The concept of the product puts the product in priority.
satisfaction of technical and social norms of the region in which the products are sold, which means the obligation to ensure proper safety of use of goods and protection of the environment, compliance with moral and ethical rules, the appropriate level of consumer value of goods; management of marketing activities (marketing) as a system, ie planning, implementation and control of the marketing program and individual responsibilities of each participant in the work of the enterprise, assessment of risks and profits, the effectiveness of marketing decisions.
All social interactions can be interpreted as market processes. This statement is based on the fact that market relations between participants in commodity-money transactions are influenced, along with purely market actors buyers, sellers, consumers, intermediaries – and such structures as the press, social parties and groupings, such events as holidays, wars, revolutions, counterrevolutions, international meetings at various levels, and so on.
Under the influence of these and other interactions in the market there are always processes that affect the market opportunities of firms: changes in prices and tariffs for basic goods, related products and components, changes in infrastructure, ethnographic, demographic, political and environmental changes, new or liquidation of old economic structures, etc.
In conditions of continuous dialectical changes in society in general and in the market in particular, any firm, if it wants to have a normal demand for its products, must know what society needs or a certain share and in what quantities in a particular city and at a certain time. To provide this knowledge, it must periodically compare its goals with market requirements, review, if necessary, its strategic or tactical positions, develop additional operational measures, ie carry out the marketing management process. Schematically, the marketing management process looks like this:
The most important elements of marketing are the so-called “4P” marketing: product (product), price (price), place (place, sales, distribution), promotion (promotion).
These four elements together constitute a marketing mix (marketing mix). Thus, the ability to properly “mix” the elements of marketing to solve a practical problem is the basis of marketing.
Consider each element of marketing.
Product (quality, range, service). What does the consumer buy, what does he pay for – design, color, packaging, size? Of course, all these characteristics are very important, but only as a means to obtain certain benefits. Buyers of lubricants are not looking for a product that consists of specific chemical components, but a product that meets certain requirements for lubrication of machines. When choosing a lock, they are not looking for a means to close the door, but a product with which the owner protects his home.
Each product is endowed with properties of interest to the consumer – design, durability, reliability, functions, capabilities, ie endowed with a certain quality. By quality we mean the whole set of properties of the product, according to which the consumer makes a conclusion about its benefits.
Often the tool that promotes the sale of goods on the market is the range. Speaking of the range, there are its width (number of products) and depth (the number of types of products per product – hundreds of drawings of fabrics, computer models, modifications of electrical goods).
Price (discounts, markups, payment terms). Pricing is perhaps the most difficult task of integrated marketing. On the one hand, it must be such that it can be paid by a potential buyer, and on the other – to ensure profitability.
Distribution. The main content of this element of marketing is the choice of the optimal scheme of delivery of products from producer to consumer (directly, through wholesale trade, agents), its physical implementation (transportation, storage, handling), as well as after-sales (service) customer service. The importance of product delivery to the consumer is explained by the following figure: one-fifth of the profit from the sale of www lab report writing products is spent by European industrial firms of medium size to bring their products to the consumer.
Market promotion involves effective contact with customers. Specific forms here include:
creating a positive image of the company and its products; advertising, exhibitions, fairs, trade discounts, transfer of goods for temporary use, trade on credit; personal sale.
Note that each of the elements of the marketing complex is a form of meeting the needs of consumers. Successful business offers exactly what the consumer needs.
Marketing activities should provide:
reliable, reliable and timely information about the market, the structure and dynamics of specific demand, the tastes and preferences of customers, ie information about the external conditions of the firm; creation of such goods, a set of goods (assortment) that more fully satisfies the requirements of the market than the goods of competitors; the necessary influence on the consumer, on demand, on the market which would provide the maximum possible control of sphere of realization.
At the heart of the activities of manufacturers working on the basis of marketing principles is the motto: do only what the market requires, the buyer. The starting point that underlies marketing is the idea of human shortages, needs, demands. Hence the essence of marketing, which is reflected in the following: it is necessary to do only what will definitely find sales, and not try to impose on the buyer “uncoordinated” in advance with the market products.
In its development path, the firm can choose any path to increase sales of goods, which reflects one of the five approaches to the organization of marketing activities:
production concept; product concept; sales concept; marketing concept; concept of socio-ethical marketing.
The concept of production, as the name implies, the determining factor in the orientation of the firm in the market space is put forward production. Consumers prefer cheap and affordable goods. And high production efficiency allows you to keep costs low and thus ensure low prices.
The concept of the product puts the product in priority. The company’s activities are focused on its continuous improvement and development of a sufficient number of modifications.
This approach is justified when the low price for the buyer is not the most important argument in favor of the product. He is willing to pay more for the uniqueness of the product, when its quality and properties differ significantly from competing counterparts.
The strength of this approach is the excellence of the technology used by a firm leading in a particular field. The weakness of this approach, oddly enough, is also in technology. After all, the focus on product quality sometimes does not allow to feel the threat from new technologies in time, when there are other products that meet the same needs as the company’s product.
The sales concept is based on the sales process itself. It is possible under conditions of insufficient awareness of the buyer about the properties of the product, when the consumer’s behavior is influenced by various means: advertising, convincing sales methods, product demonstrations, special discounts and more.
And although there is some risk associated with the cost of sales, many firms often use the concept of sales as a guide in their activities.
Marketing concept. It is not difficult to guess that the firm chooses the needs of consumers as a reference point, which needs to be met better than competitors do.
The guarantee of success of this approach is a high standard of living of buyers on the one hand and virtuoso mastery of marketing tools, the ability to adapt to market changes on the other.
However, marketing does not solve all the problems that arise in the firm, as excessive market fragmentation, neglect or reduction of the role of sales departments of the firm can lead to significant losses.
The concept of socio-ethical marketing. Of course, marketing is not inherently altruistic, except for non-profit organizations. The desire for profit is a normal guideline for the company. But the path she chooses to achieve this goal sometimes works against the moral norms and long-term interests of society. That is why it is important to expand the classic concept of marketing.
To the formula “marketing as an activity focused on meeting consumer needs” should be added “while improving the living standards of society.”
This concept is called socially-oriented marketing.
So, we have already noted that the success of the company in the market largely depends on how skillfully its employees have the tools of marketing.
The processes taking place in national and world markets are certainly universal. And although it seems natural to say that the more developed and highly competitive the market, the more important marketing, international marketing criteria for entrepreneurial behavior, it is safe to say the following: this issue affects the promising and pressing issues of market participants and in industrialized countries, as well as in states that only seek to establish effective economic mechanisms based on the principles of freedom of supply and demand, regulation through reverse economic relations.
What is international marketing as a specific phenomenon, which is, at the same time, an organic subsystem of the general sphere of marketing relations?
This is a system of organizing the activities of the subjects of production, which helps to optimize the functional connection of production goals and current needs of non-national consumers, the merging of private interests in all spheres of internationalized economic life – production, intermediary, consumer. Thanks to it achievement of optimum indicators of business activity – profit, profitability, technical and resource maintenance, a salary, etc. is possible.
In other words, international marketing is an important condition for establishing a valid feedback between supply and demand internationally, is a kind of guarantee that the manufactured products, having passed all stages of the production process, will find its way to the final consumer abroad.