Place
This is about the availability of a product. The product has to be in the right place for customers to be able to make their purchase.
Promotion
This is the part of the marketing mix that focuses on persuading people to buy the product/service. This covers all the marketing activity that focuses on letting customers know about a product. It also persuades them to buy the product/service in many different ways such as promotional offers (BOGOF, 3 for 2 etc.) Communication is also important when promoting. Listening to the customers and being more interactive can make advertising creative. A high-quality example is Orange Wednesday, Orange persuade you to be an orange customer as you get great benefits, such as Orange Wednesday. This gives you the chance to buy 2 cinema tickets for the price of 1. You can only gain this through being an orange customer.
The extended marketing mix is just an extra 3P’s that are associated with marketing services. These are People, Processes and Physical Evidence.
People
This is basically how the customer identifies the service and their level of contentment. For example a hairdresser, investment in training is very important.
Processes
These are the systems used by businesses to deal with orders that are given and taken. For example how do they deal with ‘out of stock’ purchases? , for example, would tell you if a product you have ordered is unavailable but they do not cancel your order. They then e-mail you as soon as that product has come in stock to tell you it is being dispatched.
Physical Evidence
These factors help to shape the customer’s insight of the organisation and its services. This may also include the way a customer is treated by staff members or the length of waiting time. An example is a hairdresser. They need to look good in front of their customers to attract them to buy their product/service. They can achieve this by having smiley receptionists, nice waiting areas with magazines that may keep them entertained while they wait. They may also provide drinks for their customers.
It’s important that the elements of the marketing mix work together, as it will help a company to achieve its objectives. If these elements fail to work together, the business is in trouble. If they are promoting low prices but then suddenly shoot their prices up, people will wonder why their promotion is wrong and they could be sued for giving out the wrong idea.
Play.com is an online based website for people all around the world to buy products. Customers now use the internet to purchase products/services online. When buying online, there is no-one to help you. Therefore you have to find everything on your own but luckily all the information you may possibly need is provided online for you and you immediately know the facts and features of the product.
Pricing online can be very challenging as you have to take into consideration other online companies and how many customers they have. The internet make pricing very competitive as normal costs such as store costs, wages, bills, rent etc. vanish. Being able to use the internet to shop is very appealing to customers as they are able to shop around until they find the best deal. This easy access helps to maintain prices within the online world.
Purchasing online means customers directly buy from the seller and cut out the retailers. The seller has to ensure that the product is delivered to the customer in good condition as well as I a reasonable time.
Promoting products online is to do with many things. Play have a recognisable and simple domain name (). They also have banner advertisements placed on other web pages as a form of e-promotion. These must be placed where impending customers browse. Direct e-mail is also a popular and common form of e-promotion. When registered with Play you receive regular e-mails about various offers which may persuade you to have a look.
There are many differences between internet-based businesses and conventional businesses. One difference being the cost of running businesses online. This is much cheaper as well as being much easier to manage, so new businesses can arrive at any time, making competition much tougher. The more marketing Play do the more recognisable their business becomes, so promotion is one of the key differences out of the marketing mix for them. Another difference could be that online businesses don’t rely on a physical location; so many costs are cut out, such as bills, rent etc. Advertising is done in different ways, as an online business would advertise the various ways online, such as emails, other websites and banners. Play have also advertised on TV as they can financially afford it but this wouldn’t be the case for most online businesses. However conventional business can advertise by leaflets, TV ads, billboards and on their shop window.
McDonalds have almost 1200 restaurants found in places such as high streets, retail parks, shopping centres and motorway service areas.
One of their objectives is to open 30 new restaurants per year from 2010. This will create up to 1800 job opportunities per year.
The objectives communicate what marketers want to achieve. McDonalds break down their long-term objectives into more time-related and measurable targets. Results are analysed regularly to observe whether objectives are being met. If these are being met, the business gets more flexibility to make more objectives and become more successful.
Once these objectives are set, the next step is to work out how they will be achieved. The marketing strategy is about how the marketing objectives will be delivered, how they will work together and what marketing resources and actions will be used.
Marketing is different depending on what stage the product is at. For example, a new product launched will involve lots of TV ads and billboards to promote this new product well. So this strategy can be put into effect, various responsibilities are given to different individuals. Systems are built-in to gain market feedback. This will measure success against the more time-related and measurable targets. McDonalds have to ensure that this is done within the limit of a strongly guarded, marketing plan.
Prêt A Manger is a British sandwich retailer. “The company's marketing claims a passion for food, and that all items are made from natural ”. ()
One of the main objectives of Prêt A manger is Quality. This means offering appealing, tasty food and coffee to the public. They believe high quality products will attract customers to them and away from their competition.
Another one of their objectives is to use coffee within 14 days of opening, to ensure that they are using only the freshest coffee. The company sources coffee from 4 different countries.
McDonalds aim is to provide its customers with food of a high standard, quick service and value for money. This relates to “price” from the marketing mix as it wants to provide products at affordable prices. They also aim to serve good food in a friendly environment. This relates to “product” and “place”. Good food is the product they are trying to sell and are persuading customers to buy their products and McDonalds say they want to be serving good food in a “friendly environment”. They are taking into account where customers would like to purchase their food.
One of Pret A Manger’s aims is to expand their business into different locations inside and outside the UK. This relates to “place” as they want to be located in other various places. By doing this they attract more customers. They also want to serve “great tasting coffee” which relates to their product. They want customers to have the best coffee ever which luckily, comes from their company.
