International Marketing
INTRODUCTION:
Marketing is a crucial factor in any business that intent to grow and dominate the available market. In order to have the consumers get close to the product in question and obtain its full awareness, marketing must be incorporated into the structure and strategies of the organization. One might have all the working strategies in place and a huge startup cost to address all the financial needs of the business, but in the event they do not pay attention to marketing and not fully invest in it, they might not benefit much from the entire process (Bafail, Rizvi, Ishrat, & Siddiqui 2005). The context of the paper presents a discussion that focuses on two aspects of marketing that involve the lack of focus to a specific consumer needs and the keen emphasis on the current needs of the consumers.
Consumers in any business are the bosses who have to be treated like kings. An organization must consider all the aspects of the consumers from the personal relationship to their specific needs that make up the business. Some businesses do not pay full attention to the specific needs of their consumers in order to identify the real products that their consumers need (Knight & Kim 2007). The several factors that may result from the lack of paying attention to the needs of the consumers may include huge losses that may result due to low sales, overstocking of the given product, lack of abilities to attract consumers, lack of ability to retain the given consumers, and the general lack of ability to gain and sustain a competitive advantage over other related organizations.
Considering the aspect of overstocking of the product, it is clear that lack of enough consumers into the organization might result to overstocking of the main product. Huge sums of money have been pumped into the product, and the company, or business expects a return by attracting more consumers towards the product. In the event that the specific needs of the consumers were not met, they will develop an attitude towards the business. The consumers out there want to be treated with attention to their desires. Once they are not met, the business could easily crumble because of lack of potential consumers who can generate enough money to continue running the business.
When a business conducts its marketing research, the aspect of market segmentation is very important. Market segmentation in an organization will allow them to clearly select a group of consumers and break them down into specific segments in order to identify the specific needs of each market segment. In the instance of lack of paying attention to the specific needs of the consumers indicate that there was poor or no any forms of market research that were conducted by the organization (Ng 2013). Therefore, the entire business is at the risk of crumbling down leaving behind a huge loss to the owners.
There are bound to be incidences of overstocking of some of the products compared to others due to the lack of addressing the specific needs of the consumers. Having a good idea of what the consumers need will make a business know what to stock into their stores from the suppliers. They will, therefore, not experience any forms of overstocking of their products that could lead to overstocking of the product. Organizations which choose products by choice without getting down knowing what they are supposed to give to their clients are at a huge risks of having un-proportional sales where some products are sold more compared to other products which might eventually get spoiled or never sold at all creating situations of loss to the investors.
All organizations have a mandate of gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage over their competitors as well as retaining their customers. They have to develop all the relevant moves to ensure that they gain and sustain an advantage over other investors in order to maintain their consumers and a predictable sale. On the other hand, lack o f considering the specific needs of consumers can give an advantage to the competitors who will pose a heavy competition. It is difficult to counter the heavy competition that will be developed where the organization will have to go back to the drawing board and regroup by addressing all the missing links (Randeree & Whetstone 2007). The whole concept may involve starting up again which will cost additional finances in addressing the points that were left out.
PLACING STRONG EMPHASIS ON THE CURRENT CONSUMER NEEDS:
Emphasis put on the specific needs of the consumers takes off with the stage of the market research. The market research stage that involves the market segmentation will allow the organization to analyze the available markets. After analysis is done, they will carry out the process of segmentation which involves placing the analyzed market into specific groups of segments. The available market segments can then be analyzed to identify the specific needs of each market segment. An organization carrying out business will be, therefore, better placed in knowing what each market segment needs and from there proper stocking will be done to ensure there is a balance in all the products that are in the organization (United States & United States 2009).
Gaining and sustaining a competitive advantage is a major factor for organizations that place a strong emphasis on the aspect of the specific needs of consumers. They have an upper hand in looking at the strategies that can make them develop advantages over their competitors after having specific target markets. The major challenge is coming up with ways that can address the competition issues that may arise in order to dominate fully in the competition environment of other businesses.
For a company that addresses all the consumer needs, the major factors that are put into consideration are the issues of significance, focused groups, types of surveys that are conducted, identification process, prevention, and the solution (United States & United States 2009). All the factors must come into play when considering the specific needs of the market segments that are created by the organization basing on the overall market.
Significance is an important factor when focusing on the consumer needs. It is important for an organization to know that the consumer needs of their clients keep changing from time to time. Certain products are relevant at certain times to specific consumers. Therefore, the marketing process is a live program that must continue all the time to ensure that each need of the consumers that crops up in the course of the business is incorporated into the business program. The consumers have to be treated as a family of the business where their new interest must be identified and attended to at once.
Focus must be shifted on the specific groups of consumers identified as the market segments from the market research activities. Different market segments have different needs, and all the needs must be addressed separately in order to satisfy all the clients within the organization. The move may be vital in consumer retaining process where the clients have gained full trust in the organization and keep flowing in because they are sure of getting what they deserve within the business structure (Randeree & Whetstone 2007). A move can be a perfect way to create a competition advantage over other investors that may be posing threats to the entire business.
The consumers should also be given an opportunity to give feedback on the type of service they were offered and the level or its rating. Feedbacks gathered from the consumers will help the business a lot in determining many areas that must be addressed in order to maintain the consumers. For instance, a consumer may share a product that they were interested in but could not find it within the closets of the structure (Bafail, Rizvi, Ishrat, & Siddiqui 2005). The message obtained from the consumer will immediately alert the people who run the business to make the necessary adjustments and immediately obtain a product from their suppliers.
CONCLUSION:
The aspect of marketing is very crucial for the development of a product. All the factors of marketing must be considered including the consumer needs as the priority of them. The consumer must be provided with all the requirements including a top class customer service that will enable them to interact with the business at a personal level. Addressing the needs of the consumers is one of the perfect ways of gaining and sustaining an advantage over other companies.
References
Bafail, A. O., Rizvi, S. A., Ishrat, S. I., & Siddiqui, T. W. (2005). Web pages of three multinational companies addressing consumer items: are they economically designed? doi:10.1109/IPCC.2005.1494189
Knight, D. K., & Kim, E. Y. (2007). Japanese consumers' need for uniqueness : Effects on brand perceptions and purchase intention. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. doi:10.1108/13612020710751428
Ng, J. (2013). The domain name registration system: Liberalization, consumer protection, and growth. Milton Park, Abingdon: Routledge.
Randeree, E., & Whetstone, M. (2007). Personal Health Records: Addressing the Consumer Needs.
United States., & United States. (2009). Defense management: DOD needs to increase attention on fuel demand management at forward-deployed locations : report to the Subcommittee on Readiness, Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Govt. Accountability Office.
