Marketing Assignment: Case Scenario Analysis On Marketing Management

Question

Task:
The questions to be answered in the marketing assignment are:

Question 1: Covid-19 as a large bulldozer is an apt image where businesses and the economy are concerned. But whilst our day to day lives have changed, for business, the show must go on — or else risk complete failure. It is undeniable that some businesses won’t be able to thrive during this period. But with creative thinking and a change of tactics, many businesses will be able to adapt and succeed, even during a lockdown.

Select one industry in the list below:

• Fashion
• Tourism
• Hospitality
• Education
• Retail
• Food

You are required to provide and discuss some suggestions to adapt the marketing strategy of the industry selected for Covid -19.

Question 2: Lovemarks – The future beyond brands
Lovemarks is a marking concept that is intended to replace the idea of brands. The idea was first widely publicized in a book of the same name written by Kevin Roberts, CEO of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi.

Watch the video and the paper in the links below and provide your opinion in 300 words.

Do you agree with Kevin about Lovemarks concept? If yes, why and if no, why not? You have to use the information from the links to support your discussion. http://redrose.consulting/speeches/the-power-of-love/ http://www.saatchikevin.com/lovemarks/future-beyond-brands/

Question 3:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeQ7C4JLpug

Watch the video in the link above and answer the following questions:

• What are the benefits for the company to understand about consumer behaviour?
• Using the information from the video and discuss about the tools that company can use to understand about consumer behaviour

Answer the question in 300 words and you must use the information from the video to support your discussion

Question 4: You are marketing manager for a noodle company. Your company is launching a new noodle soon called ‘Amazing Thai’. This noodle tastes delicious and uses Thai ingredient.

Define the term “target market”, and suggest a potential target market for new ‘Amazing Thai” noodle in 300 words.

Question 5: Watch the video in the link below and answer the questions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8_gmYNCQ1g

What is Zara’s product strategy?

How did Zara take over the industry using “fast fashion”?

Answer the question in 300 words and you must use the information from the video to support your discussion.

Question 6: You work as a sales representative in a company that manufactures surgical equipment. Before calling on an important prospect, you decide to search the Internet and find out details about her/him. What step in the selling process is being carried out here? What is the importance of this step?

Answer

Marketing Assignment Answer1
During this pandemic, it is very difficult for the retail businesses to strive and adapt themselves to the new changes. As evidenced by Kotler, Keller, Ang, Tan & Leong (2018), their main strategy is to identify the requirements of the customers in this present scenario. Thus, businesses need to think innovatively and change their tactics to succeed during this period. The company that has failed to adapt to the current situation has not succeeded and thus results in complete closure of their business (Olson, Slater & Hult, 2018). As stated by De Pelsmacker, Van Tilburg & Holthof (2018), the interesting thing is that some of the retailers pivoted the part of their business strategy to stay afloat in this COVID-19 situation. Likewise, the retailer can shift their focus temporarily or manufacture something that would be needed by the people in this condition. This can be the option for them to survive their presence in this period. Some of the strategies that can be chosen by retailers are mentioned below.

Segment customers
Retailers need to understand the current needs of the customers to effectively market their products. The companies even have multiple buyer personas with whom they interact regularly. Therefore, they can segment them into different groups & dig each one of them. As an example, some of the consumers may be price-conscious in this situation for others.

Communicate the changes
Some of the businesses have adapted themselves to the changes in how to deliver their services or products to customers. Whilst some of them are producing new products and alternative options for delivery or changing their hours of availability. All these parameters need to be very clearly channelized through digital channels (Siebert, Gopaldas, Lindridge & Simões, 2020). This could be easier for buyers to adjust to the current situation of the company’s product delivery.

Optimization of multiple channels
According to Choi and Govindan (2017), in this pandemic situation, people are utilizing most of their time in online & making use of digital platforms. Therefore, businesses need to provide some consistent messages to interact with customers. Thus, creating a strategy to brand their products across various touch points such as ad mobile app, content, website and social media.

Seamless and smooth customer experience
As stated by Shi, Wang, Chen & Zhang (2020), retailers need to understand how to bring their potential customers to their website and other digital platforms. Moreover, they have to create a very soothing and favourable experience to convert more leads or customers into their business. It was muddled by this current situation as the businesses are changing into the consumer market (Shen, Li, Sun & Wang, 2018). Thus, they should create an online consumer experience and a proper website that should be easily used by the average earning family. Moreover, the companies should consider the use of proper strategy to gain the trust of their customers. There should not be any error and confusion faced by the customers at any stage of their purchase. Indeed, retailers should focus strongly on their customer service provider that they must be able to resolve the queries faced by the consumer. As stated by Lim et al., (2018), in this situation, understanding the customer’s requirements is very crucial and should not be ignored.

Answer 2
The advent of technology has created or shifted the world into a new dimension. According to Kevin, the technology has shaken up the VUCA world i.e. volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. Therefore, the role of the businesses is to fight with VUCA to outstrip them and reframe the same into super VUCA i.e. vibrant, unreal, crazy, and astounding. Therefore, Kelvin's Love marks concept needs to be accepted by the businesses to win. Therefore, to succeed in the long run, entrepreneurs should understand human psychology (Brexendorf and Keller, 2017). Moreover, the businesses can win if they can engage the human drive. According to Kelvin, the owner of the brands is stockholders, marketers and companies whereas the owner of Love marks is the people who love them. Additionally, respect is required to build brands but Love marks can be created with love and respect. In addition to this, there is a reason for brands to build loyalty whereas Love marks can inspire loyalty which is beyond reason. The brands have aimed to remain irreplaceable while the Love marks are always irresistible. Indeed, brands deliver respect, trust and performance. Love marks infuse intimacy, mystery and sensuality.

• The mystery is something whose value is not known to anyone.
• Sensuality enthrals taste, touch, vision, sound, scent, touch and emotions.
• Intimacy is a commitment, passion and empathy. It is the best gesture to win the heart of the audience.

The businesses can win by restructuring and reengineering everything. As mentioned by Matinaro and Liu (2017), businesses can thrive with creativity and innovation. Thus, being creative, leading with creative ideas and solutions can lead to the peak of the performance of the organizations and set a new benchmark for them. The companies can pour themselves in emotion to win the hearts of people. Businesses can continuously generate ideas to improve sales. Indeed, they can reframe themselves constantly as an example, NASA spent lots of money on technology for a pen that can write in space. Instead, Russians choose a pencil for the same purpose. Thus, the last strategy is the flow that combines harmony and passion.

Answer 3
The benefit of the company to understand the desires and behaviours of its customers is very crucial. Unless and until the company would not be able to understand its customer behaviour, they cannot earn much profit. Nowadays, the brands and retailers are continuously tracking shopping desires to take an appropriate decision about the consumer's experience and product mix. For example, the doughnut is being used to show the consumer's behaviours. It is essential to understand the consumer's behaviours as increasing customer satisfaction can enhance business performance and thereby the profits as well as sales. Therefore, the research on customer's nature could help businesses to launch something that can attract more consumers. Also, the brands can communicate about the availability of their product to the shelf from where the customers can easily find those products. Moreover, businesses can input creative package designs to enhance the customer experience (Bolton et al., 2018).

As per the video, the speaker included certain tools for marketing which is crucial such as in-store observation, simulation of retail labs and eye-tracking and lots more. These are important tools that can be chosen by retailers. Also, the shopping feedback and experience options need to be included to understand the exact requirement of the customer. The package design should not be underestimated and it is the important parameter of the product mix. In this video, the speaker cited some important points that can enhance the retail store’s shop ability. It has also focused on the importance of technology. The eye-tracking method is a qualitative survey that can be easier for retailers to understand the behaviours of the consumer. Thus, the use of these tools can help brands to communicate clearly about their benefits & value of their consumers. Additionally, the retailer can create an enjoyable and convenient shopping experience. Thus, the latent needs of the consumer can be satisfied.

Answer 4
A company before launching a new product in the market, they do rigorous research about the market and the buyer's taste. This can be termed as a target market. Target markets can be categorized for location, lifestyle, income and age of the consumer. Businesses always try to bring innovation in their products that can attract more potential customers. Likewise, Maggi is still the customer's choice and the company is continuously competing with its rival to remain at the topmost choice of the customer (Yadav and Srivastava, 2019).

As mentioned in the question, the company is planning to launch noodles that would be named "Amazing Thai". The product is unique as the Thai ingredients are being used in these noodles that make it delicious and taste-watering. Thus the company understands the income, demographic and buying tendency of the consumers. Therefore, companies need to identify their target market which is very crucial for businesses to develop a proper marketing plan. Although, the investment of marketing can be high for the first time or at the initial stage. Once, the company can successfully spread its wing in the market, and then it can be very tough for its competitor.

Three strategies are chosen by the businesses mentioned below.

• Undifferentiated marketing
  In this type of marketing strategy, the marketing mix developed by the company is single for the entire market since there is no segmentation. The company with this strategy adopts a mass marketing philosophy.
• Multi-segment targeting
  Multi-segment targeting is one of the best marketing strategies as this type of marketing strategy can generate more sales volume, increase market share, the economy of scale in marketing and manufacturing and higher profits.
• Concentrated targeting
  The company understands the motive and demands of its customer and thus designs the marketing mix accordingly.

Answer 5
The product strategy of Zara is to offer unique and sophisticated clothes at a fair price that can attract more consumers (Bui and Muñoz Martinez, 2019). The company produces and develops designs for a shorter time. Thus, it eliminates the need for discount sales. This marketing strategy is very attractive. Thus, the consumer's Zara tends to buy their favourite designer clothes before it gets out of the market. Therefore, the limited production of clothes ensures that buyers would know their clothes design would be unique as compared to the other mass-produced retailers. Hence, the people would be excited about the new arrival of design and love to be in their store very often.

Zara is one of the best cloth designers and produces unique designs each time. As mentioned, the clothing designs of Zara are being modified and changed approximately within every 14 days. Whereas its competitor changes the design of their clothes every three months or more. Zara carries around 11,000 varieties of distinct clothes every year globally in its 1000s of stores as compared to its rival that carries around 3000 to 4500 clothes on yearly basis in all of their stores. The key to success behind Zara is because of its high response supply chain. The company also focuses on producing varieties of clothes at a reasonable cost that can be afforded by the maximum audience.

Answer 6
With the advent of technology, everything is getting advanced. Also, getting the information about the individual becomes very easy by the use of a social networking site. It is very rare nowadays for a person who does not have their account on a social networking platform. Therefore, advanced technology allows the salesperson to learn about the details of their prospects at each and every step. Through various social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and similar others, the salesperson can analyse the behaviours and choice of their prospects. Therefore, it would be easier for them to pitch in such a way that can attract customers to buy the products. Thus, the advent of social networking channels is a boon for many businesses.

According to Lim, Heng. Tai, Tham & Chua (2018), technological advancement allows salespeople to sell the products after analysing their prospect's details and lifestyle. Therefore, the chances of converting the prospect into lead would be high. Since the sales representative can pitch appropriate words that directly can attract the customer towards the product they are selling. Here, the sales representative is concerned about selling medical instruments. So the representative can read the details of the hospitals and the instruments they are using so far. Through the gathered information, the salesperson can convert the minds of their prospects and make them buy their products. Firstly, they would focus on downgrading the products the company is using. Secondly, they would focus on highlighting the benefits of using their products and services. For this, the representative needs to have in-depth knowledge about the product. Thus, this strategy is very essential and it can increase the sales of the products and thereby the profit margin can simultaneously increase.

References
Bolton, R. N., McColl-Kennedy, J. R., Cheung, L., Gallan, A., Orsingher, C., Witell, L., & Zaki, M. (2018). Customer experience challenges: bringing together digital, physical and social realms. Journal of Service Management.

Brexendorf, T. O., & Keller, K. L. (2017). Leveraging the corporate brand. European Journal of Marketing.

Bui, A. Q., & Muñoz Martinez, V. (2019). The impact of product promotion on customer loyalty: A quantitative study on Zara.

Choi, T. M., Govindan, K., Li, X., & Li, Y. (2017). Innovative supply chain optimization models with multiple uncertainty factors. Annals of Operations Research, 257(1-2), 1-14.

De Pelsmacker, P., Van Tilburg, S., & Holthof, C. (2018). Digital marketing strategies, online reviews and hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 72, 47-55.

Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., Ang, S. H., Tan, C. T., & Leong, S. M. (2018). Marketing management: an Asian perspective. Pearson.

Lim, B. P., Heng, B., Tai, H., Tham, L., & Chua, H. (2018). Health technology disinvestment in Singapore. Ann Acad Med Singapore, 47, 338-344.

Lim, W. M., Teh, P. L., Ahmed, P. K., Cheong, S. N., Ling, H. C., & Yap, W. J. (2018). Going keyless for a seamless experience: Insights from a unified hotel access control system. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 75, 105-115.

Matinaro, V., & Liu, Y. (2017). Towards increased innovativeness and sustainability through organizational culture: A case study of a Finnish construction business. Journal of cleaner production, 142, 3184-3193.

Olson, E. M., Slater, S. F., Hult, G. T. M., & Olson, K. M. (2018). The application of human resource management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and marketing strategy implementation. Marketing assignment Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 62-73.

Roggeveen, A. L., Grewal, D., & Schweiger, E. B. (2020). The DAST framework for retail atmospherics: The impact of in-and out-of-store retail journey touchpoints on the customer experience. Journal of Retailing, 96(1), 128-137.

Shen, X. L., Li, Y. J., Sun, Y., & Wang, N. (2018). Channel integration quality, perceived fluency and omnichannel service usage: The moderating roles of internal and external usage experience. Decision Support Systems, 109, 61-73.

Shi, S., Wang, Y., Chen, X., & Zhang, Q. (2020). Conceptualization of omnichannel customer experience and its impact on shopping intention: A mixed-method approach. International Journal of Information Management, 50, 325-336.

Siebert, A., Gopaldas, A., Lindridge, A., & Simões, C. (2020). Customer Experience Journeys: Loyalty Loops Versus Involvement Spirals. Journal of Marketing, 0022242920920262.

Yadav, L., & Srivastava, H. (2019). Impact of ban to sell maggi noodles in India during 2015 on the revenue of Nestle Indian Ltd. TRANS Asian Journal of Marketing & Management Research (TAJMMR), 8(9and10), 60-66.