The Anomalies of Marketing Mix at the Thamrin CFD, Central Jakarta

Carbon monoxide (CO) and sulfur oxide (SO2) gas been widely acknowledged as the prime
suspect for air pollution around the globe. Car emission has been identified as the main producer
of the hazardous gases, followed by home appliances including refrigerator and air conditioner
(Kanaf & Rajiv, 2010 as cited on Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017). Hence, looking at the fact that there
is a staggering increase in the number of cars operating in Jakarta during the past 15 to 20 years,
the level of air pollution in Indonesia has also worsen at an unprecedented magnitude. A research
indicates that car emission contributes up to 70% of the air pollution in the urban area, including
Jakarta (Kusminingrum and Gunawan, 2008 as cited on Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017). Moreover,
not only air pollution, but also the abundance of cars and motorcycles in the capital is associated
with the high level of noise pollution that creates negative impact towards both physical and mental
health of the urban citizen. In doing so, to overcome both the air and the noise pollution, the
Indonesian Government has come up with a program referred as the Car Free Day (CFD). The
program was initiated on May, 2003 (Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017) and has been constantly held
weekly eversince. In addition to reducing the polutions, CFD has also produced another positive
repercussion: creating jobs for the street vendors. Curiously, the economic behavior at the Thamrin
CFD is interesting as much as it is intriguing; some theories of marketing mix (4P’s) are not always
alligned with the real situation on the field. In doing so, this paper will analyze the effectiveness
of marketing mix theory on the street vendors at the Thamrin CFD.

Literature Review
To have a succesful marketing campaign, a business owner will have to pay attention to
the marketing mix: product, price, place, and promotion. Identifying the right target market is one
of primary objective that need to be achieved by a company. Hence, marketing mix serves as one
of many tools that helps companies in creating the strategy to identify the proper target market.
Moreover, a strategy that thoroughly analyzes and incorporates the four variables of marketing
mix may have a major impact on the decision making process in a competitive market (Akmal,
2018). Adversly, a marketing campaign will be less likely to be successful if any one of the
marketing mix component was not satisfied. Therefore, poduct, price, place, and promotion are
the beads that need to be combined together in order to create an effective marketing campaign;
hence, the impact of failing to satisfied any of the marketing mix variable can be severe.
To run its business properly, a company should first and foremost establish the product
before anything else. A company need to understand what and how they are going to manufacture
the commodities. Morover, understanding the nature of a product is critical as it encompasses the
needs and the demands of consumers (Azizah, 2015). Hence, product is not only the most
fundamental element that trigger the other variables of marketing mix but also it dictates the
direction of the business operation. There are several factors that governs product selection,
including the quality of a product and design. The quality of a product illustrates the value
proposed by the goods for the customer (Azizah, 2015). A good product should possess values that
satisfy the customers’ needs and demands. Hence, a product with good value implies the quality
that “just satisfy” the customers’ need; nothing more or less (Wibowo, 2015). A product that is too
good or not good enough will turn customers away because it does not have the right quality that
the customers are looking for. Likewise, design also determine the appeal of a product. By nature,
customers will be more attracted towards products with a great, appealing, design (Natalia &
Mulyana, 2014). In doing so, it will be imperative for a company to understand that a great,
appealing, design is one element that can set their product apart from the competitors: competitive
advantage. Therefore, to have a good product with high market value, a company should pay
attention to both the quality as well as the design of the product meticulously.
Evaluating the worth and value of a product can also be done from the pricing perspective.
Price is commonly defined as the amount of money charged for products or services. Arguably,
price is the only element in the marketing mix that is directly translated into earning (Akmal,
2018). In doing so price can be considered as the element that may accurately assess the value of
a product. To assess the value of a product or service, one will have to compare the effort excerted
to obtain good relative to the benefit earned (Wibowo, 2015; Akmal 2018). Thus, when a budget
incurred for a product is higher than the customer’s perceived benefit, the product can be
considered to have a negative value. Conversely, a positive value can be derived when customer
feels that the benefit of the product outweigh the price incurred. This phenomenon is governed by
the invincible hand theory defining the supply and demand theory: when price increase, supply
will go up as demand goes down. On the other hand, when price decrease, supply will go down as
demand goes up. Therefore, a company should assign a reasonable price to its product to keep the
balance between the price charge and benefit received. Additionally, there are several factors that
need to be incorporated to establish reasonable price, namely the cost of raw materials, production
cost, labor cost, and the competitor price. Among the four factors mentioned earlier, competitor
price is categorized as the indirect cost. Competitor cost is set by the external force of “the
competitor” that is less dependent to the internal business decision (Akmal, 2018). In doing so, it
will be beneficial for a company to always refer its pricing relative to its competitor aprraisal;
hence, a price of a product may be related to its subsitute or complemantary counter part produced
by other manufacturers.
A successful marketing campaign is also determined by place and location. A good
business location is conluded as a location with sufficient amount of consumer traffic; thus, the
location will be easily remembered and recalled when people are eager to purchase a particular
product. For instance, when people are eager for car spare parts in Jakarta, they will immediately
recall Pasar Senen; hence, the majority of car spare parts sellers gather at the designated premises.
Likewise, when people are seeking for electronic and home appliances in Jakarta, they will favor
places, such as Pasar Glodok or Pasar Asemka. In doing so, the placement and the location of
business are crucial, as customer will favor products that has the same quality yet have easier
access (Hanaysha, 2017). This statement is very much true, especially, for small enterprises whom
reputation and credibility are yet to be known by public. It will be advantageous for small
enterprises to gather at a commonly known premises for particular product to get a chunk of the
market share.
There are few factors that need to be sorted out in order to select the ideal business location,
including accessibility, trafic, and the surrounding environment (Hanaysha, 2017). Accessibility
is crucial as much as it is the most apparent reason explaining the significance of ideal location. It
does not matter how advance or sophisticated a product is when it is not accompanied by ease of
access. For the same reason, people are more eager to buy a generic brand medicine at a small
store that is only five metres away from their house as opposed to travelling miles away to a
pharmacy. Travelling to a pharmacy can especially be laborous when traffic jam, gasoline cost,
and time spent are being factor in. Hence, the simplicity of traveling a five metre distance provide
an easier access for consumers as opposed to the two miles away pharmacy. The same argument
stands despite the fact that pharmacy may provide the same item with relatively cheaper price as
much as it provides wider selection of products; hence, the accessibility outshadow the benefits.
Not only accessibility, but also customer traffic plays an equally crucial role for business
location. An ideal location is commonly referred as a location with many people passing by. In
this case, people who are passing by may be triggered and enticed to buy the products that they
saw along the line (impulse buying). Thus, sufficient amount of people passing by may be
converted into customers. Hence, there is a reason why MC Donald locates its store at the side of
big avenue. People who are caught in traffic jam or waiting for specific trafic regulation to end,
“ganjil-genap”, might as well spend their time at the burger chain restaurant as opposed to spending
their time on the road. Hence, a company will have to be extremely astute in taking advantage of
the traffic factor to support its business growth. However, a high traffic site might as well
accompanied by the unwanted surrounding environmental issues. High traffic site is prone to crime
or to thuggery. Despite of high traffic, a site with high crime rate may pose more harm than the
benefit (Hanaysha, 2017; Akmal, 2018). People may feel reluctant to visit the premises though the
location is strategic. Moreove, it will be a bad move when a company, especially, the small
enterprises to locate its store at the location where competition is already stiff. In doing so,
understanding the accessibility, traffic, and the surrounding environment will decide the fate of
one’s business for years to come.
Nevertheless the fourth element that influence a successful marketing campaign is
promotion. In the 21st century, the competition in the business are getting tougher than ever. Pricing
is becoming less relevant as many companies are focusing and participating in the promotional
campaign war (Natalia & Mulyana, 2014). The current phenomenon in the business world is the
fact that there are too many start up companies that offer a seemingly illogical, extremely, low
price. Hence, the profit margin is getting thinner to the point that companies are operating just for
the sake to exist on the market. In doing so, when pricing is no longer a viable option to compete
on, many will jump into the promotional and advertising war to promote their competitive
advantage. Additionally, there should be an explanation and the ulterior motive on the impulse
buying occurence. People will be distracted and enticed before ultimately commiting for impulse
buying if and only if the products displayed is well advertised. In doing so, for a company to
prevail, the owner will have to invest generously in terms of advertising and promotional
campaign; perhaps, the most generous compare to the other three elements mentioned above.
There are three promotional approaches that are commonly adopted by companies:
physical promotion, traditional promotion, and the digital promotion. Physical promotion is
commonly found during event selling, such as music concert, flea market, and the car free day
(Rahmadani, 2017). Physical promotion allows the business owner to interact directly with
potential customers, prompting for personalized promotional campaign. However, physical
promotion is bound for space and time constraint (Bitran & Mondschein, 2016). The method is
only effective as far as the geographic scope of the event as much as it is limited to the duration of
the event. On the other hand, traditional promotion or commonly known as the direct marketing is
performed by utilizing various direct platforms, such as newspaper, television, or brochure.
Despite relatively more expensive in price, direct marketing can cover a wider range of target
audience. Nevertheless, at the 21st century, it is the companies who are capable of utilizing digital
promotion that will prevail (Hidayat, 2014; Bitran & Mondschein, 2016). The 21st century belongs
to both the millennials and the post-millennials generation. These generations are known to be tech
savvy and favor instant services. In doing so, it is imperative for business owners to keep up with
technology as well as the trends for their business to flourish.

Methodology
This paper is based on a descriptive approach that utilized qualitative data gathered from
the on field observation. The scope of the on field study is limited to the April, 2019 Car Free Day
event in Thamrin, Central Jakarta. The purpose of this study is to identify the effectiveness of
marketing mix on the street vendor located along the CFD premises.
The paper will try to compare the theory of marketing mix relative to its application on the
real live business practices by conducting numerous interviews with selected correspondents. The
selected correspondents are the street vendors that has been analyzed and preselected for several
criteria, including the product sold, location, promotional method, and pricing. The data used in
this study are both primary and secondary data derived from the interview, documentation in a
form of photos taken during the event, and various journals that may provide support and assistance
to the study. The CFD event was visited twice to ensure the accuracy, consistency, and validity of
the data. This step is necessary considering that there could be a possibility where the behavior
and the mehancism of the business are changing from one point to another. Furthermore, there are
three stages of data processing in this study: deducing the data, presenting the data, and drawing a
conlusion.

Finding and Analysis

A successful product selling is commonly accompanied by a prominent marketing

campaign; hence a detail and effective marketing mix is nescessary. However, the implementation
of the four elements of marketing mix is a little bit distorted during the Thamrin CFD event.
Despite all four elements are involved within the process, the legitimacy of the theory may not
nescessarily all-allign with the practice on the field. Some of the aspects are contorted; thus,
araising interesting subjects to be analyzed and elaborated.
The most common products sold at the Thamrin CFD are foods, drinks, clothing, and
sporting accesories. Looking from the goods’ perspective, there is a connecting line alligning the
products sold and the activity performed. CFD is commonly used as a sporting event for jogging
and cycling. CFD has allowed urban citizen to experience a sporting activity as motorized vehicle
is completely banned within certain duration and certain area (Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017). Foods
and water are the main commodities that people are seeking for before, during, and after
performing the sport activity. They need foods to satisfy their hunger as much as they need water
to quench their thirst. Likewise, after a sporting event, people will have the tendency to drench in
sweat; hence, they need a new set of clothing to replace their old one. However, despite the general
categories of food, there are some apparent distinction that separate one group of food from
antoher: bad food and healthy food. The CFD participant choice of food is interesting as much as
it is baffling. Therefore, it will be a compelling study to analyze the criteria or reason on the food
selection.
The most ovbious food selection by the CFD participants has indicated an irony that hard
to be understood. There are two food categories sold in the CFD: the healthy food and the
unhealthy food. The healthy food, includes fruits, salads, various vegetable juices, and the organic
home made cooks. On the other hand, the unhealthy food covers deep fried battered snacks, over
seasoned foods which abundant in additive substances and MSG, as well as beverages that is high
in sugar content as much as it is high in food colouring substances. However theses food categories
deem to be irrelevant for the Majority of the CFD participant who attended the event to take part
in the sporting event. Most of the participants are actively walking, jogging, or cycling. Hence, the
primary reason for attending the event is to be involved in a healthier lifestyle. Ironically, their
choice on food and drink does not reflect their resolution for healthier lifestyle. Throughout the
two days observation, it is becoming apparent that the participants favor the unhealthy food instead
of the healthier counterpart. There are several understandings that may explain this phenomenon.
A selected interviewees argues that as much as it is an irony, participant favor unhealthy food for
its unique taste that may not be encountered outside the event. For instance, kerak telor, a
traditional betawi food that is getting more difficult to find outside the CFD event. Pepole are
intrigued by the taste and appearance of the “rare” food. Kerak telor has now been classified as a
vulnerable delicacy due to the massive invation of fast food chain restaurant (Cut Devi, Rustiyarso,
2017). In doing so, people are swarming around the treat in spite of the fact that it contains a high
amoung of sodium that is not nescessarily good for the body. Hence, the participants’ food
selection do not justify their purpose to experience a healthy life.
Additionally, not only intrigued by the taste, majority of the participant favor the unhealthy
food due to its relatively inexpensive price. In the CFD, pricing serves as the main concern for the
sellers, whereas product quality comes after (Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017). Hence, both pre-cooked
and junk food, such as cireng, chips, and deep fried food are among the favourite due to its
inexpensive price. The inexpensive price of these foods are attributed to cheap raw materials and
ingredients as well as a relatively simple cooking process. On the other hand, according to the
other interviewees who sell healthier food, such as fruits, vegetable juice, and organic meals, not
only they use a more expensive raw ingredients but also it takes time to prepare the meal. In doing
so, it is more time consuming and more labor intense. Additionally, due to the time constraint,
healthier food cannot be produced at a large quantity. Thus, healthier foods are charged with a
relatively higher price: repelling the participant away. Moreover, both on field observation and
interviews indicate that the participant of the CFD are not restricted to any economic or social
class. Yet, the majority of the participants are classified as the mid-low income family. In doing
so, it is not surprising that they have built resistance toward the more expensive products and the
more exensive foods.
Not only the products sold in CFD that are intriguing, the pricing is just equally puzzling.
There is an unwritten stigma that goods that are sold at CFD are normally below the average price
(Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017); however, based on the observation this stigma is not entirely true.
Most of the goods sold at CFD, especially, food and clothing are just slightly below the regular
price, if not the same as the regular price. Some interviewees theorized that it is perfectly fine to
sell the products at a slightly lower price. The relatively lower profit from individual sells is offset
by the number of sells frequency. Majority of the interviewees claim that a full day profit during
regular business hour can be attained only after two to three hours of the event. Therefore, by
adopting the sells frequency strategy, the business owners manage to lower their selling price while
still maintaining significant portion of profit.
Yet, there is one extreme phenomenom that is worth analyzing in the Thamrin CFD. A
bottle of prominent brand mineral water is sold at half price troughout the CFD course. This is
definetely an anomaly compared to the natural occurance. Outside the CFD event and under the
normal circumstances, people are more than willing to purchase the same product at regular price.
Whereas at CFD, people are participating in the event for doing a sport event; therefore, the
demand for water should be higher compared to the normal circumstances. Refering back to the
law of supply and demand, when the demand increase, then the price will raise. However, the
phenomenon that happened on the field is the fact that as the demand increase, the price falls.
There are several answers that can explain the occurrence. Although the profit margin has
becoming extremely thin, the drive for people selling the product at the staggering half price is not
slowing down. A group of water mineral sellers that were interviewed claims that they do not own
the products. They are merely an agent that were entrusted by the company to sell the goods; hence,
they will get a cut from the profit. In doing so, these sellers do not need any capital to engage in
economic activity but still making money. Additionally, the fact that most of the agents do not
own any business establishment, neither during nor outside the event, they perceived this
opportunity as a great way to make additional income. Moreover, not only this kind of business is
capital-less but also it provides a path to those who want to engage in business activity yet do not
own any business license at the CFD. In doing so, these agents can enjoy a chunk of the profit
shared without capital required, yet still regarded as a legal business practitioner despite possesing
no official license. Hence CFD opens an opportunity, even, for the non business owner to engage
in business activity: making additional income.
There is a particular method to assign business location at Thamrin CFD. The mechanism
can be infered from the fact that there are two types of vendors at the CFD: those with official
license and those without (Cut Devi, Rustiyarso, 2017). Business owners with the official license
are given a privillage to run their business at the end point of the jogging course, along with special
tent and devices provided by the event committee. However, the unassigned and uncertified seller
can only open for business at the middle of the jogging track. The finding on the field reflects that
those who open their business at the end line, either at the starting point or at the finishing point
will experience a massive boost in number of sales. The high number of sales is attributed to the
abundance of CFD participants gathering at the both polars. Although there is no apparent theory
explaining the phenomena, some business owners interviewed during the on field study postulates
that people are more willing to buy products at either the finish or the starting zone because they
have done or have not started their activities. Hence, the participants do not have to be bothered
carrying the purchased goods while jogging or cycling. Additionaly, other interviewees argues
that, perhaps, the participants feel more secure to get their foods or clothing from the licensed,
official, sellers who are positioned at the end zones. As much as the later argument is making
sense, the truth is the agents or the business owner who open for business at the middle of the
jogging track is just equally as secure as the end zone retailers. Nonetheless, despite of the truth,
it is the customers’ opinions that govern their economic behavior. In doing so, it is becoming very
apparent that positioning, in terms of business, does matter.
Despite the arguments proposed by the consumers, the only seperating factors is that mid-
track business owners are not officially certified; hence they are not entitled to the facilities
provided by the CFD committee. In doing so, there is nothing wrong or insecure about purchasing
goods from the mid-track business owner. On the other hand, the mid-track business owners or
agents are just equally happy to operate their business at the location. A number of the mid-track
vendors argue that not every participant manages to complete the running track successfully.
Hence, these joggers may only reach the middle point of the track. Therefore, it really is not that
bad despite the argument that mid-track is the worst possible place to run the business.
Additionally, in spite of the dismay that the mid-track vendors are stucked at the center, the truth
is being at the center is far better than not being anywhere. In doing so, by given the chance to run
a business at the center of the track and generating lower profit, most vendors will still be better
off as oposed to not making any profit at all. Therefore, regardless of the position, selling products
at the Thamrin CFD is a viable method to generate profit. The only apparent differences is that
different business locations correspond to different amount of profit made.
The majority of the vendors at Thamrin CFD are categorized as SMEs. From numerous
questioning, an average of seven hundred thousand rupiah is set as the standard for the monthly
income. According to the Indonesian regulation, UU No 20 Tahun 2008, defines micro enterprise
as a company that possess an asset less than 50 million rupiah and employing less than 10 workers
(Kristiyanti, 2012). The majority of the interviewees states that the total assets that each vendor
possesses does not exceed five million rupiah: two to three million for the stall and the remaining
goes to the approximated value of the goods sold. Moreover, the business is normally run only by
one or two people. In doing so, the street vendors at the Thamrin CFD is eligible to be categorized
as the SMEs, especially micro enterprises. Micro enterprises are the smallest form of business
entity (Wahyuningsih, 2009); hence it is the most limited in terms of capital and financing. In
doing so, the street vendors at the Thamrin CFD is most restricted by their budgeting; thus, they
have a very limited amount of fund allocated for promotion. Hence, this is the primary reason
explaining that their promotional methods during the CFD event rather dull and repetitive.
Majority of the promotion at the Thamrin CFD is utilizing the Physical promotion which
allows the business owner to interact directly with the potential customers. It is common to see the
business owner making noise, yelling, at the customer, calling them to visit the stall. Arguably,
this is the most effective promotional methods that can be performed by the street vendors. Street
vendors, as part of the SMEs entity, are not only limited to budget but also they are limited to
human resource quality (Kristiyanti, 2012). In most cases, people who are working for SMEs are
only junior high graduate that emphasize more in craftmanship as opposed to critical thinking and
analytical processes. In doing so, the most apparent approaches for promotional method is either
physical promotion or direct marketing in a form of posters: explaining special offers. However,
despite of its limitations in promotional strategy, the street vendors are doing just fine in terms of
business. This is proven by the fact that the same vendors are keep coming back to the event every
Sunday morning. The most logical explanation to this phenomenon is by referring to the fact that
the high consumer trafics at CFD offset the vendors’ limitations in terms of promotional campaign.
Therefore, even though promotion and marketing are the two elements that consume the biggest
budget allocation for businesses, the truth is this theory may not nesecesarrily true at the Thamrin
CFD. In this case high consumer traffic is more influential to support the business operation.
In conclusion, behind every successful marketing campaign there is a great and solid
marketing mix strategy. The combination of the 4Ps elements of product, price, place and
promotions govern the fate and the success of business operations. However, the application of the
marketing mix is not always allign with the on field practices. There are numerous marketing mix
anomalies that happened at the Thamrin CFD. The anomaly in this case may not nescessarily
translated into a complete repellent towards the marketing mix. It is just the fact that the
effectiveness of marketing mix at the Thamrin CFD is lessen compared to the regular business
circumstances (not seasonal business). Therefore, based on the the analysis above, the extent to
which the marketing mix effectively assist the street vendors at the Thamrin CFD will require a
further study.
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 Appendix

Figure 1 Research Field at CFD (March 31st, 2019)

Figure 2 One of the Firm Strategic by using Celebrity

to approach consumer

Figure 3 Fruit Seller in wrong market segmentation (less

consumer)

Figure 4 One of the selling strategic (Discount))

wza