18-08-2012, 01:21 PM
SHOPPING EXPERIENCE AT METRO CASH & CARRY, YESHWANTHPUR, BANGALORE
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INTRODUCTION
The term marketing was developed from an original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.
Marketing in simple terms is explained as the business function entrusted with the criterion and satisfaction of customers to achieve the aims of business itself in popular usage, the term "marketing" refers to the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding.
Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."
Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, marketing management is one of the major components of business management. Marketing evolved in developing new markets caused by mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries. The adoption of marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their focus from production to the perceived needs and wants of their customers as the means of staying profitable.
7P’S OF MARKETING
Traditionally, these considerations were known as the 4 P’s Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
As marketing became a more sophisticated discipline, a fifth P was added-people. And recently, 2 further P’s were added mainly for service industries- Process and Physical Evidence. These considerations are now known as the 7 P’s of marketing and also referred as the marketing mix.
PRODUCT
Business needs to decide what one wants to buy, yet many businesses decide what to offer first and then hope to find a market for it afterwards. A successful company needs to find out what customers need or want and then develop the right product, with the right level of quality to meet those needs, now and in the future. The following are the features of a product,
• The product does not have to be tangible- an insurance policy can be a product.
• Whether there is a system in place to regularly check what the customers think of the product, the supporting services, etc, what their needs are now and whether they see them changing.
• The company should beware going too far with product quality.
PRICE
A product is only worth what customers are prepared to pay for it. The price also needs to be competitive but this does not necessarily mean cheapest; the small business may be able to compete with larger rivals by adding extra services or details that will offer customers better value for money. The pricing of the company must also provide a profit. It is the only element of the Marketing Mix that generates revenue, all others represents a cost. The following are the features of price.
• Price, positions the company in the market place.
• Existing customers are generally less sensitive about price than new customers.
• It gives an indication to potential and existing customers of where to place the company in relation to the competitors.
• Anything that can be seen by the customer must be consistent with the following higher quality expectations-Packaging, environment, promotional materials, letter heads, invoices etc.,
PLACE
The place where customer buys a product and the means of distributing the product to that place must be appropriate and convenient for the customer. The product must be available in the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity while keeping storage, inventory and distribution costs to an acceptable level. The following are the features of place,
• Customer surveys have shown that delivery performance is one of the most important criteria when choosing a supplier.
• Place also means ways of displaying your product to customer groups. This would be in a shop window.
PROMOTION
Promotion should pave way for a company to communicate, what it does and what it can offer customers. It includes activities such as branding, advertising, sales management etc. Promotion must gain attention, be appealing, tell a consistent message and give the customer a reason to choose the product rather than someone else’s. The following are features of promotion,
• Good promotion is not one way communication- it paves the way for a dialogue with the customer.
• Promotion should communicate the benefits that a customer obtains from a product, and not just the features of the product.
• The promotional material must grab the attention of the customers. It should be easy to read and enable the customers to identify why they should buy the product.
Promotion does not just mean communicating to the customer. It is just as important to ensure your internal stakeholder5s are aware of the value and attributes of the products. This means communicating effectively to the staff/fellow employees so that they can be knowledgeable and share expertise with their customers.
SERVICE SECTOR
The tertiary sector of the economy is one of the three economic sectors, the others being the secondary sector and the primary sector. The service sector consists of the "soft" parts of the economy, i.e. activities where people offer their knowledge and time to improve productivity, performance, potential, and sustainability. The basic characteristic of this sector is the production of services instead of end products. Services (also known as "intangible goods") include attention, advice, experience, and discussion.
The production of information is generally also regarded as a service, but some economists now attribute it to a fourth sector, the quaternary sector. The tertiary sector of industry involves the provision of services to other businesses as well as final consumers. Services may involve the transport, distribution and sale of goods from producer to a consumer, as may happen in wholesaling and retailing, or may involve the provision of a service, such as in pest control or entertainment. The goods may be transformed in the process of providing the service, as happens in the restaurant industry. However, the focus is on people interacting with people and serving the customer rather than transforming physical goods.
WHOLESALING
Wholesaler may be defined as the middleman who operates between the producers and the retailers. Wholesaler refers to any individual or business firm selling goods in relatively large quantities to buyers i.e. the retailers other than the ultimate consumers. Thus the manufacturers who sell their products directly to retailers may also be regarded as wholesalers. The specialized knowledge and skill of wholesalers increases the efficiency of the distribution network.
The wholesalers provide important services and solve the problems of both the manufacturers and the retailers. The wholesaling activity consists of selling to retailers or to industrial, commercial, institutional and professional users. Wholesalers can act on a fee or contract basis as agents or for their own-account, buying and selling goods.
The Wholesale Trade sector comprises establishments engaged in wholesaling merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering services incidental to the sale of merchandise. The wholesaling process is an intermediate step in the distribution of merchandise.