Q1 - Assignment Example

1. Marketers need to be aware of political, technological, economic, cultural forces in the society. Change of political environment means change in law, influence groups which can positively or negatively affect the business. Because of the technological change many companies have been close down, companies must remain aware of the upcoming trends. The change in economic environment means change in purchasing power of an individual. Culture change refers to change in beliefs and values of the people.

3 Segmentation variables Geographical segmentation: Transportation services Demographic segmentation: Clothes Psychographics segmentation: cars Behavioral segmentation: cell phones 9 Following are the major uncontrollable factors in marketing environment Demographic is the study of size, density, age, gender etc. Change in demographic can significantly impact the spending and the size of target market. Marketers need to be aware of current demographics as well as future demographics and should plan accordingly.

Economic includes factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending patterns. Change in purchasing power can significantly change the spending patterns of the target market. Marketers need to foresee upcoming trends which can affect consumer purchasing power Technological Change in technology means new better substitutes of product or new markets. Many companies have lost a big pie of their market share because of change in technology. Kodak has loose most of its market share as world moves to digital.

Company’s needs to continuously innovate to keep up with current technology Political and Social Law, government agencies, and pressure groups can significantly affect consumer decision. Change in laws can significantly impact the whole industry. Companies can go out of business because of change in law and can make fortunes because of change in law. Marketers need to pay attention to social responsibility so that pressure groups and NGOs don’t question their ethical standards. 10 Segmentation variables Geographic segmentation: Transportation services Demographic segmentation: Clothes Psychographics segmentation: cars Behavioral segmentation: cell phones 11 Heinz changed the shape of the bottle which was there in industry for 170 years.

Consumers really like the idea of inverted bottles which were easy to fit in fridge as well. Apple success has attracted many competitors. But still people prefer apple because of its emphasis on quality, continuous innovation, performance and features. Apple has paid special attention to I phone and has introduced new and better versions of i phone. 12 13 Five communication tools Advertising is any sponsored non personal presentation and promotion of ideas. Sales promotion is short term incentives to increase sale.

Personal selling is personal presentation by the firm sale force for the purpose of making sale. Public relation is building relationship with company stakeholders by getting positive publicity. Direct Marketing is directly targeting individual customers to obtain instant response. Advertising works best as pull strategy and personal selling work best for push strategy. 18 Prospecting, pre-approach, Approach, Presentation and demonstration, Handling objections, Closing, Follow-up. Closing is the most difficult for average sales person as it is difficult to come on the point of closing after everything.

Follow-up is most critical to close the deal. As buyer forgets most of what he has understood. Presentation is done most correctly as salespeople are very much trained on that. 19 1667 is breakeven point. No they can cover part of their fixed cost, they shouldn’t shutdown. 115 selling price is giving them more profit. 28 Breakeven point is 4000 Company should not shut down its operation as they are able to cover part of their fixed cost. Company should shutdown if it couldn’t able to cover fixed cost as well as variable cost.

31 Wholesaler buys in bulk and sells it to retailers, retailer buy in small quantity and sell it to consumers, wholesale gives credit some time, retailers don’t. Wholesaler absorb the risk by taking title of the goods, retailers can’t absorb such high level of risk. These things can get into conflict if one of them enters in the domain of another. Like wholesaler selling at wholesale price to consumers, retailer starts taking goods directly from the manufacture and sells it to other retailer as well.

34 Advertising, Sales promotion, Personal selling, Public relation, Direct Marketing. (Kotler) The strategy differs from stage to stage. In the initial stage of product launch public relation is used as the main tool. At maturity stage we give more attention to Advertising and at declining stage we give more importance to sales promotion to get things get back on track. Kotler, Philip. Principles of Marketing 8th Edition. Toronto: Pearson Canada, n.d.