unit 3 Flashcards
what are the 4 functions of a business
marketing
operations
HR
finance
what are objectives
objectives are statements of specific outcomes that are to be achieved
Whats marketing
The process of identifying, anticipating (predicting) and satisfying customer needs profitably
what are corporate objectives
corporate objectives are those that relate to the business as a whole
some potential problems with setting marketing objectives
fast changing external environment
potential conflict between marketing objectives
easy to be too ambitious with marketing objectives
internal influences on marketing objectives
operational issues
business culture
corporate objectives
finance
human resources
external influences on marketing objectives
economic environment
competitor actions
market dynamics
technological change
social and political change
whats market size
the total volume of sales of a product or the value of the sales of a product
whats sales volume
measures the number of items sold or produced - for example 2.26 million vehicles sold in 2013
sales value
measures the financial worth of the items sold
whats market growth
a key indicator for existing and potential market entrants
what does market share explain
the overall market is split between the existing competitors
whats marketing research
marketing research involves the gathering and analysis of research to help support the implementation of marketing strategy.
primary research
gathering data that has not been collected before
secondary research
a research method that uses data that was collected by someone else
what is quantitive data
data represented numerically, including anything that can be counted, measured, or given a numerical value.
what is qualitative data
non-numeric information, such as in-depth interview transcripts, diaries, anthropological field notes, answers to open-ended survey questions, audio-visual recordings and images.
what does sampling in market research involve
sampling involves the gathering of data from a sample of respondents, the results of which should be representative of the population (eg target market) as a whole
benefits of sampling in market research
is flexible and relatively quick
using sampling before making marketing decisions can reduce risk and costs
even a relatively small sample size can provide useful research insights
drawbacks of sampling in market research
risk of bias in research questions
biggest risk = sample is unrepresentative of population - leading to incorrect conclusions
less useful in market segments where customers tastes and preferences are changing frequently
whats random sampling
a part of the sampling technique in which each sample has an equal probability of being chosen. A sample chosen randomly is meant to be an unbiased representation of the total population.
useful if the product has mass appeal
whats quota sampling
- where the population is divided into what you need (eg 50/50 men and women)
- has the aim of representing the overall population
- population is divided (by income, age etc)
- the sample are then surveyed as they pass the interviewer
- may be biased as its selected population
- therefore it cannot be used to predict the behaviour of the whole population. as accurately
whats stratified sampling
- where a group of respondents are selected randomly before the survey is carried out from a list but within a very specific sub groups, for example gender, age or income levels. The survey is then carried out
- this is popular as it should be less biased and accurately reflect the views of the company’s target audience.
factors influencing the choice of sampling methods
- time to complete research and make decisions
- costs involved and financial situation of the firm
- stage of life cycle for the firm and its product/services
- is it a new or existing product/firm
- target audience and their characteristics
whats market mapping
the process of using a graph to plot competitors and their products to undertstand competitor behaviour and spot the gap in the market
choosing the dimensions for a market positioning map
low price v high price
basic quality v high quality
low volume v high volume
light v heavy
whats a focus group
when a group of people come together to answer questions (primary)
whats a observation
there is no direct interaction between the researcher and the person being observed (primary)
whats a online survey
a cost effective method of sampling a large group of people through questions online (primary)
whats a telephone interview
a researcher method where the researcher surveys respondents over the telephone (primary)
what is test marketing
launching the product is a small part of the target market in order to gauge the viability of the product to see how a consumer responds to it (primary)
what are experiments
helps to test hypotheses, measure causal relationships and explore new phenomena (primary)
what is published market research reports
a type of research that has already been compiled, gathered, organised and published by others (secondary)
what is internal transaction
information that has been stored or organised by the organisation itself (secondary)
what is google official statists
google is vistited by 89.3 billion times a month and process over 8.5 billion searches a day (secondary)
what are trade associations
provide representative and other collective services to businesses, generally in a specific sector with common interests (secondary)
what are media reports
text books, news articles, reviews and journal entries (secondary)
what is competitor materials
the collection and analysis of information about a rival business (secondary)
what are the aspects of the market that firms need to analyse
size of the market
growth in the market
market structure
segmentation of the market
social trends
size of market
is it big enough? is it feasible for the firm to operate in?
growth in market
does the market have enough future potential?
market structure
what level of competition is there? how intense will competition be?
segmentation of the market
who will the company be targeting? what are their needs, wants and tastes?
social trends
changing lifestyle, demographics and fashions
reasons for analysing the market
identify future trends
is the product viable
identify opportunities and threats
what is correlation
a statistical technique which looks at the strength of the relationship between two variable and how they related. for example, the relationship between advertising expenditure and sales increases.
difference between correlation and causation
a correlation between variables does not automatically mean that the change in one viable is the cause of the change in the values of other variable. causation indicates that one event is the result of the occurrence of the other event.
whats independent variable
the variable that causes the change in the other
- increasing the investment in promotion
whats the dependant variable
the variable that is impacted by the change in the independent variable
- the resulting rise in demand
whats positive correlation
a direct relationship between two variables. as the independent variable increase the dependant variable increases.
- for example as more is spend on advertising sales increase
whats negative correlation
an inverse relationship between two variables, as the dependent variable falls the independent variable rises and vice versa.
- eg more staff training = less complaints
what are confidence intervals
how confident you are in your estimates
whats extrapolation
a method of forecasting sales is to look at what has been happening in the past and to continue the trend into the future
what can extrapolation be used for
measure performance of individuals/departments
plan production levels and schedules
workforce planning (how many staff will they need to satisfy demand)
produce realistic and motivating targets for a company
methods of extrapolation
- asking individuals experts views
- individual management hunches based on past experience
- basing predictions on market research data carried out before a product launch
advantages of extrapolations
- used to predict future sales
- can be done relatively quickly at a low cost
- can be based on past years data
- useful in steady predictable markets
disadvantages of extrapolations
- not reliable in dynamic fast changing markets eg technology
- does not factor unexpected external changes
- assumes past trends will continue
- forecasts too far into the future will have little value
- data may be biased eg a fast food company carrying out studies on health benefits of some of its ingredients.
benefits of market analysis
- see opportunities in market
- see what to invest in
- the priorities you need
- the influence on consumers
implications of incorrect forecasting
- waste money
- lose market share
- food could be perishable
- can the workforce adjust and be flexible
whats test marketing
involves replicating all elements of a product launch, such as the promotion, distribution and price to a specific planned smaller geographic region or demographic group to judge the viability of the product in the market before a full scale launch.
advantages of test marketing
- see if customers like your product
- minis risks and fries down waste high costs on a product launch if its not going to be successful
- actual sales results can be used to inform decisions
negatives of test marketing
- tastes in one area may not translate to the rest of the market
- could be costly and time consuming
- could give competitors time and opportunities to respond if test marketing delays a full launch
how to fries gather data from modern technology
- internet data, social media
- CCTV
- store cards (eg Tesco club card)
- sales data using EPOS
- online questionnaires and internet surveys
advantages of using technology for marketing decision making
- data can be processed and analysed and in greater depth using ICT
- Customer database can be constructed using consumer data collected
disadvantages of using technology for marketing decision making
- to much info can be hard to analyse and may actually slow down down decision making
- trends can be misunderstood
- trends can be mistaken as data is gathered to quickly
- can be costly to acquire and required technology to be able to gather data
what is elasticity
measures the responsiveness of demand to a change in a relevant variable such as price
price elasticity of demand
price elasticity of demand measures the extend to which the quantity of a product demanded is affected by a change in price
price elasticity of demand equation
% change in price
if an answer from PED equation is greater than one what is it
elastic goods
do you ignore the + or - sign in PED calculation
yes
if the answer from PED equation is less than one what is it
inelastic goods
if the answer from the PED equation is one what is it
unitary elasticity
factors influencing PED
brand strength
necessity
habit
availability of substitutes
time
whats income elasticity of demand
measures the relationship between a change in quantity demanded fro good X and a change in real income.
income elasticity of demand equation
% change in consumer income
the income elasticity of demand is usually strongly positive for
- fine wine and spirits
- consumer durable, 3g mobile phones and designer kitchens
- sport and leisure facilities (including gym membership)
- luxury holidays
income elasticity demand is lower for
- staple food products such as bread, veg and frozen foods
- mass transports (bus and rail)
- beer and takeaway pizza
elements in effective marketing
- identifying customer needs
- meeting customer needs
what is a niche market
meeting the needs of a relatively small number of potential customers
advantages of niche market
- the business can respond quickly to the needs of the customers
- effective marketing expenditure
- less likely to be major competition
disadvantages of niche market
- vulnerable to market changes
- a successful niche may attract competition
- lower level of sales and risks of cost increase
whats mass marketing
meeting the needs of a very large number of potential customers
advantages of mass marketing
- although profit margin on each unit may be small, very high sales mean high profit overall
- less likely to be a significant change in the market therefore more stable revenue
- economies of scale therefore lower costs per unit
disadvantages of mass marketing
- likely to attract competition which may reduce profit margins
- less responsive to changes in customer needs
examples of mass market
cadburys, nike trainers, amazon, soft drink such as cola
examples of niche market
anythinglefthanded, hearing direct
what is meant bye socio-econmic groups
The socio-economic group refers to a person’s position in society.
how to classify socio-economic groups
A, B, C1, C2, D, E
eg, A being the best, Higher & intermediate managerial, administrative, professional occupations
advantages of niche market
- lower levels of competition result in higher market share and possible monopoly power
- possible to build intense customer loyalty. for example games workshop
disadvantages of niche market
- lower profits may be made as firms operate on smaller scales and cannot reduce their unit costs through economics of scale
- new rivals entering the market will have a considerable impact particulary as the barriers to entry are relartivly small
- larger rivals may enter the market if it becomes very profitable
why segment the market?
- match customer needs
- enhanced profit for business
- opportunities for growth
- retain more customers
- target market communications
- gain share of the market segment
what are the process of segmentation
- income
- geographical region (where they live, what are the income levels like in the area)
- ACORN (a classification of residential neighbourhoods)
what is behavioural segmentation
consumers can be divided into groups based on the way they respond to us, us or know of a product
examples of behavioural segmentation
- lifestyle
- level of brand loyalty
- benefits sought by consumers
- purchase occasion
- frequency of usage