Chloe Tat

Midterm #1
BUSN70
Somisomi is a Korean-Japanese fusion dessert chain that serves soft serve and taiyaki, a fish shaped waffle with
filling inside. Somisomi’s main product is the ah-boong, which is soft serve ice cream within a fish shaped soft
waffle cone, sold directly to the customer. Somisomi markets themselves as personalized ice cream, as customers
pick their ice cream flavor, filling flavor, and toppings. This appeals to customers since every order is catered to
each customer. The ice cream and taiyaki are both visually pleasing, and Instagrammable. The storefront’s design is
also simple with cute graphics. At some of the locations, there is a photo wall for customers to take pictures of their
ice cream to post on social media. In fact, Somisomi’s main method of promotion is through Instagram. They
regularly post on their account as well as share customer posts on their story. Additionally, Somisomi has different
weekly swirls (two different flavors swirled into one ice cream) which is also announced on their Instagram.
Although the menu is small and simple, changing the swirls each week keeps the customers engaged and going back
for more. Additionally, each location’s number of ice cream flavors is dependent on how many ice cream machines
they have. But if demand is high enough, the location may change to accommodate. For example, the Cupertino
location is limited to four flavors: milk, oreo, match, and ube. Many customers, having seen the full menu online or
coming from LA where the storefront is larger, asked for black sesame. Six months after the Cupertino location
opened, because of the high demand for black sesame, the managers decided to swap out the oreo for black sesame,
which is now one of the most popular flavors.
Another selling point of Somisomi is that all of the products are made fresh and to order. There is a glass partition
between the workers and customers, so customers can see the waffles being made and their ice cream being swirled.
Everytime a new location opens, there is a grand opening promotion where each ah-boong comes with a free taiyaki.
If the lines get very long, as they often do on Friday nights and weekends, workers typically pull out the second iPad
cashier, so orders are taken faster. This gives off the illusion of a long line, implying that the store is incredibly
popular, but with the reality of cutting the wait time.
Somisomi is marketed mainly towards highschoolers and kids, but appeals towards adults as well. The Somisomi
commercial, which is also played in most locations, depicts people from all sorts of demographics enjoying
Somisomi. Many locations are within malls, where all three demographics are present. The Cupertino location is in a
plaza, Mainstreet, which is across the street from a high school, and is a popular teenage after school hangout spot.
Many of the flavors are also marketed towards adults, such as matcha, black sesame, and ube. Somisomi is also
marketed towards Asians, since many of the ice cream flavors are flavors found in Asian cuisine, and many of the
stores are located in densely Asian populated areas. In the Bay Area, both stores are in places where Asian cuisine is
in the majority. There are also multiple stores open in both Koreatown and Japantown in LA.
Objectively, Somisomi is priced on the higher end: about $6 for an ah-boong and about $8 for 5 pieces of taiyaki.
However, relative to its area within the Bay Area, Somisomi’s price is average compared to other Asian dessert
spots, where boba tea can sell for more than $6 and rolled ice cream can sell for over $8.

Somisomi’s collective marketing strategy is incredibly effective. Six months after opening, Cupertino’s location still
consistently gets extremely long lines on weekends. It was also incredibly busy every day during the summer.
Somisomi’s choice to focus on Instagram is clever. Today, Instagram is one of the largest social media platforms,
and can reach a wider audience through sponsored posts. Instagram also allows for lots of engagement. Tagging
Somisomi in posts makes the Somisomi tag more popular, and stories of Somisomi products allow them to repost it
on their official account. Because the original post is reposted to an account with such a huge following, the original
poster typically gains more followers, becoming an incentive for more people to post on Instagram in hopes of being
reposted by Somisomi. The Somisomi franchise is doing extremely well, with enough demand to be able to open
multiple stores in California, Hawaii, and Texas. In fact, in the span of a month, they were able to open two different
locations. Somisomi’s strong marketing strategies allow them to effectively sell to their targeted demographics and
to become a highly popular and profitable dessert chain.