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| Logo of the London Cooperative Society in the Fulham Road, London - the site is now a German style Pub |
According to 'information Britain', the first true supermarket
in Britain was not a Tesco or Sainsbury but the London Cooperative Society on 12th
January 1948 in Manor Park a mere 32 years after Clarence Saunders began
exploiting the self-service concept in his splendidly named Piggly Wiggly store
in Memphis.
But human nature does not change much nor do their needs and
wants that marketing fulfils.
What goes around comes around as the proverb goes.
Farmers markets have returned even to the main cities
despite the cheap prices that the supermarkets can offer.
They seem to be a good starting point for this new series for the blog to take a fresh look
at the topic of Marketing.
The Background to
Marketing
Back in the day, the emphasis of any business was very much
on the needs of the company and the product which it made.
Products or services
were launched into the market place and it was then the task of the marketing
department and sales force to create the need for them.
This was known as company
or product orientation. In many instances it was successful ( and can be today especially
with new and innovative products).
However, to ensure on-going growth and development business needed to
adopt a different approach.
The emphasis changed from being centred on the needs of the
company and its products to being centred on the needs of the consumers who
would buy the products or services.
Companies found that
they could only exist and grow if, before producing products, they first
established what the actual needs of consumers were and then produced in line
with those needs.
The MARKETING APPROACH has a primary aim of customer satisfaction. The better that customer needs can be satisfied, provided that by doing so a profit can be earned, the more businesses will thrive. This is marketing or consumer orientation.
The MARKETING APPROACH has a primary aim of customer satisfaction. The better that customer needs can be satisfied, provided that by doing so a profit can be earned, the more businesses will thrive. This is marketing or consumer orientation.
The Marketing Mix ( the 4 Ps plus some more)
This comprises four
key elements which need to be considered in order to satisfy the customer
needs determined by marketing research.
The first of these is our
PRODUCT or SERVICE, sometimes referred to as our “OFFERING”. Product planning includes not only the
physical design of a product but also decisions about packaging, branding,
guarantees, trademarks and the anticipated market life of the product or
service. It is vital that the product or
service is developed, in all aspects, to satisfy identified consumer
needs.
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| Parsons Green farmers market is located in a school playground |
The third element is PROMOTION
or marketing COMMUNICATION. This
includes advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, direct mail,
telemarketing, exhibitions, public relations, social media etc. The blending of these different methods of
promotion is known as the marketing communications mix, and will vary from
company to company, industry to industry.
The fourth element in the marketing mix is PRICE, also referred to as COST.
The price of a product or service must be set at a point where profit is
possible, is acceptable and justifiable to the consumer, and is also
competitive with similar products (if any exist).
These four key elements are collectively referred to as the four P’s of marketing, and the
precise marketing mix, the relative importance of each, for one product or
service is likely to differ enormously to another product or service.
If you are exclusively marketing a service then
consideration should be given to two further P’s. The first is PEOPLE – they are core to making your service a success and they
must be fully trained and capable of meeting the customers’ expectations. The second service ‘P’ is PROCESSES – and these must be
structured so as to deliver maximum customer value and satisfaction.
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