ASSIGNME

NT
SUBJECT :
MARKETING

SUBMITTED BY
SUBMITTED TO

VEENA PC
MR.SURAJ
2ND SEMESTER MBA
RESEARCH SCHOLAR
 DMS,PALAYAD
DMS,PALAYAD

1. WRITE SHORT NOTES ON:

• Marketing mix variables

• Consumer buying roles

• Cognitive dissonance

• Marketing environment

• Variety seeking buying behavior

• Marketing myopia

• Strategic marketing planning

• Integrated marketing

• Marketing ethics
 • Industrial market

MARKETING MIX VARIABLES

“Marketing mix” is probably the most famous

marketing term.Its elements are the most basic,
tactical components of a marketing plan.Also
known as the 4 P’s.The marketing mix variables
are
• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion

PRODUCT

This is the physical product or service offered to

the consumer.
Product decisions include aspects such as
function, appearance, packing, service, warranty
etc...
PRICE

Pricing decisions should take into account the

profit margins and the probable pricing response
of the competitors. It not only includes the list
price, but also discounts financing and other
options such as leasing.

PLACE

Place decisions are those associated with

channels of distribution that serve as a means for
taking the products to the target consumers.

PROMOTION

This is all about communicating and selling the

products to the targeted consumers. A break even
analysis should be performed to make the
promotion cost lesser in proportion to the product
price.
Promotion decision involves advertising, public
relations, media types etc…
 COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
This theory proposes that a consumer may use a
particular product because he or she believes the
advertising for that product, which claims that the
product is the most effective of its kind in the job
that it does. The consumer may then see a
competitor's advertisement that seems to prove
conclusively that this competitive product is
better. This creates dissonance. The consumer
must now relieve the uncomfortable feeling that
the dissonance brings about and will often do so
by switching products. Even though advertisers
want to create dissonance for nonusers of their
product, they do not want to create it for those
who do use their product.

Cognitive dissonance most often occurs after the

purchase of an expensive item such as an
automobile. A consumer who is experiencing
cognitive dissonance after his or her purchase
may attempt to return the product or may seek
positive information about it to justify the choice.

MARKETING ENVIORNMENT

The marketing environment is a marketing term

and refers to all of the forces outside of marketing
that affect marketing management’s ability to
build and maintain successful relationships with
target customers. The market environment
consists of 3 main perspectives known as

• Macro environment

• Micro environment

• Internal environment.
The microenvironment refers to the forces that are
close to the company and affect its ability to serve
its customers. It includes the company itself, its
suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer
markets, competitors, and publics.

The macro environment refers to all forces that

are part of the larger society and affect the
microenvironment. It includes concepts such as
demography, economy, natural forces,
technology, politics, and culture.

All factors that are internal to the organization are

known as the 'internal environment'. They are
generally audited by applying the 'Five Ms' which
are Men, Money, Machinery, Materials
and Markets. The internal environment is as
important for managing change as the external.
As marketers we call the process of managing
internal change '’internal marketing’
VARIETY SEEKING BUYING BEHAVIOR

Consumer buying behavior can be defined as

the decision processes and acts of final
household consumers associated with
evaluating, buying, consuming, and discarding
products for personal consumption.
There are numerous forms of buying behaviors
exhibited by consumers and variety seeking
buying behavior is one of them. Here
consumers have a number of brands to select.
Their involvement ill be less. Unit cost will also
be less. Consumers show brand switching
behavior and go on changing from one brand to
another. They like the experience of variety
satisfaction.
 So, variety seeking buying behavior is where
the individual likes to shop around and
experiment with different products. So an
individual may shop around for different
breakfast cereals because he/she wants variety
in the mornings!

MARKETING MYOPIA
Myopia literally means short-sightedness.
Marketing myopia is the inefficiency of the top
management to broadly define its business and
meet customer needs resulting to the decline of
the product. It is an interesting as well as very
important concept introduced by US marketing
academicianTedLevitt for marketing management.
According to him, most of the organizations are
not able to reach their potential and pave the way
for their fall because of their myopic approach,
which is short sighted and self centered. They
only focus on their firm or organization and its
items/products in terms of their so called aim
of fulfilling customer’s needs and wants.
Coco cola is a good example of which marketing
myopia is absent and Kodak is a good example in
which marketing myopia was present.

STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

Strategic planning is concerned about the overall
direction of the business. It is concerned with
marketing, of course. But it also involves
decision-making about production and
operations, finance, human resource management
and other business issues.

The objective of a strategic plan is to set the

direction of a business and create its shape so
that the products and services it provides meet
the overall business objectives.

Marketing has a key role to play in strategic

planning, because it is the job of marketing
management to understand and manage the links
between the business and the “environment”.

In many small businesses there is only one

geographical market and a limited number of
products. However, consider the challenge faced
by marketing management in a multinational
business, with hundreds of business units located
around the globe, producing a wide range of
products. How can such management keep
control of marketing decision-making in such a
complex situation? This calls for well-organized
marketing planning.

INTEGRATED MARKETING
When all the company’s department’s work
together to serve the customer’s interests, the
result is integrated marketing.
Integrated marketing takes on two levels:
First, the various marketing functions-sales force,
advertising, product management, marketing
research, and so on – must work together.
Second must be well coordinated with other
company departments.
The company is doing proper marketing only
when all employees appreciate their impact on
customer satisfaction. To foster teamwork among
all departments, the company carries out internal
marketing as well as external marketing. External
marketing is marketing directed at people outside
the company. Internal marketing is the task of
successfully hiring, training, and motivating
employees who want to serve the customers well.
In fact internal marketing must precede external
marketing. It makes no sense to promise excellent
service before the company’s staff is ready to
provide excellent service.

MARKETING ETHICS
Ethics has been termed the study and philosophy
of human conduct, with an emphasis on the
determination of right and wrong. For marketers,
ethics in the workplace refers to rules (standards,
principles) governing the conduct of
organizational members and the consequences of
marketing decisions .Therefore, ethical marketing
from a normative perspective approach is defined
as “practices that emphasize transparent,
trustworthy, and responsible personal and
organizational marketing policies and actions that
exhibit integrity as well as fairness to consumers
and other stakeholders.

Ethics are a collection of principles of right

conduct that shape the decisions people or
organizations make. Practicing ethics in
marketing means deliberately applying standards
of fairness, or moral rights and wrongs, to
marketing decision making, behavior, and practice
in the organization.

INDUSTRIAL MARKET

Markets can be analyzed via the product itself,

or end-consumer, or both. The most common
distinction is between consumer and industrial
markets.

Industrial markets involve the sale of goods

between businesses. These are goods that are not
aimed directly at consumers. Industrial markets
include

• Selling finished goods

– Examples include office furniture, computer
systems
• Selling raw materials or components
– Examples include steel, coal, gas, timber
• Selling services to businesses
– Examples include waste disposal, security,
accounting & legal services
Industrial markets often require a slightly different
marketing strategy and mix. Industrial business
may have to focus on a relatively small number of
potential buyers whereas consumer marketing
tends to be aimed at the mass market (in some
cases, many millions of potential
customers).Therefore industrial marketing tends
to be focused.

2. APPLICATION QUESTIONS
• Discuss the variables of the marketing
mix as they might relate to each of the
following
 Automobile company
 Men’s clothing store
 Campus book store
• Choose an industry. Search for recent
business news for examples of influences
of competitors, economy, politics, law,
technology, society and culture on
marketing decision making.
• The consumer buying process consists of
5 stages and the process does not
 necessarily conclude on purchase.
Interview a person about the last
purchase he made. Report the stages
used and those skipped if any and
present the findings

MARKETING VARIABLES OF:

• Maruti

 Products

 Maruti 800
 Alto, Zen, Wagon-R, Swift, A-star
 D ZiRE
 Vitara, Gypsy
 Omni, Versa
 Price

The price of Maruti car is between

210000 to 1500000.Maruti 800 is the lowest
price car of this company. Alto Omini and
Wagon-R are also low price cars of the
company but Zen and Esteem are mid
priced cars. The price of the car is decided
according to its product variety, quality
etc…
  Place

6000 new car sales outlet covering 393

cities
265 ‘Maruti true value’ outlets spread across
166 cities
2628 Maruti Authorized Service Stations
covering 1220 cities
Tie up with adani group for exporting
200000 units through mnudra port in
Gujarat.

Promotion

 Advertisement
 Information advertising
 BTL
 TV shows
 Place advertising
 Sales promotions
 Product warrantees
 Premiums
 Trade shows

• Reid and Taylor

 Products
 Reid and Taylor products include T-
Shirts, Shirts, Casual Apparels along
with its after sales services

 Price

Prices of T-Shirts
HOSLEY NEW ERA-Rs 1000 to 8000
FERDOS NEW ERA-Rs 200-800

Price of the T-Shirts are fixed differently for

different geographical location considering the
difference in usage pattern as well as varying
advertisement costs.

 Place

The company uses various factors

such as sales, communication and
contractual considerations. It has a long
chain of wholesalers and retailers to
reach its customers.

 Promotion

 Salesman
 Newspapers
 Magazines
 Radios
 Bill boards
  Television

• National campus bookstore

 Product

National Bookstore offers a wide range of

products from the retail sale and distribution of
books to the sale of various school supplies.
National Bookstore’s products, specifically the
school supplies, are mostly aimed for the
students’ and office workers’ consumption and
needs. However, the customers of National
Bookstore are not limited to just students and
office workers. The company also caters to kids
through the sale of toys, coloring books, crayons
and et cetera. Adults are also customers of
National Bookstore since they avail of the various
selections of books that National has to offer.
Students and other consumers as well know that
National Bookstore offers products of good
quality and of affordable prices that are of great
benefit to the consumers.

National Bookstore also offers branded school

supplies and their own product line named Best
Buy which is more affordable than other.
 Price
 Affordable pricing is one objective that
National Bookstore has – every product is of the
best quality at the best price. National Bookstore
wants that students be able to afford to buy
school supplies with their own allowance that is
why National Bookstore’s products are priced at
affordable levels.

 Place
It is located in walking distance of universities
and therefore expects to have a large group of
potential buyers.

 Promotion

The books will be on sale for the opening week of

business, and will assume normal pricing from
there onwards. On select weeks discounts are
offered to students and promotional deals to the
general public.
THE COKE INDUSTRY

Coco-Cola

Competition

Coke’s major competitor is ‘Pepsi’ and there is

no hesitation to say this. Price is the major factor
affected by the competitors. When a difference
occurs in the exact price it effects the
consumption of the drink. When the price is more,
consumers switch on to Pepsi and when the price
is low, they think there is something wrong.

Economy

Coca-Cola operates in more than 200 countries.

Because of the local nature of the business, they
are in the unique position to contribute to the
economic vitality of even the most remote
communities around the world.

The total indirect economic impacts of the Coca-

Cola system are significantly greater. The Coca-
Cola system has more than 900 plants around the
world. Their ingredients and raw materials are
largely sourced locally and the 92,400 employees
represent thousands of communities and many
cultures. In addition, the company’s bottling
partners employ hundreds of thousands of people
around the world and are committed to supporting
community investment programs.

They contribute to the economic success of each

community by employing local people; paying
taxes to governments; paying suppliers for goods,
services and capital equipment; and supporting
community investment programs. Past
independent studies on the economic impact of
their business in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe
have consistently shown that for every job in
the Coca-Cola system, an average of 10 more jobs
are supported in local communities.

Politics
The battle for dominance in the cola market
continues with Pepsi forever in second place to
Coke but definitely holding its own. Competition
between the two companies has been fierce in the
US market and throughout the world. For political
reasons, Pepsi has held pole position in a few
countries, e.g. Saudi Arabia (because of Coke's
marketing in Israel), francophone Canada, and the
old Soviet Union where it negotiated a monopoly.
Both companies use a raft of modern marketing
and market research techniques to hold their own.
Law
The coke company was asked for compensation
as a result of environmental harm and violation of
environmental laws, by the company. The damage
was caused because of their bottling plant and it
affected the people of a village called Plachimada
of Palakkad district. The company was closed
following sustained protests and stand taken by
the government.
TECHNOLOGY
Coke started using PET plant bottles as a result of
adapting the changing technology. It has also
been using sugar cane today, also exploring other
raw materials. The company has been looking out
for advance technologies to extract sugar from
plant wastes for future generations of Plant Bottle
packaging.

• Interviewing a person regarding the purchase

of an eatable

When a person who has purchased an

eatable of his choice was interviewed, it was
obvious that he has undergone through the first
process of the buying behavior, that is, awareness
of a problem. Here the problem recognized was
hunger and the person looked out for ways that
would help him to solve the problem.
Next step was to search ways or information
that would lead him to solve his problem. The
search was just internal. He did not depend on
any external source as the need was for food
which needs to be fulfilled immediately.
As he depended on very few information
there was no problem of evaluating each available
alternative as there was no too many alternatives
to evaluate. So the third step of evaluating
alternatives was not done and the person went for
selecting or purchasing the alternative.
 Now there is no chance for dissatisfaction
here as there were no much options available and
so the person is satisfied with what he consumed.

Findings

From the interview, it was found out that at least

some of the purchase decisions are not made
undergoing through all the mentioned steps of the
buying process. When it comes to buying an
expensive or luxury item, all these steps may be
considered. But when it comes to the case of
consumer goods, only a few steps are undergone
as they are not very expensive.
3. NET INSIGHTS

• Services

The mentioned site provides a wide variety of

services such as prepaid cards, sms service,
hosting services, gifts and so on. It helps in
experiencing quick services and in a much
expected way by the customers.
Apart from this, the products offered also
ranges from a single book to huge decorative
furnishers.

• Motivation of customers

Valence is related to the attractiveness of a

particular product and these retail sites are
excellent in displaying the products with a high
degree of attractiveness visual appeal. The
products are displayed in a 3-d format with
vibrant colors and designs which is surely an
important motivating factor.
Individuality influences many of the
purchasing decisions. Individual preferences
that are shaped by unique memories,
experiences and perceptions and also the need
to be individual and to stand out from the crowd
motivates the customers to purchase online
Some people are still anxious about online
security, but most people have overcome their
anxieties in order to make the most of the offers
that are to be had. This is one of the reasons
why people are deciding to buy expensive
goods online.
People are clearly choosing to buy
expensive items over the Internet because they
are less expensive online than they would be on
the high street; you can buy expensive goods
directly from large online stores or from
individual sellers and save yourself a fortune.
Consumer buying process
While making purchase decisions, consumers
are often unable to evaluate all available
alternatives in great depth and, thus, tend to use
two-stage processes to reach their decisions.
At the first stage, consumers typically screen a
large set of available products and identify a
subset of the most promising
alternatives. Subsequently, they evaluate the
latter in more depth, perform relative
comparisons across products on important
attributes, and make a purchase decision. Given
the different tasks to be performed in such a
two-stage process, interactive tools that provide
support to consumers in the following respects
are particularly valuable: (1) the initial screening
 of available products to determine which ones
are worth considering further, and (2) the in-
depth comparison of selected products before
making the actual purchase decision. This
paper examines the effects of two decision aids,
each designed to assist consumers in
performing one of the above tasks, on purchase
decision making in an online store.

Competitive environment

In an ever evolving, intensely competitive online

sales environment, online retailers are constantly
in search of ways to increase sales, reduce
technical costs, and acquire new customers. The
result is market wide demand for enhanced e-
commerce technology, effective paving the way
for a new breed of hosted e- commerce solution