The Rise of Mega retailers

The rise of huge mass merchandisers and specialty superstores, the formation of vertical marketing systems, and a rash of retail mergers and acquisitions have created a core of superstore mega retailers. Through their superior information system and buying power these giant retailers can offer better merchandises selections, good service, and strong price saving to consumers. As a result, they grow even larger by squeezing out their smaller, weaker competitors.

The mega retailers are also shifting the balance of power between retailers and producers. A relative handful of retailers now control access to enormous numbers of consumers, giving them the upper hand in their dealings with manufactures. For example, in the United States, Wal-Mart’s revenues are more than five times those of Proctor and Gamble, and Wal-Mart generates almost 20 percent of P & G’s revenues. Wal-Mart can, and often does, use this power to wring concessions form P & G’s and other suppliers.

The Future of Retailing

Retailing operates in a harsh and fast changing environment, which offers threats as well as opportunities. For example, the industry suffers from chronic overcapacity, resulting in fierce competition for customer dollars. Consumer demographics, lifestyle and shopping patterns are changing rapidly, as are retailing technologies .To be successful, then, retailers will need to choose target segments carefully and position themselves strongly. They will need to take the following retailing developments into account as they plan and execute their competitive strategies.

Retail Convergence

TOday's retailers are increasingly selling the same products atthe same prices to the same consumer in competition with a wider variety of other retsilers. For example, you can buy books at outlets ranging from independent local bookstores to warehouse clubs such as Castco, superstore such as Barners and Noble or Border or Web sites such as Amazon.com. When it comes to brand name appliances, department store, discunt stores, home im provement stores, off-price retailers, electronics superstore, and a slew of Web sitesall compete for the same customers. So if you can't find the microwave oven you want at Sears, just step across the street and find one for a better price at Lower's home Depot-or just order one online form www.Amazon.com

Growth of Non store Retailing

Most of us still make most of our purpose the old fashioned way: We go the store, find what we want, wait patiently in line to plunk down our cash or credit card and bring home the goods. However, consumers now have an array of alternatives, including mail-order, television, phone, and online shopping. American is increasingly avoiding the hassles and crowds at malls by doing more of their shopping by phone or computer. Although such retailing advances may threaten some traditional retailers, they offer exciting opportunities for other .Most store retailers have now developed direct retailing channels. In fact, more online retailing is conducted by ''click and brick'' retailers than by ''click only retailers. In a recent ranking of the top 50 online retail sites, 35 were multichannel retailers.

Growing Important of Retail Technology

Retail technologies are becoming critically important as competitive tools. Progressive retailers are using advanced information technology and software systems to produce better forecasts, control inventory costs, order electronically from suppliers, send information between stores, and even sell to customers within stores. They are adopting checkout scanning systems, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange, in store television, and improved merchandise handling systems.
Perhaps the most startling advances in retailing technology concern the ways in which today’s retailers are connecting with customers. Many retailers now routinely use technologies such as touch screen kiosks, customer loyalty cards, electronic shelf labels and signs, handheld shopping assistants, smart cards, self scanning systems, and virtual reality displays. For example, in its new pilot store –Bloom-southeastern grocery chain Food Lion is using technology to make shopping easier for its customer.

Planning Marketing: Partnering to Build Customer Relationships

The company strategic plan establishes what kinds of businesses the company will operate in and its objectives for each. Then, within each business unit, more detailed planning takes place. The major functional departments in each unit marketing, finance, accounting, purchasing, operations, information systems, human resources, and other must work together to accomplish strategic objectives.

Marketing plays a key role in the company strategic planning in several ways. First, marketing provides a guiding philosophy the marketing concept that suggests that company strategy should revolve around building profitable relationship with important consumer groups.

Partnering with Other Company Department

Each company department can be thought of as a link in the company’s value chain. That is, each department carries out value creating activities to design produce, marketing, deliver, and supported the firm’s products. The firm’s success depends not only on how well each department performs its work but also on how well the activities of various departments are coordinated.
However, the marketing department needs help from the company’s other departments. Wal-Marts ability to offer the right products at low prices depends on the purchasing department’s skill in developing the needed suppliers and buying from them at low cost.

A company’s value chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Success depends on how well each department performs its work of adding customer value and on how well the activities of various departments are coordinated. At Wal-Mart, if purchasing can’t wring the lowest prices from suppliers then marketing can’t deliver on its promise of lowest prices.

Marketing Targeting:

After a company has market segments, it can enter one or many of these segments. Market targeting involves evaluating, each market segment’s attractiveness and select one or more segments to enter. A company should target segments in which it can profitable generate the greatest customer value and sustain it over time
A company with limited recourses might decide to serve only one or a few special segment or market niches. Such niches specialize in serving customer segments that major competitors overlook or

Marketing segmentation

The marketing consists of many types of customer, products and needs. The marketing has to determine which segments offer the best opportunities. Consumers can be grouped and served in various ways based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral factors. The process of dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics or behaviors, who might require separate products or marketing program, is called market segmentation

Marketing Ethics and Social Responsibility

Timberland CEO Jeffery Swartz recently strode purposefully into a New York office packed with McDonalds executed .Dressed in a blazer, jeans and timberland boots. He was there to convince the fast food gain that it should choose his $1.5billion shoe and clothing company to provide its new uniforms. The executives waited expectantly for him to unzip a bag and reveal the sleek new prototype.
We didn’t bring any designs, ‘’Swartz said flatly. Eyebrows arched. Instead, he launches into an impassioned speech that had virtually nothing to do with clothes or shoes. What Timberland really had to offer McDonalds Swartz said was the benefits? To the company and the world at large of helping it builds a unified, motivated purposeful workforce. ‘’Other people can do uniforms.’’

Designing the Business Portfolio:

Second it must shape the future portfolio by developing strategies for growth and downsizing.Guided by the company mission statement and objective, management now must plan its business portfolio the collection of businesses and product that makes up the company .The best business portfolio is the one that best fits the company’s strengths and weaknesses to opportunities in the environment. Business portfolio planning involves two steps .First, the company must analyze its current businesses, should receive more less or no investment.

Customer Needs, Wants, and Demands:

The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs,Human needs are states of felt deprivation. They include basic physical needs for food ,clothing ,warmth,and safety ;socials need for belonging and affection ;and individual needs for knowledge and self expression. These needs were not created by marketing they are a basic part of the human makeup.
WANTS:

Are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual personality.An American needs food but wants a Big mac french fries and soft drink.A person is Mauritius needs food but want's a mango, rice ,lentils, and beans. Wants are shaped by one's society and are described in terms of object that will satisfy needs.

Companywide Strategic Planning :

Defining Marketing’s Role
 

Each company must find the Gama plan for long run survival and growth that makes the most sense given its specific situation, opportunity , objective , and resources . This is the focus of strategic planning the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.

Strategic planning sets the stage for the rest of the planning in the firm .Companies usually prepare annual plans long range plans and strategic plans .The annual and long range plans deal with the company’s current businesses and how to keep them going. In contrast the strategic plan involves adapting the firm to take advantage of opportunities in its constantly changing environment.

Company and Marketing Strategy

Partnering to Build Customer Relationship

The Nike ‘’swoosh’’ it’s every where !Just for fun ,try counting the swooshes whenever you the sports pages or watch a pickup basketball games or turn into a televised golf match .Through
Innovative marketing .Nike has built the ever present swoosh into one of the best known brand symbols on the planet .But 40 some years ago when young CAP Phil Knight and colleges tracks coach Bill bowerman cofounded the company .Nike was just a brash , young upstart in the athletic industry.

In those year days ,Knight and Bowerman ran Nike by the seat their pants .Is 1964 ,the pair chipped in $500 apiece to start Blue Ribbon Sport .In 1970, Bowerma dreams up a new sneaker tread by stuffing a piece of rubber into his wife’s waffle iron . The Waffle trainer quickly became the nation’s best selling training shoe.

Throughout in 1980s and 1990s still plying the role of the underdog .Nike sprint ahead of its competition
Between 1998 and 1997 , Nike’s revenues grew at an annual rate of 21 percent ; annual return to investors averaged an eyepopping 47 percent . nike leveraged its brands strength , moving aggressively into new product categories , sport and region of the world.

Preparing an Integrated Marketing Plan and Programs

by transforming the marketing strategy into action. It consists of the firm's marketing mix the set of marketing tools the firm uses to implement its marketing strategy.
The major marketing mix tools are classfied intofour broad groups, called the four PS of marketing product, price, place and promotion.To deliver on its value proposition, the firm must first create a need-satisfying market offering(product) .It must decided how much it will charge for the offer(price) and how it will make the offer available to target consumers (place). The company's marketing strategy outlines which customer the company will serve and how it will create value for these customers.Next,the marketer develops an integrated marketing programs that will acually deliver the intented value to target customer.The marketing programs builds customer relationships

The Marketing Concept :

customers for you products, but to find the right products for your customers THE SELLING CONCEPT
The selling concept takes an inside-out perspective.It start with the factory,focuses on the company's existing products,and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales. it focuses primarily on customer conqesr-getting short -terms sales with little concern about who buys or why. THE MARKETING CONCEPTThe marketing concept takes an outsides in perspective. As Herb Kellehe, Southwest Airlines' colourful''CEO'',put it.''We don't have a marketing department :we have a customer department .''And in the words of one Ford executive,''If we are not customer driven .our cars won't be either .The marketing concept starts with a well-defined market,focuses on customer needs,and integrates all the marketing activities that affect customers.In turn,it yields profits by creating lasting relationship with the right customer based on customer value and satisfaction
THE SELLING AND THE MARKETING CONCEPTS:

The marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depands on knowing the needs and wants of targets markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do. Under the marketing concept ,customer focus and value are the paths to sales and profits. Instead of a product-centered make and sell philosopy, the marketing concept is a customer-centered sence and respond philosophy.It views marketing notas hunting, but as gardening. The job is not to find the right

Exchange and Relationship

Marketing occurs when people decided to satisfy needs and wants through exchange relationship .Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.In the broadest sence ,the marketier tries to bring about a response to smoe market offering.The response may be than simply buying or trading products and services.A political candidate, for instance ,wants votes ,a church wants membership, an orchestra wants an audience, and a social action group wants idea acceptance.
Marketiing consists of action taken to build and maintain desirable exchange relationships with target audiences involving a product ,services, idea or other objects. Beyond simply attracting new customer and creating transactions,the goal is to retain customers and grow their business with the company. Marketing wants to build strong relationships by consistently delivering superior customer value. We will expand on the important concept of managing customer relationships.

Marketing Offering-Products, Services, and Experiences

Customer's needs and wants are fulfilled through a marketing offering -some combination of products ,serices ,information or experiences offered to a market to satisfy a or needs want. Marketing offerings are not limited to physical products.they also include services, activities or benefits offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anythink.Examples includes banking,airline ,hotel,tax preparation and home repair services.More broadly ,market offerings also include other entities,such as persons, places,organization,information, and ideas.For examples ,beyond promoting its banking services,LaSalle Bank run ads asking people to denote used or old winter clothes to the Salvation Army.In this case, the marketing offering is helping to keep those who are less fortunate warm

Analyzing the Current Business Portfolio:

Major activity in strategic planning is business portfolio analysis .whereby management evaluates the product and businesses making up the company .The company will want to put strong resources into its more profitable businesses and phase down or drops its weaker ones.
Management first step is to identify the key business making up the company. These can be called the strategic businesses units.

A strategic business units (SBU) Is a units of the company that has a separate mission and objective and that can be planned independently from other company businesses. An SBU can be a company division a product line within a division or sometimes a single product or brands .

Marketing;

Advertising is the promotion of a product or service and is extremely pervasive in contemporary society. To maximize sales, companies will pay a premium for wide exposure through the mass media. Advertising space is common, but not restricted to these realms; billboards, public transportation, movies (product placement), schools, clothing, even bathroom stalls carry ads and the industry is constantly finding new ways to advertise.
The United States has the largest advertising market, accounting for half of the world's advertising expenditures (estimated at 500 billion in 2004 by the New Yorker). Japan holds a secure second place over Germany and the United Kingdom but still at less than one fifth of the U.S. total. In the United States, the number one target market for.

Each year ,fans experience the adrenalin charged ,heart stopping excitement of NASCAR racing firsthand by attending national tours to some tow dozen tracks around the country .NASCAR races attract the largest crowds of any U.S sporting events.About 240,000 people attended the recent daytona 500, far more than attended the Super Bowl, and the all state Brickyard 400 sells out its more than 300,000 seats each year .Last year alone NASCAR events capture 306 million television viewer.

Managing Profitable Customer Relationship.

When you think of NASCAR do you think of tobacco spitting rednecks and run down race tracks?Think again!These days NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) is much .much more.In fact,its one great marketing organization.And for fans,NASCAR is a lot more than stock car races.Its a high octane totally involving experience.
As for the stereotypes,throw away .NASCAR is now the second highest rated regular season sport on TV only the NFL draws more viewer and races are seen in 150 countries in 23 languages. NASCAR fans are young ,affluent ,and decidedly family oriented 40 percent are women.

What's NASCAR secret?Its incredible success results from a single minded focus :creating lasting customer relationship.For fans ,the NASCAR relationship develops through a careful blend of live racing events ,abundant media coverage,and compelling Web site.

Marketing:Creating Customer Value and Relationships

Principal of Marketing develops an innovative customer value and cuetomer-relationships framework thats capures the essence of todays marketing.



Five Major Value Themes:

1. Creating value for customer in order to captuer value from customers in returns; Todays marketing must be good at creating customer value and managing customer relationships.they must attract target customer with strong value propositions.Then,they must keep and grow customers by delivering superior customer value and effectively managing the company-customer interface.Todays outstanding marketing companies understand the marketing and customer needs, design value creating marketing strategies,develop integrated marketing programs that deliver, and build strong customer relationships.In return,they capture value from customers in the form of sales,profits, and customer loyalty. 2.Building and managing strong, value-creating brands;
Well positioned brands with strong brand equity the basis upon which to build customer value and profitable customer relationships. todays marketers must position their brands powerfully and manage them well.

3.Managing returns on marketing to recapture value;
In order to capture value from customers in return, marketing managers must be good at measuring and the return on their marketing investment.They must ensure that marketing dollars are being well spent.In the past many marketer spent freely on big expensive marketing programs, often without thinking carefullly about the financial and customer response return on their spending. But all that is changing repidly.Measureing and managing returns on marketing investments has become an important part of strategic marketing decision making.

4.Harnessing new marketing technologies;
New digital and other high-tech marketing development are dramatically changing how marketers creates and communication customer value .todays marketing must know how to leverage new computers,information,communication,and distribution technologies to connect more effectively with customers and marketing parts ners in this digitalage.

5.Marketing in a socially responsible way around the globe;
As technological developments make the world an increasingly smallar place ,marketers must be good at marketing their brands globally and in socially responsible ways that creates not just short terms value for individuals customers but also long term value for society as a whole.