Managing Market Relationships - Research Paper Example

? Retailer Relationships Retailers are quite significant when it gets to marketing of consumer products. Retailers act as a link between the manufacturers and the consumer. They need to establish healthy relationships with the consumer by serving their needs. A supplier acts as the link between the retailer and the consumer. They listen to the consumer needs, complain about goods in the market, and afterwards pass it to the manufacturer (Jones et al, 2002). Products released in the market should suit the consumer needs, and the marketing strategies should enhance enlightening to consumers about the product. The British American Tobacco is a leading retailer within the region. They have established retailers to help ensure that their consumers can access their products in an effective way. The retailers ensure that the supply of goods is reliable, and therefore this enables consumers to buy what they need, wherever they are and whenever the need arises at quality prices. Proper relations between the retailer and consumer ensure that one pays reasonable prices for the commodities they buy (Newman & Cullen, 2002). The British American Tobacco targets a certain range of consumers in the market, and therefore to make it to their target goals, there are ways of marketing their products. They create adverts or conduct consumer awareness campaigns to help the consumer understand what goods are in the market and thus choose the best suitable for their needs. These retailers take into consideration the need to maintain their environments clean and the need to release user-friendly products in the market. Therefore, they usually pack their products in environment friendly packages, and in case of dangerous emissions, they treat them before releasing to the human environment. To ensure that the youth do not smoke, they have put restrictions to the sellers and suppliers on who the products should be sold to. Their commodities are under restriction for individuals below the age of 19. To ensure that sellers stick by the policy, they put adverts in televisions, signboards, and even campaigns against underage smoking. The BAT Company want to ensure that they fill every gap in the market; they even conduct research to identify whether they serve the needs of their customers. This helps access the type of services provided. They compare their products to those of their competitors, and therefore strive to improve the quality of goods offered. The quality may vary due to the distribution of their commodities; failure to engage customer opinions in their activities or even the overall quality of products may be poor (Jones et al, 2002). However, research conducted recently showed that the British American Tobacco is one among the best retailer marketing institutions. Competitors have released substitute products to the markets that are of low quality and that cause more harm to the human body. The British American tobacco should put all the necessary efforts to ensure that consumers have the knowledge on the need to consume legitimate products. These contrabands only aim at making profits and do not care about consumer safety (Madaan, 2009). Since these illicit products cannot be altogether kicked out of the market, they need to establish their authentication to at least ensure that consumers are not at serious risks. With the changing times, British American Tobacco has managed to enhance its supply in different continents. Through this, it is easier to achieve growth because access to new markets increases sales, and later on, increasing the profits attained. With more branches, it is more likely to expand the company’s profile, and therefore this even creates more jobs for people all over the world, and more suppliers enabling distribution of commodities are able to earn themselves incomes and enhance interactions between consumers and retailers at grass roots level. Diversity in markets explored increases connections, but this is only possible using effective managerial personnel and creating goods that can compete on the international levels with those of competitors. Firms should not set boundaries for their marketing locations but should rather exploit a large variety of markets all over the continent. Due to the exploitations and the increased advantages, firms can even enjoy other benefits like a decrease in the cost of transactions, which therefore gives them advantages over their competitors (Madaan, 2009). Internationalization of the British American has been necessitated by factors such as advanced marketing skills by the retailer, advanced management, and capability of managing finances in an appropriate manner. The experience that one gets from minor retail activities with time gives one the ability to handle large enterprises that are not centrally located. The rise in demand of commodities within a market structure with time makes the commodity be the key player in the market. It makes it difficult for newly released products to rise to dominant positions. They also improve the chain management criteria thanks to which a business institution can improve its competitiveness (Lindgreen, 2009). Store management can reduce costs significantly if maintained at an efficient state. A reduction in management costs leads to decline in consumer prices, and therefore this draws more customers increasing sales. To ensure that the commodities produced get to the targeted consumers, some guidelines are offered to regulate on the sales of tobacco products. In some places, the different brands available are not displayed for consumers to know the variety available. This is a restriction made to ensure that the number of teens smoking do not get access to such products. However, to others they have laid restrictions on the no public smoking. Smoking in public is irritating behavior, and it may draw attention of others and male them start smoking due to curiosity (Newman & Cullen, 2002). Piracy in the tobacco industry is rising, and this confuses the consumer on which commodities are legitimate and which are illegitimate. Other than increasing risks for its consumers, it does not restrict its sales to adults only (Lindgreen, 2009). This increases piracy, counterfeit commodities in the market and exploitation of consumers too. The cheap illegal products by competitors may even result in the closure of legal businesses. This is because consumers tend to switch to less expensive products, and therefore people may end up smoking more. To curb this, the British American Tobacco has raised campaigns on the need to check for products authenticity rather than costs. Cheap is expensive. With the advances in technology, retailers in their products have launched websites and even pages that assist in educating consumers and helping them learn how beneficial it is to check items on originality. This assists in extending their market boundaries globally and promoting its performance as well as giving their views, complaints and compliments to the institution for their work (Madaan, 2009). This is a more cost effective way that is likely to access more people compared to the traditional methods of creating adverts that include use of door-to-door methods which presupposes a limited number of clients that get the information; it was also tiresome and expensive since many people had to be hired to perform the duty. Some more efficient means of advertising that have been adopted include use of brochures and media such as radiobroadcasts and television casts. This can reach more people within a large geographical area making it effective. Through communication to its clients, it is able to maintain positive interactions and even build up trust with its clients (Lindgreen, 2009). It also informs them of any new brand in the market and the variety of products available for their consumption. As retailers, they also have maintained responsibility in their operations. They have links with other suppliers to share common problems, how to solve them and the new moves to make in promoting their commodities in the market. They have to show responsibility when dealing with environmental issues like participating in tree planting rallies. This helps improve both safety and the health of the public. To conclude, the retailer business is the determinant on how well a business is likely to prosper. By maintaining proper communication between the consumer and the supplier, one can gather the necessary information about the market, and this helps in promoting their products. The marketing mechanisms also determine how well a product is likely to be marketed and create awareness of the consumers (Jones et al, 2002). The new ways of promoting sales and creating consumer awareness are most effective and cost effective as compared to the traditional ones, which were unreliable. Professional management of finances and other resources within any retail business is very crucial. It determines whether the business will overcome challenges and its readiness to take a risk of exploring new markets to increase its profits. The British American Tobacco has been a great example for many businesses on how proper management achieves development. References Jones, R. et al, (2002). Retail therapy: Making strategic relationships work. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Lindgreen, A. (2008). Managing market relationships: Methodological and empirical insights. Farnham: Gower. Madaan, K. (2009). Fundamentals of retailing. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited. Newman, A. & Cullen, P. (2002). Retailing: Environment & Operations. New York: Cengage Learning EMEA. Read More