Marketing Mix of Walmart - Case Study Example

Introduction: This assignment draws all the marketing mix that can provide the companies to organise wide range of services and to develop its brands of product. The focus of the report is to show via case study of Wal-Mart what marketing is, how this organisation uses marketing strategies and techniques, why marketing is essential to the company. Nowadays, marketing communication and advertising is becoming exceedingly important in everyday life. The use of the Internet has augmented the importance of advertising as advertisements about a specific brand or product reach people easier. Moreover, Jones (1995) states that "advertising is capable of a sharp immediate effect on sales" which plays a main role in enhancing the brand name. Furthermore many advertisements have deeper meanings than when seen at first sight especially in magazines where the main goal of the advertisement is to convey a message to the readers through the use of text or symbols. Central to much of modern day advertising in glossy magazines is the use of the metaphor (Proctor et. al, 2005). Metaphors are often used to broaden the way of understanding things. They also lead to a high level of ambiguity in the metaphoric form. Advertisers are finding it more and more difficult to persuade customers about a specific product. Some reasons for that is the higher educational levels and wide experience of using the products. As a result, some advertisers have moved towards creating advertisements that are out of the ordinary by using double meanings 'polysemy' or by integrating ration with emotion. In this paper, the importance of 4Ps will be discussed as well as mentioning the limitations. Discussion: Businesses today face challenges such as globalisation and opportunities as technology advancement and decreased legislation. Marketing is the service concept, which is aimed at the creation, promotion, and delivery of goods and services to the customers. Trained Marketers have the tendency to effect the demand. They can effect the level timing and composition of demand. Although many non-profit organisations don't sell products but they market their mission. They need to make the people understand their cause. Very often it is assumed that the people will automatically support the good cause. Unfortunately, this is a false premise. Even the best of programs will fade into obscurity unless non-profit management intentionally makes other groups, associations, businesses, and individuals aware of their mission and continuously maintains that level of awareness. Communication builds understanding and advocates change. Non-profits should define their intended audiences, target their messages to these groups, and outline strategic plans that will best use limited resources to meet organisational goals and objectives. How many people in your community are alert to the good work of your organisation Effective communication and a consistent image also enhance the ability of non-profit organisations to raise money. If local community members do not have an awareness of the good work that a non-profit does; it is unlikely that they will contribute to a fund raising campaign. In turn, if private foundations do not see financial support at the local level, they may be less inclined to award grants. Foundations also look at grant proposals to see how an organisation plans to communicate the results of their program. Marketing is an on-going, cumulative strategy that can build financial partnerships. Regardless of an organisation's size or mission, here are some essential elements of successful marketing that will work to build community awareness and support. Wendy Gray Maynard, Marketing for non-profit Organisations, Concept Marketing Group, Inc., available at http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/view/2101 The American marketing association defines market research as "The systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services". Consumer analysis is an important part of the market strategy. Every marketing campaign is aimed at consumers. In order to develop an effective marketing strategy it is important to understand the buyers needs and wants attached to a product. In order to understand how the consumers actually make their buying decisions, marketers must identify the motivators and the decision-makers. Consumer behaviour is influenced by four factors, which are culture (culture, values, social class etc.), social (community, family, social rules etc.), personality factors (age, sex, occupation, economic status lifestyle, personality etc.) and psychological factors (motivation, perception, beliefs etc). Addressing all these factors can lead to an effectively planned marketing strategy. People can be initiators, influencers, buyers, deciders and users. It is important to understand the type of behaviour in which the customer is involved such as the dissonance reducing buying behaviour, habitual buying behaviour, and variety seeking buying behaviour. Most of the buying behaviours of the customers involve a sequence of events in their buying decision. Recognition of the problem, search of information, evaluation for alternatives, purchase behaviour and post purchase loyalty or behaviour. It is important for the marketing manager to understand the buyers' perceptions at each and every stage and to understand the influences operating at each level. Some of the factors, which can effect the buyers' behaviour, are other's attitudes, perceived risks and post purchase satisfaction. A satisfied buyer will continue to purchase and if not satisfied the customer will not only stop buying but will also spread negative opinion in relatives and friends (Kotler, 2000). Most of the companies attract customers by proposing functional benefit measured in money, time, duration, or physical measures such as "Singapore airlines the pioneer of in-flight services such as free drinks and complimentary headsets. Kris Flyer membership rewards frequent flyers with free travel to their favourite destinations. All members get the opportunity to qualify for higher tiers of membership, with each tier offering greater privileges and benefits. Once they are a member, they can earn miles to redeem for free travel awards and take advantage of special Kris Flyer promotions." (Tripod) The provision of the functional benefits and the customer retention programs at the Singapore airlines not only attracted the new customers but also kept the customers loyal to the Airline, which has not only increased the market share but also transformed it into world's leading carriers from a small regional airline. The 4P's are the most important founding factors on which the marketing plan of a company basically depends. Effective use of these 4P's can lead to successful marketing of a product or service. All the 4P's are volatile in nature and keep on changing according to the requirements. Constant evaluation of all the 4P's is important losing focus on any one of them can lead to a disaster. We will analyse the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart below keeping in view the 4P's: Product: Since the Wal-Mart are the retailing stores an array of products is available to cater the needs of the customers. The Company has started manufacturing some of the products such as dairy and baking items. The products available at Wal-Mart are a symbol of quality and variety. Promotion: Some of the best promotion activities are undertaken at Wal-Mart including advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations. Price: "There is a very sensitive relationship between price and the placement of a product. Cheap is easy to sell, or so says history, but expensive can be easy to sell too" (Barac, 2005). Lower prices and discount offerings are the cutting edge benefits of the company. "The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. (Fishman, 2003) Placement: The presence of the Wal-Mart stores at every important place in the country is the evidence of the effective placement of the stores. Wal-Mart is getting by having a dense network of stores is to facilitate the logistics of deliveries. The added 3P's are as follows: People: Wal-Mart is famous for its effective recruiting and training of the staff. Although the company remains in news for its controversial policies, sex discrimination and labour law violations but the customers are catered with efficient services and best knowledge provision by the staff. The depth of Wal-Mart's management team allows the managers to tap into tremendous internal talent. Process: Efficient system of processing the customer's demand gives a cutting edge advantage to Wal-Mart. In fact the efficient and speedy services are the trademark of Wal-Mart. Physical evidence: 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. The environment at the Wal-Mart stores are clean and user friendly which adds to the uniqueness and competitive advantage of Wal-Mart. The changing market environment has given rise to the needs of update information more than ever in the past. The markets have transformed to international from local. With the increase in the exposure to masses and increased geographical market coverage, the need of quick and up to date information has also increased. With the changing business environment the buyers are also changing. With the increasing incomes the buyers have become more selective. For a company to launch a new product it has become important to have the information from the buyer needs to buyer wants. On the other hand it is also important to have the knowledge of how to present the product in effective manner in order to reach the customer in an effective manner. With the changing business needs the new marketing techniques such as product differentiation, branding and advertising are also gaining immense importance. The successful product positioning and promotion is only possible if all the required information in this lieu is gathered and used in the right direction. In order to fulfil modern information needs, new information technologies have also been evolved. The information regarding the buyer preferences and behaviour plays an important part in helping the management to take important decisions regarding the product such as pricing, promotion, competition etc. It is important for the company to establish a system in order to acquire a large amount of information for the marketing managers. "Competitive companies study their managers' information needs and design marketing information systems (MIS) to meets these needs. A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyse, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision markers. To carry out their analysis, planning, implementation, and control responsibilities marketing managers need information about developments in the marketing environment. The role of the MIS is to assess the manager's information needs, develop the needed information, and distribute that information in a timely fashion, the information is developed through internal company records, marketing intelligence activities, marketing research, and marketing decision support analysis." (Kotler, 2000) An effective MIS also helps in enhancing the exposure level of the company from local market to national market. It is important for the company to design the MIS system in an effective manner. In most of the cases the companies lack information sophistication. Some of them collect a large amount of information but the data is not stored in a proper way to be handled easily. Without an effective marketing information system it will become impossible for the Dairy Products limited to reach to the desired customer. The MIS helps the company in understanding the customer's perception, taste, needs and desires regarding the new product. Without the proper MIS the investment in the production and innovation will not be of any use. "The MIS represent a cross between what managers think they need, what managers really need, and what is economically feasible." (Kotler, 2000) The MIS will provide support to the management in the areas of reduction of price risks, planning for an effective and cheap marketing strategy with technology assessment and development, particularly in evolving and popularising food product offered by the company. An effective Marketing information system can help in the company in motivating distributors, retailers, and other intermediaries to pass along important intelligence. Through the components of MIS the Company will able to collect information regarding order-to-payment cycle and sales reporting system. The mangers will be able to get the information about the developments in the marketing environment. The MIS will also assist the managers in collecting, analysing and reporting data relevant to the market situation. The decision support system will help the managers to take important marketing decisions by interpreting the gathered information. Hence MIS is the most important instrument without which the Company cannot market its product successfully in market. References Barac, R., The Marketing Mix: The 4P's, The Basics, 16 December 2005, retrieved as on June 13, 2006 from http://www.marketingroots.net/p=4 Fishman, C., (2003). Wal-Mart you don't know, Issue 77, December 2003, Page 68 American Marketing Association, (2006). Marketing, Retrieved from http://www.marketingpower.com/ Kotler, P., (2000). Marketing Management, Millennium Edition, Prentice Hall International, Inc. Tripod, Customer Loyalty and Retention programs of the Airline Industry Project, University of Phoenix, Retrieved from http://crmsc.tripod.com/AirlineMajorProjectGroup1.htm Read More