Marketing Concepts and Strategies Report

This report delves into essential marketing concepts, including the Boston matrix and product life cycle, while analyzing the marketing strategies employed by Benetton. It covers the significance of understanding customer needs, the role of market research, and the importance of the marketing mix in driving profitability. The report concludes with insights on how effective marketing practices can enhance a company's market share and customer base.

MARKETING

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK1.............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Terms and concepts related to the introductory marketing..............................................1
1.2 Key purpose of marketing in organisation.......................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................2
2.1 Key features of the Boston matrix and product life cycle................................................2
2.2 Relationship between Boston matrix and stages of product life cycle.............................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Key elements of marketing mix.......................................................................................6
3.2 Marketing mix for different marketing strategies............................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The companies are carried out various activities like determining customer needs,
designing appropriate products to accomplishing these wants and make profit in market place,
these all action are functions of marketing which highly contribute in profitability of the firm (De
Mooij, 2013). In this particular report the various concepts of marketing is discussed along with
defining product life cycle followed by brief discussion on BCG matrix in order to define various
types of products which are profit generating for Benetton business involved in delivering Italian
knitwear to potential markets.
TASK1
1.1 Terms and concepts related to the introductory marketing.
Concept of marketing starts with identifying various customer’s needs and wants creating
market trends and this ends with satisfying all the needs of consumer by delivery of desired
product. The marketing concepts states that organisation actions revolves around the customer of
the company to satisfy their needs and in return satisfied consumer will produce profit for the
firm. Marketing is based of different concepts like production which focuses on producing large
numbers of goods and selling it to market, while product concepts deals with customer centric
approach and produce quality product in limited quantity. Below are some main terms of
marketing:
Market research – It is an activity where information about preference of customers is
collected and then analyses. Market research assist in planning and making policies relating to
attaining a specific goal.
Market share – It is the total proportion of the market which is captured by a company. It
can be determined in terms of profit or sales. In order to find this data, company need to divide
their annual profit/sales with market profit/sales.
Market segmentation – It is a process where broad customers/ potential consumers are
divided in sub groups. It is done for providing better product and service to customer so more
revenue can be generated.
Niche and Mass market – Niche market is a specific marketplace where a particular type
of service and product are sold. It is small and does not have much buyers. Mass market is the
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place where number of buyers and sellers is high and large amount of goods and services are
sold in this big market.
Market and product oriented marketing – Their are some companies who do not believe
in spending money on promotional activities and other work because they think that if they will
make quality goods then customer will come to them instead of a vice-a-versa case. This is
known as product oriented marketing. Some organisation try to identify needs of customer by
using product mix, they feel that fulfilling exact desire of customers is important. It is known as
market oriented marketing.
Different pricing strategies – Pricing strategies are tactics which is used by a company
like Benetton for attaining maximum profit. Price skimming, penetration are some of the most
popular strategies.
1.2 Key purpose of marketing in organisation.
Definition as per view of Philip Kotler: Marketing is subject to science and art which
explore, create and deliver some values to the satisfaction of target market at a profit through
attaining their needs goals (Heidi Cohen. 2011. 72 Marketing Definitions). Marketing engaged in
determining the unsatisfied desires and this measures and quantify the size of potential market
and its potential to contribute in business profit. This also highlights the market segment which is
capable in serving to the company profits. Marketing is important for Benetton because it can
increase their profit along with market share. it can also p-lay crucial role in increasing number
of permanent customers.
Marketing execute some responsibilities in the profitability of the firm and different roles
to contribute in the effectiveness establishment of business firm in marketplace. The various
roles of the marketing in business firm are as follows:
 Markets generate revenues for the business firm.
 This contributes in increasing sales huge and market share of the company in many folds.
 This particular operation of business firm is having great significant in decision making
process and developing various growth and expansion strategies (Berthon and et. al.,
2012).
 This defines the target segment and target market which is having significant potential to
produce profit for the firm.
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 This particular concept also helps in implementing change in actions and as well as new
innovation in market to accomplish all needs of customer effectively.
TASK 2
2.1 Key features of the Boston matrix and product life cycle.
BCG matrix is a portfolio of planning activities of marketing department introduced by
Bruce Henderson belongs from Boston Consulting Group in 1970. This develops an relationship
between the market growth and shares to the its largest competitors. Hence this model is also
known as “Growth-share”.
Illustration 1 BCG Matrix model, 2017
Source 1 Annmarie Hanlon. 2017. How to use the BCG Matrix model
Dog: These are the products which is having lower market growth rate and lesser power to
capture large market shares. These are the products which neither generate high value profit and
nor consumer much more funds of the company.
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Question mark: these products are having higher market growth but not show much hike
in market shares (Christopher and Peck, 2012). They consume more cash as produces in large
amount but not able to produce large amount of cash.
Star: This is the products with having intensified growth market and shares capabilities in
marketplace. These are larger profit generating products with large consumption value.
Cash cow: These are the products having lower market growth but still products are
capturing higher market shares. These are the products which are producing higher profitability
in marketplace but lower consumption rate. These products are having greater returns on
investment (Koch, 2012).
Product life cycle (PLC) defines various stages of the product through which it passes
during development and ends with declining phase of the product in marketplace (Gopaldas,
2015). The various stages of PLC model are discussed below.
Illustration 2 Product Life Cycle Stages. 2017
Source 2 Product Life Cycle Stages. 2017
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Introductory stage: At this stage the new product is introduced in marketplace first time.
this consume high amount of funds of the company. 1985 was the introductory stage of Italian
knitwear of the Benetton.
Growth Stage: In this particular level of development product the shares and growth of
the market both increases tremendously (Benetton, 2013). As year passes the company grows
with increase in sales of products.
Maturity Stage: At this stage the company is focusing upon building up higher market
share for the products and follows expansion strategies in marketplace. The Benetton is
expanded its business to approximately 120 countries which determine the products of business
is at maturity phase.
Decline Stage: This is followed by decline in both market share as well as growth. The
company produce sales starts declining and changes into non-profit making liabilities for firm
(Śmigielska, 2013).
2.2 Relationship between Boston matrix and stages of product life cycle.
Developing relationship with Stages of
product life cycle
BCG implementation
Introductory stage (Introduced first time in
marketplace)
Question mark is the section which can be
linked to this stage. It is a stage where product
of a company has low market share in market
which has scope of high growth.
Growth Stage (Increased market growth) At this stage the star product is followed in
practices of marketing as this is having huge
potential to expand market share as well as
growth with making large profit from higher
consumptions of funds.
Maturity Stage (Expand market shares) Cash cow product is profitable at this level as
this is a matured product with reached its
higher market growth with increasing market
shares and making higher profit from lower
investment.
Decline Stage (Restricted growth) These are the Dog products which are not
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profit making for the business firm and having
lower market shares as well as market growth.
High consumption value while lower
profitability.
TASK 3
3.1 Key elements of marketing mix.
The 4 P's are the working elements of marketing mix. This helps in promoting the brand
products in the target market effectively. The marketing mix element for Benetton growth is
described as below.
Product: The Company is engaged in serving the marketplace by Italian knitwear. This is
the product line of Benetton for which company is carrying out various promotional activities.
Price: The product of the price is determinant factor for accomplishment of sales figure for
company. Affordable range of products is largely produced but customers (Isayeva, 2014).
Place: This is the location to which company is serving their products and carrying out
various marketing activities to promote their products and services. Benetton has grown it's
market share in more than 120 countries which are the profit making places for business.
Promotion: These are the communication methods through which brand image, products
are introduced in marketplace (Sokolowski, 2010). These approaches help in company market
growth to large extent.
People: Every organisation has many stakeholder but employees are the ''people'' who
make sure that they make sound plan and execute them in proper way. Selecting right people in
company is important for attaining market and organisational goals.
Process: Process is related to the procedure which should be adopted by a company in
their working. If right process is selected by an organisation like Benetton then they can reduce
their cost of operation and increase their efficiency.
Physical environment: Physical evidence are the proof of presence of a business. Benetton
has thousands of stores in different part of this world. Their outlets and logo shows that they are
operating in clothing sector.
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Other elements of marketing mix are like physical evidence, people and the process of
delivery services to customer are used by the Benetton to develop good relationship with their
customers.
3.2 Marketing mix for different marketing strategies.
Benetton has always focused on a simple strategy i.e. to sale quality products at
affordable rate. They open their outlets at popular locations so most of the customers can real
their. They do not open their outlets in a mall where very expensive cloths are sold because they
understand that opening outlets in right location is important. Place is a crucial part of marketing
mix and it play significant role in increasing profit of mentioned company. This organisation has
recently made a new strategy where they are going to put their focus on “Product”. This is an
effective marketing strategy, if product of a company is good then there is no need to spend
money on promotional activities.
CONCLUSION
This can be concluded that the marketing is the responsible activities which are carried out
business firm in order to increase the profitability of the firm through promoting company
product in marketplace. These are the activities or action plan which provides information to the
customer about wide range of products of the company and helps in attracting potential
customers for business profitability. Like for example the Benetton is working efficiently in
marketplace through implementing successful marketing plan and achieved the revenue up to
2053 million euros in 2010.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES
Books and Journal
De Mooij, M., 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage
Publications.
Kotler, P., 2012. Kotler on marketing. Simon and Schuster.
Berthon, P. R and et. al., 2012. Marketing meets Web 2.0, social media, and creative consumers:
Implications for international marketing strategy. Business horizons. 55(3). pp.261-271.
Christopher, M and Peck, H., 2012. Marketing logistics. Routledge.
Koch, A. S., 2012. The usage of art in online marketing: A case study of Benetton’s Lana Sutra
campaign.
Benetton, L., 2013. Socially Responsible Advertising. Controversies in Contemporary
Advertising. p.235.
Śmigielska, G., 2013. Marketing In Creating And Sustaining Competitive Advantage Of
Retailers. Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego. Problemy Zarządzania,
Finansów i Marketingu. (29). pp.99-109.
Isayeva, A., 2014. Ethics in International Marketing. International Journal of Economic Practices
and Theories. 4(5). pp.552-561.
Kaptan, Y., 2011, March. Consumer Nationalism in a Neoliberal Age: Case of United Condoms
of Benetton Advertising Campaign. In IAMCR 2011-Istanbul.
Sokolowski, O., 2010. International Strategic Leadership: Case study of Benetton Group.
Gopaldas, A., 2015. Creating firm, customer, and societal value: Toward a theory of positive
marketing. Journal of Business Research. 68(12). pp.2446-2451.
Online
Heidi Cohen. 2011. 72 Marketing Definitions. [Online]. Available through:
<https://heidicohen.com/marketing-definition/>. [Accessed on 9th November 2017].
Product Life Cycle Stages. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<http://productlifecyclestages.com/>. [Accessed on 9th November 2017].
http://productlifecyclestages.com/
Annmarie Hanlon. 2017. How to use the BCG Matrix model. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/use-bcg-
matrix/>. [Accessed on 9th November 2017].
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