Marketing

a. Brand name help marketer to create the product differentiation and help them to distinguish there product with competitor product, which helps in building loyalty and product promotion.

b. The brand name also helps consumer to relate themselves with brand and create a better connect with product, like for example iPhone brand helps its user to connect themselves as premium quality phone owner, when customer are more able to connect and relate themselves, they are more likely to buy brand which suits their lifestyle and aspirations.

c. The brand name also helps in advertising and display programme, as brand name act as an identity of the product, it creates awareness about firm products.

The brand name creates a perception about the quality of the product and helps consumers know about the quality of different brand offered by different firms when the customer is able to differentiate, a marketer can charge different prices from their competitor, and a good brand can charge a premium over the competitor.

Societal concept is the new concept of marketing which aims at satisfying customer needs with taking proper care of society and environment. According to this concept customer satisfaction must be within the ethical and ecological aspects of society.

The societal marketing should consider the following things

a) The consumer needs are most important

b) Genuine modern and continuous development should be introduced in the product so as to increase its life and value

c) The emphasis should be on building long term customer relationship and not on doing business

d) An organisation should market the product keeping in mind the consumer organisational and societal long-term needs and welfare

Convenience products must possess the following characteristics

The features of convenient products are

a) They are bought frequently

b) The price of convenience product is less than other products

c) The brand is not a major issue

d) They are generally consumable in nature

e) Price and quality are normally not considered

f) The level of competition is high

g) They are bought from convenient places

The advantages of packaging are

a) It becomes easy to identify and differentiate the product

b) It helps in promotional activities

c) It contributes to the convenience in handling the product

d) It protects the product from all types of damages

The limitations of advertising are –

a) The absence of personal touch makes advertising less forceful

b) It is difficult to judge the effectiveness of advertising message

c) The advertising message are standardized and cannot be designed according to different persons so there in flexible in nature

d) The effectiveness of advertising is low due to existence of large number of advertisements.

The limitations of advertising are –

The 5 shopping products purchased during last few months are

a) Clothes

b) Shoes

c) Furniture

d) Computer

e) Books

An important activity or area of work of a marketer is to develop appropriate marketing plans so that the marketing objectives of the organisation can be achieved. For example a marketer of colour TV, having 10 per cent of the current market share in the country, aims at enhancing his market share to 20 per cent, in the next three years. He will have to develop a complete marketing plan covering various important aspects including the plan for increasing the level of production, promotion of the products, etc. and specify the action programmes to achieve these objectives.

Marketing is the process through which goods and services move from producer to customer. It helps in –

a) Identification selection and development of product

b) Pricing the product

c) Selection of distribution channel

d) Development and implementation of promotional strategies

W. Alderson has defined product as a bundle of utilities. A product is said to be bundle of utilities because it offers various physical and psychological benefits that the marketer wants to offer or we can say it fulfils bundle of expectations of customers.

Industrial product is bought for further processing or for use in conducting a business; it is bought by other businesses not consumers. The difference between consumer product and industrial product are summarised below –

The basic points of difference between convenience product and shopping product are given below –

Labelling means attaching or tagging labels which maybe a piece of paper, any printed statement, imprinted metal, or anything. It is equally important as branding and packaging.

Most important functions of labelling are –

a) It provides complete information about the product like weight, batch number, manufacturing date, etc.

b) It helps in identifying the product.

c) It helps in differentiating the products on the basis of quality.

d) It helps in sales promotion.

e) It provides statutory warning and all other details that are compulsory required by law

Intermediaries play an important role in distribution of non-durable consumer goods. Various functions performed by intermediaries are -

a) Arrangement: The intermediary receives goods from various producers and then arrange them into homogenous groups based upon their characteristics.

b) Collection: The intermediary maintains stock of goods with him so as to fulfil the market demand.

c) Allocation and packing: The intermediary receives the goods in bulk quantity from the producers and then breaks it into smaller units and pack accordingly.

d) Variety: Intermediary maintains variety of good by procuring them from various sources and making them available at single place.

e) Promotion: The intermediary undertakes various promotional activities which help the manufacturers in increasing their sale.

f) Risk bearing: The intermediaries indemnify the producers against the risk of fluctuation in demand, price, spoilage and facilitate storage.

The components of physical distribution are given below –

Order processing - It includes receiving order, recording it, fulfilling the order, executing or assembling the products for dispatch and finally credit and collection.

Warehousing - It facilitates both continuous production and continuous marketing and contributes to customer satisfaction. It adds place utility and time utility.

Transportation - It is the main component of distribution system which involves transporting the product from the place of production to the place of use.

Maintenance of inventory - The distribution firms maintain proper inventory so as to ensure the timely supply.

According to Philip Kotler, "Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of goods, services or ideas by an identified sponsor. It is a technique used for promoting the product.

The features of advertising are

a) It is a tool for market promotion which is very powerful but at the same time it is expensive also

b) It is a non-personal communication

c) It is paid form of presentation of ideas and opinions about a product, service or both

d) It is done by an identified sponsor.

Sales promotion means the steps that are taken for the purpose of increasing sales. These are the marketing activities that are directed towards the increase in sales. These are the incentives offered to the buyers to encourage them to purchase the product. It includes –

• rebate

• discount

• refund

• coupons

• product combination

• quantity gift

• lucky draw

The role of sales promotion can be summarised as below –

a. It increases sales

b. It stimulate customers to make purchase at the point of purchase

c. It attracts new customers

d. It helps in meeting the competition effectively

As a marketing manager of a hotel in a popular tourist city, I will have a certain societal concern

1) Activities of the hotel should not harm the tourist place, should not affect local and should not cause any pollution.

2) To maintain ethics and fair pricing of hotel rooms

Steps: We will ensure that activities of the hotel do not harm the environment and locality, we will have a proper process for waste management, sustainable use of natural resources like water electricity etc. and will make guest also aware of it.

We will also ensure that our room prices are priced appropriately and we should not take advantage of guest in peak season by pricing room inappropriately.

A Label provides information about the product, in food products label provides the information about the manufacturer, date of manufacturing, date of expiry, price of the product, net content, the process of making the product if it is not ready and eat and ingredients of the products. It also provides information about the nutritional status of the product.

Below is the label for well-known product Maggi

As motorcycles are high-value item and it is important to provide good post-sale services to the consumer. We also need to ensure that customer services are available near to the customer.

For which we need to have the following things

1) Centralised customer care desk: at our head office we need to have centralised customer care desk where customer can call in case of any difficulty and we can properly guide him about resolution

2) Local office: we need to have local offices in all major cities and town where customer can come and get there resolution. This services can also be outsourced to third party vendor like vehicle dealers.

Marketing concept is a new philosophy of marketing which aims at customer satisfaction. Under marketing concept the emphasis is on selling satisfaction rather than on selling a product only.

The basic features of marketing concept are –

1. Customer oriented - All the marketing decisions should be taken on the basis of their impact on the customer. All the business activities should be directed to create and satisfy customer.

2. Market research - The marketing concept suggests that the customer's need, wants and desire is of prime importance, so a regular market research should be conducted to know about customers and their need.

3. Marketing planning - The marketing concept suggests that the marketing planning should be done in such a manner that the overall objective of the firm should be to earn the profit through satisfying the customers and not by maximizing the sales volume only.

4. Integrated Marketing - The activities and operations of various organisational units should be properly coordinated to achieve the defined objectives. Marketing should be a total system of interacting business activities.

The benefits of marketing concept are –

1. It increases the acceptability for the product and adds loyal customers

2. It requires integrated and coordinated approach to marketing which helps in achieving the goal in economical and efficient manner

3. It facilitates rational analysis of all marketing problems along with their effective solutions.

4. With help of marketing concept the firms can effectively respond to the change in environment.

Marketing mix is the combination of four important constituents of marketing system. It is a system which comprises the following subsystems of marketing

• Price

• Product

• Promotion and

• Place

So we call it 4 P's of marketing.

A) Product: It involves planning, designing and developing right type of product to satisfy the customers need. It involves following decisions –

• Product design – features, quality

• Product assortment – product range, product mix, product lines

• Branding

• Packaging and labelling

• Services (complimentary service, after-sales service, service level)

• Guarantees and warranties

• Returns

• Managing products through the life-cycle

B) Price: It involves decision regarding price, pricing policy, discount and credit. It involves taking decisions regarding the following –

• Price strategy

• Price tactics

• Price-setting

• Allowances – e.g. rebates for distributors

• Discounts – for customers

• Payment terms – credit, payment methods

C) Place: It refers to the location where products can be made available for sale and purchase. It involves decisions regarding type of middlemen, means of transport, storage system, etc. It involves taking decisions regarding –

• Distribution Strategies

• Franchising

• Market coverage

• Channel member selection and channel member relationships

• Assortment

• Location decisions

• Inventory

• Transport, warehousing and logistics

D) Promotion: It is concerned with informing and persuading the customers about the product. It involves taking decision regarding –

• Promotional mix - appropriate balance of advertising, PR, direct marketing and sales promotion

• Message strategy - what is to be communicated?

• Channel/ media strategy - how to reach the target audience

• Message Frequency - how often to communicate

Branding means creating unique name or image for a product in consumers mind. It aims at establishing a significant and differentiates presence in the market.

According to American Association "A brand is a name, term, symbol or design or combination of all which is intended to identify the goods or service of a seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors."

Branding helps in marketing in the following manner –

1. Promotion: Promotion is an important "P" of marketing. Branding helps the organisation in promoting the product by disseminating the information about features, price, style and advantages of product.

2. Legal protection: A brand name provides legal protection to the special feature of the product. Inclusion of brand name helps the goods to be totally protected.

3. Saves from competition: A business organisation can easily advertise and promote the branded goods. They can attract the consumers towards their products. Branding helps business organisations from competition.

4. Builds corporate image: Branding helps in building a corporate image. Strong brands are the brands that are known for their quality, performance and standards and they help in building a corporate image which provides a long term advantage to the business.

5. Differential pricing: Good branding helps in creating a loyal customer and the seller can charge different price from their competitors for his product.

6. New product introduction: Branding makes it easy for a company to introduce new product, it will not take a lot of marketing efforts.

The factors affecting price of any product are categorised under two broad headings - internal factors and external factors.

A. Internal Factors

a. Cost: It means the cost incurred in producing the product and also includes the expenses of selling and distribution.

b. Objective: While fixing the price of product the marketer should consider the objective of the firm which may be to increase the profit, to capture a large market share or any other.

c. Product life cycle: The stage at with the product is in its life cycle also affects the pricing decision.

d. Promotional activity: The cost incurred in the promotional activity of the product is also kept on the price of the product.

B. External factors

a. Competition: It means the degree of competition existing in the market. Where the competition is high the prices will be low and vice-a-versa.

b. Government control: The government rules and regulations must be considered while fixing the price of the product.

c. Economic conditions: Economic condition prevailing in the market has to be considered while fixing the price.

d. Channel intermediaries: Longer the chain of intermediaries, the higher will be the prices of the goods.

Channel of distribution is a path or route along which the goods move from producer. These channels bring economy of effort. They cover large geographical areas, bring efficiency in distribution, and include transportation and storage.

The functions performed by channels of distribution are –

1) Arrangement: The intermediary arranges the goods from various sources so as to fulfil the market demand.

2) Collection allocation and packing: The intermediary accumulates stock with him to ensure smooth flow of supply and he allocates the goods into smaller units and then packs them conveniently and makes them available as and when required.

3) Variety: The intermediary provides variety of goods to the consumer so that he could make a proper choice.

4) Product promotion: The intermediaries take necessary steps to promote the product locally.

5) Mediation: The intermediaries act as a mediator between producer and consumer so that they could understand each other properly.

6) Warehousing and financing: The intermediaries provide warehousing facilities to the producer so that they can clear their stores and make space for the next production and at the same time they provide finance by purchasing their goods so as to start the new production cycle.

The major activities involved in physical distribution of product are summarised below –

1) Order processing: It involves various steps like order placing, transmission of order, maintenance of inventory, delivery of goods, etc. The physical distribution should ensure speedy and proper order processing. Proper and timely order processing provide satisfaction to the customers.

2) Transportation: It provides place utility. It refers to physical movement of goods from the place of production to the place of sale. The goods are brought to some place near to the market so that they could be made easily available with the increase in demand.

3) Warehousing: It provides time utility. Generally there is time lag between production and consumption. After production the good are properly stored and assorted in godowns or warehouses before the actual sales take place.

4) Inventory maintenance: The firms maintain inventory to ensure timely supply of product. It helps in regulating the price in the market as well as in fulfilment of demand in best possible way.

Advertising is considered as social waste due to following points of criticism

1. Higher prices: It is argued that the large amount spent on advertising is added to the cost of distribution of product and is ultimately added to the price of the product and is paid out of the pocket of the customer.

2. Wasteful expenditure: Advertising multiplies the needs of people and encourages unhealthy consumption. By exploiting human sentiments, it persuades people to buy products which they do not need or cannot afford. It promotes artificial living and extravagance and creates demand for trivial goods.

3. Misleads the customer: It is said that advertising is deceptive and misrepresents the facts to the consumer. The exaggerated and tall claims and flowery language are used to mislead the customer.

4. Creates monopoly: Advertising creates brand preference and restricts free competition. The large firms which can afford huge amounts of money on advertising easily eliminate the small firms by creating brand monopoly.

5. Undermines social values: The modern advertising exerts few corrupting influence on cultural and social life which is not only wasteful but also immoral. Many advertisements are highly objectionable and socially undesirable and encourage social evils like smoking and drinking. It degrades ethical and aesthetic values through indecent language and objectionable photographs.

Both advertising and personal selling are the techniques of creating demand and promoting sales. The basic points of difference between these two are given below –

The factors determining the choice of channels of distribution are –

1) Product related

i) Unit

ii) Value

iii) Nature of product

iv) Size of product

v) Standardization

vi) Technical nature

vii) Product line and

viii) Age of Product

2) Market related

i) Type of market

ii) Buyers

iii) Order

iv) Buying habits

3) Company related

i) Market standing of the company

ii) Financial status of the company

iii) Management of company

iv) Volume of production

v) Desired control over distribution

vi) Services offered

4) Intermediary related

i) Availability of middlemen

ii) Attitude

iii) Services offered by middle men

iv) Sale potential

v) Cost

vi) Competition

vii) Legal constraint