Understanding Marketing Management: Pricing Objectives, Marketing Channels, And Shopper Marketing Essay.

Purpose:

This individual assignment is an opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding of marketing management

Answer all five of the following questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnBvlz8EaZ0

Watch the video and answer 3 following questions

1. What is the message that P&G wants to send to its customers?
2. According to your opinion what does the benefit P&G gain when they implemented the Thankyou Mom campaign’?
3. What kind of emotions does this video evoke in you? Explain what you felt and why. (there are no wrong answers here, just you thinking (

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj6xB3pCRsY

Watch the video and answer 2 following questions 

1. Who do you think is the target customer of this product?
2. Do you think this product will be success, if yes, why and how? If no, why not?

Agatha's Inc. is about to introduce a new product in the market, but is not sure as to how it should price the product. The company is facing intense competition from five other companies. In such a situation, what should be Agatha’s Inc. pricing objective? Provide an explanation for your answer.

Briefly explain the 4 levels of marketing channels with example.

Focus on Technology: Tracking Customers

According to Nielsen, more than 50 percent of mobile phone consumers own smartphones. Many of them use free Wi-Fi when available for faster connections and to reduce data usage charges. But even when they don’t log on to Wi-Fi, the device continues to search, giving information on users’ locations. By using the signals emitted by shoppers’ smartphones, retailers can keep tabs on shoppers, knowing where they are and what they are searching for on their phones’ browsers. Retailers can learn on which aisles shoppers are most likely to check online prices at retailers such as Amazon.com and can send an alert to a sales representative. “Heat mapping” identifies traffic patterns and locations attracting the greatest number of shoppers checking the Internet. This gives retailers an idea of the products most vulnerable to “showrooming”—the practice of shoppers visiting stores to learn about and try products and later purchasing them for less online.

1. What is shopper marketing and how might retailers use Wi-Fi technology to implement it?
   
   
2. What may be the likely response as more shoppers learn that retailers gather information without their knowledge?

In this video, P&G wants to send the message to the customers that mom is the one who supports the children in the Olympic Games. The company empowers the customers by providing a way through which they can take active participation. P&G message to their customers is that mom is present at the right place every time. The company developed a unique digital platform for its clients to thank and honour their moms. This campaign reflects the emotion of the every Olympic Games player which they faced in chasing their dreams but they always find the support of their mom (Prophet, 2013).

The benefits gain by the P&G after the video are related to the emotional connect with their customers by saying thank you to mom for all their efforts and support to their kids in the games. The drive was the biggest and successful which offered $500 million in the global incremental P&G sales, 76 million global media impressions (Kennedy, 2010).

The emotion that this campaign evokes is related to the focuses on the biases many kids need to overcome to follow their dreams. It features the young athletes who might find the issues because of religion, gender, culture, disability and many others. The emotion of the mom is clear which shows the unconditional love as well as strengths (Kennedy, 2010). This is felt because there are different ways through which the mom supports in attaining the dreams and there is emotional connect.

The target customers are the group of customers to whom the company wants to offer the product with the motive that the people will purchase the product (Dolnicar, Grün and Leisch, 2018). The product that is presented in the video is Gululu go water bottle. According to me, the target audience of the company is children that fall in the age group of 0-5 years, 5-10 years, and 10-13 years. The water bottle is majorly for the children due to which company targets parents who can purchasethe product for their kids. The parents who fall in the middle to the high-income group are targeted.

Gululu goes water bottle to believe in transforming the healthy habits which are possible through play into the healthy living for a life span. This product will get the success in the market as it includes Smart made fun which means drinking water awakens a virtual pet that is present inside the bottle which makes children play (Gululu, 2018). It has been found that sensory technology is used which helps in measuring water intake by children through a mobile app.

Video Analysis

Agatha’s is about to bring the new product in the market but the company is not sure of the prices of the product. The company is facing with the intense competition due to which they need to decide the pricing objectives. The company need to set the general pricing objectives as well as policies that often get approves from the proposal shared by the lower management. The objective of the company is to keep the competitive pricing strategy in the market. The company need to conduct the research in which they can check the price kept by the competitors for the products (Keegan, 2017). The competitive pricing strategy will make the Agatha’s to offer the products at the same prices as the competitors. The research of the competitors will help them in understanding the way the company calculate the cost and add the industry traditional margins.

The competitive pricing strategy is considered as essential as this is the way through which the company can make the position in the eyes of the customers for the prices of the products. The pricing objective of the company should be that they cangive promising prices to its customers(Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). This will help the company to increase the sales of the product and give tough competition to the other customers.

Marketing channels can be explained as a set of the people, activities, as well as the intermediary companies that perform the vital role in transferring of the ownership of the products from manufacturing to the point of the consumption (Watson IV, Worm,Palmatier and Ganesan, 2015). There are majorly four types of marketing channel.

Manufacturer to consumer/Zero-level channel: - This is a direct marketing channel which consists of producer selling the goods directly to the final customers. It is one of the cost-effective as well as profitable for the parties in terms of the prices as there is no involvement in middleman (Hopkinson and Blois, 2014). For example; bakeries and handmade chocolatier brand sell their products directly to customers and the company can receive the products through the website, social media, and many others.

Manufacturer to Retailer to Consumer/One-level channel: - The one-level channel contains that one selling intermediary which means that the producer sells the product to the retailer and then to the consumer. This channel includes the manufacturers who are specialist in the production of goods which they sell to retailer to meet the needs of the final customers (Bhasin, 2018). For example Different types of the manufacturer who produce goods like fashion apparels which they give to retailers so that they can directly sell it to the final customers.

Agatha's Inc. Case Study Questions

Manufacturer to Agent to Wholesaler to Retailer to Consumer/two-level channel: - In the two-level channel of the marketing, the manufactures include the two intermediaries that include wholesaler and retailer which helps the manufacture to make the products available to the final customers. For example; manufacturer of mobile phones like Samsung brand produces goods which they sell to the agent, then to a wholesaler who further contacts with retailer and then sell it to the customers.

Reverse channels: - It includes the reverse flow which includes the reuse of the products or containers, to refurbish products to resale it, to recycle the products and also to dispose of the goods as well as packaging (Bhasin, 2018). For instance; Samsung recallsGalaxy Note 7 the products due to the issue of the battery blast.

Shopper marketing majorly focuses on clients at the point of purchase of products. This marketing is considered as the last moment appeal to the clients when they are purchasing the products. The retailers might use the Wi-Fi technology to keep the tabs on the shoppers which helps them to know where they are and what they are searcher for on their phone browsers. This is the way through which the retailers can learn that the shoppers are likely to check for the online prices. The retailers use the Wi-Fi to understand the traffic patterns as well as locations which help in attracting the highest number of shoppers by offering them things that they keep searching on (Silveira and Marreiros, 2014). This is the way through which the retailers get the idea for the products as most vulnerable to show-rooming.

The likely response as more shoppers learns the fact that the retailer collects the information without the knowledge is not visiting the site again. Along with this, the customers might find the issue of not trusting the company anymore. The shopper finds it an unethical way of performing the activity and they have a threat of losing the bank details. There is a probability that some customers might appreciate this approach because they want that retailer should know their preferences (Silveira and Marreiros, 2014). According to the preference of the employees, the retailer will be able to offer the best products and services to its clients.

References

Bhasin, H. (2018) Marketing Channels[Online]. Available from: https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-channels/[Accessed on 8^th June 2020]

Dolnicar, S., Grün, B. and Leisch, F. (2018) Market segmentation analysis.In Market Segmentation Analysis (pp. 11-22).Springer, Singapore.

Gululu (2018) Gululu, the Interactive Water Bottle for Kids, Launches Gululu Go[Online]. Available from: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gululu-the-interactive-water-bottle-for-kids-launches-gululu-go-300654276.html[Accessed on 8^th June 2020]

Hopkinson, G.C. and Blois, K. (2014) Power?base research in marketing channels: A narrative review. International journal of management reviews, 16(2), pp.131-149.

Keegan, W.J. (2017) Global marketing management.Pearson India.

Kennedy, W. (2010) P&G: Thank You, Mom[Online]. Available from: https://www.wk.com/work/p-and-g-thank-you-mom/[Accessed on 8^th June 2020]

Prophet (2013)“Thank You, Mom” is a Model Campaign in a Global World [Online]. Available from: https://www.prophet.com/2013/01/124-pgs-thank-you-mom-is-a-model-campaign-in-a-global-world/ [Accessed on 8^th June 2020]

Rosenbloom, B. (2012) Marketing channels.Cengage Learning.

Silveira, P.D. and Marreiros, C. (2014) Shopper marketing: A literature review. International Review of Management and Marketing.

Watson IV, G.F., Worm, S., Palmatier, R.W. and Ganesan, S. (2015)The evolution of marketing channels: Trends and research directions. Journal of Retailing, 91(4), pp.546-568.

Wilson, R.M. and Gilligan, C. (2012) Strategic marketing management. Routledge.