The Marketing Concept.

Mike Gurnhill

Task 1

The Marketing Concept

‘To achieve success companies must go further than mere customer satisfaction, they must do it better than competition.’

A quote from Jobber in 1995 was: -

'The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.' Basically I think that these quotes mean that to gain a customer you must work to please everyone’s needs and wants before thinking about profit.

If a company has no customers then it can’t make profit which means there is no reason for its existence. Marketing is more about the customers not the company, so this why all the marketing in a business should be spot on. Product research, the location of a store (if applicable), etc.

I chose to look at the McDonalds marketing concept and found this example of model marketing concept and thought how McDonalds would use these guidelines to meet customer wants and needs.

Marketing concept

It is a fundamental idea of marketing that organisations survive and prosper through meeting the needs and wants of customers. This important perspective is commonly known as the marketing concept.

The marketing concept is about matching a company's capabilities with customer wants. This matching process takes place in what is called the marketing environment.

Businesses do not undertake marketing activities alone. They face threats from competitors, and changes in the political, economic, social and technological environment. All these factors have to be taken into account as a business tries to match its capabilities with the needs and wants of its target customers.

An organisation that adopts the marketing concept accepts the needs of potential customers as the basis for its operations. Success is dependent on satisfying customer needs.

What are customer needs and wants?

A need is a basic requirement that an individual wishes to satisfy.

People have basic needs for food, shelter, affection, esteem and self-development. Many of these needs are created from human biology and the nature of social relationships. Customer needs are, therefore, very broad.

Whilst customer needs are broad, customer wants are usually quite narrow.

A want is a desire for a specific product or service to ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

An organisation that adopts the marketing concept accepts the needs of potential customers as the basis for its operations. Success is dependent on satisfying customer needs.

What are customer needs and wants?

A need is a basic requirement that an individual wishes to satisfy.

Whilst customer needs are broad, customer wants are usually quite narrow.

A want is a desire for a specific product or service to satisfy the underlying need.

Consider this example: -

Consumers need to eat when they are hungry. What they want to eat and in what kind of environment will vary enormously. For some, eating at McDonalds satisfies the need to meet hunger. For others a microwaved ready-meal meets the need. Some consumers are never satisfied unless their food comes served with a bottle of fine Chardonnay.

Consumer wants are shaped by social and cultural forces, the media and marketing activities of businesses.

This leads onto another important concept - that of customer demand:

Consumer demand is a want for a specific product supported by an ability and willingness to pay for it.

For example, many consumers around the globe want a Mercedes. But relatively few are able and willing to buy one.

Businesses therefore have not only to make products that consumers want, but they also have to make them affordable to a sufficient number to create profitable demand.

Businesses do not create customer needs or the social status in which customer needs are influenced. It is not McDonalds that makes people hungry. However, businesses do try to influence demand by designing products and services that are

•Attractive
•Work well
• Are affordable
• Are available

Businesses also try to communicate the relevant features of their products through advertising and other marketing promotion.

Which leads us finally to an important summary point.

A marketing orientated business is one that which has adopted the marketing concept

This example shows that customers are much more important than the profit a company receives in the long run. Although McDonalds are customer orientated they still need the profit to be a successful corporation.

McDonalds have changed their menu’s to a healthier eating plan, as people are now more worried about their health, so they have introduced things like salads and different burgers like the chicken club flatbread and Pasta with chicken salad.

With their existing menu they have lowered prices and made a new list of options called the McChoice menu. This includes: -

An ice-cream cone for 49p
A chocolate donut and a hamburger for 59p
An apple pie and a cheeseburger for 69p
A box of Mcmini’s for 79p
And Chicken Selects, Double cheeseburger and a McFlurry al for 99p

Not only have McDonald’s changed their menu’s but they have now changed their slogan from ‘Things that make you go mmmmmmmmm’ to ‘I’m lovin’ it’. Along with this new slogan they have recruited Justin Timberlake, an admired pop star, as their promotional figurehead. This will create more awareness of the new slogan, which with it brings new atmosphere to the restaurants around the globe. They have produced new adverts on the radio and on the television, as the pop star Justin sings in the background.

In 1974, McDonald's opened its first restaurant in the UK. Today, more than 2.5 million people in this country place their trust in McDonald's every day, trusting the Company to provide them with food of a high standard, quick service and value for money. McDonald's strives to ensure quality from crop to counter. To that end, they require the highest standards and specifications, not just for product ingredients; every detail of production, transport, delivery, preparation and service is also exhaustively monitored.

A few years ago McDonald’s had a lot of complain with food quality and most of the complaints were about customers being given food poisoning from the uncooked meat. But since then the issue has been cleared up and there are fewer cases due to bad quality food. McDonald’s changed their suppliers and increased the quality of their burgers to suit customers’ expectations.

On McDonald’s UK website, they give plenty of information to customers and employees to look at. If a customer would like to find out nutritional value of different foods, the site gives information on all the products it sells, as shown on the next page: -

A customer can look at any nutritional value in the: -

Main Meals Menu
Breakfast Menu
Soft Drinks
Fries/Dips
Desserts
Milkshakes/Other Beverages

Below, the nutritional value of a hamburger Happy Meal and an Ice-cream cone with a flake is shown: -

This is an example of good customer service and giving the customers what they want. The other links on the website are: -

Our food (A page with all the food they offer)
McChoice (All the food that is cheaper than the rest)
New Tastes (All the new offers that are out for a limited period of time)
Kids Zone (games are on this link)
Football (A competition run every year by McDonald’s. This gives kids a chance to brush up on their skills with professional coaches)
Community (The page shows how McDonald’s are helping local communities and the environment)
Offers (This is a mix between the ‘New Tastes Menu’ and the ‘ McChoice Menu’ but also gives information about the Company as well)
Mac * (All the latest offers, that aren’t food, with things like competitions and prizes that can be won. Also the McDonalds’s club)

If you aren’t happy about something to do with McDonald’s in general you can contact the Company directly. Also if you having trouble finding the nearest McDonald’s restaurant then the site gives you locator. All that needs to be done is you enter your home postcode and the site will find the closest restaurant to you, and also give directions of how top get there.

So if I were asked if McDonalds have stuck to the marketing concept, and have followed the fact that the customer is always right, I would have to say that they have.

Making sure the customer comes first is something McDonalds have achieved very well because they have changed their styles to suit everyone’s needs and wants. In doing this they have taken a big risk with their existing products and tried to promote a new image that customers will, hopefully, approve of either sooner or later.