Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use

in sales, communications and business development.[1] It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments.[1] It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.[1]

Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, marketing management is one of the major components of business management. Marketing evolved to meet the stasis in developing new markets caused by mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries.[citation needed] The adoption of marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their focus from production to the perceived needs and wants of their customers as the means of staying profitable.[citation needed]

Identifying Customer Needs "You cannot manage a quality service organisation unless you understand the nature of what you are providing, fully realise what your customers want from you and how they perceive you from the start."

W.Martin: Managing Customer Service, Crisp, 1989

Once you have identified who your customers are, you need to assess what they need from your product or service.

Most customer needs can be divided into four basic categories:

The need to be understood

Customers need to feel that the message they are sending is being correctly received and interpreted

The need to feel welcome

Customers need to feel that you are happy to see them

The need to feel important

Customers like to feel important and special

The need for comfort

Customers need physical and psychological comfort

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE Product life cycle management (or PLCM) is the succession of strategies used by business management as a product goes through its life cycle. The conditions in which a product is sold (advertising, saturation) changes over time and must be managed as it moves through its succession of stages.

Product life cycle (PLC) Like human beings, products also have a life-cycle. From birth to death, human beings pass through various stages e.g. birth, growth, maturity, decline and death. A similar life-cycle is seen in the case of products. The product life cycle goes through multiple phases, involves many professional disciplines, and requires many skills, tools and processes. Product life cycle (PLC) has to do with the life of a product in the market with respect to business/commercial costs and sales measures. To say that a product has a life cycle is to assert three things: Products have a limited life, Product sales pass through distinct stages, each posing different challenges, opportunities, and problems to the seller, Products require different marketing, financing, manufacturing, purchasing, and human resource strategies in each life cycle stage.

The four main stages of a product's life cycle and the accompanying characteristics are:Stage Characteristics 1. Market introduction stage slow sales volumes to start little or no competition demand has to be created customers have to be prompted to try the product makes no money at this stage 2. Growth stage costs reduced due to economies of scale sales volume increases significantly profitability begins to rise public awareness increases competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market increased competition leads to price decreases 3. Maturity stage curve effects costs are lowered as a result of production volumes increasing and experience costs are very high

sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached increase in competitors entering the market prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products brand differentiation and feature diversification is emphasized to maintain or increase market share Industrial profits go down 4. Saturation and decline stage costs become counter-optimal sales volume decline prices, profitability diminish profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales Contents [hide]

1 Request for deviation 2 Market identification 3 Lessons of the product life cycle (PLC) 4 Limitations 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Request for deviation

In the process of building a product following defined procedure, an RFD is a request for authorization, granted prior to the manufacture of an item, to depart from a particular performance [edit] Market identification

Termination is not always the end of the cycle; it can be the end of a micro-entrant within the grander scope of a macro-environment. The auto industry, fast-food industry, petro-chemical industry, are just a few that demonstrate a macro-environment that overall has not terminated even while micro-entrants over time have come and gone.products need to be recognised in the market based upon the characteristics it has. [edit] Lessons of the product life cycle (PLC)

It is claimed that every product has a life period, it is launched, it grows, and at some point, may die. A fair comment is that - at least in the short term - not all products or services die. Jeans may die, but clothes probably will not. Legal services or medical services may die, but depending on the social and political climate, probably will not. [edit]

Over the last few years, the demand placed on the distribution and logistics departments of manufacturing and marketing organizations has been continuously intensifying due to pressures from increased competition, introduction of new manufacturing methods, and increased expectations from partners and consumers in terms of low price and high service levels. Corporations are looking to increase their customer service levels, while reducing inventory, working capital requirements and distribution costs.

While distribution and logistics planning is gaining importance within corporations, distribution planners and supply chain managers are still struggling to come to terms with the increased expectations. The bulk of their time is still spent on short-term operational problems related to meeting immediate demand requirements, without much consideration for longer-term costs or strategic issues.

Most of the issues faced by distribution planners and supply-chain planners can be linked to: Demand-side Variability Difference between forecasted and actual demand; hockey stick sales patterns Supply-side Variability Delays in supply; lead time variability; campaign production runs; production in lot sizes Process Variability Non-standardized planning process; use of intuition, experience, and rule-based heuristics instead of complete cost based optimization Lack of information availability and visibility Delays in conveying forecast changes to Distribution since Distribution and Marketing work on different forecasts Conflicting objectives between different departments Marketing wants to maximize sales and increase product availability, while Distribution wants to minimize product inventories and distribution costs Sub-optimal planning Lack of synchronization between Production and Distribution planning; limitations of the human mind to process and utilize all available data to make optimal decisions

Distribution The highly data-intensive, deterministic and repetitive nature of distribution planning lends itself well to the use of Decision Support Systems. These systems can leverage the latest advances in information technology and optimization techniques to manage inventories and plan dispatches to meet demand at minimum cost.

Distribution Planning systems can address the following operational issues faced by a supply chain manager Product dispatching: When and where should a product be dispatched? Product placement: Which product should be held at each location and in what quantity? Vehicle loading: What products should be loaded on to a vehicle? Vehicle choice: Which mode of transportation should be used? Vehicle planning: How many vehicles of each type would be required on what days in the next one month?

Distribution Planning solutions should reduce process variability, improve information visibility and coordination between departments, and optimize planning, while responding to demand and supply side variabilities in real time.

In addition to the above, Distribution Planning solutions can also aid in strategic decision-making in areas like network planning, warehouse capacity planning, vehicle capacity planning, and inventory and service level management. These systems facilitate long-term planning, and creation and analysis of various demand, supply and supply chain structure scenarios.

Distribution Planning should be led by Demand Planning and be a driver for Production Planning to ensure seamless supply chain integration.

Requirements of a good distribution planning system Minimize total cost of distribution Increase manager productivity through automated, high-speed planning

Synchronize Distribution and Production planning Formalize informed decision-making and reduce variability in the Distribution planning process Leverage information collected through ERP and other transactional systems for optimized planning Improve information visibility and coordination between Marketing, Distribution and Production.

Product In marketing, a product is anything that can be offered to a market that might satisfy a want or need.[5] In retailing, products are called merchandise. In manufacturing, products are purchased as raw materials and sold as finished goods. Commodities are usually raw materials such as metals and agricultural products, but a commodity can also be anything widely available in the open market. In project management, products are the formal definition of the project deliverables that make up or contribute to delivering the objectives of the project. In insurance, the policies are considered products offered for sale by the insurance company that created the contract.