Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Needs, wants and demands are the core concepts of marketing. These are basically
inter related to each other which means needs which could be individualistic, social or
physical arise due to a state of deprivation and have to be fulfilled for a basic human
survival. Some human needs shaped by cultural and individual experiences and
lifestyles take the form of wants. Ultimately demands are those sets of wants which are
backed by the power to buy and could be related to many needs & wants. Other related
concepts of marketing may include the Marketplace with exchange and the actual
transaction as its base.
Basic marketing
Basic marketing is the set of activities used to get your potential customer's attention.
After this one has to formulate the communication in a manner so as to motivate them to
buy. Thereafter the efforts are directed towards getting the customers to actually
purchase. And then the ultimate goal that is to get them to buy the product again and
again .This process on the whole is referred to as basic marketing.
Reactive marketing
Reactive marketing is the most widely used approach in marketing. Reactive marketing
is based on the concept of react ,which mean for example if a competitor company is
following certain marketing practices with good resultant output we do the same by slight
change in design or price and adopting the same marketing policies. The ease of
approach in reactive marketing is the very reason for its popularity. At times due to stiff
competition in the market a firm might have no choice but to follow it so as to survive in
the marketplace and make profits.
Accountable marketing
Accountable marketing works on the concept that all the targeted marketing
communications should be accounted for in terms of the result or output they generate.
In other words every act of communication should concentrate on a unique selling or a
benefit driven point related to the product which ultimately results in motivating the
customer and adding on to the brand image of a brand or the product on a whole.
Proactive marketing
Partnership marketing
the customer is always looking for something more than what the actual benefits of a
product might be. Thus partnership marketing plays ball on the very fact to create
marketing communication and propositions for the customer which include value addition
of benefits to customer ,sourced and negotiated with a third partner. The benefit in this
form of enhanced propositions is that not only is it beneficial for the consumer and the
brand but also for the third partner by reducing costs of marketing communications.
Partnership marketing basically aims at adding more and more value to the benefits
derived by a customer.
The term marketing mix is referred to the amalgamation and use of the four Ps of
marketing in a manner so as to attain the highest level of customer motivation to buy a
particular product or services. Price, place, product and promotion are elements which
constitute the four Ps of the marketing mix. Some commentators may increase the
marketing mix to the Five P's, to include people. Others may increase the mix to Seven
P's, to include physical evidence and process.
PRODUCT
Product is the bases for all the marketing activities undertaken because all the marketing
communications are aimed towards selling utmost quantities of the product .
PRICE
Price plays an important role in the success of a product or service. Not only is it a major
determining factor for the customer while buying a product but also plays a major part in
determining the image of a product in the mind of the customer. The seller has to also
keep in mind the profit element while deciding the price of a product. Thus a balance
between all the aspects has to be achieved to determine a balanced pricing strategy.
PLACE
To sell and buy a product or service a common place is required which is suitable for
both the customers as well as the sellers. The selection of a particular marketplace
suitable is very essential to match the product and brand image.
Promotion
Promotion is basically aimed towards creating an awareness in the market and the
customers mind about a particular product or service. Its cheaper than advertising and
can definitely be more credible .It helps strengthen the brand image and can be
extensively used for new product launch.
The holistic marketing concept is based on the development, design, and implementation of
marketing programs, processes, and activities that recognize their breadth and
interdependencies. Holistic marketing recognizes that everything matters in marketing and that a
broad, integrated perspective is often necessary.
Integrated Marketing occurs when the marketer devises marketing activities and assembles
marketing programs to create, communicate, and deliver value for consumers such that the
whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Two key themes are that (1) many different marketing
activities can create, communicate, and deliver value and (2) marketers should design and
implement any one marketing activity with all other activities in mind.
Internal Marketing an element of marketing, is the task of hiring, training, and motivating able
employees who want to serve customers well. It ensures that everyone in the organization
embraces appropriate marketing principles, especially senior management.
Performance Marketing requires understanding the financial and nonfinancial returns to
business and society from marketing activities and programs. Smart marketers go beyond sales
revenue to examine the marketing scorecard and interpret what is happening to market share,
customer loss rate, customer satisfaction, product quality, and other measures. They also
consider the legal, ethical, social and environmental effects of marketing activities and
programs.
marketing sales
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Marketing_vs_Sales
The term marketing does not revolve around fulfilling the needs of a consumer alone but
also includes the value that the consumer is deriving from the use of the said product or
service. This value is arrived at by subtracting what the product cost a consumer(total
customer cost) from the benefits derived by him from the product (Total customer value).
The sum total of all the benefits (Product value ,service value, personnel value, Image
value) that a customer derives from a product or a service is termed as the total
customer value . In other words these are the benefits that the vendor or seller provides
in return of the associated payments received from a customer.
The total cost incurred by a customer in the process of evaluating what he wants to buy,
buying a product, using it and ultimately disposing it of is termed as total customer cost.
(monetary, time, energy, psychic).
Limited Decision Making - There are certain products which are brought occasionally
hence we require some time to gather the information to make a decision. Due to the
lack of knowledge of the product segment in advance it requires limited decision making
on the part of the customer.
Impulsive buying - At certain times we just come across a product and buy it
impulsively without any kind of prior planning, evaluation or thought.
a. Personal factors,
b. Psychological factors
c. Social factors.
Personal factors can be related to the persons age, sex , race, religion, occupation,
educational qualifications, level of authority etc.
Psychological factors refer to motives related to the satisfying of needs and wants which
can either arise out of deprivation or for instant social status.
Social factors refer to the physiological and social level of hierarchy in the society the
consumer belongs to, which determine his motives of purchasing a product.
Problem Recognition - This stage refers to recognizing a need or a want that has to be
satisfied.
Information search - This stage refers to the part of the decision process where in the
consumer searches information from different sources about the product he needs to
buy. A successful information search leaves a buyer with possible alternatives.
Purchase - This stage refers to the actual purchase made by the consumer depending
on the mode, payment conditions and the product availability.
Post-Purchase Evaluation - This stage will decide if the consumer will purchase the
same product again or if he is satisfied with the applications of the product in relation to
his needs. This can be improved by warranties, after sales services.
Business market in simple words is business to business market where in the products
or services of a particular organization are sold to or purchased by other organization or
business. It also happens in support industries where the products that are
manufactured are components required to be assembled into the products or services
offered by some other business organization.
Consumer market refers to a market where in the seller sells the product for a primary
reason of making profits while buyer buys the products for personal use.
The business buyer is sophisticated in terms of the process involved in buying, decision
making while on the other hand the consumer in the consumer market might not be as
sophisticated
Packaging is important in consumer market while its non existent in the business market.
Expert advice is taken while making purchases in the business market as against the
consumer market.
Consumer market product are simplistic while business products are complicated.
Who are the major participants in business buying process?
The major participants in business buying process are
Initiators-are the ones who initiate or recognize the need of a particular product
requirement in the organization for enhancement or to combat depravation.
Users-are the ones who are going to use the product or require it for the smooth
functioning of their operations.
Influencers --Influencers can be of different levels and the decisions that they influence
might differ from person to person or post to post. These are basically the people who
will influence the decision of which product to buy from where and what suitable price to
buy it in.
Deciders - they decide or have the authority to decide whether to buy a certain product
or not.
Approvers-they approve the deciders decision to by usually these people are authorized
to do so.
Buyers--They are the once who make the actually purchases from other business.
Monopoly is a market situation in which there is only one seller of a product with
barriers to entry of others. The product has no close substitutes. He is a price
maker who can set the price to his maximum advantage. This may occur because
the firm has a patent on a product or a license from the government to be a
monopoly .Pure monopoly occurs when the producer is so powerful that he is
always able to take the whole of all consumers income whatever the level of his
output is.
b) Oligopoly
Monopolistic competition refers to a market situation where there are many firms
selling a differentiated product. There is competition which is keen, though not
perfect, among many firms making very similar products. No firm can have any
perceptible influence on the price output policies of the other sellers nor can it be
influenced much by their actions. Thus monopolistic competition refers to
competition among a large number of sellers producing close but not perfect
substitutes for each other.
In pure competition the number of buyers and sellers is very large. There is a
perfect competition among them. Price is determined for the entire industry by the
forces of demand and supply. All firms have to sell their product at that price. No
firm can influence price by a single action. Thus every firm is a price taker and a
quality adjuster.
Segments must have enough profit potential to justify developing and maintaining
Consumer must have heterogeneous needs for the product
Segmented consumer needs must be homogeneous
Company must be able to reach a segment with its planned efforts. Must be able
to measure characteristics & needs of consumers to establish groups.
Introduction stage-This stage refers to the period when the product has been
introduced in the marketplace targeted to a specific or wide segments. Due to
less demand at this stage the costs are high and the sales volume are low as also
the competition is quite less in the market. Demand has to be created so that
customers are inclined towards trying the product.
Growth stage- This stage refers to the period when the product has caught the
market and the demand for it is steadily growing. During this stage the costs are
reduced due to higher sales volumes as also the competition starts to begin with
newer players. Prices are aimed to increase the market share along with
profitability being high.
Maturation stage- This stage refers to the period when the product is well
established and there is no need for publicity. During this period the costs are low
and sales volume peaks with increase in competition .Prices tend to drop and
industrial profit go down.
Decline stage: During this stage the product is on a decline in the market. Costs
become counter-optimal and sales volume decline or stabilize. While profit
becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased
sales.
What is a product?
Product refers to the bundle of tangible and intangible attributes that a seller offers to a
buyer in return of a particular predefined amount of payment in a particular mode.
Goods, ideas, methods, information, objects, services, etc., whose output serves as a
need or want satisfier.
- Target audience
- Frame of reference
- Point of differentiation
- Reasons.
- Target audience
- Category/Industry/Market
- Unique selling proposition.
- To oversee the overall performance of the brand and will be a single point of contact for
overall profitability of the brand on a whole.
- To involve from budgeting to product development inclusive of pricing, packaging,
promotion to enhance brand image of the company
- To design market research studies with MR agencies and utilize the results to take
better business decisions regarding market assessment of the companys products
- To be involved with ad agencies to coordinate advertising, event management and
marketing communication activities
- And also, be familiar to handle overseas operations and willing to travel overseas in
short notice.
Mass Media - Refers to a particular specialized part of the media which is designed to
reach a fairly large number of target audiences. Mass media in other words is the
medium by which mass communication takes place.
Culture- Refers to the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs,
institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
The direct effect theory of communications says that a message is directly received and
completely accepted by the receiver. The "Direct effect theory" implies that mass media
always has a direct, immediate and powerful effect on their audiences. The mass media
in specific is perceived as a powerful influence on culture.
The two-step flow theory stresses on human agency which means mass media
information is channeled to the "masses" through opinion leadership. The people with
most access to media, higher understanding of media content, explain and intercept the
content to the public. Diffusion of innovations is the product of the two step flow theory.
The agenda-setting theory refers to the fact that media has a very large effect on
peoples perception and mind. Agenda-setting theorys core concept says that mass
media can transfer important items on their mass agendas to the publics mind and
priority.
The attitude-change theory suggests that attitudes being functions of cognitive, affective
and conative components are a part of brains associative networks that consist of
affective and cognitive nodes linked through associative pathways. These nodes contain
affective, cognitive, and behavioral components that can be altered by the activation of a
single node. Thus, by activating an affective or emotional node, attitude change may be
possible. So the attitude change theory suggests that targeting these emotions can help
the media or the sender to actually change the attitude of general public and create a
brand new dimension in terms of consumer perception
Uses and gratifications theory refers to the idea that people use the media to get specific
gratifications. This is in opposition to the direct effect theory which says that people have
no control over how the media influences them and brings about a change in them. The
main idea of the Uses and Gratifications is that people are not helpless victims of all
powerful media, but use media to fulfill their various needs.
The other important difference between them is the reason why the message actually
originated and the conditions under which it is been communicated. For instance in
personal communication the expression of certain emotions could be a reason while in
mass communication it might be to induce the audience of the message to buy or try a
product or service.
The tools or rather the medium in both are also different, mass communication will have
print, audio visual, internet etc. but personal communication will have mobile, mail or
internet as a tool to communicate.
Communicating on a mass level gives the sender of a message the power to alter
certain things or introduce new things that might affect the cultural dynamics of a society,
and it cant happen in isolation. Every individual part of that culture is subject to the
ramification. For instance coffee and coffee shops have never been a part of the Indian
culture but today due to the idea been promoted in every medium of mass
communication it has almost become a part of it. This example demonstrates how
culture is affected by mass communication and ultimately altered
Media literacy refers to the act of creating a message in all the available media. It
uses an inquiry-based mode of process encouraging questions about what the
target audience wants in terms of what they watch, see, and read. Media literacy
facilitates an understanding as to the strengths and limitations of each medium
and to create new ones.
Media consolidation refers to the majority of the media means owned by a few
media conglomerates who view this as detrimental and characterized ownership
structure of mass media. Media ownership may refer to monopoly in a given
media. Times group in India is a example of a media conglomerate.
What is advertising?
Advertising is defined as a paid form of communication that reaches the target audience
through mass media to provide product/service and brand related information.
How would you design and promote an advertising
campaign?
An advertisement campaign must comprise of the following:
- Creativity
- Strategic focus
- Knowledge and expertise in the field of advertising
- Holding a relevant qualification in the field of advertising
- Market research orientation
- People skills etc.
- Reach
- Geographical spread
- Nature of target audience/clusters
- Previous successful track records
- Low budget; high returns etc.
- Age
- Working class(professionals)
- Non working class(Retired/Home makers)
- Socio economic status
- Region specific
- Religion/community
- Buying capacity etc.
Deceptive Ad
Unfair Ad
What would you do if you run out of ideas for a new Ad?
I would do the following if I run out of ideas for a new ad:
a. Warehousing : Under this goods are stored after manufacturing till the time they are required for
consumption.
b. Inventory management: Goods like raw materials which are required for day to day operations of the
business also need to be properly stored and kept track of.
c. Transportation : Goods need to be transported from one place to another. They may have to be shipped from
supplier location to factory and thereafter from factory to customer.
b.Bulk Breaking : Buying the product in large quantities and selling them to retailers in smaller quantitites.
e.Credit and risk taking: They undertake the risk of providing credit to retailers.
Once goods are manufactured, they must be transferred from their place of manufacturing(factory) to the end
consumer otherwise the goods would remain idle. Marketing channels give movement to such goods and help
them in reaching the right consumer at the right time and place.They can also be called the media or vehicle
through which goods reach the target market and to the end consumer. These comprise of the various
intermediaries like wholesalers, retailers, agents etc. Eg. Big Bazaar , has huge retail stores all over the nation
selling household goods, garments etc for various brands.
Not necessarily all companies use marketing channels.There are some that directly
market their products to consumers. Eg. Dell computers ask its customers to directly
login to their website , get their product configured and order the same on the internet.
We also see that in case of industrial goods like raw materials, metal pieces, rods, bricks
etc, goods are sold directly to the consumer which in this case is the industry itself, so
there are no specific channels involved. Even in case of perishable goods like fruits,
vegetables etc which are like to expire within a short span of time , they are directly
brought in to the local markets from village farms without any channels of distribution as
such.
b.Information provider: cutomers can provide their feedback on the product to the
wholesalers and retailers who in turn provide the same to the manufacturers.
c.Physical distribution: Goods are transported and stored in the respective warehouses
or godowns
There has been a significant growth in the retail sector since the past few years.This has
been mainly due to factors like improvement in the standard of living of the people in
India, increasing availability of international brands in the Indian market, easy access to
credit facilities by banks, betterment of the infrastructure at large and increasing
investment in technology as well as real estate. Today, the Indian Retail Market is the
fifth largest in the world and is estimated to grow from US$330billion in 2007 to US$637
billion by the year2015, as per industry estimates.
b.Determining the objective as to who would be the target market, whether the company
wants to go for cost minimisation or not etc.
d.The criteria on which the channel members would be evaluated and selected.
d.Control(C): Whether company can have better control over its channel members or
not.
e.Adaptability (A): Whether the channel alternatives are flexible enough to any changes
or not. The channel meeting the objectives of the company is selected.
These days channel members are being accepted by companies as their partners. The
intermediaries are even being asked to integrate their business with the companies
which results in lesser costs, greater efficiency and improved customer service.
Corporates like Airtel are adopting PRM (Partner relationship management) software to
give that added advantage to their supply chain. They organise rewards and recognition
programs for their channel partners and also organise proper channels though which
partners can vent any of their grievances relating to payments, violation of codes etc.
Supply chain management related to the flow of goods, information and fund from the
supplier to consumer. Basically it is the way in which the goods pass on from the factory
to the indtermediaries and then to the ultimate consumer.Eg. Bharti Airtels supply chain
management has a central core team comprising of supply chain subject matter experts
as well as execution teams which operate under different business divisions nationwide.
Bharti Airtel realised the importance of having competent partners for its better business
prospects due to which its supply chain function enabled maximisation of mutual growth
opportunities .
a. Warehousing : Under this goods are stored after manufacturing till the time they are
required for consumption.
b. Inventory management: Goods like raw materials which are required for day to day
operations of the business also need to be properly stored and kept track of.
c. Transportation : Goods need to be transported from one place to another. They may
have to be shipped from supplier location to factory and thereafter from factory to
customer.
i)Predatory pricing : this is followed to eliminate any other competitors in the market.
ii)Premium pricing: where the price is kept high as in case of designer items so as it
increase the reputation of the product and retain its goodwill
iii)Cost plus pricing : here the firm simply adds its estimated profit to the cost to fix its
selling price.
iv)Skimming : Skimming is a pricing strategy adopted by firms under which goods are
sold at high prices to capture their market value.
Skimming is a pricing strategy adopted by firms under which goods are sold at high
prices to capture their market value. Example electronic goods like LCD TV . The
purpose of such strategy is to mint higher profits within the short run period in order to
recover the costs incurred in product researching ,manufacturing, marketing etc as such
costs associated with the product are high. However this strategy carries with it the risk
of acceptance of the product in the market as other competitors may tend to lower their
price range of the same product thereby forfeiting a large part of the market share.
Give an example of any firm that has implemented pricing
strategy during the launch of a new product in the market and
answer the following related to it:
Nokia used the skimming price strategy when it introduced the 1100 handset in the
Indian market priced at Rs.5200. This was done in order to regain its R & D and
promotion cost. As the sales gained momentum, the price of the product was lowered
down to Rs.3800 in the market.
Yes it gained huge success in the market. Apart from the pricing strategy, Nokias
promotional strategy was also well implemented on account of its widespread advertising
using celebrity endorsements which added to its popularity in the market.
Depending upon the increase or decrease in price rates, buyers may respond
accordingly. Some buyers may assume that quality of the product may have reduced to
to reduction in price or that the company may not be selling the product as per
expectations. The other assumption that buyers may make is that prices may go down in
the future and so may delay purchase. On the other hand increased price may lead to a
decrease in demand as the product may be more costly for the consumers who may
switch to another seller offering similar products at lower prices.
a.reduce the product price at par with competitors price or below competitors price
or
b. Provide added advantage to the existing product like better quality, or a buy one get
one free offer.
or
c.Provide better quality of the product at a higher price thereby not being at par with the
competitors.
In an oligopolistic market, a few suppliers control the market by not allowing any new
entrants to the market. A change in price by one supplier in the market will generate
instant response by the other supplier who will also tend to change his price. So in this
market, there is a high level of dependency amongst suppliers on one another. Examples
of such markets maybe the automobile manufacturers or pharmaceutical industry which
are generally price sensitive by nature.
What are the factors to be kept in mind while designing the
pricing strategy for a firm?
Product certainly influences the price level,higher the product quality is high, higher the
company would price it and vice versa. Again a new product requires widespread
promotion which leads to higher promotion costs and higher price. Supply chain
management also becomes crucial in the price determination. A well integrated supply
chain in an organisation ensures an edge which it can enjoy over the others.
Depending upon the volume of profits that a company has targeted,its pricing strategy
maybe short or long term based. Where a company has invested heavily on research
and development of the product and its promotion, short term pricing strategy may be
followed initially in order to recover the cost of investment speedily, thereafter it may
convert its pricing strategy to a long term one to sustain its business operations. For
example a product may be sold at premium price initially and gradually its price maybe
lowered once it has captured sufficient market demand.
There is an Indian saying , Jo dikhta hai, wo bikta hai. (What is seen is what sells). In
todays fast moving world of glitz and glamour, products have become the face of the
company. The brand image of a company that it carries with it depends largely upon the
kind of product or service the company is dealing with. A good enough product with the
best distribution channels and affordable prices may still fail to capture the market if it
has not been well or clearly communicated to the target customers. Promotion is
communicating about our products or service to the masses. It is one of the essential
elements of the marketing mix without which gives that face or impression to the people
at large about that company brand.
a. Awareness: particularly when a product is new to the market, it must be known to the
consumers that such a product exists in the market. Promotion helps there.
b.Knowledge: one gets to know the advantages of the product via promotion.
c.Liking and desire: even those who may not have a desire for the product, promotion
helps to create that desire and liking for the product by using strategies like celebrity
endorsements etc.
d.Purchase: by promoting affordably priced products, the marketer can easily attract a
large number of customers who would prefer such products over high priced ones.
Publicity is about getting others to know more about your organization and its business.
Its objective is to gain more name and fame in the public.
Promotion is much more vast in scope as compared to publicity which is just one aspect
of promotion. There are other areas in promotion apart from publicity, which includes
advertising, sales promotion,public relation, personal selling and direct marketing as
well.
Eg. If a film is to be promoted, film producers would use all of these tools both before
and after its release and for publicizing it, it would use publicity stunts much before the
film gets released.
Yes. IMC or integrated marketing communication is the buzzword these days. Under this
concept, all the elements of marketing communication are made to work together in
order to achieve sales maximization as well as cost effectiveness of a product. All the
elements including advertising, sales promotion,public relation, personal selling and
direct marketing are integrated in such a way that they do not work at all in isolation,
thereby contributing to a common goal. With the advent of specialized media vehicles,
internet marketing and retailer dominated market, IMC has gained immense popularity
among the corporate.
Yes. IMC or integrated marketing communication is the buzzword these days. Under this
concept, all the elements of marketing communication are made to work together in
order to achieve sales maximization as well as cost effectiveness of a product. All the
elements including advertising, sales promotion,public relation, personal selling and
direct marketing are integrated in such a way that they do not work at all in isolation,
thereby contributing to a common goal. With the advent of specialized media vehicles,
internet marketing and retailer dominated market, IMC has gained immense popularity
among the corporate.
No problem. We can use network marketing as an alternative. The company already has
its strong network of customers who can spread the word about its products. They can
encourage referral rewards for say every three customers who will buy our product or
avail our service.
We can also announce a contest for the customers to buy the product and win a chance
to get himself broadcasted for the product advertisement. We can ask them to send in
their photo along with the contest application form which they get alongwith the product
they buy. So we dont have to pay them as we would otherwise have to pay to a celebrity.
A marketing mix and a promotional mix does have some differences, both being highly
crucial for the success of a business. Marketing is very essential for the growth and
continuity of business operations. It helps in creating new customers and retaining the
existing ones to keep the business ongoing. Marketing focuses on all the elements of the
marketing mix viz product, price, place and promotion while promotion focuses more on
the customer- how to reach a product to its customers and how to sell it to them
ultimately.
b. Income : whether he belongs to the upper class, upper middle class, lower middle
class or lower class.
c. Media exposure : print media like newspapers, magazines, journals or audio visual
like TV, radio, street hoardings etc.
In direct marketing, there is a direct interaction of the customers with the seller without
any intermediaries. Here, the role of the intermediaries is nil. The medium used is more
direct using telephone, mail, internet where the seller can directly reach out to the
consumer. Examples of such marketing include telemarketing, email, voicemail
marketing, door-to-door selling etc. This kind of marketing is more time saving as the
problem of distance which may otherwise exist between the buyer and seller is
eliminated and is also cost effective as it minimizes commuting costs.
For a business, being able to provide the right product at the right place and in the right
time could be a challenging task. Better storage and transportation facilities are being
developed or outsourced by marketing managers to make goods available to the
customers or rather ensure timely delivery of the goods and services to customers. To
achieve this, it becomes increasingly important to keep track of the goods starting from
its journey from the factory right upto the hands of the consumer. Thus, in the modern
marketing era, the study of movement of goods or logistic management becomes an
important subject in question.
Yes. Wholesalers may be classified into merchant wholesalers and brokers and agents.
Merchant wholesalers independently own and undertake the risk of title to the goods.
Brokers and agents however do not take the title of goods and their functions are limited.
Brokers have good knowledge about the buyer and seller and act as the link between
them, helping in bringing about negotiation between the two parties. Agents act as
representatives to the company, retailer or customer on a permanent basis.
Wholesaling involves buying goods in bulk from the manufacturer and selling them to
another buyer( generally the retailer) for resale or business purpose. Wholesale trading ,
since pre-independence era has been dominated by the Indian trading
community.However, as of now, we also have foreign investors in the wholesale trade
scenario who have been showing a keen interest in this area of business. These
companies are entering the Indian market as trading firms and sourcing and selling
domestically. They are giving our domestic traders a tough competition! Eg. Sharp
Corporation of Japan which has a manufacturing base in India are into trading color TVs
from other manufacturers as well.
Basically, retailing can be categorised into store retailing and non store retailing.
In the store retailing, the essence of a store in a particular location is taken into
consideration, to sell the products.They can be performed in different formats like
speciality store,department store, supermarkets, convenience stores, discount store, off
price retailers,super stores. On the other hand, non store retailing deals in selling
products through the use of electronic media or direct selling medium Example :direct
selling, telemarketing,automatic vending or online retailing.
a.Sorting :The items are arranged in order by the retailers so that the customers are able
to locate and pick up their needed goods easily.
b.Storage: The retailer holds stocks of goods and thereby meets the day-to-day needs of
the consumer.
d.Transportation: Nowadays, small grocery stores are undertaking the work of door
deliver orders in case of durable goods.
a.Direct interaction with customers: The retailer acts as the final link between the
organisation and its customer. The retailer knows his customer better than anyone. He
even suggests the customer what to purchase and allows him credit facilities to
encourage frequent buying behaviour in the customer.
b.Small purchases: The customer purchases goods in small lots from the retail stores.
So there are frequent visits to the retail store by the customer.
a.Air transportation : This enables quick delivery particularly useful in case of perishable
commodities.
b.Water transportation: It involves ocean liners and ships. Though slow, it is a cost
effective mode of transportation.
d.Pipelines: Products like oil and natural gas use this mode .
e.Internet carriers: Under this, satellite enabled modem or telephone wires are used to
carry digital products from producer to consumer.
No. Logistics is actually a part of supply chain management. Supply chain management
involves other activities like coordinating as well as collaborating with both customers
and suppliers, matching the demand with the supply,flow of products, services,
information, and finances while logistics management entails the movement and storage
of products and services to add value via transformation of time and place. As such
logistics is more about being able to look into the facilities, transportation, inventory,
materials, order fulfillment, communications, third-party relations, and information within
the firm thereby creating competitive advantage through value addition to customers.
Kiosks are machines kept in shopping malls and other such places by organizations to
spread the information and generate orders from customers who visit such malls.Eg.
Ambi Pur , a perfume company dealing in room fresheners recently organized a
marketing campaign in the Nirmal lifestyle, Mumbai. The company used inflatables to
attract small boys. The kiosk attracted a lot of parents who came in with their children
and stopped by the kiosk and got information about the company. The objective of the
campaign was to create awareness about the product among the target consumers,
mainly the households.
a.Cost effectiveness: The costs of paying to the intermediaries is eliminated due to their
absence.
b.Alternative uses: apart from selling, direct marketing can be used to test new markets,
offer rewards to customers, or even for market segmentation.
c.The results of direct marketing are easier to measure as we know how many people
have been directly contacted in the first place.
a.Direct mail:This is the most common means of direct marketing.Under this direct postal
mails are sent to the consumers address eg. Credit card application forms sent by
banks, free trial packs of products sent by companies, subscription offers for magazines
etc.
b.Telephone marketing: Via call centers products are also sold over telephone. It is also
known as telemarketing.
d.Online marketing: The organizations products are marketed on the virtual medium
through company websites and emails.
Social network advertising takes place through different social network sites like
Facebook, Twitter etc. The different forms of social network advertising are:
a.Advertising to ones group of friends within his network itself: sending advertising
messages directly to his inbox about any product.
b.Display of attractive banners or boxes directly on the webpage of the social networking
sites.
c.Creating a fanpage or group asking users to join such groups to create and spread the
brand awareness about a particular product.
Online marketing also brings with it disadvantages some of which are as follows:
a.Authenticity: the authenticity of the product maybe questionable, as the real product is
not available at the time of its purchase. The product may not turn out as expected by
the customers. However, sites like Jabong.com or Myntra.com , keeping this point in
view are offering its customers the option to return the product if they are dissatisfied
with it after a trial. This has increased the goodwill and popularity of such sites.
b.Internet marketing scams : Fake schemes like get-rich-quick or win cash prize on the
internet, often lure the users to payout huge sums of money to such frauds and not
gettomg anything in return. It has given rise to a lot of scams and fraudulent activities
detrimental to the users.
c.Security issues: Consumers maybe hesitant to disclose their personal information on
the internet as they may feel the invasion of their privacy.
Display advertising: Here the advertisements are displayed on some websites in the
form of banners or blogs are used.
Search engine optimization (SEO): it helps to make the web page or website more
noticeable via the use of search engines like Google.
Social media marketing:here the marketing is done through social networking sites
such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
Referral marketing: in which customer referrals are used to promote the products and
services of the company.
Online marketing is the exchange of products and services between the buyers and
sellers on the internet.It is also known as e-marketing or internet marketing or online
advertising. It may take the form of :
b.B2B where trading networks or auction sites maybe used to reach out to the new
customers and serve the existing one
c.C2C where one customer may further sell the product to another customer.
Examples of online marketing may include banner ads, blogs, social network
advertisement.
When an organisation conducts its marketing activities particularly sale of goods to its
customers directly it is called direct marketing. The final products are sold to the final
consumer directly by the company , and immediate or early response from the consumer
is expected. This type of marketing is also known as B2C marketing. Eg.direct door to
door sales made by the salesman. This type of marketing involves direct communication
with the customer and is found to be time saving and a cost effective method of selling.
Sometimes poor quality leads or poorly communicated messages may pose problems
for marketers as well as consumers as some of such consumers may not be actually
interested in the product. So much time and money may be wasted on communicating
with such consumers. Sending out direct mails to the addresses to the customers may
also irritate some customers. The customers may also have a feeling that their privacy is
being invaded and they may not want to disclose any personal information about
themselves while being asked to answer questionnaires in direct marketing. Direct
marketing has to be convincing enough to win over the trust and belief of the consumers
in order to overcome such challenges.
e.Coordination with other departments of the organisation like HR, Finance etc to ensure
that they are getting the right information needed to perform their tasks.
As a consultant , I would:
Finding out and establishing the level of skills, duties and responsibilities of the
employees via job descriptions and job specifications.
Proper and regular supervision of the department to ensure its smooth functioning
The organisational structure of the marketing department depends upon the size of the
organisation. Small size firms may just have one or two marketing employees while large
size firms may have several marketing employees. The marketing department may
generally comprise of :
a. The Vice President of marketing: who is responsible for the functioning of the entire
marketing department and to whom other marketing employees are accountable.
b. Marketing manager : who formulates the marketing strategies and reports to the vice
president of marketing. Other marketing employees may report to him.
c. Market researchers: who research on the product and present their information on
their findings to the company.
d. Public relations officers : who act as the spokesperson and the liason between the
company and outsiders.
In an organisation, the sales planning and sales policies are formulated on the basis of
marketing organisation. It ensures the smooth and systematic implementation of
plans,policies and programs which are much needed for the control of sales activities so
as to maximize the efficiency and profitability . It also brings about innovative and better
methods of distribution and helps to meet the increasing production capacity. It also
equips the organisation with the necessary tools to counteract competition. Marketing
organisation structures the organisation in such a way that brings about improvement in
customer services and their satisfaction.
a.Conducting market research in order to gain an insight into the market environment,
competitors and consumers.
b.Marketing planning : based on the objectives of the company, deciding the marketing
strategies.
e. Coordination: coordinating with the other departments of the company like finance,
HR etc. to keep the department aware of what is happening in the other departments as
well.
a. Set the objectives: why the team is being formed? How much revenues need to be
generated? Determining the sales target.
b.Defining team structure and their roles: what should be the role of each member?
What structure should be followed to determine the objectives?
c.Checking the skills and capabilities of the team members , if they fit into their roles or
not and if any extra training or coaching is required or not for the team.
d.Implementation: communicating the objectives to all the team members and seeing to
it that the necessary action is being taken for arriving at those objectives.