This is a HND Business Marketing Principles Assignment in which we discuss marketing concepts, orientations and buyer behaviour.

Introduction

Marketing consists of all the acuities that are performed by the organizations to create, communicate and deliver the values to the customer according to their requirements and satisfying them. It is an integral part of the functions of any organization. Business for any organizational structure is bring by the marketing only. It takes part in all the activities of the organization from strategic planning to final delivery of the product to ensure customer satisfaction. This report would aim at discussing various important concepts of marketing in details with reference to one or two organization. Segmentation, targeting and positioning and marketing mix are some of the most important concepts in marketing and this report would detailed out these important concepts for providing a proper understanding of these concepts.

Task 1 Marketing Concepts

Key Issues and Elements

            For the purpose of understanding marketing strategy in details, Starbucks is being selected. Starbucks is a multinational chain of coffeehouses and was started as a small coffee shop in UK. This organization has become a famous brand by use of effective marketing over the time. The main issues related to marketing are the use of marketing mixes in such a manner that it attracts the maximum number of consumers from the available market. As mentioned in the definitions of marketing, identification of the customers’ requirements and processing their requirements and satisfaction of customers with the help of effective marketing efforts is the main task for the marketing department of any organization. The marketing process of Starbucks includes all the activities which are used by the organization in order to create, communicate and deliver the values to the customers and the employees of the organizations. The main elements of marketing are the creation of the values to the customers, employees and the shareholders so that they can take part in the various activities of the organization in effective and efficient manner. Other elements of marketing process are the satisfaction of the customer with the help of the exchanged values and products between the customer and the organization. The main issue in the marketing is the communication about the value that the product of the organization would provide to the consumer by its consumption. The marketing efforts of organization are taken in different manners by different customers. The main element in the marketing process is to teach, spread awareness about the products or services of Starbucks to the consumers in an effective and efficient manners and attracting maximum number of customers from the available market share. So, it can be easily understood that the marketing process is an important activity for Starbucks and helped the organization in a great manner (Burnett, 2008).

Marketing Orientation

            Different kinds of organizations use different kinds of orientation for their marketing strategy. These orientations have evolved over the time and with the changing demands of the consumers these orientation have been changed. Various kinds of orientations used by various kinds of organizations are production, selling, product oriented marketing, holistic marketing etc. Other approaches that can be used by the organizations are relationship marketing, societal marketing, branding and industrial marketing etc. Customer oriented marketing and organizational oriented marketing are another approaches of the marketing used by the organizations. Starbucks has used various kinds of marketing orientation over the time and with the changing time the orientation has changed. There is a debate about the marketing orientation of the Starbucks that whether Starbucks uses product orientation or the market oriented marketing strategy. Product oriented marketing process focuses on the quality of the products in their marketing efforts. In a product oriented marketing process, the organization assumes that the quality of the products is the main element for the success ofthe organization and the high quality of the product ensures that the high standard of the product quality would result in more and more consumers and more and more consumption of the products. Organizational orientated marketing efforts focus on the brand of the organization for the success of the marketing efforts from the organization. These efforts assume that the organization brand is the main element for the organization to visit the stores of Starbucks. The brand of the organization is the main element to attract the consumers to the organization. The costs associated with the product oriented marketing efforts are the costs of the operations of the organization for the quality products from the organization and the benefits associated with the approach are the loyal customers due to the continued quality product from the organization and the increased life time value of the customer. The benefits of the organizational oriented marketing approach of the Starbucks are the increased brand value and the images of the organization with their continued efforts and the costs associated are the costs spent on the brand building by the organization. To summarize, Starbucks has used quality products for the marketing efforts along with its strong brand image (Rippin, 2007).

Task 2 Marketing Segmentation

Segmentation

Segmentation is basically the categorization of the customers in a market on the basis of their needs, wants and requirements. It is very important for the organization irrespective of their belonging to product or service sector. Segmentation helps the organizations in understanding the actual requirements of the customers and helps them in providing products and services to the customers according to their actual requirements. It helps the organizations in satisfying their customers in an effective and efficient manner. Markets can be segmented on demographic, psychographic, geographic or behavioural basis. The markets of different countries comprise of different kinds of customers and the demands and the wants of the customers change on these basis. Considering the example of Starbucks, the products and services of Starbucks are the coffee chain houses and segment the market on the basis of the income level of the consumers and according to the age of the consumers. Basically, Starbucks segment the market on the basis of demography. The features, quality and physical properties of the products and services change from one organization to another. So, they segment the market according to the products or service fitment. Segmentation is the first and most important activities of the marketing strategy of Starbucks. Finally, it can be summarized that segmentation is necessary to get success by the organizations (Craft, 2011).

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Targeting Strategies

Once the organizations segment the market according to the properties of the market on the basis of different factors, organizations target the most appropriate segment according to the products and services offered by the organization. There are various kinds of targeting strategies that can be used by the organizations to find most appropriate targets for the products and services of the organizations. Mass marketing, direct marketing, concentrated marketing, differentiated marketing are the mostly used targeting strategies used by the organizations to attract the customers. Mass marketing involves targeting all the customers of the available market, differentiated marketing involves targeting customers by differentiated products and services according to their requirements. Concentrated marketing efforts mean targeting a specific segment for the products and services offered by the organizations. Starbucks uses concentrated targeting of the identified segments according to their services. Their main targets are well educated customers and mostly from age groups of 20 years to 40 years. So, it can be stated that targeting strategies are important for the organizations to target the beneficial segments (Stanton, 2011).

Positioning Strategies

Positioning strategies of any organization means to position the products or services from the organizations according to the business and marketing objectives of the organizations. After the segmentation and the target segment for the organizations are identified, it is the main task of the organization to position their products and services to show the value of the products or services to the consumers. Most of the organizations use positioning statement to sell the products benefits to the consumers. Organizations position their products or services according to the brand of the organizations or on the basis of the products itself. Once a product is positioned on the basis of product qualities or the brand of the companies by any organization, if there are some kinds of issue related to the positioning of the products or services due to the environmental forces or market changes, it becomes necessary for the organizations to reposition their products or services to attract the customers towards their organization. Positioning informs the consumers about the quality of the products or services in a direct or indirect manner. Organizations had to reposition the entire company in the case of requirements. These actions are performed by the organizations in case of a wrong positioning of their products or services (Diamantopoulos, 2010).

Buyer behaviour

The marketing activities of the organizations are affected by the behaviour of the buyers in different buying situations. The buyer behaviour is itself influenced by various factors from the individual influences, organizational influences, household and family influences and the group influences etc. The buyer behaves in different situations in different manner depending upon the kind of the products or services he/she is going to buy. If the products are of personal use, the buyer behaves according to personal traits or by the effect of the marketing efforts of the organization. If the products are for family use, the buying decisions for product or services are influenced by any of the above influencing categories. The different behaviour of the buyer for different categories of products highly influence and affect the marketing efforts of the organizations. Buyer behaviour is an important aspect for the organization as it highly impacts the final sales decision of the customer directly or indirectly. The organization need to focus their marketing efforts by considering the buyer behaviour during the buying decision in order to convert the marketing efforts into the sales of products or services. The attitudes, motivation, mood, personal traits, cultural aspects etc are the main factor for the buying decisions of the buyers. So, the marketing personnel of the organizations need to focus on these aspects while marketing the product or services to the customers (Megicks, 2010).

Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is basically a tool used by the marketers for their marketing efforts. It is most important for the organization for determining the value of the products or services offered by the organizations. Marketing mix basically consist of 4 Ps for products i.e. Product, place, price and promotion and for services people, process and physical evidence s added to this 4Ps. The marketing mix of the organization differs from one segment to another and the organizations define their marketing mix according to their targeted segments. Product is the physical features or the quality of the offerings from the organizations. Meaning of quality and the features of the offering differ from one segment to another. Like for example, a mobile phone for a segment can be only used for receiving and dialing calls while for another segment it can be the other features like mobile internet and cameras etc. Price is the exchange provided by the customers to the organization. Place refers to the accessibility of the products or services from the organization to the customers. Promotion means the activities of the organization to create awareness among the customers about the offerings from the organization. So, it can be concluded that marketing mix is the most important tools for the organizations and differ from one segment to another (Sudhir, 2010).

Task 3 Marketing Mix

Macro Environment of Sainsbury

Sainsbury’s is a retail chain store of the UK and is famous in the country for the services provided by them. The products and services provided by the organizations are being accepted by the consumers in a great manner because organization offers a balanced portfolio of products and services. As organization is looking forward for the expansion of its services in the international market, it is necessary to do an assessment of the macro environmental factors that can affect the organization in direct or indirect manner. The marketing efforts for international market of the organizations differ from that for the domestic markets. The macro environment of the Sainsbury’s in the expansion of market involves the various factors which can be analysed by the use of PESTLE analysis. The political environmental factors are country specific. The political factors impact the business of the organization in a manner that the rules and regulations defined by the governments change with the change in the government so a country which has stable government can be favorable for the organization. India which don’t have stable government but have policies to attract foreign investment can be a good market for Sainsbury’s. Economic environment impacts the organization’s business in a manner that the economic phase the country is going on decides the purchasing power of the consumers and the tax rates, interest rates and exchange rates of the economy which play an important role in the success of the business of Sainsbury’s. India is a better choice for Sainsbury’s as this country doesn’t have much impact of the recessionary situations. Technological environment impacts the organization in a manner that the new technological innovations in the countries impact the way business is conducted within the organization. Legal environment of the country imposes various kinds of the laws and regulations in terms of the labour use and the operating facilities etc. Considering all the impacts of the various environments discussed, India is the best choice for the organization as there are lots of opportunities for the organization to explore there. International marketing differ from domestic marketing in many ways as the organization has to establish a global brand in place of a local brand. The competition in international market is heavy as there is more number of players in the market. The acquisition of customers is relatively easy as the market size is large. Finally, it can be concluded that the international marketing for Sainsbury’s for their products and services is better in the reference of India and organization can increase their revenue by exploring the opportunities available there (Kotler, 2011).

Importance of 4P’s of marketing Mix

Marketing mix is a very important marketing tool used by the marketers for the effective marketing efforts. 4 P’s i.e. product, price, place and promotion are used for the products offered by the organizations in order to achieve the goals and objectives in an effective and efficient manner. Product element of the marketing mix refers to the features, quality and physical appearance of the offerings from the organization. It is basically the item which satisfies the needs of the customers. It can be tangible or intangible. Tangible products are those which have a physical and independent existence while intangible products refer to the services and don’t have physical existence. Each product has a life cycle. The product offered by the organization is mainly responsible for the success of the organization as the consumers look for mainly the offerings for the consumption of the value in return of the price paid by them. The price is the exchange given by the consumers in return of the products or services consumed by them. It is important from the perspective of consumer as the consumer look forward for the low price and the better quality products in the market. It is also important from the perspective of organization as well since it generates the profits for the organization and enables the organization in achieving a sustainable growth. Place refers to the distribution channels used by the organization for the delivery of the services or products from the organization to the consumers. It is basically the accessibility of the products or services from the organization to the consumers. More accessibility means more sales for the organization while many a time, less accessibility is also a planned activity by the organization to generate more demand in the market to increase the profits. Promotion means all the activities done by the organization to teach the consumers and to make aware about the offerings. It includes various activities like selling, advertising, public relations etc and is important for the success of the organization.

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Importance of additional P’s

Apart from the 4P’s discussed above there are three additional P’s that are used by the organizations working in service sectors. These additional P’s are people, process and physical evidence as they play an important role in the service delivery to the consumers. People who deliver the service to the consumers are critical as they represent the organization. Their skills and ability to deliver the service and the manner they deliver the service leaves an impact on the consumers. Customer care support has become an essential part of the organizations as it is most important to serve the consumer after sales so that customer don’t face problem in the consumption of the product or service. Various processes like query handling, job queuing, need identification etc are important to the consumers as they are directly related to the customer satisfaction. If customer has to wait for long for his service, he may get frustrated and ay switch to another service provider. So, organizations need to take care of the various processes involved in the service delivery and need to manage in a manner that customer is satisfied with the way service is being delivered. Physical evidence refers to any evidence which can depict that the service was performed for the consumer. Physical layouts of store, packaging of the delivered item, the placement of the products or services within the layout etc are some of the example of physical evidence. Finally, it can be summarized by stating that these three P’s play an important role in the service delivery and impacts the customer satisfaction (Frow, 2011).

Sustaining Competitive Advantage

In a competitive environment where there are various players for the same kind of products or services in the market, it has become a challenge for the organization to sustain them by achieving competitive advantage over other organizations. Organizations can get competitive advantage with the help of their quality products and services along with the proper customer support. Organizations are trying to achieve and sustain competitive advantage with the help of product development process. Organizations can sustain competitive advantage with the help of cost leadership, differentiation, innovation and operational efficiency. The best method for the organizations is differentiation in the product development and putting their product apart from the same kind of products from their competitors. Under this strategy of product development, organizations develop variety of products with such features which are not being offered by competitors till now and attract customers. Such features and variety in the product is hard to imitate by the competitors or if they can imitate, it is much costly for them. It mostly refers to the customization of the products or services according to the customer’s requirements. In this manner, the organization would be able to provide such products or services which satisfy the customer’s requirements and give the organization a sustainable competitive advantage in the market (Wright, 1992).

Conclusion

Marketing is a very important and integral part of any organization irrespective of the sector they belong to. This report discussed various important concepts of marketing in greater details with appropriate examples. Segmentation, targeting and positioning and 4 P’s are the main principles of the marketing. In fact, whole marketing efforts revolves around these concepts. The international marketing for Sainsbury’s is important to increase revenues of the organization and the targeted market as discussed in the above section would help the organization in doing so in an effective manner. With the help of this report, all the concepts related to the subject learned during the course are being implemented in a better manner.

References

Ann Rippin, (2007) "Space, place and the colonies: re-reading the Starbucks' story", critical perspectives on international business, Vol. 3 Iss: 2, pp.136 – 149 Blythe, J., &Megicks, P. (2010). Marketing planning: strategy, environment and context. Financial Times/Prentice Hall. Burnett, J. (2008). Core Concepts of Marketing. Fuchs, C., & Diamantopoulos, A. (2010).Evaluating the effectiveness of brand-positioning strategies from a consumer perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 44(11/12), 1763-1786. Hassan, S. S., & Craft, S. H. (2011).An examination of global market segmentation bases and strategic positioning decisions. International Business & Economics Research Journal (IBER), 3(9). Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative. Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132-135. Lado, A. A., Boyd, N. G., & Wright, P. (1992). A competency-based model of sustainable competitive advantage: Toward a conceptual integration. Journal of

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