Marketing Strategies to Change the Cultural Aspect of the Products - Assignment Example

The paper “Marketing Strategies to Change the Cultural Aspect of the Products" is a  delightful example of an assignment on marketing. The three major components of a product are the core benefit, the actual product, and the augmented product. The core benefit of a product is that which would satisfy the consumers’ needs. This is the value of the product to the buyer and as such is not tangible. (Marketing Teacher) An example would be shampoo. The core benefits people get from using shampoo are the cleanliness and fragrance shampoo gives to their hair. Another example would be the shampoo bottle. Shampoo bottles may come in different sizes and shapes. This is because the ease experienced by the customer in getting the shampoo out or setting the shampoo bottle in place could be a factor in deciding to purchase the product.

The actual product, as the name connotes, is the physical item the consumers buy. With the example above, the actual product is the shampoo bottle + the shampoo inside. These can be influenced by the brand name, the color, the style, the fashion, etc. (Bhasin, 2011)

The final component is the augmented product. These are goods as well that go with the actual product so consumers could have added value to their purchase. (Know This, n.d.) can be called the ‘add-ons’ that come with the actual product with the purpose of making the latter more appealable to the consumer. These can come in the form of warranties, after-sales service, delivery services, etc.

 2.)       When a product is to be introduced to a new market, changes are made to it, culturally and physically, so as to fit the needs of the new consumers. Focus on each of the three components discussed above should be done in order to fully rationalize the essential and substantial value consumers can get from the product.

3.)        McDonald’s is a well-known fast-food chain originating from the United States. In fact, it has been a very successful company that there are numerous McDonald’s stores around the world. How the company was able to acquire and continuously maintain a following among people from other nationalities and cultures is credited to McDonald’s excellent marketing strategies. McDonald’s needed to change its products physically to become successful in the country it chose for expansion.  The consumers would not warm up to the products and patronize these if the company did otherwise. For example, in the Philippines, the beverages come in small, medium and large sizes with the small size being the equivalent of a drink accompanying a Kiddie Meal in America because most Filipinos have smaller appetites than Americans.  (A. Raines, personal communication, April 20, 2012).  In China, Chicken McNuggets also come with chili-garlic sauce and a Beijing branch offers purple-hued taro pies, red bean sundaes, and deep-fried chicken wings. (Smith, 2012, p. 455)

4)         Another marketing strategy that worked well for McDonald’s is to change the cultural aspect of their products. In presenting their food to the foreign market, the people behind McDonald’s needed to consider what would be offensive and culturally appealing to the consumers. For example, in India, the McDonald’s menu has more vegetarian products to satisfy the non-meat eating consumers. (Bhasin, 2010) Beef is not included in their products because of the people’s religious beliefs. (Capozzi, n.d.) In the Philippines, rice appears on the menu because the food is a staple in every meal in the country. (A. Raines, personal communication, April 20, 2012) Since kimchi is also a staple in South Korea, McDonald’s offers kimchi burgers with a red bean pie. (Rob and Clare, 2012).