MKT 420 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MARKETING

TEST 1

Question 1.
Marketing management needs effective philosophy that will guide them in designing marketing
strategies in building profitable relationship with target customers. Discuss the five (5) concepts or
philosophies that can be adopted by marketing managers.

Answer 1.
Marketing is a process by which companies create value for customer. Promoting and selling
the right product at the right time, creating value at the customer place and build strong relationship
with customer are crucial in order to capture the value from them in return. There would be different
strategies to reach the customer in order to be better than their competitors. In marketing, there are
five basic concepts for a company to implement in its marketing plan and getting up to date on the
marketing environment.

The five basic concepts are :

1.

Production Concept
Consumer will favor the products that are available and highly affordable. Management should
focus on improving their production line and distribution system efficiency. This is a concept
which is applied from previous days. This concept is to make the companies realise what the
customer is looking for. The customer always in need of continuous availability of the product
and prefers for low price. So the company should focus on the mass production and distribution
system and selling the product at the very competative price. This concept gives an idea of
competing in the competitive market of production.

2.

Product Concept
This concept is reaching the products to the customer. The company should offer the products
which the customer is looking at. The customer always looks at the products with high quality,
long term performance and user friendly. So by designing these things is not enough for the
company. The company should creates heavy promotion events programs, efficient distribution
system and competative pricing. So when applying all these, this concept will be helpful for the
company to look at their product strategy.

MKT 420 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MARKETING

TEST 1

3.

Selling Concept
This concept for the companies use when there is a mass production and they need to sell it at
any cost. Selling concept is to find the right customers for the product. The companies must be
good at tracking down prospects and selling them on a products benefits. So by selling only
then they can have more customers and more profit in terms of money and brand name. The
only way to reach the customers is selling. So companies use this concepts to look at the front
end and getting profits.

4.

Marketing Concept
This concept is started in the mid of 1950's as the business and marketing changed their way
from the earlier days to present, companies are in need of this concept. Selling concept and the
marketing concept is different. Marketing concept is not to find the right customers for the
product but to find the right products for the customers. So it is the time for the companies to
deliver the best product at customer point with good service. Now the companies are working at
total orientation towards market, that is to target the customer, apply the marketing techniques
and give the best of service to retain the customer. This concept will help the company in the
marketing front.

5.

Societal Marketing Concept

The companies practice societal marketing concept through their Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The companies donate, contribute or offer products and
services to charities and not-for-profit organisations. The societal marketing concept holds that
marketing strategy should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves both
the consumers and societys well-being. It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and
environmentally responsible marketing that meets the present needs of consumers and
businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their
needs.

MKT 420 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MARKETING

TEST 1

Question 2(a).
Define consumer buying behavior.

Answer 2(a).
Consumer buying behavior is the sum total of a consumer's attitudes, preferences, intentions,
and decisions regarding the consumer's behavior in the marketplace when purchasing a product or
service. The study of consumer behavior draws upon social science disciplines of anthropology,
psychology, sociology, and economics.

Question 2(b).
Describe the four (4) characteristics that affecting consumer behavior and explain them with the
example.

Answer 2(b).
Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural factors, social factors, personal
factors and psychological factors. Marketers cannot control such factors but they must take them into
account.

Cultural Factors
Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence on consumer behavior. Marketers need to
understand the role played by the buyers culture, subculture and social class. Culture is the most
basic cause of a persons wants and behavior. Human behavior is largely learned. Growing up in a
society, a child learns basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors from his or her family and
other important institutions.
A person learns or exposed to the value of achievement and success, individualism, freedom,
hard work, activity and involvement, efficiency and practicality, material comfort, youthfulness, and
fitness and health. Every society has a culture and cultural influences on buying behavior is vary
from county to county. Marketers are always trying to spot cultural shifts so as to discover new
products that might be wanted. For example, the cultural shift toward greater concern about health
and fitness has created a huge industry for health-and-fitness services, exercise equipment and
clothing, organic foods and a variety of diets.

MKT 420 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MARKETING

TEST 1

Social Factors
Social factors is not determined by a single factor such as income but is measured as a
combination of occupation, income, education, wealth and other variables. In some social systems,
members of different classes are reared for certain roles and cannot change their social positions.
Marketers are interested in social class because people within that particular social class tend to
show similar buying behavior. Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences in areas
such as clothing, home furnishings, travel and leisure activity, financial services and automobiles.
Family members can strongly influence buyer behavior.
The family is the most important consumer buying organisation in society and it has been
researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles and influence of the husband, wife and
children on the purchase of different products and services. One study found that kids significantly
influence family decisions about everything from what cars they buy to where they eat out and take
vacations. A person also belongs to many groups such as family, clubs, organisations and
communities. The persons position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A
role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the people around them.
Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society.
People usually choose products suitable to their roles and status. Consider the various roles a
working mother plays. At work, she may play the role of a brand manager but at home, she plays the
role of wife and mother. As a brand manager, she will buy the kind of clothing that reflects her role
and status in her company but at home, she may wear clothing suitable her role as a wife and mother.

Personal Factors
A buyers decisions are influenced by personal characteristics such as the buyers age and
life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle, personality and self-concept. People
change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Tastes in food, clothes, furniture and
recreation are often age related. Buying is also shaped by the stage of the family life cycle whish are
the stages through which families might pass as they mature over time.
Life stage changes usually result from demographics and life changing events are like
marriage, having children, purchasing a home, divorce, children going to college, changes in
personal income, moving out of the house and retirement. Marketers often define their target markets
in terms of life cycle stage and develop appropriate products and marketing plans for each stage.

MKT 420 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF MARKETING

TEST 1

Psychological Factors
Psychological factors consist of motivation, perception, learning and beliefs.
i.

Motivation A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to direct the person to seek
satisfaction.

ii.

Perception Is the process by which people select, organise and interpret information to form a
meaningful picture of the world from three perceptual processes which are sellective attention,
sellective distortion and sellective retention.

iii.

Learning Learning is the change in an individuals behavior arising from experience and
occurs through interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses and reinforcement.

iv.

Beliefs Is a descriptive thought that a person has about something based on knowledge,
opinion and faith.

Thank you