Marketing theory free essay sample

When Britvic introduces a product into a market they must ask themselves a number of questions, who is the product aimed at, what benefit will customers expect, how do they plan to position the product within the market? And what differential advantage will the product offer over their competitors. The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, plus how it relates to the end users needs and wants. As Britvic have a wide variety of drinks they target a variety of markets and are very successful at growing and bringing out new products and making them popular. Distribution refers to how the product gets to the buyer; for instance, point-of-sale assignment or retailing. This refers to the channel by which a product or service is sold (e. g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which division (young adults, families, business citizens), etc. lso referring to how the surroundings in which the product is sold in can influence sales. Britvic is sold over a large geographical area and is sold too many different industries including pubs, restaurant, shops, supermarkets and many more. Price requires marketers to determine the amount of money that they will ask in exchange for their products. Of all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales revenue all the others are costs. The price of an item is clearly an important determinant of the value of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item on sale. Researching consumers opinions about pricing is important to Britvic as it indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they want to pay. Britvic’s pricing policy will vary according to time and circumstances. When selling their products they should take the following into consideration: †¢ market based pricing †¢ cost based pricing †¢ new pricing strategies The one thing that Britvic wouldn’t want to do is over charge their customers as this could lose current or potential customers but they also need to have the right price to make a profit Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organisation such as Britvic to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective. They would have to consider the ideas of why they should advertise and where they should advertise because if they can advertise in the right place then they can get vast amount of promotions for their products. 2. In marketing a service, explain the importance of: a. Process b. People c. Physical Environment Process – Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer. Companies like Britvic thrive on their quick and popular service and the reason they can do that is their confidence on their processes. The demand of these services is such that they have to deliver optimally without a loss in quality one example of this is they have some of their drinks in smaller glass bottles to preserve the vitamins and goodness in the bottles for longer. Thus the process of a service company in delivering its product is of utmost importance. It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the service product reaching the end customer People An essential ingredient to any service provision is the use of appropriate staff and people. Recruiting the right staff and training them appropriately in the delivery of their service is essential if the organisation wants to obtain a form of competitive advantage. Consumers make judgments and deliver perceptions of the service based on the employees they interact with. Staff should have the appropriate interpersonal skills and service knowledge to provide the service that consumers are paying for. Many British organisations such as Britvic aim to apply for the Investors in People accreditation, which tells consumers that staff is taken care of by the company and they are trained to certain standards. Physical Evidence Physical Evidence is the element of the service mix which allows the consumer again to make judgments on the organisation. If you walk into a restaurant your expectations are of a clean, friendly environment. On an aircraft if you travel first class you expect enough room to be able to lie down. Physical evidence is an essential ingredient of the service mix; consumers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service provision which will have an impact on the organisations perceptual plan of the service. . Explain how Britvic might adapt their marketing mix in response to three possible changes in marketing conditions. One reason could be product objectives. Each product is created with its own objective or purpose. The company has to make sure that they use their marketing mix to its full potential because each of their products would have to be created differently since each of them would have their own purpose. Another reason could be the competition. When the company has lots of ompetition they sometimes have to come up with some new original creative ideas that no other company has ever thought of. In order to do this they would have to go through their marketing mix and think outside the box so that they can create better products then think of a suitable prices so that they can make a good profit from. Then they would have to think of a different way to promote the products And lastly another reason would be new technology and changing fashions for example updating the style of packaging of the product. They could make the packaging better by giving the products a longer shelf life and overall make the products last longer which would make a better profit as there wouldn’t be as much waste and the drinks would be fresher. This would boost sales with if they had new packaging, but they would need to go through the whole mix again so that they could re-advertise the product so all the current customers and new target markets would know that they have the same great products but with a new improved more current packaging and the products are more fresh and last longer.