Contemporary Issues in Marketing: The Importance of Marketing Mix in the Marketing Process

This report discusses the importance of marketing mix in the marketing process and its application to Sainsbury, a chain of groceries in London. It covers an explanation of marketing, marketing mix, and the 4Ps of marketing mix. The report also introduces the product and services of Sainsbury and analyzes its marketing mix strategies for product, price, place, and promotion.

BSc (Hons) Business Management
BMP4004
Contemporary Issues in Marketing
The nature and importance of the
marketing mix within the marketing
process
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Contents
Introduction p
An explanation of marketing p
An explanation of marketing mix p
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
p
Introduction of product/service
p
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service p-p
Product p
Price p
Place p
Promotion p
Conclusion p
References p
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Introduction
Marketing is an essential tool that helps in advertising and promoting the products and
services. Changing global economics are the result of marketing contemporary issues. By
opting marketing strategy, the people are aware about the company's products or services. TV
commercials and effective advertising made a huge impact on the buying decisions of the
customers. The set of marketing mix are used by various companies in order to promote its
products (Churchill, 2017). This report is based on Sainsbury, a chain of groceries in London.
It was founded by John James Sainsbury in1869. This report will cover a detailed explanation
of marketing mix along with theoretical explanation of 4Ps mix along with the introduction of
product/services and the application of 4Ps of marketing mix.
An explanation of marketing
Marketing may be referred as the process of selling the products and services with the help of
market analysis and advertising. It includes the advertising and selling of the products to the
target customer in order to earn profits. It is a very important aspect which is needed to be
considered for the attainment of profits. With the help of marketing, the company can bring
the attention towards the offerings products that are being rendered. It helps in creating the
awareness of the products and also influences that how it can satisfy the needs of the
customers. It includes a very minimum amount of investment to promote the products (Stead
and Hastings, 2018). Marketing can be done for both the existing as well as for the new
products. The new digital technology is rapidly evolving in the current scenario. It is a very
cost effective method of promotion that is used by many organizations in order to make
aware people about their offerings and products.
An explanation of marketing mix
Marketing mix can be said as the act of promoting the company's brand or product in the
market. Multiple areas of focus should be considered while formulating the marketing plan.
The essentials of marketing are interconnected with each other. The concept of marketing
mix was introduced by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960 in order to target the customers of
various industries. The manager should consider the needs and requirement, so that they can
be satisfied by the product or service. This set of marketing mix helps in advertising the
product and also in making a product into a brand (Chen, 2018). Various marketing tactics
are used in the promotion and it becomes a challenging for the company to face the
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competition market in which the similar products are available. There should be
differentiation in the product so that it can maintain its sustainability for a long term along
with the introducing the products as per the customer's needs.
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
The 4Ps of marketing is a framework that is used for enhancing the components of
marketing mix. It helps in drafting the marketing plans which involves setting up of price, the
uniqueness in the product, the promotion needed to advertise, and the place where the product
be displayed. There are various choices available for the organization while introducing the
product but the management choose the right alternative through the proper analysis of the
market. Marketing mix can be defined in a better way by these 4Ps. The four Ps includes
Product, place, Price and Promotion. These are the essential components of the advertising.
The product should be unique as compared to its competitors. The place should be right in
order to sell the product. The Price must be cheaper than the similar products available in the
market. The company should use different methods in order to promote its product to the
customers. The 4Ps are the important factors in selling the product or service. Marketing mix
is the framework that allows a manager to formulate the effective marketing plans. It is
partial or incomplete without the elements of 4P. It helps in controlling the extra cost as it
facilitates the strategy of focusing on the target customer rather than the entire market
(Dubey, 2017). The customers can be targeted effectively and efficiently by analyzing all
these elements.
Introduction of product and service
The product and services are the most vital essential for the sustainability of any business
enterprise. Product can be said as the tangible item that has the capability of providing
satisfaction to the needs and wants of the customers. Whereas the services are referred as the
intangible force that derived by the efforts of individuals and in return the consumer is
willing to pay in order to satisfy their needs and desires. They are different from in terms of
tangibility and variability. Product are the tangible object that can be utilized by the consumer
(Baiardini and Heffler, 2019). Services cannot be seen but its presence can be felt by getting
the satisfaction from it. Sainsbury is engaging the business of selling the products such as tea,
sugar and other edible commodities. It also deals in other subsidiaries such as Salisbury's
energy and bank.
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Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected product/service
It is the foundation that revolves around the product price, place and promotion that is used to
carry out the business operations and attainment of company's objectives. It helps in doing
the proper analysis of market and based on the outcomes, corrective measures are needed to
be taken into consideration. The combination of marketing mix allows the company to make
their product a brand. It is very beneficial in the long term sustainability of the business
enterprise. The marketing mix strategies of Sainsbury are discussed below:
Product
It refers to the tangible object for which the consumers are willing to pay in order to satisfy
their needs (Jones and Annesley, 2019). The customer's attention can be obtained through the
product and that's why it is considered as the first element of marketing mix. Before
introducing any product is is needed to analyze the demand of the product and how the
product can satisfy their demand. It is very complex in defining the concept of product as it
includes the business, taste, preferences of the target market. Sainsbury is currently selling
over 15000 brand products such as Habitat, Nectar and Argos. It also provides the home
delivery services too in order to expand its operations widely but unfortunately due to some
technical issue it has been forced to suspend its online service. It provide some uniqueness in
its own brand such as different taste, quality ingredients, better packaging. It sells large
products such as tea, sugar, poultry products, and other essential edible commodities. In order
to expand its business operations, it also deals in introducing new products that are differ
from the similar product available in the market.
Price
It is the most significant factor in the profitability and plays a vital role in the success of an
enterprise. It is flexible component that can be change according to the dynamic situation of
the market. It is the payment made by one party to the other in return for the product or
service. Setting up of price is done by the research of its competitors and the similar products
available in the market. The company should set a reasonable price for availing the product or
service that can be easily affordable by the consumer and must be cheaper than its
competitor's product. Sainsbury has setup its price reasonable in order to capture a major part
of consumers. It also offers some discounts on its own products so that it can attract the
customers towards its products. It also focus in lowering its prices by mass production. It also
emphasis on rendering the quality product along with the lower price and ensures that the
customer do not switch the product due to price factor.
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Place
This factor of marketing mix is also known as distribution and involves the process by which
a product can be reached to the customers. It includes in decision making of mobility of
products from the producer to the customer and the method that is being used to transport the
product. It is needed to be display the product at the right place in order to attract the target
customer. The economy product should be displayed at the local stores or nearby and the
premium products are needed to be displayed at the premium stores. It is worthless to display
the premium product at the local stores as the target customers are not aware about this
segment of product. Sainsbury stores has created various departments of different segments
such as economy and premium, so all the customers are made aware about its all varieties of
product. It focuses on both the segments of customers and ensures that it includes all the
variety of products for different customers. The logistic and the product turnover indicates a
positive condition of the company.
Promotion
It is the final element of the marketing mix as it elevates the awareness of the company's
product to the customers which leads in increasing the profitability of a business enterprise
(Vartabedian and Klinger, 2019). It influence the buying decisions of the consumer by
promoting the product very efficiently. There are various methods available for promoting
the product or services in the market such as affiliate marketing, digital marketing and TV
commercials. It plays a very important part in making the awareness of the product to the
customers. When a company is introducing a new product then in order to obtain the
feedback from the customers, it provides free samples, coupons, discounts on some of its
existing products. Sainsbury is using the benefit of new technology by using digital platforms
to promote their products. It helps in promoting the products faster as compared to other
traditional methods. It focus on the different segments of the market and also offers some sort
of special discounts and extra off on their new products. The old traditional method of
promotion are very time consuming and costly in order to promote the product. A wider
range of customers can be obtained by the digital marketing as most of the customers are
available on the social media platforms and it becomes easy to reach them. It is necessary to
opt the best method to promote the product or service to the customers.
Conclusion
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From the above report, it was concluded that marketing mix aims at fulfilling the customer
needs and wants along with profit making. It involves the crucial steps which should be
consider in order to attract the target customer and ability to influence the buying decision by
opting the best method of promotion. For the long term sustainability of the business
enterprise, it is needed to introduce new innovative product in the dynamic market. The 4Ps
of marketing mix can be referred as the foundation of a successful business. It is needed to be
introduce a right product that satisfies customer's demand with a reasonable price along with
opting the cheaper and effective way of promotion in order to aware the customer about the
product or service that are rendered by the company. Sainsbury is using the best strategy of
attracting the customer and do effective promotional activities in order to attract the target
customer.
References
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Baiardini, I. and Heffler, E., 2019. The Patient-Centered Decision System as per the 4Ps of
Precision Medicine. In Implementing Precision Medicine in Best Practices of
Chronic Airway Diseases (pp. 147-151). Academic Press.
Chen, H.J., 2018. What drives consumers’ mobile shopping? 4Ps or shopping
preferences?. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics.
Churchill Jr, G.A., 2017. Marketing. Saraiva Educação SA.
Dubey, J., 2017. Patanjali: Unique Brand Building and 4Ps. IUP Journal of Brand
Management, 14(3).
Jones, L. and Annesley, P., 2019. “Part of being human”: evaluating the 4Ps model to support
inpatient staff teams in reflecting on interpersonal dynamics. The Journal of Mental
Health Training, Education and Practice.
Stead, M. and Hastings, G., 2018. Advertising in the social marketing mix: getting the
balance right. In Social Marketing (pp. 29-43). Psychology Press.
Vartabedian, S.E. and Klinger, L.C., 2019. 4Ps: A purposeful introduction. Communication
Teacher, 33(1), pp.16-20.
Warrink, D., 2018. The marketing mix in a marketing 3.0 context. International Journal of
innovation and economic development, 4(4), pp.7-11.
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