Summary: Principles and practice of Marketing

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Summary: Principles and practice of
Marketing
INDEX1.
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
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p. 7
p. 11
p. 15
p. 17
p. 19
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Chapter 1: MANAGING THE EXCHANGE PROCESS
Marketing definition (Philip Kotler):
Marketing is asocial and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they
need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.
Value: The benefit a customer obtains from a product
Customer is at the centre of business strategy, therefore new definition:
Marketing is the management process which identifies, anticipates, and supplies customer
requirements efficiently and profitably.
1st criticism: There are non-profit organisations.
2nd criticism: Other stakeholders such as employees and stakeholders are excluded
3rd criticism: The people whose needs are being met are not always the customers (a mother buying
football boots for her son does not satisfy her own needs, but her son’s)
Another definition (American Marketing Association):
Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and
distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and
organisational objectives.
Nonetheless, this definition does not take the competition factor into account. Therefore the one
definition capturing all points is this:
Marketing is he process of achieving corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer
needs better than the competition.
However, there is not one single definition of marketing in common use!
Production orientation: the belief that corporate success comes from efficient production, profit by
selling large volumes
Product orientation: the belief that corporate success comes from having the best product, asking a
higher price for more differentiated goods.
Sales orientation: the belief that corporate success comes from having proactive salespeople.
Marketing orientation: Corporate success comes from understanding the relationships in the
market. Consists of:
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Customer orientation: Corporate success through understanding and satisfying customer needs
Competitor orientation: Degree to which the company understands what the competitors are
offering the customers. Does that product have the same (or better) value?
Inter-functional coordination: Degree to which the internal structure of the organisation and the
attitudes of its members combine to deliver marketing orientation.
4 P’s:
•
•
•
•
7 P’s
•
•
•
Product – A bundle of benefits for the consumer
Price – The exchange that a consumer makes in order to obtain the product
Place – The location where the exchange takes place
Promotion – Marketing communications
People – Individuals involved in providing customer satisfaction
Process – The set of activities which together produce customer satisfaction
Physical Evidence – The tangible proof that a service has taken place
This model is not perfect!
It focuses primarily on B2C relationships, creates sharp boundaries between the 7 components, while
each element actually impinges on every other element to some extent. There is nothing about
internal marketing, and nothing about competition.
Elasticity of demand: Wedding rings are price inelastic, chicken meat is price elastic.
Competition: Monopolistic competition – Monopoly – Oligopoly – Perfect competition
Social sciences
Sociology
People in groups
Psychology
People as individuals
Anthropology
Study of cultures
Business Disciplines
Economics
Study of wealth creation
Marketing
Corporate Strategy
Study of competitive advantage
Scope of Marketing:
Consumer marketing; Industrial marketing; Service marketing; Not-for-profit marketing; Small
business marketing; International marketing
There is only one boss – the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on
down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. (Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart)
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Chapter 2: THE MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
Macro-environment; economic, socio-cultural, ecological and political environment
Micro-environment; competitive, technological, industry environment; customers
Internal environment; Staff relationships; corporate culture; resource constraints
Economic environment:
Governments use interest rate to influence the national economy. Increased interest rates slow the
economy down. Reduced interest will speed the economy up as the currency falls and it becomes
easier to export.
Rising interest rates:
Value of currency
Inflationary pressure
Volume of export
Cost of imports
Consumer spending power
Socio-cultural environment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Demographic forces; Structure of the population. (Age, income distribution, ethnicity)
Culture; Differences in beliefs, behaviours and customs between people from other countries
Social responsibility and ethics; ethical beliefs about how marketers should operate(≈culture)
Consumerism; shift of power away from companies and towards consumers
Cultural environment;
Language – Religion – Shared beliefs – Customs – History – Gender roles
Political and legal environment:
1. Patent legislation
2. Taxation
3. Safety regulations
4. Contract law
5. Consumer protection legislation
6. Control of opening hours
European Union:
1. Technical standards
2. Frontier controls
3. Safety standards
4. Currency fluctuations
5. Advertising
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The competition:
Levels of competition:
Firms offering anything to
the same target market
Firms offering products
which do a similar job
Firms offering virtually
Identical products
Porters Five Forces Model:
1. The bargaining power of suppliers (suppliers have high bargaining power, will become
greater)
2. The bargaining power of customers (more demanding; can set one supplier against another,
making competition fiercer.)
3. The threat of new entrants (if it’s easy for newcomers to enter the market, competition will
be strong)
4. The threat of substitute products and services (If substitutes are readily available,
competition will become stronger)
5. Rivalry among current competitors (in new markets, rivalry will be bigger so competition will
be stronger. In well-established markets it’s the other way round)
Difficulties for newcomers in markets:
1. Economies of scale; cost savings resulting from large production runs
2. Product differentiation; factors which distinguish one product from another. (If products are
highly differentiated, it’s hard to establish a foothold in the market for newcomers)
3. Capital requirements
4. Switching costs; costs and effort for the customers and consumers to switch suppliers
5. Access to distribution channels; you need access to the supply chain for distribution
6. Cost advantages independent of scale; certain access to raw materials, patents, etc., which
prevent newcomers from producing at an economical price
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Technological environment:
A new product will sooner or later be replaced by another product (from any company), which is
technically more advanced. The threat of new products from other companies wiping out existing
products on the market is very real. Another issue is that the new rivalling products may come from
an entirely different industry (Mailing industry
Computer & E-mail industry)
Industry issues:
Intensity of competitive response or retaliation will depend on the following factors:
1. The degree of concentration in the industry; how many competitors? (Few competitors =
heavy retaliation and the other way round)
2. The rate of growth in the industry; rapidly growing industries are less stable, so more fall-out
of companies which are not profitable.
3. The degree of differentiation; if products are essentially the same, heavy retaliation will
follow upon strategic actions
4. Cost structures; if there are high fixed costs, a high level of sales is required.
5. Investment structures; If the industry has small average investments, then a newcomer will
have a substantial impact on the rest of the industry
6. Competitive information; How well-informed are firms about their competitors? This will
define a big part of the competition’s behaviour
7. Strategic objectives of competitors; If strategic objectives of 2 companies do not conflict,
they are not really competing (e.g. Ford & Rolls Royce)
8. Cost of leaving the industry; Some capital will have almost no second-hand value, so if you go
out of the market, you will go bankrupt. Mining and steel industries are examples.
Internal Environment:
Staff Relationships:
Formal structure: The official relationships between members of an organisation
Where people are positioned in the organisation’s hierarchy
Informal structure: The unofficial relationships between members of an organisation
Friendships & Alliances between co-workers
Corporate culture:
The shared rules and beliefs within the company. ‘The way we do things around here.’
Resource constraints:
The way an organisation uses its resources and plays it to its strengths.
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Chapter 3: MARKETING DOMAINS
‘Marketing is what marketing people do’. Though this definition is not intellectually satisfying, it does
provide you with a definition which you can use on a day-to-day practical basis.
Non-Profit marketing falls into 2 main categories: charitable donations and cause-related marketing.
The exchange for the donation to a non-profit organisation is in the first place the sense of having
done right. For companies, however, it is also a way to boost their record of social responsibility.
High-earning people like the high-profile aspects of being seen to support a charity, for instance
when they are in the midst of publicity during gala dinners or other social events related to charity.
Charity contributors: Volunteers & Donors
Volunteers:
Satisfaction from making a difference to someone’s life
Older and retired people getting a sense of feeling useful and needed
Social benefits from interacting with each other and with the people that are helped
Volunteering is consistent with Christian or other religious beliefs
Donors:
Need to feel the warm glow of having done the right thing
Need to be seen to have donated
Changing the public opinion is possible through 3 ways (AIDS example):
Rational approach – What causes AIDS? What risks? How can it be prevented?
Emotional approach based on negative message – frightening or shocking imagery to make people
afraid of the possibility of catching AIDS
Emotional approach based on a positive message – imagery that shows good behaviour is rewarded.
The emotional approach based on the negative message has the biggest impact on the public’s
behaviour about the issues. The rational appeal only creates concern about the issues.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:
Psychological Needs – Esteem needs, aesthetic needs, self-actualisation
Social Needs – Security needs, belonging needs
Physical Needs – Survival needs (food, clothing, and shelter)
This also goes for work-related needs:
Physical: Salary, comfortable working environment
Safety: Insurances, pension plan
Love: Respect & praise
Esteem: Achievement and recognition of achievement, good reputation
Aesthetic: Pleasant working environment, well-designed working spaces
Self-actualisation: Opportunity to go on training courses, opportunity of promotion
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It is important that employees are satisfied: Word-of-mouth from employees is much more powerful
than official communications from the firm itself.
Public Relations: The practice of creating goodwill towards the organisation.
Contact with customers:
Front line staff (frequent, daily contact with customers), Second-line staff (occasional contact with
customers), Backstage staff (virtually no contact with customers)
Nowadays, employees do not just obey commands:
Kanter and Piercy identified 10 forms of resistance:
1. Criticism of the details of the plan
2. Slow action in implementing the plan
3. Slow response to requests
4. Becoming unavailable
5. Suggestions that resources would be better directed elsewhere
6. Suggestions that proposals are too ambitious
7. Setting up petty obstructions and annoyances to wear the proposer down
8. Attempts to delay the decision, hoping the proposer will lose interest
9. Attacks on the credibility of the proposer with rumour and innuendo
10. Deflation of any excitement surrounding the plan by pointing out the risks
Internal Marketing: The practice of creating goodwill among the employees
The marketing mix still applies with internal marketing.
Product = marketing plan and actions necessary to make the plan work
Price = what employees have to give up for the plan
Promotion (=communication) = ensuring understanding of the plan
Place = where the exchange of the plan takes place (a meeting in an office, or during an away-day)
Persuasion: About changing attitudes:
1. Articulate a shared vision: explain the wider vision, the purpose of the plan
2. Communicate and train: clearly communicate the plans to the employees
3. Eliminate misunderstandings about the what the plan is
4. Sell the benefits of the plan
5. Gain acceptance by association: link the plan to a widely-accepted company strategy (such as
customer service or quality management)
6. Leave room for local control over details: let the people who have to implement the plan
have at least some say in what is being done
7. Support words with action: be an example for your employees
8. Establish two-way communication: Top-down communication doesn’t work anymore in the
21st century. People lower down the hierarchy are closer the customers and to the problem.
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Sources of Power for management:
Reward Power: rewards for employee success (e.g. salespeople who sell much/ the most)
Expert Power: Let the change initiative come from someone who is greatly credible
Referent Power: Charismatic leaders with great authority are likely to be followed
Legitimate Power: Potential for control derived from a legal or contractual position
Coercive Power: Opposite of reward power you punish those who do not comply. These tactics do
not work most of the time, however.
Internal communications media:
House Journal, keep in to account the readership, quantity, frequency, title, style, advertisements
and so on.
Websites for Intranet: keep in mind that is has to be readable by the majority of the employees, and
that the reading must be during working times.
Internal Briefings and Open Meetings: Bottom-up and top-down communication possibilities, senior
management knows what is going on among employees, employees will know why things are being
done the way they are being done. A lack of information will result in employees doing guesswork,
rumours and even staff actions based on those rumours and hypotheses.
Social responsibilities and Ethics
Ethics = a set of rules for good behaviour, principles that define right and wrong
Teleological thinking: Acts are defined as ethical or unethical according to the outcomes
ENDS CAN JUSTIFY MEANS
Deontological thinking: Acts are defined as ethical or unethical regardless of the outcomes
ACTS SHOULD BE BASED ON REASONS THE DECISION-MAKER WOULD ACCEPT FOR OTHERS TO USE
Ethical problems for marketers:
Products: honestly made and described, no use of cheap materials without informing the customer
Promotion: No misleading campaigns
Pricing: Price fixing (cartels) and predatory pricing (e.g. without mentioning VAT or service costs)
Distribution: Abuse of power in managing distribution channels, failure to pay for the goods within
the specified credit time.
Ecological environment
Sources of pressure for environmentalism:
1. Customers
2. Green pressure groups
3. Employees
4. Legislation
5. Media
6. Ethical investment
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Degrees of environmental involvement
Green activists > Green thinkers > Green customers > Generally concert > People who do not care
Environment policy:
Recycled, recyclable and non-wasteful packaging … Protecting the ozone layer … Testing products on
animals … Pollution control …
Services Marketing
Services (without any ‘product’ characteristics) have the following characteristics:
1. Intangibility
2. Inseparability of production and consumption
3. Variability, not one service is the same
4. Perishability, services cannot be stored for later use
Branding
Consumer’s output from brands:
Self-Image
Quality
Cost
Expected performance
Differentiation from competing brands
Strong brands create a barrier to entry for competing new brands.
Also, strong brands function as:
A sign of ownership – to let customers know what they buy
A differentiating device – used to differentiate from similar products
A functional device – functionality
A symbolic device – a brand that conveys the appropriate message
A risk reducer – you know what you can expect; companies must NOT damage this trust!!
A shorthand service – you ‘tag’ information about the product & brand in the consumer’s memories
A legal device – A brand protects the firm’s intellectual property
A strategic device – identifying and using the added value the assets constituting the brand represent
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Chapter 4: CONSUMBER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer Decision Process (CDP):
1. Need Recognition
gap between ‘desired state’ and ‘actual state’. The bigger this gap, the
bigger the drive to buy the product will be.
2. Search for Information
3. Pre-purchase evaluation of alternatives
4. Purchase
5. Consumption
6. Post-consumption evaluation
7. Divestment (disposing of the product or residues)
Perceived risks of buying the product:
Physical risks: Might cause harm or injury
Financial risks: Might turn out to be a waste of money
Functional risks: Might do not the job for which it was intended
Psychological risks: might prove to be embarrassing
Need forming:
-Assortment depletion
-Income change
Shopping products – Non shopping products
The decision-making process
Heuristics – Decision-making rules
You use heuristics when establishing a consideration set of products you take into consideration
A cut-off is a heuristic: outer limits of acceptability for a product’s characteristics (Price, quality, time)
Lexicographic heuristics: creating a hierarchy of product attributes
Conjunctive heuristics: heuristics which are considered together against the cut-offs
Consumption of the product
When?
• proximity
to
purchase
• time of day
Where?
• different
locations
• different
social
situations
How?
• envisaged
usage
• nonenvisaged
usage
How much?
• Heavy user
• Moderate
user
• Light user
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Compulsive consumption: obsessive, addicted form of consumption
Post-purchase evaluation:
• Voice responses (direct communication)
• Private responses (word-of-mouth)
• Third-party responses (lawyer, consumer champion)
Voice responses should be encouraged, because they are a lot easier to deal with than private and
third-party responses. A well-treated complaint often makes the customer trust higher than when
they have no complaints in the first place
Extreme dissatisfaction can result in a boycott.
Disposal forms:
• Dumping
• Recycling
• Selling second hand
• Re-using in a novel way
Drive: The force generated in an individual as a result of a felt need
A gap between actual and desired state can be enjoyable, the extent to which this is enjoyable, is
called the optimum stimulation level (OSL).
Needs: UTILITARIAN: the practical benefits of the product
HEDONIC: the pleasurable or aesthetic aspects of the product
Involvement: the degree to which the individual feels attracted to a specific brand.
Involvement has cognitive (rational) and affective (emotional) aspects.
Involvement is influenced by both personal sources and situational sources (embarrassment factor)
Involvement is a FUNCTION OF loyalty (the tendency to repeat purchase of the brand)
Learning = behavioural changes that take place relative to an external stimulus condition
1. Must be a change in behaviour
2. This must result from external stimulus
No learning in the following cases:
1. Species response tendencies (reflexes, instincts)
2. Maturation (development of humans)
3. Temporary states (drunkenness, during period)
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Classical learning theory:
BEFORE CONDITIONING
Unconditioned stimulus (meat powder) Individual (dog) Unconditioned response (getting up)
DURING CONDITIONING
Conditioned stimulus (ringing a bell)
Unconditioned stimulus (meat powder) Individual (dog) Unconditioned response (getting up)
AFTER CONDITIONING
Conditioned stimulus (ringing a bell) Individual (dog) Conditioned response (getting up)
The unconditioned response has become a conditioned response!
US = unconditioned stimulus
CS = conditioned stimulus
Operant conditioning
Based on reinforcement: if someone buys a product and he is satisfied, he is likely to buy it again.
Through the ‘positive reinforcement’, the customer has become ‘conditioned’ to buy the product
again.
Cognitive learning
Five aspects:
Cognitive effort
Cognitive structure
Analysis
Elaboration
Memory
- Effort put in thinking about product offering
- The way information is fitted into existing knowledge
- Analysing the information
- Structuration of information in the brain, creating a coherent whole
- Mechanism by which information is stored
Elements in cognitive learning:
1. Drive – stimulus that impels action, learning
2. Cue – an external trigger which encourages learning
3. Response – The reaction the customer makes to the interaction between a drive and a cue
4. Reinforcement – The positive reward for buying the product
5. Retention – How well the learned material is remembered over time
Perception = dividing relevant and irrelevant information through the senses
The brain does not provide a complete view of the outside world, any gaps will be filled by
imagination and previous experience. The ‘cognitive map’ is a construct of imagination, affected by
the following factors:
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Subjectivity – relating to the individual
Categorisation – prejudging information (putting it into boxes), chunking
Selectivity – the degree to which the brain is selecting from the environment
Expectations – they make you interpret later information in a specific way
Past experiences – make us interpret experiences in the light of what we already know
The difficulty and goal of marketers lies in knowing what the general perception of the members of
the target group will be, as not one perception of the world is the same through 2 different
individuals.
Peer and Reference groups and the Family
Reference group = ‘a person or group of people that significantly influence an individual’s behaviour’
Categories (non-exhaustive list):
Primary Groups – people we see most often; friends, family, close colleagues
Secondary Groups – people seen occasionally and with whom we share a shared interest; sports club
Aspirational Groups – the groups an individual wishes to join; powerful; will adopt behaviour to join
Dissociative Groups – groups with which the indiv does not wish to be associated; negative behaviour
Formal Groups – professional associations or clubs; often have set, written rules
Informal Groups – less structured groups often based on friendship; no written rules
Automatic Groups – (category groups) groups one automatically belongs to (age, gender etc.)
Group influence
Normative Compliance – the pressure to comply and conform
Value-expressive influence – need for psychological association with the group
Informational influence – need to seek information from the reference group
Families have the greatest influence on behaviour
Self-Image
1. Real self – the objective self that others observe
2. Self-image – This is the subjective self, as we see ourselves
3. Ideal self – the person we wish we were
4. Looking-glass self – The way we think other people see us
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Chapter 5: ORGANISATIONAL BUYING BEHAVIOUR
Decision-making unit: A group of people who, between them, decide on purchases (Buying Centre)
Members:
Initiators – the first ones to recognize the problem
Gatekeepers – the person who controls the flow of information
Buyers – the person who negotiates the purchase (only administrative, little authority)
Deciders – the persons who have the power to agree a purchase
Users – staff who uses the product (engineers, technicians), are often also the initiators
Influencers – persons who have the ability to sway the judgement of the deciders (advisers)
The decider takes up a central position in this hierarchy!
There is a wide variety of risk-reducing tactics, a few being:
- Visit the operations of potential vendor
- Question present customers about their experiences
- Multisource the order
Etc.
Factors affecting buying decisions:
- Physical (location)
- Technological (technological standards must match)
- Economical influences (demand in country, tax regime)
- Political influences (trade barriers, sanctions etc.)
- Legal influences (safety measures, other legal restrictions)
- Ethical influences (act in benefit of company, no bribe-taking)
- Cultural influences (also corporate culture)
MRO – Maintenance, repair and overhauling companies (=aftermarket)
OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer
End User – company using cleaning materials, copier paper, office furniture etc.
Reseller organisations (retailers, wholesalers)
1. Negotiating with suppliers
2. Promotional activities
3. Warehousing and storage
4. Transport of shipments
5. Inventory control
6. Credit control
7. Pricing and collection of price information
8. Collection of market information about customers and competitors
Government organisations, Institutional organisations, Reseller organisations, Businesses &
Commercial organisations
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Buyer’s techniques:
small risk
Straight rebuy – same product over and over again, large quantities
Modified rebuy – repeat purchase where some changes have been made
medium risk
New task – A purchase which has no precedent
large risk
Key-account manager = someone charged with the task of managing the relationship with a
strategically important customer
Business networks;
Stable – perhaps still growing, predictable course
Established – fixed and relatively unchanging
Emerging – growing and changing
Value analysis = evaluating components, raw materials and manufacturing processes to determine
ways of cutting costs or improving finished products (e.g. comparing long-life light bulbs with
regular bulbs)
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Chapter 6: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING
Segmentation at 4 levels:
- Mass marketing (does not work as good as it used to nowadays – too much wealth)
- Segmented markets (groups of individuals with similar needs)
- Niche marketing (serving a small segment)
- Micromarketing (tailoring, specific circumstances; Dell computers)
Behavioural segmentation:
1. Benefits sought (functionality, design)
2. Purchase occasion (regular purchase, occasional treat)
3. Purchase behaviour (time/place/quantities of purchase)
4. Usage (heavy, medium, light, ex-users)
5. Buyer readiness stage (are people interested and aware of the product?)
6. Attitude towards the product (better to concentrate on ‘floating voters’ than on sworn
enemies of your party)
Geographic segmentation
ACORN system: A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods
- Area determines income level, culture, houses people live in
Demographic segmentation:
Age, Gender, Income, Religion, Ethnicity and nationality
Psychographic segmentation:
NEED-DRIVEN
INNER & OUTER – DIRECTED
INTEGRATED
Introvert/extrovert
Sensible/intuitive
Thinking/feeling
Judging/perceptive
Compliant; moves towards people
Aggressive; moves against people
Detached; moves away from people
Potential customers:
- First-time prospects (never done business with before, potential customer)
- Novices (first-time users)
- Sophisticates (buy regularly from your company)
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8 generic factors which are used to position products:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Top of the range
Service
Value for money
Reliability
Attractiveness
Country of origin
Brand name
Selectivity
Those specific characteristics rely on the following factors:
1. Clarity – must be clear where it is positioned
2. Credibility – cheap products cannot position themselves as ‘premium’
3. Consistency – must have a consistent brand image
4. Competitiveness – a brand has to manoeuvre itself in a position where it is subject to little
competition
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Chapter 7: MARKETING INFORMATION AND RESEARCH
Market research:
Customer research; investigate the behaviour of purchasers
Advertising research; investigate (potential) effectiveness of advertising
Product research; investigate product opportunities, strengths & weaknesses of a product
Distribution research; which distributors are most appropriate
Sales research; investigate performance and effectiveness of sales activities
Environment research; investigate external factors
Preliminary research (exploratory) > Conclusive research
>
Performance research
Outlines problems
answers to problems tests effectiveness of marketing actions
Secondary research; research that already has been carried out by someone else, which you use
Primary research; research that has to be executed from scratch
Triangulation; using more than one research method to answer the same question, in order to
reduce the chances of errors
Quantitative research:
1. Questionnaires
2. Interview surveys
3. Observation (= non-intrusive)
4. Test marketing (offer a product to a small group of customers)
5. Panels (permanently established group of research respondents)
Bias = errors in research results caused by failures in the research design or sampling method
Closed questions: only a small range of possible answers
Open questions: A wide range of possible answers
Dichotomous question: Only ‘yes’ or ‘no’. (Actually, only 2 variables)
Longitudinal study: a study which is carried out over a lengthy time period
Validity:
Internal validity: A condition in which a research exercise provides evidence which supports what the
exercise was intended to discover
External validity: A condition in which a research exercise would generate the same results if it were
repeated elsewhere (refers to the generalizability)
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Experimental designs (before/after refers to measuring):
1. After-only design
2. Before-after without control
3. Before-after with control
4. After-only with control
5. Ex-post-facto design
6. Four-group six-study design
7. Time series design
Qualitative research is good for finding out people’s deeper motivations, but lacks statistical value
which quantitative research does possess.
Ethics in marketing research
Ethical issues:
Intrusions on privacy
Misuse of research findings
Competitive information gathering
Sugging (selling under the guise of marketing research)
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Chapter 8: COMMUNICATIONS THEORIES
Attitude formation:
1. Attitude is learned, not instinctive
2. Attitude Is a tendency to respond, not the response itself
3. Attitude is consistent over time
4. Attitudes can be favourable or unfavourable
5. There is an implied relationship between the person and the attitudinal object
Attitude has three dimensions:
Cognition – The rational component of attitude
Affect – The emotional component of attitude
Conation – The person’s intended behaviour, derived from this attitude
Salient belief: the understanding that an object possesses a relevant attribute
There are two routes to attitude formation:
Central route – the cognitive approach to changing behaviour
Peripheral route – the affective approach to changing behaviour
Schramm model:
Senders encode messages > Receiver decodes messages
>
Receiver sends feedback to sender
Noise (surrounding distraction) & Interference (deliberate distraction) are disturbing the
communication process.
Redundancy = In communications, sending a message by more than one route to ensure correct
delivery (TV, radio, papers)
Denotative meaning of words; has a unique meaning for an individual
Connotative meaning of words; has the same meaning for everybody
Ethnocentrism = the belief that one’s own culture is superior to others
Miscommunication
Implication: assuming things, having prejudices, recipient adding information
Distortion: interference or noise from outside can change the message (could also be bias)
Disruption: caused by outside interruptions or internal misgivings of the recipient
Confusion: contradictory facts
Agreement/disagreement: recipient understands but does not accept the message.
Understanding/misunderstanding: this is often not noticed
Personal transformation: people are not motivated to seek understanding
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Structuring the communications mix
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Identify target audience
Determine the response sought
Choose the message
Choose the channel
Select the source’s attributes
Collect feedback (e.g. carry out market research)
Push vs. Pull strategies
Push strategy: promoting to channel intermediaries in order to ‘push’ products through the
distribution channel
Pull strategy: Promoting to end users in order to ‘pull’ products through the distribution channel
Budgeting: what the organisation can afford for their communication activities
They have to spend more than a certain minimum level in order to be heard at all, resulting from the
noise of advertising clutter (excessive advertising)
Elements that marketers have to consider when making the promotional effort:
1. Size of budget
2. Size of individual order value
3. Number of potential buyers
4. Geodemographical spread of potential buyers
5. Category of product (convenience, shopping etc.)
6. What the firm is trying to achieve
Advertising effectiveness:
Degree to which people find it enjoyable
Degree to which people like the advert
Degree to which people find the advert interesting
Degree to which people are aware of the advert
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Chapter 9: INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Globalisation of trade:
Comparative advantage; some countries are better placed to produce certain goods than others
Economies of scale; domestic market is too small to account for the production costs
Trade liberalisation; free trade creates wealth
International product lifecycle; when decline in one country takes place, introduce in another
Limited growth in domestic markets; when domestic market is saturated (satisfied), internationalise.
Technological changes; because of improvements in telecommunications and air transport
Global competition; foreign companies penetrate your market, you go and penetrate theirs
Access to resources; when resources are acquired abroad, you can use that same market to sell
Classification of international perspectives:
Ethnocentric – domestic market is most important
Polycentric – overseas markets are seen and treated as domestic markets
Regional – you group overseas countries together and treat them as one market
Geocentric – treat the world as a single market
Stages of development approach:
Exporting > Establish sales office abroad >
Overseas distribution > Overseas manufacture > Global marketing
Dunning’s Eclectic (taking account of all factors) Theory:
The firm enters foreign markets by whatever means are most appropriate to the firm,
They do not have to go through all stages.
Target markets can be chosen for any of these reasons:
1. Geographical proximity
2. Psychological proximity (cultural similarities)
3. Market size and growth rate
4. Costs of serving the market
5. Profit potential
6. Market access
7. Competition
Global strategy
1. Keep product and promotion the same
2. Adapt only promotion
3. Adapt only product
4. Adapt both product and promotion
5. Invent new products
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Culture
Religion - Language -
Social structure
-
Shared beliefs & Ethics
- Non-verbal language
High-context culture; highly homogenous with rigid rules, everybody knows their place
Low-context culture; highly heterogeneous and with tolerant rules (US & Western Europe)
Market Entry Tactics
Export agents – person or company that takes responsibility for organising the export of goods
without taking title to the goods
Export houses – An organisation which buys goods for sale abroad
Import houses – An organisation which buys goods in from abroad
Confirming houses – An organisation which handles the mechanics of exporting and importing on
behalf of manufacturers or buyers
Joint ventures – teaming up with foreign firms to market each other’s products
Licensing agreements – an agreement to use a firm’s intellectual property in exchange for a royalty
Franchising – An agreement to use a firm’s business methods and intellectual property in exchange
for a fee and a royalty. Franchising is used in services industries.
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Chapter 10: CREATING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Differentiation: A strategy must be different from that of the competitors
Strategic decisions are more important than tactical decisions.
They are made by top management
They are long-term, tactics are short-term
Regularity, formulation is continuous and irregular
Nature of problem, strategies are unstructured and unique; they involve risk and uncertainty
Strategies require large amounts of external information needed
Strategic decisions are broad, tactical decisions are detailed
Ease of evaluation; strategic decisions are difficult to judge
Levels of organisational analysis in marketing
Functional (sub-systems; advertising, sales)
Business (marketing department; integration of sub-functions)
Corporate (divisional marketing; relationship between central and peripheral marketing units)
Enterprise (strategic alliances and networks; decide upon partnerships and alliances)
Organismic organisations: Organisations which do not have a fixed strategy or structure, they adapt
to the tasks they are facing
Writing down the strategy to paper:
1. A vision statement; what the organisation is to become in the long term
2. The mission statement; sought achievements, progress towards them can be measured
3. The objectives statement; long-term and medium-term objectives, these must be
measurable
Competitive positions
1. Overall cost leadership – minimise costs, reduced prices
2. Differentiation – makes significantly differentiated products, premium prices
3. Focus – specific markets, luxury items
Basic market positions
1. Market leader: DEFENCE STRATEGIES
2. Market follower (follows the lead of the main company in the market)
Cloners (almost exact copies)/ Imitators (some differentiation)/ Adapters (Improved products)
3. Market nicher; SPECIALIZE!
4. Market challenger
FRONTAL ATTACK/ FLANKING ATTACK / ENCIRCLEMENT ATTACK/BYPASS ATTACK/ GUERILLA
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Growth strategies:
Market penetration – more sales in existing markets
Product development – introducing new products in existing markets
Market development – introducing existing products into new markets (exporting!)
Diversification – New products, new markets (high risk, high profit)
Value-based marketing:
Increasing share-holder value, not necessarily linked to profitability
Approaches to strategy
Classical; environmental analysis as the basis for decision-making and long-term planning
Evolutionary; adapt to environment, survival of the fittest
Processualist; strategy through the bottom-up process
Systemic; companies follow policies predicted by their local social constraints
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Chapter 11: BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Customers are not as loyal as thought before. Focus has to be on retaining existing customers, as this
is much cheaper opposed to recruiting new customers.
Value Chain Analysis: Assessment of ways in which organisations add value to their products
VALUE CHAIN
Primary activities
Inbound logistics
Outbound logistics
Marketing communications
Before-sales and after-sales service
Procurement (obtaining resources)
Raw material extraction
Manufacture
Distribution
End user: consumer
Value network = the group of organisations which collectively add value to raw materials
Relationship marketing = the practice of concentrating on the lifetime value of customers rather
than their value in the single transaction. Aimed at retaining customers.
Cross-selling: Selling new products to existing customers. Much cheaper than selling to new
customers.
KAM = key account management
KAM stages of development model (describes stages in dyadic relationships)
Pre-KAM; relationship has not yet started, each partner is looking for the other
Early-KAM; partners have made a start upon doing business together
Mid-KAM; partnership is established and working well
Partnership-KAM; partners working in a highly-integrated way, dividing the work and profits
Synergistic-KAM; at this point the companies are virtually indistinguishable
Uncoupling-KAM; this can occur after any stage, they go separate ways
Quality management
Benchmarking: Setting performance standards by comparing performance with that of the best of
the competing firms
Managing the relationship in consumer markets
Relationship management examples;
• Customer loyalty cards in supermarkets
• Frequent flyer programmes
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Customer retention strategies
50% of the customers are lost over the years (average)
The rest is ‘loyal’ to a certain degree:
Price loyalty – loyalty remains if company remains price leader
Monopoly loyalty – if other alternatives become available, customers will defect
Inertia loyalty – loyalty because the product saves us the trouble of finding a new one
Emotional loyalty – this is a function of involvement, strongest kind of loyalty
Disloyalty – dissatisfied customers, they tell others about their experience, very damaging
Customer winback:
Second lifetime value (the value of a former customer who has been won back to the firm’s
products) may differ from first time users. They are already familiar with the product; the company is
more familiar with the customer. Sales cycle (activities undertaken by salespeople) will therefore be
shorter.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Intentionally pushed away by the company itself
Unintentionally pushed away by the company itself
Pulled away by competitors better value
Bought away by competitors lower prices
Moved away; needs changed
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Chapter 12: PRODUCT PORTFOLIO
4 stage in the product life cycle (PLC):
Introduction phase > Growth phase > Maturity phase > Decline phase
PLC shows how sales and profits may rise and fall over its life
The product portfolio has to be a coherent, well-balanced mix of products which partly determines
what direction the company is going in, so it’s also a strategic issue.
Boston Consulting Group Mix
HIGH
Market
Growth
S
$$
LOW
HIGH
Market Share
LOW
The War Horse (Big share, negative growth in market) and the Dodo (Small share, negative growth in
market) can also be added.
General Electric Matrix:
MARKET
ATTRACTIVENESS
HIGH
MED.
LOW
COMPETITIVE STRENGTH OF PRODUCT
STRONG
AVERAGE
Strong
Strong
Strong
Medium
Medium
Weak
WEAK
Medium
Weak
Weak
This matrix is more flexible than the Boston Consulting Group Matrix
Cost-Plus pricing: Calculating production costs, adding profit margin = price
Five categories of product, from service to tangible goods
1. Pure tangible goods
2. Tangible goods with accompanying service
3. Hybrid
4. Major service with supporting goods and services
5. Pure service
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Packaging:
• Informs customers
• Meets legal information requirements
• Aids the use of the product (easier to open)
• Protection from the environment (most important)
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Chapter 13: NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
1.
2.
3.
4.
Product replacement – new models of existing products
Additions to existing lines – brand extensions and complementary products
New product lines – for the purpose of moving into new markets
New-to-the-world products – mobile phones, cars, satellite communications
Robertson’s classification of the effects new products have on consumers’ lives
Continuous innovation: incremental improvements in existing products
Dynamically continuous innovation; a substantial shift in technology, though no big impact
Discontinuous innovation; a new product which significantly changes customers’ lifestyles
Innovation strategies:
1. Offensive; to be the first in the new market
2. Defensive; they act in response to competitive challenges from market challengers
3. Imitative; copies of other firms’ products, with our without slight adaptations
4. Dependent; component supplier for a car manufacturer that produces new models
5. Traditional; not innovative at all, resurrects or keeps producing old-fashioned products
6. Opportunist; produces and markets inventions
Stages:
Innovators
>
Early adopters
>
Early majority
>
Late majority
>
Laggards
Two-step flow theory:
New product information influential (respected individuals) customers
Awareness/adoption process:
Awareness
Rejection w/out trial
Trial
Adoption
Rejection after trial
Consumer judgement factors in innovative products:
Relative advantage; the degree to which the new product is better than the one it replaces
Compatibility; the degree to which a product fits in
Complexity; the degree to which the product is difficult to understand
Trialability; the degree to which the product can be tried before adoption
Observability; the degree to which a product can be seen by others
Technophones (those who often buy new technology) vs technophobes (those who do the opposite)
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Chapter 14: PRICING
The pricing process:
Set Price objective
Develop pricing strategy
Determine demand
Estimate costs
Review competitive offerings
Select pricing method
Establish pricing policies
Determine prices
Profit-orientated, sales-orientated and status quo-orientated
Grey-market; foreign distributors buy products low-cost, and sell them in your market in order to
generate a much higher profit, while their prices are still relatively low.
Mark-up pricing
Cost price + profit margins (mark-ups)
Mark-up = proportion of price paid by retailer
Margin = proportion of price a product is sold for to customer (shelf price)
Customary pricing: the price a product has always been sold for
Demand pricing: pricing according to what the customers are prepared to pay
Product-line pricing: taking account of sales that are dependent (system razors & razor blades)
Skimming: pricing products highly at first, reducing the price steadily
Psychological pricing: €9,99 instead of €10,00 (Odd-even pricing)
Second-market pricing: charging lower prices for different markets (students, elderly people)
Competitor-based marketing: observe competitors, base price on their price & quality
Penetration pricing: setting low prices in an attempt to capture a large market share
Predatory pricing: pricing at extremely low levels (sometimes below cost of production) in order to
damage competitors or force them to leave the market. Dumping = extreme form
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Chapter 15: ADVERTISING
Budgets:
- Objective and task method
- Percentage of sales method
- Competition matching method
- Marginal approach
- All-you-can-afford method
Media:
-
Print advertising; roughs or scamps (drafts) are used preliminary
Broadcast advertising; zapping, zipping, audience fade-out
Outdoor advertising
Transport advertising; livery (painting a public-transport vehicle in advertising)
Ambient advertising
Internet advertising; banners, pop-ups, presence websites, spam
Cinema advertising; under-used, underestimated
All of these media have strengths and weaknesses
Customer responses to advertising:
1. Advertising aficionados; think advertising in general is a good thing
2. Consumer activists; regular complainers
3. Advertising moral guardians; believe that advertising is bad, creates a materialist society
4. Advertising seekers; see advertising as a form of entertainment
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Chapter 16: PUBLIC RELATIONS AND SPONSORSHIP
Corporate reputation: the overall image of the organisation
The goal is to establish the firm’s activities in the people’s minds in a positive way
Public Relations (PR) goals is to give the world the impression that their firm is ‘a good firm to do
business with’
Press releases & press conferences
Creating and managing a reputation
Spin-doctoring: attempts to cover up ad news by slanting it in a way which puts the organisation in a
favourable light
Boundary scanning: monitoring the interfaces between the firm and its publics
Sources which influence reputation:
1. Direct experience of dealing with the organisation
2. Hearsay evidence from friends, colleagues and acquaintances
3. Third-party public sources such as newspaper articles and published research
4. Organisation-generated information such as brochures and annual reports
Image; the overall impression a company or brand has in the eyes of its publics
Establishing a positive corporate image is essential in order to increase shareholder value;
- It generates profit
- It makes the company more attractive to shareholders
Increasing shareholder value is about creating a long-term, secure and growing investment. Not just
making profit.
Sponsorship: An investment in an activity in return for access to the exploitable commercial potential
associated with this activity.
You link the customer’s beliefs about the sponsored event to the company doing the sponsoring
PR-relations can also be managed by an external firm, specialised in handling Public Relations.
In order to do so, a brief has to be made, in which the consultant can view his goals. It gives him a
blueprint to follow.
The firm’s objectives have to be listed, and they have to meet the SMARTT criteria:
1. Specific
4. Relevant
2. Measurable
5. Targeted accurately
3. Achievable
6. Timed
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Chapter 17: SELLING AND KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT
Sales is not about persuading people to buy things; not about fast-talking a customer into making a
rash decision. It’s about meeting the customer, discussing his/her problems and developing a
creative solution.
Silent seller (=the book of sales materials carried by sales representatives)
Salesperson’s activities:
Needs analysis based on situation and problem question
Analysis of needs to identify problems
Selection from among the existing range of products to find closest fit for prospect’s needs)
Price negotiation
Promotion; explaining features and benefits of the product in terms of the customer’s needs
Distribution negotiation; ensuring that the product reaches the customer correctly
Types of salespeople:
Consumer direct
Industrial direct
Government institutional direct
Consumer indirect; advises retailer
Industrial indirect; supporting distributors and agents
Missionary sales; missionary = salesperson who does not sell directly, but ‘spreads the word’
Key account salespeople; sells to customer or potential customer with strategic importance
to the firm (key account)
Agents; does not take title to the goods being sold
Merchandisers; a type of sales person who has the responsibility of establishing and
maintaining in-store displays
Telesales; selling over the telephone
System selling; marketing on a one-to-one basis by a team of salespeople
Franchise selling; have the authority to use the entire business model of a different company
The sales presentation
Opening the sale, using an ‘icebreaker’
The presentation; act polite, be a ‘friend in business’
Asking questions
Handling objections; taking care of the questions that might have been raised
Difference between objections and conditions:
Objections are questions; conditions prevent the sale from going ahead
Closing the sale; using closing techniques to end the talk
Post-presentation activities; leaving brochures, information and telephone numbers
After-sales service; return to the company you sold to, it will often result in long-term
relationships.
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Chapter 18: EXHIBITIONS AND SALES PROMOTIONS
Activities at exhibitions:
Selling
Making sales
Generating leads
Making contacts with customers
Non-selling
Flag waving
Observing competitors
Getting an ‘edge’ on non-exhibitors
Visitors:
Tyre kickers; have no purchasing intent or power, but pretend that they do
Wheeler-dealers; have power and intention to buy, want the best deal
Technocrats; engineers or technicians – mostly information seekers
Foxes; have their own agenda, spying on competitors or selling their own products
Day trippers; students, retired people etc. coming to enjoy
The KAM/PPF model can be applied here also.
Exhibitions have to be thoroughly planned and worked out in order for them to work.
Staff has to be motivated
There are also alternatives of exhibitions;
Private exhibitions and road shows.
Sales promotions
Can be used to encourage the customer to ‘trade up’ (=buy the more expensive version), to expand
usage or to use a trial.
Mechanics can help in persuading the customer.
Mechanics are the activities the customer must undertake during the sales promotion.
Sales techniques
Free tastings
Money-off vouchers
Two-for-one
Piggy-backing or bundling (giving a free sample attached to a purchased product)
Instant lottery or scratch cards
Free gift with each purchase
Loyalty cards
The offers should NOT look like they are too good to be true; customers might suspect a ‘catch’.
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Chapter 19: DIRECT AND ONLINE MARKETING
Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing which uses one or more advertising media
to effect a measureable response and/or transaction at any location.
Direct marketing rests on 4 key issues:
1. Targeting; wrong targeting will work counterproductive
2. Interaction; getting a response from the customer is key to marketer’s success
3. Control; it is possible to pre-test almost every aspect of the direct provision
4. Continuity; developing an on-going, continuous relationship with the customer
Database marketing:
Using interactive approaches such as mail, telephone and the salesforce, to provide the target
audience with information and stimulate demand.
Drivers for direct marketing:
Changing demographics and lifestyles
Media fragmentation; able to narrowcast (target specific audience with specific interest)
Increasing salesforce costs; salespeople cost too much
Alternative distribution channels; internet, direct-response TV
Changing business focus; switched from customer acquisition to customer retention
The list explosion; there are many lists with many, many addresses and names of individuals
Sophisticated analytical techniques; individuals can be grouped better, by lifestyle or tastes
and preferences for example
Junk mail = poorly-targeted mail
Tools of Direct Marketing
Direct mail; WHO, WHERE, WHAT, WHY, WHEN-questions should be asked
Telemarketing; selling or researching via the telephone
SMS marketing; cost effective, personalised, targeted, interactive, and other advantages
Direct response advertising; direct response from target audience
Catalogue marketing; availability of credit, convenience, range of goods
Direct response radio
Internet Marketing
Internal factors
Comparative advantage
Adoption of technology
Environmental factors
Internet adoption has gone in waves:
Wave 1: North America & Scandinavia
Wave 2: Rest of Europe, Australasia
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Wave 3: South East Asia, Brazil, Argentina
Wave 4: Developing world, 3rd world
There are 3 types of products on the internet:
Physical products, purchase happens offline; only contact information
Transaction-related products, airplane tickets
Virtual products; music, computer software, news services etc.
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Chapter 20: MANAGING CHANNELS
Choosing the right channel can be a strategic issue: some distribution routes will provide competitive
benefits, and different routes carry different risks.
‘Cutting out the middle man’-strategy does most often not work, as they provide important services
in smoothing the path between producer and customer. They actually reduce costs as they work with
greater efficiency than if there were no middle man at all.
Intermediaries reconcile (bring together) the needs of producers and consumers which results in the
following services:
Assortment
Information utility
Improved efficiency
Ownership utility
Time utility
Accessibility
Specialist services
Bulk breaking
Distributors can help in sharing the risk, understanding the market, providing credit, take care of fast
delivery, provide a segment-based product assortment and more.
Distributors can divide their customers into A, B and C-type customers.
A type: 10 per cent of population, 50% of turnover
B type: 30 per cent of turnover, medium size companies
C type: small firms, only placing small orders
Each company might be reached through different distribution routes. (Direct, through agents,
through wholesalers and retailers)
Distribution intensity
Intensity of market coverage;
Mass-market; reach as many customers as possible
Selective distribution; limited number of specialist outlets
Exclusive distribution; extreme form of distribution, retailers are given the sole rights to sell
Selecting a distributor:
Mostly this is the other way round, as distributors often have more power and are therefore able to
select their suppliers.
Physical distribution = movement of products from producer to retailer and ultimately to customer
Logistics = supply chain coordination to achieve a seamless flow from raw material to end consumer
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Effective supply chain management is a powerful tool for creating competitive advantage for the
following reasons:
1. It reduces costs
2. It improves asset utilisation
3. It reduces order cycle time
Establishing and Maintaining Relationships
1.
2.
3.
4.
Supplier partnerships: Goods vs. Services suppliers
Lateral partnerships: Competitors vs. non-profit organisations vs. governments
Buyer partnerships: Intermediate customers vs. end customers
Internal partnerships: Business units vs. Employment vs. Functional departments
Inventory Management:
JIT – Just-in-time purchasing; no stocks, the responsibility for maintaining inventories lies with
suppliers
JIT, in general, is not used anymore.
Estimates of future sales are key in controlling the logistics and inventory.
Transportation
Five main categories:
-By Road
-By rail
-By air
-By water
-By pipeline
Liner = a ship or aircraft which operates on a regular route at fixed times
Tramp ship = a ship which does not follow set routes, but which sails when it has a cargo for a
particular port
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Chapter 21: INTERMEDIARIES
Intermediaries
Those who take title to
the goods
Those who do not take
title to the goods
Wholesalers: sell to
other intermediaries
Agents
Licencees and
franchisees
Retailers: sell to
consumers
Management contracts
Agents
Brokers: bring buyers and sellers together
Factors: hold stocks on behalf of the client
Del credere agents: don’t take title, do take the risk
Licensing is appropriate in the following circumstances:
- Where it’s impossible to set up business in a particular foreign market
- Where the cost of shipping goods are too high
- Where the target market is patriotic, so that they only buy ‘home-produced’ products
Shopping behaviour
A social experience outside the home
Communication with other having a similar interest
Peer group attraction
Status and authority
Pleasure of bargaining
Non-store retailing (door-to-door selling, telemarketing, mail order) has declined in recent years, but
with the arrival of e-commerce it is regaining strength.
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Atmospherics
Product
mix
Retail
success
Buying the
right goods in
the right
quantities
Appropriate
service level
Service levels:
Self-service
Store
image
>
Limited service
>
Suburban
>
Full service
As service increases, so does the price
Locations
City Centre
>
Out of town
Store image
Sight
Scent
Sound
Other sensory experiences
Other shoppers
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Chapter 22: PEOPLE, PROCESS AND PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
As products move closer to the ‘service’ end of the spectrum, people, process and physical evidence
become more and more important
Loyalty benefits (people):
1. Increased purchases
2. Lower cost
3. Lifetime value of a customer
4. Sustainable competitive advantage
5. Word-of-mouth
6. Employee satisfaction
Physical products are paid for beforehand, services are paid for afterwards.
With services, you buy promises.
People
4 groups
1. Contactors: Staff who have daily contact with customers
2. Modifiers: Staff who have some contact with customers for specific purposes
3. Influencers: The person who has the ability to sway the judgement of a decider
4. Isolateds: no customer contact and have very little to do with conventional marketing
Empowerment = Giving staff the ability to resolve customer problems without recourse to higher
management
Process
A series of actions taken in order to convert inputs to something of greater value
Processes combine the following 4 basic resources:
- Basic assets
- Explicit knowledge
- Tacit knowledge (skill)
- Procedure (not the same as process; a good procedure without tacit knowledge is not a good
process)
Physical Evidence
Important in case there is be no tangible proof that the product has ever been consumed
Adding value through physical evidence:
1. Increasing loyalty
2. Enhancing brand image
3. Physical evidence that has intrinsic value of its own (a gift)
4. Physical evidence which leads to further sales
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