To What Extent Can Improvements in Productive Flow and Product Quality Lead to an Increase in Sales - Essay Example

? To what extent can improvements in productive flow and product quality lead to an increase in sales and profit? Introduction In business, the ultimate objective of conducting transactions is to achieve profitability. Every endeavor in business is always carried out with sole intention of achieving what is set out as outlined in business objective. However, competition compels others to incur losses, which is derailing to the objective of setting up a business organization. Marketing managers are mandated with formulation of effective marketing strategies for all the goods produced by a company. They carry out extensive marketing for the products and services and run promotions with an aim of improving the product visibility thereby improving sales in the process. Products perform poorly in the market because of a number of reasons. The marketing manager determines all these and devises a plan of ensuring that the product regains its dominance in the market. Product quality is one great determinant of the performance of the product in the market. Manipulation of the product quality has the potential of either improving or decreasing sales. Any market is mostly divided into two; there is a segment that attaches a lot of importance on the quality of a product. These consumers are never greatly concerned with the price of the product. They spend any amount of money to obtain a high quality product. This group of consumers includes the middle and the high-class members of the society. They carry out most of their shopping expeditions in super stores and legitimate outlets. Their buy genuine products most of which are manufactured by famous brands. The second group of consumers is one that have their actions dictated by the price of the commodity. These shoppers attach little value on quality and tend to stick to the basics of either a product or a service. This group constitutes the lower class members of the society. These shoppers do not have planned shopping like was the case with the high and middle class members of the society. Most of their shopping is spontaneous and driven by the completion of the previous product. Such shoppers carry out their shopping in open air markets where prices are relatively lower than in high-end retail stores. A business therefore needs to evaluate itself and determine its market group. The qualities oriented are unfortunately never the majority in most cases. A product targeting this market will therefore sell small quantity but at high prices. This results in adequate profit to keep the company in operation. The price-oriented shoppers are the majority in every economy; a product targeting them will sell a lot given their big number but at very low prices. Without effective management between the cost of production and the selling price, some of such products incur losses resulting in the closure of such companies. It thus is a prerequisite that a business organization carries out an effective business research to determine its market and all the requirements of the niche (Bogomolova, 2011). The process of improving sales and profits of a particular product begin with the evaluation of the performance of the product. After determining the market segment in which to operate, the investor decides on the quality level of products to produce for the very market. Quality of products is likely to attract more clients but only if the product targeted the quality oriented market segment. Quality of a product encompasses a number of the product features such as product life or even durability. Customers are attracted more to durable products. By increasing the durability of an electronic or the shelf life of some perishable products through addition of preservatives, a company becomes more likely to register improved sales. However, durable products mean that after buying, a client stays away from the shop for a very long time, which may hamper the sales in a way. Another basic way of improving quality of a product is to improve its packaging. The shape, color and size of a product influences its buyers. Most electronics for example run on similar chips, all that influences loyalty in one product from another is the manner in which each company packages its –products. Effective packaging should reflect the importance of the product. Technology tries to decrease the size of electronics while improving performance, most of the products must therefore adhere to such guiding principles. Products should be aesthetically packaged, this way, they attract those specific clients who attach more importance color and design of the packaging content. Other auxiliary services and additions into the product may also improve its quality. Mobile phones couple up as digital cameras, music players and pocket spotlights. These additional services add more value to the product thereby making it attract higher prices resulting in a possible increase in the sales and profits for the company. This becomes possible because a client interested in a single feature finds it in the very product thereby increasing sales. Additionally, the provision of warranties and guarantees gain the customer’s trust on the product, this results ion a possible increase in sales since more employee realize a seriousness in the organization (ibid). The improvement of quality of a product is accompanied by an extensive advertisement. Advertisements improve the visibility of the product. Improved visibility implies that more potential clients become aware of the existence of the product and its features. Visibility is improved through the media; the business organization through its marketing manager determined the most effective means of advertisement and uses it effectively to ensure that the product name eventually becomes a family name. While running the adverts, the company emphasizes on the improved features and the new specifications of the product. Advertisement is normally a very costly undertaking, however, an effective advertisement results in improved sales thereby offsetting the advertisement costs. Improvements in productive flows are another strategy of improving sales. Productive flow refers to the stages involved in the process of producing a good. These stages are of essence in the improvement of quality of the product and they therefore are directly involved in the process of improving sales and profits for the company. To enhance the quality of products manufactured by a given company, the company must use quality machines in the manufacture of the products. Quality productive machines are durable which simply imply that the company uses them over a long period thereby earning as much profit from every machine as would best be possible. Using quality machines of production result in little interruptions from failures and repairs, this is a cost effective as ever man-hour is translated into the actual production process. Additionally, for a company to improve its sales, it must meet the market demand for its products. The productive flow is mandated with the production of the goods, this must therefore be improved to ensure that the market demands are met. The production department works closely and in constant consultation with the marketing and sales department. This way, the demand is effectively met by an appropriate supply. Producing many goods for which the market do not absorb is a definite loss, which may get so severe that it cripples the operations of the company. On the other hand, producing smaller quantity of goods results in ineffective sales, which additionally renders the company ineffective. The company must therefore strive for the maintenance of a balance between the demand and the amount of goods produced to protect itself from incurring unnecessary losses. Producing many goods is cost effective as some of the resources used for production such as electricity and man-hours are charged per unit hour, this thus implies that a company can possibly maximize on such resources to produce a lot of good and benefit from the low costs of production. However, these must be regulated to strive the perceived balance between supply and the demand ration. In brief, increase in sale does not imply a definite increase in profitability. It may appear as such but an increase in sales resulting from expensive advertisements, non cost effective means of production and reduced prices may result in losses for the company in the long run. A company must therefore prioritize its activities and be guided on most of its productive activities by the demand emanating form the market. This involves an effective relationship between the production team, and the marketing and sales department, which mush carry out effective researches on a definite interval. Reference Bogomolova, S, 2011, Service quality perceptions of solely loyal customers. International Journal of Market Research, 53(6) 793-810. Read More