Marketing Mix Flashcards
The marketing mix (4 P’s)
● The 4 elements of the Marketing Mix (4 P’s) are:
1. Product
2. Price
3. Place
4. Promotion
Product
A product is the actual item (either a physical good or a service) provided
to meet customers’ needs.
● This includes:
1. Design
2. Product Life Cycle
3. Branding
4. Unique Selling Point (USP
Product life cycle
The product lifecycle is the different stages that a product goes through
from the time it is launched until it is taken off the market.
● It is usually illustrated on a five-stage diagram that shows the changes in
product sales over time
Introduction
the new product is launched. Sales will be slow until consumers become familiar
with it.
Growth
sales increase rapidly as more consumers learn about the product
Maturity
sales growth increases at a slower pace and may start to level off, often due to
competitors entering the market
Saturation
sales reach their peak because there are many competitors and most consumers in
the target market have the product already
Decline
sales fall due to changes in taste / fashion or the introduction of a new and improved
product
Unique selling point (USP)
The USP is what makes the product different from the competition
and is highlighted to encourage people to buy the product.
Applying the 4 P’s
Unique operating system (iOS)
2. Apps that can only be bought in the Apple App Store
3. Good quality camera
4. Design - face ID, colours etc
5. Link with other Apple products e.g Apple Watch, iPad
6. Battery life
7. Apple pay
8. Apple Brand Name – a brand name is a symbol, design or other feature that makes
a product easy to recognise and distinguishes it from competing products.
Price
The price refers to the amount of money a seller charges a customer for a
product or service.
● The price charged depends on:
1. Cost of making the product
2. Amount of profit the business wants to make
3. Stage of product life cycle
4. Competitor’s prices
5. Target market
Cost-plus pricing
takes the cost to make the product and adds a
percentage of profit on to get the final cost of the item for custom
Loss leaders
selling a product below the cost it takes to make it in order
to attract customers
Premium pricing
charging a permanently high price to give the
impression of luxury.
Penetration pricing
charging a low price when a product is first
introduced to encourage sales but increasing the price once sales have
reached a certain level.
Place
Place refers to where customers will buy the product and the channel of
distribution used to get the product to its location.
● Channels of Distribution: refers to the way in which the product gets to
from the manufacturer to the consume
Department stores
This type of retailer sells a wide range of products in different departments
under the one roof e.g Brown Thom
Chain store
This type of retailer usually specialises in a type of product and have many
different branches throughout the country e.g Easons
Supermarkets
supermarket sells a wide range of products such as food, drink and
toiletries e.g SuperValu
Discount retailers
A discount retailer sells products at a reduced price e.g Dealz
Franchise
A business that uses a well know brand name e.g Subway in exchange for
giving a fee each month to the person who originally came up with the idea
for that brand.
Independent retailers
These are small businesses that are usually owned by a sole trader (one
person) e.g Triangle Coffee in Donabate
Online retailers
These are shops that sell on the internet. Some online retailers sell online
and in physical shops e.g River Island, whereas some sell exclusively on
the internet e.g boohoo.com
Promotion
Promotion means making customers aware of the product or brand in
order to increase sales and create brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is when a customer will buy your brand over another similar product e.g a customer buying an Apple iPhone instead of a Samsung
Galaxy
Advertising (informative,
persuasive, competitive,
reminder, generic)
Involves communicating with the public to let them know about a product and get them
interested in buying it e.g television, radio, newspaper, billboards
Sales promotion
These are incentives offered to customers to attract them to buy a product e.g free samples
Social media
Many businesses use social media to promote their product to potential customers e.g
Facebook
Celebrity endorsement
Businesses pay celebrities to promote their products by wearing them or appearing in an
advert for the product e.g David Beckham and H&M
Advertising
television, online adverts, magazines, billboards
Personal selling
sales people in their stores help customers to pick the
product suitable for them. Apple are also known for their after-sales
support services i.e Genius Bar
Social media
Apple have social media accounts on TikTok and
Instagram
The 4 P’s
The 4 elements of marketing mix are:
1. Product
2. Place
3. Price
4. Promotion
Product
