The marketing department is an extremely significant department in any organization. Its significance is based on various elements that any organization has to consider and extend massive respect unto these elements. One of the main factors that may make the marketing department outstanding is the availability of the relevant information. This means that the various parties involved will manage to operate with all factors available for a common goal of excellence of the organization.
Therefore, it is highly advisable for any manager to get the right marketing information in the organization that will assist him or her to build a strategic organization. In this case, for Scott who wants to retire from active management of his company Sporzshoo plc in fifteen years time adequate management information needs be shared to him. Therefore, as a marketing trainee on the management development program, I would be of extensive assistance to the manager by assisting in gathering ample information on his behalf that would be necessary for excellent marketing strategies. The kind of information that the manager may require to get may be categorized into three; internal information about the company, marketing intelligence and market research.
Internal information about the company
This extremely vital information refers to understanding of the capabilities of the organization. There must be an outline of the capability of the organization to expand without constraining the available resources. With adequate understanding of the internal operations of the organization it would be extremely easy for the organization to expand (Ganesan, 2012).
Although, Scott has been in the operations of his company for 20 years he is not guaranteed that he knows every section of his organization. There are extremely many factors in the in the organization that he is not aware of and he needs to get to understand them for him to undertake other measures that would improve the performance of the company as well as establish a stable market.
Although, it may seem challenging to gather this information something may be done to ensure that this data is gathered and made available to Scott. The main sources of the information that may be needed in the search for new marketing strategies are the records that the company has sustained for a period of the last five years of operations. This data will be compared to give a trend of activities in the organization. The information may be gathered by the marketing managers of the organization. However, it may be advisable for the organization to hire external auditors who will help analyze the financial situation of the organization and what has been influencing the financial performance (Ganesan, 2012).
The audit must involve consideration of sales and purchases values for the organization. Therefore, previous purchases reports, sales reports, customer service expenses, costing and margin reports would be extremely significant. These sources of data are secondary since the auditor or the marketing manager hired for the audit or the analysis was not the original source of the data (Piercy & Evans, 1983). For example, the Sportzshoo
Company has a clear record of previous sales volumes since 1996 to 2012. This data is extremely significant in determining what may happen in future sales for the company. Auditors may use the information for each year and compare it with the situations at that time to develop strategic outline of the performance of the organization.
This data will be of significance in understanding what may happen in future as well as come up with strategic means to deal with that situation. It will also assist in understanding what marketing factors may have influenced the performance of the organization to that point. With comparison of the various performances for different years it will be easy to understand which marketing strategies may favor the company and which ones may not be significant in delivering performance for the organization.
Marketing intelligence
This is the second type of marketing information that I would deliver to Scott. As the term intelligence may state, this is a strategy to make the market understandable to the management of the organization. However, market intelligence may be extremely wide in various ways.
One of the factors that may define market intelligence is the overall demand in any market. Demand for refers to the motivation and ability of a consumer to purchase a given commodity with the aim of satisfying his or her utility. Understanding the willingness and the ability of customers to purchase certain goods would serve an extremely critical purpose. In this case, primary data may be required whereby I am supposed to approach various individuals who may have been clients to our organization or may be willing to become clients. This would mean I gather excellent information on their tastes and preferences as well as understand why they prefer our products to other products. It would also be intelligent to understand what makes our products unique compared to other products (Ganesan, 2012). For example, our company manufactures various kinds of shoes and it would be wise to understand which is the most favorable among customers and why it is significant to them. With this kind of information it will be guaranteed that the organization will make outstanding sales.
Suppliers will also offer excellent information that would aid in advancing marketing strategies for the organization. Since these are the suppliers of raw materials their advice may be extremely fundamental. One way through which their information may be significant is by helping us in understanding what raw materials our competitors use and evaluate the impact of those materials in the market.
Distributors are also extremely significant in gathering marketing information. These are individuals who have an extremely critical understanding of the market and its behavior. For example, the Shoe manufacturing industry is extremely wide and companies are competing for the market.
Therefore, they have to come up with adequate strategies to assist in gaining the best market share. At this point, distributors become extremely vital in helping the organization gather promotional techniques that may be extremely fundamental to assist in making adequate sales (Ganesan, 2012). For our company, the promotional information may extremely vital. This comes with understanding of the various promotion strategies, and forms of advertisement. For example, distributors may require discounts on certain objects to enhance competitiveness for our company. This information remains extremely significant in fostering excellence in future of the company.
Market Research
This is the third kind of information that may be extremely fundamental for marketing. Understanding what the customer wants is an extremely fundamental element in gathering of marketing information. For Scott it would extremely significant for him to understand what Sportzshoo’s clients want in terms of quality, shape or color for shoes. This means that there must be consistent research for what customers want in the market. This kind of research has to be conducted through direct link to the client. This kind of data is primary since it comes direct from the customer.
Understanding the needs of customers is extremely fundamental in shaping the direction of an organization.
This is because the management will always be updated on the development that are likely to occur in the market and the changes that the organization may adopt to ensure it sustains its customers as well as introduce a wide range of new customers. For example, in our company customers may be attracted to a new design in the market which we may not be manufacturing. The management should not sit and watch instead it should act to incorporate the new design to enable it sustain clients as well as attract new customers (Piercy & Evans, 1983).
With consideration of the above kinds of marketing information it would be vital for the manager to develop a marketing plan that will incorporate all the suggested ideas. The marketing plan will serve as a contrivance to aid in monitoring the excellence of the adopted marketing strategies. It would be advisable for Scott to check the plan regularly and determine whether it can sustain excellence in the organization.
Understanding Consumer behavior
Consumers form the basis of any form of marketing. Therefore, it is fundamental to understand them and how they may influence the market of a given company. The investigation on how consumers behave towards a given market or product in a market is referred to as understanding the consumer behavior (Peter & Olson, 1996). This comes with details on how consumers acquire, use and dispose certain goods and services. Proper understanding on consumer behavior comes with evaluation of various factors.
One of the main factors that need be considered is the uniqueness of each consumer. It is clear that all individuals are not alike. People are created differently with certain uniqueness being built in them. Therefore, in most cases individuals will never settle for same goods or services. People believe in different attributes, convenience and personality. There are some people who will favor a given brand while others may not find the brand favorable (Peter & Olson, 1996). Therefore, it is advisable to have ample understanding of what one prefers. This may be referred to as the understanding of tastes and preferences of consumers in a market.
It is also crucial to understand that customer behavior is influenced by seasons. The effects of seasons to the demand of various commodities have been discussed on various economic platforms. As a company dealing with shoes seasons will be extremely significant to understand and evaluate how they may control the performance of the company based on the consumer behavior. During certain seasons customers prefer different goods and services. Therefore, it is prudent for the business to conduct a research on the different seasons and how each of them influences performance of the company in terms of the influence in the market size. With the understanding of the various seasons and the kind of shoes that clients would prefer the company will manage to develop a strategy that will ensure that each season matches with the requirements of the customers. This would mean that the organization will have a chance to produce quality products that will favor clients in terms of tastes as per the season. Through this the company will register extensive sales since it will sustain its customer base and attract new ones. Customers will always be attracted to the company where their needs are considered and their views employed I decision making processes (MacInnis & Chun, 2007). Therefore, with consistent listening to customers, Sportzshoo Company will attract a lot of sales. It will be easy for the company to attract customers from its competitors since it has a room to listen to them and consider their requirements. Therefore, the company has to honor and respect the different seasons for clients and define various strategies to ensure it keeps on the tastes and preferences of its customers. This will guarantee sales for the company.
It would also be advisable for the company to understand that human beings are marketing agents and they influence businesses in different ways.
This is classified as a form of consumer behavior. It is unlikely that a consumer will consume a given product and keep it as a secret. Instead, he will share the experience with friends or relatives on the taste or the fitness of the product. Although, the different people may not be of the same taste their views may influence each other’s decision (Haugtvedt, Cacioppo & Petty,1992). For example, a wife may purchase a commodity from a shop which fits her extremely well. This may influence the decision of the husband on purchasing a cloth since he may be influenced to buy in the shop. This would be the same case for the SportzShoo Company. Since the company manufactures sports shoes the experience of one athlete may influence the decision of the other. Although, the two clients may have variant tastes they may influence sales for the company. If the requirements of one of the clients were considered it is highly possible that the next individual will order from the company.
In the society there exist different classes of people depending on their social cohesiveness. People of the same class are likely to have the same preferences and tastes. Therefore, it would wise for the company to produce shoes that may cater for the different classes in the society. It is unlikely that people of a high class will be willing to consume low class goods. Instead, they will push for high class goods which will satisfy their needs. Therefore, in most cases the manufacturer may find herself or himself in a tight end when he fails to recognize the different social classes (Peter & Olson, 1996). Therefore, Sportzshoo Company must be respectful to the decision of ensuring that there are products for low class, middle class as well as high class. This divergent production based on the behavior of the consumer will have positive impact to the sales of the company. It is guaranteed that an individual will buy a show whether a low, middle or high class.
Also, consumers believe so much on advertisements. They tend to believe that the agents used in adverts are witnesses of the quality of the goods. Therefore, they are carried away by these adverts. Therefore, they are likely to change their attitude towards a product following an advert that someone else has previously used the product and he or she recommends the product to any client. Most people like being associated to celebrities and this may influence their consumption behavior (Haugtvedt, Cacioppo & Petty,1992).To Sportzshoo Company this may be considered as an extremely factor to command a wide market as well as increase its sales. The company may hire athletes for an advert and this may attract adverse customers thus increasing sales for the company.
The other element that influences decision making among consumers is the consumer decision making process. The understanding of this process would be vital in helping the organization understand the various elements that lead to the kind of behavior that consumers adopt. The process entails seven main stages with each of them characterized of different properties. These properties define the behavior of customers depending on the situation. Response to each of the situations will have influence to the sales of the organization (MacInnis & Chun, 2007).
The first stage of the process is need recognition. This is the point where the client identifies what they want matching on their situations. The second one is search meaning they have to consistently search for the commodity in the market. Third stage is the pre-purchase evaluation where they consider various factors including enquiries. The fourth stage is purchase and at this point the client must have made informed decision based on various considerations and evaluations. The fifth stage is consumption which is the physical use of the good after purchasing. The sixth state is the pre-consumption evaluation, which entails search for satisfaction and dissatisfaction of the consumer. The seventh stage is divestment, which includes considerations where the customer may purchase the product in future (MacInnis & Chun, 2007). With extensive understanding of this process and various elements for each stage it will be easy for the company to operate according to the tastes of the clients. This means that there will be advanced sales in the organization and increased market share will be guaranteed.
References
Ganesan, S., 2012., Handbook of marketing and finance. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub..
Haugtvedt, C., Cacioppo, J., & Petty, R., 1992., Need for Cognition and Advertising: Understanding the Role of Personality Variables in Consumer Behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 1(3), 239–260.
MacInnis, D., J., & Chun, H., E., 2007.. Understanding hope and its implications for consumer behavior I hope, therefore I consume. Boston: Now.
Peter, J., P., & Olson, J., C., 1996., Understanding consumer behaviour. Toronto: Irwin.
Piercy, N., & Evans, M., 1983., Managing marketing information. London: Croom Helm.
