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Answer:
Definition of Selling
“Activities associated with communicating ideas and making sale and
thus effecting the transfer of ownership of a product”
Definition of Advertising
The term advertising originates from the Latin word “adverto” which
means to turn round. Advertising thus denotes the means to draw
attention to any object or purpose. In the marketing context,
advertising has been defined “as a paid and non-personal form of
presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an
identified sponsor” There is not only an identified sponsor but also
an identified media and message behind every advertisement.
Through and advertisement, the advertiser intends to spread his ideas
about his product/offerings among his customers and prospects.
In Pakistani environment, all the three elements play their role one way
or the other. Some companies promote their sales through selling
techniques and with the help of advertising. For example, to sell basic
needs; producer need not promote the produced goods through
advertisement, for example when a farmer harvests his crop and gets
the yield of Wheat crop, he would not advertise in the media to sell his
product, this is of basic need of every human being so his product will
be sold without any advertisement, or marketing. In continuation of
above, basic needs of food, health, education, shelter marketing,
selling with advertising is not a necessary tool to sell.
Edhi Foundation
Fatmeed Foundation
Pakistan
Since independence in 1948, the government has made education one of its highest priorities, a
policy that has yielded excellent results. Within a period of less than 40 years, the number of
schools in Sri Lanka increased by over 50 percent, the number of students increased more than
300 percent, and the number of teachers increased by more than 400 percent. Growth has been
especially rapid in secondary schools, which in 1985 taught 1.2 million students, or one-third of
the student population. Teachers made up the largest government work force outside the
plantation industry. The literate population has grown correspondingly, and by the mid1980s
over 90 percent of the population was officially literate (87 percent for those above ten years of
age), with near universal literacy among the younger population. This is by far the most
impressive progress in South Asia and places Sri Lanka close to the leaders in education among
developing nations.
The government has taken an ever larger role in education. Because private institutions no
longer receive grants from the government, they are forced to charge fees while competing with
free state-run schools. The percentage of students in the state system has grown constantly, and
by the 1980s 99 percent of female students and 93 percent of male students at the primary school
level were being trained in government-run schools. The government did not have a monopoly
over education because Buddhist pansala and pirivena, Muslim schools, and Christian schools
still thrived (the Roman Catholic Church alone operated several hundred institutions from
kindergarten to secondary level, teaching over 80,000 children). The education system of the
state, however, had an overwhelming influence on the majority of the population, especially the
Sinhalese.
The state has tried to change the language of instruction in its primary and secondary schools
from English to Tamil or Sinhala. By the 1960s, the vernacular languages were the primary
medium in all government secondary schools. In the 1980s, English remained, however, an
important key to advancement in technical and professional careers, and there was still
competition among well-to-do families to place members in private English-language programs
in urban areas. Ethnic minorities long associated with European-style education still formed a
large percentage of the English-speaking elite. In the 1980s, for example, almost 80 percent of
the Burghers knew English, while among the Sinhalese the English-speakers comprised only 12
percent.
Among the major problems still facing the educational system in the late 1980s were a serious
dropout rate in the primary grades and a continuing bias toward urban environments at the
expense of the countryside. The median level of educational attainment in Sri Lanka was
somewhere between grades 5 and 9, and almost 40 percent of the students dropped out of school
after 9 years. The reasons were not hard to discern in a primarily agricultural society, where
many young people were more urgently needed in the fields or at home than in school once they
had achieved an operational level of literacy and arithmetic skills. Many urban youth from low-
income backgrounds also dropped out at an early age. This pattern provided two-thirds of the
students with an education through grade 5 but less than 10 percent of the population with a
high school degree and less than 1 percent with a college diploma. Despite government efforts in
the 1980s to expand opportunities for youth from rural areas and more sparsely inhabited
districts, the pressures for early dropout were more pressing in precisely those areas where
illiteracy was most prevalent. In Colombo, for example, the overall literacy rate was 94 percent
in 1988, while in Amparai District it was only 75 percent. Rural schools were more widely
scattered, with poor facilities and inadequate equipment, especially in the sciences. Teachers
preferred not to work in the countryside, and many rural schools did not even go up to the level
of twelfth grade.
The most dynamic field in education during the 1970s and 1980s was technical training. In the
late 1980s, the Ministry of Higher Education operated a network of twenty-seven technical
colleges and affiliated institutes throughout the country. Courses led to national diplomas in
accountancy, commerce, technology, agriculture, business studies, economics, and manufacture.
Other government institutions, including the Railway, Survey, and Irrigation Departments, ran
their own specialized training institutes. The Ministry of Labour had three vocational and craft
training institutes. The number of students in all state-run technical institutes by the mid-1980s
was 22,000. In addition, the government operated schools of agriculture in four locations, as
well as practical farm schools in each district. A continuing problem in all fields of technical
education was extreme gender differentiation in job training; women tended to enroll in home
economics and teaching courses rather than in scientific disciplines. (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+lk0082)
Public expenditures for education were very low in Bangladesh. As a percentage of the gross
domestic product, the level of expenditure for education in 1983 was approximately 1.3 percent,
a figure that did not rise substantially through 1988. On the average, the sectoral share of
education in the total development expenditure of the government between 1973 and 1983 was
only 4.1 percent; in 1985 it was only 3.1 percent.
The Third Five-Year Plan included efforts to improve quality by restructuring higher secondary
and college education, making it more cost effective, and introducing management controls and
performance evaluations. Community-based nonformal education approaches seemed to hold
promise as an alternative means of providing basic arithmetic and reading skills. For instance,
the Bangladesh Rural Development Board has been able to achieve low dropout rates, especially
for females, in non formal primary schooling, keeping operating costs fairly low and capital
expenditures at a minimum.
The Ministry of Education and Culture was responsible for planning, financing, and managing
education at all levels. The ad hoc Bangladesh Education Commission was appointed in 1972 to
investigate and report on all major aspects of education. In 1987 another high-level body--the
National Education Commission--was instituted. Its August 1988 recommendations were for
compulsory free education; reforms in madrasa, medical, and law education; and removal of
student politics from the campus. It was expected that the commission's recommendations would
be addressed in the fourth and fifth five-year plans covering the period up to the year 2000.
(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bd0057)
Bangladesh a poverty driven country of late seventies and eighties with low
literacy rate, a common Bengali had no access to get a loan from bank or
any financial institution. They have to leads their lives in a miserable
condition. Dr. M. Yaunas, a Ph.D. from foreign university took the initiative
and start lending small amounts to common Bengali people to start their
business and start lead a happy life. Dr. M. Yaunas established Grameen
Bank for this sole mission to eliminate poverty from the country.
Government of Bangladesh passed special laws to extend helps at Macro
levels to contribute. This bank has changed the lives of hundreds of
thousands of people of Bangladesh. Bank offers loans in various categories
.i.e. setting up a business, cottage industry, education and most recently
that bank does not offer loans against any security or collateral, despite the
fact that most of the cliental of the bank is poor people, rate of return is
98% of loans issued. Grameen Bank is an exemplary rate for others to follow.
Now the bank has country wide branches to cater to the needs of their
clients, support from the government of Bangladesh is at macro level and
funding, loans from Grameen Bank are micro level of marketing.
Question # 03 (a):
1. Product/Services
2. Pricing
3. Promotion
4. Placing
5. People
6. Physical Evidence
7. Process
1. Product/services
There is little difference between product and service, when a
customer buys a physical product, he can feel it, see it as it has
tangible aspect whereas services have intangible aspects, a customer
can only benefit from the service only as it has performed by the
services provider such as operating a patient consulting a lawyer,
getting advise from tax advisor.
2. Pricing
In determining the prices of services, the one characteristic, which has
great impact is their perish ability and the fact that fluctuation in
demand cannot be met through inventory. Hotels and Airlines and
telecom sectors offer lower rates during off season and lower
telephone charges for outstation calls after Peak Hours are the
example of how pricing can be used.
3. Promotion
The fundamental difference, which must be kept in mind while
designing the promotion strategy for services, is that customer relies
more on subjective impassions rather than concrete evidence. This is
because of the inherent intangible nature of services. Secondly, the
customer is likely to judge the quality of services on the actual
services. Thirdly since it is difficult to sample the services before
paying for it, the customer finds it difficult to evaluate a product.
5. People
People constitute an important dimension in the management of
services in their role both as performers of services and as customer.
They must, therefore, be well informed and provide the kinds of
services that win customer approval. People as performance of
services are important because “A customer sees a company through
its employees. The employee represents the first line of contact with
the customer. The firm must recognize that each employee is a
salesman for the company services”.
6. Physical Evidence
7. Process
1. Quality
2. Pricing
3. Packaging/Placing
4. Benefits
Quality:
Price:
Price is also a basic feature of a product or service to build its image in the market.
While deciding the price, target market should always be considered carefully, as
the price should not be too low that the customer may think that the quality of the
product would also be low or sub standard neither it should be too high to buy by
the target market. Normal pricing would appeal to the prospective buyer to
purchase the product.
Presentation of the product is also a very important factor. Product or service should
be presented in such a way that it attracts the customer and at the same time the
product should be easily available in the market. It would be of no use, if
manufacturer advertising heavily while product is not available in the market. If
producer chose selective markets, the products should be displayed prominently to
attract the customer.
Benefits:
When a customer has purchased the product, he or she expects some special
features, characteristics and properties which other products do not offer. Benefits
so offered to customer both tangible and intangible help keep the customer for a
long time and the producer earns profits as well. Benefits of the product should
satisfy the socio-economic needs of the customers. It must carry the worth,
customer has expected from the product.
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/09684909710163601
Question # 04:
Answer:
There have been many products that have been gone through the life cycle,
for example VCR, Black & White Television, Tape Recorder, Dial Telephone,
Mobile phones with antenna.
The product life cycle concept suggests that a product passes through five
stages of evolution. These are
1. Product Development
2. Introduction
3. Growth
4. Maturity
5. Decline
Product Development
When the company perceives and develops a new product idea, the
development process starts immediately. During this period, sales are at
zero level and the company’s investment cost mount.
Introduction:
After launching the new product, management wants the product to enjoy a
long and happy life. Although it does not expect the product to sell forever,
the company wants to earn a decent profit to cover all the effort and risk
that went into launching it. Management is aware that each product will have
a life cycle, although its exact shape and length is not known in advance.
The product life-cycle stage in which the new product is first distributed and
made available for purchase. The introduction stage starts when the new
product is first launched. Introduction takes time and sales growth is apt to
be slow, Well-known products such as instant coffee, frozen orange juice, and
powdered coffee creamers lingered for many years before they entered a
stage of rapid growth.
Growth
The product life-cycle stage in which a product’s sales start climbing quickly.
If the new product satisfies the market, it will enter a growth stage, in
which sales will start climbing quickly. The early adopters will continue to buy
and later buyers will start following their lead, especially if they hear
favorable word of mouth. Attracted by the opportunities for profit, new
competitors will enter the market. They will introduce new product features,
and the market will expand. The increase in competitors, lead to an increase
in the number of distribution outlets, and sales jumps just to build reseller
inventories. Prices remain where they are or fall slightly. Companies keep
their promotion spending at the same or a slightly higher level. Educating
the market remains a goal, but now the company must also meet the
competition.
Profits increase during the growth stage as promotion costs are spread over
a large volume and as unit manufacturing costs fall. The firm uses several
strategies to sustain rapid market growth as long as possible. It improves
product quality and adds new product features and models. It enters new
market segments and new distribution channels. It shifts some advertising
from building product awareness to building product conviction and purchase
and it lowers prices at the right time to attract more buyers.
Maturity
The stage in the product life-cycle in which sales growth slows down or levels
off. At some point, a product’s sales growth will slow down and the product
will enter a maturity stage. This maturity stage normally lasts longer than
the previous stages and it poses strong challenges to marketing department.
Most products are in the maturity stage of the life cycle, and therefore most
of marketing management deals with the mature product.
The slowdown in sales growth results in many producers with may products
to sell. In turn, this overcapacity leads to greater competition. Competitors
begin down prices, increasing their advertising and sales promotions and
upping their R&D budgets to find better versions of the product. These steps
lead to a drop in profit. Some of the weaker competitors start dropping out,
and the industry eventually contains only well-established competitors.
Decline
The product life-cycle stage in which a product’s sales decline. The sales of
most product forms and brands eventually dip. The decline may be slow, as
in the case of oatmeal cereal or rapid as in the case of phonograph records.
Sales may plunge to zero or they may drop to a low level where they
continue for many years. This is the decline stage.
Sales decline for many reasons, including technological advances, shifts in
consumer tastes and increased competition. As sales and profits decline,
some firms withdraw from the market. Those remaining may prune their
product offerings. They may drop smaller market segments and marginal
trade channels or they may cut the promotion budget and reduce their prices
further.
Carrying a weak product can be very costly to a firm and not just in profit
terms. There are many hidden costs. A product may take up too much of
management’s time. It often requires frequent price and inventory
adjustments. It requires advertising and sales force attention that might be
better used to make “healthy” products more profitable. A product’s failing
reputation can cause customer concerns about the company and its other
products. The biggest cost may well lie in the future. Keeping weak products
delays the search for replacements, creates a lopsided product mix, hurts
current profits and weakens the company’s foothold on the future.
For these reasons, companies need to pay more attention to their aging
products. The firm’s first task is to identify those products in the declining
stage by regularly reviewing sales, market shares, costs and profit trends.
Then, management must decide whether to maintain, harvest or drop each
of these declining products.
Example:
There have been many products which have gone through the life-cycle
stages. One such example is of Floppy Discs. Companies such as IBM,
Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard are the pioneer of this technology. These
companies invested heavily in R&D. In the earlier days of computers, such
floppies were used as boot diskettes. In the initial stage, as marketing of
computers was focused to a very limited segment of market, so the demand
for such floppies was on lower side, we can describe this stage as
Introduction.
As the market expanded and broaden throughout the world, so the demand
depicted an upward trend in sales. Manufacturing & marketing companies
pumped more resources in R&D, added new features, enhanced their
supplies, as there were complaints regarding data saving, formatting and
quality of the product. This was the growth stage of the product. After some
time, the capacity of hard disks improved many folds as against initial
storage capacity of mere Megabytes to Gigabytes, users started to use such
floppy diskettes as a backup tool to store their data and demand increased
as well. This stage can be defined as Growth stage.
New inventions i.e. Compact Disk or CD, as commonly known, posed a great
threat and sales declined drastically. Decline stage of Floppy Diskettes was
even faster than pervious stages as the consumer shifted quickly to new
products due to added features, security of data, more capacity, portability
and cost effectiveness.
Question # 05:
How market segmentation differs from product
differentiation? What are the factors that a firm should
consider while selecting its segments?
Answer:
Market Segmentation
Markets consist of buyers, and buyers differ in one or more ways. They may differ in
their wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes and buying practices. Through
market segmentation, companies divide large, heterogeneous markets into smaller
segments that can be reached more efficiently and effectively with products and
services that match their unique needs.
Segmenting Consumer Markets:
There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different
segmenting variables, alone and in combination to fine the best way to view the
market structure.
Geographic Segmentation
Demographic Segmentation
Psychographic Segmentation
Behavioral Segmentation
1. Geographic Segmentation:
Geographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into different geographical
units such as nations, regions, states, counties, cities or neighborhoods. A company
may decide to operate in one or a few geographical areas or to operate in all areas
but pay attention to geographical differences in needs and wants.
Many companies today are localizing their products, advertising, promotion and
sales efforts to fit the needs of individual regions, cities, and even neighborhoods.
For example, Campbell sells Cajun gumbo soup in Louisiana and Mississippi and
makes its nacho cheese soup spicier in Texas and California.
2. Demographic Segmentation:
Demographic segmentation divides the market into groups based on variables such
as age, gender, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education,
religion, race, generation, and nationality. Demographic factors are the most
popular bases for segmenting customer groups. One reason is that consumer
needs, wants, and usage often vary closely with demographic variables. Another is
that demographic variables are easier to measure than most other types of
variables. Even when market segments are first defined using other bases, such as
benefits sought or behavior, their demographic characteristics must be known in
order to assess the size of the target market and to reach it efficiently.
2.1 Age and Life Cycle Segmentation:
Consumer needs and wants change with age. Some companies use age &
life-cycle segmentation, offering different products or using different
marketing approaches for different age and life-cycle groups. For example,
McDonald’s targets different age groups-from children and teens to adults
and seniors-with different ads and media. Its ads to teens feature dance-beat
music, adventure, and fast paced cutting from scene to scene; ads to seniors
are softer more sentimental.
Marketers must be careful to guard against stereotypes when using age & life
cycle segmentation. For example, although some 70-year old require
wheelchairs, others play tennis. Similarly, whereas some 40-year old couples
are sending their children off to college, others are just beginning new
families. Thus age is often a poor predictor of a person’s life-cycle, health,
work or family status, needs, and buying power.
Income segmentation has long been used by the marketers of products and
services such as automobiles, boats, clothing, cosmetics, financial services
and travel. Many companies target affluent consumers with luxury goods and
convenience services. Stores such as Metro & Macro offer everything from
expensive & luxury items to day to day home products. However, not all
companies that use income segmentation target the affluent. Despite their
lower spending power, the nearly one-third of the nation’s households that
earn less than Rs: 100,000/- per year offer an attractive market.
3. Psychographic Segmentation:
4. Behavioral Segmentation:
i) Occasions:
Buyers can be grouped according to occasions when they get the idea to
buy actually make their purchase or use the purchased items. Occasion
segmentation can help firms build up product usage.