NAME: MATRIC. NO.

: COURSE:

BANKOLE SILAS OLATUNJI II9029477 MBA 802: FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING STREAM 3 PART-TIME

ASSIGNMENT: 2011/2012 SESSION QUESTION 1 Consumer Behaviour is the bedrock of marketing From the perspective of this statement, explain the relevance of the study and knowledge of consumer behavior to marketing strategists. According to Drucker (1985), Marketing is all about a business journey with customers utility; what the customers buy, what the realities of the customers are and what customers values are. It cannot be gain said that in a competitive economic system the survival and growth of a firm requires accurate knowledge about customers; how they buy, why they buy, where they buy as well as what they buy. Modern marketing therefore stresses the need for business managers to know who their customers are; and why they choose their products rather than those of other firms. This knowledge will help them to match every aspect of their business to the satisfaction of customers needs. There is no doubt therefore that consumer bahaviour is the bedrock of marketing. Consumers are people in their families and households who purchase economic products and services which they expect will satisfy their needs and wants. A consumer is used to describe two different kinds of entities. Personal consumers are those people who purchase products and services for their own personal use. They are also referred to as end users. Organizational consumers, on the other hand, include profit and not-for-profit businesses, government and their

agencies and institutions who purchase products and services to run their organizations. Consumers are not always the customers, nor are they the purchase decision makers all the time. Marketers therefore are always careful in deciding whether to target their marketing programmes on the customers, the consumers or the decision makers. In the simplest sense, consumer behavior includes any behaviour of people who buy and use products and services. According to Neal et al, consumer behavior is a discipline with how and why consumers purchase (or dont purchase) products and services. It is the study of how individual make decision to spend their available resources (time, money, efforts etc) on consumption related items. Consumer behavior is a motivated behavior; it includes many activities, processes, different roles. It differs from person to person and it is an influenced behavior. It is product-person-situation specific. Marketing strategies and tactics are based on explicit or implicit beliefs about consumer behavior. Decisions based on explicit assumptions and sound theory and research are more likely to be successful than are decisions based solely on implicit intuition. The knowledge of consumer behavior can be an important competitive advantage and can greatly reduce the odds of bad decisions and market failures. Marketing strategists are able to gain better understanding of consumers needs and wants leading to better adoption and implementation of the marketing concept. Marketing strategists would be able to turn or interpret consumer needs and wants into effective product acceptance and profit position. It will be easier for marketing strategists to segment the market and position products and services more effectively. The cost and resources wastages associated with the new product failures will be reduced. These and many more will be the relevance of the study and knowledge of consumer behavior to marketing strategists.

QUESTION 2: The sole end of production is consumption (Adam Smith, 1914). i. Use the ideology of this assertion to explain the relevance of place in the marketing mix. What utilities are provided to the consumers by the place element of the marketing mix.

ii.

The major purpose of marketing is to satisfy human needs and wants by delivering products of various types buyers when and where they want them and at a reasonable cost. A key element in this statement of marketings mission is delivery. In many ways, all marketing effort comes to nothing unless products are placed in the hand of those who need them or consume them. Therefore, the sole end of production is consumption, Adam Smith, 1914. The marketing mix is a business tool used in marketing product. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brands unique selling point (the unique quality that differentiates a product from its competitors), and is often synonymous with the four Ps; Price, Product, Promotion and Place; in recent times, however, the four Ps have been expanded to the seven Ps or replaced by the four Cs. Place refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to access. Therefore, Place is replaced by convenience. Convenience takes into account the ease of buying the product, finding the product, finding information about the product and several other factors. Place is also synonymous with distribution. Various strategies such as intensive distribution, selective distribution, exclusive distribution and franchising can be used. Place has a number of names; Place is also known as channel, distribution or intermediary. In practice, Place option includes physical store location, different channels of distribution, delivery routes and purchasing medium. Not surprisingly, place or

channels of distribution option figure prominently in the effectiveness of companys overall marketing strategy. A single step in the wrong direction in the way a company delivers its products to the customers can doom their marketing mix even if the rest of their marketing mix, that is products, promotion and price are all on target. With a lot of option at companys disposal, there is no excuse for letting channels of distribution and delivery concerns derail their marketing mix. Physical distribution (Place) is the delivery of good at the right time and at the right place to consumer. Place mix include the following variable: types of intermediaries available for distribution; distribution marketing channel available for distribution and transportation, warehousing and inventory control for making the product available to consumers easily and economically. Therefore place is very relevant as an element of marketing mix to explain the ideology the sole end of production is consumption (Adam Smith, 1914). ii). Place as a distribution channel provides time utility, place utility and possession utility. What the distance required moving a good from a producer to a buyer or consumer, society relies on the marketing function of distribution to do the job to provide products in the right place at the right time. As we will be aware from experiences as consumers, producers rarely sell their goods or services directly to the person that consumes them. Marketing channels, or place in terms of the marketing mix are the means by which interdependent organization move products or services from the producer to the person that purchases or consumes the product.