5.4 The Elements Of The Marketing Mix : Price, Product, Promotion And Place Flashcards
What are examples of pricing methods?
• Price skimming
• Price penetration
• Competitive pricing
• Loss leader
• Cost-plus pricing
What is Price Skimming?
Starting with a high price and then reduce it over time
What is price penetration?
Start with a low price and increase it over time
What is competitive pricing?
Set a similar price to your competitors
What is loss leader?
Selling one product at a loss so a customer has to buy additional products that will generate a profit
What is cost-plus pricing?
Working out the cost of making a product and then adding on a percentage
What internal influences on pricing?
- Costs
- Business reputation
- Product life cycle
What are external influences on pricing?
- Nature of the market
- Degree of competition
What is the relation between price and demand?
An increase in price will lead to a decrease in demand. However a strong USP or brand image can mean that demand isnt strongly affected by changes to the price
Why do businesses develop new products?
- Increase in sales
- Improve market share
- Achieve increased profits
- If the business is in a market where customer needs change quickly
What factors are considered when launching new products?
- Product design
- Business image
- Target market
What is a USP (Unique Selling Point)?
An aspect of a product which makes it different from rival products that do not have it
How do businesses do product differentiation to put their products to be easily identifiable from competitors?
- Creating a USP
- Developing a strong brand image
What are the benefits of product differentiation?
- It provides a basis for promoting a product as the differences can be
highlighted - It allows businesses to charge higher prices while maintaining fairly steady sales figures over time
- Successful differentiation can increase sales and profits for a business
What is the product life cycle?
Shows how the sales of a product may change over time as it goes through a number of stages from research and development to decline and eventual withdrawal from the market
What are the stages of a product life cycle?
- Research and development
- Introduction
- Growth
- Maturity
- Decline
What is Research and Development?
A business carries out research and development to create new products that it hopes will sell well, although many do not succeed and won’t even progress past this stage.Unsuccessful products can be costly and do not earn any revenue for the business
What is Introduction?
The product appears on the market. High spending on promotion at this point will ensure that retailers and customers know about the product and the benefits it offers. This is a period of risk as many new products do not survive this stage, but if successful, sales will rise steadily
What is Growth?
Sales rise rapidly and the business should receive rising revenues and high profits at this stage if it uses price skimming. Problems may arise if products cannot be supplied in sufficient quantities, or if the business cannot find enough outlets to sell the product
What is Maturity?
The product’s sales reach a maximum. There is likely to be intense competition as rivals may have launched new competing products too. Competitors’ products may be superior in some ways, so the business may have to develop and promote improved versions of its product to maintain sales
What is Decline?
Sales may fall rapidly or decline steadily over time. It may be possible to delay the decline stage by redesigning the product or spending more on promotion - these are known as extension strategies. However, at some point the business will probably decide to cease production and withdraw the product from the market