Reaching the Youth Market in Europe by Euro Teens - Coursework Example

?   Reaching the youth market in Europe: Euro Teens By Insert Presented to Location Due Social factors affecting purchasing decision making Social factors have become top influencing factors in the decisions that most of the consumers across the globe make in buying the various goods and services. As humans being social animals, there is the need to discuss on the various issues and matters of interest that are essential in making life better and enjoyable. On this point of view a greater percentage of human behavior is determined by the social life in which it exist in. From this assertion social factors have a great influence on the consumers buying decision regardless of the market segment that individual or group of consumers are found (Vashisht 2005). In Europe notably, the influence of these social factors on the youth market segment across the various countries is evident based on the collected information and surveys in regard to the youth market behavior. This situation has attributed to most companies entering into this market segment because of its attractiveness and lucrativeness; thus, their key marketing techniques and strategies are mostly based on the major social factors that influence positively the buying decisions of the youths (Vashisht 2005). Teenagers and the young population are the major composition of the European markets whereby they are considered to have a staggering purchasing power attributed by their ability to work and that they are not burdened with the monthly bills in addition to this the major contributing factor is that young consumers in Europe have a great influence of their parents spending patterns in regard to their shopping needs and preference. The key notable social factors that marketers have materialized is notably from various companies mostly dealing with include clothing, shore wear fashions, food, beverage and technological gadgets have adopted for the purpose of influencing the purchasing decisions of the youths include; social class, reference groups, family influences among others (Vashisht 2005). These social factors influencing the youth market and their buying decisions in the European market can be examined and discussed as follows. Reference Groups This social factor refers to the various groups that the young European consumers belong or they are associated with certain group mainly the peer groups commonly referred to as social groups. These social groups referred to as reference groups in which the individual or group of youths in a particular market segment interacts with have both direct and indirect influence on their buying decision and their consumption patterns. It is notable that this factor has a great influence on the youths and the teenagers because they have a higher ability to decode the advertised marketing messages and because of the influence they have on their parents the younger generation easily spend on themselves and this has become a foundation on most of the youths reference groups (Vashisht 2005). The foundation of the youth reference group is a concept emphasized by many marketers because its examination provides a clear basis in which the group is up to and based on, this ensures that marketers adopts appropriate marketing technique that has the capability of ensuring that it is effective and efficient in regard to the group. Another factor associated with the reference group is the attribute of the young consumers to easily adapt and conform to the emerging fashion and trends in their reference groups because of the way the members of the relevant reference groups influence each other (Blythe 2008). From this assertion it is evident that that the reference groups have a greater influence on the behavior of an individual group member associated with the group. The young consumers in Europe are greatly influenced by the peer groups they are associated which have the attribute of having similar buying patterns (Blythe 2008). Peer groups in which the teens are associated are considered to have a greater influence compared to those of the adults therefore marketers take into account this phenomenon in penetrating the youth and the teenagers market segments in Europe. Social class Social class is another driving factor that influence the purchasing patterns and decisions of the young consumers in Europe notably the teenagers and the youngsters. Social classes in Europe are characterized and based on the factors such as education, income, race and the occupation, these identified factors is notable on the youths and young consumers who are in early twenties emerging from the teenage class (Lamb 2008). Most of the younger consumers in the early twenties have a higher disposable income because of the influence they have on their parents concerning their spending, another factors is that most of the youths in this social class have just finished their education and have just working with higher incomes with less commitments. Most of the youths who belong to the higher social class base their buying decisions on expensive fashion trends in clothes, leisure as well as music (Vashisht 2005). Marketers have to distinguish the needs of this social class with other classes, these social class groups have different and varying buying decision preferences in which marketers need to take care of (Blythe 2008). The most important thing to the market in regard to this influencing factor is the ability of the marketers to get the needs of these stratified social classes at different age brackets in the youth and teenagers market segment (Vashisht 2005). Family influences For all the young consumers globally the family is the basic group that all the individuals belong, this attribute makes the family the most influential and a key determinant when it comes to the buying decisions of teenagers. In the case of the young consumers in Europe, the teenagers notably influence their families depending on the family structure that the teenager belongs to, and this characteristic is influenced by the notable existence of various family structures in Europe, so marketers have considered this varying factor essential in carrying out marketing activities in this group. The spending and the purchasing power of the young consumers have the attribute of a rising trend due to the parental guilt as well as the affluence of the family (Lamb 2008). Parents who have the tendency of staying away from their children give large amount of pocket money to the teenagers as incentive for their absence in the children social life and those with divorced parents can easily influence the two parents for more money for spending (Furlong 2006). This trend is common among the European teenagers and the young consumers and this attributes to these teens get access to large amount of money in that there is little control of the spending behavior (Vashisht 2005). It is apparent that the consumption decisions of the teenagers and the younger consumers in Europe do not entirely depend on their parents. Most of the buying decisions are individually made by the teenagers thus becoming easily targeted by the marketers who offer goods and services that conform to the taste and preference of the younger consumers in Europe (Blythe 2008). Marketing Mix This is a form of marketing strategy which is used to meet the needs of the young consumers in Europe, Basically marketing mix constitute of product, price, place and promotion which they are all aimed to meet the needs of the younger consumers in Europe in terms of services and goods(Gillespie 2010). For any company to be successful it has to have a suitable and effective marketing mix which is consistent with the needs and preferences of the underlying relevant target group. Price is very important to the younger consumers in that it should meet their targets and also it should deliver much of the revenue in a short run. place as marketing mix should be considered to the younger consumers in such a way that stocks of goods to be sold to them should be placed where they are capable to access to it without any difficulty (Barker 2005). Promotion of products to be sold in market is very important to the younger consumers in Europe simply because it increases the interest in the products and also creates value and trust towards the products in the market through giving out its importance and relevance’s and this can be done effectively through communication (Blythe 2008). The role of the price in the marketing mix is that it should be affordable to the target consumers, a competitive price on the various commodities based on the taste and preference if the younger consumers in the target market segment and this ensure that the company has maximum returns on its investments. The formulated market mix meets all the customer needs and specifications and this contributes greatly to the achievement of the company goals and objectives notably marketing objectives and targets in regard to a particular market segment (Czinkota 2007). The marketing mix of a soft drink company considering putting its operations in France and the target market segment being the young consumers should constitute all the underlying preference and the buying decisions of the target market segment and it can be discussed as follows. Product Product is the major component of the marketing mix which is the physical product or a service in which the British soft drink company shall be offering in the new French markets. For an effective marketing process the company should come up with soft drink products that will be able to meet the young market segment in France. The products designed shall be able to make the youngsters at different age brackets to realize the actual benefit of consuming the respective soft drink product (Lamb 2008). The role of marketing on these soft drink products shall be to offer and to transform and to communicate to the consumer the benefits of the product and to provide a justifiable basis to convince them buy the product (Czinkota 2007). The drinks should bring comfort, style and sweetness on the consumers because of the emphasis laid by the target customers in regard to the consumption of such kind of soft drinks. In addition, since the target market comprises of teenagers and those in the early twenties, the product has to be designed in an appealing physical appearance, associated with different functions such as healthy and energizers, the packaging process and design should be unique to attract the teenagers. The uniqueness of the product is important so that the young consumers majorly the teenagers in French market associated themselves with such uniqueness (Lamb 2008). The company should invest more on the research and design whereby its main objective is to come up with new product design which conforms to the current market scope and the nature of the France teenagers and youngsters market. This ensures that the product gives the best service to the consumer enhancing customer satisfaction (Czinkota 2007). Upon the designation of an appropriate product the company shall be able to identify a strategy in which the customer loyalty and satisfaction can be easily sustained (Lamb 2008). Pricing This is an important aspect of any marketing mix; decision regarding pricing should be carefully made for the achievement of the company goals and objectives. When pricing the relevant products the company should take into consideration the profit margin and the competitor’s reaction to the set price (Lamb 2011). The company shall further ensure that drinks are not overpriced as the target customers are young and mostly teenagers. The pricing process includes a price list as well as the available discounts. Because pricing is the mix that generates revenue to the company, the suitable price strategy should be followed by the company. These marketing price strategies include the drink brand value which should be matched with the perception and the psychology of the teenagers and the younger consumers (Blythe 2008). The pricing should not be too low as it will make the value of the product go low while higher pricing will have a negative impact on the demand of the product taking into account the price sensitivity of the youths in France. The pricing of the product should take into consideration the suitability to the younger consumers thus pricing should be matched accordingly. Finally on the pricing strategy is that the set up price should be able to have a positive impact on the revenue generation of the company whereby profit maximization is the major target (Lamb 2011). Place This is also referred to as the distribution process. The place and the distribution process decisions concern the channels of distribution which involve the movement of the product or the commodity to the target consumers. There are a lot complexities associated with the performance of this process where various logistics including the market share to be covered and the levels of services needed (Lamb 2008). Correct identification of a suitable market mix is a crucial decision in the company market mix and the distribution strategies for the soft drink company should be ensure that distribution channels are concentrated on the profitable segments on the target market and to expand into new markets within France the expansion should take both national and regional markets (Lamb 2008). The distribution and the supply chain of the company should be designed to ensure that the target market is able to access the variety of soft drinks easily and that it should be easily distribute, therefore it is important to determine others factors that enhance effective distribution process in any new market the company wishes to venture into (Barker 2005). Promotion Promotion involves the creation of awareness on the availability of a new product in the market by communicating and the final effect is selling the product to the target audience. The cost of promotion should not exceed the price of the product. In the analysis of the promotion it is important to establish the worth of the customers in a segment before carrying out campaigns to acquire more of them (Barker 2005). The promotion strategies involve public relation, advertising and the use of various media; this process involves the use of the various tools useful for marketing communication. The major role of production in a young and teenage market is to inform them of a product and to convince and persuade them to buy the product (Barker 2005). The effective tools of promotion for the France young target market is the use of advertising because teenagers are keen on these advertisements the other tool is the use of media because of the advent of new technologies most of the teenagers are exposed to various media and the use of this tool enhance reaching of a larger audience. The promotion strategies in that the company may apply on this attractive market segment include improving the customer satisfaction and loyalty and finally attracting larger market share. This marketing mix followed strictly ensures that there are increased sales of the company products thus the development of a strong company brand name. Right product with a competitive price in the right place and effective use of promotional tools plays an important role in the marketing operations of the company. Reference Andy Furlong, F C 2006, Young People and Social Change, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill International. Blythe, J 2008, Consumer Behaviour, Toronto: Cengage Learning EMEA. Charles W. Lamb, F 2008, Marketing, Belmont: Cengage Learning. Charles W. Lamb, J F 2011, Essentials of Marketing, Belmont: Cengage Learning. Kate Gillespie, J.-P. J 2010, Global Marketing, Belmont: Cengage Learning. Michael R. Czinkota, I A 2007, International Marketing, Belmont: Cengage Learning. Rachel Barker, G C 2005, Integrated Organisational Communication, Claremont: Juta and Company Ltd. Vashisht, K 2005, A Practical Approach to Marketing Management, New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Read More