The question exists about whether marketing works to satisfy existing needs and wants
that customers may have or whether marketing actually creates those needs and wants in the first
place. The one side of the issue is that marketing is seeking to satisfy existing needs and wants
that a customer has in their life with a particular product or service. Marketers are only letting
consumers know about these products, and how they could fill a particular want or need that the
consumer has noticed already. This is seeing marketing as a benefit in that it is providing
knowledge of a product or service that the consumer was not familiar with or had forgotten about
that they could be using to make their life better. Also, this is a benefit to businesses that can
serve that need with their product and services that might not be discovered by consumers, and
have trouble keeping their business open. It could be argued that society itself could not run
properly without marketing to help inform consumers.
The other side of this issue is that marketing is creating a need or want in the consumer
for a product that they would not have had a use for previously. In essence, that marketing is
making a consumer consume products that they would not have purchased without the
marketing. They are enticing a consumer to spend their hard earned dollars on something that
they previously did not need or want, but only have their feelings manipulated by a successful
marketing strategy. This can be detrimental to individuals and society as a whole as it creates
this false need and want for things that some consumers may not normally be able to afford such
luxury items. It has created these types of items to be status symbols that people crave.
Overall, marketing does not create needs and wants in consumers, but seems to be more
responding to these needs and wants. According to Kotler and Keller (2012), “Marketing is an
organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to
customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its
stakeholders” (p. 28). Most consumers already have the needs and wants, which marketers use
to pinpoint them towards particular items. The main detriment is when marketing is done
unethically and leads people falsely towards products.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
As the marketing manager for a video rental chain, it will be essential to identify the
major competitive spheres that the company operates within. Each will have some impact on
each other, and will have an overall impact on the success or failure of the organization. The
different spheres to be identified are the industry, products and applications, competence, market
segment, vertical and geographical. Each of these is important in that they will help to create the
ideas and boundaries for the mission statement of the organization.
There are two separate industries that the video rental chain can be deemed a part of for
their mission. The main industry is as a rental company that rents to consumers movies and
video games for a set amount of time. The second industry is a retail business where each chain
store is able to sell their used movies and video games when it is time to move around inventory
levels. Also, each chain store can sell new movies along with all the condiments that consumers
would purchase if visiting the movies. There will be a display for candies, popcorn, re-usable
popcorn buckets, a pop cooler and other items that can help consumers bring he movie theater
feel to their home when watching their rentals.
The key product that the video store chain will offer is rental entertainment in offering
movies and video games rentals. Movies will be available in both a Blu-Ray and DVD format to
satisfy consumers that own each type of device. Video game rentals will be available in all the
different formats of gaming systems today, with some computer games discs, along with the
different versions of Xbox, PlayStations, and Nintendo. This is intended to serve any household
for their entertainment needs.
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), “The firm identifies the range of technological
and other core competencies it will master and leverage” (p. 39). In this, the video rental chain
needs to be able to compete with the convenience and cost of the rental vending machines that
exist on almost every corner. The competency that is most needed for these chain stores would
be employees that really know movies. They can help direct customers to suggestions on what
to get, help customers when they cannot remember a title, and offer that personal touch that the
vending machines do not have to offer.
There are a few market segments that the video rental chain will aim to serve. The chain
stores will focus on going for the older demographic that may not have the time or patience to
deal with the vending machine movie rental box, gamers that cannot get enough variety from the
vending machines and do not want to use a mail service like Gamefly, and movie aficionados
that cannot find the titles they are looking to see anywhere else. Each of these groups can be
better served by an actual brick and mortar business with helpful employees.
The vertical sphere is going to be relatively small in that there will be a smaller number
of levels in that the video rental chain will not be dealing with any raw materials. They will
purchase the rentals and other items from a distributor and then offer their services to the
consumer. It will not be required to go any deeper than that into the production.
The initial geographical area for the video rental chain will be in one county in the state
of residence. As the popularity of the video stores come up, the video rental chain will look to
expand where they have set up shop. Eventually, it may be possible to expand into other
surrounding states depending on the popularity. The key will be to have enough stores that
consumers find it easy to come in on a regular basis without oversaturating the area with them.
In conclusion, these items will be vital for creating a marketing plan that will help the
video rental chain be successful. They may not seem to be connected, but each play their own
role in allowing a company to define their purpose and elaborate on their mission statement.
This allows the store to not overstep what their carefully laid out plan states, but allows them to
take advantage of the competitive environment they are entering.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
The business is a nursery that offers plants and gardening supplies to homeowners and
contractors. This includes vegetables, flowers, and trees that are grown in the nursery’s
greenhouses along with any products that a gardener or small landscaping contractor may need to
use during the growing season. A new product-line that they are looking to start marketing are
the materials to create fountains and koi ponds. This would include the service of having
someone from the nursery installing the fountain or pond in the background or offering all the
parts that would be needed to create these items. The nursery would also begin breeding koi fish
to continue that legacy of all live products coming from the nursery rather than being outsourced
from other vendors to ensure quality.
A market research plan will be necessary to determine if this is a viable option for the
nursery to get into or if this would prove to just be a drain on the resources of the nursery.
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), “We define marketing research as the systematic design,
collection, analysis, and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation
facing the company” (p. 98). The first area that needs to be researched for the viability of this
product line would be if what is being offered in the immediate area by contractors, other
nurseries and DIY stores to determine if there is a need or niche that can be filled by this product
line. The next area that needs to be researched is the demand for these types of products and
service. Another area that should be researched is the cost of bringing in this new product line
from suppliers, and how competitive the prices will be in comparison to the already established
businesses that are currently offering these products. Also, an area that needs to be researched is
how well breeding and creating an established population of koi would be for the nursery. The
final area that could be researched is actual demand with current customers that shop with the
nursery on to whether or not they currently have a pond or fountain that might require equipment
or fixing in the future, and if not, would they be interested in adding a pond or fountain to their
backyard later.
These research questions would need to be answered, and the data would need to be
analyzed. Based on the research and information analyzing, some recommendations that might
be made for bringing this new product line would be to start small to see how successful the
product launch will be, and how well it is embraced by the consumers. This may mean that the
koi fish that are offered for fishponds will have to be outsourced from other supplies for a while
before they are able to offer their own bred fish to the public as that could be an expensive
undertaking in the beginning that might not realize any return on investment. After this initial
period of seeing if this keeps loyal customer interested and brings in new customers, it would be
possible to determine if continuing this product line would be optimal for the nursery to do, if
this should just stay a small venture or be discontinued altogether.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.
There are some questions that the nursery can ask in a survey form that will help to
examine the existing or potential marketplace for adding the pond and fountain product lines.
Each will help to determine the viability of this move by the nursery, and guide the business
towards making a final decision. These will be comprised of closed and open-ended questions
for the customers to answer.

Do you currently have a pond or fountain in your yard? (Yes or No) This question will
help to identify if customers already have this, and may need to purchase supplies in the
future.

Have you thought of purchasing a pond or fountain in your yard? (Yes or No) This
question will help to identify if customers have been thinking of buying these items, and
may show a need for this product line.

Have you shopped at this nursery before? (Yes or No) This question will see how many
people were browsing or have visited before, and may make a purchase in the future.

Will you come back to the nursery? (Yes or No) This question can gauge how the
consumer felt about the nursery, and if they may continue to come in the future.

Do you find the prices competitive? (Yes or No) This question can help with product
pricing on the old and potential lines.

What is your current income? (Open response) This question can help to determine the
demographics of the consumers that come into the nursery.

What budget do you set aside for your gardening pursuits? (Open response) This is
another demographic question that can help to see what budget customers have when
coming into the nursery.

How large is your current property? (Open response) This question can be used to
determine if there are enough customers with large enough properties to support ponds or
fountains at the scale being offered.

What would your dream fountain or pond contain? (Open response) This question can
help to get an idea of the types of products that the consumers would like to see if they
could afford to build this.

What would stop you from purchasing fountain and pond supplies from this nursery?
(Open response) This question may identify what factors may need to be changed to get
consumers interested in purchasing these items from the nursery.
The method of administering this survey would be in a paper survey located by the exit
from the nursery. This will allow for customers and those just browsing to be able to answer the
survey as everyone has to leave from the same door. To entice the consumers in filling it out, it
will be helpful to offer a gift card or other incentive to get everyone involved in filling out the
survey form. According to Kotler and Keller (2012), “Some organizations use marketing
decision support systems to help their marketing managers make better decisions” (p. 112). The
component that this provides would be user information from actual consumers to help make the
most educated decision on whether to go through with this process or not. Each of these
questions can work together to determine if this is an good product line to add to the existing
line, along with getting other general information that can help with other decisions made by the
managers and owners.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall.