use of different media types for the different days. Media production is the measure of the time spent on different media to produce or develop something. In the contemporary society, social media has become one of the commonest means of communication that many people including the journalist are increasingly adopting (medialiteracyproject.org Web). Many media houses often release their updates through social networks such as Facebook and twitter. As demonstrated on the chart labeled figure 2, Facebook, phone, TV, and radio are my most preferred media types. Although TV and Radio are amongst the oldest types of media, they are still commonly used for informative as well as entertainment purposes. I tend to watch TV a lot. This is because I usually relax and watch TV after school in addition to the time spent with the family as we watch the news. Additionally, I tend to watch a lot of movies different television Networks. I rarely rent movies but I often find myself

Qualitative Research Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Qualitative Research Proposal - Essay Example The employees will be informed of the scope of the research and their consent sought before sampling 137 participants through stratified random sampling. Data will be analyzed by the researcher’s rationale before coding and application of SPSS software for descriptive statistics and comparisons. Application of the software reduces probability of bias. Ethical issues such as nonmalefecence, beneficence, justice, autonomy, and fidelity are expected to arise during the research process and measures have been taken to observe the ethical principles. ‘Effects of drug abuse on domestic violence’ is my topic of interest. The topic’s independent variable is consumption of drugs and is measurable on two scales, consumption, or non-consumption of drugs, and participants’ level of consumption of drugs. The dependent variable is experienced domestic violence with the drug users as victims or perpetrators of the violence. The proposed research aims at ascertaining an assumption of a relationship between drug abuse and domestic violence and the extent to which consumption of the substances contribute to the violence. The relationship between drug abuse and domestic violence has been widely explored for possible solutions. It has for example been established that victims of drug abuse have violent behaviors that they express in their domestic set ups. A research to investigate existence a relationship between drug abuse, violence, and suicide reported history of violent behavior, which can manifest in homes, among a significant percentage of drug addicts, about 75 percent. This indicates that substance abuse is a major factor to domestic violence (Ilgen and Kleinberg, 2011). Drug addicts with violent behaviors in domestic set ups however restrain from the behavior upon rehabilitation but resumes violence when they relapse to substance abuse. This is according to a research that investigated the relationship between relapse to

Old Spice Essay Example for Free

Old Spice Essay Old Spice is one of the most popular companies in America that specializes in male grooming products. It was founded by William Lightfoot Schultz in 1934 and began by creating products for women in 1937, closely followed by male cologne in 1938. The company originated in the colonial times and chose the theme accordingly, thus the Colonial Sailing ship became the Old Spice trademark. It wasn’t until the 1990’s when Old Spice changed their colonial sailing ship to the more modern sailing ships and released many forms of deodorant, body wash and body sprays. During this time period Old Spice began advertising their products focusing on how men are continuously attempting to attract women. From 1990 to 2010 Old spice’s advertisements have gradually evolved in the way they entice men that their products will help men become more attractive to women. Through commercials Old Spice has convinced men that their products will aid in satisfying man’s greatest need, a woman. In 1996 Old Spice released a commercial of a man walking off a sailboat his back facing sun hiding his identity leaving the audience in suspense wondering who it was. At the same time they show a beautiful woman stumbling upon herself in a crowd in confusion looking for someone. Soon later she stops to catch her breathe and finds a man, a tall, well built man with a captains hat who is looking at a painting of a sail boat tossing and turning in the sea. Another man sees this confused woman and approaches her but unfortunately she walks away to the sailor. At this moment a deep dominating voice says, â€Å" Some men would rather live their lives sheltered in the harbor, and some would rather sail into life with the unmistakable scent of Old Spice.† As the couple walks away the other man walks to the painting and finds a bottle of Old Spice cologne and smiles. This commercial shows that the woman chose the sailor because he was wearing Old Spice cologne and shows men that there is still hope to find a woman. Old Spice also has a line of Body Spray, Deodorant, and Fragrance. On one of the body spray commercials two teenage boys were trying to ask the same girl out, one boy tried to read a poem and give her flowers while the other boy sprayed on Old Spice body spray and just sat next to her. He immediately won her heart. This advertisement implies that women are simply attracted to good smelling boys. About 12 years later Old Spice commercials emphasized on a different topic, they changed the idea of focusing on men getting women to how Old Spice makes you manlier. The commercial starts off with a skinny short young male dressed as Steve Urkel walking up to a sexy woman in a revealing dress. The woman says hi and instead of replying back the young man runs away in embarrassment making a weird high pitch noise. The camera then zooms out showing the popular LL Cool J, a massive muscular man. He admits that the embarrassing boy is him but says that was all before he started using Old Spice body spray and body wash. Emphasizing that the product made him manlier. Recently in 2010 Old Spice released a new commercial during the super bowl incorporating how Old Spice makes you manlier and can help get women. In this commercial; however, the character is not convincing the men but convincing the women. A tall, well built, dark man in a towel holding a bottle of Old Spice body wash. He addresses the women and asks questions which compare himself to there man and asks the women if their man should use Old Spice body wash. He then follows that question with other question such as; do you want a man who can bake your favorite cake in the kitchen he built with his hands? Then jumps into a hot tub doing a swan dive. The hot tub then falls down and we see him on a motorcycle holding a bottle of Old Spice body wash asking, â€Å" Well ladies should your man smell like an Old Spice man? You tell me†. In this commercial Old Spice shows that with their product a man could make a cake, built a kitchen with his hands, be able to jump into a hot tub which is shallow, and land on a motorcycle. This shows that Old Spice makes men manlier and women are attracted to manly men. This advertisement has evolved from the older commercials in the way that it no longer convinces men as well as women and yet keeps its main idea that Old Spice makes men manlier and attractive for women. Over time Old Spice has observed reality and adapted its commercials accordingly. They started off by trying to convince men that their products will help them attract women. Then went on to persuade men that it will make them manlier, with more confidence. In the present day Old Spice realized that women tend to buy their partners products so they aimed towards women inducing them with handsome attractive shirtless men persuading them to buy Old Spice products. From the first advertisement to the most recent one Old Spice has kept the same mentality in all of their advertisements.

Margaret Atwood use of Language and Narrative Technique in The Handmaid

From the outset of 'The Handmaids Tale' the reader is placed in an unknown world, where the rights and freedom of women have been taken away. We follow the narrative journey of a handmaid, named Offred. Throughout the first 15 Chapters we are provided with information, as narrated by Offred, with glimpses of her past life and her journey to the life she is now facing. These glimpses are not logical in their sequencing or chronological in the narration, therefore creating a feeling of disorientation among readers, a feeling matching that experienced by those living in this society. This also provokes many questions in the reader’s mind along with creating tension and expectation as to the nature of the procreation which we have come to understand is the function of the handmaids. Although the reader is made aware of the structure and methods of control within Gilead, none of the information provided can begin to prepare the reader for the way in which 'The Ceremony' is undertaken. We are first provided with hints as to what is required of the handmaids at the beginning of the dystopia, with the mention of the Red Centre. A place where shockingly a process of conditioning is undertaken with armed guards around the fences and the women in charge carrying electric pods, suggesting it is a controlled place, but also raises the question as to why such methods of control are required. The shocking fact that the women have to lip read, again reveals to the reader how strict and controlled this society is along with providing the feeling of fear the handmaids must be experiencing. There is also a monthly visit to the gynecologist, but on the occasion described, this routine check is made rather sinister with the doctor offerin... ...o watch is shocking whilst â€Å"as an effigy† makes the reader wonder whether Serena maybe feeling like the person on top of a tomb, dead. Offred once again reveals her fair handedness, â€Å"Which of us is it worse for, her or me?† This represents Offred to be a strong person, as following such a scenario, she isn’t thinking of herself alone, she is thinking about the feelings of the wife. It isn’t until the next section the reader comes to realise Ofred's true feelings towards the Ceremony, 'I want to steal something.' This reveals to the reader, Ofred needs to feel as though she does have some kind of power over her life, and with the scene with Nick shows how she longs to be appreciated for who she is instead of just being a sex object, this again results in sympathy for Offred and what the other handmaids must feel like in a situation such as this.