Marketing Mix Analysis of Mountain Equipment Co-op

The provided report discusses the marketing mix elements and applies them to Mountain Equipment Co-op. It explores the company's product strategy, including features and benefits, as well as its premium pricing approach. Additionally, it delves into the promotional techniques used by the company, such as social media platforms and events. The analysis aims to understand how these marketing strategies contribute to the success of Mountain Equipment Co-op.

MARKETING MIX ANALYSIS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
1)Product Strategy-.....................................................................................................................4
2)Pricing Strategy- .....................................................................................................................5
3)Promotion Strategy- ................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing mix is the combination of actions, ways used by a company. So that, it can create
brand awareness in the minds of customers. Mountain Equipment Co-op is a cooperative firm . It
was founded in 1971. Company is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company
operates in 23 cities. It has more than 4.3 million members. Company sell clothing, outdoor gear
mainly to its members. Marketing mix is consisted of 4 P's that is, product that company is
offering to satisfy the needs of customers. Price of the product in which company takes decision
regarding price of product. Promotion means promotion strategy used by the company to
promote its product in the market. Place means the locations where the product of the company
will be available to purchase. The Report will describe the sports apparel segment of Mountain
Equipment.
MAIN BODY
1)Product Strategy-
Mountain Equipment Co-op is a cooperative company that deals manly in clothing and outdoor
gear to sell the products to their members. It sells the products to those persons who have
lifetime membership with the company. Mountain Equipment has launch the products in sports
apparel segment. The apparel category falls under the category convenience goods. The apparel
Illustration 1 The Marketing Mix
Source : (Marketing mix analysis, (2017))

segment of Mountain Equipment is divided into various segments and different types of clothing.
The product line will include cold gear, hot gear products. Hot gear product of the apparel
segment will be use by customers to wear in hot season. High quality of the fabric like, Athlete
sleepwear, cool switch is used by the company to manufacture sports clothing. Under the apparel
segment company will also sell sports shoes, books etc. for different sports activities like,
climbing, hiking etc. Clothing will help the customers to keep their body warm during winter
season. Company will target the peoples that fall under category of 25-60 years of age. And
company will mainly target women to provide them athletic clothing. Before developing the
product, company will perform extensive research of urban areas to determine the need of sports
clothing of the targeted segments. The common will use its band identity and it also implements
new urban activities, it will also redefine its logo over its 17 stores in Canada to attract more and
more targeted customer's. So that, company can easily compete with domestic as well as
international competitors. The introduction of new segment will provide the company an
opportunity to connect physical retail stores with digital experience. This will help the company
to provide value for the money of existing as well as potential customers. Roots Brand of the
company was a strong brand that will help mountain equipment in facing the challenges of
competitors. The company has rebranded the brand to reflect the wider geographical range, as
well as the different urban activities to represent the change in the interest of their members
(Alalwan, et.al., (2017)).
Mountain Equipment Co-op has implemented the solution for managing the product life cycle of
the products of company. So that, it can manage all the aspects of different stages of company's
apparel segment. To provide durable and high quality of sports apparel, company has developed
a strategy to support the current and future requirements of the members of company. To
compete with other competitors, by providing durable and high quality of sports clothing for the
purpose of camping, mountain climbing and hiking etc. to customers. Company is creating a
strong customer base through focussing on authenticity. Company is focussing on innovative
design, colour of cloths. Company is not only selling products but it is also focussing on
providing the solution of the problems to the customers (Armstrong, et.al., (2015)).
2)Pricing Strategy-
Pricing is a process in which a company decides what should be the price of the product or
service to sell it to the targeted customers. Company should set the price of the product

according to the benefits, value it is providing to the customers. Price of the product should be
set according to the objectives of the company (Baker, (2016)).
Mountain Equipment should use Premium pricing strategy for its sports clothing segment.
Company will use premium pricing for establishing the image of product as high quality product
in the minds of targeted customers. Firstly company will segment the whole Canadian market on
the basis of some common features like age, purchasing power of the customers. Company can
use different methods of segmentation like demographic segmentation on the basis of gender of
people. Ex Male or female. Company can also segment the market on the basis of attitude and
behaviour of customers.
After segmentation and targeting a specific segment, Mountain Equipment will use premium
pricing strategy for positioning sports clothing in the minds of target customers.
Premium pricing is a strategy used by companies for charging high price of the new product as
compared to the price that competitors are charging for their product. The decision of company
to charge premium price will be based on demographic factors, budget of the company to
promote its product by using promotional techniques and the psychological image of the product
in the minds of targeted customers etc. There are many benefits of charging premium price of the
product to a company like it helps to increase the profits, helps in creating barriers of entry for
other competitors and also helps the company to improve its brand image (Bowie, et.al., (2016)).
Mountain Equipment will launch high quality of sports clothing for different purposes like
hiking, mountain climbing etc. Company will use high technology and high quality of fabrics
like athlete fabrics and material in its product. The targeted segment of the company are men and
women athletes and players that are living in urban areas. Company will invest huge amount on
funds on promotion of the new product. It will focus on promotion of products through
campaigns and events, social media platforms like Facebook etc. All these factors are the reason
behind charging high price for the new product as compared to the price that competitors are
charging for their products. Company will position its product through innovative design, better
quality of the product. Company will influence the customers to buy premium product through
promotional techniques. It will also help the company to communicate the factors and reasons on
the basis of which company is charging high price for the new product as compared to other
competitors. Company will also make efforts to redesign its pricing strategy to attract more and
more targeted customers towards the product. Company will completely change the cost based

pricing strategy that it has been using for its existing products. The company will charge certain
margin above its cost of production of the new product. Before launching the new product with
premium price, Mountain Equipment will analyse the paying capacity, attitude of the targeted
segment of customers regarding the product by using customer value model (Fan, (2015)).
Mountain Equipment has to perform extensive research before fixing the premium price of the
product to identify the psychology of customers, their buying decision process etc. Research will
play an important role in identifying the price to be set for the product of the company.
The premium price that Mountain Equipment will be charged is based on the benefits that
product will provide to the customers. Product is having various benefits like it will keep the
muscles warm during mountain climbing, hiking etc. It will help to improve the blood circulation
and keep the body of athletes warm. All the above features and benefits of new product will help
in increasing the confidence of athletes as a result they will perform better. Sports shoes will help
the athletes to protect their body from any type of injury during climbing, hiking, camping etc.
3)Promotion Strategy-
The company is using different promotional tools to promote the product,
to create brand awareness so that, it can increase the sales of sports clothing. The different social
media platforms company is using are as follows-
Facebook is the basic social media platform that mountain equipment is using for launching new
campaigns. Company is using Facebook for posting different posts and various tactics that
company is using for promoting its products. Company has already has large number of
followers on Facebook. It uses this social media platform for providing details regarding the
product, to collect the feedback from its members. Company is currently targeting the peoples
that are living in Canada of 18-60 age group and minorities. Mountain equipment is also making
efforts for targeting the women of 20-60 age group. The main benefit of using Facebook for the
company is that, company is able to attract the customers from a wide geographic area. And it is
helping the company to improve the relationship with the members.
Instagram is very famous and great platform that mountain equipment is using for attracting
more and more customers towards its products mainly towards apparel segment. Company uses
visual campaigns and photos to promote and increase the awareness of products among the

customers. Campaigns of mountain equipment on Instagram is getting many benefits like,
benefits of shopping feed, use of hashtag, and company is also using various tactics for attracting
customers towards its products. It helps the company to complement the current brand as well as
to reposition the brand of the company. Mountain Equipment is using Facebook and Instagram
because, to start campaigns on other platforms will be costly for the company. So, the company
is focussing on these social media platforms. Company is not giving much importance to
YouTube because, it may be costly for the company.
The company is using different tactics for promoting its campaigns to influence the customers
for buying the products of the company. These tactics help Mountain Equipment to minimise the
mistakes related with branding of the products.
Open letter in year 2019 from Chief Executing officer of Mountain Equipment has released by
the company on its Facebook page. It is one of the tactic of company through which it has
promise the customers that the promotional campaign for the products of the company is
transparent. It helps the company to increase the engagement of customers in the campaign.
Company will use Facebook and Google analytics for targeting the current followers of
Mountain Equipment.
Company has planned to start Community events from 1st march to 30th April 2019 in Canada. It
will help the company in getting feedback regarding the promotional campaigns from targeted
customers. It will also help the company in reducing the negative feedbacks through online
platforms. Through Community events, company can easily provide suggestions to the members
and it can response to their queries in better way. The company will target the peoples who are
living near the stores of Mountain Equipment.
Throughout the campaigns, Mountain Equipment will use Facebook Ads for advertising the
products as well as for posting the information. It will use positive content like images, text,
graphics and videos etc. At the time of promotional campaigns, company will post different
messages at different timings. It will help the company in communicating with the audience.
Company will use Facebook Ad Manager to target the Canadians.
Company can enter into partnership with positive influences that help in creating positivity in the
body. Company can get the benefits through working with great influencers. Some major
influencers of body positivity are Lion Hunter, Kelvin Das, BodyPosiPower, BigFitGirl etc. It

will help the company to improve the authenticity of promotional campaigns. Company will use
Instagram hashtags for targeting the women that are living in Canada.
Mountain Equipment has also partnered with Celebrities to act as a brand ambassador for the
company. It is a way in which company is promoting its products to increase the sale. Mountain
equipment has partnered with Clara Hughes. Clara is an Olympic athlete. Clara has motivated the
cooperatives of the company to lead the outdoor lifestyles for camping, hiking etc. Clara has
inspired young peoples to remain active in sports activities. Clara has share vision of sports
lifestyle similar to the vision of Mountain Equipment.
Company can use various tools for advertising its products so that, it can influence the people to
buy sports clothing. It can use Television, newspaper and radio as a promotional tool. There are
many benefits of using these promotional tools for Mountain Equipment. Through advertisement
in newspaper company can attract customers from a wide geographic area. It is a cheap method
because company dose not have to invest huge amount of funds for giving Advertisement in
newspaper, magazines etc. Company can also give Advertisement on radio it will help the
company in influencing peoples living in urban as well as rural areas to purchase the products of
the company (Ingram et.al., (2015). There are many benefits of using public relation tools are
they will help the company to promote positive attitude towards the products of company. These
tools are very cost effective for the company because company does not have to invest huge
amount of funds.
Mountain Equipment can advertise its products through editorials in the local and regional
newspaper of Canada. This will help the company in positioning its products.
Company can mail brochures and catalogues to the targeted customers to raise the brand
awareness and to promote sports clothing. Proper and attractive brochures will help the company
to increase the confidence of potential customers towards the brand.
Company has used the strategy of rebranding the logo to reposition the brand name in the minds
of customers.
Company can use some direct tools of promoting the products like salesperson. They are the
persons that directly deals with the customers. Salesperson helps the company to solve the
queries of customers and also to improve the features and quality of the products.

Company can organize various events and activities to make people aware regarding the quality
and benefits of the products. Mountain Equipment can promote their products through trade
shows. It can organize events in schools, universities, during festivals etc.
Company is promoting its products by shifting itself from self-propelled to inspire every targeted
customers to involve themselves in sports activities (Rowley, (2016)).
Company has made efforts for utilizing its resources for the success of E-commerce. So that,
Mountain Equipment can satisfy the diverse needs of young population.
Company is promoting its brand through working in partnership with National Governing Bodies
to help the Government in designing new courses and also help for overall development of the
industry. Instructors of Mountain Equipment are promoting the brand of the company by wearing
the sports clothing in extreme conditions (Kotler, et.al., (2015)).

Conclusion
The above Report has described the meaning of elements of marketing mix and it has also
provided the information regarding Mountain Equipment Co-op. The Report has explained the
product strategy of the company that includes the features and benefits of the product. Further,
the Report has described the premium pricing strategy of the company and the factors on the
basis of which company has charged high price from the customers. Moreover, the Report has
explained the promotion strategy of the company that includes various promotional techniques of
promotion like social media platforms etc.

References
Books and Journals
Alalwan, A. A & et.al., (2017). Social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the existing
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Armstrong, G. & et.al., (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
Baker, M. J. (2016). What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Baker, M. J., & Saren, M. (Eds.). (2016). Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.
Bowie, D. & et.al., (2016). Hospitality marketing. Routledge.
Fan, S., Lau, R. Y., & Zhao, J. L. (2015). Demystifying big data analytics for business
intelligence through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research.2(1). 28-32.
Ingram, T. N. & et.al., (2015). Sales management: Analysis and decision making. Routledge.
Kotler, P & et.al., (2015). Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Murakami, K. & et.al., (2015). Consumers' willingness to pay for renewable and nuclear energy:
A comparative analysis between the US and Japan. Energy Economics.50. 178-189.
Rowley, J. (2016). Information marketing. Routledge.
Wirtz, J., & Lovelock, C. (2016). Services marketing. World Scientific Publishing Company.
Online
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